Board of Directors

Class A: Property Owners

Darmin Bachu

Chairman

Bachu & Associates

Keith Singh

Legal Advisor

Queens CB 10, New York State Bar

Class B: Commercial Tenants

Nankishore Bedesi

Treasurer

New York State Bar

Deborah Misir

Founding Partner

Lally & Misir, LLP

Deborah Misir is a founding partner of Lally & Misir, LLP. A leading federal litigator and expert on administrative, constitutional and government regulatory law, she has over sixteen years of experience in both government and private practice, including briefing over seventy federal appeals cases up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court, and making seventeen federal appellate oral arguments. She has won several cases with published decisions in the federal courts.
At Lally & Misir, LLP, Ms. Misir specializes in complex civil, white collar and appellate litigation before both the federal and state courts. In addition, she provides advice on regulatory compliance, and public policy issues. Her clients have included local governments, venture capital funds, tech and energy companies, hotels and restaurants. She also represents trade associations, not for profit corporations, and religious corporations.
Before entering private practice, Ms. Misir served in the Administration of President George W. Bush as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, ethics attorney at the White House Counsel’s Office, and Chief of Staff of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. She also taught appellate advocacy at the George Washington University Law School. Ms. Misir started her career at the U.S. Department of Justice, serving in the Executive Office for Immigration Review, headquarters of the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and the Civil Division. At the Justice Department she was specially assigned as counsel to the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, the counter-terrorism and intelligence task force created in the immediate wake of 9/11 to prevent future attacks, and as counsel to the U.S. delegation to the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Ms. Misir graduated with a B.A. with honors in political science from the University of Chicago, and an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Master’s of Arts Program in the Social Sciences. Her master’s thesis was published as The Murder of Navroze Mody, Race, Violence, and the Search for Order, in CONTEMPORARY ASIAN AMERICA, A MULTIDISCIPLINARY READER (Min Zhou & James V. Gatewood eds., 2000). She earned her law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. After law school, Ms. Misir served honorably in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Ms. Misir is President of the Indian American Bar Association of Long Island and Queens. She serves on the National Alumni Board of the University of Chicago’s Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS), the Board of Advisers of the Irish American Bar Association of New York, and previously served on the National Board of Governors of the Republican National Lawyers Association. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Council, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Nassau County Bar Association.

Class C: Residents

Vishnu Mahadeo

President / Executive Director

Richmond Hill Economic Devcelopment Council

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Vishnu Mahadeo has been an active member of the Richmond Hill/ Indo- Caribbean community in Queens for over 25 years. He serves as the president and founder of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Council (RHEDC), an organization of property owners and commercial tenants in Richmond Hill that is dedicated to promoting business development and improving the area's quality of life. He has served on the Queens Community Board 9 as a Parks Committee Chairman and active Community Board Member. Over the last several years, he has conducted training classes for voter registration and solicitation of petitions in the Richmond Hill area. As a US Census crew leader, he recruited community partners and local residents to work for the US Census 2010. He is the recipient of community service awards from East Indian Diaspora (NY) & Sanskaar Bhaarti International (Guyana).He graduated from the University of Surrey in Guildford, England in 1981 with a Bachelors of Science with Honors in Engineering. He is currently a math and science teacher who specialized to assist special educational needs students, serves as a secretary in the Richmond Hill High School (RHHS) PTA and as the treasurer for the RHHS Parent Action Committee (PAC).
On February 2012, Vishnu Mahadeo is certiified as a Economic Development Finance Professional by the National Development Council.
Mr. Mahadeo is a founding member of American Sevashram Sangha Inc, a not-for-profit organization that provides religious guidance, social, cultural and educational services in Queens. He also served as Chairman for Management and Development, a non-governmental organization that helps to improve education, health and general welfare for rural communities in Guyana, South America.
Helives in Richmond Hill with his wife and children. He is a devoted father and proud to one child as a graduate (Cum Laude) from Amherst College and another child attending Cornell University.

Annetta Seecharran

Advisor

Class D: Elected Officials

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[title]

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Class E: Non-Voting Members

Tilokie Depoo

Metopolitan College of NY

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Dr. Tilokie Depoo: Biography

Dr. Tilokie Depoo has over twenty five years of corporate experience, including a diversified professional background in international and domestic business. While working in the corporate world he maintained close contact with academia and has over 18 years experience in higher education in both teaching and administration. Currently he is Professor and Program Director at Metropolitan College of New York. Dr. Depoo has outstanding multi-task abilities and strong leadership skills to work with faculty, students, staff and on projects in the strategic academic arena with significant experience in enrollment and retention management.

As a teacher and academic administrator, Dr. Depoo has focused on developing curriculum that aligns with real world practices to better prepare students for successful careers. His teaching experience includes both on-line and on-site courses and he has pioneered numerous innovative, career-focused programs for students.

Born in Guyana, Dr. Depoo attended junior high school in Manhattan and F.K. Lane High School in Brooklyn, completed his undergraduate work in economics at LIU Brooklyn, and earned a master’s degree in economics at NYU. He received his Ph.D. in Global Leadership/Strategic Management from Lynn University in Florida.

Prior to his full-time move to academia from corporate, Dr. Depoo worked in strategic planning, venture development, financial analysis, market research, business development and product development for international and domestic companies including Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, Lever Brothers, the New York Daily News, HKCL, NexxtHealth and Fidelis Care New York. In his most recent corporate position he served as Director of Strategic Planning at Fidelis Care, the New York State Catholic Health Plan, which provides affordable health coverage to children and adults throughout New York State. In addition, he has served as a Management Advisor in a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) funded position.

His collaborative efforts working with faculty at Metropolitan College included the following major accomplishments:
·        New degree programs:
o       Lead the development and approval by NYSED of the college’s first healthcare administration degree: BBA in Healthcare Systems Management. Enrollment exceeded goal.
o       Global Management Certificate program - The program was approved by NYSED. This program will serve as our bridge program as well as to attract international students to compete one year of undergraduate study at MCNY.
·        Redesign of MBA Curricula: MBA in Media Management, MBA in Financial Services and MBA in General Management to make relevant and marketable.
·        Developed assessment plan for Business Programs working with the faculty to assess student learning outcomes.
·        Work with faculty to secure accreditation from Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).
·        Redesign and implement new BBA curriculum
Prior to Metropolitan College, he was Professor and Chairperson of the Business Administration program at Monroe College, with an enrollment of 1,600 students. His accomplishments at Monroe included the development of the MBA curriculum which resulted in the NYS Department of Education approval of the College’s first graduate program. Additionally, with his student-centered approach, his work with students secured the first National Academic Championship for the College – Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Championship – 2005 and won every consecutive Regional Championship: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and special competition in business ethics, entrepreneurship, and success skills.

Complementing his management and administrative accomplishments, Dr. Depoo maintains research interests in the area of international labor migration and the brain drain in third world countries. He has co-authored two books: A practical Guide to Microeconomics (2007) and the East Indian Diaspora (1993). Additionally, he has published several articles on the brain drain including Guyana’s Brain Drain and Implications for Economics Development (2007). His most recent, 2011, publication was on the ethical dilemma of sustainable development: Guyana, published in Emerald’s, Journal of Global Responsibility.

He serves on the National Faculty Advisory Committee of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and is a SIFE Sam Walton Fellow. Additionally, his service include: Faculty Mentor – University of Maryland University College, Middle States Accreditation Committee, Strategic Planning for Monroe College, and Distance Learning Committee. His professional affiliations include, not limited to the American Economic Association, American Management Association, Omicron Delta Epsilon, Sigma Beta Delta, and Alpha Beta Gamma.