President
Dr. Laj Utreja’s professional experience covers a wide range of disciplines related to the U.S. space and defense programs. He has worked in various capacities, as hands-on engineer, as technical leader in people management, and as CEO of a small business in developing corporate vision. In 2001, he received the George M. Low award, NASA’s highest honor for quality and technical performance to a small business. He had been involved in technology research in the general areas of system studies with emphasis on interceptor systems analysis, launch technology, hypervelocity impact analysis and testing, hypervelocity guns, space environment and space debris, computational fluid dynamics, aerodynamics analysis and testing, aerodynamic deceleration and testing.
Dr. Utreja has taught graduate and undergraduate schools in the Mechanical Engineering and Bhagavad Gita in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He has also taught courses related to Vedic Philosophy and Wellbeing for the Continuing Education at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Having spent most of his adult life studying Sanatana Dharma, Laj has given talks on its applications as part of cross-cultural understanding to various groups and organizations all over the world.
Dr. Utreja is very active with the Interfaith Mission Service of the Greater Tennessee Valley where he arranges interfaith and diversity summits to promote understanding among different faith, race and cultural groups. His reverence for Bhagavad Gita has in part motivated him to write his two books, “Who are we?” and “What is our origin?” He has taken concepts and ideas from Vedic philosophy and integrated them with personal experiences to explain universal precepts in his books. The books are available at www.amazon.com and www.lajutreja.com.
Currently, Dr. Utreja is also serving as Director, Institute of Global Harmony at Gandhi Vidya Mandir, Sardarshahr, Rajasthan, India, and is responsible for all initiatives, including administrative, fiscal and management pertaining to the establishment of Institute of Global Harmony at Gandhi Vidya Mandir in India. The emphasis is to create a harmonious civilization through education. In 2013 and 2014, he was invited to Oxford Round Table – Child Education, where he presented Creating Harmonious Civilization – A Paradigm Shift in Education. His current affiliations include, International Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP), Global Harmony Association (GHA), World Constitution & Parliament Assembly (WCPA), Child Rights and You (CRY), and Interfaith Mission Service (IMS).
Vice President, Finance & Business
Rakesh Varma holds a 20-yr general Program Management experience leading cross-functional teams and multi-disciplinary projects, including and not limited to: Global Program Management, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Integration Planning and Management, Software Program Management, and New Product Development and Introduction. Specifically, have introduced software and services for identifying, tracking and managing critical assets, people and transactions; managed the custom products in the pipeline that impacts supply chain including developing/defining/driving the process improvements to streamline the custom products process flow, and worked on integration efforts between acquisitions.
Rakesh is a devoutly religious person, who applies the learning from the scriptures in his personal life and dealings with others. He is also a volunteer in spirit and freely offers his service at the local temples. His interests in sports include Tennis, Ping Pong, Basketball, Volleyball, and Bowling.
Secretary General
With over thirty years of experience in Engineering and Program Management, Ms. Rashmi Persaudmanages a team of engineers, technicians responsible for the development of electronic automotive modules. This involves project planning, risk and issue management, achieves project objectives within time, budget and specification. Rashmi plays a key role in the ongoing process of maximizing synergies among Chrysler Group, Fiat Group and its suppliers through product and component sharing. She is involved in a thorough Design Verification Plan and Report of the Instrument Cluster which assists in launching of the vehicle without any issues. She is also involved in root-cause analysis team whose mission is to trouble shoot electrical issues before a customer receives the vehicles. One of the primary responsibilities of the design developments of the modules systems is to adhere to NHTSA regulations for NAFTA market and other Country’s regulations across the globe. She also authors the owner manuals and service manuals for Chrysler which detailed the functionality of the Instrument Cluster and Radio in the vehicle.
Rashmi Persaud holds a Master’s of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alabama. Rashmi holds a patent for a vehicle display system which has multiple color warning areas to inform the customer of any issues in the vehicle. She also coaches, and supports new engineers to achieve their annual goals in the corporation. Rashmi is actively involved in MAPI (Michigan Associations of Physicians of Indian Origin) where she has been part of Fund Raising events, hosting CME conferences, etc. She also donates her time at other Volunteer places like Forgotten Harvest, Older Persons’ Commission (OPC), Cranbrook Schools and Bharatiya Temple.