AIF is excited to announce the new leaders for its Young Professionals Chapters. Around the U.S., we have multiple chapters dedicated to inspiring young professionals to help AIF achieve its mission of catalyzing social and economic change in India.
This year’s leaders hail from top organizations across various sectors. Here are the leaders for each chapter:
Bay Area Young Professionals
Akshay Verma
Akshay is a Chapter Co-Lead at the AIFYP Bay Area chapter. His second year on the chapter, Akshay is keen to continue to help raise awareness and funding for initiatives such as the Learning and Migration Program (LAMP) for AIF, as well as establish deeper partnerships with other key organizations in the Bay Area. He has been passionate about giving back to the Indian community, and has been involved with various South Asian groups to assist with their cause. He currently works at RealtyShares, and graduated from the Wharton School at UPenn.
Anooshka Kumar
Anooshka, the new co-lead for AIF’s Bay Area Young Professional,s is looking forward to unite the region for the promotion of socioeconomic reform in India. She has merged her passions for social reform and dance by hosting and performing in several charity shows specifically tailored to raise funds for education in rural Bihar, India. This year, she hopes to raise awareness and engage other young Bay Area professionals to help improve conditions faced by today’s underserved communities in India. Anooshka currently works in Strategy & Operations at Salesforce. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley; while there, she double majored in Business Administration and Economics.
Mayura Muthye
This is Mayura’s second year as part of the AIF Bay Area Young Professionals Chapter. As the Community Outreach Co-Lead last year, she helped plan and execute 3 successful events- a film night showcasing educational short films, a venture capital speaker panel featuring VCs investing in developing markets, and a SoulCycle fundraiser. This year, Mayura is thrilled to be a Co-Lead and is excited to help spread awareness amongst the Bay Area young professionals community. Mayura has been involved in several philanthropic efforts throughout high school and college and has always been passionate about enabling change on both a local and a global level. She feels strongly about empowering underserved communities to succeed through education and looks forward to working on the LAMP initiative. Mayura is currently a member of the Data Analytics team at Shopkick and holds a double major in Business Administration and Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Los Angeles Young Professionals
Siva Vadlamannati
Siva is the newest member of AIF’s Los Angeles Young Professionals Leadership Council. She is an experienced finance professional with her MBA from the Kelley School of Business. She brings a passion for service and change within her community. She has been involved with NGO’s that help rural development in India from a young age and continues to look for ways to make a positive impact.
New York Young Professionals
Neha Prakash
This is Neha’s third year as a member of AIF’s New York Young Professionals Leadership Council, having previously served as a Chapter Lead from 2014-2015 and in the Events Committee from 2013-2014. During her time on the leadership council, Neha has focused on improving the organization’s marketing strategies, engaging a motivated new audience in AIF’s initiatives, and organizing successful and informative events benefiting AIF’s LAMP and Rickshaw Sangh programs. Her passion for nonprofits was developed in college, fundraising for charities that worked to educate girls in India. Neha holds a Masters degree from Columbia University’s School of Journalism and a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University. She is currently a pop culture reporter for Mashable.
Vipin Shri
Vipin has served on AIF’s New York Young Professional Leadership Council for two years. In his first year as part of the technology committee, he took charge of revamping the websites for all of the YP chapters nationally. In his second year, he helped the council utilize new marketing tools and channels to achieve higher levels of awareness and reach fundraising goals. His passion for AIF and its initiatives stems from his childhood memories of being raised in India and seeing the disparity in wealth, health, and education amongst his neighbors in Hyderabad. Through his professional experience and creative thinking, Vipin hopes to continue the chapter’s tradition of providing a soapbox for India’s most critical issues.
Vipin works for Sparks Experiential Agency as a content marketing manager. While he resides in Connecticut, he spends much of his time in New York City and is excited to further connect AIF with this city’s amazing collection of young people.
Orange County Young Professionals
Jasmita “Jessie” Patel
Jessie is the co-lead for AIF’s Orange County Young Professionals Leadership Council. has been with The R H Morris Group since 2008, helping her clients in financial, business, and estate planning. Jessie is a Financial Adviser offering Advisory Services through Eagle Strategies LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser, is a Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow, and is also a Member of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors and The Million Dollar Round Table. Founded in 1927, the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT),
She grew up in Southern California and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree with emphasis in Marketing and Management from Chapman University in Orange, California. While in college, Jessie tried to travel as much as she could, and today she serves clients all over the United States. In her spare time, Jessie enjoys spending time with her husband Kunal, travelling, volunteering in local charities and spending time with her family and friends.
Nithin Jilla
Nithin is the co-lead for AIF’s Orange County Young Professionals Leadership Council.
His journey as a social entrepreneur started when he entered high school in 2006. He co-ledKenya Dream, an organization that aims to support students in Kenya with scholarships and enhance the quality of education, and went on to start the first college branch at UC Irvine. He became very involved in entrepreneurship at UC Irvine – helping to pioneer new collaborative initiatives, launch 2 small ventures and received his B.S. in Computer Science in 3 years in 2013. Currently, he is the Director of Programs at the Kay Family Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation and the CoProject Director of AppJam+, a STEM education program that is recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative and teaches underserved and low-income middle school kids how to make mobile apps while exposing them to STEM careers.
He serves on the Board of Directors for Child S.H.A.R.E, the largest independent foster parent recruitment organization in the U.S., finding “forever” homes for abused and neglected foster youth. Nithin has an interest in technology, education and enjoys working collectively with leaders to bring about positive impact. He aspires to build models and systems that are sustainable, and empower the next generation of youth to become leaders in their local community.
Washington D.C. Young Professionals
Anushree Banerjee
Anushree has been involved with AIF since 2010 when she was a Digital Communications Intern at the organization’s headquarters in New York. She joined the AIF’s DC Young Professionals (YPs) in 2013 and has been involved with YPs for three years, first as the Digital Communications Director, and then Co-Lead in 2014 and now in 2015. AIF has been an integral part of Anushree’s volunteer life for a long time, and she is deeply committed to the incredible mission that AIF stands for. Anushree feels deeply connected to India, and the socio-economic issues it faces as the country matures.
Public service is an integral part of Anushree’s life and goals; she is currently a Masters of Public Policy candidate at Georgetown University studying conflict zones, homeland security, and post-war reconstruction. Prior to graduate school, she was a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton working in international development and commercial philanthropy. She is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and lives in D.C., and is excited for the year ahead!
Sailaja Shri
Sailaja is a New England native, but currently a D.C. transplant. She’s been a part of the AIF YP DC Chapter since moving to the area in 2014 and this is her first year as co-lead. Throughout her first year in the chapter itself she was an event coordinator with a focus on fundraising for LAMP. Sailaja fell in love with the AIF’s mission and the people she was able to work which led to her current role. Sailaja has a passion for giving back to the country in which she was born. Though she has little memory of India, she’s deeply connected through her family’s stories and traditions.
Although she is currently in the finance field, she hopes to one day move into the non-profit sector and start her own school in India. She’s excited for what she can learn from AIF this year and also to continue meeting new, like-minded young professionals in the city!
Shristi Kauffman
Shristi has been a member of AIF’s DC Leadership Council for two years, serving as an Events Lead during her first year and a Co-Lead this year. AIF combines two things that are close to Shristi’s heart – India and philanthropy. Growing up in Nepal, she was so fascinated by India that she taught herself Hindi with the help of her friends and Bollywood. Since moving to Washington, D.C, she found a way to stay connected to the region by immersing herself in philanthropy and joining the AIF YP DC team to help catalyze social and economic change in India.
Besides philanthropy, Shristi is passionate about start-ups and currently works as a Sr. HR Manager at a health tech start-up based out of Georgetown. She is a graduate of University of Maryland College Park and currently resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Ryan Kauffman (also a member of the AIF YP DC Chapter), and her English Chocolate Labrador, Tucker.
New England Young Professionals
Isha Gulati
Isha grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from Brown University in 2013. Currently, she works as an Innovation and Insights Consultant at Sun Life Financial.
In her free time, Isha enjoys running, discovering new wines, traveling, and tutoring.
Arjun Kapoor
Arjun is originally from Central New Jersey and graduated from Boston University with a degree in Finance & Accounting in May 2015. Currently, Arjun works as an Analyst for Goldman Sachs.
In his free time, Arjun enjoys exploring new cuisines, playing tennis, and trekking.
