Speakers
Cindu Thomas-George, M.A. currently teaches in the Communication Studies department at San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco. As an educator, she strives to empower, challenge, and motivate students to become conscientious, competent, and skilled communicators. In her graduate studies, Cindu focused on researching 2nd Generation Asian Indian identity negotiation, and continues to engage in dialogue and work that is centered around the identity experience of Asian Indians in the United States. In addition, to teaching, she is a communication consultant, providing communication and diversity training to organizations in the bay area. Born and raised in Chicago, IL, Cindu now resides in San Francisco with her husband. In her free time, she enjoys practicing birkram yoga, hiking, traveling, cooking, and attending music concerts.
Speaker: : Cultural and Spiritual Identity: Maintaining and Balancing it in the West
Kalpana V. Peddibhotla, Esq. practices exclusively in the area of Immigration and Naturalization Law. She represents individuals and corporations in family and employment based immigration. She also represents individuals and families seeking asylum or defending against deportation proceedings. Her practice includes appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to launching her own law practice she worked as a civil litigation attorney representing companies in complex business disputes. Kalpana transitioned into immigration law because she strongly believes in immigrant rights and advocacy. Kalpana is actively engaged in community issues through volunteer and pro bono legal representation. Her community contributions have included serving as a volunteer attorney with Catholic Charities, the Muslim Community Association, the Pro Bono Project, Lawyers in the Library, the ACLU, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, advising non-profits, to establishing the India Community Center’s volunteer program as its first Volunteer Services Director.
She was the program co-chair for the North American South Asian Bar Association (NASABA) 2007 Annual Conference, and currently serves on the Executive Board of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Kalpana is a graduate of Chicago Kent College of Law (J.D., 1998), Humboldt State University (M.S., 1993), and UC Berkeley (B.A., 1988). She is admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court, the Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Federal District Court. Kalpana lives in Santa Clara with her husband Ram, and two boys, Rakesh and Sandesh.
Moderator: : Cultural and Spiritual Identity: Maintaining and Balancing it in the West
Camille Ramani is currently Chief Operating Officer at Upwardly Global, a national non-profit organization based in San Francisco. The organization seeks to create social change by helping underemployed and unemployed immigrant professionals rebuild their professional careers as well as help US companies develop an inclusive immigrant workforce. Camille's work focuses on harnessing this local skilled labor pool to benefit not only the economic strength of immigrants and their families but provide talent to companies that are becoming increasing global and/or trying to tap into different ethnic markets. Prior to joining Upwardly Global, Camille worked as a Project Manager for Providian Financial and as a Curriculum Developer for PeopleSoft Inc.
She also served as a Project Associate for the Office of Career Services at Columbia University and was the Project Evaluator and Senior Program Associate for Trickle Up, an international micro-enterprise program. She has worked in grassroots development projects in India and Indonesia. Camille is the Co-founder of 3rd I: South Asian Independent Films. A Bay Area native, Camille has served on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco chapter of Network of Indian Professionals. She holds an MA with a specialization in International Finance and Business from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in Third World Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She is conversant in Spanish, Hindi and Gujarati and loves to surf the California coastline and travel.
Moderator: Global Issues
Misti Mukhopadhyay Sangani is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD). She has worked in the field of international development for the past sixteen years. FSD is an international organization with staff in San Francisco and in India, Uganda, Kenya, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Peru. FSD works with NGO’s in these countries by providing technical assistance and grants, and facilitates service learning internships for university students and mid-career professionals who wish to serve in grassroots communities in these countries. Prior to joining FSD, Misti served as the Vice President of Programs and Evaluation at the Global Fund for Women. During her ten-years at the Global Fund, Misti held various positions in the grantmaking program of the foundation. Misti presented and participated in many international conferences, including the UN Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, and the UN International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo. Prior to the Global Fund, she worked at the Harvard Institute for International Development. Misti has served on the Boards of the Women’s Funding Network, Women’s Action to Gain Economic Security, USC Alumni Association, and Network of South Asian Professionals.
She has served as an Advisor to EMPower: The Emerging Markets Foundation, Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation, and the Gap Foundation. Misti holds an M.A. in International Relations from Boston University and B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Southern California. She and her husband live in Menlo Park with their two young daughters.
Speaker: : Global Issues
Jayashri Srikantiah: A respected voice on immigration law and civil rights, Jayashri is the director of the law school’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, in which students represent individual immigrants and immigrants’ rights organizations and also engage in community outreach, public education, and policy advocacy. She has litigated extensively on behalf of immigrants, and her experience includes challenges to mandatory and indefinite detention policies in the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and representation of human trafficking survivors. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 2004, Professor Srikantiah was the associate legal director of the ACLU of Northern California and a staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. She was a law clerk to Judge David R. Thompson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Jayashri is the recipient of the South Asian Bar Association and Minority Bar Coalition Award for Outstanding Service to the Legal Community (2000) and the Asian Law Alliance Community Impact Award (2002).
Speaker: : Global Issues
Prerna Mona Khanna, M.D., M.P.H. is an Emmy Award-winning journalist. A triple board-certified practicing medical doctor, her college degree is from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she is the only medical doctor to be inducted into the Medill Hall of Achievement, and the only journalist to be inducted into the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society. Dr. Mona began her journalism career in print reporting and has worked for the Wall Street Journal and been published in a number of magazines, but is most prominently known for her daily television medical reports on CBS 11 in Dallas. She has also produced and hosted two ½-hour special television features. She has contributed to ABC’s Good Morning America as well as the Early Show on CBS.
Dr. Mona has received more than 30 awards in the past 4 years, including the 2007 Award of Valor from the National Association of Minority Media Executives, the 2006 Media Award from the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, and the 2006 Indian Medical Association Achievement Award, all for her television, radio, magazine and online health journalism. She has captured the Asian-American Journalists Association online reporting award for the last two years. Dr. Mona is an East-West Center Fellow and a Delegate to the U.S.-Japan Leadership Program. She can be reached at pmkhanna@pol.net. Dr. Mona Khanna is sponsored by Plano, Texas-based Electronic Data Systems (EDS).
Modetator: Women in Medicine and Public Health
Sarala A. Rao, M.D, FASCP, CHCQM is a Medical Consultant in the San Francisco Medi-Cal Field Office in the California State Department of Health Care Services. She completed her graduate studies and training in Pathology at Stanford Medical Center and is Board Certified in Anatomic & Clinical Pathology. She is also Board Certified in Quality Assurance and Utilization Review. She has been actively involved in the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) at the National as well as at State levels, and has served as the Chair of AAPI Board of Trustees. In the Spring of 2007, she was elected as an officer to the Governing Council of the International Medical Graduate (IMG) Section of the AMA and is currently the alternate delegate to the AMA House of Delegates. She also received the AMA Foundation's 2007 International Medical Graduate Physician Leadership Award for outstanding non-clinical leadership in advocacy, community service and education. Dr.Rao is a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists; Fellow of the American Institute for Healthcare Quality; member of California Society of Pathologists and American Board of Quality Assurance & Utilization Review Physicians; founding member & past president, Northern California Chapter of AAPI.
She served as a commissioner on the Medical Board of California for the Oral & Clinical Examinations for medical licensing. She has also served on the Executive & Steering Committees of Shiva-Vishnu Temple, Hindu Community & Cultural Center in Livermore, CA.
Speaker: Women in Medicine and Public Health
Kamaljeet Singh-Khaira, M.S. received her B.A. from University of California, Davis in Physical Education in June 1993. Following her undergraduate degree, she went to work for the Sacramento County Department of Health as a Health Educator in HIV/AIDS Prevention and Tobacco Control. In 1995 she joined Kaiser Permanente in Roseville as a Health Education Coordinator with responsibilities in both patient education and professional education. In 1996, Kamaljeet relocated to Southern California as her spouse entered a pediatric residency program at Loma Linda University. There, she began her career with the American Heart Association (AHA) as Director of Health Initiatives for the Greater Los Angeles Affiliate.
In 1998, she was promoted to Vice President of Community and Health Programs for the Western States Affiliate, American Heart Association. She was responsible for developing and launching the AHA’s new health initiatives to ethnic communities in California, Nevada and Utah. In 2001 she was promoted to Senior Vice President of Youth Market for the Western States Affiliate, American Heart Association, and supervised over 30 staff members in 3 states.
Between 2002 and 2004 Kamaljeet took time off from work to stay at home with her twin girls, and then entered graduate school at University of California, Davis in the Fall of 2004 in the Community and Regional Development Program. She came on board with the California Department of Public Health in June 1, 2006 as a senior consultant to continue her work in public health and youth development.
Speaker: Women in Medicine and Public Health
Kiran C. Jain is a transactional associate focusing on corporate, finance, real estate and land use. From 1999 to 2001, Kiran was an economics consultant in the International Transfer Pricing Group at Arthur Anderson LLP in New York and Washington, D.C. She served as a legal intern to the United States Export-Import Bank in Washington, D.C. In law school, she participated in Georgetown University’s Housing and Community Development Clinic where she assisted low-income tenants in maintaining affordable housing and accessing low-interest credit.
During the summers of 1997 and 1998, Kiran studied language, history and community development in India and surveyed women’s banking organizations based on the Grameen Bank model. She currently serves as a legal adviser to KIVA Microfunds and is on the advisory board for Legal Services for Entrepreneurs in San Francisco. She is also the chair of the International Law Practice Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Barrister’s Club.
Moderator: Microcredit: How it is Transforming the Lives of Women
Premal Shah is President of Kiva.org – a new online lending marketplace that connects internet users with developing world entrepreneurs in need of low cost capital. Prior to Kiva.org, Premal was a Principal Product Manager at PayPal, an eBay company. During his 6 year career at PayPal, Premal drove a number of key initiatives including a year long project defining eBay's role in economically empowering the global working poor. A number of corporate initiatives have come out of this effort, including PayPal's support of Kiva.org. Prior to PayPal, Premal was a strategy consultant at Mercer Management Consulting in New York. Premal has had a long standing interest in microfinance. In 1997, he was awarded a grant from Stanford University to research microfinance in Gujarat, India. More recently Premal co-founded the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network and spent 2 months in India working to refine / validate Kiva.org's model. Premal was a featured speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative, the Global Microcredit Summit and is a Draper Richards Fellow. Premal graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University.
Speaker: Microcredit: How it is Transforming the Lives of Women
Elizabeth Funk is the Chairman of the Board of Unitus (www.unitus.com), a microfinance accelerator, and the founder of the Dignity Fund (www.dignityfund.com), a microfinance investment vehicle. Until early 2007, Ms. Funk served as the President and CEO of CML Global Capital, a diversified international investment firm. Prior to joining CML, Ms. Funk was an early employee of Yahoo!, where she founded the Yahoo! Shopping service and oversaw business development and strategic planning for various Yahoo! businesses. Ms. Funk also worked at Microsoft Corporation as a Product Manager for Microsoft Word. . Ms. Funk is an active member and Chair of various groups within the Young President’s Organization. She is the Chairman of the Social Enterprise Networks initiative within YPO, chairs the Executive Committee of its Peace Action Network, (www.pannetwork.org), and serves as moderator for YPO’s Microfinance Forum.
Ms. Funk is a Board Member of Deutsche Bank’s Global Microfinance Consortium Fund, the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network, Glide Economic Development Corporation, The Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Imperial Parking (Hong Kong), and i-Spire PLC. She is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative and an advisor to MicroPlace. Ms. Funk holds an undergraduate degree in International Relations and Economics with Honors from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she graduated as a Baker Scholar. She is a frequent speaker about Microfinance and has been profiled in publications including Forbes, the San Jose Mercury News, and Business Week. Ms. Funk is married, has two children, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Speaker: Microcredit: How it is Transforming the Lives of Women
Sanjay Sinha is the Deputy CFO of Microcredit Enterprises. Sanjay has spent most of his professional career in the financial services industry, primarily as a relationship manager. Sanjay’s focus has been on developing and managing relationships with Fortune 500 and middle market companies in a variety of industries. He is currently with California Bank & Trust in the corporate lending group in San Francisco. His previous banking experience includes Rabobank International and Yasuda Trust & Banking Company. Outside of banking, Sanjay spent three years with The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta and two years with Internet startups in Silicon Valley. Sanjay holds a Bachelors of Science in Management from the University of Tennessee and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from Georgia State University.
Speaker: Microcredit: How it is Transforming the Lives of Women
Beth Porter, Vice President, Program Services, Freedom from Hunger, has seventeen years of experience in microfinance and organizational development in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. As Vice President, Ms. Porter leads the development of program initiatives at Freedom from Hunger and manages the provision of technical assistance to partners around the world. Ms. Porter's expertise includes program appraisal, design and evaluation, and technical assistance and training in strategic and business planning, methodology development and product design, and improving organizational effectiveness and operational efficiency. Prior to joining Freedom from Hunger, Ms. Porter worked as an independent consultant with numerous multi-lateral organizations, bi-lateral organizations, and non-governmental organizations. Previously she served as Save the Children/UK's Credit and Savings Advisor in Vietnam where she built a successful microcredit program and launched a network of microfinance practitioners.
Ms. Porter also worked in Senegal and Cape Verde for Catholic Relief Services where she was involved in microenterprise programming. She has been on the faculty of the Microfinance Training Program in Boulder, Colorado for business planning and technical assistance courses, served on the investment committee of MicroVest, a debt and equity investment fund, and been a member of the board of the Microdevelopment Finance Team, a public-private consortium championing an end-to-end system of microfinance services. Ms. Porter currently serves on the board of directors of CRECER (Crédito con Educación Rural), a Bolivian microfinance institution, and has played a role in its transformation into an independent organization, and is on the board of SEEP, a microfinance trade organization. Beth is a founding member of Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM), a professional association for women working in microfinance, and is the Chair of the WAM Northern California Chapter. She holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Stanford University. Ms. Porter speaks French and Spanish.
Speaker: Microcredit: How it is Transforming the Lives of Women
Lubna Khalid: Social activist, marketing marvel, film-maker, former fashion model, 33-year-old Lubna Khalid is a modern, renaissance entrepreneur with high ideals, high energy and high ambitions.
Founder of Real Cosmetics, Lubna has channeled her personal quest for worldwide acceptance of cultural diversity into a hot, contemporary make-up brand that truly delivers “beauty without boundaries.” Her professional passion grew from personal frustration. A part-time model in high school, Lubna, a Pakistani-American, was unable to find foundations and powders to match her skin tone. There were no consumer products in stores, and even professional make-up artists had difficulty mixing realistic skin shades. Lubna noted a conspicuous lack of cosmetics designed for women who did not fit neatly into typical categories of beauty and skin color. Likewise, she noted a conspicuous lack of aspirational, multi-racial imagery in beauty and fashion media.
After graduating from U.C. Berkeley in 1997, where she majored in business and ethnic studies, Lubna gathered classic marketing experience at Proctor & Gamble. Herown analysis of demographic shifts and the cosmetic marketplace confirmed the need for an “all-encompassing” product line that broke barriers and offered expansive, “real” representations of beauty. In 1999, Real Cosmetics — real make-up, for women of all skin tones -- was established. More than just a successful, prestige product company, Real Cosmetics is a platform for Lubna to promote self-esteem and empowerment to women everywhere. Lubna is an outspoken advocate for diversity, a published author and public speaker.
Speaker: Who’s Going to Save the World?
Vineeta Wadhwa has made an art of networking; and a business of networking others. A pioneer amongst a notably emerging group of Indian American entrepreneurs, Vineeta is the founder of MeraPyar.com, America’s premier Indian dating community. The product of a traditional Indian arranged marriage, Vineeta’s matchmaking venture began as a hobby. “I have always enjoyed entertaining,” she says. “Over the last series of years I began inviting groups of single friends over to casually hang out. Before I knew it there Were lines of Indian singles seeking other Indian singles literally and figuratively banging down my door. ‘This is a business in the making,’ I thought to myself. The rest is history.”
Vineeta has always had a fascination and flair for the métier of “spreading the word”. Prior to founding MeraPyar, Vineeta held a career in marketing and advertising.
A former employee of both J. Walter Thompson and comScore Networks, she possesses experience servicing such global brands as Ford Motor Company, Nestle Foods, AT&T, Nabisco, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Tylenol, Merck and several other distinguished organizations. Subsequent to entering the work force Vineeta obtained a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Miami University of Ohio. Vineeta spent much of her formal instruction abroad. She attended boarding
school at Woodstock International School in India, and while enrolled at Miami University, participated in an International entrepreneurship concentration in Moscow, Russia. Continuously active in student government and diversity affairs, Vineeta’s various education and life experiences have afforded her a superior understanding of culture and community.
Moderator: Women Reinventing their Careers
Denise Brosseau is the Co-Founder and President of Invent Your Future Enterprises, a professional development company that specializes in the retention, development and acceleration of women leaders. Brosseau is a serial entrepreneur who started her first company at the age of 27 and has since co-founded three non-profits and two for profit ventures. Prior to Invent Your Future, Denise ran her own management consulting business, working with start-ups as well as Fortune 500 companies and non-profits on issues of strategy, planning and new business development. Brosseau co-founded and served as the first CEO of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE) where she created networks, programs and services for women starting and building high growth technology and life science businesses. She grew FWE to seven chapters, $1.75M in revenues and 1200 members during her tenure. She also co-founded the Springboard Venture Forums which have led to over $3.7B in funding for women-led businesses. Brosseau is a Wellesley graduate with a Stanford MBA and she began her career in the high tech industry, with stints at Motorola, Broderbund Software and Kensington/Acco.
She is a frequent public speaker and an active community volunteer. She presently serves as Vice Chair of the Wellesley Business Leadership Council and the Housing & Human Concerns Committee in Redwood City and she serves on the advisory board of many start-up companies, including Go QTT, Invisitrack and Impix. An active Democrat, Brosseau also ran the Northern California office for Steve Westly’s primary race for California Governor from 2004-2005.
Speaker: Women Reinventing their Careers
Tania Shah: In October 2007, Tania P. Shah will be joining Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP as its Director of Corporate Social Responsibility. Her new role, the first of its kind for a major American law firm, will encompass Diversity & Workplace Inclusion, Environmental Sustainability, Pro Bono & Employee Volunteerism, and Charitable Contributions. From 2001 to 2007, Tania had served as the Executive Director of the California Minority Counsel Program (CMCP), a statewide non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote diversity in the legal profession and advance opportunities for attorneys of color. During Tania's tenure, CMCP had been recognized by the California State Bar, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and the National Black Law Students' Association for its work, and has been the subject of articles in the San Jose Mercury News, the Daily Journal, the Recorder, California Lawyer Magazine, and Diversity & the Bar Magazine.
In 2003, Tania was also selected as one of 50 non-profit leaders worldwide for a Center for Social Innovation Fellowship at the Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business for her accomplishments at CMCP. Prior to joining CMCP, Tania was a corporate securities lawyer at the Palo Alto office of Morrison & Foerster LLP. Before attending law school, Tania served as a AmeriCorps member and through that she ran an afterschool program in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood. Tania is a 2000 graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley and holds a bachelors degree in Social Welfare with a minor in Education from UC Berkeley.
Speaker: Women Reinventing their Careers
Puja Sehgal is currently a strategic research consultant in the Corporate Executive Board’s Human Resources practice, where to date she has provided thought-leadership and developed frameworks for leadership transitions and management of front-line employees. She is also a recent graduate of the Harvard Business School (HBS). Puja helped start the Human Capital Management Club at HBS as a result of her passions in HR and organizational change. She also spent her HBS summer internship at Deloitte Consulting in their Human Capital practice. Prior to school, Puja was an Assistant Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble. She developed her marketing expertise through a range of experiences in pharmaceuticals, teen marketing, and Crest Whitestrips over a five year period. She was also strong advocate for Asians at Procter & Gamble and in the community through her leadership of the Asian Advertising Leadership Team and as one of the founders of Indus Women Leaders.
Puja completed her B.S. in mechanical engineering at the University of Cincinnati with honors and stays connected to the Cincinnati community even from San Francisco. She enjoys playing soccer, working out, dancing, traveling, reading, and spending time with her family and friends.
Speaker: Practical Guide in Developing True Leadership Skills
Mallika Chopra is the author of two books, 100 Hundred Promises to My Baby (Rodale, 2005) and 100 Questions From My Child (Rodale, 2007). Mallika’s voice on conscious parenting and spirituality is unique, powerful and resonant with parents around the globe. Mallika’s strength in creating creative content combined with strategic and marketing thinking has allowed her to successfully fuel an entrepreneurial drive in a number of areas. As President of Chopra Media LLC, Mallika has spearheaded a number of interesting initiatives with her brother, Gotham Chopra, and father, Deepak Chopra. She is the creative force and architect behind www.intentblog.com, a popular website featuring blogs on wellness, human rights, the environment, and spirituality. She recently produced two films for Fox Home Video, featuring her Deepak Chopra’s books, How To Know God and The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, starring Olivia Newton John. Mallika serves as a Board Member of Virgin Comics and Animation, a premiere entertainment company that creates content for international distribution, and is based in New York, Los Angeles and Bangalore, India.
Mallika’s past work experience includes MTV International, Go Network, the Heal The World Foundation with Michael Jackson, and Yahoo! Mallika has a BA from Brown University, an MBA from Kellogg Business School. She lives in Santa Monica, CA with her husband, Sumant Mandal, and their daughters, Tara and Leela.
Speaker: : Cultural and Spiritual Identity: Maintaining and Balancing it in the West
Amra Tareen is the CEO of Masala Inc, a social networking website. Since joining Sevin Rosen Funds in early 2000, Amra Tareen has focused on telecommunications and networking, with a particular interest in networking technology and researching investment opportunities in cable and broadband. Her previous experience includes management positions at leading communications companies Lucent Technologies and Ascend Communications, where she played a key role in growing Ascend's DSL business. She currently sits on the boards of Clovis, Lambda Optical Systems, and Lemur. Amra Tareen holds a BA in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Speaker: Loving Our Fellow Indus Sisters
Srinija Srinivasan guides the “voice of Yahoo!” throughout Yahoo!’s global online network. Since joining the company as its fifth employee in 1995, Srinivasan has led a range of editorial and policy functions, including the organization and evolution of the Yahoo! directory, original content creation, editorial and content standards across the network, and policy issues including privacy and data use, advertising guidelines, and accessibility. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Srinivasan was involved with the Cyc Project, a ten-year artificial intelligence effort to build an immense database of human commonsense knowledge. Srinivasan has appeared in top publications and on television programs both locally and nationally, including The New York Times and FORTUNE, and “20/20.” She chairs the board of directors for the San Francisco Jazz Organization (SFJAZZ), and she was a 2000 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.
She holds a B.S. with distinction from Stanford University in Symbolic Systems, and now lives bicoastally in Palo Alto, CA and New York City.
KEYNOTE: Building Community
Sujata Tipnis, MD, MPH is a general pediatrician practicing with Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Fremont, California. She completed medical school at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL in 1997, her Master in Public Health from the University Of North Carolina School Of Public Health in 1998, and her residency from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas in 2001. She has previously held faculty positions at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas-Houston prior to relocating to the San Francisco bay area in 2006. Her main interests in pediatrics include working with immigrant populations, global child health, childhood nutrition and asthma. In addition to her pediatric practice, Sujata works with Himalayan Health Exchange, a humanitarian organization that provides care to remote and restricted communities in the Indian Himalayas. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Himalayan Health Center Foundation and the Global Health Research Foundation. She lives in California with her husband Rahul Ranadive and in her free time enjoys hiking, running, scuba diving, traveling and reading.
Speaker: Women in Medicine and Public Health
Ms. Sawhney is the managing partner of the Santa Clara office of The Chugh Firm and concentrates her practice on the formation of start-up companies, transactional law, computer law and general corporate matters, specializing in representing companies in the information technology area. Ms. Sawhney is also a corporate immigration attorney and advises corporate clients in the area of business immigration law. She is actively involved in community issues and is the President of SABA (South Asian Bar Association of Northern California) and serves on the Executive Committee of North America South Asian Bar Association. She has also served as the President of SABA Southern California, on the Board of Advisors and Board of Directors of Indus Women Leaders, as a board member of APABA (Asian Pacific American Bar Association). Prior to joining The Chugh Firm, Ms. Sawhney worked as an in-house counsel for ITC, Limited in Calcutta, India for five years and briefly as the Legal Adviser for Oracle Corporation in New Delhi, India.
Ms. Sawhney received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Delhi. She received her Bachelors of Law degree also from the University of Delhi. She received her degree in Masters of Law (International Law) from Kingston University, Canada.
Speaker: Building Community
Jamuna Ravi is a Vice-President at Infosys Technologies Limited. Jamuna has an engineering Degree in computer science from BITS, Pilani and several industry certifications including ISO 9001 Tickit Auditor, CMM Assessor, Certified Software Quality Analyst and Certified Information Systems Auditor. She has over 20 years experience in the IT industry and is currently managing service delivery for North America based Banking and Capital Markets customers with a team of over 7000 geographically dispersed people. She has been working with Infosys for around 6 years now and her earlier professional experience includes 13 years with Tata Consultancy Services in varied roles ranging from a developer to a development centre head. Jamuna is married to G.R.Ravi, a chemical engineer working with Shell Technologies in Bangalore and they have a daughter Sujata (19 years) and a son Sanjay (11 years).
Her hobbies and special interests include listening to music, reading fiction and social work. She is currently the president of the Bangalore chapter of Soroptimist International, which is an international organization engaged in activities for development of women and children across the world, comprising of women who are professionally qualified as doctors, lawyers, IT professionals, etc. Jamuna is a diversity champion, and has been working on IWIN initiatives since inception.
Speaker: Building Community
Monica Kumar is senior director of product marketing at Oracle Corporation. She leads a team responsible for driving the product marketing, business development, and customer and sales strategies for Linux and Open Source at Oracle. She is also responsible for Linux and open source focused strategic partnerships with hardware and software vendors. As an evangelist for Linux and open source, Ms. Kumar often represents Oracle in customer, partner and industry events. Prior to her role in the Linux Program Office, Ms. Kumar managed global partner alliances as well as worked in Oracle’s Database Product Marketing and Server Technologies Division in various product marketing and product management roles. Prior to joining Oracle ten years ago, Ms. Kumar spent five years in various roles within the Product Marketing division at Informix Corp. Ms. Kumar has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from India and a master’s degree in Business Administration from San Jose State University.
A proud mother of two kids, Ms. Kumar, actively volunteers in her kids’ school and has been volunteering for Indian Business and Professional Women (IBPW) organization for over 15 years, most recently as Co-Executive Director.
Speaker: Building Community
Tracy M. Fredericks is the Director of Diversity for Prudential. Ms. Fredericks comes to us with 15 + years of experience in non-profit management. Her recent position before coming to Prudential was for the Girl Scouts of the USA were she held the position of Director of Membership and Marketing. Her responsibilities included creating strategies to increase girl and adult volunteer membership throughout the United States, brokering affinity partnerships between Girl Scouts and entertainment companies and managing a recruitment team of 14 professionals. Prior to this Ms. Fredericks held various positions within the diversity arena including lead consultant to Aetna US Health Care and Time Warner Inc. Ms. Fredericks holds an undergraduate degree in marketing from the State University of NY and a masters’ degree in social work administration from New York University
Speaker: Building Community
Tina Paikeday Shah is the Principal of Talent Advisory Board, which specializes in sourcing, developing and retaining a diverse workforce. Tina began her career at McKinsey & Company and served as a Senior Director at the Corporate Executive Board prior to founding Talent Advisory Board. She has advised human resource executives and business leaders on strategy and human resource issues at over thirty Fortune 500 companies. Tina has also held operating positions at The Clorox Company and Procter & Gamble. She served as Co-Founder and CEO of zBox Company until its primary product line was acquired by Whirlpool Corporation, where she became an Entrepreneur-In-Residence. Tina founded Talent Advisory Board with the social mission of fostering a greater level of understanding between people of diverse backgrounds.
Tina earned a B.S. in Commerce with Distinction from the University of Virginia and graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with an M.B.A. in 1998. She continues to serve on scholarship selection and admissions committees at both universities.
Tina has also served as the Founding Chairwoman of the Board for the Network of Indian Professionals, which has over five thousand members nationwide, and Indus Women Leaders, which has over two thousand members nationwide. She continues to give back to the community by providing pro bono consulting services to non-profit leadership development organizations, and she is frequently invited to speak on the topics of diversity, leadership and innovation. Tina is married to Tony Paikeday, Managing Partner of Silicon Counsel LLP, and they live in San Francisco.
Moderator: Building Community
Sonali Sahni Herrera led a successful career in education marketing before she co-founded MeeraMasi publishing in early 2006. MeeraMasi's mission is to create curiosity about the languages, traditions and culture of India through a variety of high-quality products. Books are designed to stimulate multiple senses in children by combining rhythmic text, vibrant illustrations, Indian languages and jovial music. Sonali is committed to promoting cultural sharing through products that enable a fun learning environment for children. She has helped create programs such as "Passport to India" story time at India Community Center in Milpitas, which takes children on a journey to a different part of India every month. She's implemented an Ambassador Program within MeeraMasi to motivate individuals to reach out to their local South Asian communities. Through special readings at independent bookstores, public libraries, preschools and elementary schools she shares her rich Indian heritage with children of all cultural backgrounds. Sonali lives in San Francisco with her husband, Carlos, and their two children, Indira and Emilio.
Speaker: : Cultural and Spiritual Identity: Maintaining and Balancing it in the West
Surindar Sikand left India at the age of 17, first settling in Uganda. In 1970, she immigrated with her family to the Bay Area. Surindar played an important role in establishing the Punjabi Cultural Society, the first of its kind in the Bay Area. The organization provided opportunity for the Indian Community to share their culture through performances and social gatherings. Surindar was also part of the founding committee of the El Sobrante Gurudwara, a landmark of the Sikh religion in the Bay Area. Surindar had a successful career in banking and is now retired. She lovingly raised her children while passing on cultural and traditional values. She continues to be a role model for many South Asian women, balancing roles of a professional, wife, mother, grandmother and a member of the extended South Asian family.
Speaker: : Cultural and Spiritual Identity: Maintaining and Balancing it in the West
Sunita Lokuge is a passionate documentary film maker with a primary focus on social issues. Having grown up in southern Africa and traveled extensively through Europe and Asia, she is able create material that crosses cultural barriers.
In her prior career spanning over twelve years Sunita has been a highly sought after executive in sales and business development for many leading Fortune 1000 companies. She currently resides in the san Francisco bay area.
Moderator: Loving Our Fellow Indus Sisters
Geetanjali Dhillon, esq., heads the South Asian space at jaman.com , the premiere destination for independent and international entertainment. Geetanjali has a key role in content acquisition, programming and editorial decisions as well as bottom line responsibility to grow and guide the online community. She is the face and voice of Jaman South Asia and uses both her legal and creative background to create content and marketing campaigns, negotiate deals and strategic partnerships - while having a lot of fun. She is a mother, lawyer, entrepreneur, and women's coach who strives to empower her fellow sisters at every turn. She aspires to live her favorite quotes "Be the change you wish to see in the world" (Mahatma Gandhi), and "don't take anything personally" (Don Miguel Ruiz).
Speaker: Loving Our Fellow Indus Sisters
Archana Sahgal is Director of The Civic Engagement Fund: For Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian Communities, a funders’ collaborative designed, in partnership with Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy and The San Francisco Foundation, to build the capacity of nonprofit organizations serving Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities. She is also Director of the Color of Democracy Fund. The Color of Democracy Fund, an initiative of the Progressive Era Project, is a philanthropic vehicle created in 2006 to build electoral power in communities of color throughout California. Prior to the Funds, she spent two years at The San Francisco Foundation as a Fellow in the Social Justice Program. There she conducted grantmaking for the Social Justice Program and the Nonprofit Sector Program. Before entering the philanthropic sector, Archana served as a law clerk with the Equal Justice Society, National Voting Rights Institute, the King Hall Immigration Detention Project, and the Asian Law Caucus and as a research assistant to Bill Ong Hing and Cruz Reynoso.
Prior to law school, Archana worked in Washington, DC at M&R Strategic Services, a government relations firm, and with EMILY’s List and at Clinton/Gore ’96 in Los Angeles. Archana received her J.D. from University of California at Davis School of Law and B.A. in Government from Claremont McKenna College. She also sits on the Board of Directors of Californians for Justice, a statewide grassroots organization working for racial justice by building the power of communities that have been pushed to the margins of the political process. She is a member of the California State Bar.
Moderator: Who’s Going to Save the World?
Jagadha Sivan is the Director of Product Design and Sourcing at World of Good, a nationally distributed fair trade gift company with more than 1,000 retail partners including Whole Foods and Wild Oats. She is the face of World of Good for the numerous artisan communities and is using her capacity as a buyer to instill basic business thinking in the artisan communities - helping them with costing and pricing, design and aesthetics, quality and consistency. She is driving groups to re-think their process of product development by helping them focus on products that have appeal to the market, while still retaining their traditional craft making process. Prior to World of Good, Jagadha had spent three months working in an artisan community in Rajasthan, India and helped build a successful launch strategy for SuVyapar, an artisan focused venture.
These experiences help her assimilate the unique day to day challenges faced by the various groups. Jagadha believes that the creation of sustainable living wage opportunities is key to individual and community empowerment, long term economic development and poverty alleviation.
Speaker: : Global Issues
Millie Froeb started her career in real estate in Los Angeles. She first worked as a real estate broker specializing in industrial properties and investments and later transitioned into real estate development. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 2000, Millie moved to San Francisco and joined Gap, Inc.. She quickly rose to director at Gap where she led the strategy group for Gap Kids and babyGap and launched Gap Maternity in stores. In 2004 Millie left Gap to take care of her three children. During her 2 years at home, she met many interesting women with distinguished education and prior careers. Most of these women opted out of the work force to take care of their children and were looking for a way to get back in, but in a limited capacity. Frustrated with their options, loss of confidence because they didn't maintain their skills, and not knowing where to go to find such opportunities, most of these women opted to do nothing. Millie wanted to figure out a way to help corporations tap into this untapped labor pool. She then co-founded YourOnRamp, an online resource for professional women across all industries, to help women get back into the work place in a capacity that is right for them.
Millie graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in economics and received her MBA from Harvard Business School. Millie has been published in Bon Apetit magazine. She loves to cook, entertain, ski and play cards.
Speaker: Women Reinventing their Careers
Farhana Huq comes from a family of self-made entrepreneurs of the South Asian Diaspora. In 2000, she founded C.E.O. Women, the 3rd start-up venture she has been involved with, after being inspired by the enterprise revolution in her father’s native Bangladesh and by the struggles that poor, single women in her own family faced to become self-sufficient. Farhana created "Micro-enterprise in Action", a self-initiated audio documentary on the lives of women entrepreneurs from around the world. She was recognized as one of the “40 Under 40” up and coming business professionals to watch by the East Bay Business Times. She was named the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year National Finalist in the Supporter of Entrepreneurship Category. Most recently she was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship, the most prestigious fellowship for leading social entrepreneurs around the world.
C.E.O. Women, founded by Farhana has won many awards including the 2005 Innovation Award for micro-enterprise development in the U.S., the 2004 Isabel Allende Espiritu Award for the Empowerment of Women, the 2007 SBA San Francisco Women's Business Champion Award and the 2007 KQED Women's History Month Local Hero Award. Farhana also serves on the Board of Directors of Chhandam Institute of Kathak Arts in Boston and was a Community Fellow of the Full Circle Fund, a San Francisco-based organization dedicated to addressing public problems through engaged philanthropy and public policy advocacy. She holds a BA from Tufts University in Economics and Philosophy.
Speaker: Who’s Going to Save the World?
