July 23, 2016

Executive Committee 2016-17

Executive Committee 2016-17

Left to right: Mr Venkatesh Bidarkal, Mr Shaji Karattiyattil, Mr Sumandeep Dhillon, Mr Mahesh Scaria, Mr Amardeep Singh, Mr Dean Sahu Khan, Mr Sanjay Pandey and Mr ChittiBabu Divi

President

President

Amardeep Singh

amardeepRepresents – Canberra Sikh Association
President – FINACT (2013-14 & 2015-16)

Member of other organisations

  • Canberra Sikh Association – Current Delegate

Positions held: Vice President (2014-15), Secretary (2013-14), Assistant Secretary (2012-13)

  • Canberra Interfaith Forum – Current Executive Committee Member
  • Radio ‘Mehak Punjab Di’- Coordinator

Born and brought up in Chandigarh, India and m migrated to Canberra in 2003. Qualified as Instrumentation Engineer and did postgraduate in Marketing Management. Working with Konica Minolta Business Technologies as, National Solutions Analyst and placed in ACT.

Amardeep has been active in the social work accomplishments in and around Canberra region. He has been an ardent volunteer for Smith Family for some time. Amardeep has organised fund raising events for local charities and has also organised blood donation camps in Queanbeyan and Canberra in the past. Mr Singh is a very keen Golfer and has represented Konica Minolta in the Golf competition organised by Canberra Raiders to raise funds for Cancer Support Group.

Vice President

Vice President

Mahesh Scaria

maheshscariaRepresents – South Indian Fine Arts Society

Treasurer – FINACT (2013-14 & 2014-15)
Executive Member – CMCF (2015-16 & 2016-17)

 

Mahesh Scaria has worked in different countries such as Ireland, Dubai and India as a financial analyst. He has demonstrated his ability to serve the community as the treasurer of FINACT in 2013 to 2015 and as the president of Canberra Malayalee Association in  2013-2014. Mahesh is a current executive member of Canberra Multicultural Community Forum (CMCF).

 

 

Secretary

Secretary

ChittiBabu Divi

Represents – Indian Australian Association of Health and Well-being

 

ChittiBabu Divi promotes and encourages health and Well-Being through sports and games for all ages amongst HAWAAI members and the wider Canberra community.

 

Treasurer

Treasurer

Shaji Karattiyattil


Represents – Canberra Malayalee Association Inc

Secretary – Canberra Malayalee Association (2015-16)
President – Sprintz Inc. Sports initiative Organisation (2014-15 & 2015-16)

 

Active in Canberra since 2005. Career started in Middle East and currently working as Application Developer within Australian Public Service.

Born in Kozhikkode, northern part of South Indian State Kerala.   Soccer fan and sevens player since university days, and trained under the most popular football coach, Olympian Rahman.  Other interests are in Music and Literature. Trained in light music by various teachers and still active on several cultural platforms.

 

Public Officer

Public Officer

Sanjay Pandey

Representative – Bihar Jharkhand Sabha of Australia & New Zealand

 

Sanjay is a Canberra and web based supporter of socio-cultural activities. He manages a strong community organisation in Australia and New Zealand and has developed strong relationship with a number of associations in the ACT.

 

 

Coordinators

Community Services

Venkatesh Bidarkal

Representative – Karnataka Association of Canberra Inc

  • President – Karnataka Association of Canberra (2014-15 & 2015-16)
  • Executive Member – India Australia Association of Canberra (IAAC)

Positions held: Committee Member (2010 -11), Treasurer (2011 – 12)

 

Venkatesh has been active in the social work accomplishments in and around Canberra region. He is an enthusiastic volunteer for Heart Foundation helping in their fund raising efforts. Venkatesh has organised several food fairs and fund raising events for local charities and charities back in India.

As the most approachable, polite and prolific contributor to the strategic direction, Venkatesh is an asset to any association.

 


Cultural Programmes

Ramesh Kyla

RameshKRepresentative – ACT Telangana Association of Canberra

 

Ramesh Kyla has been in Canberra since 2011 and actively participating in Telangana community and working as SAP senior consultant.

Career started as Engineer in the Andhra Pradesh (AP) state electricity board and served as Branch Secretary and General Secretary for AP Engineer’s Association.

 

Representatives

Women Representative

Madhumita Iyengar

madhumita
Representative – Initiatives for Women in Needs (IWiN)
Chair, Initiatives For Women In Need (IWiN) (2014-15)

Madhumita Iyengar is a an economist by profession, with a deep commitment to community services.  She is passionate about social justice issues related to women and children since her college days in India. After making Canberra her family home, she has been actively involved with various community activities in the ACT region for more than a decade. She has developed a strong community network under IWiN umbrella to support the empowerment of Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD) women, in addition to conducting various IWiN workshops / panel discussions / fundraisers and other community events. Currently, as the Chair of IWiN, Madhumita is focussed on raising awareness on domestic violence issues faced by the women coming from South Asian background.

Madhumita has an advanced post graduate (MPhil) degree in Economics from well recognised Delhi School Of Economics in Delhi (India) and completed her Doctoral (PhD) thesis in Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. During her over 15 years long public service career in Australia and India as Economic Adviser, she wrote a range of reports and papers on different policy issues and presented research papers in various national and international conferences and seminars. Madhumita’s love for music and singing comes from her education in Shantiniketan, a place of innovative music, arts and culture created by India’s first Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. She has performed on stage on numerous occasions including charities in Canberra and in various Indian locations.

 

Senior Citizens Representative – Vacant

 

Youth Representative

Sumandeep Dhillon

Representative – Canberra Punjabi Sports and Cultural Association

 

Sumandeep Dhillon is born and brought up in Punjab state of India. He came to Australia in 2007 in Melbourne and then moved to Canberra in 2009. Entrepreneur by nature, he started some businesses here. He is builder by profession and running a successful construction company in Canberra.

 

 

MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS

FINACT appreciates and supports activities and initiatives of member associations.
You may wish to click on the logo to visit their websites.

Canberra Multicultural Artists Association
IAMSA
IAMSA
Pink Umbrella Inc
Pink Umbrella Inc
UC Indian Association
UC Indian Association
Navya Andhra Telugu Association
Navya Andhra Telugu Association
Mehak Punjab Di
Mehak Punjab Di
Indian Students’Association
Indian Students’Association
Indian Senior Citizens Association
Indian Australian Association of Health and Well-being
Indian Australian Association of Health and Well-being
Karnataka Association of Canberra
ACT Telangana Association
Australian Tamil Society of ACT
Australian Tamil Society of ACT
Bihar Jharkhand Sabha of Australia and New Zealand
Canberra Hindu Mandir Inc
Canberra Malayalee Association
Canberra Punjabi Sports and Cultural Association Inc
Canberra Punjabi Sports and Cultural Association Inc
Integrated Cultures ACT
Telugu Association of Canberra
Rajdhani Marathi Mandal Canberra
Rajasthan Sabha of Australia
Australian Anglo Indian Association of Canberra
Australian Anglo Indian Association of Canberra
Canberra Jain Mandal
Canberra Jain Mandal
Gujarati Samaj of ACT
Mandir School of Music