The U.S.–India Business Council (USIBC) has appointed Rahul Sharma, a former journalist and public relations executive, as its India-based Managing Director, according to an announcement by the trade advocacy group.

“Rahul’s vast experience and proven track record in media, policy, and corporate advisory and communications will be invaluable as we continue to strengthen the U.S.-India partnership and achieve a shared goal of $500 billion in trade,” Atul Keshap, a former U.S. diplomat who is USIBC’s president, said in a statement. 

Mr. Sharma has been Managing Director at the public relations firm APCO Worldwide’s India arm, where he “guided corporate clients, managed business and policy advocacy goals, and advised state governments in investment communications,” according to the USIBC announcement.

Until 2010, he worked at some media houses, including Reuters, the Economic Times, and the Dubai-based Khaleej Times, an English-language daily widely read by the Indian diaspora in West Asia. 

USIBC, a part of the US Chamber of Commerce, America’s largest industry association; has over 200 firms who have interests in smoother trade between the US and India, and will mark its 50 year anniversary in 2025.

Mr. Sharma succeeds Alexander Slater in the MD role. Mr. Slater worked as an adviser in New York City’s local government, and subsequently at the World Bank, following a clerkship at a court of appeal and an associateship at the multinational law firm O’Melveny & Myers.