WALTHAM, MA—The 2024 New England Choice Awards winners were selected by jury of nine members of diverse backgrounds. Here is a list of the jury members in an alphabetical order:
Myank Jain
CEO, TRZMO.ai
Myank Jain is the Founder and CEO of TRZMO.ai, a travel super app that replaces over 20 single-purpose Apps. Prior to his startup, he was the Head of Big Data Engineering & Insight Analytics at dataxu; Vice President of Data Strategy & Operations at Millward Brown Digital; VP Engineering, Cloud Payments Networks at Bottomline Technologies; Co-Founder & CTO at iQuest Analytics, Inc., and VP Technology / Director of Engineering at Virtusa.
Mr. Jain, who is also part of the Hub Angel Investment Group, has extensive experience with enterprise organizational realignments, managing globally distributed software development teams, and applying technology in novel ways to solve important problems for people. His specialties include highly technical and contemporary development architectures and methodologies, certified scrum master & certified scrum product owner.
He holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Michigan State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics & Communication from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.
Imtiaz Kathawalla
Board Member
AIF New England Chapter
Imtiaz Kathawalla has run large global businesses and start-ups in the chemical industry. He currently sits on private and public Boards in battery materials and clean tech.
His wife, Farida, and he have deep roots in New England. They have supported the American India Foundation (AIF) for many years and are Board Members of the AIF New England Chapter. In addition, he is a Board Member of the Carnegie Mellon University Alumni Board and a Tie Boston Charter Member.
Sapna Krishnan
Artistic Director
Lasya School of Dance
Sapna Krishnan is the artistic director of the Lasya School of Dance, where she has been teaching and promoting the rich art form of Bharatanatyam in the New England area for the past 20 years. An accomplished dancer, she brings a unique flair to her choreography, seamlessly blending tradition with creativity.
Over the years, Ms. Krishnan has spearheaded several large-scale productions in support of non-profit organizations such as the Akshaya Patra Foundation, UMass Pancreatic Cancer Care and Research Program, SEWA International, CRY America, and the Malabar Rehab Center for the Handicapped in Kerala, India. Through these initiatives, she has helped raise over $100,000 for charitable causes. In addition to her contributions to philanthropy, Ms. Krishnan has nurtured over 300 students, conducted arangetrams of more than 60 students and guided her students through over 1,000 performances across stages in New England. Her unwavering dedication to the art form, to her students and the broader community continues to inspire and uplift those who witness her artistry.
Raminder Luther
Dean, Bertolon School of Business
Salem State University
Raminder Luther, Ph.D, joined Salem State in 1998 and is currently the Interim Dean of the Bertolon School of Business. Prior to her current position, she was a member of the faculty in the department of Accounting and Finance where she taught multiple undergraduate and graduate-level finance courses and was the recipient of the McNamara Award for Excellence in teaching. During her tenure at SSU, she has served as the graduate program coordinator, chaired over ten faculty-led committees, including the School of Business Steering Committee, and has been an active member of the university’s tenure, promotion, and budget committees.
Ms. Luther’s research interests center on the societal impacts of financial distress, individual investment strategies, healthcare finance, and financial pedagogy. She has presented her research at national and international conferences and has been the recipient of multiple peer-reviewed scholarly awards. Her seminal papers on the financial difficulties faced by enlisted members in the U.S. Department of the Navy have also been widely quoted in the press and in works published by the Federal Reserve.
She holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Mississippi, an MBA in Marketing from University of Delhi, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Panjab University. She is a Certified Financial Planner and an active member in her community where she serves on the boards of multiple non-profit organizations and provides her services as a pro-bono financial planner.
Upendra Mishra
Founder
The Mishra Group
Upendra Mishra is founder and president of the Waltham, MA-based The Mishra Group, a diversified media company that publishes INDIA New England News, IndUS Business Journal, Life Sciences Times, Boston Real Estate Times and the Hispanic Business Journal. In addition, Mr. Mishra manages Precise Marketing Inc and the Mishra Group Multimedia Studios.
He Holds a Masters and M.Phil degree in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, a Masters degree in Journalism from University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and has attended and done courses at University of Oslo, Norway; El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City and Inter-American Institute of Human Rights in Costa Rica.
He is co-founder of non-profit INE Multimedia, Inc, and has served as chief foreign correspondent for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for United Press International (UPI) and the Hindustan Times.
Dr. Manju Sheth, MD
Co-Founder & President
INE MultiMedia
Dr. Manju Sheth, MD, is a Board-Certified Internist with keen interest in women’s health. She was voted in the 150 ‘Women of Influence’ by YW of Boston in 2016. Dr. Sheth served as president of Indian Medical Association of New England in 2013. She has been a big advocate for empowerment of women and has been voted Woman of the year in 2011.
She has served on the Board of ATASK and as as Chairperson of Advisory Board of Saheli. Dr Sheth also serves on the DEI steering committee at Atrius Health. Dr. Sheth is the creator and host of the popular “Chai with Manju” celebrity interview series.
In addition, Dr. Sheth is president of INE Multimedia, Women Who Win, and creator of Chai with Manju, New England Choice Awards and director of Woman of the Year. Dr Sheth is also the President of Women Who Win ,global media platform to empower women. Dr Sheth has received numerous awards for her work and was first Indian woman to be recently honored by Commonwealth of Massachusetts & AAPIC/ Asian American and Pacific Islanders Commission with Leadership in Diversity and Inclusion Award.
Mandy Pant
Lead Technologist in the Design Engineering Group
Intel
Mandy Pant is a Lead Technologist in the Design Engineering Group at Intel. Prior to this, she was the Director of Intel’s Corporate Research Council, a body that works with leading academic researchers worldwide and senior technical leaders at Intel to seed and drive research efforts in areas of strategic importance to Intel in particular and the computing industry in general. Before this, as Intel’s lead technologist in the area of power delivery and power management, she investigated and drove several issues in the power space, particularly on-chip power delivery issues, power management and power reduction on the Intel next generation high volume server microprocessors. She has led Intel’s die power delivery company wide synergy efforts and recently driven Intel’s power delivery Roadmap program. Further, she has also been a key player in driving and deploying Intel’s internal innovation programs.
She has published 20+ technical papers in prestigious VLSI conferences and journals, has 3 issued patents and 5 pending patents.
Ms. Pant received her Bachelors (B.Tech) in Computer Science and Engineering from I.I.T Kharagpur, India, a Masters (MS) in Electrical Engineering and a Doctorate (PhD) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA. She joined Intel in 2001 as part of the Alpha team acquisition from Compaq Computer Corporation where she worked since graduating in 2000. She is a proud Mom to two daughters who grew up too quickly and are now both working towards picking up undergraduate degrees in college. Mandy additionally enjoys hitting the gym regularly, dancing, reading, doing yoga and spending quality time with her husband.
Satish K. Tadikonda
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Harvard Business School
Satish Tadikonda is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. In the MBA program, Satish teaches The Entrepreneurial Manager, a required first-year MBA course, and Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences, an elective course for second-year MBA students. Prior to joining the faculty, he served as an Executive Fellow in Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at HBS over a period of six years, advising Harvard-based students and startups on all aspects of the entrepreneurial journey.
In addition to his faculty work, Mr. Tadikonda is a serial entrepreneur in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. His main interests lie in Healthcare IT and at the intersection of drug, medical device and diagnostics development, and software systems development, primarily for accelerating clinical trials and regulatory approvals.
His current venture, Trove Health (mytrovehealth.com), focuses on building technology for the engagement and retention of patients in clinical trials. Prior to Trove Health, he founded a number of companies focused on developing technology products or services within life sciences R&D: Avigo Solutions (Managing Partner), Virtify (Founder and CEO), Tribiosys (Co-Founder) and Enmed (Co-Founder and CEO). Early in his career, Satish was the Director of the Imaging Lab at EPIX Medical, and also worked as a lead Engineer at Hewlett-Packard Medical Products Group, working on developing innovative MRI, Ultrasound, and Telemedicine products.
He serves on the Board of Directors of Scripta Insights, Unruly Studios, Gradient Health and the non-profit Gateway for Cancer Research. He is also an Executive Advisor to Blue Cloud Ventures and Advisor to Two Lantern Ventures. Satish is a very active early-stage investor as a member of TiE Angels and TBD Angels, and serves on the advisory boards of a number of startups. He co-founded TiE ScaleUp, an accelerator focused on scaling seed and Series A companies, and mentors a number of entrepreneurs at TiE ScaleUp, MassChallenge, the Harvard iLab and the Rock Accelerator at HBS.
Mr. Tadikonda holds a Doctorate in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iowa, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (Pilani).
Aditi Taylor
Senior Vice President
MFS Investment Management
Aditi Taylor is a Senior Vice President at MFS Investment Management overseeing Trade Support and
Broker Relations. In her current role, she leads middle office operations overseeing aspects of portfolio support, trade management and manages strategic relationships with global sell side research providers.
Previously, she served as the Chief Enterprise Risk Officer of the organization providing oversight of enterprise risk management.
Prior to that, Ms. Taylor served as the Partner/Principal in Deloitte Advisory LLP where she spent almost 19 years working on various consulting engagements across multiple global companies. Aditi holds an MBA from Bentley University, MA and a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Mumbai, India.
Ms. Taylor has been active in the New England community serving in leadership roles for various community organizations, including as President of the New England Marathi Mandal and the India Association of Greater Boston. In 2014, she was inducted in the Boston Business Journal’s class of ‘40 Under 40’ Leaders to watch for as well as recognized as Boston Business Journal’s ‘Leaders in Diversity’. In 2015, she was honored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce as one of the ‘Ten Outstanding Young Leaders’. She was also recognized by the India New England News as the ‘Most Versatile Leader’ in 2017. Until recently, Ms. Taylor sat on the board of Tech Goes Home (TGH) a non-profit organization working towards bridging the digital divide. Ms. Taylor also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Boston University MET and teaches Advanced Enterprise Risk Management.
