Outstanding Americans by Choice
The Outstanding Americans by Choice initiative recognizes the outstanding achievements of naturalized U.S. citizens. Through civic participation, professional achievement, and responsible citizenship, recipients of this honor have demonstrated their commitment to this country and to the common civic values that unite us as Americans.
USCIS will recognize naturalized citizens who have made significant contributions to both their community and their adopted country on a case-by-case basis.
Note: The following biographies have been provided by the ABC recipients.
2013
Ramon Melocarela is an Immigration Services Officer (ISO) at the New York Field Office for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). A native of the Dominican Republic, Mr. Melocarela immigrated to the United States after his marriage and birth of his two children.
A native of Ethiopia, Dr. Tsehaye Teferra is Founder and President of the Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc. (ECDC). ECDC was established in 1983 to serve a growing Ethiopian refugee community and assist other refugees and immigrants from diverse cultural backgrounds.
2012
Dr. Jan T. Vilcek is a biomedical scientist, educator, inventor and philanthropist. Dr. Vilcek and his wife Marica defected from communist Czechoslovakia and arrived in the United States in 1965 with all their possessions packed inside a pair of suitcases.
Maria Otero was sworn in as Under Secretary of State on August 10, 2009. She oversees and coordinates U.S. foreign relations on the spectrum of civilian security issues across the globe, including democracy, human rights, population, refugees, trafficking in persons, rule of law, counter-narcotics, crisis prevention and response, global criminal justice, and countering violent extremism. She also serves as the President’s Special Representative for Tibetan Issues.
While in medical practice, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, in March of 2001. In 2003, The Kite Runner, was published and has since become an international bestseller, published in 70 countries. In 2006, he was named a goodwill envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns was published in May 2007. Mr. Hosseini has been working to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through The Khaled Hosseini Foundation.
Christopher Che is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Che International Group, LLC (CIG), a multinational holding company that he founded in 2005, with the objective of creating subsidiary companies in diverse industries through strategic acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. Under his visionary leadership, in 2007, CIG successfully acquired Hooven-Dayton Corporation (HDC) as its first wholly-owned subsidiary, which he is also leading as President and CEO.
Ms. Ping Fu co-founded Geomagic, a leading U.S. software company which pioneers 3D technologies that fundamentally change the way products are designed and manufactured around the world. Since 2010, Ms. Fu has been serving on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship board at the White House and is a member of the National Council on Women in Technology. In 2005, Inc. magazine named Ms. Fu, “The Entrepreneur of the Year.”
Mr. Michael Moritz, Partner, Sequoia Capital joined the company in 1986 and has served on the boards of Flextronics, Google, PayPal and Yahoo. He is currently a Director of 24/7 Customer, GameFly, Green Dot, Kayak, Klarna, LinkedIn, Stripe, and Sugar Inc.
Mr. Shervin Pishevar is a visionary technology entrepreneur, angel investor, published researcher, start-up advisor and incubation expert, and start-up visa activist. Mr. Pishevar has raised over $50 million in venture funding for his start-up ventures and invested in over 40 start-up companies.
Mr. Vivek Wadhwa is Vice President of Academics and Innovation at Singularity University; Fellow, Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford University; Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at the Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University; and distinguished visiting scholar, Halle Institute of Global Learning, Emory University.