MASTERMIND

VIJAY ALBUQUERQUE

CEO

San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA

Vijay Albuquerque is an entrepreneur with deep expertise in product development, operations, business strategy, and strategic alliances in multiple market segments. Vijay has held leadership positions at large public companies and startups. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University and an MS in Engineering from Rutgers University, New Jersey.

BIPIN DAMA

Founder & CTO

Allentown, PA, USA

Bipin Dama, an MSEE from Rutgers, New Jersey, USA, has previous startup experience at AANetcom and Lightwire. PMC Sierra acquired AANetcom in 2000 for $965M, and Cisco acquired Lightwire in 2012 for $271M. He founded Saras-3D in 2016 to make an impact in STEM education. He has been an engineering leader at Cisco Systems, PMC Sierra, AT&T Bell Labs, and Larsen & Toubro and holds ~37 granted US patents.

KANCHAN MHATRE

Chief Growth Officer

Pennsylvania, USA

Kanchan Mhatre is the Founder and Principal at Bluu Wazi LLC, a business transformation consultancy helping startups and SMBs scale and develop, validate and implement their GTM strategies.

Kanchan has over 25+ years of experience as an operating executive in large and smaller technology businesses, leading multi-national and global teams to scale and accelerate both top and bottom-line growth. As a product leader, he has combined his deep understanding of technology with business leadership, to launch new products ... and grow them to hundreds of millions in sales. As a general manager, Kanchan has run businesses from $50 million to over $1 billion in sales and executed many M&A transactions with a combined value of $1.5 billion.

Previously, he was the Vice President and General Manager of GoDaddy’s Registrar Business, responsible for growing and improving margins of GoDaddy’s core domains business. Prior to that, Kanchan has led and turned around multiple companies and sold them for healthy returns to investors.

Kanchan earned his B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, MS in EE from Stevens Institute of Technology and MBA from The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania. Read More

KASHYAP MANKAD

Senior Advisor (Retired VP & GM)

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Mr. Kashyap Mankad is one of the founding members of Saras-3D. He did his ME(EC) from DDIT, Gujarat, India. He has 40+ years of experience and retired as Group Director, Electro-Optical Systems Group, Space Applications Centre, ISRO. He has the vision of making high-quality education available to all in India.

SUNIL SHETH

Fellow

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Dr. Sheth has extensive experience automating production equipment. He has improved yields on production lines, and has significantly improved defect rates. He has applied his expertise to many diverse fields, and the unique blend of academic excellence and real-world applications has significantly advanced technology in multiple sectors. He has a PhD in Physics from Columbia University, an MSc in Nuclear Physics, a BSc from St. Xaviers, Mumbai and 40 years of professional experience.

SHARVARI DALAL

Director of Engineering

Chicago, IL, USA

With a PhD in Electrical Engineering/Materials Science from University of Cambridge, UK, and 12+ years of experience at Cisco and Nokia-University of Cambridge Research Collaboration in her arsenal, Sharvari is enthusiastic about giving everyone the chance to have a great education, to help create a better world.

FEDERICO GALLO

Director of AI

Chicago, IL, USA

Dr. Federico Gallo combines his expertise in applied mathematics and programming with a profound understanding of AI's transformative potential. With a stellar academic background from Cambridge University, he has successfully applied AI in complex analyses and advanced medical device technology. Driven by a proven track record in quantitative analysis and problem-solving, Federico leads the integration of AI into STEM learning at Saras-3D. His hands-on experience in programming AI algorithms and adept leadership will ... shape a forward-thinking, rigorous curriculum. He envisions an educational environment where students not only learn about AI but also apply it to real-world scenarios, unlocking new dimensions in education and innovation. Read More

ANKITA SHASTRI

Lead AI Scientist

Seattle, WA, USA

Experienced in data analysis, programming and building machine learning models, Ankita has a keen interest in effective science communication. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; BA Chemistry from Boston University, Boston, MA.

JIM ZAJKO

Finance Controller

Allentown, PA, USA

Jim has a BS in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and has over 40 years of experience. He has worked for AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Agere Systems, LSI Corporation, Avago and Broadcom in various roles including engineering, marketing, product management and business operations. He spent most of his career licensing LSI, Avago and Broadcom’s intellectual property to companies located in Japan, Taiwan and China. He has been helping Saras-3D improve the educational landscape since 2020.

KALPENDU SHASTRI

Board Member

Allentown, PA, USA

Dr Kalpendu Shastri holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia University, NY, USA. He is an Optoelectronics industry visionary with 37+ years of experience in a wide variety of domains, ranging from devices to systems. He was the founder & CEO of AANetcom that was acquired by PMC Sierra for $965M. He was also the founding CEO & CTO of Lightwire, a CMOS Photonics company that was acquired by Cisco Systems for $271M. He has 50+ patents in the field of Circuit Design, Optoelectronics, and Silicon Photonics to his name.

JAYANT GADRE

Board Member

Allentown, PA, USA

Jayant Gadre has done Eng.Sc.D. - EE from Columbia University, NY, USA. He has served on the Board of Directors in various companies and has 40+ years’ experience. He has held senior leadership positions at Verizon, AT&T, Bell Laboratories and Logica, and was also the CTO at Artel.

FARROKH BILLIMORIA

Board Member

San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA

Farrokh is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Green Leaf Real Estate Capital. He has MS (CS) and Stanford Executive Programs degrees, and has served on the Board of Directors in several organizations during his 35+ years of experience.

ARJUN MALHOTRA

Advisory Board Member

San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA

Serial entrepreneur, industrialist and philanthropist, Arjun Malhotra is the co-founder of the HCL group. He served as CEO of US tech companies including Headstrong Setup Magic Software in 2011 and serves as director for various other companies.

TOBY TOBACCOWALA

Advisory Board Member

Allentown, PA, USA

Tobby Tobaccowala comes with 40+ years experience in senior executive and CEO positions at technology and business service companies. He has served as Board of Advisors in multiple high tech companies such as Infinote, Instore, Redshift Networks, and Strikedeck. He is currently on the board of directors at Oceus Networks and CRI Advantage.

SUDHIR ISPAHANI

Advisory Board Member

San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA

Sudhir Ispahani has led a distinguished career driving transformative technology advancements, while being an active global voice in the pioneering evolution of telecommunications and broadband developments around the globe. He has guided technology divisions of international and Fortune 100 companies. Currently, Sudhir is focused on investing back into the industries and causes that will make a difference for next-generation leaders.

A highly sought-after strategist, investor, advisor and board member for companies ... focused on the next wave of disruptive technology innovation, Sudhir invests a significant amount of his time mentoring, advising and serving as a life coach to global leaders. He gives back by developing young executives who are revolutionizing communication technology.

Relying on his executive-level experience building some of the most complex communication networks in the world, Sudhir advises companies and C-suite leaders while investing in the future of innovative, revolutionary technologies.

As the founding Chief Technology Officer and Chairman of the Technology board, Sudhir successfully helped propel the early innovation and thought leadership positions of Chello Broadband, United Global Communications, United Pan European Communications, Liberty Global and as a C-suite executive at MCI Telecommunications. These accomplishments aided in his ability to lead the extension of telecommunications and broadband technology to countries across three continents. This global experience bolsters his understanding of the technological, financial and operational strategies that transform startups into leading industry powerhouses.

Sudhir is also the founder of Master’s Peace Foundation, a US-based charity with programs that support the underprivileged around the globe. This foundation reflects Sudhir’s thoughtful and compassionate approach to business and life.

Recently, Sudhir has turned his energy toward writing and media projects, including authoring several soon-to-be-released books and his already launched podcast “Cracking the Code with Sudhir Ispahani.”

Sudhir stays active as the Founder and CEO of Alpha Global Partners, advising global technology and corporate leaders in the boardroom and the C-suite. He is also an active investor in emerging and next-generation technology startups in Silicon Valley and around the world. His life motto is “It is better to give than it is to receive.” Read More

HAO NHAM

Advisory Board Member

San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA

Hao Nham is the Chief Investment Officer at Prime Waverly Holdings, specializing in early-stage private technology companies. With a robust background in high-tech silicon chip development, particularly advanced ASICs and Electronic Design Automation, Mr. Nham brings decades of expertise to his investment and advisory endeavors.

Previously, he served as Senior Vice President of Engineering at eSilicon, where he led a global engineering team in designing and delivering cutting-edge computing and communication ASICs. ... Earlier in his career, Mr. Nham spearheaded pioneering R&D efforts in EDA design software at Bell Labs.

Currently, his investment efforts are focused on leveraging AI to create transformative benefits in the health and education sectors.

Mr. Nham holds both a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of Texas at Austin. Read More

SONG HE

AI Advisory Panel

New Jersey, USA

Song He is the co-founder of Hexaa Partners, a firm specializing in early-stage investments in private technology companies. With in-depth experiences in document AI, enterprise intelligent process automation, advanced quantitative methods, and platform architecture, Song leverages expertise in these areas to strategic advisory engagements.

Currently, Song serves as VP of Doc AI and Enterprise Intelligent Automation at a leading insurance carrier, where he drives innovation and operational efficiency. Previously, he ... held senior leadership roles, including Head of Quantitative Services and Chief Enterprise Solution Architect at a major financial institution. His career began at Bell Labs as a Senior Research Scientist, where he contributed to groundbreaking research.

A recognized thought leader in his field, Song was named a Franz Edelman Laureate in 2016 for his contributions to large-scale optimization algorithms for collateral settlement systems. He also holds multiple patents in this domain. Song earned his B.A. from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Read More