People

Introducing SALDEF’S Board of Directors:
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund

SALDEF

Manjit Singh, Chairman

Manjit Singh is co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund ("SALDEF"). Under his leadership SALDEF has been able to build strong relationships with the government and media, which has helped pioneer major educational, media, and policy initiatives at the 16-year-old organization.

Post 9/11, Manjit was instrumental in parlaying SALDEF’s relationships in Washington, DC to develop and create training videos to educate and inform law enforcement on Sikh-Americans. He has also appeared in print and on broadcast media including CNN, Fox News, Voice of America, BBC, Al Jazeera, NPR, Washington Post, Washington Times, New York Times, among others.

He has been active in the Washington, D.C. metro area Sikh-American community since early 1993, serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation in Rockville, MD and also as a Member-at-Large on the Board of the Interfaith Conference (IFC) of Metropolitan Washington.

He is currently President at Agilious LLC. He has an MS in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Albany, and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering from University of Bombay, India.


Navjeet Singh

Navjeet Singh brings his experience in product development, business strategy and training services to SALDEF and focuses on training and engaging law enforcement in New England. He is currently a member of the Advisory Committee for the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a member of the Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Commission.

He was also a Member of the Massachusetts Task Force on Performance Standards and Workforce Accountability -- appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts and received the Bell Laboratories Advanced Technologies Excellence Award.

He holds degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.


Jasbir “Jesse” Kaur Bawa

Jasbir Kaur began her work with SALDEF as a legal volunteer before joining the Board.

She began her legal career as an attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom LLP in its securities litigation department working on government investigations. She later moved to Bingham McCutchen, LLP as a Telecommunications, Media and Technology Associate.

In 2009, she joined the faculty of Howard University School of Law. She is an assistant professor who specializes in legal writing and appellate advocacy.

Jesse currently focuses her research on profiling and surveillance. She is also an author whose writing appears in The Daily Beast, Huffington Post and other media outlets.

She graduated from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada with an Honors B.A in Political Science, and graduated from Howard University School of Law in December, 2003.

 
Parminder Singh

Parminder Singh served as a SALDEF summer fellow prior to joining the Board. An investment analyst at a hedge fund in Baltimore, Maryland. 

He previously worked in private equity and investment banking. Outside of work, he has led several pro-bono consulting engagements for non-profit organizations.

He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA in Economics with distinction from Yale College.


Kavneet Singh

Kavneet Singh is a Senior Manager with Kaiser Permanente where his responsibilities relate to Performance Management and Strategy Development.

He has brought these skills to SALDEF, advising on strategy, advising on SALDEF’s interactive curriculum, “Sikhism 101 for Law Enforcement”, assisting in training local, state, and federal law enforcement officials about awareness and protocol, and addressing audiences about Sikhism, the Sikh American community, civil rights and diversity at regional and national forums.

He also serves as a member the Diversity Advisory Council for the Health Plan and on the Advisory Board of the Prison Religion Project at St. Marys College. He has been actively involved with various Sikh youth camps across the country over the past decade, and instructed students in Sikh history and Ethos at the El Sobrante Gurdwara.

Kavneet received his B.A. from the University of California – Berkeley.


Indira Kaur Ahluwalia

Indira Kaur is the President of Development & Training Services, Inc. (dTS), a social and economic development consulting firm and joined the board to help SALDEF further it’s educational initiatives and provide Sikh American youth with the proper leadership skills they need to succeed.

She founded dTS in 2002 with a view to inculcating equality, accountability, and sustainability in international development. Over the past 20 years, she has managed, implemented and monitored programs for donor, government and private sector clients.

She served as the Chairperson of the U.S. Small Business Association for International Contractors (SBAIC), honing the organization’s mission and focus, developing its operational infrastructure, increasing membership from 25 to 73 members, and garnering credibility for SBAIC with the USAID administration.

Indira is also the founding member of the Coalition of International Development Companies (CIDC), serving first on the Executive Committee for two years, and then as a Tri-Chair.

She earned her Masters of Arts in International Relations from University of Chicago, and a Bachelors of Science in Psychology from George Mason University.



July 15, 2014

 

 
 

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