Soorya Performing Arts

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mr. Baskar Subbarao - Acting President/ Current Vice President

Baskar Subbarao is an entrepreneur and has a consulting business.  As an adjunct faculty at Webster University, Baskar has taught "Operations and Project Management", for MBA students.  Baskar has also conducted all-day seminar "Finance 101: Learn To Read and Understand Business Financial Statements". Baskar has experience working on international projects, developing project business plans and feasibility analysis for manufacturing operations.   Baskar isa Professional Engineer in Missouri and Wisconsin.  Baskar has an MBA from Univ. of Missouri, St. Louis, MS in Mechanical Engineering from Univ. of Missouri, Rolla and BS in Mechanical Engineering from BITS, Pilani.

Mrs. Divya Haynes - Secretary

 Divya is a graduate from University of Memphis. At present she works in  Matthews Manufacturing Inc. As a DBA, she develops in house inventory based E2 Shop system, she  handles Accounts receivable and quality management issues. She also manages  Public relations and sales

Mrs. Lily Sugathan – Treasurer

Lily Sinha Sugathan began her accounting career in 2000 working with a large Medical Supply Manufacturer.  In 2001 she moved into the public accounting arena.  She has an extensive background in the areas of personal and corporate tax planning, financial reporting, and consulting on complex business tax issues for a broad array of clients.   

Lily graduated magna cum laude from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale in 1999 where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in accounting and minor in Marketing.  In 2000 she graduated cum laude with a Masters in Business Administration from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale.  Lily is a member of the Golden Honors Society.

Lily is community minded with a ‘caretaker’ approach. Her past civic duties include:

Mr. Rooji Sugathan - Member
Rooji works as product Manager, Ungerboeck Systems International, INC.

Head the design committee, review technical designs, understand user requirements and develop technical designs for the enterprise resource planning software with over 24 modules. Research on new trends and technical advancements that can be incorporated in to the software. Review new development with the various customers.

Mr. Willie L. Bennett - Member

Willie L. Bennett retired from AT&T March, 2006 after 26 years as a software engineer. Prior employers included Concordia Publishing House, The Brown Group, and Venture Stores Head quarters. At present he is pursuing Photography. He holds membership in Soorya Performing Arts, St. Louis Camera Club, St. Louis Artist Guild.                                                                                 

Mr. Manjula Narasimhan - Member

Manjula Narasimhan is a resident of Columbia Mo. She runs a successful Kumon Center in Columbia for the past three years. She is also an active member of Mid-Missouri community and Hindu Temple of Columbia. She has been active in supporting Indian cultural, artistic and religious efforts in Columbia.

Address: 3808 Amaryllis Court, Columbia, MO  65203 /  Phone: 573-446-6668

Mrs. Seema Murthy – Member

Seema Kasthuri is an accomplished singer with a charming voice. She has undergone Carnatic Music training for over 10 years under Vidwan K.R Venkatesh. She has completed her Senior level board exams in Karnataka. Seema has accompanied Guru. Venkatesh in several concerts held in many places of state of Karnataka. Seema has taken active participation in most of the music productions from Sharada Vidyalaya under guru Venkatesh that was produced for All India Radio. She has also given concerts in Devotional Music and light music. Later, she is pursued her education studentship with Chintalapalli Krishnamurthy.  Seema is an active dancer by herself; she performs with the productions of Soorya Dance Company. Seema has provided vocal support to classical dance drama productions. She composed music for "OM Ganesha" - a classical dance drama on lord Ganeshji's story.  Seema's album "Sri Lola" - a collection of Daasa literature songs is released in India in November 2002. At present, Seema is taking advanced training in Carnatic music from Nagamani Srinath and Hindustani Music from Ustad Imrat Khan. Seema performs frequently. Her performances in Hindu Temple of St. Louis, Indian Association of Greater Springfield in 2005; in ANANYA - Bangalore in 2006 gave her high accolades. Seema accompanied many of arangetram functions of Soorya Performing Arts in 2006, 2007. Her recent role as RADHA in - "CALL OF THE FLUTE" - the first ever dance musical of USA got the attention of classical music and classical dance lovers evenly. Seema Works in AT&T as a Software Analyst.

Mrs. Surya Mantrala - Member

Surya is a co-founder of Mantrala Associates Inc along with Dr. Murali Mantrala. She has been involved in demand estimation and other aspects of the fashion retailing business. Surya holds a Ph.D. in Economics (1992) from the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Economics of uncertainty and econometrics was the focus of her study.

Surya worked for some time with Bradford Exchange, Niles, IL. as Corporate Database Analyst. Here she developed and implemented lifetime value estimation models for a database of over 5 million clients, developed credit models and was involved in promotional response modeling. Prior to this she was the Analytic Services Manager with A C Nielsen, Deerfield, IL. Here she analyzed the impact of price and trade promotions using marketing mix models, the impact of new product introduction using cannibalization models, the product assortment decisions and was involved in analyzing ethnic marketing.

Surya has taught business statistics to undergraduates and Executive MBA students at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. between the years 1995-1997. Formerly, she was an Associate Portfolio Manager at AT&T Universal Card Services, Jacksonville, FL. and a Staff Supervisor with AT&T, Bedminster, NJ.

Surya’s current focus is to take B_Line and other products and services of Mantrala Associates to the market.

Mr. Prasanna Kasthuri – Artistic Director

Prasanna is a teacher, choreographer, organizer and a performer of two great traditional Indian classical dances - Bharathanatyam and Kathak. His art has a pleasant infusion of the key elements of literature, music, and theatre.

Prasanna was fortunate to receive training from many great legendary teachers of dance field. The main styles which he received training are from Dr. K. Venkatalakshamma and Smt. Lalita Srinivasan of Mysore style and later in Pandanallur style from Guru Narmada. He attended workshops of Chitra Vishweswaran, T. Mahalingam Pillai, Adyar K. Lakshmanan and Pandanallur GopalaKrishna. He received Kathak knowledge from Guru Maya Rao, a very well known authority in Choreography and took Kathak workshops under Birju Maharaj.

Prasanna has performed all around the world and at present is the artistic director of "Soorya Dance Company" in Saint Louis, Missouri. His major credentials include - a rank in Vidwath exam conducted by Karnataka Government, more than a decade of Carnatic music training, a 24 hour non-stop marathon dance feat and a Master's degree in Information Technology.

Prasanna's major dance productions include -

"Kadu Kuniyithu" (1987) -Dance production for children on the story of animals
"Kavya Kinkini" (1989) - A Bharathanatyam repertoire based on poetry from Kannada epics
"Subhadra Parinaya" (1991) - A Sanskrit dance drama from Mahabharatha
"Shrungara Naayakaru" (1994) - A Portrayal of Romantic heroes corresponding to the Nayikas of Indian dance.
"Rasa Gati" (1996) - Adoption of Rasa theory and Carnatic tala structures
"Jnana" (1998) - Mini dance drama based on moral stories
"Avataara" (1999) - Metaphysical interpretation of incarnations
"Cherishnu" (2000) - A dance spectacle of Bengali literature
"Silambu"(2002) - Dance drama based on 2nd century Tamil epic Silappadikaram
"Anubhava Mantapa"(2002) - Dance reflection of 12th century Sharana literature
"Maarga" (2002) - A Bharathanatyam dance repertoi
"Thoughts"(2002) - A thought provoking dance presentation based different works of philosophers of India
Beral ge Koral (2003) – Story of dedicated student, who sacrifices to keep up teacher’s promise
Rainbow - I (2004)  - English poems into Indian Solo dancing
Katha Kahe Kathaka (2004)  - Presentation of Kathak dances
Rhythms in Motion (2005) – Rhythms across the life
Shaam - e - Kathak (2006) – Dances on Ghazals - love-lorn songs
Rainbow - II (2006) – English poems into Indian Dancing with a Grammy award winning musician
Call of Flute (2007) – USA’s first Indian opera through classical music and dance of India

Mr. Nagendra Sanjeeva

Nagendra Sanjeeva works at Reuters America, one of the leading financial information companies, as Technical Director. He leads team that builds information and analytic capabilities in software products that serve Investment Banking and Wealth Management institutions.

Nagendra has Acquired Bachelors of Engineering in at SJCE College, Mysore University, India; Master of Science in Engineering at San Jose State University, San Jose; and Master of Business Administration at University of Missouri, St. Louis.

Nagendra has spent good amount of time in living with diverse cultures, USA, India, Japan, Singapore, and of course, India. He and his wife Anitha’s extracurricular interests range from light classical music, Bharatanatyam, Yoga, to having deep understanding of Wall Street.

Previous Board Members who are currently on advisory committee

Dr. Ashok Mallya

Mrs. Maitrayee Bhattacharya

Mr. Sathian Devarajan

Mrs. Kris Weiser

Mrs. Saroni Bhattacharya