NetIP Salutes Inspirational South Asian, Dr. Parveen Chopra
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Dr. Parveen Chopra addressing Indian Americans as President of Federation for the tri-state area
 during the period when Indian Americans were the target of racial crimes in 1987.
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“I wish NetIP the best of success in their endeavors. It is a leading organization, that is making great contributions to both Indians and Americans by providing a platform for learning, mentorship and leadership of future leaders in all professional fields as well as community service.” – Dr. Parveen Chopra
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Dr. Parveen Chopra is an outstanding Asian-American who has excelled in academics, civil rights movement, regional and national leadership to community and has been widely recognized by leading Asian and American institutions for his outstanding contributions.
Dr. Chopra has excelled in academics by attaining five graduate degrees with honors and top ranks from prestigious universities and an MBA, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration. He has taught over seven thousand BBA, MBA, and doctoral students and has authored several books and articles in the field of Management in Business Administration and has been a member of the Academy of Management since 1976.
Dr. Chopra has lead, as the first Asian-American in the State of New York, as a Commissioner of Human Rights in Nassau County for the past seventeen years, vice chairman since 1996 and as acting chairperson since 2004. He has done a lot to mitigate discrimination in employment, housing and public matters. Dr. Chopra was also the first Asian to work as Commissioner of Planning from 1996 to 2002 and served it with great distinction in open hearings to public and improved the quality of life of 1.3 million Americans in Nassau County, New York in terms of land use, zoning, density, environment, transportation, population dynamics, urban planning and economy. Dr. Chopra was part of the team that prepared a master plan for the development of Nassau County for the next two decades based on his vision, experiences and input from citizenry based on hundreds of town hall meetings. Dr. Chopra also represented on the Decentralization Board of the Office of Cultural Development (1990-2002) promoting cultural heritage of many communities in New York and appeared before county legislature and state bodies for promotion of arts and culture in the state of New York.Â
Ellis Island that beacons the Statute of Liberty in America and has been the landing point of many ancestry groups honored Dr. Parveen Chopra with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for 2005 as an outstanding American for his great contributions to American life. This honor has been bestowed on many former Presidents like Bill Clinton, George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon; Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court William Rehnquist; Muhammad Ali; pioneer heart surgeon Dr. Michael E. DeBakey; Rosa Parks; Noble Laureate Elie Wiesel; Frank Sinatra; Bob Hope; Barbara Walters; Donald Trump; Quincy Jones; General Colin Powell etc.
The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), with over 76,000 members, the largest voluntary association of attorneys in the United States founded in 1876. Decided to confer Dr. Parveen Chopra with the Prestigious Haywood Burns Memorial Award for his outstanding work in civil and Human Rights. Of major significance, Dr. Chopra was the first South Asian honored in the history of the 133 year old organization. Former Recipients include Federal Judge Honorable Cornelius V. Blackshear, Hon. Pam Badoria Jackman Brown of Jamaica and Prof. Randolph M. Scott-McLaughlin of Pace University School of Law. W. Haywood Burns, was a former dean of the City University of New York School of Law Mr. Burns joined the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and later became law clerk to Judge Constance Baker Motley of United States District Court. From there, he became assistant counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc and where he served as general counsel to Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign in 1968.                                                                 Â
Dr. Chopra was Marshal of India Day Parade which he helped to organize in 1987-88 and succeeding years as President of the Federation of Indian Associations for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, considered as the largest umbrella organization in USA. He also organized many functions in major cities of USA as General Secretary of National Federation of Indian American Associations (1992-94) to preserve and enhance Asian Indian cultural heritage and promote the causes that strengthen the relationships between two strongest democracies of the world India and USA. Since then he has frequently acted as a liaison with many elected officials in the region and the White House in Washington, D.C.
In civil rights movement, Dr. Chopra has fought prejudice and discrimination against the Indian, Asian, and American community. In 1987-88 he spear headed the movement in Jersey City, New Jersey and in New York City by organizing community protests. He also participated directly in a debate at Columbia University with the Chief of Police of New Jersey. He led the delegation to meet the Attorney General in Washington, D.C. and also organized seminars at the Crystal City Inn to fight discrimination where entire EEO Commission was in attendance. In 1989-90 he took an active role in organizing demonstrations in Jackson Heights, Queens when Indian merchants and customers became targets of violence. With the assistance of Police Department, Mayor and the Borough President’s Office the situations were resolved.                                                                                          Â
Recently Dr. Chopra, was the first Asian to be honored with the prestigious Dr. Martin Luther King Award for 2005 at the Grand Ballroom of Marriott Hotel in New York, along with the current Police Commissioner which was attended by many supreme court judges and scores of elected officials and cross section of representation from Irish, Italian, Israeli, African, Hispanic and Asian communities. He was again the first Asian to be honored by The One Hundred Black Men Inc. at the Grand Ballroom of Crest Hollow Country Club New York in 2003 for his distinction in community service and efforts to promote understanding and relations between the African and Indian communities. He also worked with the Hispanic leadership on English Plus campaign successfully to retain English as a second language. He has received many prestigious awards from the highest elected officials like the Prime Minister of India, U.S. congressmen, N.Y. state senators, county executives, presiding supervisor of legislator, town boards and mayors and many prestigious associations and organizations in Indian and American community like Federation of Indian Associations, Sri Chinmoi Mission at the United Nations, H.H.H.Pramukh Swamy Maharaj of B.A.P.S., News India Times Group Inc., Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation Inc., Jackson Heights Merchants’ Association, World Business Forum Inc.,  Shiromani Punjabi Puraskar-2002 by the International Council of Punjab, etc. His leadership and community activism has been covered by American newspapers like The New York Times, Newsday, The Herald, The Citizen etc. several times.  Â
Dr. Chopra founded Jackson Heights Merchants’ Association (1988), Flushing Merchants’ Association (1989) which are the business hubs of Indian community in New York City. He worked to improve the neighborhood conditions for merchants, customers and citizenry.  Dr. Chopra is also the founder of Asian American Coalition USA Inc. (1988) representing leaders and associations of thirteen Asian countries in America.  Dr. Chopra is also the life long trustee of Hindu Center/Temple, Flushing, N.Y., and currently chairs the Election Committee. Â
Dr. Chopra has organized over thirty fund raisers to help elect officials like county executive, congressmen, senators, judges for supreme court, county court, family court and district courts, town supervisors, mayors, legislators and councilmen. This has greatly helped not only Indian community to assimilate in America but also benefited countless causes in mainstream America. Dr. Chopra has also represented New York City Mayor and Comptroller and the two county executives on Long Island at over three hundred functions over the past two decades welcoming such visitors as the Prime Minister of India, Federal Ministers, industrialists, ambassadors, consul generals, bishops, movie stars, and outstanding men and women of significant achievements by presenting them with a key to the city, a flag of Nassau County, a citation or a proclamation to mark various events, achievements and celebrations.                                               Â
Dr. Chopra has been profiled and honored by America’s oldest and prestigious biographer Marquis’ (since 1894) WHO’s WHO IN AMERRICA, WHO’S WHO IN FINANCE AND INDUSTRY IN AMERICA, and WHO’S WHO IN THE WORLD for his distinguished and singular achievements spanning over twenty five years.
Dr. Chopra has lived in United States for thirty five years with his wife Usha who is a Clinical social worker. They live with their two sons Samir a Managing Director on Wall Street and Dr. Sachin Chopra an Attending Physician. Usha and Parveen have graduated from Western Himalayan Mountaineering Institute Manali and Usha was Deputy Leader of the mountaineering expedition to Mount Weissorn in Himalayas. Both have taken part in marathons in New York and all of them love Punjabi folk dance ‘Bhangra’.
