US President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced his intent to appoint Indian-American lawyer diplomat Richard Verma, also a former US ambassador to India, as a member of his Intelligence Advisory Board.

The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB) is an independent element within his Executive Office.

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In a White House statement, President Biden has announced his intent to appoint Verma to his Intelligence Advisory Board.

Richard Verma, 53, is currently the general counsel and head of Global Public Policy for Mastercard. In this role, he oversees the company’s law and policy functions in the United States and around the world.

Verma, a member of Biden’s Democratic Party, was the US Ambassador to India from 2014 to 2017.

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“He previously served as the US Ambassador to India, where he led one of the largest US diplomatic missions and championed historic progress in bilateral ties,” the White House said in a statement.

He was a member of the WMD and Terrorism Commission and currently serves on a number of boards including those of Ford Foundation, Lehigh University and National Endowment for Democracy.

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Verma is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs, and he holds multiple academic degrees, including a doctorate (PhD) from Georgetown University and a law degree (J.D.) from American University.

According to the White House announcement, Admiral (retd) James A “Sandy” Winnefeld, has been appointed as chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. Gilman G Louie and Janet A Napolitano were also appointed as members of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the White House said.

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Napolitano served as secretary of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013. Gilman Louie is CEO and co-founder of America’s Frontier Fund, the public-private partnership created to ensure that America leads the next wave of technology innovation, it added.