Meet the Team

Who We Are

The Akshaya Patra Foundation USA

We support the work of The Akshaya Patra Foundation in India, which feeds 1.76 million children with a hot mid-day meal daily and reach a goal of feeding 5 million children daily by 2025. The Akshaya Patra Foundation USA raises 10-12% of the total program costs for the organization in India. We share the vision that no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.

Our work is accomplished through the cooperation of a dedicated group of compassionate individuals from a range of professions. We are building relationships with individuals, multi-national corporations, foundations and grantmakers to bring awareness to the classroom hunger children in India endure, and which often forces them to drop out of school.

Akshaya Patra USA has a staff of 10, with 20 volunteer-driven chapters in major cities in the US, a Board of Directors and an Advisory Board.

The youth ambassador program actively engages young volunteers of all ages to bring awareness and raise funds for the program, while helping develop leadership, marketing and development skills.

Growing at a steady 20% pace every year, we are proud to be associated with major multi-nationals, large foundations and exceptional people who nurture and inspire us to do more not just through donating funds, but donating valuable resources, including time and expertise to improve our productivity and efficiency. Thank you!

The foundation is registered with the US Internal Revenue Service (Tax ID number 01-0574950) as a 501(c)3 charitable organization and has earned top honors from both Charity Navigator and Guidestar.

Advisory Board

Deepak Chopra

Founder, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing

DEEPAK CHOPRA MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”He is the author of more than 80 books translated into over 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. Two of his books, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (1993) and The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (1995), have been recognized on The Books of The Century Bestsellers List. Chopra is the co-author with Rudolph E. Tanzi of the instant New York Times bestseller, Super Brain and current bestseller, Super Genes (Harmony, November 2015).

Chopra serves as co-founder of Jiyo, Adjunct Professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, Health Sciences, Faculty at Walt Disney Imagineering and Senior Scientist with The Gallup Organization. For the last three years, Greatist.com recognizes Dr. Chopra as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness.” The World Post and The Huffington Post global internet survey ranked Dr. Chopra #17 influential thinker in the world and #1 in Medicine”.

Narayana Murthy

Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Infosys Limited

Narayana Murthy, is an Indian IT industrialist and the co-founder of Infosys, a multinational corporation providing business consulting, technology, engineering, and outsourcing services. He started Infosys in 1981. Murthy has been listed among the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time by Fortune magazine. He has been described as Father of Indian IT sector by Time magazine due to his contribution to outsourcing in India. Murthy has also been honoured with the Padma Vibhushanand Padma Shri awards.

Nitin Nohria

Dean, Harvard Business School

Nitin Nohria became the tenth dean of Harvard Business School on 1 July 2010. He previously served as co-chair of the Leadership Initiative, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development, and Head of the Organizational Behavior unit.

Dean Nohria’s is co-author or co-editor of 16 books. He is also the author of over 50 journal articles, book chapters, cases, working papers, and notes. He sits on the board of directors of Tata Sons and Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition, he serves as an advisor to the Piramal Group.

Prior to joining the Harvard Business School faculty in July 1988, Dean Nohria received his Ph.D. in Management from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (which honored him as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2007). He was a visiting faculty member at the London Business School in 1996.

Vandana Tilak

CEO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation USA

Vandana is the founder of Bombay Pictures, the Oshan Center and Almex USA, Inc. a family owned engineering firm. Vandana began working for Akshaya Patra since 2012, started the Los Angeles Chapter in October 2014. Under her leadership, the chapter has consistently raised over $1 million dollars every year. Vandana was appointed to the Akshaya Patra USA board in 2015.

Satya Tiwari

President, Surya, Inc.

Satya started his career as an investment banker after graduating from Northwestern University with degrees in computer engineering and economics. He joined Surya, his family business, in 2004 to build the firm into a global brand.

Today, Surya is a recognized leader offering the widest selection of rugs and coordinated accessories in the U.S. Surya currently works with 75% of the top U.S. furniture retailers, leading hospitality and design services companies, as well as global retailers. Surya proudly serves over 5,000 independent retailers and interior designers. Surya was named to Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 500/5000 list of the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States and surpassed $50M annual revenues in 2011.

Surya leverages the talents of emerging and world renowned designers such as HGTV-host Candice Olson and Emmy-award winning costume designer Bob Mackie to create inspirational and trend-driven designs. A majority of the products are manufactured in its India based facilities, and Surya has been increasingly relying on innovative manufacturers in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Satya is committed to sustainable communities. Surya is the employer of choice for 50,000 weavers in India. This employment along with Satya’s community involvement provides financial stability so that the artisan craft of rug weaving can be preserved. Satya is a board member for two nonprofit organizations, East Meets West and Akshaya Patra , that are committed to improving the quality of lives in rural communities in Asia by elevating the accessibility and quality of healthcare and education.

Fareed Zakaria

Author, journalist and Host of CNN’s “GPS”

Farheed Zakaria is a journalist, political scientist and author. He is the host of CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria GPS and writes a weekly column for The Washington Post.He has been a columnist for Newsweek, editor of Newsweek International, and an editor at large of Time.

Sumir Chadha

Co-founder & Managing Director at WestBridge Capital Partners

Sumir Chadha is a co-founder and Managing Director of WestBridge Capital, a leading investment firm focused on India, with over $2.5 billion of capital under management. WestBridge has offices in California and India. Prior to WestBridge, Sumir co-founded Sequoia Capital India. He was also part of the Principal Investment Area (PIA) at Goldman Sachs. Sumir has also worked at McKinsey & Co. in New York, where he was part of the early team that helped establish McKinsey in India in 1994. Sumir currently serves on the India Advisory Board for Harvard Business School, and on the Advisory Board of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) at Princeton University. Sumir has previously served as Chairman of the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA). Sumir holds an MBA from Harvard Business School with Distinction, and a BSE in Computer Science from Princeton University.

Board of Directors

Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande

Board Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation USA

Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande has been the Chairman of Akshaya Patra USA since 2008. Dr. Deshpande is the President and Chairman of Sparta Group LLC and has founded several successful companies including Cascade Communications and Sycamore Networks. Dr. Deshpande holds a B. Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras, an M.E. from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, and Ph.D from Queens University in Canada. Dr. Deshpande serves as a life-member of the MIT Corporation.

Madhu Pandit Dasa

Chairman, Akshaya Patra Foundation India

Madhu Pandit Dasa has been a member of the Akshaya Patra USA Board of Directors since 2006. He completed his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT-Mumbai in the year 1980. While he was doing his Masters in Technology in IIT-Mumbai in 1981, he became a full-time member of ISKCON. In 1994, he initiated an integrated social development project for the benefit of the rural people of Mysore and Mandya districts. A model, prototype organic farm based on natural and earth-friendly farming methods along with an internationally accredited farmer-training center has been setup in the 110-acre land on the banks of river Kaveri in Srirangapatam. He designed the first centralized and mechanized kitchen of Akshaya Patra, to provide school meals to underprivileged children in the Government schools of Bangalore Rural District during July 2000.

Chanchalapathi Dasa

Vice Chairman, Akshaya Patra Foundation India

Chanchalapathi Dasa, known to many as “CP Ji”, was among the first founders of the Akshaya Patra Foundation. While in college, he embraced the mission of Srila Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and became a full-time dedicated member in 1984. Inspired by Srila Prabhupada’s message of compassion and self-less service, Chanchalapathi Dasa helped found Akshaya Patra as a pilot program serving school meals to just 1,500 children in 5 schools in Bangalore. Together, the founders combined their own knowledge of engineering to transform Akshaya Patra into one of the world’s largest NGO-run school meal programs that today serves 1.3 million children daily in over 9,500 schools from 19 kitchens in nine states across India. Today, Chanchalapathi Dasa manages the executive operations of the Foundation.

Prabhakar “PK” Kalavacherla

Partner, KPMG USA

Prabhakar “PK” Kalavacherla is a partner with KPMG in San Francisco, CA, beginning in February 2014. From 2009 to 2013 he was a Board Member for the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the organiztion responsible for issuing international financial reporting standards. Previously, he was a partner with KPMG USA in San Francisco, and has done rotations with KPMG in London and India.

B.V. Jagadeesh

President and CEO, KAAJ Systems

B. V. Jagadeesh is a successful serial entrepreneur in the field of technology, a Venture Capitalist and a philanthropist. He co-founded and was CTO of Exodus communications in 1993 that pioneered the concept of Internet data centers. He was instrumental in successful IPO of Exodus in 1998. Jagadeesh seed funded NetScaler and became President and CEO in 2000. NetScaler was successfully sold to Citrix for $325M and Jagadeesh served as Group VP and GM for Citrix application networking division. Jagadeesh has served as CEO and President for 3Leaf Systems. Currently Jagadeesh is a Managing Partner at KAAJ Ventures.

Vandana Tilak

CEO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation USA

Siva Sivaram

Executive VP, Western Digital

Dr. Siva Sivaram was appointed executive vice president of memory technology in May 2016 when SanDisk was acquired by Western Digital and is responsible for the ongoing development of the company’s industry-leading NAND flash memory, as well as the development of next-generation technologies, including 3D NAND (BiCS) and 3D ReRAM. Sivaram has over 30 years of experience in semiconductors, 3-D memory architectures, process technology, equipment and materials. He has held executive positions at Intel and Matrix Semiconductor, and at SanDisk after its acquisition of Matrix. Additionally, he was the Founder and CEO of Twin Creeks Technologies, a solar panel and equipment company. Under his leadership, SanDisk created the world’s first cross point 3D memory technology, the world leading 15nm 2D NAND technology, and the industry’s first 256 Gigabit (Gb) 3-bit-per-cell (X3) 48-layer 3D NAND chip. Sivaram has also served as a board member of several start-up firms, was entrepreneur-in-residence at Crosslink Capital and XSeed Capital, a research scholar at Matsushita Electric, and an adjunct faculty member at San Jose State University. Additionally, Sivaram has published numerous technical papers as well as a textbook on Chemical Vapor Deposition, and he holds several patents. He earned his doctorate and master’s degrees in materials science from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he has been elected to its Board of Trustees. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi, India, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Staff

Vandana Tilak

CEO – [email protected]

As a, pro bono CEO for an exemplary organization, Vandana overseas a team of 4 development officers a marketing director and a lean admin team. Vandana works with thirteen Akshaya Patra chapters across the USA, planning and implementing brand strategy, fund raising and fostering donor relationships. She collaborates with Akshaya Patra India for establishing new kitchens in order to expand the scope of the organization from feeding 1.6 million children to 5 million children daily by 2020.

Vandana is a trained ayurvedic practitioner, an avid reader of philosophy and enjoys travel, poetry, music, portraiture and photography. She has grown married children Anjani and Kedar, and a grand-daughter, Jiya. Vandana lives with her husband Ravi (class of 1980, IIT Bombay, Metallurgy) in Manhattan Beach, CA.

Geeta Kulkarni

Director of Development, West – [email protected]

Geeta has been associated with Akshaya Patra almost since inception due to her passion to do something transformational for society. She started working as a volunteer in December 2001 and was one of the founder member of the fund raising team in India. She has deep expertise in fund raising and has extensive experience in creating different products, avenues for fund raising. She was instrumental in creating various unique programs for engagement and volunteering for the corporate sector. She also has played transformational roles in Human resources by defining engagement drivers and strategy for our employees. Geeta has a Masters in Software Engineering from Brandeis University, and is based in the Bay Area.

Ankita Narula

Director of Development, East – [email protected]

I am open-minded, fun loving, an easy-going, caring, adventurous and sincere woman.I am honest and give 100% in everything I do. I enjoy exploring new places such as- historical spots, cruise with friends, hill stations, mountains. Fitness – Yoga/Meditation, Music, and Fashion are some interesting subjects to me.

Helping others really matters to me. I saw a worthy cause with an emotional appeal in Akshaya Patra. I feel proud to be a part of this exceptional effort. The cause is huge – almost infinite. I believe better education leads to a better quality of life.

Healthy, happy and knowledgeable children are essential for prosperity and progress. Akshaya Patra’s focus on food and education goes a long way towards helping to achieve that.

Sarah Beth Lardie

Director of Development, East

With more than a decade of experience in advancing the mission, vision, and goals of non-profit and socially responsible for-profit companies, Sarah Beth Lardie has helped to lead the financial growth and expansion of a wide range of successful organizations including The Jane Goodall Institute, United Nations Women Humanitarian Action Program, and the World Food Program among others.

Sarah Beth was also a member of the founding management team at Joshua Venture, a social venture fund for non-profit entrepreneurship that operated successfully for 4 years, funding 16 projects across the United States. Her articles on impact investing and trends in global philanthropy have been published by The DO School, ZEIT Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, and others. She is a Mentor with MIT’s LaunchX program and routinely consults with social entrepreneurs and those seeking to support innovative projects in civil society. Sarah Beth brings a hybrid background in public administration and business to her work building financial support for sustainable, impactful organizations.

Shivani Patel

Director of Marketing – [email protected]

Shivani is new to the Akshaya Patra Team. She has over ten years of experience in graphic design and marketing. She has worked with a variety of companies spanning industries like entertainment, health & beauty and medical education. In this process she has gained much experience in various areas which she can now apply in this vital role with Akshaya Patra. Shivani currently resides in Southern California with her husband, young daughter and 2 dogs. She loves to spend her free time with her family and friends. Shivani is involved with the local Indian community and in her spare time enjoys dancing, traveling and being creative. She is very excited to join the AP family and is looking forward to this beautiful journey of helping our future.

Piyali Dutta

Donor Liason – [email protected]

Piyali brings over 16 years of corporate financial sales and marketing experience. Prior to joining Akshaya Patra, she worked at Putnam Investments, MFS Investments and Hartford Life Insurance. She was in charge of a $40 million territory and her roles included sales and marketing of financial products, developing new and managing existing client relationships, along with event planning to increase territory sales. Piyali was a multifunctional manager recognized for researching and developing innovative marketing strategies that drive sales, build high quality brand reputation, and increase customer loyalty. She has a B.A from SUNY Buffalo.

Darshana Merchant

Honorary Ambassador, Graphic Design

Darshana is the creative director of Darshanadesigns a media company. She has 25 years of experience. She worked with Forefront Advertising and Grades Advertising in India before starting her own company.

Darshana has also taught aerobics and has been doing pro bono work for Akshaya Patra since 2014.

There are children out there who just need an opportunity so that they can go to school instead of resorting to child labor to earn two square meals a day. All kids need is a little help, a little hope and someone to encourage them. If feeding a child for $15 a year brings children to school, gets them an education, promotes health and make a better life for themselves as well as their family is a program that I am proud to support. Akshaya Patra’s meal program enables children in need to receive nutritious hot and fresh food every school day.

Adriana Sanchez

Director, Finance & Human Resources – [email protected]

Adriana has been working as a Finance Manager in the non-profit sector for over 12 years. After having worked in both the corporate and non-profit environment, she quickly realized working for a cause was so much more fulfilling. In her previous management roles, due to her accuracy and attention to detail she reduced the costs of the organization by having flawless audit prep work. Adriana joined the team in November 2013. She graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Marketing.

Liz Magliozzi

Adminstration

I have been working for Akshaya Patra for over two years now and I must say it has been very rewarding. I come from a financial background working for start up businesses which I enjoyed as well.

I have always wanted to work for a non-profit and since I semi-retired I couldn’t have found a better organization to join. It’s so heart warming to know that I can give aid to help the children. That is what life is all about.

Philip Quinn

Administration

Recently retired from a career in financial services operations and project management. Now associated with Akshaya Patra to fulfill my desire to assist a nonprofit organization on a part-time basis.

Poonam Kumar

Project Manager

Driven by a desire to bring a positive change in the society and love for children,Poonam became associated with Akshaya Patra in 2012 and continues to be committed to the cause as Akshaya patra expands in reach and impact. She is based in the Bay Area, California and her current responsibilities include business development, fund raising and Project management. She is skilled at developing and managing new accounts and brings over 5 years of experience in Business development ,corporate sales and key account management in FMCG ,Retail and Hospitality industries.Prior to Akshaya Patra, Poonam worked at Bisleri in Mumbai India’s largest Mineral water company Bisleri , where she led the sales and marketing activities for the Five star hotels,fine dine restaurants,clubs and Gymkhanas and developed super markets, multiplexes and hospitals as a new segment for Bisleri. Prior to that she worked at BJN Hotels, Mahindra Holidays Resorts and Parle Products in sales ,HNI management and business development positions.Poonam holds an MBA (Marketing) from Pune University and Bachelor of Computer Science degree from H.A.L. College of Science,India.

Rajesh Chilkunda

Raj comes from the IT corporate world having worked for 20+ years in IT projects at Toyota, Disney, AT&T, in the US, UK and in India. Raj moved to Los Angeles in 2012 and previously worked in Washington D.C.

Raj is excited to join Akshaya Patra because the work here is meaningful and you get to see real effects on people’s lives with this work.

Raj lives in La Crescenta with his wife Gita who works at Mount St. Mary’s University in IT, and twin sons Adarsh and Vikram who are in high school.

Raj’s interests are in IT, personal finance and public speaking.

Seirah Royin

Seirah Royin is a professional actress and producer in Hollywood, CA. She plays the role of Mrs. Tripathi co-starring with Gillian Anderson, David Arquette and Parambrata Chatterjee in the film, SOLD, directed by Oscar winner, Jeffrey Brown and Executive Produced by Oscar winner, Emma Thompson. Seirah is also an Associate Producer of the film. Seirah serves as an Ambassador for Childreach International and the #taughtnottrafficked campaign to fight human trafficking worldwide through education for children.

Currently, Seirah is in development on her next feature film in which she serves as Executive Producer, Writer and Lead Actress. With a multinational cast of A-List stars, the film tells the true story of a heroic Indian princess in World War II.

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