Management Profiles

Dr. Mukund Acharya, Executive Director & Chairman of the Board

Mukund is the founder of Sandhya's Touch and a social entrepreneur.

Together with a few other dedicated volunteers, he co-founded another 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Sukham, whose mission is to advocate for and promote healthy aging, living well and preparing for life's transitions among the San Francisco Bay Area's growing South Asian population. He currently serves as Sukham's Board Secretary.

At Stanford Hospital and School of Medicine where he volunteers, he is a member of the Cancer Center palliative care design team, is active in the Patient/Family Partner Program, serves as the patient/family voice on three hospital committees, is a Spiritual Services volunteer and teaches fall-prevention and balance classes in the local community.

He serves as a Community Ambassador for Mission Hospice & Home Care of San Mateo, the only independent non-profit hospice in the Bay Area.

He writes a monthly article on health and wellbeing for the online magazine India Currents, and teaches adult-education courses on aging issues in his local school district.

He is a Board Member of the Hindu Community Institute where he serves as Resident Faculty and Director of Community Service Quality and Excellence.

Prior to forging this encore career path, he had a distinguished career of 40 years in the Aerospace arena as a scientist, researcher, scholar, professor, mentor, manager, program manager and technologist, working in Government labs, academia, and industry on three continents. His professional recognitions include a US National Research Council Fellowship, the Booz-Allen and Hamilton Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service, a Honeywell Technical Excellence Award and a Distinguished Visiting Professorship.

Mukund earned a Ph.D in Engineering from Stanford University, an M.S. in Aerospace Sciences from the University of Rochester and a B.Tech in Engineering from IIT Bombay.

For personal fulfillment he reads, writes, hikes, travels, plays with his grandchildren, is an avid photographer and is learning to play the piano. He is currently exploring new approaches including the use of short stories, PhotoVoice pieces, photo poetry and blogs, to spread the message on the importance of living substantive, impactful, fulfilling and contented lives while giving back to the community.

Dr. Catherine (Kate) Jamentz, Secretary & Member of The Board

Kate retired in 2016 after 44 years in public education research, development and administration. Over the course of her career she has conducted research and professional development programs focused on organizational change and improvement; published on the topic of leadership development and school accountability and served in a variety of district and school leadership roles.

Most recently, Kate served as Academic Deputy Superintendent of a district serving over 10,000 high school students in Silicon Valley. The district is nationally recognized for high academic performance and has been recognized in the region for its commitment to on-going leadership development and both equity and excellence.

Previous to that position, Kate served as Director of Professional and Organizational Leadership at WestEd, a non-profit research and development firm in San Francisco. In that position, she worked closely with several California school districts focused on assessment and accountability, curriculum and leadership development. Her on-going work was funded by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Walter S. Johnson and Stuart Foundations and the state of California. Findings from this work were published and distributed by WestEd, the American Federation of Teachers and several professional journals.

Kate earned a Doctorate and Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education; a M.A. from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a B.A. from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Since her retirement, she has been working as a volunteer in the Community Education with Mission Hospice and Home Care; as a Patient and Family Services Volunteer with Stanford Hospital and a facilitator in the Secondary School Fellows Program at Stanford University School of Education.

Ms. Smita Patel, Treasurer & Member of the Board

Smita is the Director of Communications and Partnerships at EdSource, an organization that reports on and explains California’s public education system.

She is co-founder of the Mountain Children’s Foundation, a project that has been working to empower children in rural mountain communities in the Indian Himalayas for nearly 20 years. Locally, she volunteers as a mentor with Child Advocates of Silicon Valley, an organization that works with county’s family courts to provide support and mentorship to children in foster care.

She has been on the Leadership Team of Indians for Collective Action (ICA), a San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit group founded in 1968 to nurture social activists in India, and support innovative community-led development projects there and in the local community.

She also past president of Lisle International, an organization striving to create intercultural understanding by bringing people to talk and work together.

Smita also serves on the Board the Bay-Area non-profit organization Sukham, whose mission is to advocate for and promote healthy aging, living well and preparing for life’s transitions among the San Francisco Bay Area’s growing South Asian population.

She holds a B.A. with honors in Journalism from San Jose State University.