We Are
THE INDIE MEME TEAM
Meet our Board of Directors
Board of Directors & Team
Indie Meme's Board of Directors keeps the operation of Indie Meme alive and provides strategic direction on our vision for all events.
Executive Board
Anjali Kaul Zutshi
Board Member, Governance & Strategic Planning
Executive Board, President
Kishan (Shawn) Siram
Board Member, Outreach & Membership
Executive Board, Secretary
Ram Raghavan
Board Member, Finance Chair
Executive Board, Treasurer
Board of Directors
Alka Bhanot
Co-founder, Board Member
Puneet Wadhwa
Board Member
Kala Malini Ranganathan
Board Member
Bhavna Guglani
Board Member
Alice Mechaley-Saigal
Board Member
Bita Razavi
Board Member
Animon Jose
Board Member
Snigdha Ghoshal
Board Member
The Team
Hitesh Vijay Oswal
Parth Acharya
Uma Riddle
Kailee Andrews
Meghana Shukla
Suja Jose
Ramdas Menon
Kirupa Lakshmanan
Shivani Mittal
Ananyaa Ravi
Christine Chung
Advisory Board
Indie Meme's Advisory Board is made up of community leaders dedicated to furthering our mission, we are truly grateful for their continued support and intellectual contributions. We would like to thank our past Advisory Board members Shaku Selvakumar, Kamran Ali Asdar, Harish Kotecha and Mike Blizzard
Tripti Bhatnagar
Co-Founder of Indie Meme, Tripti believes in the persuasive power of cinema. She trusts that meaningful cinema has the potential to influence masses and facilitate change. Through her efforts Tripti aims to connect socially conscious cinema with a wider audience.
linkedin.com/in/tripti-bhatnagar-76ab5714b
Ahmed Moledina
Distinguished as a strong leader in the area of technology company financial management, Mr. Moledina has over 20 years of solid financial management, consulting and analysis experience, with particular focus in the area of high-tech start-up financial operations establishment and management.
linkedin.com/in/ahmedmoledina
Surabhi Sharma
Independent documentary filmmaker, activist, film festival curator (based in India), and an absolutely vital part of the origins of Indie Meme.
surabhisharma.wordpress.com
Josh Hurtado
Contributing Editor and film critic for Screen Anarchy, Josh has been writing about Indian cinema for several years is a driving force in bringing independent & genre films from South Asia to film festivals around the world. He has been a Programming Consultant at Fantastic Fest ATX since 2013.
linkedin.com/in/joshua-hurtado-b9448730
Chale Nafus
Chale has taught film for over 25 years, is one of the founding board members of the Austin film Society and a current Programming Director. Chale has a passion for films and extensive knowledge of world Cinema.
linkedin.com/in/chale-nafus-07924889
Elizabeth Avellán
Elizabeth Avellán is a Producer of bold narrative diversified content. She is the Co-Owner and Vice President of Troublemaker Studios. In addition to producing family and genre films that have collectively grossed over a billion dollars at the box office, she has played a primary role in developing Austin, Texas, as a thriving film community.
linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-avellan-92501024
Dr. Vijay Mahajan
Vijay Mahajan holds the John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business at Mccombs School of Business, UT Austin. In 2006, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the IIT Kanpur. He has authored 12 books.
linkedin.com/in/vijay-mahajan-3aa648168
Marina Bhargava
Marina has worked in enterprises from Benefits Consulting at Hewitt Associates to family owned plastics manufacturing. She was also Executive Director of GAACC.
linkedin.com/in/marina-ong-bhargava-1602761
Gita Lal
Founder and CEO of Daman Consulting, Gita leads Daman in being a leading provider of enterprise business intelligence and data management solutions.
linkedin.com/in/gitalal
Piyush Bhargava
Piyush Bhargava is Vice-President Global Operation at Dell Technologies and leads a global organization responsible for demand planning for Dell’s Infrastructure Solutions Group.
linkedin.com/in/bhargavapiyush
Interested in serving on our board?
We are looking for committed, dedicated and energetic people to join our team. If you are interested in a position on our Board of Directors, or simply want to get involved and want to volunteer, talk to us! We are especially looking for people that can help with fundraising, public relations, and social media.
Our Founders
Our founders believed in the mission and the purpose of IndieMeme and turned it into the festival it is now. They push the team forward and make all of it happen year after year.
Co-Founder
Alka Bhanot
Alka has extensive experience producing for Indian Television and was the Executive Producer for the first Late Night Show, ‘Movers & Shakers’ in India, which won numerous awards. In Austin, since 2003 her film credits include Bryan Poyser’s ‘Dear Pillow’ (2003) Winner, Best Narrative Feature, Atlanta Film Festival, Margaret Brown’s ‘Be Here To Love Me’ (2006) a film about the life and music of Townes Van Zandt and ‘Sunshine’(2009) a documentary about adoption and single parenthood by Karen Skloss which aired as part of the Independent Lens series on PBS. She also worked on the ‘Trevor Romain Video Series’ (2005) an animated kids show which aired on PBS.
Confirmed as an Austin native (yes the allergies finally got to her) Alka lives with her husband & two children.
Co-Founder
Tripti Bhatnagar
Tripti has a diverse background in business and a deep passion for cinema. She has assisted award-winning films with research, interviews, and marketing, including "The Monster Among Us," a provocative film revealing the anti-Semitism in Europe, the Lone Star Emmy winner "A Fair to Remember," which details the 125-year history of the Dallas State Fair of Texas and a Cine Golden Globe winner, “Louie, Louie: A Portrait in Parkinson's.”
Tripti believes in the influential power of cinema and its ability to transcend borders and help create a more informed and engaged society. She lives in Dallas with her husband, two boys, and a puppy,
paw-bulous 'Sir Bear.'
Join our Team of Volunteers
We are looking for committed, dedicated and energetic people to join our team. If you are interested in a position on our Board of Directors, or simply want to get involved and want to volunteer, talk to us! We are especially looking for people that can help with fundraising, public relations, and social media.