About Us

Mission Statement:

The REaD Foundation promotes the empowerment of South Asian women and girls through education and rural development. Additionally, REaD focuses on improving their lives by funding educational opportunities and health care programs— enhancing local communities through infrastructure and positive social change

 

Niyati Thakur, Executive Director.

Niyati studied South Asian Languages & Cultures at Barnard College, Columbia University and the University of Chicago. She is currently a practicing attorney and lives in Chicago.

 

Board Members

 

RK College

Dr. Suresh K. Nair, Professor, School of Business, University of Connecticut

Suresh graduated from IIT Kharagpur, and then did his MS in Industrial Engineering from National Productivity Council in Chennai. He then worked with NPC and Siemens for four years in consulting and manufacturing, before going to Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA for an MS and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering. After his Ph.D. he joined the faculty of University of Connecticut. He was associate dean of the school for two years. His research interests are in applied optimization and operations management. Suresh works extensively with firms in a consulting role. He has published extensively in top academic journals.

 

Tejal Shah

A graduate of the University of Texas –Austin and the University of Chicago, Tejal’s education centered on Anthropology and the Social Sciences. She has extensive non-profit experience, particularly in a South Asian context, and lives in Oakland, California.

 

RK College

Yashvant Singh

Yashvant graduated from IIT Roorkee and worked in various capacities at Vam Organic Chemicals, Ltd. In New Delhi, India. He then did his Masters in Computer and Information Science from New Jersey Institute of technology. Subsequently, he has been working with various private and government organizations as professional IT consultant.

 

RK College

Dr. Sunder S. Thakur (Sheel)

Born in Tiwaripur, UP, Sheel was educated in Bombay. He left for higher studies at Columbia University, New York, after completing his Mechanical Engineering. On receiving Doc. Eng. Sc. (Operations Research) from Columbia, he joined IBM as a management scientist and worked in different Corporate and HQ strategic & operational planning functions for many years. In between, he taught computer courses at the City University of New York for two years, as an IBM Visiting Professor. Sheel was a key member of the IBM management team, which started IBM Global Services in Bangalore. While there on assignment for six years, he established the Bangalore Chapter of Project Management Institute in 1998 to train and certify project managers. He has started his own consulting firm and plans to spend time between India and USA.

 

Shailesh Verma

Shailesh graduated from Bapatla Engineering College, India and then did his MS in Computer Science from Shippensburg University. Shailesh has been working in the IT sector for the last 15 years out of which the last 10 years have been with Prudential Financial. Prior to Prudential, Shailesh assisted major broadcasters, including MTV, NBC, and CBS, in their effort to automate sales, marketing and telecasting systems. Shailesh joined Prudential in 1999 and has been leading their Group Disability systems area in the implementation of several workflow enhancements to process higher claim volumes at a lower cost. Shailesh lives in Edison, New Jersey with his wife and two kids.