After a historic victory in the American elections President-elect Barack Obama is now busy picking names that will run the US administration with him. Google.org’s Sonal Shah is part of an advisory board comprising individuals with significant private and public sector experience who will offer their expertise in their respective fields to Obama’s transition team, according to US media reports. She has also worked at the Department of Treasury on various economic issues and regions of the world.

She along with other members of the advisory board will help the transition team headed by former White House chief of staff John Podesta, longtime Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, and Pete Rouse, the President-elect’s Senate chief of staff.

Shah, who was named the ‘Person of the Year 2003′ by ‘India Abroad’ publication, currently works for Google.org on their Global Development team, where she is engaged in defining their global development strategy and promoting the firm’s philanthropy work.

Prior to joining Google, she was Vice President at Goldman, Sachs and Co. and developed and implemented its environmental strategy. She has also served as the Associate Director for Economic and National Security Policy at the Centre for American Progress, where she worked on trade, outsourcing and post-conflict reconstruction issues.

Another India-born Preeta Bansal is being seen as a potential candidate for the office of the Solicitor General. She is a Harvard-educated lawyer who was part of Barack Obama’s team of advisers during his election campaign. Bansal, a member of what an Obama lawyer playfully calls the ‘Harvard Law School mafia’, was part of Bill Clinton’s White House and Justice Department in 1993-96. She was also the first Indian-American to head the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

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