Indo-Canadian community and the President of Bromed
Pharmaceuticals, spoke first and informed the audience how
an accident of circumstance had made him the President of the
IC
Chamber for a brief period. Bakul Joshi, the then incumbent
President, was suddenly transferred to California, and Chotai had to take charge of the Chamber. He said when he left the
RESID CC P
E NT S
Presidency, the Chamber’s bank account had $87 and some
Kishore Doshi
1977-78 & 1979-80
of course, served the Chamber in the capacity of an Advisory
Mike Flecker
1980-81
change, of which $50 he had personally contributed. Chotai has, Board member on a couple of occasions, and has continued to stay connected with the Chamber for the last four decades.
THE SECOND DECADE
Homi Billimoria Bakul Joshi
Ramesh Chotai Harshad Patel
Sat Chopra (1987-89) took charge of the Chamber at the end of its first decade, at a time when there were serious talks of
Suresh Goswamy Vinu Vasani
winding up the Chamber because of a lack of involvement from
Rajeev Jain
such as Rasik Morzaria, his predecessor, decided to go on a
Sat P. Chopra
the community. However, Chopra recalled, he along with others membership drive and enrol young members. This averted the
crisis and the Chamber successfully entered its second decade –
Rasik Morzaria Benny Lobo
a decade that would prove to be momentous.
Ajit Someshwar
Ajit Someshwar (1991-93), the flamboyant entrepreneur of
Hari Panday
today, was a young assistant manager at the CIBC when he
took over as the President of the Chamber, becoming a life
member by paying $135 ($200 life membership minus $65
Manoj Pundit Raj Kothari
Ravi Seethapathy
annual membership). But it was under his leadership that the
Rakesh Goenka
RBC Royal Bank as the Chamber’s first corporate sponsor for
Pradeep Sood
Chamber got the first experience of corporatization. He got
$5,000. The RBC Royal Bank remained a sponsor for over the
next two decades, leaving the Chamber for a brief hiatus and
Kris Krishnan Ajit Khanna
returning recently. During the entire period, Imtiaz Seyid, a
Sunil Jagasia
Chamber’s membership portfolio and now is the head of its
Vinay Nagpal
member of the Chamber since 1993, has been active with the
Asha Luthra
audit committee. Someshwar also started the annual awards and
Satish Thakkar
gala night by honouring Indo-Canadians in different domains
for their contributions to the Canadian society. He constituted
Naval Bajaj
an Advisory board for this purpose to ensure that the selection
Dharma P Jain
will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Annual Awards
Arun Srivastava
of the award winners would be objective. This year the Chamber and Gala Night, and during this period the ICCC awards have become a symbol of recognition for the
community.
Indo-Canadian
Sanjay Makkar
1978-79 1981-82
1982 (Acting) 1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 1985-86 1986-87 1987-89 1989-91 1991-93 1993-94 1994-96 1996-98
1998-2000 2000-01 2001-03 2003-05 2005-07 2007-08 2008-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-
Hari Panday, and was part of the group of young leaders who
straddled the 1990s of the Chamber and took it to the next level invigorating the organisation with fresh ideas, infusion of new
THE THIRD DECADE
members, laying the foundations of governance by updating
Raj Kothari (1996-98), took over the Chamber’s mantle after
the bylaws, getting corporate sponsorship, and for the first
time involving the Canadian federal and provincial leadership
Celebrating 40 years
53