IBPW Conference 2007 - Speaker Bios
Gloria Duffy, President and CEO
Gloria Duffy is President and CEO of The Commonwealth Club of California, the nation's largest and oldest public affairs forum, founded in 1903 and headquartered in San Francisco. Each year, the Club presents over 400 speeches, panel discussions and debates on a broad range of public policy issues. With 18,700 members, the Club publishes The Commonwealth magazine and broadcasts its programs weekly on public radio, XM satellite radio and commercial stations around the U.S. It is the nation's longest running radio broadcast, begun in 1924. The Club also sponsors public policy projects, currently including Voices of Reform, which works to improve state governance in California.
Dr. Duffy served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Special Coordinator for Cooperative Threat Reduction during the first term of the Clinton Administration. She negotiated the denuclearization and dismantlement of weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet countries of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and provided $1.5 billion in US assistance to those countries.
Dr. Duffy holds Ph.D., M. Phil. and M.A. degrees from Columbia University and an A.B. magna cum laude from Occidental College. She has founded and headed two international affairs organizations, Global Outlook and the World Forum of Silicon Valley. She has served in positions at the Rand Corporation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ploughshares Fund, the Arms Control Association, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Stanford University.
She is the author/editor of two books, International Arms Control Issues and Agreements (Stanford University Press, 1983) and Compliance and the Future of Arms Control (Ballinger, 1987). Her column, "InSight," appears monthly in The Commonwealth.
Dr. Duffy has served on or chaired the boards of two-dozen national and community organizations. She is currently Chair of the Board of the US Civilian Research and Development Foundation. Created by Congress through the National Science Foundation, CRDF provides $35 million annually, from US government and private foundation sources, to employ former weapons scientists on civilian research projects with American colleagues. CRDF combats the spread of critical scientific knowledge about weapons of mass destruction, as well as contributes to economic development and international scientific cooperation. The Foundation works in the former Soviet countries, Libya, Iraq and other countries of proliferation concern.
Dr. Duffy serves on the Boards of Trustees of Dominican University of California and Occidental College, and the Advisory Board of the Freeman-Spogli Institute of International Studies at Stanford University. She is also a board member of Ploughshares Fund, and several other non-profit organizations.
She is the co-owner of an independent bookstore and art gallery, The McCloud Book Gallery, in McCloud, California (Siskiyou County) and a board member of the McCloud Land and Building Preservation Association.
Dr. Duffy is the recipient of awards including the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service (1995) and the Janet Gray Hayes Award (2002), as the San Jose woman contributing most to the local and global communities.
She has homes in Santa Clara, San Francisco and McCloud, California. Her husband, Rod Diridon, Sr., is Director of the Mineta Transportation Institute and former Chair of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. They have two children, Rod Diridon, Jr. and Mary Diridon.
Michele Kremen Bolton, Ph.D.
Michele Kremen Bolton, Ph.D. is a Principal Partner and co-founder of ExecutivEdge of Silicon Valley, LLC,. and has nearly 20 years of coaching experience. She is an Emeritus Senior Professor in the College of Business at San Jose State University.
Michele’s consulting focuses upon leadership and executive development, succession planning, strategic & visionary leadership, teambuilding, women’s leadership and career transitions. Michele is a national speaker on these topics for companies, educational institutions, business and professional associations.
Michele has extensive business experience, having co-founded several organizations, including a community organization to help develop women entrepreneurs. She was nominated as a woman of the year by the National Organization of Women Business Owners for this effort. She has also served as an advisory board member for a venture capital firm and for the National Institute of Health. Michele is active in the community and has served on the boards of Hope Rehabilitation, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Michele has consulted for such companies as Apple, Applied Materials, BEA Systems, Cadence, Charles Schwab, Cisco, Compaq/Tandem, Chevron, Easton-Bell Sports, Gap, Genelabs, Gilead Sciences, Google, Knight Ridder, Network Appliance, Nike, Intuit, Metlife, Hewlett Packard, 3-Com, Lifescan, Microsoft, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Roche Diagnostics, San Jose Medical Center, Siebel, Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, Stanley Dean Witter, Tivo, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Yahoo!, University of California, and San Jose State University. In these organizations she has worked with CEOs, ‘C’ level executives and other senior professionals and teams.
Michele has published numerous articles on innovation, strategy, leadership, and work life balance, including The Third Shift; Managing Hard Choices In Our Careers, Homes and Lives As Women. She is currently working on a new book project focused upon career ‘offramps’ and ‘onramps.’ Michele received her Ph.D. in strategic management from UCLA, her MBA from San Jose State University and her B.A. in psychology from Stanford University.
Annie Dandavati-Chandra
Annie Dandavati-Chandra has owned and operated Dandavati Rehabilitation Services for over 18 years. Four years ago, when her youngest child went to college, she decided to pursue her primary passion and she commenced the study of law, concurrent to her counseling practice. Earlier this year she successfully earned her Juris Doctorate degree and is now all set to embark on a new journey. She has also been a community leader in the South Bay, with an extensive background including having served as the two term chair of the SC County Commission on the Status of Women, founder of an Indo-American Senior Program, Founding President of the Allied Health Professionals of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, and an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow. In 1996 she was a candidate for the 15th Congressional District, gaining accolades from community leaders, but chose to withdraw from the race due to her children being too young at the time. The Mercury News, described her candidacy as follows: "Democrats familiar with the interviews said both Dandavati and Estruth are credible candidates. But they said Dandavati, a vocational rehabilitation counselor struck more chords with the group in an appearance Tuesday. 'Jerry didn’t discredit himself,' said one person in the room, 'but he hit a single. Annie hit a home run."
Today Ms. Dandavati-Chandra's goal is to take her proven track record to the practice of law, brining the same enthusiasm and passion, and to use her new found skills to contribute to community in a different capacity. She is married to Dinesh Chandra, a TiE Charter member and founder of Global Citizenship Inc. They have four children, Neelum who earner her Masters degree from Columbia university, Sonia who will be beginning her Masters program, and the younger two Neil and Natasha who graduated from UC Berkeley in 2005 and 2007 respectively and now work in San Francisco.
Paul Fong
For over 30 years, Paul Fong has been a leader in the community working tirelessly to create change for the betterment of the community.
He was elected to the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees in 1993, and is current serving his fourth term. He has served as President of the Board three times, has been a member of the Board’s Audit and Finance Committee and the Foothill-De Anza Foundation Board of Directors. Paul also serves on the board of the California Community Colleges Trustees (CCCT) and at the national levels on the board of directors of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). He is one of the few community college trustees in the country to simultaneously serve on trustee boards at the local, state and national levels. Paul is also a political science professor at Evergreen Valley College, working with young people and inspiring them to be civic-minded and engaged.
In addition to his work in education, Paul has worked tirelessly on behalf of causes such as business, civil rights, affordable housing, and the environment. He has and continues to serve in such capacities as the Child and Adolescent Health Commission; Mental Health Advisory Board; Private Industry Council; Human Development Advisory Planning Council, City of Sunnyvale; Asian Americans for Community Involvement; Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club; Chinese Community Center Board of Directors; Leadership Sunnyvale; Community Housing Developers; Northside Community Center Board of Directors; American Legion, Sunnyvale Post 344; and NAACP.
For his commitment and leadership, Paul has received many awards including membership in the American Leadership Forum Class XVII, the 2005 Father of the Year from the Building Peaceful Families Organization; 2005 Martin Luther King Good Neighbor Award; 2002 AACI Leadership Award; 2001 Jose Rizal Community Hero Award; 2000 Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award, Evergreen Community College; 1998 Fremont Union High School Foundation Partners in Life Long Learning Award; 1998 Fremont Union High School Distinguished Alumnus of the Year; De Anza College Intercultural Division Hall of Fame Inductee; 1978 Who’s Who in the West; 1975 Outstanding Young Men of America; 1974 Who’s Who in the American Junior Colleges; 1972 Outstanding College Athletes of America; and 1971 All Conference First Team Running Back, Camino Norte.
Paul grew up in Sunnyvale, went to public schools K-12 during which time he became an award winning football quarterback, and holds an M.P.A from San Jose State University as well as a master's in education from the University of California, San Francisco. He and his wife Grace are third generation owners of YK Fong Nursery and the Flower Cottage in Sunnyvale, where they also live with their two daughters, Nicole and Sydney.
Jean Fuller
Jean’s experience includes 20 years of leadership roles with Fortune 100 and 1000 companies. She was an executive in a national staffing firm managing a $20M business, a VP of an executive retained search firm and CEO of an Executive Services company. Her diverse management experience includes management roles in sales and marketing, consulting, product management, software engineering, and computer center operations. She is a frequent speaker on topics such as launching new business initiatives, individual executive and team effectiveness, personal branding, networking and how to get the most from executive coaching.
Pragati Grover
Pragati Grover has been elected to the Saratoga Union School District's Board. She started her four-year term as a school board member on December 12, 2006. Grover has been an active volunteer in Saratoga elementary schools as well as Redwood Middle School. She was the recipeint of 2006 Volunteer of the Year Award for Saratoga Union School District. From 2002-06 she served as a Library Commissioner for the City of Saratoga. In addition, Grover has served on the Board of AYSO Saratoga and Indian Business & Professional Women.
Shami Khorana
Shami Khorana is president of HCL Technologies America, Inc., the global services arm of $3 billion HCL Enterprise. Mr. Khorana is responsible for managing U.S. operations and accelerating HCL’s growth in the U.S. Since taking the helm of HCL America 5 years ago, the division has doubled in growth and represents 60% of HCL Technologies overall revenue.
A recognized leader in business strategy and technology implementation, Khorana is responsible for customer engagements across verticals, including life sciences, high-technology, retail, auto, financial services, and in such domains as enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, content management and other services.
Khorana earned a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Bombay University, a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Notre Dame, and an MBA from Indiana University. Dr. Khorana taught at Indiana University, George Washington University and the University of Maryland at College Park.
Ms. Krishnan is the President of the American India Foundation (AIF) (www.aifoundation.org) since being involved in its founding in 2001. AIF is a premier foundation with a long-term commitment to accelerating social and economic development in India and strengthening the bonds between the US and India. AIF is chaired by President Clinton and includes luminaries from the community on the Board. AIF has three offices - Silicon Valley, New York and India.
Ms Krishnan is also the Chief Financial Officer of Shah Capital Partners, a leading mid-market Technology Private Equity fund that was founded in 2003. Shah Capital Partners has over $300 Million of committed funds under management.
Previously in 1989 Ms. Krishnan co-founded SMART Modular Technologies, Inc. and served as its Chief Financial Officer. In 1999, SMART merged with Solectron Corporation in a transaction valued at over US$2 Billion. At that time SMART Modular’s revenue was over $1 Billion and it employed 1,800 people worldwide.
Previous to SMART, Ms. Krishnan held corporate accounting and finance positions at Montgomery Securities, Arthur Anderson & Company LLP, and Hill Vellacott & Company in London, England. Ms. Krishnan received a B.S. with honors from the London School of Economics and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Community:
Ms. Krishnan’s community activities include: Board Member of the American India Foundation, The Commonwealth Club, Charter Member TIE, Fellow of the American Leadership Forum, Advisory Board positions for Narika (Shelter for Abused Women in the Asian Community) and for the Global Philanthropy Forum (World Affairs Council).
Otto Lee
Otto Lee wears many different hats... After serving as Senior Attorney for the Intel Corporation, he founded the Intellectual Property Law Group LLP, specializing in patent, trademark, copyright. He is a Navy Commander and served in Operation Enduring Freedom and is currently with the Commander Naval Air Forces. He serves on the various boards, including Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Americans Democrats Club, and ACT for Mental Health. After serving as a Planning Commissioner, he was elected to Sunnyvale City Council in 2003 and is the Mayor. Otto speaks three Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Shanghainese) and Spanish.
Hon. Jamie McLeod
Jamie is a Councilwoman for the City of Santa Clara (Vice Mayor in 2005), she serves on several city and regional committees, and she works as a planner for the City of Sunnyvale. Jamie’s commitment to community service stems from a desire to build sustainable systems that respect human dignity. She has worked with refugee and immigrant communities, focusing on self-sufficiency, economic development, affordable housing, healthcare and education. Jamie’s social justice experience includes community dispute mediation and managing the repair of schools in Bosnia and Kosovo. She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. Jamie has professional experience in the private, non-profit and public sectors. Born in Wisconsin and raised in East Africa and Oregon, she loves the diversity of the South Bay. Jamie was first out lesbian elected in Santa Clara County. In 2005, she awarded the Community Leadership Award by OutNow Magazine and the Diversity Award by the Kwaanza Festival.
Indu Navar
Serus Corporation:Founder and Chief Executive Officer
A seasoned technologist and entrepreneur who has been a part of the success of a number of outstanding Silicon Valley companies, Indu Navar honed her management and leadership skills at Healtheon (WebMD), Silicon Graphics, Black and White Software (Segue) and NASA, among others. Co-founder and president for RightOn, she led the team responsible for the creation of a web and wireless--based optimized scheduling solution for the service industry. As part of the initial team of engineers at Healtheon, Ms. Navar oversaw the design and architecture of the healthcare infrastructure applications while being at the forefront of using emerging technologies for application scalability, reliability and performance. At Silicon Graphics, Ms. Navar was the technical lead responsible for the development of Intranet productivity applications that streamlined call handling. In addition, she managed the training of the company's customer support engineers, for the worldwide customer support division. Earlier in her career, Ms. Navar founded and served as president for Aquasoft Consulting; developed a software media distribution solution for Cisco System's Supply Chain; and worked with NASA to develop a flight black box data recorder extraction and simulation application. In India, she led the development of wireless telephony systems for the Indian Telephone Company - providing remote villages with phone communication for the first time. Ms. Navar was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Bangalore University, India and Master of Science in Computer Science from California State University, Chico.
Councilmember Anu Natarajan
Anu Natarajan is the first Indian-American in the Bay Area to be elected to local office - she serves on the Fremont City Council. Anu came to the United States on a Rotary International Scholarship for graduate studies and as an "ambassador of goodwill". She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture and a Masters degree in Urban Design and Planning from the University of Washington. Her professional experience includes working as an architect, public agency planner, and as an urban planning consultant. Through a community-based planning process, she believes in creating well-designed, sustainable and livable communities, which is essential to fostering economic growth. She volunteers with community organizations, and also enjoys exploring new cities and their architecture, meeting people, and reading. She is married and has a 3 year old daughter.
Anu Shukla, Founder and CEO, MyOfferPal Inc., will discuss the thrill of starting your own venture.
Ms. Shukla has provided the vision and strategy for several successful Silicon Valley software companies. Most recently, she was the founder and CEO of Rubric, a pioneer in Enterprise Marketing Automation, which was acquired for $366M. Prior to Rubric Ms. Shukla held a variety of positions, including VP of Product Strategy and Marketing at Versata, COO at mFactory, and VP of Marketing at Uniface, which was acquired for $433M by Compuware. She also held senior marketing positions at Unify and California Micro Devices. Ms. Shukla received a BA from St. Stephens College and an MBA from Youngstown State University. She serves on the Board of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), the Advisory Board for the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University and was recently named to the Technology Industry's "Dream Team" by Business 2.0 magazine.
Neerja Raman
Neerja Raman is a recognized author and executive in management research. Neerja is former Director, Strategic Planning and Imaging Systems Lab, Hewlett Packard Labs and currently Senior Fellow at Stanford University where she is developing business and leadership models for social entrepreneurs. She is on the advisory committee for Cyber-Infrastructure, National Science Foundation and board member of several non-profits. She was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2005 for global leadership and was recognized with a Distinguished Citizen Award by Federation of Indo Americans in 2006. Neerja’s book, “The Practice and Philosophy of Decision Making” was featured in the category “Books that Empower Women” by WITI. Her research at Stanford has been published in various conference proceedings and as chapter “Eco-Stacking: A Strategy for Success in Social and Business Agendas” in the summer 2007 book “Innovative Approaches to Reducing Global Poverty”. Neerja is a graduate of the Kellogg Executive Program, Northwestern University, and has Masters degrees from S.U.N.Y Stony Brook, New York and Delhi University, India.
Her website is neerja.raman-net.com.
Her blog is http://fromgoodtogold.blogspot.com.
Nithya Ruff
Nithya A. Ruff is a High Technology Executive with over 20 years of experience in marketing, business development, and product and services management. She has demonstrated proven results in strategy, positioning, partnering and execution of product plans at companies large and small. She has created and led high performance teams, and is an innovative problem-solver with excellent communication and relationship-building skills. She is President of Ruff and Associates, a management consulting firm that provides strategy, marketing and product management consulting services to start-ups and large companies in the communications and networking space. She is also the designer and owner of Nithya Designs, a custom jewelry design company.
Nithya has an MBA with concentrations in Finance, Accounting and Entrepreneurship from the University of Rochester, NY, an MS in Computer Science from North Dakota State University and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Bangalore University, Bangalore, India. She lives in the bay area with her husband and two daughters.
Dilip Saraf, Career and Life Coach, will share his experiences working with professionals who want to get back into the workforce.
Dilip Saraf is an author, speaker, career, and life coach and has himself gone through four reinventions. Starting as an engineer and technologist, Dilip became a marketing consultant, working with Fortune-500 clients showing them how to dramatically improve their global accounts. Later on he became a leadership effectiveness consultant showing major corporations such as Boeing and HP how to increase their leadership effectiveness through personal power. His most recent experience has been as a career counselor and life coach, where he leveraged his own learning to help over 3,000 clients reinvent themselves globally. He has published five books on career management based on that experience. He frequently appears on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition and other media and is published in the Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive, and San Francisco Chronicle and Marquis Who’s Who. Dilip resides is in the Silicon Valley and serves clients globally. He also teaches at the University of California, Santa Cruz Extension. For more information visit: www.7keys.org.
Cindy Chavez, Former Vice Mayor, City of San Jose
Vice Mayor Chavez maintains a sterling reputation as an advocate for improving the quality of life in neighborhoods throughout San Jose. She is a leader in developing innovative community based programs to address crime, education, small business development and neighborhood revitalization. Elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2002, Vice Mayor Chavez's tenure was distinguished by visionary leadership. Chavez helped establish the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, enhance community safety, strengthen local neighborhood associations, and expand community services. She currently Chairs the Rules Committee and serves on the Downtown Parking Board, Guadalupe River Park Task Force, Police and Fire Retirement Board, San Jose Beautiful, and the SJ/SC Treatment Plant Advisory Committee and serves many other local and regional bodies. Prior to her election as a City Council member, Chavez served as the Staff Director of Working Partnerships USA and as the Director of Education and Outreach for the South Bay Labor Council. She also served for three years as budget and policy aide to then Supervisor Ron Gonzales.
Vice Mayor Chavez is a 1987 graduate of San Jose State University and lives with her husband and son in downtown San Jose.
Mentor Bios
Deepika Bajaj: President, Invincebelle, Inc.
Mentor
Deepika Bajaj is the founder and president of Invincibelle, Inc. Invincibelle’s vision is to empower women to succeed in a multicultural world. At this time, Invincibelle is executing on the vision by creating a safe online community for women online and also organizing offline events. Prior to founding Invincibelle, Deepika had a stint in Marketing at Intel. While she was there, she served on the boards of various professional organizations like NSHMBA (National society of Hispanic MBAs) and WIN (Women in Intel).Deepika is currently working on her first book codenamed “Invincibelle Insights” that is based on blend of her experiences and more than 50 interviews of distinguished Invincibelle Guests (highly accomplished women who have succeeded in a multicultural world). The book will be published early 2008.Deepika holds a degree in Engineering from Bangalore University, India and has an MBA in Marketing from Fordham University, New York. She is an honorary member of Phi Kappa Phi & Beta Gamma Sigma. Deepika currently lives with her husband Himanshu in Mountain View, California. When she is not busy building Invincibelle or working on her book, she enjoys kick boxing, swimming and movies.
Saima Hasan: Stanford University, Senior.
Mentor for High School Students.
Saima Hasan is a senior at Stanford University, majoring in Political Science. As Director of Grassroots Fundraising for Steve Westly's gubernatorial campaign, she organized numerous fundraising events across the state, single-handedly raising over $600,000. This summer she worked as a Real Estate and Private Equity summer analyst at Sterling Stamos, a private investment firm, and has previously worked for both the San Jose Mercury News and TV Asia. Saima is actively involved in various Democratic and bipartisan political activities and women's empowerment causes. Saima graduated from Castilleja High School in 2004 where she was the Student Body President.
Ajay Mirwani: Speaker-Author-Mentor-Technologist; AMI Coaching Services, Inc.
Mentor for College Students
Ajay Mirwani went from nearly flunking out of college to graduating with honors, and also becoming the highest paid college new-hire in his class. Within two years, Ajay received several promotions and increased his salary by 60 percent! Today, he is a Senior Technology Specialist at the most popular software company in the world. He is also a successful entrepreneur. Often known as “Action Ajay”, he teaches college students how to get into the "mindset of success" to turn any situation from a negative into a positive.
Ajay encourages students to think far beyond their GPA's and the limiting beliefs of others. He identifies the skills students need to get hired quickly in high paying jobs, and inspires them to reach for the most exciting, lucrative careers possible. He entertains audiences with his personal stories, tips and secrets that will have your students living the life they truly desire – right out of college! Ajay is the author of the book titled Aim High in College, Soar Higher in the Real World (Oct. 2007), and has provided presentations for keynotes, breakouts and meetings at over 200 sessions nationwide.