Just months after he was elected Mayor of Bristol-Bradley Stoke, Councillor Tom Aditya, hailing from Ranni, Kerala, has been named Chairman of the South Gloucestershire Council's Community Engagement Forum (CEF).
He won the election in a direct contest against another candidate from Boyd Valley.
As Chairman of the CEF Network, Aditya will also sit as a member of the South Glos Council's Safer and Stronger Communities Strategic Partnership.
The CEF has been developed by the South Gloucestershire Council in partnership with other statutory partner agencies to be a platform that listens and responds to local people's real issues.
It aims to build strong and cohesive communities in which everyone has a real sense of community involvement.
South Gloucestershire which covers an area of 496.94 square km and a population of over 300,000 (as per the latest estimates), is an engineering and technological hub of the UK.
Aditya during the last 12 years as a councillor representing Bradley Stoke, served as Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Spokesperson and held Chairmanship of various committees, such as the Planning and Environment Committee, the Finance Committee and the Staffing Committee.
He also served as the council representative for the Avon Local Councils Association, the International Twinning Committee, the Library Committee, the Anti-Hate-Crime Committee, and the Almondsbury Airbase Forum.
Aditya also spearheads various community litter-picking campaigns in the neighbourhood, and also serves as chairman of the Conservative Party.
He is the first person of South-Indian origin outside the London metro region to be elected Councillor in the UK, the first South Indian elected on the Conservative party ticket, and the first person of Indian and Asian heritage to be elected to a civic office in South Gloucestershire.
Aditya is renowned as a social justice advocate, policymaker, management consultant and speaker.
He has a Master's degree in Management and started his banking career as a financial advisor in 1995.
He moved to the UK and settled at Bradley Stoke, Bristol in 2002.
Aditya, son of Thomas Mathew and Gulabi Mathew, lives with his wife Liny, and children Abishek, Aleena, Albert, Adona and Alphons.
