Our Members

Founding Sponsor Member - Dr. Abraham Thomas

Dr. Abraham Thomas, is the Founder President and currently serves as the Chairman of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) and Chief Editor 0f GOPIO News. He was the Convener of the First Global Convention of People of Indian Origin held in New York in 1989 where GOPIO was formed. Earlier, Dr. Abraham served as the Executive Trustee of GOPIO Foundation.

Dr. Abraham has been serving the NRI/PIO community for the last five decades. He served as the first president of the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) of New York (1976 to ’99) which does the largest India Day Parade outside India and the National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA) (1980-’88). Dr. Abraham also served as the Co-Chairman of the fundraising campaign to institute Jagdish Bhagwati Chair for Indian Political Economy at Columbia Univ. Other than GOPIO, two other groups initiated by Dr. Abraham are National Indian American Association for Senior Citizens (NIAASC) and South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS) and co-founded Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Center. Dr. Abraham currently serves as Board Member of American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) and Asian American Unity Coalition (AAUC) and as Advisor to NFIA and many GOPIO chapters including GOPIO-NY, GOPIO-Manhattan and GOPIO-CT.  

Dr. Abraham was presented with Bharatvanshi Gaurav Award by former Vice President of India Bhairon Singh Sekhawat, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award by President of India Pratibha Patil in 2008 and Lifetime Achievement Award by India Abroad in 2012. Dr. Abraham was also presented the Outstanding Alumnus Award by Malaviya National Institute of Technology. Dr. abraham has also been recognized with numerous awards for community service. A graduate of Columbia Univ., Dr. Abraham is a materials scientist and nanotechnologist by profession and is President of Innovative Research and Products, Inc., an industry, technology and market research firm based in Stamford, CT, USA.