Our Team
Nishith Acharya is Executive Director of the Deshpande Foundation. Previously, Nishith was Chief Executive Officer of Youth Tech Entrepreneurs. Nishith served five years as a Presidential Appointee in the Clinton Administration, where he worked with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, the Secretary of Education, and the White House. In the community, Nishith has served as President of the Network of South Asian Professionals of Boston and was Co-Chair of TiECON 2005. He also serves on the Boards of the Boston Museum of Science’s Council and the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee. Nishith has an M.P.A. from George Washington University and a B.S. in Political Science from Northeastern University.
Amitabha Bose is Director of the Office of Federal Policy and Infrastructure Development for New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri. Prior to that, he worked as a land use and municipal law attorney in Atlanta. He has also served as senior legislative assistant to then United States Representative and Democratic Caucus Chairman Robert Menendez. In this capacity, Amit was also Representative Menendez’s liaison to the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans and Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In addition, he served as director of the House Democratic Caucus Education Task Force. Amit has authored legislation that has been enacted by the U.S. Congress, the Georgia General Assembly and local governments in Georgia. Amit holds a B.A. and M.I.A. from Columbia University and a J.D. from the University of Georgia.
Jay J. Chaudhuri serves as President of the Indian American Leadership Initiative. He has clerked for the Honorable Judge Linda McGee of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and was a legislative aide to United State Senator Russell D. Feingold. Jay serves on the Boards of the Wildacres Leadership Initiative and the North Carolina Public Allies. He is also a member of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Minorities In Profession Committee. Jay earned his J.D. from North Carolina Central University, cum laude, where he served as Executive Editor of the North Carolina Central Law Journal. He received an M.I.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Davidson College. He has been a Jacob Javits Fellow, a William C. Friday Fellow, a German Marshall Fellow, and a Henry C. Toll Fellow.
Harin J. Contractor most recently worked at the consulting firm of Accenture. Harin has worked with Democratic GAIN and the Michigan Coordinated Campaign for the 2004 election cycle. He has also worked closely with the University of Georgia’s Alumni Association for their Diversity Recruitment effort for the University as well as advising the non-profit Sangha. Harin served on the alumni board of the Indian-American Center for Political Awareness’ internship program. He holds a B.A. from the University of Georgia and currently is obtaining his M.P.P. from the University of Chicago.
Rachana Desai is an associate at Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan. Throughout her career Rachana has been active in local, state and national politics. She served as Deputy Northeast Political Director for the Gore-Lieberman 2000 Presidential Campaign and has done grassroots work with the state Democratic Parties of South Carolina and Tennessee. She earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she served as Associate Editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment Law & Practice. She received her B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of South Carolina Honors College.
Kathy M. Kulkarni serves as a Vice President for The Washington Group. Prior to joining The Washington Group, Kathy served as Senior Public Policy Officer for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Before that, Kathy spent six years on Capitol Hill, most recently serving as Legislative Director and health care aide to United States Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. In addition, she was the lead staff for the Democratic Health Care Task Force, chaired by Congressman Pallone. Prior to her role on Capitol Hill, Ms. Kulkarni served as a health policy analyst on Medicare Part B issues with the Health Care Financing Administration. Kathy received her B.A. from Brown University and a M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Sohini Gupta Jindal is Senior Associate Director of Federal Relations for the American Hospital Association. Prior to that, she served as Health and Social Policy Counsel to United States Senator Evan Bayh, where she was responsible for the passage of the Senator's first authored piece of legislation. Sohini was also a Public Interest Law Fellow for Planned Parenthood and a Governor's Fellow for then Governor Evan Bayh. She earned a J.D. from Indiana University School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from Butler University.
Amol Naik is an associate at McKenna Long & Alridge. Prior to that, he served as Chief of Staff to the Georgia Senate Democratic Leader and Democratic Caucus. Active in Georgia politics, he served as Political Advisor to the John Edwards for President campaign and has been involved in the Mark Taylor for Governor and Shirley Franklin for Mayor campaigns. He earned his J.D. from Emory University, where he served as Notes & Comments Editor for the Emory International Law Review. He received his B.A. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Shruti Rana is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Maryland. Prior to joining the law school, she was in private practice, where worked at Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart Oliver and Hedges in San Francisco and Williams and Connolly LLP in Washington, DC. Professor Rana served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. James R. Browning at U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She has been extensively involved in policy and advocacy efforts in the areas of gender equity, welfare reform and environmental justice. She earned her B.A. from the University of California-Berkeley, M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and J.D. from Columbia University, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of Columbia Gender & Law.
Vijay Ravindran is Chief Technology Officer for Catalist. Immediately prior to joining Catalist, Vijay was Director of the Ordering Services group at Amazon.com. He led a technical organization of over 130 engineers responsible for website consumer purchasing and order management across all of Amazon.com's websites, which included such well known features as "1-Click", "Checkout", "Shopping Cart", "Your Account", and "Super Saver Shipping". He also was a principal in the conception, delivery and ongoing management of the Amazon Prime membership program.