BOSTON– Eight leading New Englanders from academia to business and from healthcare to community service, and organizations from art and culture to non-profits, will be bestowed the prestigious New England Choice Awards this year on Nov. 15, 2024, at Burlington Marriott Hotel in Burlington, MA, announced INE MultiMedia, a non-profit organization that promotes art, culture, education and empowerment.
This year’s NECA award recipients are Hamsa Balakrishnan, associate dean of Engineering at MIT; Dr. Mandeep Mehra, MD, Harvard Medical School; Ravi Ika, founder & CEO, Nirvana Health; Mohan Nannapaneni, founder and president of Team Aid;; Preetesh Shrivastava, founder of Hindi Manch; Academy of Creative Arts; Shishu Bharati; and Vision-Aid.
These high achievers, pioneers and luminaries will be honored at a black-tie gala at the Burlington Marriott Hotel in Burlington, MA on Nov. 15.
The annual gala is presented by INE MultiMedia in collaboration with the INDIA New England News. Over 400 entrepreneurs, corporate executives, philanthropists, educators, and community leaders are expected to attend the awards gala.
To buy a ticket for the event, please click here.
INE MultiMedia received 279 nominations for these awards. A jury of nine individuals from business, academia and community selected the final winners.
The NECA Awards, founded in 2016 as a service of INE MultiMedia, are renowned for recognizing excellence across various fields such as academia, art and music, business and entrepreneurship, community service, and healthcare. INE MultiMedia is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization created to recognize those who are associated with the Indian American community.
“NECA Awards celebrate success of Indian Americans in New England and those who enrich our community. It is very exciting and satisfying to see the bar raised every year. It also reflects the exponential growth, success, and enormous contributions in multiple industries,” said Dr. Manju Sheth, MD, president of INE Multimedia, creator of NECA Awards and co-producer of the event. “My congratulations to all the winners of this year and gratitude to all those who took the time to nominate so many deserving people. We want to thank our eminent judges as well. We are looking forward to a great celebration on Nov 15.”
Here is the list of this year’s winners:
Academia and Innovation
Hamsa Balakrishnan
Associate Dean of Engineering, MIT
As principal investigator of the Dynamics, Infrastructure Networks, and Mobility (DINaMo) group, Balakrishnan and her team research the modeling, analysis, control, and optimization of modern infrastructure systems. They have collaborated with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and major airports to address challenges such as advanced air mobility, air traffic congestion, and airport operations.
Healthcare Pioneer
Dr. Mandeep Mehra, MD
The William Harvey Distinguished Chair in Advanced Cardiovascular Medicine
Executive Director, Center for Advanced Heart Disease
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Dr. Mandeep Mehra serves as The William Harvey Distinguished Chair in Advanced Cardiovascular Medicine and as the Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Heart Disease at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. His visionary leadership has propelled the hospital to the forefront of cardiovascular medicine. He is recognized as one of the world’s leading cardiologists in advanced heart failure and cardiac transplantation. He has authored and published over 500 scholarly papers focusing on Advanced Heart Failure, mechanical circulatory support devices, cardiac transplantation practices, and innovative care processes.
Leadership in Business & Entrepreneurship
Ravi Ika
Ravi Ika is a serial entrepreneur and innovator, known for disrupting legacy business processes and modernizing the healthcare industry. Over the years, healthcare industry leaders have come to rely on his vision and talent for creating enterprise platforms that radically disrupt legacy business paradigms and deliver significant value. In 2013, Ika founded RxAdvance to transform the Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) industry that manages over $800 billion drug spend for insurers. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of RxAdvance.
Following the success of RxAdvance, Ika set out to continue transforming the $4.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry. In 2018, Ika founded nirvanaHealth to address systemic waste in healthcare, which amounts to over $1 trillion in avoidable medical costs and unnecessary administrative costs annually. nirvanaHealth offers Payers & PBMs the first integrated enterprise cloud platform necessary to manage their multitude of complex functions end-to-end. Since Payers & PBMs manage nearly all of the United States healthcare spend, nirvanaHealth addresses healthcare administrative waste at its core, rather than through point solutions, while also allowing for innovative medical risk models that could reduce total cost of care by 20%. Ika currently serves as the President & CEO of nirvanaHealth. During the growth phase, nirvanaHealth raised over $500 million in both primary and secondary funding.
Over twenty years ago, Ika began his healthcare transformation journey and founded ikaSystems, whose platform reduced administrative costs for many health insurers by up to 50% and significantly reduced avoidable medical costs. It was this vision that disrupted long-standing industry paradigms, raising over $120 million from Providence Equity and Essex Woodland Ventures. He holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from Old Dominion University and previously worked as a research scientist at Harvard University before embarking on his entrepreneurial journey.
Community Service (Individual)
Mohan Nannapaneni
Founder & President
Team Aid
One of his most significant philanthropic achievements is the establishment of TEAM Aid, Inc (www.teamaid.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting individuals in extreme distress while living or traveling abroad. TEAM Aid assists families dealing with the sudden loss of loved ones due to accidents, homicides, suicides, crime victims, or unexpected natural deaths. Since its inception in 2017, TEAM Aid has transported over 3,000 mortal remains to India and 21 other countries the globe. The organization has facilitated numerous religious funerals across the USA and Canada, offering critical support to immigrant families during their most challenging times.
Beyond assisting families with the loss of loved ones, TEAM Aid has extended its support to individuals facing immigration and legal issues. Additionally, TEAM Aid has provided legal relief for sixteen individuals, many of whom faced incarceration due to mental health issues. Under Nannapaneni’s leadership, TEAM Aid has become a vital lifeline for the immigrant community, navigating tragic situations with compassion and efficiency. With over 3,000 dedicated volunteers across North America and over 20other countries, TEAM Aid helps an average of a dozen families per week in the USA alone, reflecting its steadfast commitment to those in need.
Community Service (Organization)
Shishu Bharati
Shishu Bharati, a 47-years old 501(c)(3) with a motto to “Perceive, Preserve, and Promote” Indian culture, heritage and languages, prepare the students as Indian ambassadors in their new home. Their curriculum is based on well-informed Indian arts, customs, languages, history, geography, philosophy, and current events. The three branches, Lexington, Nashua, and Walpole have 850+ students, 100+ teachers, 100+ student volunteers, and several hundred alumni. They teach Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.
Community Catalyst
Preetesh Shrivastava
Founder
Hindi Manch
He is deeply involved in organizing and executing many cultural and community events. He volunteers countless hours of his time for the community asn well as various non-profit organization such as LearnQuest Academy of Music, India Association of Greater Boston and many others. He leads and creates a sense of enthusiasm among others to work together towards the larger good of the community. Mr. Shrivastava has also organized several national events on behalf of Hindi Manch and has brought Bollywood celebrities to Hindi Manch musical events.
Art & Culture
Academy of Creative Arts
Hetal & Java Joshi
Academy of Creative Arts is an educational institution where 30+ different forms of creative and performing art programs such as art of painting, dance forms like Bollywood, Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Odissi, bhangra, hindustani vocal, tabla, storytelling etc. are taught all under one roof at their 18,000-square-foot facility in Burlington, MA.
Non-Profit Organization of the Year
Vision-Aid
Vision-Aid, a Lexington, MA based non-profit focused on Enabling, Educating and Empowering the visually impaired, this year celebrated its 20th Anniversary. VA has created a network of Vision Rehabilitation and Education centers throughout India that currently enable over 20,000 underprivileged individuals who are visually impaired and blind through a comprehensive range of assistive tools and devices.
“Like the past winners, this year’s outstanding NECA award recipients have consistently demonstrated their unwavering dedication to their innovative ideas, communities, organizations and businesses, and have made profound impacts in their respective domains,” said Upendra Mishra, co-founder of INE MUltiMedia and publisher of INDIA New England News, IndUS Business Journal, Life Sciences Times and Boston Real Estate Times. “We’re looking forward to celebrating and sharing their success with the community on Nov. 15th at Burlington Marriott Hotel in Burlington, MA. “
