South Asia Studies | Alumni

If you are interested in contacting any of our alumni, please send an email to Rahul Madhavan at southasia@jhu.edu and he will provide you with available contact information.

Sheela Ahluwalia earned her M.A. from SAIS in 2007 and has expertise in the intersection of economic growth and labor rights. She is currently an analyst at the World Bank Africa Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Unit, working on trade. Her professional experience includes investigating breaches of counter human trafficking policy in India, campaigning in the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, developing a nascent human rights campaign in Ecuador, and producing labor force data at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2001, Sheela earned her B.A. in Economics from Tufts University, through which she spent a semester studying in Zimbabwe.

Kate Bateman is currently a Policy Intern in the Office of Forces Transformation and Resources in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In September 2007, she will begin working at the State Department’s Intelligence and Research Bureau as a Presidential Management Fellow. Kate will cover Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, and trans-regional South Asia issues. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University SAIS in May 2007 with a concentration in South Asia Studies. Kate’s research interests are in Islamist extremism, counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, U.S. interagency coordination, and South Asia. She speaks French, Hindi, and novice Urdu. Before SAIS, she worked for three years as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, for whom she handled foreign affairs. Kate holds a B.A. in English literature from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Shakti C'Ganti graduated from SAIS in 2007 with an M.A., concentrating in South Asia Studies and International Finance.  Prior to his studies at SAIS, Mr. C'Ganti received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley with a major in Economics and a minor in Business Administration.  Upon completion of his B.A., Shakti worked as an accountant in San Francisco. More recently, he was a global risk analyst at Lehman Brothers, a foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and an economic analyst at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, the Department of State’s Office for Afghanistan in Washington D.C. and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi, India. Shakti’s professional interests are in emerging markets finance with a special focus on the role of the private sector in development. During the 2006-2007 academic-year Shakti split his time between being Student Government President, working at a private equity firm in Washington D.C., and his studies at SAIS. Upon completion of his M.A. in the spring of 2007, Shakti moved to New York where he is now pursuing his interests in finance at an investment bank.       

Bryan Chapman is a Major in the US Army.  He completed is MIPP degree at SAIS in 2006, concentrating in South Asia Studies as part of his Foreign Area Officer (FAO) training.  Immediately prior to SAIS, Bryan served as the Special Assistant to the US Ambassador to India and then as an Army Attaché in the US Embassy, New Delhi.  Before his switch to the FAO program, Bryan was a member of the Army’s elite Special Forces and has extensive experience in Southeast and East Asia.  Bryan, who is originally from West Virginia, earned his B.S. and M.P.A. from West Virginia University.  He is currently pursuing language training before his next post in Nepal.

Rose Dakin, a native of San Francisco, completed a concentration in South Asia Studies and in International Energy and Environmental Studies in 2005.  During the summer intersession, Rose spent the summer in New Delhi at the United Nations Asia-Pacific Center for Technology Transfer researching climate change abatement in developing South Asian countries through the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism.  Prior to joining SAIS, Rose served as an Analyst at Energetics Inc., a firm that specializes in energy and environmental analysis for the U.S. Department of Energy.  In the spring of 1999, she traveled throughout India, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and China.  Rose graduated from Cornell University in December 1999 with a B.S. in  Natural Resources.  She is currently in Lucknow, India on an Urdu language fellowship.

Fauzia Deeba is a 2004 SAIS MIPP graduate, whose primary area of expertise is in gender and development.  Fauzia was a physician, educator, and development consultant in Balochistan, Pakistan before coming to SAIS.  She worked on multi-dimensional issues causing illness in poverty stricken areas.  She has extensive experience in the non-profit sector, especially on projects focusing on women's concerns and social development.  Fauzia has presented and published her work on poverty, environment, gender, information management and technical education. She has been an active leader in a number of public interest organizations.

Antara Ganguli was born and brought up in Bombay, India where she completed her higher secondary education before enrolling at Amherst College in the US.  She graduated magna cum laude from Amherst in 2001 with Distinction in English, having majored in English and Psychology.  Antara wrote a children's novel for her Honours Thesis at Amherst, which was published by Rupa and Company in December 2001.  Thereafter, she worked as a Managing Analyst with Datamonitor in New York, where she advised clients on retail banking technology.  Before coming to SAIS, she worked with children of sex-workers in Budhwar Peth, in Pune, India.  After completing her M.A. in 2006, she moved to Dubai where she is working with Booz Allen Hamilton. 

Raheem ul Haque is a native of Lahore, Pakistan.  Following high school, he completed his B.S. in Computer & Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 1994 and worked in different parts of the U.S. as a technology consultant.  An interest in Community Development took him back to Lahore in 2001 where he worked as a Program Manager for a technology company while participating in civil society initiatives as a volunteer.  In 2006, he completed his MIPP from SAIS in Social Change and Development and is currently pursuing community development strategies based on organic, traditional, and self-funded volunteer based models in Pakistan.  He plans to be back in Lahore in early 2007. 

Amber Hasan was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. Amber graduated from SAIS in 2004 with a M.A. in South Asia Studies. Prior to SAIS she worked as a Research Assistant at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C. During her 4 years at the IMF, Amber covered and reported on developments in the financial and macroeconomic sectors of several developed as well as emerging markets of Europe and Asia. She obtained her B.A. in Economics and History from Oberlin College, Ohio. Amber is currently working in NYC as a Portfolio Analyst for Lazard Emerging Income (emerging market foreign currency and local debt) at Lazard Asset Management.

Steve Hedden is a Foreign Area Officer (FAO) in the US Army.  He completed his MIPP degree at SAIS in May 2007, with a concentration in South Asia Studies.  Currently, Steve is assigned to the US Central Command, where he is the Senior Pakistan Analyst at the Joint Intelligence Center.  Prior to SAIS, he served three years at the US Embassy, New Delhi as the Defense Cooperation in Armaments Officer.  He has a B.A. from the University of Miami and is a graduate of the Indian Armed Forces, Defense Services Staff College (DSSC).  Steve, his wife, Carrie, and their two sons, Jacob and Alex, reside in Tampa, FL.

Reiko Hirai was born in Tokyo and raised in both the US and Japan.  She received her B.A. in International Studies at International Christian University, Tokyo.  She graduated from SAIS  in 2003 with a concentration in South Asia Studies and International Development specializing in Microfinance.  Prior to earning her M.A., Reiko worked for J.P. Morgan Tokyo in the Mergers & Acquisitions group.  During her time at SAIS, she spent the summer working for Trickle Up in India and Bangladesh, monitoring and evaluating micro-enterprise development programs of local NGOs.  Upon graduation, Reiko joined a humanitarian assistance NGO based in Tokyo and is serving as a Program Coordinator in their Afghanistan office.

Ashley Hubka has held a number of positions in the private, non-profit, and public sectors. Most recently, Ashley was the Director, Trade Policy for the US-India Business Council. She was responsible for managing the working groups on Defense, IPR, Retail, Life Sciences, and Trade & Investment.  Prior to this, she consulted to the World Bank on finance and commodity risk issues. From 1997 to 2002, Ashley worked for Mercer Management Consulting in Lexington, MA and Paris, France. From 1996 to 1997, she worked for the New York City Council Office of Oversight and Investigation as a Legislative Investigator.  Ashley’s experience in India includes working for the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) in Mumbai in 1995-1996, and for the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi in 2003.  Ashley completed her M.A. at SAIS in 2004, with concentrations in South Asia Studies and Emerging Markets. She also holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Harvard University.

Moin Hussaini was born and raised in the US while his family immigrated from Chennai. Moin is interested in investment and development in South Asia. While at SAIS Moin interned as an Equity Research Analyst at Passport Capital, a San Francisco based investment management firm, which is one of the largest foreign institutional investors in India.  Moin graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1999 with a double degree in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. For the subsequent five years he worked at GE Medical Systems in a series of technical and leadership roles and developed two patents on medical image processing and surgical robotics, and was the principle operating liaison to a GE venture funded strategic partner. At GE Moin gained interest in investment management and India’s role in engineering outsourcing and globalization. He is currently employed as a Strategic Research Consultant at the Corporate Executive Board in Washington, D.C.

Lance Jacobsen is a Major in the United States Army, serving as a South Asia Foreign Area Officer.  In 2004, Lance spent a year at SAIS as an MIPP student, concentrating in South Asia Studies as well as Strategic Studies. Lance has been serving in the military for the past twelve years. For most of his career, he has served in heavy armor and infantry divisions. The past two years has been devoted to learning South Asian issues for the Army—including learning rudimentary Bengali and spending 13 months living and working in Bangladesh.  While in Bangladesh he received a Masters in Defense Studies from the National University and graduated from the Defense Services Command and Staff College.  Lance holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Gonzaga University.

Nanda Kamat, of New Jersey, graduated from SAIS in 2005 with a concentration in South Asia Studies.  In the 2004 summer intersession, Nanda worked as an Associate in Citigroup's Leveraged Finance Group.  Prior to SAIS, Nanda was an Analyst in Societe Generale's Project Finance group in New York for three years. She graduated cum laude with a BS in Finance and Accounting from New York University's Stern School of Business in 2000.  She is currently completing her MBA at Wharton Business School.

Jonathan Ketzner gradauted from SAIS in 2007 with an M.A. with concentrations in South Asia Studies and International Finance. Originally from Cumberland, Maryland, Jonathan graduated with a B.A. in History from Johns Hopkins University in 2005. At Johns Hopkins, Jonathan received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship which he used to study refugees who had fled the fighting in Kashmir, India. At SAIS, Jonathan worked as an intern at the consulting firms Garten Rothkopf and A.T. Kearney, as well as at the Department of Commerce. He is currently working as a finance analyst at Citigroup in New York.

Shandana Khan is a 2004 SAIS MIPP graduate, who completed her B.A. at the University of Delhi and her M.A. at the University of Cambridge.  She is Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Support Programmes Network, which houses a South Asia Social Mobilization Network of the UNDP, and is the largest rural development network in Pakistan.  Her prior consulting experience focused on such areas as development activities for women, public service delivery systems and rural poverty, management for growth and change and indigenous forms of community organization.

Rollie Lal is an Assistant Professor at the Vlerick Management School in Belgium.  Prior to this position, she served as a Political Scientist for RAND, where she worked on issues related to Asian security, terrorism, and organized crime, and wrote on a wide variety of issues related to India, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, North Africa, and political Islam.  Dr. Lal is the author of Understanding China and India: Security Implications for the U.S. (Praeger, forthcoming 2006), and a co-author of the recently published The Muslim World after 9/11 (RAND, 2004) and America’s Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq (RAND, 2003).  She is also the author of “South Asian Organized Crime and Terrorist Networks” in the Spring 2005 issue of Orbis, and articles in the Atlantic Monthly, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, San Diego Sun Tribune, and Daily Yomiuri.  Dr. Lal has also served as a Washington Correspondent for the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, and holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland at College Park, Ph.D., and an M.A. in Strategic Studies and a Ph.D. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS

Divya Mathew is received her master's degree from SAIS in 2007 with a concentration in South Asia.  Originally from Kerala, India, Divya was raised in New Delhi where she completed her undergraduate education in Mathematics (B.A.) from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University.  After graduation, Divya interned at The Hunger Project-India office and then worked as a program assistant at the World Bank-India office.  Divya spent the summer of 2006 interning in the Development Policy Division at The Planning Commission of India.  She plans to pursue her interests of good governance, women's development and economic development in the region through a career in development consulting. Divya is currently on a SAIS-World Bank Fellowship studying a project in Andhra Pradesh, India assessing the political dimension of women's empowerment.

Jerry Meyer completed a Masters of International Public Policy in spring 2004 after concluding 18 years with the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Service Officer.  During his career with the Department, Jerry focused primarily on bilateral national security issues, counterterrorism and counterproliferation.  He speaks Arabic and has served at U.S. missions in Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, India and Nepal.  He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Davidson College.  Born in 1963, Jerry was raised in Miami and currently resides on Capitol Hill.

Utpal Raj Misra completed his M.A. from SAIS, with a concentration in South Asia Studies and International Economics, in 2007. He spent his 2006 summer in Pakistan, at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), researching trade issues in South Asia and learning Urdu. Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, he completed his college education from Delhi University, India. After college, he returned to Nepal to work as a journalist and focused on political stories, particularily the left politics and the Maoists movement in the country. Later he branched out to television broadcasting and began producing news for the largest private channel in Nepal. Meanwhile he completed his MA in English from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu.

Shilpa Moorthy, originally from Mississippi, completed her M.A. from SAIS in 2005 and concentrated in South Asia Studies and International Economics.  During the 2004 summer intersession, Shilpa completed an internship with U.S. Department of State at the United States Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  Prior to enrolling at SAIS, Shilpa worked as a Commercial Development Engineer at Air Products and Chemicals, one of the leading industrial gases companies in the world. She also taught English to junior high school students in Japan as part of the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) sponsored by the Government of Japan. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Bindi Patel is a U.S. Foreign Service Officer serving in Liberia.  Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she was  a Research Assistant at the National Defense University, Institute for National Strategic Studies in Washington, DC, where she researched South Asian security issues for Ambassador Robert Oakely. Bindi graduated from SAIS in 2004 with a concentration in South Asia Studies.  Before graduating from SAIS, Bindi spent three months in India where she studied Hindi language as a David L. Boren Fellow through the National Security Education Program. Bindi has also lived and worked in Italy and Switzerland where her primary responsibility was teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). She earned her  B.A. in Communication Studies with a specialization in Business and Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Alka Pradhan was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and was raised in Ohio. Her undergraduate education was at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where she was named a Woodrow Wilson Research Fellow and received a grant to conduct an independent research project over three years. The result was a study of the relationship between public health and the economies of developing nations, with a publication entitled “India: Public Health and the Economy.”  Alka continued her education at Johns Hopkins SAIS, obtaining her M.A. with concentrations in South Asia Studies and International Law. She has held internships in the United Nations, Congress, and several think tanks in such diverse countries as Thailand, India and Cuba.  Alka is now a second-year law student at Columbia University.  She hopes to specialize in international law with a view to expand its relevance to the developing world.

Girish Rishi completed the MIPP program in 2005 with a focus in South Asia Studies. Before joining SAIS , he was Sr. Vice President of Marketing at Matrics Inc, a hi-tech start-up that was acquired by Symbol Technologies. Prior to Matrics, Girish was General Manager of Symbol Technologies' Europe, the Middle East and Africa operations based in London. Earlier, he was an industry analyst with Venture Development Corporation, and Frost & Sullivan. Girish has an MBA from the University of Hartford and has undergone executive management training at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He has been widely quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Financial Times, Information Week and other publications.

Zaid Safdar is a 2004 graduate of SAIS, where he received an M.A. in South Asia Studies and International Development. He was the 2003-04 president of the SAIS Student Government. Since graduating, he worked at the Foreign Policy Studies department of Brookings Institution and is now at the World Bank. Prior to SAIS, Zaid was a Project Manager at Bell Laboratories, the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies, where he worked for six years. At Bell Labs, his areas of specialty were communications and computing sciences. With responsibilities to identify and develop leading-edge technologies five years ahead of market, he focused on Chinese and East Asian technology market segments. Zaid has a B.S. from the University of Rochester and an M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania, both in engineering, and has studied at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.

Ravi Satkalmi, a native New Yorker, completed his M.A. in 2005 concentrating in South Asia Studies and International Law and Organization.  He received his B.S. in Business Management from St. Johns University, New York in 2000.  Immediately following his undergraduate graduation, Ravi volunteered full-time with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans, LA.  He then began his professional career with BearingPoint's New York office where he worked until joining SAIS.  During the 2004 summer intersession, Ravi interned with the Department of Defense as a South Asia Analyst.  Upon graduation from SAIS, Ravi spent the summer as a Visiting Scholar at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) in Sri Lanka and is now in New Delhi, India where he is carrying out research on the Indian Diaspora on a Fulbright Grant.  Subsequently, he hopes to begin a career with the US Foreign Service.

Maya Shivakumar originally from Houston, Texas completed her M.A. from SAIS in 2005 and concentrated in South Asia Studies and International Economics, with specializations in Quantitative Methods and Economic Theory as well as Development and Transition Economics. During the 2005 summer intersession, Maya was an intern in the Treasury Department of ICICI Bank in Mumbai.  Prior to SAIS, Maya worked as a teacher in the Chicago public school system for three and She received her B.A. in South Asian Languages and Civilization from the University of Chicago in 2000.  Upon graduation from SAIS, she joined the World Bank and is working on a trade project.

Zorawar Daulet Singh was born in New Delhi, India and received undergraduate education at the University of London where he majored in Accounting and Finance.  Most recently, he worked as an Analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Corporate Finance Division in New Delhi.  Zorawar completed his M.A. from SAIS in May 2006 concentrating in South Asia Studies.  His interest areas are strategic affairs and foreign policy.  He is currently the Director for Business Development at the Institute of Technology and Management, a privately funded educational institution based in Gurgaon, India.

Karthik Venkataraman completed his M.A., concentrating in South Asia Studies, at SAIS while jointly pursuing an MBA from the Wharton School.  Prior to coming to SAIS, he  worked as a Senior Consultant and Project Manager for SAP AG, the Germany-based market leader in business applications software.  He also managed new product development for Pecaso, a technology startup company in the SAP space.  Karthik wishes to pursue a career in business and technology in emerging markets, and is interested in how socially responsible business can positively impact broader development initiatives.  Karthik is currently finishing his dual MA/MBA degree at the Wharton School. 

Bernard J. West completed the MIPP program at SAIS in 2004 and focused on South Asia Studies and International Finance.  While at SAIS his research interests included globalization and investment management in South Asia.  Upon graduation he served as Commercial Director for Global Education Management Systems in Dubai, UAE and led the for profit education company's international expansion.  Prior to SAIS, Bernard was the Senior Director of Knowledge Universe's K12 Inc., an education company co-founded by former US Secretary of Education William Bennett.  Bernard is also a graduate of Howard University, where he earned his B.A. in Economics.  He is a member of the Asia Society and TIE-The Indus Entrepreneurs.

Peter Yochum, a native of Nashua, New Hampshire, attained his M.A. from SAIS with a concentration in South Asia studies in 2007. Peter completed his B.A. in 2003 from Tulane University in New Orleans, with majors in International Politics and Communication. Before studying at SAIS, he worked as the South Asia Analyst at Air Security International, a leading international security consulting and services firm based in Houston, Texas where he was responsible for producing the firm's intelligence analysis covering the subcontinent and the Persian Gulf. After graduating from SAIS, Peter took a position with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton in the Washington, DC area, where he is currently a consultant working in the wireless communication sector.