Vinson: the man and his work

Vinson, a successful businessman and a community leader from McLean, Virginia, has played a pivotal role in FOMAA from its formative years in various capacities. He was a key member of the FOMAA constitution drafting committee, he helped launch and coordinate the FOMAA helpline charitable initiative and was the Secretary of the FOMAA National Advisory Council for the last 2 years. Vinson is originally from Kochi. He graduated from Government Engineering College, Thrissur in 1988 with a B-Tech degree in Civil Engineering. After 3 years of work as a Project Engineer at KITCO Ltd (Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organization) in Kochi and another year as a Site Engineer at Ali-Al Sehebani Associates in Al-Hofuf, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Vinson came to University of Nevada, Reno in 1992, to earn his Masters degree in Civil Engineering.

After working for Maryland State Highway Administration, Metro Washington Council of Governments and Fannie Mae from 1995 to 1999, Vinson started his own IT business, Amaram Technology. Currently, Amaram Technology provides IT Infrastructure Support Services to various Federal Government Agencies and major corporations in the Washington DC Metro region. He is also the head of an Export business, Amsco Global (American Merchandise Supply Company), exporting major American brands all over the world. Amsco Global was the recipient of the Small Business Exporter of the Year Award in 2013 from US Small Business Administration.

Vinson was an active member of all the 3 Kerala Associations in the region from early on. He was the Secretary of Kerala Association of Greater Washington (KAGW) in 1996, placed KAGW on the Internet (www.kagw.com) in 1997 and administered the web site from its inception to present. In 2008, as the president of KAGW, in addition to the many regular annual activities, provided strong leadership to initiate and conduct a 2 day regional youth festival, widely referred to as DC Talent Time. In a addition to many spectacular programs in 2008, KAGW began celebrating the festival of EID with all the Washington-Baltimore Malayalees for the first time. Also, in 2008, he helped launch the Baltimore Washington Kings Sports Foundation (www.bwkings.com) with a vision of a society that encourages, enables and celebrates active and healthy lifestyles, and serving as the Executive Director since then. He played a key role as the Convener of the 2010 N.K. Luckose Memorial Volleyball  tournament in Washington DC. He is actively involved with the Jimmy George Volleyball Tournament scheduled to be conducted in May 2014 in Maryland.

In 2006, as the Secretary of  Keralamela conducted at Maryland Soccerplex, Vinson played a pivotal role in organizing the mega event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kerala formation in Washington DC, the best ever celebration of Malayalam speaking population in the USA. Over 10,000 people from all over the country and across the racial spectrum of the country attended the event.

Vinson is actively involved in the Indian Community activities in the Washington DC as well. In Response to the Terrorist Attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, Indian leaders in USA came forward to form an Indian American Task Force (IATF) to lobby US Government. The goal is to garner support for India in its fight against terrorism. As the coordinator, Vinson played a pivotal role in organizing the “Washington Chalo” event, a major campaign on January 26th, 2009, by bringing about 250 prominent Indian leaders from across the United States to US Capitol and facilitated meetings with about 55 US Congressmen and Senators.

Vinson is the co-founder of India US Institute (IUSI) one of the major initiatives of International Leaders Summit (ILS), a Virginia non-profit he co-founded with other think tank experts. The India - United States Institute (IUSI), is a non-profit educational, research and public policy organization focusing on strengthening the emerging India and US strategic partnership through initiatives focused on expanding commerce and trade, augmenting a security alliance and advancing educational and civil society initiatives. Vinson has also established Common Agenda International Foundation (CAIF) a non-profit organization based in Kerala, which is currently exploring the idea of setting up International Management Institute for Leadership and Politics (IMILP), in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala. The objective of this institute, the first of its kind in India, is to produce well-informed, professionally trained and internationally exposed leaders who would be able to provide quality political leadership to the India of 21st century.