About MAIYTRA
Each MAIYTRA Convention is organized by a team of volunteers from the host city. Additionally, MAIYTRA is overseen by a Continuity Committee tasked with ensuring MAIYTRA's strategic growth and a consistent quality of service and support to Marathi young adults in North America.
BMM-MAIYTRA Advisor
The BMM-MAIYTRA Advisor is responsible for the long-term strategic planning for all young adult activities and initiatives throughout BMM. The BMM-MAIYTRA Advisor is the chair of the MAIYTRA Continuity Committee, and plays a role in steering and oversight for both MAIYTRA conventions and young adult committees for BMM conventions.
Currently, the BMM-MAIYTRA Advisor is Manish Ingle of Philadelphia, PA.
MAIYTRA President
The MAIYTRA President is responsible for directly managing and overseeing Marathi young adult activities and initiatives across North America. The President is the immediate past convention convener, taking office at the conclusion of his or her convention. The President of MAIYTRA holds a seat on the BMM Executive Committee, representing young adults interests and perspective in the greater management of all BMM efforts. The President holds a seat on the MAIYTRA Continuity Committee and heads the Steering Committee for the next convention.
Currently, the MAIYTRA President is Vijay Paradkar of Washington, DC. Vijay was born in Detroit, but moved to Northern Virginia by the age of 3 and grew up in the Washington, DC area. As a kid and teenager, he was a frequent volunteer (read: dragooned into service) at programs and conventions with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, Durga Temple, Chinmaya Mission, and the Marathi Kala Mandal of Greater Washington. He was also a volunteer and participant at the BMM 1993 convention in Baltimore (remember a kid in a Ganesha costume?). After studying politics at Princeton University, Vijay began work as a systems engineer with a defense contractor in the DC area. Over the course of a tragically misspent youth, he accrued a fair amount of experience organizing conferences and leading volunteer organizations, which has helped in organizing the MAIYTRA 2010 convention (though full credit goes to the outstanding team of volunteers he was lucky enough to rely on) and in serving the MAIYTRA community as a whole. His goal is to make MAIYTRA an ongoing self-sustaining network of young adults that extends beyond the biennial conventions. When he’s not working on MAIYTRA, Vijay is a voracious reader and loves traveling and hosting parties.
Past MAIYTRA Presidents:
2008-2010: Vishal Nayak of San Francisco, CA
2006-2008: Lakshmi Bhargave Jayanthi of Chicago, IL
2004-2006: Hemangi Joshi-Deodhar of NY/NJ
2002-2004: Rahul Kshirsagar of Detroit, MI
2000-2002: Hemangi Joshi-Deodhar of NY/NJ
1998-2000: Vikas Bankar of San Francisco, CA
1996-1998: Nitin Khandekar of Toronto, ON, CAN
1994-1996: Varsha Bilolikar of Cincinnati, OH and Manjeeri Sanghvai of Michigan
Past MAIYTRA Conventions:
2010: Washington, DC
2008: San Francisco, CA
2006: Chicago, IL
2004: Los Angeles, CA
2002: Detroit, MI
2000: New York, NY
1998: San Francisco, CA
1996: Toronto, ON, CAN
1994: Cincinnati, OH
Interested in hosting the MAIYTRA 2012 Convention? Learn more on how to apply.