ekya.org - Past Speakers

Leadership Series

Ekya believes in education, both by financially supporting programs for the underprivileged and by periodically holding events that promote local member education and discussion. Every month, Ekya will hold free events meant to highlight a specific issue. The goal of the series is to provide an open forum for discussion.

Past Events:

March 2009:

David Prendergast, 54 is the new President and CEO of The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN), an international organization with a mission to alleviate world hunger by supporting food banks where they exist and working collaboratively to create them in communities where they are needed. Mr. Prendergast was a driving force in the inception of GFN, laid the groundwork for the organization's first pilot project in Ghana and most recently has spearheaded GFN's project to develop food banks in India.

February 2009:

Joint Forum with IDCA (India Development Coalition of America)

Mr. Muhammad Khan is a Director of theGreater Chicago Food Depository, a food bank that provides food for the hungry while striving to end hunger. GCFD serves 500,000 people through 600 food pantries and soup kitchens in Cook County. Annually, 46 millions pounds of food are distributed. Mr. Khan will speak about GCFD accomplishments since 1979, and explore opportunities to work with IDCA and Ekya.

Mr. Dale Asis is Program Consultant to the Chicago Global Donors Network (CGDN). CGDN seeks to empower international philanthropy at the local level by equipping donors with resources to optimize their giving around the world. Mr. Asis will talk about the work of CGDN, the workshops they conduct for their members, and the accomplishments of the network since its founding in 2003

November 2008:

Dr. Shiban Ganju

Dr. Ganju returned to speak about Save-A-Mother, a program that he has started in India. The session was meant to inform Ekya about the project, to better evaluate it and discuss funding possibilities.

October 2008:

"Divided We Fall" movie screening. For more info/trailers - http://www.dwf-film.com

September 2008:

Dr. Chris Stout

Ekya's Leadership series for September will feature Dr. Chris Stout - an international humanitarian who will be speaking on general development and his life experiences.

June 2008:

Ms. Mary Anne Mohanraj

Ms. Mohanraj, a South Asian author - she will be speaking about her work as an author and about her organization, Desilit.

May 2008

Dr. Vasudevan Rajaram

Dr. Rajaram is a founder of IDCA, a development organization focused on holistic rural development in India. He has a significant background in environmental engineering, as well as development projects.

April 2008

Dr. Divyesh Mehta (Video Link)

Dr. Mehta is the head of the oncology department at UIC, and spent 15 years in India developing a scalable model for blood banks, as well as setting up hospitals. He did extensive work on campaigning for HIV/AIDS awareness and helping to drive policy decisions.

ppt presentation

More about Dr. Divyesh Mehta

UIC Medical Center Profile

NBC5 Article

March 2008

Dr. Shiban Ganju

Dr. Ganju is a practicing Gastroenterologist, and is on the board of a microfinance firm, and has extensive experience as a public health advocate in South Asia.

February 2008

Ms. Jenan Mohajir (Video Link)

Ms. Jenan Mohajir is an Outreach and Education Associate with the Interfaith Youth Core. The Interfaith Youth Core is a non-profit group that is dedicated to using service as common ground for bringing youth of different faiths together.

Jenan Mohajir Bio

January 2008

Dr. Ananda Chakrabarty (Video Link)

More About Dr. Ananda Chakrabarty

Wikipedia Page
Supreme Court Case (Diamond v. Chakrabarty
UIC Bio

December 2007

Dr. Prakash Desai (Video Link)

More About Dr. Prakash Desai

Indian Immigrants in America: Some Cultural Aspects of Psychological Adaptation
UIC Homepage
Google Search on Dr. Prakash Desai

October 2007

Mr. Sam Pitroda (Video Link)