Indo-American Community Federation (IACF-USA) was co-founded by Jeevan Zutshi in the year 1994 as the first Indo-American organization to build bridges with mainstream organizations, diverse leadership groups, think tank and public officials. The Unity Dinner celebrates unity in diversity and the achievements of community leaders in our local community after 9/11/01 to promote unity in diversity and address serious community issues.  IACF is proud to have celebrated 25th anniversary on March 22, 2019.

Unity through Diversity: Reclaiming a Sense of Connection

Friday, April 21, 2023 (5:00 PM to Midnight)

at the India Community Center, 525 Los Coches Street, Milpitas, CA.

Master of Ceremonies: Dr. Raj Salwan, Councilmember, City of Fremont, CA

Co- Master of Ceremonies: Rakhi Israni, Esq., President of Excel Test and a Public Relations Director for Sewa International.

Program:

5:00 pm to 6:15 pm

Panel discussion: The Rise in Gun Violence and the impact on our Youth

Moderator: Anjali Shaykher Zutshi, Esq.

Introduction by: Shyla Zutshi

Anjali is National Security Law Attorney at National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy.

Panelists:

Teresa Keng, City of Fremont Councilmember

Jeff Rosen, Santa Clara District Attorney

Desrie Campbell, City of Fremont Council member

Fish Stark, Head of Program & Curriculum at Ever Scouts

Dr. Harmesh Kumar, Licensed Psychologist

Ragini Vecham, Parent representative

– 5:50 pm to 6:00 pm: Address by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan

– 6:15 pm to 7:15 pm: “Tim Reilly – The Canyon Band” & Host bar and Dinner

– 7:15 pm: National Anthems by Manasa Gadepalli

– 7:20 pm: Introduction of IACF Board by Dr. Ramesh Konda, President

– 7:24 pm: “Why growth requires Diversity?” by Sanjiv Goyal, Chairman, Droisys

– 7:29 pm: Address by Jeevan Zutshi, Chairman, IACF-USA

Introductions

Consul General of India Ambassador, Dr. T.V. Nagendra Prasad

Congressman Ro Khanna represented by Tom Pyke

State Senator (CA-15), Dave Cortese

Patti Cortese, Eastside Union H.S. District

State Senator (Former), Bob Wieckowski

Assemblymember (CA-25), Ash Kalra

Assemblymember (CA-24), Alex Lee

Mayor, City of San Jose, Matt Mahan

Mayor, City of Milpitas, Carmen Montano

Mayor, City of Newark, Michael K. Hannon

Newark Former Mayor Al Nagy and Mrs Connie Nagy

Fremont City Mayor Lily Mei

Mayor, City of Tracy, Nancy Young represented by Mr. James Young

Mayor, City of Santa Clara, Lisa Gillmor

Mayor (Former) Milpitas, Rich Tran

Mayor (Former) Cupertino, Darcy Paul

Santa Clara City Vice Mayor, Kevin Park

Vice Mayor, City of Milpitas , Evelyn Chua

Councilmembers, City of Fremont, Dr. Raj Salwan, Teresa Keng, Teresa Cox

Board President, Alameda County Water District, Paul Sethy

Councilmember, City of Santa Clara (District 1), Kathy Watanabe

Councilmember, City of Oakland, Janani Ramachandran

Councilmember Arjun Batra, City of San Jose and Mrs. Batra

Councilmember (District 3), Murali Srinivasan, City of Sunnyvale

Alameda County Supervisor (CA-1), David Haubert

Santa Clara County Board Supervisor (District 3), Otto Lee

Santa Clara County Supervisor (District 4) – Board President, Susan Ellenberg

Santa Clara County Supervisor (District 2) – Cindy Chavez – Betty Duong, Esq., Chief of Staff

Fremont Police Chief Sean Washington

Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee (Area 2) Tara Sreekrishnan

Senior Assistant District Attorney and Policy Chief, Alameda County District Attorney’s Office Cynthia Chandler

Milpitas Unified School District Board of Education Trustee Anu Nakka

Milpitas Unified School District Board of Education President Chris Norwood

Commissioner to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders Ajay Bhutoria

Santa Clara Human Rights Commissioners Pranjali Dani, Mita Dey, Robert Cheykin

Milpitas Planning Commissioner Dipak Awasthi

Marie Bernard, Executive Director, Sunnyvale Community Services

Joined by Prof. Bruce Paton, Board member, Leadership Sunnyvale

 

– 7:37 pm: Joe Johal

– 7:39 pm: Address by Consul General of India Dr. Nagendra Prasad

– 7:45 pm:  Introduction of Community leaders by Rakhi Israni, Esq.

Hindu American Foundation (HAF)

Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS)

Hindu Swayam Sewak Sangh (HSS)

Sewa International

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Milpitas, CA

– 7:52 pm: Guest Speaker and Presentation by Hindu American Foundation (HAF)

– 8:02 pm: Honored Speaker – CA State Senator Dave Cortese

– 8:08 pm: Honored Speaker Susan Ellenberg, President, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors

– 8:13 pm: Fashion Show by Frontier Heritage Fremont

– 8:20 pm: IACF-USA Honorees

Deepak Ganju, Lifetime Achievement award

Fremont Police Chief Sean Washington, Public Safety Official of the year

The Urban League of Greater San Francisco Bay Area, Community organization of the year

Sanjiv Bhandari, Prominence in the field of Architecture

– 8:35 pm: Hispanic Ballet Folklorico by Martha Alvarez

– 8:45 pm: Keynote address by Dr. Tae Yun Kim, Motivational speaker and founder of Lighthouse Worldwide Solutions, Inc.

– 9:00 pm: Free drawing for fantastic prizes donated by Dr. Tae Yun Kim

– 9:15 pm: Dance performance by students of Aero Dance Academy Director: Ranjani Manda

Introduction by Vijaya Aasuri, AIA and BATA leader

– 9:25 pm: Closing Remarks and Vote of Thanks by Dr. Ramesh Konda, IACF-USA President

– 9:30 pm onwards:  Yeh Shaam Mastani organized by Prasad Mangina and Veeru Vuppala, BATA Karaokee

 

Live Bollywood music 🎵 concert by popular Bay Area singers

Videography & Photography by Sachin

Media Sponsors:

Tri-City Voice

Radio Zindagi

Indica News

 

Event Sponsors:

Comcast

Dr. Tae Yun Kim, Motivational speaker and the founder of Lighthouse Worldwide Solutions

Deepak Ganju, Managing Director, Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management

Droisys, Inc., a leading Software company

Washington Hospital Healthcare System

Bay Area Community Health (BACH)

Alameda County Supervisor Dave Haubert

Dr. Raj Salwan, City of Fremont Councilmember

Dr. Dharam P. Salwan, Salwan Properties

Association of Indo-Americans (AIA)

Dr. Dalvir Pannu, Pannu Dental

Hindu American Foundation (HAF)

Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS)

Hindu Swayam Sewak Sangh (HSS)

Sewa International

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Milpitas, CA

Dr. Harmesh Kumar, Licensed Psychologist

Kishore Pallapothu, Entrepreneur

Teresa Keng, City of Fremont Councilmember

Ashok and Pushpa Saraf

Dr. Vijay Chowdhury

Joe Johal

You are also invited to join IACF leaders on the Senate floor at the California State Capitol on Monday, April 24, 2023, as the State of California celebrates IACF’s Unity Day.  RSVP with your full name and contact information.

For additional information, feel free to contact anyone of us:

Mr. Jeevan Zutshi, [email protected], (510) 589-3702

Dr. Ramesh Konda, [email protected], (510) 565-2495

Mr. Amit Goel, [email protected], (415) 706-8643

Mr. Shashi Sharma, [email protected], (408) 569-3396

Dr. Naresh Sharma, [email protected], (408) 206-3330

Dr. Subhash Garg, [email protected], (702) 308-6339

Dr. Harmesh Kumar, [email protected], (925) 285-9881