Board of Directors

Neela is a trained volunteer advocate and has been involved in this capacity with both Manavi and 180 Turning Lives Around of Monmouth County for several years. She has also volunteered and served on the Board of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Society in Bridgewater, New Jersey for many years. Neela received her Bachelors and Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from McGill University in Montreal and is currently retired after 30 years with AT&T.

Krishna received a Ph.D. in Finance from Ohio State University and is currently a Product Manager of Global Mobile Management with AT&T. Krishna is an avid music aficionado and actively promotes classical Indian music in North America. He joined Manavi’s Board of Directors for the second time in 2012 and manages fundraising activities, financial administration, and grants coordination.

Shashi is a co-founder of Manavi and a licensed psychologist. She received her Ph.D. from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She has worked extensively with adults and children with developmental disabilities. Shashi has her own mental health practice in New Jersey. She joined Manavi as a Board of Director in 2012.

Ameena spent two productive decades launching and marketing new innovations in the healthcare industry. Combining her science background and business acumen, she has positioned novel medicine to address unmet needs in a variety of therapeutic areas, including dermatology, oncology, women’s health and rare diseases. Beyond her pharmaceutical consulting business, she has recently co-founded a startup venture in the cancer imaging space. Ameena has been involved with several non-profit organizations that work to address disparities in health and education among the South Asian communities. She joined the Manavi Board in 2023.

Prema is a senior associate with Fragomen, Del Ray, Bernsen & Loewy in its Matawan NJ office. She focuses her practice in the areas of corporate immigration, related global corporate compliance and advisory services. Her experience spans across various industry verticals such as Telecom, IT, Healthcare, Pharma and Entertainment. Prema is an experienced and passionate advocate who understands the unique needs of companies that have a global workforce and footprint. Prema clerked for Judge Diane Clarke Streett in the Delaware Superior Court and for Judge Arnold New in the Philadelphia Commerce Court. She received her J.D with pro-bono distinction from Widener University Delaware School of Law. She is admitted to practice in the State of New York. She is actively involved and supports several non-profit organizations that benefit the South-Asian diaspora. Prema is the 2023 President-Elect and 2024 President for the South-Asian Bar Association of New Jersey (sabanj.org). She also serves as the co-chair for the TiE-NJ Women Special Interest Group with a mission to foster women entrepreneurs (nj.tie.org). She is dedicated to advocating for women empowerment and women’s rights and serves as the Vice-President, Board of Directors for Manavi.

Jayashree has been an active member of the Manavi Volunteer Program for over five years. She worked as a Project Manager within the software sector for 15 years before starting her own catering business. Currently, she serves as a Recruitment Consultant at an Information Technology company. She is passionate about women’s rights and advocacy and hopes to make a difference for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Jayashree joined the Board of Directors in 2019.

Sanyogita Shamsunder heads Global Edge Networking at Google, where her team is responsible for various cloud networking products, solutions and systems supporting Google’s Global Network. Previously, she was the VP of Product Strategy and Operations at Verizon where she was responsible for incubating enterprise and consumer products driven by emerging technologies. Sanyogita actively mentors and advocates for women in technology.

Madhu Sonti is a Senior Vice President working for the Asset Management Group in Wealth Management as a Senior Client Advisor at PNC Bank.  Prior to joining the board of Manavi, she was the board president for Middlesex County Child Assault Prevention since the early 1990’s.  Madhu has been an active member of various service projects for the USA Sathya Sai Baba Organization as well as Sarva Dharma Service Center.  She served as a Bal Vikas (children’s value-based lessons) Teacher and as an ESL (English as a second language) Teacher.  Madhu received her BA Economics degree from Rutgers University and her Masters in Retail Bank Management at Furman University through Consumer Banking Association. Madhu joined the Manavi Board in February 2019.

Shaila has been very actively involved in cultural and charitable organizations at state and National level. Shaila has a Masters in Statistics from MS University of Baroda and a Masters in Computer Science from NJIT.  She has taught at a University in India. She has worked in Direct Marketing Services in AT&T, Business Intelligence groups in Morgan Stanley, CitiBank and American Express. She joined Manavi as a Board of Director in 2017.