Board of DirectorsAjay K. Ojha, Ph.D.
Anil Sharma, M.D.Dr. Sharma is a founding board member of Upakar and is currently serving in an At-Large position. His bio is coming soon! Archana GuptaArchana has served on the board of Upakar since 2011 and is currently the Secretary. Her bio coming soon! C.P. Subramanian, MBA
Gautam Mukunda, Ph.D.
Jyotsna Gupta Jalil
Meera Mukunda, Ph.D.
Nirupma Rohatgi, M.D.
Nithya Nagarajan, J.D., MBA
S.R. SidarthSidarth has been on the Upakar board since 2011 and is currently serving as the Vice President, Communications. Shekar Narasimhan, MBA
Shekar is Secretary of the National Housing Conference and sits on the boards of the Community Preservation Development Corporation, Low Income Investment Fund, and Executive Committee of the National Multi Housing Council. He was also appointed a Fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University and to the Advisory Board of the Housing Development Reporter. He was the founding Chair of the Campaign for Affordable Housing and still serves on its board. Shekar has served several terms on the Mortgage Bankers Association's Board of Directors, was elected as the first Chair of the Fannie Mae DUS Advisory Committee, and was appointed to the Fannie Mae National Advisory Council. He has received numerous awards in the real estate industry, including the MBA’s highest honor in 1999 and the Fannie Mae Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Shekar has earned the designation of Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB). Shekar is active in community affairs, serving on Sri Siva Vishnu Temple’s Board of Trustees and as its Treasurer, on the Board of Advisors of the Cooperative Development Foundation, and on the Children's National Medical Center Foundation board in Washington, DC. Shekar holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from IIT-New Delh and an MBA from Katz Business School at the University of Pittsburgh. Shikha Bhatnagar
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Dr. Ojha has served on the board of Upakar since 2008 and is the Vice President, Outreach. He works for the Department of Defense. In his spare time, Ajay teaches at the university and college level, is helping to build the foundation for the United States Public Service Academy, and regularly volunteers in community service. Ajay graduated with a B.A. from The University of North Carolina, an M.A. from Eastern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. Ajay sits on various local, university-affiliated, and national boards. Ajay enjoys running on the National Mall, reading, and international travel.
Subbu has served on the board of Upakar since 2005 and is currently the Vice President, Programming. He works as a real estate agent and is affiliated with Weichert Realtors. Previously he worked with the Xerox Corporation in various senior financial management positions. He has a B.Tech. degree from IIT-Chennai and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.
Gautam has served on the board of Upakar since 2005 and serves as the Chair of the Mentorship Committee. He is a Managing Director of The Two Rivers Group, a consulting firm specializing in applying insight and expertise from academia to the problems of business and government. He received a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Political Science, where he was a member of the Security Studies Program and the Program on Emerging Technologies. His research focused on the role of leaders in organizational behavior and performance, innovation, and the implications of advances in science and technology. He was a Paul & Daisy Soros New American Fellow, a National Science Foundation IGERT Fellow, and Vice-Chair of the Student Leadership Council of the National Science Foundation’s Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center. Before graduate school, he was a consultant with McKinsey & Company in its New York office, specializing in the financial and pharmaceutical sectors. His research has been published in Security Studies, Politics and the Life Sciences, Systems and Synthetic Biology, and Parameters.
Jyotsna has been a board member since 2001 and is currently serving as the President of Upakar. She has been the force behind the scholarship application process, developing and modifying it every year to keep up with the needs of the community and requirements of colleges and universities. She has managed multiple successful art shows for Upakar, which have both raised funds and promoted local Indian artists. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in Accounting and was a Manager at PG&E Energy Trading. She is currently at home raising her twins.
Dr. Mukunda has served on the board of Upakar since 2003 and is the Vice President, Scholarships. Dr. Mukunda has a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics and is working for Orbital Sciences Corporation as a Senior Staff Scientist specializing in aerospace nuclear safety.
Dr. Rohatgi has served on the board of Upakar since 2000 and is currently the Executive Vice President. She is an allergy specialist who has practiced in the Washington, DC area for around 30 years. She is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine. In addition to her work with Upakar, Dr. Rohatgi loves to garden, read, and spend time with her grandchildren.
Nithya has served on the board of Upakar since 2009 and is currently the Treasurer of the board. She is a practicing lawyer with the Antidumping Defense Group. Prior to this position, Nithya worked in the federal government for 15 years in international trade law. She is a graduate of American University's Washington College of Law. She also has an MBA in International Business and Finance and a BA in Political Science, both from George Washington University.
Shekar is a founding board member of Upakar and is current serving as the Chairmen of the Board. He is a Managing Partner at Beekman Advisors providing strategic financial advisory and investment banking services. Shekar is formerly a Managing Director of the Prudential Mortgage Capital Company, one of the nation's leading providers of commercial mortgage financing.
Shikha has served on the board of Upakar since 2004 and is currently the Vice President, Development. She is the Associate Director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council of the United States. Prior to joining the Council in 2009, Shikha served as an Executive Director of Teach For India, inspired by the Teach For America model of selecting outstanding young leaders, recruiting them to teach in low-resource schools and, over the long term, developing an alumni community which continues to advocate for educational equity. She also previously served as the Executive Director of the U.S. office of Akshaya Patra Foundation, the largest non-profit-run school lunch program in the world, for which she increased the organization’s presence through critical partnerships and grassroots mobilization, along with doubling the number of children fed daily. In addition, Shikha worked for five years on international trade policy for the U.S. Department of Commerce. She has also spent time volunteering with rural development organizations in India and is an active leader in the South Asian community. A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Shikha holds an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.