Congress 2008 Opening Keynote Presentation: Global Executive Roundtable
Shahla
Aly
General Manager, Solutions Delivery
Microsoft IT
 Shahla
Aly leads the Corporate and Business Groups Solutions Delivery (CBG SD)
organization for Microsoft IT (MSIT). She has been in this role since
April 2006 and has responsibility for creating and improving business
processes and IT solutions for Microsoft’s corporate services and
business groups, enabling them to realize their strategic goals. In additional
to the GM role, Shahla was appointed the interim leader role for MSIT
on November 11, 2007.
She joined Microsoft in 2002 as general manager of Worldwide Services,
Strategy and Enablement. Subsequent to that, she assumed responsibility
as general manager of Cross Company Strategy and Initiatives, for steering
key strategies including emerging markets. Prior to her current role,
Shahla served as the general manager of Strategic Marketing and Communications
for Microsoft’s Servers and Tools Business.
Before joining Microsoft, Shahla spent 18 years at IBM in IT delivery,
professional consulting, strategy, and sales focused positions, including
vice president of Communications Sector at IBM Canada; vice president
of e-business Strategy for IBM Global Services at IBM Corporation in New
York; and vice president of e-business and ERP Services for IBM Global
Services.
Shahla holds a Bachelors of Science and Masters of Business Administration
from the University of Karachi.
She actively participates and holds leadership positions in a number
of organizations dedicated to women’s issues and eliminating homelessness.
Shahla lives in Redmond, WA with her husband, Hakim and their two children,
Nadia and Adam. In her free time, she enjoys gardening and reading.
Sharda Cherwoo
Partner
Ernst & Young
 Sharda joined the U.S. practice of Ernst & Young in 1982. In her more than 25 years with the firm, she has held a variety of leadership roles focusing on global entrepreneurial initiatives and strategic, operational, and client serving roles. Sharda has served as the CEO of Ernst & Young’s Global Shared Service Location in Bangalore, India, a member of Ernst & Young’s Global Tax Operations working group, and most recently served as Ernst & Young’s Americas Director of Tax Operations. In her current role, Sharda serves as a member of our Transactions Advisory Practice and the Coordinating Tax Partner for the Portfolio investments of several major global Private Equity firms. Sharda is a member of Ernst & Young’s Americas Tax Advisory Board which is a leadership group which focuses on providing a platform for discussing strategic issues facing the tax practice.
Sharda has served some of the firm’s largest clients as a Tax Account Leader across a variety of industries including financial services, insurance, and real estate assisting them with day-to-day tax planning and operations, full-scale global tax outsourcing, and coordinating major transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. As Ernst & Young’s Americas Director of Tax Operations, Sharda was responsible for the strategy, growth, and operations of the practice across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.
Under Sharda’s leadership, Ernst & Young’s Global Shared Service Location was named one of India’s Best Places to Work in 2002. She was instrumental in the development and implementation of the India strategy and vision of the location and its service offerings. Sharda’s involvement ranged from the initial set-up activities (location selection, lease negotiations, infrastructure needs, etc.); the creation of innovative recognition awards, learning and development programs, and community service programs that fostered a positive work environment and people culture unique in the marketplace; to the operational management of the practice to measure and communicate progress to the stakeholders.
Sharda is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Connecticut Society of CPAs. She graduated valedictorian from Sacred Heart University with a B.S. in Accounting, and, among her numerous awards, she received the Gold Medal Award for highest score on the Connecticut CPA Examination in 1982.
Punita Kumar-Sinha
Senior Managing Director of The Blackstone Group L.P.,
Chief Investment Officer, Blackstone Asia Advisors L.L.C.
 Punita Kumar-Sinha is the Senior Portfolio Manager and Chief Investment Officer for Blackstone Asia Advisors L.L.C. which includes The India Fund, Inc., The Asia Tigers Fund, Inc. and The Asia Opportunities Fund L.P., and is a Senior Managing Director of The Blackstone Group L.P. Ms. Kumar-Sinha has managed The India Fund since July 31, 1997, The Asia Tigers Fund since June 30, 1999 and The Asia Opportunities Fund since its inception on December 1, 2006.
Ms. Kumar-Sinha has over nineteen years experience in fund management in international and emerging markets. Prior to joining Blackstone, Ms. Kumar-Sinha was a Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc., and CIBC World Markets, where she was also the Portfolio Manager for The India Fund and The Asia Tigers Fund. Prior to that she was the Portfolio Manager on the emerging markets team at Batterymarch, which she joined after four years at Standish Ayer & Wood. At Standish Ayer she developed country allocation models and strategies as part of the international equity management team as well as researched investments in Southeast Asia and other international markets. While at graduate school, Ms. Kumar-Sinha interned at J.P. Morgan Investment Management and at the IFC's emerging markets index group. She also spent a year with the Latin American Department of the World Bank.
She has been frequently featured in the media, including, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Forbes, CNN, CNBC, Fox News, Star News, and The Economic Times. Many of her contributions at seminars and conferences have projected the potential and prospects of India as an investment destination.
Ms. Kumar-Sinha has a Ph.D. and a Masters in Finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. She has an MBA and is also a CFA Charter holder. Ms. Kumar-Sinha is a member of the CFA Institute, the Boston Security Analysts Society and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Aru Kulkarni
Most recently, the Chief Customer Officer of the Partnered Brands division responsible for Liz Claiborne, Claiborne, Monet, Licensing and International Alliances
 Aru Kulkarni was most recently the Chief Customer Officer of the Partnered Brands division, responsible for Liz Claiborne, Claiborne, Monet, Licensing and International Alliances. She led strategy development and oversaw all customer relationships for the division.
Mrs. Kulkarni joined Liz Claiborne in 2000 as Vice President, General Manager of Casual Sales. Since then she held several positions of increasing responsibility-most recently President and Chief Sales Officer of Department Store Better and Moderate Apparel Brands for Liz Claiborne.
Previously, Mrs. Kulkarni held executive positions in sales and marketing at Warnaco. She began her career in retail at Joseph Horne’s in Pittsburgh.
Born and raised in India, Mrs. Kulkarni moved to the United States to attend the University of Pittsburgh where she earned her Masters of Science in Economics. Mrs. Kulkarni currently lives in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey with her husband and two children, where she serves on the Board for the Jersey Battered Women Shelter (JBWS).
Dr. Mira
Kamdar
Author, Planet India: The Turbulent Rise of the Largest Democracy and the Future of Our World, and Bernard Schwartz Fellow, Asia Society
 Award-winning author Mira Kamdar's latest book is Planet India: The Turbulent Rise of the Largest Democracy and the Future of Our World (Scribner 2007). The book
has been translated and published in Hindi, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian,
French and Chinese. The French edition, to be published by Actes Sud in
January 2008, was translated by Andre Lewin, former French ambassador
to India and translator of Pavan Varma's Being Indian. Kamdar's critically
acclaimed memoir, Motiba's Tattoos: A Granddaughter's Journey from America
into her Indian Family's Past was a 2000 Barnes & Noble Discover Great
New Writers Selection and won the 2002 Washington Book Award.
Mira Kamdar's work has appeared in publications around the world, including
Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Chicago
Tribune, World Policy Journal, Times of India, Daily News & Analysis,
Outlook, Tehelka, The Guardian online and Yale Global, the online publication
of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. She has provided expert
commentary and been interviewed for radio and television outlets as diverse
as CNN International, Bloomberg TV, the BBC, National Public Radio, TV
Ontario, Public Radio International, Headlines Today, South Asia World,
and TV Asia.
Mira Kamdar is a 2008 Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society in
New York and a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute. She is a regular
speaker at high-level international gatherings, and has addressed audiences
on India and global affairs at venues as diverse as the Asia Society in
New York and in Mumbai, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs,
the University of Washington School of Business, Lehman Brothers, the
Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Altria, the Shorenstein Asia Pacific
Research Center at Stanford University, and various World Affairs Council
chapters.
Mira Kamdar was born in Seattle, Washington. She received her B.A. from
Reed College (Phi Beta Kappa), and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the
University of California at Berkeley. She was a Thomas J. Watson Fellow
in 1980 and a Danforth Graduate Fellow in 1981-85. She has lived in France,
Japan, South Korea and India, and is fluent in French and Hindi. She lives
in New York City with her husband and two children.
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International Tax Partner
Film
Director Mira Nair was born in Rourkela, India. From India Cabaret to
The Laughing Club of India, Nair’s documentaries paved the way for
her remarkable debut feature, Salaam Bombay! which was nominated for an
Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA for Best Foreign Language film
in 1988. 
Ms. Bhojwani is currently a consultant to the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She previously managed the philanthropy program for London , Europe & Asia at Bloomberg LP, overseeing the funding of arts and charity initiatives, totaling approximately ten million dollars. 
Since October
2004, Joya has delivered live business reports for WABC, Channel 7 Eyewitnessnews
during the 5 am to 7 am morning drive in New York City. She’s also
“live” throughout the morning with other major ABC affiliates
in Philadelphia, Denver, and Chicago. She is employed by the TV arm of
Businessweek Magazine.
Mallika Dutt is the Founder and Executive Director of Breakthrough, an international human rights organization using innovative high impact education, media and popular culture to transform communities and bring about social change. Breakthrough works through offices in India and the United States, the world’s two largest democracies, on several issues including women’s rights, sexuality and HIV/AIDS and racial justice and immigrant rights.
Sarita joined WWB in July 2007 as WWB's first director of development. She is responsible for ensuring that WWB meets its annual fundraising goals, diversifying our funding base, and helping position the organization for strategic growth. Since January 2008 she also heads WWB’s Communications and Publications units.
Farzana is the Business Head for Retail & Consumer Products Group at TCS, a leading global information technology company with over US$4.3 Billion in revenues. Retail is a key vertical for TCS with leading global retail clients like Best Buy, Home Depot, and Target. Prior to taking on this role, she was based in New York and was part of the e-business vertical at TCS, where she was an instrumental part of a team that helped grow that business from inception to a US$1 billion vertical in a short span of seven years. Farzana began her career with the TATA Group in Mumbai as a management trainee. 
Sheila is responsible for setting
the long-term vision and strategy for TIAA-CREF, a Fortune 100 financial services company,
and leads the planning and pursuit of growth and business development opportunities both organically and through mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships and strategic investments, both in the US and globally.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian is President and CEO of Women’s World Banking, the world’s largest network of microfinance institutions and banks. Ms. Iskenderian leads the WWB global team, based in New York, in providing hands-on technical services and strategic support to more than 50 top-performing microfinance institutions and banks in 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. WWB’s network members consistently rate among the top three microfinance institutions in their countries and more than 70% of their clients are poor women entrepreneurs. 
Monica Issar is a Managing Director at the JPMorgan Private Bank with over ten years of investment experience in both asset management and private banking. As a senior advisor, Ms. Issar works with individuals, families, and charitable organizations to understand their goals, provide strategic advice, and invest across a broad range of long only strategies as well as alternative investments. Ms. Issar is also a member of the Private Bank’s Advisory Council that works to provide strategic advice to the firm on growing the business. She is part of the PB Portfolio Construction team responsible for creating model portfolios for our clients. 
The award winning actress and author, has been featured in numerous films including several of Merchant/Ivory finest works. Film credits also include Six Degrees of Separation, Flawless, Vanya on 42nd Street, Chutney Popcorn, ABCD, Prime and Partition. She appeared on Broadway in Bombay Dreams and has been seen on television in several Law and Order episodes. She is a regular Sony’s improvisational comedy series, The Papdits. Jaffrey has written many bestselling books about Indian and Far Eastern cookery including A Taste of India and Illustrated Indian Cookery.
Shibani Joshi joined FOX Business Network (FBN) in September 2007 as a reporter. FOX Business Network, available on Time Warner Channel 43 in New York, is a financial news channel delivering real-time information across all platforms that impact both Main Street and Wall Street. 
Padma
Lakshmi is known internationally as an actress, food expert, model and
award-winning writer. 2007 has been a busy year for Lakshmi with a new
cookbook and returning as host of Bravo’s successful series “Top
Chef.”
Screenwriter, playwright and director, makes her fiction feature writing and directorial debut with HIDING DIVYA. Mirza, 29, is founder (together with her sister, Rohi Mirza Pandya) and Artistic Director of Desipina & Company, a South Asian and Asian-American arts company promoting cross-pollination in theatre and film.
Sonia Nikore is a former Vice President of Casting for NBC Primetime television. During her 10 years at NBC, she supervised casting on over 50 pilots and Emmy-winning series including ER, West Wing, Law & Order, Third Watch, Seinfeld, Frasier, and Scrubs. Prior to NBC, she was the head of casting for ABC's daytime soap One Life to Live. For four years before that Ms. Nikore was a casting director at Jay Binder Casting in NY, where her work included all of the East Coast casting for Warner Bros. Television (Friends, The Drew Carey Show, Murphy Brown, Lois & Clark, I'll Fly Away, etc.); numerous Regional theaters (Arena Stage, Old Globe, Alliance Theater, Actors Theater of Louisville, etc.); as well as several Broadway and National Tours (Angels in America, Lost in Yonkers, Beauty and the Beast, Acting Company, etc.). Ms. Nikore has also cast pilots for HBO and Columbia Tri-Star, including Dawson's Creek, as well as several feature including The Jungle Book, Bombay Boys, and Jerry Maguire. She is a member of the Casting Society of America, and is a recipient of the Artios Award in casting.
Roopal Patel is the Senior Women's Fashion Director at Bergdorf Goodman. Roopal returned to Bergdorf Goodman in January 2003 as the Fashion Director for Women’s Apparel after a hiatus that took her to Club Monaco as their US Women’s Visual Merchandising Manager. Roopal had previously held the role of Fashion Coordinator, Women’s Apparel at Bergdorf Goodman from June 1996 to September 1999. 
Kalpana Raina is a senior executive with significant financial experience in the US and internationally. She has lived and worked in Asia, Europe, Canada and the US and has strong expertise in credit, strategic planning, creating alliances and partnerships, extending operations globally and introducing new products to markets. She also has a proven track record in global and cross-cultural management.
Born on Waikiki beach; raised in one of the world’s largest cities in India as well as surrounded by rice paddies in the Philippines; educated in Europe and the U.S.; married to a German-American she met in graduate school in Italy – Shafi Saxena truly feels like a citizen of the world. She speaks 5 languages and has lived and worked on 3 continents. 
Dr. Ami Shah Nagarajan
is a Board-Certified Internal Medicine Physician and is currently Medical
Director of Drug Safety and Risk Management at Pfizer Inc. Dr. Nagarajan
has been in the pharmaceutical industry for five years and has also worked
in Safety and Clinical Development at various other companies including
Abbott, Hospira, and Bausch and Lomb. In addition, she practices medicine
and provides medical consulting on a part-time basis focusing primarily
on acute medical care, disease prevention, women’s health, and corporate
health and wellness. She has also been very active in the communities
she has lived in throughout the years by volunteering as a physician in
free health clinics and providing education to the community as a speaker
on a broad range of medical topics at various health seminars and screenings.
She is currently an American Medical Association (AMA) delegate for New
York State Young Physicians Section and is also the Co-chair of the Women’s
Committee for the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin
(AAPI). 
Romita Shetty is a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers in New York and runs the firm Global Special Opportunities group. The group focuses on making principal investments for the firm in a variety of sectors and across the entire capital structure.
Selina
Tobaccowala is the Senior Vice President - European Product and Technology,
Ticketmaster. In this position since April 2005, Selina leads the company's
online and technology initiatives. Her responsibilities include managing
the growth of Ticketmaster’s European web sites, introducing and
developing new products and web tools into the European marketplace as
well as managing all the due diligence for the technology aspects of all
M&A (mergers and acquisitions) activity.