Our Leadership
Trustees
The Board of Trustees brings with it diverse experience and skills including business development, non-profit management, human rights advocacy, fundraising, and implementation of large-scale development programs. Trustees meet annually in-person with interim communication by phone.
Sai Subhasree Raghavan
Dr. Sai Subhasree Raghavan is the Founder-Trustee of SAATHII. She received her PhD in Human Nutrition from SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai, India, and completed her postdoctoral training in public health and nutrition at Columbia University in New York, USA. Dr. Raghavan has more than 30 years of experience in diverse areas of public health in India and the USA. Prior to 2004, Dr. Raghavan worked as Assistant Professor of Clinical Nutrition Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases of Harlem Hospital Center of Columbia University and co-directed a course on Epidemiological Research in Developing Countries at the Joseph Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Raghavan was also actively involved in research on macro- and micro-nutrient complications and long term metabolic toxicities among PLHIV from minority communities. Dr. Raghavan is a former member of the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society (IAS), former Harvard LEAD Fellow for Women in Global Health, and served as an elected member of The Global Fund’s Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) from 2009 to 2012. For more information, see Lancet profile here.
Mr. M R Ranganathan
Mr. M. R. Ranganathan is one of the founding trustees of SAATHII and has had involvement with the organization since 2002. Rangasan received his undergraduate degree from the College of Engineering, Guindy, in 1966. Rangasan has a renowned career in business, technology, and non-profit management, spanning over five decades.
With more than forty years of experience working with Japan, Rangasan has promoted business partnerships and Indo-Japanese cultural exchange, assisting such companies as DSQ Software, Sofil Information Technologies, and Nihon Technology Private Limited in establishing their presence in Japan. He also worked for the Government of Iraq as an Indian Expert in Piling and Foundation, and served in Basra during the Iran-Iraq war.
He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Nihon Technology Private Limited, and heads ABK-AOTS DOSOKAI which promotes Japanese language studies, Japanese management techniques and cross-cultural communication. His contributions to Indo-Japanese cultural and business relations have earned him the Japanese Emperor’s Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, awarded by the Government of Japan in 2005.
He is also an avid photographer and philatelist, and has authored the book “From Survey School to Tech Temple”, an account of the 200-year history of his alma mater, the College of Engineering, Guindy.
SAATHII’s Chennai office functioned out of the workspace generously donated by ABK-AOTS DOSOKAI in the early years, before it moved to its present location in Nungambakkam.
Mr. Sunil Kumar Boyini
Entrepreneur businessman with over 27 years of experience. Focus is on investing, managing operations, business funding, financial management, organization building, change management, team building, employee motivation/retention, and Corporate Strategy. Over 12 years of experience in healthcare IT, with domain expertise in healthcare analytics, HIV disease management, patient monitoring, healthcare data and quality standards.
For more information, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunil-kumar-boyini-58b9b61/
Executive Commitee
The Executive Committee (EC) includes a Senior Vice President and four Vice Presidents who are responsible and accountable for all operations, human resources, making policy recommendations to the Trustees, ensuring program and finance management systems and compliance, and approvals for all but high-value payments.
Dr. L. Ramakrishnan is Senior Vice President of SAATHII. A public health professional with an academic background in Integrative Biology (Ph.D. University of Texas, 2000), he has been leading programs in the areas of enhancing access to health, justice and social protection for groups marginalized on account of HIV, gender and/or sexuality. Dr. Ramakrishnan has contributed to capacity strengthening of community collectives and implementers of health and development interventions, and to developing and delivering SOGIESC content for stakeholders across health care, medical and nursing education, law, law-enforcement and social protection. He is also a member of external Institutional Review Boards and Ph.D. dissertation committees. Email LRamakrishnan_at_saathii.org
Dr. Sathish Kumar Angappan is Vice President (Technical) located in Chennai. He received his MBBS and MD in Sexually Transmitted Diseases from The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Chennai. His technical expertise includes supporting government and civil society agencies in designing and delivering comprehensive and quality HIV prevention and care services, Reproductive Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent health (RMNCH+A), and TB services. He has over 20+ years of experience in areas of TB, STI and HIV prevention, care, and treatment, and maternal, child and adolescent health and has been instrumental in the expansion of SAATHII’s programs in these areas. At SAATHII, Dr. Sathish Kumar has previously led programs on family centered care continuum, decentralising care, health systems strengthening, mainstreaming of HIV services and capacity building of health care providers. He currently leads the Global Fund – supported “Integrated Pediatric TB and Technology enabled Active Case Finding” in seven states of India. Email drsathish3_at_saathii.org
Mr. Manish Soosai Mudaliar is Vice President (Human Resources, Operations and Governance) of SAATHII, based in Nagpur. He received a Masters in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan of Mumbai University. His core competencies include program management, conflict resolution, human resource management, and fundraising. At SAATHII, Manish has been responsible for establishing, expanding, and overseeing programs across west-central and north-east India. In this capacity, he has led programs on decentralization of HIV care services, clinical mentoring of pediatric care providers, community based HIV testing and counseling among antenatal women, and operational research on assessing the feasibility of multitasking by frontline healthcare workers. He was also instrumental in establishing organization-wide systems for governance, capacity strengthening, and human resource management, while helping to expand new areas of growth for SAATHII. He has led SAATHII’s prison intervention initiative Subhiksha (supported by Elton John AIDS Foundation) and an EU-supported initiative Sangraha that focused on SFG 16 and its applicability to preventing and addressing violence faced by the LGBTIQ+ communities. He also previously worked as the Project Director of PPTCT initiatives in Maharashtra and Manipur, and coordinating the dissemination of HIV/AIDS fact sheets translated into multiple Indian languages. Currently he is part of Global Fund initiatives in components related to community systems strengthening and social protection for community-based organizations. Email manish_at_saathii.org
Ms. Lakshmi Ramakrishnan is Vice President (Programs and Research) of SAATHII, and divides her time between Chennai and Delhi. She holds a BA in Biology from Rutgers University (1992) and an MA in Health Science from California State University-San Jose (1999). A public health specialist with over 25 years of experience, her expertise spans program design, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), strategic information management, research, epidemiology, and grant management. She currently (as of Jan 2025) leads the HIV component of the Global Fund grant GC-7. Email Lakshmir2022_at_saathii.org
Santanu Pyne is the Vice President (Finance, Audit and Statutory Compliance), and divides his time between Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi. His expertise is in financial management. He is currently involved in strengthening organization financial systems and donor compliance, and mentoring the Finance Team of the Global Fund initiative. Email santanu_at_saathii.org
Advisory Commitee (AC)
The AC includes (as of Jan 2025) an Associate Director and Two Assistant Directors who are permanent invitees to Executive Committee meetings and support the EC members in governance- and management-related decision-making across functional domains.
Anupam Hazra is the Associate Director of Programs, and a member of the Advisory Committee who divides his time between Kolkata and Delhi. His expertise is in program management, strategy planning, and development and strengthening of MSM and transgender community groups. Anupam has led community strengthening, community-based HIV screening, prison interventions, and provides technical support to most of our initiatives working with key and vulnerable communities. Currently, Anupam is part of the Global Fund GC-7 project. Email anupam_at_saathii.org
Biswa Bhusan Pattanayak is Assistant Director, based at SAATHII’s Bhubaneswar office, and a member of SAATHII Advisory Committee. With a background in Social Work, Biswa has led programs focusing on strengthening PLHIV and LGBTQIA+ community-led advocacy and services, including healthcare, social protection and rights. He currrently leads an intensive district-level intervention to increase service access to gender and sexual minorities in Odisha, and advises multiple programs in Odisha and additional multi-state initiatives.
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* NOTE: The two Ramakrishnans are not related to each other.