Kumar, known for his expertise of public-private partnership, has been nominated by Obama as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service in the US Department of Commerce, the White House said in a statement.

Kumar, President and managing partner of KaiZen Innovation, served as special adviser to the Clinton Foundation where he worked with governments in Sub-Saharan Africa and corporate CEOs to establish private-public partnerships to stimulate economic development in the region.

He previously served on the Group Operating Committee at Johnson & Johnson and as Vice President of Consumer Products for Latin America at Warner Lambert/Pfizer.
Kumar has published on global management and served as adjunct faculty member at the Schulich School of Business at Toronto's York University, Bombay University, and has been appointed Professor of International Business at Rutgers University EMBA programme.

Between 1970 and 1985, Kumar was a news anchor on national television in India, according to the brief bio-data put out by the White House.

Kumar has an Economics degree from Delhi University and an MBA from Bombay University.

He is alumni of the Thunderbird International Consortium Programme.
In 2004, Kumar was named Distinguished Executive-in- Residence by Thunderbird School of Global Management for his contributions to global trade.
Residents of Princeton in New Jersey, Kumar and his wife have lived in six countries and speak as many languages.