Office of Global Michigan celebrates immigrant contributions to state’s success during Welcoming Week, Sept. 13-20
LANSING, Mich. – Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. That pretty much sums up the career and work ethic of Ram Kumar Kantamneni.
When the 45-year-old solutions architect with the Michigan Department of Technology Management and Budget moved to the United States from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, in India in 1999, it was the start of a fantastic career and life journey that eventually landed him in Pure Michigan.
Kantamneni graduated from Karnatak University in India with bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He later took a job in Abilene, Texas.
“There weren’t a lot of people who looked like me in Abilene, Texas,” he joked.
Diversity in life and in the workplace is important to Kantamneni so when his sister and brother-in-law accepted a job in Michigan, he followed them to be near family – and diversity.
“Michigan has great diversity and nice geography, with freshwater lakes and a balanced climate,” he said. “I really love it here.”
And so does his family. His wife, Anu, is a software engineer at RouteOne in Farmington Hills. They have a son, Gowtham, 12.
Michigan has more than 705,000 immigrant residents who add social and cultural benefits to our communities and make a strong economic impact statewide. Together, immigrants in Michigan contribute about $6.7 billion in taxes and $18.2 billion in spending power.
But it’s the brain power and work ethic Kantamneni provides his team and customers throughout the State of Michigan that makes him so beloved by his colleagues.
“Ram is invaluable to us and our customers,” Nancy Palmateer, Business Relationship Manager for DTMB, said. “He is well liked, respected and just a hard worker.”
As a solutions architect, Kantamneni is responsible for providing architecture guidance and overseeing delivery of high quality, web-based IT solutions across various agencies within the state of Michigan. He has worked on state websites for MEDC to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and others.
“My grandfather was a freedom fighter and politician (in India),” he said. “He instilled the desire to serve the people. An opportunity to work for the State of Michigan provides me directly and indirectly to serve the people of the great state of Michigan.”
A mechanical engineer by trade, Kantamneni’s career has evolved to the computer sciences. He attributes his math skills to being a whiz at figuring out complex computer solutions.
“I work hard every day, but I never get tired of what I do. I love it,” he said.
The Office of Global Michigan celebrates and honors immigrant talent whose hard work helps companies in Michigan thrive during Welcoming Week, which kicked off Friday.
Michiganders can join the Office of Global Michigan by sharing their personal immigrant and refugee stories and highlight their contributions to their community on social media, adding #WelcomingWeek and #IWelcome.
The www.welcomingweek.org site includes downloadable signs and other resources to celebrate the immigrant, refugee and international community.
Visit www.newamericaneconomy.org/locations/michigan to learn more about immigrants and the economy.
Learn more about Office of Global Michigan at www.michigan.gov/OGM.
