AMCHAM’s COVID-19 Disaster Management Task Force members held a meeting on May 3rd under the leadership of Mr. Ankur Malhotra, Chairman – COVID-19 Disaster Management Task Force, AMCHAM and Head, Corporate Affairs & CSR, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India. The following Regional Co-Chairmen for the task force were present:

• Mr. Gulshan Kumar Sachdev,
• Managing Director, Quaker Chemical (Eastern Region)
• Mr. Parag Wadhawan, Managing Director, Collins Aerospace India (Karnataka)
• Mr. William Blair, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin India (Northern Region)
• Dr. Ravi M. Bhatkal, Managing Director, Cookson India, MacDermid Performance Solutions (Tamil Nadu)
• Mr. Chandrakant Nayak, CEO & Country President, Dow India (Western Region)

Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM gave opening remarks and summarized recent interactions that AMCHAM has had with NITI Aayog, the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor and Invest India and the respective projects were discussed. Members shared their experiences on procuring urgent equipment required in India and their experiences with NGO partners. It was decided, in order to support members and their internal employees and families, for the task force to set up a resource hub to share company needs for equipment, sourcing opportunities, etc. This would be managed by AMCHAM’s Regional Directors:

• Eastern Region, Ms. Amada Kidwai amada@amchamindia.com
• Karnataka Chapter, Ms. Payal Satish amchambangalore@amchamindia.com
• Northern Region, Ms. Valerie Swope valerie@amchamindia.com (temporarily)
• Tamil Nadu, Mr. Aubrey Daniels aubrey@amchamindia.com
• Hyderabad Chapter, Sandya Rodrigues sandya@amchamindia.com
• Western Region, Ms. Surabhi Wahal mumbai@amchamindia.com

The resource hub would also facilitate knowledge sharing, recommendations from members, best practices, health information, etc. The meeting was off the record and attended by more than 30 members.