BOARD OF DIRECTORS - 2021 
Vijay Thomas
President
Vijay Thomas is founder and CEO of Tangentia, which has evolved to become a leading global Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence and B2B solutions company with a multi-national footprint with offices in USA, Canada and India. Tangentia has 100+ customers in 30+ countries and 150+ employees worldwide. Vijay is a seasoned speaker on e-commerce, B2B, Automation and Artificial Intelligence. He is also active in the Indian startup scene and has been an angel investor in many start-ups including Ixigo which is India’s largest meta search engine. Vijay has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Karnatak University and a MBA from Goa Institute of Management.
Surinder Sharma
Vice President & Director, Operations & Programs and Events
Surinder Sharma is a veteran technocrat who has served as Senior Professional with Multi-National Compies in India, Bahrain, UAE and Canada in the areas of project management, engineering, marketing and strategic planning. As a social entrepreneur, he is deeply engaged in energy conservation and demand management programs aimed to protect the environment. In 2001, Surinder founded Power Saving Systems Inc. that assists Canadian Industry (manufacturing, commercial, hospitality and small business) to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing the electricity usage by conducting energy audits and retrofit programs. Surinder is the Past President of the IIT Alumni Canada and a Founding Member & Past Chair of Panorama India. He actively served the Mississauga Board of Trade (MBOT) and remained a Director on its Board from 2012 to 2017. Tauseef Sheikh
Corporate Secretary & Director
Tauseef Sheikh is a seasoned, top-performing banking professional with experience in Global Banking, Retail Banking and Wealth Management. Prior to joining HSBC Bank in Canada, he was with HSBC India and part of the start-up team of the NRI (Non-Resident Indian) office in Canada. He was responsible for building a North American platform for providing onshore and offshore banking products with particular focus on cross- border Private Banking services. He is also the Ambassador for Diversity and Inclusion with HSBC in Canada. He believes in giving back to the community.
Don Patel
Vice President & Director, Finance
Don R.B. Patel is an entrepreneur with stake in retail businesses, and a decade of focus on real estate field has kept him connected to Indian diaspora. He made Brampton his Karmabhumi almost 3 decades ago, and since then has been passionately involved in several community organizations. He is a member of the Toronto Real Estate Board, and CREA besides being an active member of ICCC for several years.
Virender Rathi
Vice President & Director, Government Relations & Legal Affairs
Virender Rathi is a versatile lawyer, specializes in Immigration and Real Estate. Virender graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School. He is a member of the Law Society of Ontario, Canadian Bar Association, Ontario Bar Association and CASAL. He is strongly committed to community and actively involved in many NFP’s including ICCC.
Sanjay Kulkarni
Director, Governance & Business strategy
Sanjay is the CEO and President of Sankul Enterprises Inc., a boutique firm providing CFO services and business value advice to small and medium sized companies. Sanjay is a CA(I), CS(I), CMA, CPA, CFA and Chartered Director. With years of experience in financial services, Sanjay Kulkarni is a problem-solving leader with the ability to effect change by improving processes, setting robust goals/corporate objectives and identifying/resolving critical issues. An expert in negotiations, Sanjay is a strong business leader who has had a distinguished career of 25 years in Canada in building and governing corporate finance, accounting, and treasury functions for various companies. Sanjay’s passion is to help small and medium sized companies in enhancing their business value, enabling them to provide meaningful work.
Bhavik Parikh
Director, Membership Engagement & ITC
Bhavik Parikh is an innovative technologist, data architecture and researcher who has worked with multiple fortune 500 companies and provided B2C, B2B and B2G solutions. He serves on various non for profit boards across Canada, USA and India. He has worked in various business domains including human resource, finance, space, health, pharmaceutical and education. Bhavik has a bachelor degree in Business Community Enterprise and Information Technology from University of Liverpool and masters degree in Information Systems engineering from University of Manchester.
Vikas Sharma
Director, Small & Medium Business
Since 2006, Vikas has been the President and Owner of a post-industrial plastics recycling company in Toronto, Canada. The firm specializes in trading a wide variety of secondary fiber, post-industrial plastics and raw material to build the efficiency and profitability of its customers recycling operations. Vikas has significant experience in international trade and over the last two decades, Vikas has exported to China, India, Vietnam, Mexico and the USA. He specialises in India and North America trade.
Vikas is the President and Founder of the Care4Cause Foundation, which offers dignity, compassion and respect to individuals suffering poverty and unfortunate circumstances. Vikas joined the Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation in 2019 as Director and worked on expanding its Christmas Miracle on Main Street toy drive charity event to Brampton.
Ripudaman Singh Dhillon
Director, Sponsorship
Ripudaman established ICC Canada Immigration Solutions Inc. to help new immigrants to easily settle into a better life in Canada. His entrepreneurial zeal led him to launch Guru restaurant in 2013 in Heartland. His affinity for public service inspired him to start Radio Dhun, Ontario’s first multicultural and multilingual radio station, and in 2017 he acquired Radio 1220AM that reaches audiences from Ottawa to St. Catherines. The International Fashion Festival Toronto he launched in 2014 promotes local designers. Ripudaman is an active philanthropist and was the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario’s candidate in 2018 and a candidate of record for Brampton North.
