Seema Agnani Executive Director :[ bio ]:
	Afreen Alam Program Director :[ bio ]:
	Mamta Gurung Program Coordinator :[ bio ]:
	Shirhad Meah Community Organizer :[ bio ]:
	Shama Mubdi Housing Counselor and Office Manager :[ bio ]:
	Shan Rehman, Communications and Development Associate :[ bio ]:
	Yangchen Chadotsan Housing Counselor :[ bio ]:

STAFF BIOGRAPHIES

Seema Agnani, Executive Director, was one of Chhaya CDC’s initial founders. Before returning to Chhaya as Executive Director in 2007, she was the Coordinating Consultant to the Fund for New Citizens at The New York Community Trust, a donor collaborative supporting immigrant rights work. She was also the Director of Training and Technical Assistance at Citizens for NYC.  In addition, she worked with Asian Americans for Equality for several years as a housing development associate while also focusing on fundraising and development; and later served as a coordinator of the Lower Manhattan Health Care Coalition. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development. She is a former recipient of The Charles H. Revson Fellowship at Columbia University, earned her Bachelors at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a Masters of Urban Planning and Public Administration at the University of Illinois in Chicago.  She is proficient in Hindi, French and Sindhi.  Seema, a Midwesterner at heart, loves swimming in swampy lakes almost as much as the exploring the streets of the big city.

Afreen Alam is Chhaya's Program Director and is responsible for managing and strengthening Chhaya's programs and services, policy advocacy and community organizing efforts, as well as developing and implementing new programs. Most recently, she worked as a Program Officer for UNAIDS and as a consultant for The Hunger Project and the PAMOJA TRUST in Nairobi, Kenya. The latter assignment focused on slum upgrading and community led housing development issues in one of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi. A daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, Afreen grew up in Queens, New York and has been continuously involved in protecting and advancing immigrant rights in various capacities. Her community organizing experiences in New York include advocacy work with Workers Awaaz, a community based organization in Queens. She received her Master's degree in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and is fluent in Bengali and proficient in Hindi.

Mamta Gurung, Program Coordinator, joined Chhaya CDC in 2009 to oversee its foreclosure prevention and homeownership program. Previously, she was the marketing manager at Imperial Trading Ltd., a private business in Queens, NY, where she spearheaded the marketing program and initiated several outreach projects. She has worked with Young Asia Television, a non-profit affiliate of Worldview Global Television, specifically on gender issues and the rising youth workforce in Nepal. In addition, she was a founding member of Manang Youth Society, an NGO in Nepal. Mamta is also on the editorial board for Migyul, a magazine dealing with the social issues of the Himalayan immigrants in New York.  She graduated from Cornell University with a Masters in International Development in 2007 and earned a Bachelors of Arts in International Development and Mass Communication at City University New York.  Mamta speaks English, Nepali, Hindi, Manangi and Tibetan. Mamta is always exploring new ways of juggling time between work and raising her curious and energetic 4 year old daughter.

Shirhad Meah, Community Organizer, joined Chhaya CDC in 2009.  Before joining Chhaya he ran his own business as a yellow cab driver, and also worked as an assistant manager with a local service franchise while attending school.  He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Queens Vantage Tenant Council, a tenant organization representing the interests of over a thousand Queens residents. Shirhad has also served as President of the Bangladesh Student Association at LaGuardia College.  Hegraduated from The City University of New York (CUNY) with an Associate of Science, majoring in Engineering.  He is fluent in English, Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu and has been a long time advocate for the preservation of affordable housing in New York. Shirhad is an avid tea-drinker and lives in Jackson Heights with his wife and son.

Shama Mubdi joined Chhaya in 2001 and is currently the Housing Counselor and Office Manager. She conducts homeownership and foreclosure prevention counseling with clients and manages the organizations client intake and counseling programs.  In addition, she oversees the organization’s office administration, bookkeeping, and procurement. She has over 10 years of experience in direct services as well as office administration, having previously worked as a management and program coordinator with organizations such as Settlement Health in East Harlem and HANAC in Long Island City, New York City. Shama was also a case manager with New York City’s Human Resources Administration for five years.  She graduated with a Bachelors of Arts from Dhaka University in Bangladesh; and is fluent in English, Bengali, Urdu, and Hindi. Shama has three daughters and loves playing card games.

Shan Rehman, Communications and Development Associate, has been with Chhaya since 2007, when he began his work with the organization as a Community Organizer. He has also worked as an analyst with a public sector oriented management consulting firm, where he conducted management and communications research for some of New York City’s largest civic organizations.  Before joining Chhaya, he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree focusing on issues of international development, globalization, and social change from Hampshire College. He has also previously worked with the National Rural Support Program and the National Commission for Human Development in Islamabad, Pakistan; and has had his academic work published .Originally from Pakistan; he is fluent in English, Urdu, Punjabi and is proficient in Nepali. In his free time, Shan enjoys playing guitar and exploring the wares of New York City street vendors.

Yangechen Chadotsang, housing counselor, worked with Indian Airlines as well as Jet Airlines as an attendant for about seven years. She graduated with honors from Loreto College in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India where she worked as a counselor for 2 years, and has also previously taught at Tungram International School in Nepal at a volunteer. Yangchen is fluent in English, Hindi, Urdu, Nepalese, Tibetan, and also has proficiency in Bengali. Yangchen loves to escape the big City by travelling and reading.

	Mohammad Ali, Esq. Con Ed Chair :[ bio ]:
	Charu A. Chandrasekhar Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale And Dorr Vice Chair :[ bio ]:
	Suman Raghunathan Secretary :[ bio ]:
	Joseph Hawlader Accountant Treasurer :[ bio ]:
	Suman Raghunathan Progressive States Network Secretary :[ bio ]:
	Mafruza Kahn Consultan :[ bio ]:
	Shomon Shamsuddin Consultant
	Oda Friedheim Chair :[ bio ]:
	Rina Biswa Deutsche Bank :[ bio ]:

	Tenzing Chadotsang New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
	Renee Lobo International Television Gold
	Asad Mahmood Deutsche Bank
	Anthony Ng United Neighborhood Houses of New York
	S. Tito Sinha, Esq. Law Offices of S. Tito Sinha

BOARD OF DIRECTORS BIOGRAPHIES

Charu A. Chandrasekhar is a lawyer with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, where she focuses on state and federal challenges to laws restricting access to abortion.  Her prior business and nonprofit experience includes work at Bain & Company; the National Immigration Project; and the Harvard Civil Rights Project. She graduated from Harvard Law School and Yale College.

Suman Raghunathan, Immigration Policy Specialist at the Progressive States Network, has deep experience advancing immigrant rights via grassroots, advocacy, and policy organizations. The daughter of Indian immigrants and the former Interim Executive Director of Chhaya Community Development Corporation, where she now serves on the Board of Directors, Suman’s expertise lies in crafting policy platforms and advocacy strategies. She has also developed programs to engage immigrants in the electoral process at the NY Immigration Coalition and OneAmerica, including managing the nation’s largest voter registration project for new citizens. Most recently, Suman was an immigration policy consultant, developing progressive policy agendas for Demos and the Drum Major Institute. Suman holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Brown University and a Master's in Nonprofit Management from Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy.

Shomon Shasuddin is a policy analyst for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Trained as an architect, he has worked on community development projects in New York, Connecticut, and Maryland.

Mohammad Ali works as an engineer during the day and at night maintains a community based law practice. In his law practice, Mr. Ali deals primarily with the South Asian community and with issues related to real estate, corporate law, administrative law and immigration. Mr. Ali has over 15 years of experience dealing with issues related to homeownership, landlord and tenant matters, landuse planning, and construction. Mohammad Ali was born in Pakistan and raised in Queens, New York. He currently lives with his family in Holliswood, Queens and maintains a law office in Valley Stream, New York.

Oda Friedheim has been a Staff Attorney at the Queens Neighborhood Office of the Legal Aid Society since 1996. At Legal Aid her work includes defending tenants in eviction and ejectment actions in civil and supreme courts, enforcing housing codes through litigation work on behalf of tenant associations and representing low-income homeowners in state and federal courts. She was formerly a founding director of the Lower East Side Local Enforcement Unit of the MFY Legal Services, served on the New York City Rent Guideline Board under Mayor Dinkins; and served as the Director of Housing Development at the Ecumenical Community Development Organization. She currently serves as an advisor to Resident Landlord-Tenant Law In New York and is on the board of the City-Wide Task Force on Housing Court. Mr. Freidheim was awarded the New York IOLA Legal Services Fellowship in 1998, the Arthur Kinoy Fellowship at Rutgers University in 1996, and the Revson Fellows on the Future of the City of New York in 1993.

Joseph Hawlader has over 20 years of financial management experience in private and not for profit industries. Currently, Mr. Hawlader serves as an Sr. accountant with  NOITU, a sole national trade union in New York.. He formerly served as a Business Manager for the YMCA of Greater New York for five years where he managed numerous City and State level contracts.  Formerly, he was Controller for a major manufacturing company for four years.  He is a founding member of the Human Evaluation and Leadership Program in Dhaka, Bangladesh; a member of Source and Solution, a credit union based in New York; and serves on the board of advisory boared of Probashi Christian Bengali Association.

Mafruza Khan has over fifteen years of experience working at the intersection of policy, research, advocacy and organizing for community development in the U.S and in South and Southeast Asia. Her work has focused on promoting equity and sustainability, social inclusion, civic engagement, political empowerment and good governance. An urban and regional planner and economist by training, her employers have included Working Assets, Pratt Center for Community Development, Center for Social Inclusion and Proshika (an NGO in Bangladesh). Mafruza has graduate degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and from Dhaka University in Bangladesh and is currently an independent consultant.

Rina Biswas has more than 7 years as a Finance Professional in both the US and the UK. Currently she works with Deutsche Bank; her areas of expertise include business planning and strategy, financial reporting and analysis. She is a volunteer with charity:water, a nonprofit organization that brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations and was a working group member of the Deutsche Bank Microfinance Team. She is a graduate of NYU’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business, is fluent in Bengali, and a working knowledge of French.