Board of Directors

Ram Acharya — President

Ram Acharya took over as the president of the North American Konkani Association in May 2021. Ram and his wife Aruna are also the current presidents of the Konkani Sammelan, to be held in San Jose, CA, in July 2022. After the convention was postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ram led his Sammelan team to create “Gharanthu Ek Saan Milan,” a set of virtual Amchigele programs to entertain our Konkani community at home. These programs featured prominent Konkani speakers and artists in a preview to the in-person convention during the lockdown time period.

Ram is passionate about several non-profit causes, particularly charities associated with the Konkani language, culture, heritage, and people. With his wife Aruna, Ram has been organizing annual “Arpana” dance fundraisers featuring Bay Area Konkani artists since 2015, raising over $300,000 for the Konkani Charitable Fund in the last six years. He is also on the Board of Directors at Sanatana Dharma Kendra (SDK) Temple in San Jose.

Ram is Vice President of Engineering at a multinational company, and leads worldwide engineering teams.

Surekha Shenoy — Vice President

Surekha Shenoy is an accomplished business professional, a strategic thinker; and a leader in motivating community members. She has a passion for volunteering & supporting community initiatives, such as mentoring ‘Youth on Board’, Trinity Community Table (Soup Kitchen) and the Self-Help Food Bank. Surekha is a strong believer in an inclusive society, actively supporting visible minority groups and Indigenous Peoples issues in support of greater community contributions. She mentors youth, entrepreneurs and professionals to help set them up for success.

As the past Chair & Director of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation (CMHF), Ontario, Canada, Surekha championed many initiatives for the Foundation including their $50M Capital Campaign by engaging with over 60 diverse community groups.

She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Hospice Waterloo Region and is co-Chair of the East Indian Community Walkathon of Waterloo Region which has raised over $400K for local hospitals. She also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Cooksville BIA of Mississauga, Ontario. Surekha Shenoy was also the Ontario Liberal Party candidate for the Riding of Kitchener South Hespeler for the 2018 Ontario Provincial Elections.

As a professional, Surekha has her M.Sc. in Industrial Systems Engineering from the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada and an MBA in Finance and Operations from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She lives in Cambridge, Ontario with her husband Revi Kizhatil and two daughters Ankita & Anoosha Kizhatil.

Surekha is currently the 2020-2021 President of the Ontario Konkani Association, Canada. She is excited and looking forward to her new role with NAKA.

Milind Gokarn — Treasurer

Milind Gokarn serves as a Treasurer of North American Konkani Association (NAKA). Milind lives in San Ramon, CA with his wife, Archana and his children, Mihika, Tejas and Aalok. Milind and Archana, also serve as Fund Raising Chair of the Konkani Sammelan 2022. They are responsible for fundraising to enable a successful Sammelan.

Milind has been very active in supporting many nonprofits that promote Konkani language as well as overall Indian culture. He is always willing to guide charities working to get their non-profit incorporated and established as well as to run it smoothly with donor management, fundraising campaigns and overall marketing (outreach to donors).

He serves as Director (Board of trustees) of several charities including Sanatana Dharma Kendra (SDK), VNIT NAAM Fund, Inc (alumni org for VNIT, Nagpur, India), Chitrapur Heritage Foundation USA, Inc (chfusa.org), and Sanatana Yaksha Ranga Cultural Center (syrcc.org).

He has also guided and advised many other non-profits around the US in managing their web presence, incorporation as well as financial reporting and compliance.

Milind graduated with an MBA in Strategy and Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) he continues to serve on their Alumni Admissions Office (AAO) for Kellogg and Alumni Admissions Council (AAC) for Northwestern University.

Milind is the President and CEO of Selectiva Systems, Inc. an IT services company with multiple global locations where he leads worldwide operations and growth strategies. He can be reached at milind@mynaka.org.

Vasudev Nayak — Secretary

Vasu Nayak works for a company Gainwell Technologies, NJ. He is originally from Temple town Udupi, Karnataka state, India. He is married to Dr. Vidya (Dentist) and has 2 Boys Rahul (Currently Attending Rutgers Univ, NJ) and Ashwin (Currently attending Univ of Pittsburgh, PA).

Organizing Konkani events and working for our Konkani community gives him immense pleasure. He has been associated with the Konkani Sabha of Tri-state, NJ for the past 20 years or so. He started volunteering in cultural events/programs and later joined the organizing committee.

Vasu has served in the KS Committee for 7 plus years now at different levels. He is the President of Konkani Sabha of Tri-state NJ since past 3 years. Has organized many events successfully for our Konkani community in the Tri-State NJ area, that includes Diwali Programs, Summer Picnics, Music Programs from Konkani Artists from India, Samoohika Satyanarayana Poojas at Temples at NJ. He was also a part of multiple committees at 2012 NJ Konkani Sammelan.

Shashank Honavar — Executive Member

Shashank Honavar resides in Milton, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Deepali and 2 kids, Sohum (19) and Divya (15). Originally from Mumbai, India, he has been very active within the local Konkani community serving in different capacities since the founding of KAOGA and was the President for the years 2002, 2012 and 2020.

Shashank loves working with the Youth and his efforts are mostly directed towards increasing their involvement. As a member of the Entertainment Committee, he worked with youth from Georgia and New Jersey to produce the Closing Ceremony for the 2016 Atlanta Konkani Sammelan wherein participants performed to lilting Bollywood tunes on a wide variety of musical instruments. As the President of KAOGA in 2020, Shashank and his team pulled off a 5 ½ hour virtual variety entertainment program that engaged members of all ages and included Bhagavad Gita recital competition and martial arts demonstrations along with the usual song and dance items.

Shashank has an undergraduate degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Mumbai and an MBA in Enterprise Risk Management from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. In 2019, after serving in corporate roles for over 23 years, Shashank decided to become an entrepreneur when he founded S-square D-square LLC, a data analytics consulting firm.

Besides being newly elected to the NAKA Executive Board, Shashank serves as an Ambassador of the Chitrapur Heritage Foundation USA, on the Steering Committee of Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), mentors students enrolled in MS Analytics programs within the University System of Georgia colleges and in 2019 founded the Amchigale Professionals Network, a 450+ member strong market place for job seekers and hiring managers, that uses the LinkedIn platform.