As a Toastmaster for 16 years and starting as a Gavelier at the age of 15, I have seen first hand the transformative effects that TI has had on my life as a communicator and leader, now as an entrepreneur and teacher as well. I firmly believe that the message that our organization espouses and the benefits of its program need to reach out far more. As an organization at the cusp of its centennial anniversary, I am also cognizant that what got us here though may not carry us for the next 100 years, in a rapidly evolving post-pandemic digitally savvy world. To that extent, I wish to serve on the Board with an intent of fostering greater inclusion, better representation across all age groups, growth in membership and increasing engagement and retention opportunities.

My second half of the day is that of a university professor where I also set policy at the university level for student performance, curriculum design, and best practices. This has ensured that our university has become a Top 5 university in the UAE in just over 4 years. We started from an initial intake of 10 students and have grown to a base of 600+. Our team spearheaded digital marketing initiatives, student enrollment and engagement activities via social media, which brought our student acquisition costs down by 80%. I was also instrumental in pioneering the "COVED" - Covid Education Strategy, which enabled seamless online learning for 400+ students without affecting their student experience or engagement.

What deserves a special mention is the fact that I am currently a PhD Scholar in the domain of Strategic Management and am focusing on Entrepreneurship and Organizational Sustainability as my topic. My research journey so far has honed my analytical skills, problem definition and root cause analysis abilities, scenario planning and forecasting skills all while working on tight deadlines with a team of collaborators.

- Among the founding members of Al Mosanada, UAE's first Cancer Awareness bodies and was a youth representative.

In terms of finance education, I am an empaneled faculty of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India teaching all of their core curriculum subjects and have trained in excess of 8,000 students in India and the Gulf so far.

As a Board Member on committees outside of Toastmasters I handle a $30 million US budget for our Community Management Association, with responsibility for procurement decision making, vendor appointments, tender evaluation, and negotiations, as well as policy review and approval for over 350 apartments housing 1,200 tenants.

I am also a personal finance mentor and an investment guide for over 60+ students.  Together we are handling a portfolio of around $3 million US in stocks across the US and India markets. The initial starting value of this corpus was only around $500,000 US. What makes it even more heartening is most of these students of mine were from the lower end of the economic spectrum and this has enabled them to become financially independent. Today, many of them are also fellow Toastmasters!

- Managing Trustee, PRERANA - the largest disability advocacy group for the Indian diaspora in the Middle East. I handle diversity, advocacy and inclusion.

- One of the Consultative Committee Members on the People of Determination (Disability Empowerment and Provisions) Law for the Emirate of Dubai in 2007.

- Owner's Committee Member, Park Gate Residences, Tower A, approved by the Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Authority to represent 300+ homeowners and decide on budgets, facilities and strategies for a great community living experience. One of the only four approved from 26 nationalities.

- Course Committee Member, University of West London, RAK Campus - Contributing to curriculum design and development as well as a great learning experience.

- XLRI Scholar's Committee Member - Representing 600+ PhD scholars and contributing to critical policy, financial, facility and academic matters.

- Among the founding members of Al Mosanada, UAE's first Cancer Awareness body and was a youth representative. Made pivotal inputs for development of treatment best practice and management of cancer as well as sensitization for treatment of young patients.

- One of the Consultative Committee Members on the People of Determination (Disability Empowerment and Provisions) Law for the Emirate of Dubai in 2007.

- Industry representative, mandatory insurance implementation 2008-2009, Dubai Health Authority, UAE. Contributed to policy review, vetting and finalization

Enhancing and maintaining club excellence, promoting and facilitating member achievement, creating greater awareness and engagement and well as ensuring operational effectiveness are among the main objectives of TI. In my view as a millennial and as someone who believes in the potential of digital, I believe we will need to focus on customized learning deliverables for our members as Pathways gets adopted and matures over the next few years. Furthermore, we will have to work on a member recruitment strategy for a younger demographic including early career professionals.  These are the members, if they become lifelong members, that will have long lasting impacts on the organization's future. Being someone who has seen both pre-Pathways and the post-Pathways era in Toastmasters and with my extensive experience of working with young people and mid-career professionals, I believe the right tools, a digital push and effective cross-organizational pollination and collaboration, as has been started with the Rotary alliance, will point Toastmasters towards its envisioned future.