EXECUTIVE BOARD
Nikita Shah
Co-Chair
Nikita is originally from Maharashtra, India. She is sphere-heading marketing, management, Hotel FF&E Procurement, and Hotel Development platforms in Pineapple Capital Group as a Director of Marketing. She is a woman Entrepreneur and a lifetime member of AAHOA and Cornell Hotel Society. She did her bachelors in Buisness Administration from MIT-SOM, Pune India and Fashion: Design and Marketing from the University of the Arts London. She is also a Certified Hotel Owner in The United States Of America. Her work experience also includes trading luxury goods at an e-commerce firm. Later, she explored her passion to be a Client Advisor for Louis Vuitton in Atlanta, GA.
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Purav Shah
Co-Chair
Purav is a tech enthusiast and works at Lenovo as a Software Engineer in Chicago, IL. He holds an MSEE from University of Texas. He likes traveling and binge-watching TV series and movies. Also, a foodie who likes to cook. Keeping up with economy/finance and world politics keeps him charged up. He served YJP in diff roles from LR to Director of Tech/IT and is excited to continue to be a part of YJP and contribute to the community and help Jain professionals across North America.
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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/puravnshah/
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Director of Communications
Trishla Parakh
Introducing our Director of Communications! Trishla is an entrepreneur by heart and currently she is the Director of Operations of her family business which specializes in fine gold, silver, and platinum jewelry. She attended the Gemological Institute of America to learn more about Jewelry and dived right into her family business.Apart from her entrepreneurial side, Trishla enjoys working in community service organizations such as YJP & YJA. She is looking forward to working with her current board members for a great year ahead. The idea of spreading her religion and giving back to the community is one her key motives. In her free time she enjoys working out, yoga, dance, meditation, global cuisines, traveling, and lastly playing with her two baby nephews! She’s super excited to serve as the communications director this year! A piece of advice she would give to help someone professionally is that focus on your passions! Success always starts by following your passions.
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Director of Public Relations
Prexa Jain
Introducing our Director of Public Relations, Prexa Jain. Prexa is the Director of Operations at Jain Hotels, a hospitality company. She currently serves the community in a number of ways, such as serving as an Ambassador for AAHOA and the MTHLA board. In addition to being an active member in the hospitality industry, Prexa is the creative director for her own fashion label, Prexa Jain. Prexa holds a bachelor’s degree from Drexel University where she majored in Finance and International Business. From Drexel, Prexa went on to Parsons for Fashion Design. She has worked for Monique Lhuillier, Tanya Taylor, and Ann Taylor. She has been able to demonstrate not just her creative sensibility, but her entrepreneurial spirit as well. Whenever she gets an opportunity, Prexa loves to travel and go on adventures.
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Anshul Jain
Director of Technology
Introducing our Director of Technology, Anshul Jain. Anshul is from Indore, India. Engineering Manager, Investor. Masters from CMU and Bachelors from IIIT-A. Love traveling, Reading and meeting new people. Never stop learning new skills.
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Director of Projects
Ananya Jain
Introducing our Director of Projects, Ananya Jain. Ananya Jain is a Portfolio Strategist at Biogen, a biotech company in Cambridge, living in Boston, MA. He holds an MBA from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and a Pharmacy degree from Rajiv Gandhi University, India. He is a published author of a few scholarly articles in the field of life science. Ananya is a certified Project Management Professional. Outside of work, Ananya enjoys playing tennis and writing & reciting poetry. Ananya has also volunteered for a few NGOs that help serve kids in need; he is a DE&I champion for his work organization. Ananya believes that solutions to most problems can be identified with an inclusive and accountable attitude.
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Sneha Oswal
Director of Fundraising
Introducing our Director of Fundraising, Sneha Oswal. Sneha works in Internal Audit. In her free time she loves to go on walks, workout, dance or watch movies. Her advise to someone is Never stop learning
Aditi Kochar
Southeast Regional Coordinator
Introducing our Southeast Regional Coordinator, Aditi Kochar. Aditi is from Khandwa - a town in Central India. She is an IT Engineer, with a master's degree from University of South Florida. She works with a Financial Institution as a Project Manager. She likes to cook or read books in spare time. My 2 cents: "What got you here, won't get you there", so keep pushing forward
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Bhavik Shah
Director of Finance
Bhavik Shah is located in Richmond Virginia. He is currently a Principal for Ari-Investment, his family business located across several states in the US where they own and operate commercial real estate in the hospitality industry run under Marriott, Intercontinental Hotels, Hyatt, Choice, Wyndham, Red Roof, G6, and others. He also oversees the operations of Ari- Investment petroleum investments / facilities in Virginia, the commercial retail business, and triple net lease operations. Bhavik graduated from James Madison University with a BS in Finance and completed his Honors Thesis on Retail REITs. He currently serves as the Ambassador for the Washington DC Region for the Asian American Hotel Owners Community, Emerging Leaders Network for Intercontinetal Hotel Group. Bhavik is an active youth member for the Jain Society of Central Virginia, various Chambers of Commerce where his organization is present, and participates in several mentorship programs to foster the growth of his associates and members of the community. During his free time Bhavik enjoys trying new vegetarian/vegan restaurants, meeting up with friends, and playing basketball.
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Janvi Shakhala
South West Regional Coordinator
Introducing our southwest regional coordinator, Janvi Sakhala. Janvi is from Arizona. She is a 'Product Experience Designer' by profession and has been working as a Retail & UX consultant for clients globally. She trades in luxury products and has been working on a startup, which involves creating sustainable toys for kids. Apart from this, she is leading an Immigrant women's support group and a creative community in Arizona. When she’s not working, she spends time in her backyard with plants or playing board games. A piece of advice she would like to give is enjoy your life, which is a balance of work, family and health. Don't stress yourself in pursuit of achieving something. Imagine 'work' as a rubber ball, whenever it falls it will bounce back, while others are like glass balls. If one of them falls, it will not return to its previous forms. It will be either damaged, cracked or even scattered. Don't let the glass balls fall ever!!
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Puja Jain
West Regional Coordinator
Introducing our West Regional Coordinator, Puja Jain. Puja is from San Francisco. She is a Neurologist. Her achievements include: Biked 100 hours last year. Her spare time is all about getting out, hiking, biking, walking. Advice to help someone professionally - reach out to at least 5 people for help. Most people if not all are willing to help.
Apurva Talsania
Canada Regional Coordinator
Introducing our Canada Regional Coordinator, Apurva Talsania. From Toronto with 20+ years of North American Banking Exp | Commercial Banking | Leadership Exp | Investment Banking | Business Loans | Credit Risk Mgt | Tech Expert | Project Mgt | FinTech | Cash Mgt | Business Owners Trusted Advisor | Active Volunteer helping Newcomers to Canada and Young Professionals to achieve their Career, Business & Financial Goals.
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Ketul Kothari
Southeast Regional Coordinator
Introducing our Northeast Regional Coordinator, Ketul Kothari. Ketul currently works as a Director of Solutions at a Management Consulting company. Born and raised in New Jersey, Ketul just recently moved back home to the east coast after living in the San Francisco Bay area for the last six months. Ketul currently serves the community in a number of ways from organizing social events to acting as the Creative Advisor for the @globaljainnetwork. He holds an undergraduate degree in Finance & Supply Chain, & an MBA in Supply Chain & Marketing, both from Rutgers University. In additional to his professional accomplishments, Ketul also operates a Drone Page on Instagram @gadgetdomain, and is a published author of the book "Invest Your Way to Riches", available on Amazon.com. Ketul's best advice is to never constrain yourself to one discipline. Sometimes to excel in what you do, you need to gain insight and learnings from other disciplines that may not seem connected at all on the surface.
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Smit Sheth
Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator
Introducing our Mid Atlantic Regional Coordinator, Smit Sheth. He is a Grad student at NYU pursuing Ms in Construction Management. In his spare time he loves to play Basketball, he is an avid cook too and he’ll most likely be listening to a podcast doing either things. A piece of advice for my office goers would be “Don’t sweat over small stuff”.