New York: The board of directors of the Indo-American Press Club (IAPC), a consortium of Indian journalists in North America, has been reorganized. Kamlesh Mehta, a media entrepreneur from Long Island and a well-known senior Rotarian, community leader and businessman, was elected chairman. Meena Chittilappilly and Dr. Ajay Ghosh was elected as vice chairman and board secretaryrespectively, along with Ginsmon P. Zachariah, Reggie Phillip, Dr. Matthew Joys, Dr. Joseph M. Chalil, Sangeetha Dua, Parveen Chopra, Dr. P.V. Baiju, Dr. Renee Mehra, Ashley Joseph, Mini Nair, Thampanoor Mohan, Sabu Kurian, Joseph John, and Swapna Joy as members of the board.
Kamlesh Mehta, founder of Forsyth Media Group, the most popular Indo-American English media group in North America, is a member of a prominent Jain family in Rajasthan and started out with a diamond business in Bombay in 1985. Mehta immigrated to New York in 1986, with the intention of expanding his business, where he started trading in gemstones and diamonds. Mehta entered the media business in 2008, and his weekly newspaper, ‘The South Asian Times’ for the Indian community, has won several awards. He is also the publisher of Forsyth Media Group‘s ‘The Asian Era‘. In January 2010, he was appointed director of business and economic development by the Nassau County administration, where he served for five years. In 2009, he became president of the Rotary Club of Hicksville South, NY. In 2015-16, he had the opportunity to become governor of RI District 7255. He has been honored as a leading Rotary donor and has worked for many religious organizations and social causes. He is the founder of the Rajasthan Association of North America and organisedthe first Indian Day Parade in Hicksville, which started in 2012. Mehta is also the recipient of many lifetime achievement awards and certificates of recognition from various community organisations.
Meena Chittilappilly, elected vice president, is a well-known socio-cultural media activist from Dallas, Texas. Meena, who has been a presenter and newsreader on Asianet for 15 years and later a presenter on Jai Hind TV, is currently working for Flowers TV. A graduate with a degree in analytical economics and business administration, Meena has worked in the field of education for over 20 years and is currently working as a school director in the project management office at ‘Quantiphi‘, an international software company. She was also active as the arts and marketing and branding chairperson of the Malayali Engineers Association of North Texas (MEANT), and the president of the Dallas badminton club. Moreover, she has been running the Swarajathi School of Music and Dance since 2001 and is an active organizer and media personality who has been making her mark in the professional theater industry.During her college years she was the secretary and union councilor of the All-Saints College arts club, Thiruvananthapuram from 1990-92 and presented many programs as an anchor with Doordarshan, national television channel of India.
Newly elected board secretary Ajay Ghosh is the editor-in-chief of the Universal News Network and Asian Era magazine, and the founding president of IAPC as well asa permanent member of the IAPC board of directors. He has been the bureau chief of the American editions of the Indian Express newspaper, who also has work experience with India Post, Voice of Delhi, and India Tribune. From 2002 to 2008 he was the executive editor of NRI Today, a weekly magazine published from New York. He has been a media consultant with the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin since 2010. He was honored with the 2015 Excellence in Reporting Award by the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. In 2018, NAAMAM organisation also honored him with the excellence award. He came to the United States in 1997 to pursue higher studies in journalism, and as a freelance journalist, brought many social issues to the forefront of society.
insmon P. Zachariah, founding chairman and a permanent member of the IAPC Board of Directors, is the managing director of the Global Reporter Channel. Anoted journalist who has made innovations in the field of visual media, he is also the chairman of Jai Hind News, a Malayalam newspaper with editions in the United States and Canada. He is the editor-in-chief of Aksharammagazine, a leading Malayalam magazine in the United States, and President and CEO of the English language magazine Asian Era. Ginsmon, who was the manager of The South Asian Times, a leading English language newspaper in America, started his journalism career 16years ago by taking charge of the European edition of the Deepika, a Malayalam daily. As the US director of Jai Hind TV, he hosted the first reality show with candidates from all the states in US. The reality show, attended by hundreds of Malayalees, was telecast in around 250 episodes, helped many amateur singers to showcase their talent to the world, and was hailed as a historic first for the Malayalees in North America.
Regi Phillip, a reporter for the Global Reporter channel, is a well-known journalist. He holds a master’s degree in journalism and manages the creative department in several visual and online media.
Well known writer and columnist in North America, Dr. Matthew Joyce was one of the early members of the IAPC. He has worked in the finance department of the central government in India and has been the director of the Rotaract Club and the national general secretary of the Employees Federation. He also served as executive vice president and secretary to the board of directors and Vice Chairman of IAPC. Author of ‘Entey Priyey‘, a collection of love poems based on the Bible and the Ten Commandments, and the anthology ‘American Aadukal’, he spends his time as the executive editor of the Jai Hind, a New York-based newspaper, as well as the associate editor of the Express Herald, Associate editor of Malayali Magazine/FM, editorial member of the UNN.com and as a member of the editorial board of Nerkazhcha weekly.
Dr Joseph M. Chalil is the publisher of the Universal News Network and the UNN.com and is a well-known Indian in the US and the former Chairman of IAPC. Dr. Chalil is also chairman of the AAPI Global Clinical Research Network and holds the position of chairman and adjunct professor on the advisory board of complex health systems at the College of Business, Nova Southeastern University. He is a Senior Medical Director at DBV Technologies Inc. in North America and is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Sangeetha Dua is the founder of Houston TV, which hosts the popular ‘Diversity Talk Show‘. She was the host on SATV’s ‘Chai Time‘ and worked for Hum Tum Radio, Radio Houston 1090 AM and Radio South Asia 1090 AM. She is actively involved in the launch of South Asian Network TV through Smart TV.
Parveen Chopra, who has been a journalist in the United States for decades, is the managing editor of the South Asian Times. He also works for the interfaith journal ‘One World Under One God’. Parveen holds a master’s degreein mass communication from Punjab University and has also worked for India Today magazine. Parveen is also the founder of Spiritual Magazine Life Positive and was a former president of IAPC.
A well-known Canadian author and columnist. Dr. P.V. Baiju, is a noted journalist who has presented the issues of Canadian Malayalees to the world through his columns and his book Canadian kaazhchakal. He is teaching at the MacEwan University, Alberta.
Dr. Renee Mehra has been working in the media since 1990. Renee is the host of the show ‘Renee Report‘, which provides media coverage on politics, health, human interest stories, fashion, film, theater, and current affairs. She is the president of Reenbow Media, an advertising, broadcasting, and public relations company since 2010.She acted as associate director of external affairs department NYC health, hospitals/Queens from 2014 to 2017. After earning a BA in broadcast journalism from the University of New York, and an MA in political management and public relations from the George Washington University, she received her doctorate from Walden University.
As the editor-in-chief of Jai Hind news, the most popular Malayalam newspaper in North America, Ashly Joseph served as a member of the board of directors of the IAPC. He began his journalistic career in 2003 as a reporter for the ‘Malayalee Manas‘, a Florida-based newspaper, and was the editor-in-chief of ‘Yatra‘, a 2006 magazine aimed at new immigrants. From 2007 to 2009 he was the managing editor of ‘Aksharam’, a leading Malayalam magazine in the United States. Ashley’s numerous articles on social, political, and literary issues have already been published in print and online media. Ashly is an executive member of the Edmonton Catholic Association and is the founder of several associations and clubs. He came to the United States in 1999 and is known among the Malayalees as a great organiser. Ashley, who now works for the Canadian postal department, was coordinator of the International Volleyball Tournament in Niagara. A graduate in Botany from Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha, Ashley was active in politics and society during hisstudies before he graduated with a degree in hotel management and moved to the United States.
Mini Nair, a well-known journalist in North America, has worked both behind the scenes and in front of camera fornumerous programs on various channels for over 25 years. She has experience presenting programs on Doordarshan, Asianet, Kairali TV, Surya TV, Indiavision and Jai Hind. Mini holds a Bachelor of Law and a diploma in journalism from the University of Kerala and is also the managing editor of the ‘Wi-Fi Reporter‘, anonline portal. Mini is a person who is proficient in writing script, presentation, talk show, live program, emcee, program research, co-ordination, editing, hosting, scripting, and interview. One of the founding members of the IAPC, she has served as former national vice president, president of the Atlanta chapter, and on the advisory board.
Thampanoor Mohan, a print and visual journalist, is the producer of the popular television program ‘Canadian Connection‘. He is the regional director of Jai Hind News Canada and has published numerous articles. He is currently the Canadian national coordinator for the Global Reporter Channel.
Sabu Kurian, president of the IAPC Atlanta Chapter, was active in politics in the UK and was able to bring the immigration issues of Indians to the attention of multiple prime ministers. He is currently based entirely in the USA and has previously served as national coordinator for the International Association of Political Consultants. He is also the American regional media chairman of the World Malayalee Council. Sabu is the coordinator of Atlanta Metro Malayalee Association and is an active contributor to Federation of Malayalee Associations of Americas. As an athlete from Kerala, he has participated in many state and national competitions in India. He served in the Indian Navy for 15 years, though initially joined the military as an athlete, he later became a coach. He retired from the service in 1998 and returned to the United States. Sabu Kurian, who started St. Mary’s Internal Recruitment and Trading, has been able to bring tens of thousands of people to the West, and currently oversees running of MK Towers in India.
Joseph John is a member of the Canadian Freelance Guild (CFG) and a Calgary-based freelance reporter who is president of the Alberta Chapter of the Indo-American Press Club. Joseph has also been the president of the Malayalee Cultural Association of Calgary, which has more than 4,000 members. Joseph John, founder and organizer of ‘Kavya Sandhya‘, which promotes literary and cultural activities for children in Kerala, is also a volunteer reporter for the Global Reporter section of the Reporter Malayalam channel. He is the founder and organizer of the ‘NAMMAL’ (North American Media Center for Malayalam Art and Literature) association with media support from news web portals in three Indian languages — ‘Nammal Online’ in Malayalam, ‘Namathu Tamil‘ in Tamil, and ‘Namaste World‘ in English. In addition, he serves as the national coordinator of ‘Nammalude Pallikoodam‘, which conducts free Malayalam online classes with the help of volunteers from various provinces. He is the secretary of the National Association of Corrosion Engineers and for the Association of Materials Protection and Performance, Calgary Chapter ofthe U.S. & Canada Northern Area.
Swapna Joy, a Canadian citizen, has been in the media for a long time. Swapna made her media debut in 2004 with the ‘Family Flat Quiz‘ on Jeevan TV. She later joined Asianet News in 2005 and Surya TV in the same year.Swapna came to the US in 2006 and stayed here till 2010, before returning to the media scene in 2011 through Reporter TV’s ‘My Home‘. She became the host of Surya TV’s celebrity interview program, ‘Shubharathri’, in 2011, simultaneously hosting a popular show on Asianet called ‘Valkannadi‘. She then spent a year focusing on stage shows, celebrity interviews and modeling. In 2013, she joined the reality show ‘Yuvatharam‘ on Jai Hind TV. Swapna moved to Canada in 2014, where she worked at Vancouver International Airport for four years and later at Toronto Pearson International Airport. In 2019, she joinedthe Global Reporter TV in Toronto. In 2020, she served as secretary of the International Association of Political Consultancy in Toronto and has been doing freelance reporting for Mathrubhumi and News18 since 2020.
Dr.Mathew Joys
