Ritesh Tandon M.S. ’01, MBA ’07 has announced his candidacy for congressman of District 17, which includes San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Newark, Fremont, and Milpitas. His grandfather was a freedom fighter during India’s independence movement, leading him to appreciate independence. He moved to the U.S. to attend SCU when he was 28 years old. Over the course of a near two-decade career he has worked with such companies as Cisco and Jabra, though his real passion is nonprofit work. This passion has encompassed volunteering with Sankara Eye Foundation to end blindness in India and helping to build 12 large hospitals in India as an executive board member. He is also president of Uttar Pradesh Mandal of America, which has started funding Bay Area education and day care for underprivileged kids since Tandon joined as president.