We are delighted to share with you the outcome of the recently concluded elections. There are three new Vice Presidents joining the Executive Committee and stepping into their respective roles to strengthen the overall functioning of IODA. They will serve IODA for the next three years.
We look forward to new beginnings and more milestones for IODA and hope our community will continue to join us in carrying our mission forward.
Please join us in congratulating the following candidates:
- Carmina Taylor as Vice President Strategic Projects
- Lakshmidevi Vasudevan as Vice President Membership and Communication
- Ron Banerjee as Vice President Affiliations and Partnerships
THE NEW VICE PRESIDENTS
CARMINA TAYLOR
Carmina Taylor has been an Organizational Development Practitioner for over 10 years in the Philadelphia region. She is currently the first Director of Campus and Community Engagement at Jefferson University. She is a consummate community leader in Pennsylvania who organizes Civic Saturdays, conversations that build bridges and trust between community members from different walks of life. She believes we are better off when we listen to one another, are open to different perspectives, and “coalesce around what it means to be a U.S. citizen.” Carmina is the founder of the “We Can’t Wait” Pennsylvania Statewide Coalition for Racial Equity and the Movement for Black and Brown Lives of Montgomery County, PA. Through her work as the President of the Ambler Branch of the NAACP, she has worked with 14 Montgomery County Police Departments to create engagement plans that help close the divide between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. On September 15th last year, Carmina was honored by the White House at President Biden’s United We Stand Summit as a national, local hero “UNITER”, for her years of work against hate throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
LAKSHMIDEVI VASUDEVAN
Lakshmidevi Vasudevan is an Organization Development and Dance movement therapy (DMT) practitioner. Her inner work of change started with ISABS (Indian society for applied behavioural science) ODCP (Organisation development certification program) and continued with awareness to change through movement from DMT in Tata Institute of social sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Her all-time mentors and go to persons are Vasudevan Alasingachar, VM Ramalingam and Sohini Chakraborty (Ocean of wisdom & knowledge in OD & DMT).
Lakshmi brings embodied experience and movement exploration as an integrated approach for holistic growth and development of people for all age groups and genders. Having around 20 plus years of overall experience, she has worked as an HR professional for 11 years. As a Founder of “Way to Roots” for the last 13 years she is an OD consultant. Since 2019, she integrates embodiment and movement practice through “Kalpavriksha4you”.
She is also a professional classical dancer and finds meaning, solace and expressions through movement and dance. She is passionate about holding monthly online spaces for people to bring back the forgotten body wisdom through “Body wisdom circle.”
RON BANERJEE
Ron Banerjee, MPS, CCP, CFS, CLTC, is a financial advisor specializing in the tax-exempt markets for Voya Financial Advisors, Inc. He is also the Managing Partner and President of Arjuna Envirotech Inc., a family owned venture capital/private equity related company which assists in bringing technology and business enterprises out of the incubator and to the market. A former Training and Development Officer for the Center for Independent Living of Central PA, Ron is currently a doctoral student finishing his dissertation in Workforce Education and Organization Development and Change at the Penn State University. Ron received a Master of Professional Studies degree in Organization Development and Change from the same university.
Banerjee is a Prosci® Certified Change Professional in ADKAR® and a published large-scale and DEIB cultural change expert. Ron has brought his energy and presencing to the Organization Development Community as the developer and leader of the ODN Welcome Group and Penn State OD and C liaison to the Pennsylvania Workforce Education Association. Ron is known globally as the creator of his Rapid Response Organization Development (RROD) model, an action plan for an OD response in times of crisis.
Banerjee is a decorated disabled veteran of the U.S. Navy and has been nationally recognized by the US Veterans Administration as an advocate for his fellow disabled veterans. Banerjee is also an active community leader holding Board and leadership positions in a variety of organizations including the Organization Development Network, Meals on Wheels of State College, the International Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, and the Penn State University World Campus Alumni Society.
Banerjee currently resides in State College, Pennsylvania USA with his wife, Tara, two sons, Alex and Nick, and daughter, Caroline.
ELECTION RESULTS
The elections were open to all IODA members. Those who voted will have appreciated the ease of the software that made voting so convenient for all. There were a total of 114 eligible voters and the results of the vote were as follows:
- Vice President Strategic Projects received 73 endorsements.
- Vice President Membership and Communication: Laksmidevi Vasudevan 46 votes | Radhika Subramanian 25 votes
- Vice President Affiliations and Partnerships: Ron Banerjee 38 votes | Alfredo Mazive 36 votes