Pratham’s leadership is united in their unwavering commitment to transforming the lives of millions of children and young people in India through innovative educational initiatives.
The Pratham USA Board of Directors is composed of accomplished leaders from a wide range of industries and sectors across the United States. These visionaries provide strategic guidance, oversee decision-making, and demonstrate steadfast financial commitment, ensuring Pratham remains aligned with its mission and achieves its ambitious goals. Their collective expertise and dedication inspire Pratham’s efforts to make a lasting impact on education in India.
Chair of the Board of Directors
Pratham’s Chapter Presidents lead local chapters across the United States, driving grassroots efforts to support the organization’s mission. These passionate individuals mobilize resources, engage their communities, and build awareness to create enduring change in the lives of children in India. Through their leadership and commitment, they amplify Pratham’s reach and impact, connecting communities in the U.S. with the cause of educational equity abroad.
Head of Operations
Chair of the Board of Directors
Dhiren Shethia is an advisor and investor focused on climate tech, industrial decarbonization and digitization. Over the last twenty years he has served as a strategic advisor to global companies, venture funds and private equity organizations. Most recently, he was managing director at Accenture, where he served Energy companies and was a leader in Energy Transition efforts. Prior to Accenture, he was CEO and co-founder of Enaxis Consulting, later acquired by Accenture, and a leader at Deloitte Consulting. He is an active investor and board member in technology and climate tech companies.
Dhiren earned his MBA in finance from the University of Texas in Austin and received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Angelo State University.
He is a past president of the Pratham Houston chapter. Dhiren began his role as the new Chair of the Board of Directors, Pratham USA in April 2023. He and his wife, Anila, have two daughters.
Rajesh (Raj) Shah is a president at MS International, Inc. and a former vice president in the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers. There, he focused on the needs of financial sponsor/private equity funds (mergers, acquisitions and capital raising).
Raj has a degree in finance and accounting from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Orange County chapter of the Young President’s Organization as well as Pratham USA’s Los Angeles chapter.
Raj resides in Orange County, California, where MSI is headquartered. He is married and has two children.
A technology veteran and serial entrepreneur, Pradeep Singh is the founder and executive chairman of Aditi Consulting. He also serves as co-chairman of Vidyanext, an educational solutions company he founded in 2009. He was previously the CEO of Aditi Technologies (which he founded in 1994 and was bought by Symphony Tech in 2013) as well as Talisma, one of India’s first product companies, founded in 1999.
Pradeep held several management positions at Microsoft from 1986 to 1994 and, in his early career, completed brief stints at McKinsey in Copenhagen, Texas Instruments in Dallas and Mannai Trading Company in Doha.
Pradeep has been honored with IIT Delhi’s Distinguished Alumni Service Award and has been recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. He holds an MBA from Harvard University, and a B.Tech Electrical Engineering degree from IIT, Delhi. Pradeep is vice chairman of the Pratham USA Board and serves as chair of the Marketing Committee. In addition, he also serves as chairman of Pratham Seattle.
Deepak Raj is the founder and managing director of the New Jersey-based private investment firm Raj Associates with investments in real estate and public and private securities.
He has extensive experience in the investment business. Deepak’s leadership positions during his 24 years with Merrill Lynch include senior analyst in research (and member of the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team); head of their Global Consumer Products Investment Banking practice; and senior vice president and member of the firm’s executive management committee. As director of Global Equity Research, he managed a staff of approximately 700 investment professionals located throughout the world.
He was elected chairman of the New Jersey State Investment Council in 2019. The Council formulates policies governing the investment of funds and supervises the $80 billion NJ Pension Fund.
Deepak has wide-ranging philanthropic interests. He previously served as chairperson of Pratham USA and continues to serve on the board. He is also the chair of the Indian Philanthropy Alliance. Deepak is the founder of the Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at Columbia University (with his wife Neera) and is a co-founder of Indian American IMPACT.
A chartered financial analyst, Deepak graduated from IIT Kanpur with a BTech in electrical engineering and earned an MBA from Northeastern University. He and his wife, Neera, have two grown children and live in Princeton, New Jersey.
Dinyar (Dinny) Devitre is an international business executive who has held leadership positions over a 45 year period in the consumer products and financial services industries in Asia, Australia, Japan, Europe, and the U.S.
Mr. Devitre held a number of senior operating positions with Philip Morris Inc. and then with Altria Group Inc. where he had a 35 year career. He was Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Altria Group Inc., a role he held from 2002 to 2008 before retiring from the Company. Between 1998 and 2001, Mr. Devitre was Executive Vice President and Group Head of Citibank’s Global Consumer Bank for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.
He currently serves on the Advisory Board of General Atlantic and is on the Board of Avestar Capital. He recently served as a member of the Board of Directors of Altria Group, Inc., where he was Chairman of the Finance Committee from 2008-2022 and the Board of IHS Markit Ltd where he was Chairman of the Audit Committee from 2012-2022. Prior Board appointments included Kraft Foods Inc. from 2002-2007, Western Union Inc. from 2006-2015, and SABMiller from 2007-2016. He was also a Special Advisor to General Atlantic from 2008 to 2016.
He has served on the Boards of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts from 2002-2010 and the Asia Society from 2002-2012. He currently serves as Chairman of The Nature Conservancy’s India Council and is Vice Chairman of the Pratham Education Foundation in India.
Born in Jamshedpur, India, Mr. Devitre earned a B.A. (Hons) Degree at St. Joseph’s College in Darjeeling, India, and a M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.
Mr. Devitre resides in New York and is married to Aashish Devitre.
Viral V. Acharya is the CV Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business.
Before joining NYU Stern, he was professor of finance and academic director of the Private Equity Institute at the London Business School, a research affiliate of the Center for Economic Policy Research and an academic advisor to the Bank of England.
Viral also served as Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of India from 2017 to 2019 in charge of monetary policy, financial markets, financial stability, and research. He has served on several boards, including the International Advisory Board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Advisory Council of the Bombay (Mumbai) Stock Exchange. He has also been an academic advisor to the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, Cleveland, New York, and Philadelphia, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the European Systemic Risk Board.
His numerous awards and recognition include the Best Paper Award in Corporate Finance from the Journal of Financial Economics in 2000, Best Paper Award in Equity Trading at the Western Finance Association Meetings in 2003, the inaugural Lawrence G. Goldberg Prize for the Best PhD in Financial Intermediation, the Best Paper Award in Asset Pricing from the Journal of Financial Economics in 2005, an inaugural Rising Star in Finance Award in 2008, the inaugural Banque de France – Toulouse School of Economics Junior Prize in Monetary Economics and Finance, 2011, and the 2017 Alexandre Lamfalussy Senior Research Fellowship of the Bank for International Settlements.
Viral holds a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and a PhD in Finance from New York University Stern School of Business. Viral is a founding member and former president of the New York Tri-State and Pratham UK chapters. He also served on the board of the New York Tri-State chapter from 2013-2016. Viral, and Professor Manjiree Jog, his wife, are members of the Pratham LEADers Circle.
