Organization

About KOA

The KOA organization has its origins in the early meetings of History several Kashmiri Pandit families in the Washington D.C. and Maryland areas. These families soon came to realize the importance of building a community structure which could include other families too in a bond for mutual preservation and growth. As more families and members joined the founding group, the organization evolved to become a national outfit with regional chapters, documented bye-laws, systems and procedures as well as a non-profit status to better seek donations and pursue community actions.

MISSION

The KOA’s mission is to promote Kashmir Pandit ethnic and socio-cultural heritage (language, history, art, etc), celebrate religious festivals of importance to Kashmiri Pandits; provide financial assistance to needy and deserving Kashmiri Pandit individuals, educational institutions, places of worship and shrines, both in the US and in India; and preserve historical monuments and sites of religious and cultural significance in Kashmir, India.

VISION

The KOA shall serve as the premier Kashmiri Pandit institution with a fundamental purpose that lies in promoting Kashmiri Pandit heritage and its way of living, Kashmiri Brahmanism and its philosophies; and be a center of social learning that caters to the spiritual, cultural, physical, humanitarian and educational needs of the community.

KOA Contact Details

Organization Official Name
Kashmiri Overseas Association, Inc.

Organization’s Official Mailing Address
105 Parsons Lane ,Newtown PA 18940

Membership & Donations
Paid online or a check made payable to Kashmiri Overseas Association (KOA) and mailed to the following address:
Attn: Rajeev Kaul
303-5th Avenue
Suite # 1007
New York
NY-10016
e-mail: treasurer@koausa.org

KOA Organization

KOA Organizational Structure

Executive Committee (2023)

Dr. Archana Kokroo
President, CEO, and Chairperson of Board

“Volunteers don’t necessarily have the time, but they have the heart.”

Archana Kokroo is a volunteer at heart and has been associated with KOA for more than 10 years Born and raised in Kashmir. Archana was a part of Exodus in 1990 and saw first hand the struggles our community faced during those years. That instilled in her the commitment and passion to work for the community.

In her younger years she was greatly influenced by her grandfather who ingrained in her the spirit of hard work .

She’s a graduate of Government Medical College Srinagar and currently runs a private practice in Pennsylvania. Her husband Dr. Tej Kokroo also a physician by profession are proud parents of Aushim and Ayushi. Archana has served as the director of Zone 3 prior to taking her role as the president of KOA.

In her spare time Archana loves to cook, write and sing. She has also been involved in charitable work for other nonprofit organizations.

“The-best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others: M K Gandhi”

Ashwani Kaul
Vice President

Ashwani Kaul was born and raised in New Delhi. He has been in the US since 2003. Married to Shweta Kautia, the couple has two lovely children Kabir and Ravya. Ashwani and Shweta have been a part of the KP community in the Raleigh/Durham area, and have been energetic participants in the group’s activities.

Ashwani has a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology from Delhi University and a Masters Degree in Computer Science from University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Ashwani works with a consulting firm, Promantus Inc., as their Director of Technology Solutions. He specializes in Healthcare, Wellness and Application Architecture and Development.

Ashwani loves music, cycling, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Neeta Bhat
Secretary

Neeta Bhat lives in New Jersey, zone 3, with her husband Kuldeep Bhat. Neeta is extremely passionate about her Kashmiri roots and has been dedicated to the KOA community for the last two years, as the Communications Co-Dir. for 2021, followed by filling in the role of the Secretary since Feb. 2022.

Rakesh Thaploo
Treasurer

Rakesh Thaploo is a resident of Ohio and lives in Powell with his wife and two kids. Rakesh is an active member of Hindu Community in Central Ohio region and represents Bharati Hindu temple in various interfaith and diversity groups. He is a Life member of KOA and volunteers for various programs conducted by KOA.

Rakesh and Thaploo’s family originally come from Vanpoh, Anantnag but he grew up in Raghunath Mandir area near Fateh Kadal in Srinagar. His wife Sanjana (Sanju) is originally from Karan Nagar from Nehru Family and is a medical doctor by training.

Rakesh works as Group Vice President for a global consulting firm and manages part of their North America business. He completed his engineering degree in India and did his Business Management from Stanford University in US. He also studied International Business Finance from Singapore. Rakesh in his working career travelled extensively across North America, UK, Europe and Asia. He is a guest speaker in some of the global business schools and frequently speaks in global conferences related to his field of work.

Rakesh is avid reader and interacts and communicates with diverse groups globally and calls himself a sincere student of global cultures, communication styles and language nuances. In central Ohio Rakesh has been working with various school boards and Ohio State university to provide more authentic view of Vedic culture and religion. He frequently conducts Hindu Faith training programs for Ohio State university community outreach program and school curriculum training program for teachers.

Board of Directors (2023)

KOA Zones

Director	Name	e-Mail Address	States
Zone 1	Meera Mota	zone1dir@koausa.org	New York, Delaware
Zone 2	Vikram Salman	zone2dir@koausa.org	Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut
Zone 3	Sirsij Peshin	zone3dir@koausa.org	New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Zone 4	Meenakshi Kak	zone4dir@koausa.org	Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia
Zone 5	Renu Wokhlu	zone5dir@koausa.org	Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah
Zone 6	Ashwani Kaul	zone6dir@koausa.org	Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
Zone 7	Sidhartha Koul	zone7dir@koausa.org	Alaska, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska South Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Zone 8	Shivas Dhar	zone8dir@koausa.org	Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio
Zone 9	Uphaar Kotru	zone9dir@koausa.org	Northern California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington
Zone 10	Akshay Kaul	zone10dir@koausa.org	Arizona, Southern California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada

Board of Directors (2023)

KOA Zone 1 Director
Mrs. Meera Mota

Meera Mota was born and raised in the Habba Kadal area of Srinagar, which is located in the northernmost Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. However, due to the unrest in the region beginning in 1989, Meera moved around to several different places in India for education and work opportunities.

In 2006, Meera married Sumit and moved to New York in 2007. They currently reside in Long Island along with their two sons and Meera’s mother-in-law. Meera enjoys engaging in conversations with people, listening to music, and reading books.

KOA Zone 2 Director
Vikram Salman

Vikram Salman was born and brought up in Srinagar. He is the youngest of 3 children born to Mr. Girdhari Lal Salman and Mrs. Phoola Salman. He is married to Deepa Kaul and is blessed with two children, Neer and Avni.

Vikram is an engineer by profession. He moved to USA in 2005 and started his journey in Zone 2. He currently works at Shire Pharmaceuticals. He enjoys watching sports, especially football and is a hardcore New England Patriots fan. He also enjoys watching movies, playing cricket and loves to grill.

KOA Zone 3 Director
Mr. Sirsij Peshin

Sirsij Peshin is KOA Zone 3 Director. Sirsij and his wife (Gayatri) grew up in Srinagar, Kashmir before moving to Delhi, Mumbai, Beijing, and Tokyo for work-related assignments. They are blessed with two children, Shubhankar and Sharan, and all of them have been active KOA volunteers since moving to the US in 2015.

KOA Zone 4 Director
Mrs. Meenakshi Kak

Meenakshi Raina Kak was born and raised in Jammu. Meenakshi has been a national level debater and a volunteer during her academic life. She has resided in the US since 2002. Married to Mr. Ashish Kak, the couple has two lovely children. Meenakshi and Ashish have been a part of the KP community in the Washington DC area and active participants in their zone for many years.

Meenakshi has a Master’s Degree in Computer Science and has been working in that domain. She, like most Kashmiri Pandits, loves music(Chakkri in particular) and cherishes her family and friends. Her core values include loyalty and commitment to her work.

KOA Zone 5 Director
Renu Wokhlu

Renu Tickoo (Wokhlu) was born in Anantnag, Kashmir to Mr. Durga Nath Tickoo and Mrs. Phoola Koul. She has an older brother, Anil Tickoo, settled in Mumbai and a younger sister, Urvashi Kaw, settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Like most of us she left Kashmir in 1989 and made Jammu her second home. She came to the US in 2001 after getting married to Randhir Wokhlu and since then has lived in Dallas, Texas. They have a lovely 16 year old daughter, Arya.

Renu has a Masters in Finance from University of Texas at Dallas. She currently works at Texas Instruments.

She loves singing and listening to Hindi music. Renu has been active in the Dallas Kashmiri community for many years which she considers as her extended family.

KOA Zone 6 Director
Ashwani Kaul

Ashwani Kaul was born and raised in New Delhi.
He has been in the US since 2003. Married to Shweta Kautia, the couple has two lovely children Kabir and Ravya. Ashwani and Shweta have been a part of the KP community in the Raleigh/Durham area, and have been energetic participants in the group’s activities.

Ashwani has a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology from Delhi University and a Masters Degree in Computer Science from University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Ashwani works with a consulting firm, Promantus Inc., as their Director of
Technology Solutions. He specializes in Healthcare, Wellness and Application Architecture and Development.

Ashwani loves music, cycling, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Kashmiri diaspora to actively participate in KOA activities.

KOA Zone 7 Director
Sidhartha Koul

I grew up in Habba-Kadal area of Kashmir and left that place during KP genocide and subsequent exodus. I was lucky enough to get higher education and work opportunities in rest of India that later landed me here in the US. For last 17 years I have been living in Naperville, IL with my wife Dr. Sunita Koul and our two daughters, Aryana and Avishi. I work in the Information Technology area.

I believe for last 40 years KOA has done incredible effort through volunteers to keep the “Kashmir” alive here and I envision KOA to become a unified voice of Kashmiris to tell our story to the world. And continue to keep the spirit of Kashmiri alive here for those of us who cannot be there.

KOA Zone 8 Director
Shivas Dhar

Shivas Dhar was born and brought up in Srinagar (Ganpatyaar) Kashmir.
Married to Anisha Dhar, the couple has two sons, and the family is passionate about the Kashmiri Hindu culture, heritage and language.
He is an active member of Hindu Community relations council and is engaged specifically in programs related to exodus and genocide of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990. A mechanical Engineer by profession, he works as Design Manager in Automotive sector in Michigan and has worked globally across Japan, Europe, India and US.
Shivas believes in community service and has been actively supporting KOA EAP program as Co-Director since 2022.

KOA Zone 9 Director
Uphaar Kotru

Uphaar Kotru was raised in Srinagar till late 1989 when his family migrated to Jammu due to onset of militancy. He is son of Late Dr. R.K. Kotru (IAS officer, served in J&K adminstration) & Smt. Nirmala Kotru. A software engineer by profession, he is currently working at Teradata. He lives in the SF Bay Area with his wife Surabhi and two daughters Sharanya and Shanaya. Passionate about Kashmiri culture and loves Kashmiri food.

KOA Zone 10 Director
Akshay Kaul

KOA IT / Digital Media Team
Year 2023

IT / Digital Media Lead
Pallavi Bamzai

I belong to the Takoo family, from Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar originally from Saraf Kadal, Srinagar. I currently live with my husband Amrit Bamzai and two kids in New Jersey. I am a computer engineer by profession and currently work at Bloomberg, New York. I have around 20 years of experience in the IT industry as a software developer and architect. I have been volunteering at KOA and actively participating in various Zone 3 (NJ) KOA events over the past several years. Prior to New Jersey, I lived in Chicago for 10 years where I was actively involved with Zone 7 (IL) events. I have also volunteered in Queens (NY) to mentor high school students for career and college readiness. In addition, I have volunteered at a local Indian organization named Sanskriti, teaching middle school kids Hindi language and Indian culture.

Webmaster
Nimit Kaul

Nimit Kaul was born in Rainawari, Kashmir and did most of his schooling in Indore. He is son of J.L. Kaul (Dembi) and Nancy Kaul. Nimit moved to US in 2007 and currently lives in Dublin, OH along with his wife Gitali Handoo and 2 boys- Riaan (6) and Yuvaan (5).

Nimit has a bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Telecommunications and a MBA Finance degree from Mumbai University. Nimit works as an independent consultant for Cardinal Health in Columbus, OH.

Nimit loves Music, singing, travelling, eating and meeting new people. Nimit is involved in promoting Cricket in High schools and is President of a Local Cricket club.

KOA Financial Accounts Management
Year 2023

Organizational Structure

OBJECTIVES

– To submit financial reports to Board of Directors on a periodic basis
– To keep track of balance in each fund
– To reconcile accounts with bank financial records on a regular basis

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Roles & Responsibilities

Download KOA Publication– KOA Accounts Management