FDRI also promotes the establishment of local chapters through out US. Currently, there are active chapters in Chicago, Michigan and Silicon Valley.

Board of Directors

President: Sridar Iyengar

Sridar Iyengar (Atherton, CA) is associated with Bessemer Venture Partners and sits on the Boards of American India Foundation, Infosys, ICICI Bank and Rediff.com. He is an active investor in and mentor of early stage companies particularly with interests/operations in India. He was previously with KPMG.

Secretary /Treasurer: V. Chowdary Jampala, MD

Dr. V. Chowdary Jampala (Mundelein, CA), the Founder of FDRI, is a Professor and Associate Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science /The Chicago Medical School. Dr. Jampala, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), serves on the Board of Trustees of Telugu Association of North America (TANA) and the APA Council on Public and Social Psychiatry, and is the editor of Telugu Naadi.

Directors

Naren Bakshi (Fremont, CA) is an entrepreneur and is a founder of Versata, and CEO of JumpStart (an investment and advisory group). He is now an angel investor, and mentor to start-ups here and in India. Naren lives in Silicon Valley but is now spending 3-4 months in India as a way to give back. Naren is the Global Chair for the TiE’s Global’s 45 chapters in 10 countries, President of the India Community Center in the Bay area; and is a Champion for the TiE Rajasthan Global Support Network.

Rao Chalasani (Long Grove, IL), a 25-year Wall Street veteran who has recently retired from being the Chief Investment Strategist at Wachovia Securities (formerly First Union), to dedicate his full time to FDRI, served previously as the President of FDRI between 2000-2006.

Gopal Reddy Gade, MD (Fresno, CA), is closely involved with the Indian community activities in Fresno, CA and Andhra Pradesh. He served previously as the President of the American Telugu Association (ATA) and continues to serve on its Board of Trustees.

G. Pratibha Rao (Hyderabad, India) returned to India after a 12 year stay in US and now serves as a Trustee of Foundation of Democratic Reforms (Hyderabad) and is one of the leaders of the Lok Satta movement. She was closely involved with the development of the LV Prasad Eye Institute (Hyderabad) and the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.

Venktesh Shukla (Cupertino, CA) , a veteran of four start up ventures in Silicon Valley with proven track record of leading companies through rapid growth, is the CEO of Nusym Technology, Inc. Venktesh served as the founding president of Foundation for Excellence (www.ffe.org) for 10 years and is a charter member of TiE (www.tie.org). He also serves on the advisory board of Silicon Valley Indian Professionals Association (www.sipa.org) and on the board of French company E.V.E.SA (www.eve-team.com).