HARISH RAO
CHICAGO: The annual board meeting of the Federation of Indian Associations Chicago, (FIA Chicago) was held on the auspicious day of Diwali October 27 at ThumKa Restaurant, Hoffman Estates, a north side suburb of Chicago.
This year FIA Chicago unanimously nominated its new president Gurmeet Singh Dhalwan and the new board. The event was presided over by founder president Sunil Shah. Also present were founding member and former president Onkar Singh Sangha, current president Ninad Daftari and founding members Mukesh Shah and Neil Khot.
Incoming president Gurmeet Singh Dhalwan will spearhead the team for the year 2020 that includes executive vice presidents Hitesh Gandhi and Dr Kamal Patel and vice presidents Shital Daftari, Altaf Bukhari, Chetan Patel, Jatinder Bedi and Vinita Gulabani.
The secretary for the year will be Abir Maru, treasurer will be Vaishal Talati, cultural secretary Hema Shastri, joint treasurer Ila Patel Chaudhari, and joint secretary Ashwani Mahajan.
The new directors are Pratibha Jairath, Anu Malhotra, Richa Chand, Sonia Luther, Varsha Visal, Mukesh Shah, Hitesh Patel, Vikram Seth and Tanvi Dhillon.
Touching upon one of the main events, Sunil Shah pitched for the participation of all the members in Feed My Starving Children program that will be held for a noble cause during Thanksgiving holidays on November 24 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Renaissance Convention Center.
Gurmeet Singh Dhalwan assured that with hard work he planned to take the organization to new heights with a host of events in 2020. He sought the support of the advisory board members Syed Hussaini (WinTrust Bank), Manish Gandhi (Power Plant Services), Brij Sharma (Power Volt), Asha Oroskar (Orochem), Smita Shah (Direct Floors), Pradeep Shukla (CPA), Neal Patel (MedStar), Jasbir Suga (Suga Builders & Construction ) and Keerthi Reevori.
Sunil Shah said that FIA Chicago plans to take on projects like job fair, entrepreneurship camps and youth leadership development skill camps. He also announced celebration of India’s 71st Republic Day January 25 next year with a health fair and scholarship drive, Indian Heritage Night with Windy City Bulls February 23 at Sears Center and festival of colors Holi in March.
