A Message from our Board of Directors

The Akanksha Education Fund is thrilled to announce that Sejal Desai, of Dallas, TX, will be the new Executive Director of the Akanksha Education Fund as of March 22nd! Sejal has had an incredible 30 year career and joins the Akanksha family most recently from the Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT), where she led a strategic initiative focused on engaging businesses in the community. At CFT she worked with over 400 companies and also supported many individual donors with their philanthropic giving and engagement. Among other career highlights, she also started a U.S.-India based social venture, SevaYatra, with one of Akanksha’s long-time friends, Azad Oommen. Thank you Azad for connecting Sejal to us and to those of you who joined and participated in our process. As a business and community leader in Dallas, Sejal and her family will continue living there but she plans to travel regularly to be with the AEF team and engage with our supporters.  She lived in Mumbai for almost 20 years and has strong family and professional ties there. Ramesh Srinivasan, AEF’s Board Chair noted that Sejal’s combined roots in Dallas and Mumbai are perfect for this moment in AEF’s growth. “This is an exciting venture for all of us, as our future outreach depends in part on growing our presence well beyond the NY, NJ and CT area. We have some terrific seeds planted already and Sejal is poised to make them grow!”.  

“I am excited to embark on this new chapter in my life and work together with individuals, corporates and foundations across the U.S. to advance educational outcomes for underserved children in India.” – Sejal Desai

  We would like to again acknowledge and thank Gouri Sadhwani, who has led us as our Executive Director for the past 7 years and who will be stepping down from her role on March 31st. Gouri has brought AEF to the valued position we currently hold with our donors and peer organizations. She set us on a path to grow at an unprecedented rate allowing us to support Akanksha Foundation’s ambitious goals. Under her leadership AEF strengthened our internal governance and financial structures and initiated our now signature gala. She has also been a true mentor to our team, our students and alumni, and to her colleagues. We will be forever grateful to Gouri and wish her the very best. Sejal is excited to meet all of you and will be reaching out after she joins. We also hope you will join us at our June 2021 Gala to give her a warm welcome! March 4, 2021