ATA

The idea of starting a national organization of Telugu speaking people in USA was under consideration by concerned persons of people of Telugu origin for about two to three years (1988- 90). Finally, in early part of 1990 about two dozen likeminded individuals from various parts of USA gathered for an informal meeting in Chicago and discussed various aspects related to Telugu people of USA and India. After long deliberations, an idea to start a National Organization named American Telugu Association (ATA) was agreed by the participating delegates. Additional input was solicited from various individual around the country about forming an Interim Board of the organization and formally registering the organization in Illinois as a not-for-profit organization.

After getting very encouraging feed back around the community, a town hall meeting was organized in Naperville, Illinois which was attended by more than 150 Telugu speaking people from different parts USA. To facilitate the formation and functioning of the organization, Interim Executive committee was chosen from the Chicago area. This interim Executive Committee consisted of Chairman (Dr. Krishna Reddy), Vice-chairman (Dr. K.S.M. Prasad), Secretary (Madhava Reddy), Joint- Secretary (Gnaneswar Kavetti), Treasurer (Rajendar Pampati), and Joint-Treasurer (Chandrasekhar Thunga). The Interim Executive Committee was entrusted to communicate with telugu speaking people in different regions of the country who will be interested in serving as Interim Board Member. With the help of Mr. Hanmanth Reddy (IL) and Dr. Bandaru S. Reddy (NY) about 22 members were chosen to serve in the Interim Board in addition to the Executive Committee.

With the first ATA logo (designed with the help of Balarami Pammi, NY) and stationary at hand, the Interim Executive Committee got quickly into action of taking care of all formalities to incorporate the organization. American Telugu Association was formally incorporated as not-forprofit organization in Illinois in September 1990 and also received tax exempt status at the same time.