CU pass out becomes HHMI's vice president

File Pix: Brahmachari Mural Bhai(LEFT), general secretary cum trustee of Dakhineswar Ramakrishna Sangha Adyapeath (DRSA) with HHMI’s vice president Nitin Kotak.

Washington: The Trustees of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have elected Nitin Kotak as vice president and chief financial officer. Kotak(53), joins the Institute from Bethesda-based Technest Holdings, Inc., where he was chief financial officer and treasurer. He succeeds Edward J.Palmerino, who has held the post since 2006, and who will remain with the Institute through April 30. HHMI is a non-profit medical research organization that ranks as one of the largest philanthropies in the United States and in fact is the 4th largest in the whole world. Its medical investigators currently include 13 Nobel Prize winners who join HHMI in advancing biomedical research and science education in the United States. It has an endowment of about $16 billion (about Rs 80,000 crores) and spends about $1 billion each year (about Rs 5,000 crores) in research, grant support, science education and expenses. “Nitin comes to us with great enthusiasm for our mission and significant experience in financial analysis, reporting, and compliance,” said Cheryl Moore, HHMI’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “He is a strong addition to our management team and we’re pleased to welcome him to the Institute.”A native of India, Kotak holds a bachelor of commerce degree and graduated with first class honors in accounting and auditing from the University of Calcutta. He is a senior member of three major professional institutes in India– the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Institute of Company Secretaries and the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants. In addition, he has attended management programs at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Kotak started his career in 1981 working as the assistant company secretary for a Tata group enterprise, Tinplate Company of India. He then spent more than 17 years working at ITC Limited, the Indian associate of the Fortune 500 British American Tobacco and one of India’s top 15 companies, where he held a variety of finance-related positions. In 1999 he moved to India-based Mattel Toys, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc., as its chief financial officer.Kotak moved to the U.S. in 2003 to become director of finance and accounting for Able Laboratories, Inc., a publicly traded developer and manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals. A year later, he became Able’s vice president for finance and accounting. At HHMI, Kotak will oversee budget and financial analysis, the controller’soffice, treasury, internal audit, and procurement. “I am very excited at this opportunity to be a part of this outstanding organization and work in a spirit of giving back to the community. I feel honored to be selected for this great responsibility,” said Kotak. Kotak and his wife, Dipti, live in Silver Spring and have two sons: Akshay,24, is pursuing a doctorate in financial economics at the University of Oxfordin England; Anant, 21, is a senior at the University of Maryland and ispursuing a degree in accounting and finance.

"Nitin is our pride and I wish for his more successes," said Brahmachari Mural Bhai, secretary of Dakhineswar Ramkrishna Sangha Adyapeath (DRSA).