In an election drawing over 30,000 global ballots, Harvard University degree holders selected a pair of prominent Indian Americans to fill vacancies on the institution’s top leadership councils, adding South Asian heritage to Ivy League governance.
The university announced that data technologist Arti Garg was elected to the Board of Overseers, while attorney and military reserve officer Medha Gargeya secured a seat on the Harvard Alumni Association board of directors. Both individuals bring extensive professional backgrounds to their respective leadership positions at the institution.
Garg, a tech executive based in Hayward, California, earned her doctorate from Harvard in 2008. She currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Technologist at AVEVA, bringing an educational background that also includes multiple degrees from Stanford University and the University of Washington.
On the Board of Overseers, one of Harvard’s two governing bodies, Garg will help direct the visitation process, which serves as the primary method for external academic assessments of Harvard’s schools and departments.
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The 1642-established board draws on its members’ diverse experience to provide counsel on university priorities, plans, and strategic initiatives.
Washington, D.C.-based legal professional Medha Gargeya will begin a three-year term on the HAA board of directors starting July 1. Gargeya is a double Harvard alumna who earned her undergraduate degree magna cum laude in 2014 and a law degree in 2019. She balances her civilian career as a senior associate at WilmerHale and a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School with her duties as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.
Gargeya’s role on the HAA board will center on an advisory capacity aimed at fostering a sense of community and university citizenship among alumni globally. Her efforts will align with the board’s stated priorities, which include strengthening outreach to recent graduates and graduate school alumni, developing volunteer leadership, and promoting inclusive communities worldwide.
By electing Garg and Gargeya to these positions, university degree holders have integrated the expertise of these two Indian American professionals into the governance frameworks steering the institution. Their terms begin as the university continues its ongoing programs to support its global network of graduates.