|
I. C. Shah - Founder and Chairman I.C.Shah is a Founder, President and CEO of ICS Telecom Inc. – a leading provider of voice and data network services in Western New York. Mr. Shah is a graduate of Michigan State University and a very prominent community leader. He currently serves on the Boards of Rochester Broadway Theatre League, Seniors First and Kirkhaven Nursing Home and the Chairman-elect of the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rochester. In the past he has served on the Boards of Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, Compeer, Kidney Foundation , Rochester Area Community Foundation etc. Mr. Shah is a well respected philanthropist and a fundraiser. He has raised millions of dollars for the non-profit organizations in Rochester. For his community service, Mr. Shah has been recognized by many organizations such as Mental Health Association, Compeer, Kidney Foundation, Association of Indians in America- Genesee Valley Chapter, just to name few. He has been honored as Small Business Person of the Year by the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, Urban league of Rochester and Small Business Administration. He was also honored as one of the Outstanding Asian Americans of New York State by Governor Mario Cuomo.Mr. Shah also received the prestigious Philanthropy Award from the Rochester Area Community Foundation, and most recently Distinguished Alumni Award from Michigan State University.Mr. Shah has a passion for his community and the causes involving children and the disadvantaged. He has used his creativity, entrepreneurship and philanthropy to help hundreds of organizations in our community. When he gets on the Board of any organization, he serves with the same passion and enthusiasm as his own business. He has a passionate commitment to serve his adopted community which has accepted him and his family and made him feel at home.
Seema Ali Seema graduated from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1997 and moved to Rochester, New York in 1998. She is employed in the Litigation Department at Gallo & Iacovangelo, LLP and is Chair of the Domestic Relations and Family Law Division of the Department. In addition to the D.I.A.L. Board, Seema is also a Board member of the Mental Health Association of Rochester/Monroe County, member of the Board of Trustees of the India Community Center and on the March of Dimes Fat Tuesday Event Committee.
Amit Chitre Amit Chitre is a Regional Vice-President of Communications and Marketing for the American Heart Association. He manages a staff of 12 Communications and Marketing Directors across the Northeast, covering a geographic triangle from Buffalo, to Boston, to Maine. Amit’s responsibilities include developing PR and marketing strategies that advance the American Heart Association’s mission. Amit started his career in television news. He first reported for the CBS affiliate in Clarksburg, WV and then moved on to the NBC affiliate in Traverse City, MI. Amit came to Rochester, NY to report for the CBS affiliate in 1998, and soon earned the weekend anchor assignment. Amit’s time in television brought about many interesting experiences including one-on-one interviews with prominent politicians like Gov. George Pataki and Sen. Hillary Clinton, to the coverage of life-changing events like a visit from Pope John Paul II and the attacks of September 11th. But after many years “on camera”, Amit opted for a more stable career in public relations. He spent a year as a PR Senior Account Executive with the nationally recognized agency Buck & Pulleyn before landing at the American Heart Association. He has earned multiple PRism awards and a Tally for his work in public relations. Amit lives in Victor, NY with his wife and two sons.
Sanjay Hiranandani Sanjay Hiranandani is Senior Vice President of Engineering at PAETEC and has been a part of PAETEC since September of 1999. He is responsible for all Voice and Data Engineering functions across the PAETEC footprint, prior to which le led efforts to engineer PAETEC's next-generation voice over IP network and infrastructure and multi-service backbone network, to manage the company’s data and Internet-access product and service development, and to converge its enhanced voice and data services onto a single network. Before joining PAETEC, Sanjay was employed as Vice President for Advanced Technologies at TeleBeam, Inc., a regional Integrated Communications Provider headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania. Prior to TeleBeam, he served as a lead network architect at Cornell University, where he also previously graduated from. In May of 2003, Sanjay drove in the Car & Driver Magazine sponsored "Cannonball One Lap of America" race – a grueling 7-day, 5000-mile cross country event, encompassing several challenging racetracks and featuring high adrenaline combined with little sleep. In his rookie year in this event, Sanjay used it to promote awareness and raise over $10,000 for the Mary M. Gooley Hemophilia Center, for which he served on the Board of Directors. He also serves as the Board of the Geva Theater Center, has co-chaired the Fat Tuesday Committee for the March of DImes, and is active in fundraising events for a number of other charitable organizations, and is a member of the United Way’s Young Leaders Club. In 2002, Sanjay received the Rochester Business Journal’s prestigious “Forty Under 40” award. Sanjay has previously served on the Boards of several not for-profit organizations, including the United Way of Centre County, PA, and the American Cancer Society. Sanjay lives in Fairport, NY with his two children.
Mridula Nair Mridula Nair is a Senior Research Scientist and Project Leader in the Printing Solutions Science and Technology Center of Kodak’s Research Laboratories. She has over 20 years of R&D experience at Kodak with increasingly responsible positions in Research ranging from, Research Scientist to Project Manager for product commercialization. She has over 60 US Patents and several publications. Nair was a member of the board of directors for APA-HiP, a non-profit organization for documenting the oral histories of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in Rochester and a founding board member of APEX (Asia Pacific-Islander Exchange), a Kodak Employee network In addition, she has served as a guest lecturer at various schools and colleges, in the US and in India and is an active supporter of a local Hindu Temple. She is multilingual, has a great interest in comparative religion and etymology, and is a performer level Indian Classical dancer. Born in Kerala, India, she earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry, with the highest honor, from the University of Madras; her master's from the Indian Institute of Technology; and her Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. She was a Post Doctoral Fellow at Columbia University. She resides in Penfield, NY with her husband Cumar Sreekumar. They have one son who resides in New York City.
Ram Shrivastava Ram Shrivastava is president and CEO of Larsen Engineers, a Consulting Engineering firm based in Rochester NY. Ram is a professional Engineer with 37 Years of environmental engineering experience in Environmental protection and sustainable green design. Ram has lived in Rochester since 1969 with his wife and has two sons who are now working in New York City. Ram served as a Board member of India Community Center for over 12 years and chaired the Building committee at the time of purchase and establishment of the current ICC facilities. Ram is currently serving as Chairperson of The Board of Directors of Center for Environmental Information (CEI) and is member of the Redwings Board of Directors. Ram is a director of Brighton Rotary club and Chairs the water and environment committee for Rotary district covering the Finger Lakes region. Ram has also been teaching the third grade as volunteer with the junior achievement of Rochester. Alka Phatak Alka Phatak has been a resident of the Rochester area for twenty four years. She is a registered nurse by training and works on a per diem basis at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Her husband, Prad, is a physician and is Director of Cancer Services at Rochester General Hospital. She has enjoyed raising three children and has volunteered extensively in the Pittsford School programs for over fourteen years. In 2005, she was elected to serve for a three year term on the Pittsford Board of Education.. Alka is also a volunteer with Meals on Wheels for the past eight years and has been a Hindu heritage teacher and librarian at the local temple for five years. Along with her family, she has had the pleasure of raising and training a puppy for the Upstate Guide Dog Association. Alka has enjoyed the supportive and friendly environment in the community that has grown to be home for her and her family; she cherishes the opportunity to give back what she can in the form of these volunteer activities.
Anant Mathur Anant Mathur is an Optical Engineer at Bausch and Lomb. He graduated from the University of Rochester in 2003 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and completed his Master’s degree in Optics in 2005. He started his career in 2003 with Melles Griot and joined Bausch and Lomb in 2006. He is a graduate of the 2006 inaugural class of DIAL. As a resident of the Rochester area since he was 4, Anant has a strong passion to give back to the community that has provided him the opportunity to develop and mature into his career. In addition to the DIAL board, Anant serves on the board of directors for LDA Life and Learning Services, a non-profit agency that serves those with life and learning disabilities with residential, career, and learning services. In his free time, Anant enjoys most any outdoor activities including rock climbing and softball.
Nagappa Ravindra Nagappa Ravindra has lived in the Rochester area since 1990. He is the founder and President of Ravi Engineering & Land Surveying, P.C., a consulting engineering firm located in Fairport, New York. He is a professional engineer with more than 25 years of experience in the structural design of buildings and bridges throughout New York and surrounding States. He has served as the Board of Director and President of American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Rochester in the past and currently serving as a member of the New York State ACEC and Department of Transportation Liaison Committee. He is also serving as the Board of Director for the downtown Rochester Center for Creativity and Innovation. He has been involved with Habitat for Humanity in the Rochester area and led the efforts to build the first house jointly sponsored by ACEC Rochester and American Institute of Architects, Rochester Chapter. |