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 President  and Managing Trustee of SAATHII, based out of New Delhi.  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 20 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.Currently, Dr. Raghavan is Chief of Party of Project Sambhuya, an initiative to strengthen Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) in the private healthcare sector. Dr. Raghavan is a former member of the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and was an elected member of The Global Fund’s Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) from 2009 to 2012.

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/

Chief Mentor and Advisor
The Chief Mentor and Advisor leads the advisory board constituted by the BoT with members from diverse fields and expertise to provide guidance on programmatic efficiency, organizational structure and systems, and future growth opportunities.

Mr. Mohammed Owais Khan

Mr. Mohammed Owais Khan, normally self-referred to with a single name ‘owais’, has been a Trustee of SAATHII since 2004. Currently, he works under his own banner, ‘Vasundhara’. He has had a variegated career with 20-30 years’ experience in each of the following areas:

1. Corporate Management: Having worked with several IT organizations in the field of IT hardware, he bid adieu to it in 2008. During this time he worked in the areas of Business Management, Partner Management, Product Management, Marketing Management, Presales Management, Tech Evangelization, Tech Support, Tech Education and Customer Support & Service. The organizations that he has worked with include EMC (now Dell EMC), Hewlett-Packard and Compaq (now both Hewlett Packard Enterprise), Pertech Computers Ltd (now defunct), Computer Arabia WLL Qatar and International Data Management (now HCL).

2. Social Work – LGBT Rights & HIV/AIDS Management: In these somewhat related areas, he has been working since 1992. He has written for, worked/associated with and/or (co-)founded SAATHII, Humsafar Trust, Naz, Humrahi, Swabhava, Good As You, Saathi (different from SAATHII), GIC, the original LGBT India, Infosem, Counsel Club, Integration Society, Pride Publications, Trikone etc. During his convenorship of LGBT India, he drove and ensured execution of the first Pride March/Event of India, billed, ‘The Friendship Walk’, in Kolkata on July 2nd, 1999, in association with Ranjan (Rafiquel Haque Dowjah) and Pawan Dhall of Counsel Club/ Integration Society. Prior to that, during his tenure as General Secretary of Saathi, the Hyderabad group wrote and signed the first LGBT Rights Manifesto, ‘Declaration of Freedom’.

3. Social Work – Education, Counselling, Life Coaching and ‘Happiness Service’: Owais has been active in the area of Education (Science, English, General School, Finishing School, Technical, Product, Communication, Economics, Personal Finance etc.) and informal Counselling (Career, Education, Couples, Marriage, Suicide, Depression etc.) in-person and over media & mail. He bills himself as a ‘Happiness Consultant’, and sees it as his primary job in life to bring happiness to people in as many ways as he can.

4. Social Work – Ecology: He has also been researching and communicating about the impending ‘Ecological Imperative’ that we are coming face to face with, which may result in destroying the human civilization as we know it, unless we are willing and able to completely reinvent the human endeavour of life.

5. Science, Philosophy and Religion: Translation, transcreation and converting into ‘TextMovies’ is his favourite method of bringing the messages of various religions into rival thought-streams. He has worked on Bhagavad Gita, Dhammapada, Asma Husna, several Upanishads etc. and brought them in alternate forms in English and Urdu-Hindi. Linking religions, (a)theism, philosophies and science in various ways that enhance the understanding of existence and reality is one of his primary passions in life.

6. Creative Writing – Poetry and Short stories: He writes poetry in English and Urdu-Hindi. A poetry collection in each of the languages has been published in book form, in addition to several publications in anthologies and on the Web. He has written and published his own short stories, as well as edited others’ short stories. He hopes to write a novel someday.

7. Socio-economic Activities – Organic Farming and Investment & Property Management: In keeping with his understanding of the impending Ecological Imperative, he has been practicing organic farming micro-initiatives. Further, in order to experiment with best use of financial resources, he ensures that his current financial needs are met through management of various investment vehicles, most prominently, rental accommodations management.

More details, as well as past colleagues’ endorsements, if required, can be seen on his (somewhat dated) profile on https://www.linkedin.com/in/owaisvasundhara/