Leadership and Board
Board of Directors
Ashok Alexander
Ashok founded The Antara Foundation to apply his experience in ‘scaled health delivery’ to address maternal and child mortality. Previously, Ashok established and expanded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s India office from its inception in 2003 until 2012. There he created Avahan, which grew to become the world’s largest private HIV-prevention program.
Prior to the Gates Foundation, Ashok was a senior partner with McKinsey & Company. He has been a Senior Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, a health columnist with Mint, and Hindustan Times, and an author – his first book, “A Stranger Truth” is a chronicle of his adventures with Avahan. Ashok studied in St. Stephen’s College, the Delhi School of Economics, and IIM Ahmedabad.
Ajay Dhankhar
Ajay is Senior Partner with McKinsey & Company, where he serves as the global coleader of McKinsey’s M&A, strategy, finance, and risk work for the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Products Practice. Ajay also serves as a senior master faculty of McKinsey’s partner training programs, and was previously the global coleader of its R&D work. He has a background in computer science and a PhD in molecular biophysics and biochemistry.
Outside of work, Ajay enjoys golf and skiing with his family and friends, and serving on the boards of several not-for-profit institutions including the Newark Academy and the Yale Graduate School Alumni Association.
Arjun Malhotra
Arjun is an Indian entrepreneur, industrialist and philanthropist. He is a pioneer of the Indian IT industry. He served as Chairman of Headstrong’s Board of Directors before its acquisition by Genpact in 2011. Prior to Headstrong he was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of TechSpan, which merged with Headstrong in 2003.
He co-founded the HCL group in 1975, taking it from a six-person “garage operation” to one of India’s largest Information Technology corporations. Arjun is former Co-Chair of the Global Pan-IIT Alumni Association, and is on the Board of several educational institutions and organizations in India.
Helene D. Gayle
Helene joined The Chicago Community Trust as president and CEO in 2017. Under her leadership, the Trust has adopted a new strategic focus on closing the racial and ethnic wealth gap in the Chicago region. Helene began her career as a physician before entering the public health and global development fields. She has worked for the Centers for Disease Control, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CARE, and McKinsey Social Initiative (now McKinsey.org.)
Helene earned a B.A. at Barnard College, M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, and M.P.H. at Johns Hopkins University. She has received 18 honorary degrees and holds faculty appointments at the University of Washington and Emory University. She serves on several public company and nonprofit boards.
Jaideep Khanna
Jaideep is the founder of a private family office that manages investments with a focus on technology, sustainability, and real estate. Previously he co-founded Artha Capital management, an emerging market fund in 2002. Prior to Artha, Jaideep was an executive director and money manager at Morgan Stanley Asset Management. He holds an MBA from Duke University and received a degree in accounting and economics from Muskingum University.
Jaideep is the co-founder of a private family foundation, providing grants to non-profit organizations focused on education, health, the environment, community, food, sustainable farming, and spirituality. He also serves on the National Board of Directors for Pratham USA and on the New York Regional Board of Room to Read.
Navneet Chugh
Navneet is Managing Partner of Chugh LLP founded in 1985. He is an Attorney and a CPA, holds an MBA from USC and is a graduate of Senior Executive Leadership Program from Harvard University. Chugh LLP provides full service legal and tax services with a staff of 575 employees, with 184 attorneys and CPAs in 15 offices over the world.
Navneet is the founder of the South Asian Bar Association of California (SABA), TiE Southern California, SABA North America, International Indian Bar Association, and the Indian Lawyers Association (ILA). He sits on the board of HAB Bank, Dhandho Holdings, Pratham USA, Sambhi Foundation, Foster India Foundation, and the newspaper India West. He has served on the boards of TiE Global, American India Foundation, 1947 Partition Archives and many other organizations.
Sahana Sarma
Sahana is Global Managing Director at Google Cloud where she is helps strategic customers structure their digital transformation journey. Prior to Google Cloud, she was Partner with McKinsey & Company for 15 years. She has worked across multiple geographies, including 10 years each in the US and in India. She is deeply passionate about the areas of inclusion and equity, women and child health, and climate change.
Sahana completed her bachelor’s and master’s in Computer Science from MIT and MBA from Harvard Business School. Outside of work, Sahana has two boys who keep her very busy. She is a passionate tennis fan, and you will find her often at tennis tournaments on weekends or staying fit through running or yoga. She is also actively involved in the MIT Alumni Association as the Alumni President of her class.
Sapphira Goradia
Sapphira Goradia is the Executive Director of the Vijay and Marie Goradia Foundation. As Executive Director, Sapphira leads the Foundation’s efforts to improve health and educational outcomes in India through the support of innovative, measurable and scalable initiatives. Prior to assuming her role at The Goradia Foundation, Sapphira worked for a number of NGOs focused on the prevention and treatment of both acute and chronic diseases, including UNAIDS and Population Services International. She holds a BA from Pomona College and a Masters of Public Health from The George Washington University. Sapphira serves on the advisory board of Pratham USA and the board of directors of the global health NGO SightLife. She also serves on the board of directors of Dasra, Women Moving Millions, and TPW.
Srividya Prakash
Vidya is CEO of Antara International. She brings deep passion for public health with a focus on reproductive health, health systems and human resources. Previously, Vidya was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, where she co-led the Global Public Health practice, and more recently, worked in in renewable energy with sPower-AES.
Vidya is an alumnus of the Indian School of Management, Ahmedabad and a business and economics major from the University of Bombay. She serves on the board of the Akanksha Education Fund and actively supports nonprofits addressing gender issues, domestic violence, homelessness and food security.