Houston: Indian American Dr Dinesh Keskar will lead Boeing India from March. A announcement from  Boeing Company, the world's leading aerospace company, and the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft,  named Ian Thomas president of Boeing Australia and South Pacific, and Dinesh Keskar vice-president of Boeing International and president of Boeing India.

Keskar, 54, originally from Rajkot, India, will represent the entire enterprise and be responsible for leading Boeing-wide efforts focused on expanding the company's local presence and pursuing new growth and productivity initiatives.

Prior to this appointment, Keskar served as Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice-president of sales for south and southeast Asia, and was responsible for overseeing all activities for that business within the region.

"Dinesh has a proven track record for sales and market development in India," said Shephard Hill, president of Boeing International.

"He is a well known and recognized expert in India's aerospace community. Dinesh has the experience, market knowledge and expertise to further enhance our partnership and collaboration with India," Hill said.

Since he joined Boeing in June 1980, Dr. Keskar has held senior positions in engineering, marketing and sales. From 1980 to 1986, he was responsible for research and consultation in the areas of system identification, digital signal processing and modern control theory. Dr. Keskar developed the techniques to conduct flight tests and analyze flight test data to obtain airplane math models for the 737, 747, 757 and 767 flight simulators.

Before joining Boeing, Dr. Keskar worked as a research associate in the Flight Dynamics and Control Division at NASA Langley Research Center.

Keskar received his Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from India with a Gold Medal in 1975. He received his Master's and Doctorate degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of
Cincinnati in 1976 and 1978, respectively.

Further, he received his Master's of Business Administration from City University in Seattle in 1987 and was a recipient of the President's honor roll.

In 1994, he attended the Berkeley Executive Program at the University of California, Berkley.

In June 1999, Keskar was honored with the 'Distinguished Alumni Award' by the University of Cincinnati for 'meritorious achievement, recognised stature, and conspicuous success in the
imaginative blending of engineering education with highly productive endeavors in industry'.