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Mission


To promote entrepreneurship and facilitate business networking among the Nagarathar community in North America


North American Nagarathar Business Entrepreneurship Network (NANBEN), is a non-profit organization that promotes entrepreneurship and facilitates business networking among the Nagarathar community in North America. NANBEN’s mission is to evoke the entrepreneurial traits of our Nagarathar community and facilitate & encourage Nagarathars to become successful entrepreneurs through mentorship, education, networking, incubation, and investment. ​​​

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NANBEN membership is open to all Nagarathars in the US, and membership is free.

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NANBEN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

 
Mark Chockalingam

President
Boston, MA & Devakottai

Dr. Mark Chockalingam is the President and Founder of Valtitude which provides specialized consulting in the areas of Predictive Analytics, Sales forecasting, Supply Chain Optimization, and Integrated Business Planning.

Mark has over twenty years of consulting and corporate experience in the Supply Chain Management Area and has worked with companies such as Pfizer, Qualcomm, Pepsi Foods, Facebook, MillerCoors, Colgate-Palmolive, Honeywell, Eastman Kodak to the small and medium-sized companies. He is a renowned speaker and has facilitated numerous workshops and conferences around the world. Prior to establishing his consulting practice, Mark has worked with manufacturing companies in important supply chain positions including FedEx, Merck, Gillette which is now part of Proctor & Gamble.

Mark Chockalingam edits the Forecasting blog and also frequently writes on business topics in his personal blog Chockalingam.com.

A Chartered Accountant from India, Mark has a Ph. D. in Finance from Arizona State University, an MBA from the University of Toledo. Mark currently serves as the President of the Massachusetts Minutemen Chapter of APICS and also on the Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India New England Chapter.

Linked-in Profile

Sathu Alagapppan

Secretary
Columbus, OH & Athangudi

Sathu leads Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Safelite Group.

With over 20 years in corporate American, her experiences span areas such as business analysis, project management, supplier/contract management, SAP development and human resources. While she moved from area to area, she realized that her passion throughout every experience was the ability to connect with people, build relationships, help uncover their potential and do it in a manner that is inclusive and equitable. Sathu has her undergraduate degrees in engineering and in management information systems as well as her MBA with a focus in Strategic HR.

Sathu knows how important entrepreneurship is to the community - her husband Alagappan is an entrepreneur who focuses in the areas of real estate and recreation. Sathu, Alagappan and their kids Sooria and Kavya enjoy travelling, staying active, and experiencing new things.

Palani Palaniappan

Treasurer
Detroit, MI & Melaisivapuri

Palani Palaniappan is GM of Performance Evaluation and Analysis department at Toyota.

Palani holds a MS in mechanical engineering degree from Wayne State University and an MBA from University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

Palani enjoys solving challenging problems with new ideas and technology that has lead to many publications and 6 Patents. Palani has served NSNA in different roles including as Nanal editor from 2005 to 2007 and most recently as Nanben regional director for Michigan region in 2020.

Apart from teaching and volunteering in STEM fields, Palani enjoys long distance running and hiking in different national parks with his family.


Pichappan Pethachi

Real Estate Lead & Founder
Tampa, FL & Kothamangalam

Pethachi Pichappan is the Co-Founder of NANBEN and Immediate Past President.

Pethachi has over 30 years of Experience and worked for KPMG, Verizon, IBM and currently works for Concentrix as Vice President of Information Technology. He has an Global Executive MBA from Fuqua School of Business, Duke University and Electronics and Communication Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Trichy.

Pethachi's family also runs a global Real Estate Corporation.

Linked-in Profile

Arun Vaithi

Chair, Youth Events
Atlanta, GA & Venthanpatti

Dr. Arun Vaithi has a Doctorate and Masters in Public Health.

Arun is Chairman of MedSmarter, a USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 Prep Course based out of Atlanta that serves 300 students from over 80 Medical Schools per year in helping boost their scores to get the Residency of their choice. MedSmarter currently employs 15 individuals (12 professors and 3 staff). Arun also owns Meenakshi Stats and is one of the head statisticians for ESPN Plus/Caesars Palace developing sports algorithms. Meenakshi Stats currently employs 15 Statisticians all with backgrounds in Biostatistics.

Muthiah Subash

Chair, Entrepreneurship
Dallas, TX & Chockalingam puthur, Vairavan Koil

Muthiah Subash is the founder of SUS Mindshare, an IT consulting firm focussed on Microsoft Dynamics for mid market ERP implementation and ML/BI analytics. He is also the Co-Founder & Chief Architect of Paramount Health Solutions, EHR solutions provider.

In addition to being an entrepreneur he leads Cloud Data Engineering at Capital One in Plano. Prior to Capital One he had worked with CBRE, John Deere and Infosys. Muthiah has over 25 years of experience in consulting in Manufacturing, Retail, FinTech, Healthcare and Commercial Real Estate. He has a BE in Mechanical Engineering from RECT(NITT) and has attended Executive leadership - Harvard Manage Mentor program from HBR.

Muthiah and his wife Uma live in Dallas with two children Skanda and Snehaa. Muthiah loves photography, hiking, mud runs and social service.

Muthiah leads the Business Ventures Team for NANBEN.


   



Srinivasan Palaniappan

Investments Lead
Washington DC & Karaikudi

Srini works as an Enterprise Architect for DMI. He is committed to the success of his clients in their digital transformation endeavors, with over two decades of ecommerce experience specializing in cloud technologies and data science domain.

Srini now lives in Aldie, Virginia, with his adorable wife Nacha and their wonderful teen boys, Sreekaanth and Siddarth. He loves traveling, movies, music, and hanging out with friends.

Srini is a native of Karaikudi and belongs to Illaiyathangudi Kovil Kazhanivasal Pirivu. He is passionate about learning and growing together with the Nagarathar community.


Siva Singaram

Real Estate Lead
Cupertino, CA & Kilasevalpatti

Siva Singaram is the Co-founder of Pristine Sterling Capital, a real estate private equity firm with more than $60M in assets under management. He has raised more than $16M, just from his friends and family. Through this firm, he and his wife Sangeetha do ground-up development of luxury homes in the Bay Area. They are very excited about bringing rigorous data analysis, management systems, and creative designs to the home-building process and giving out-sized returns to their investors.

Siva did his bachelor's at IIT Madras and MBA at IIM Calcutta and is very active in their alumni associations. Siva is an advisor for startups in the data space and also mentors entrepreneurial workshops at the college and high school levels.

Siva is from Kilasevalpatti and currently lives in Cupertino, CA with his wife, three girls, and their furry brother. In his free time, he coaches and plays competitive volleyball.


Let's evoke entrepreneurial traits of our Nagarathar community and facilitate & encourage Nagarathars to become successful entrepreneurs

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