BANYAN BALL AWARDS (winners and bios)

Businessman of the Year – Siddhartha “Sidd” Pagidipati

Sidd Pagidipati is a co-founder and present Chief Operating Officer of Freedom Health Inc., a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) with his father Dr. Devaiah Pagidipati.  Currently, Sidd is responsible for theday-to-day operations, including direct oversight of state and federal regulatory requirements and the beneficiary enrollment process, and has grown Freedom to one of the largest Medicare HMOs in Florida, with 200employees, 23K+ members, and 200M+ in annualized revenue.

Prior to Freedom, Sidd focused on building Anion Technologies (which he co-founded with his brother Rahul), a BPO and software development company with headquarters here in Tampa and an operations center inIndia.  His vision is to harness the low-cost infrastructure and intellectual capital in India to develop products to sell to the global marketplace.  Anion's products include joso.com (one of the leading employment-focused social networks in India) and MovieDost.com (the leading entertainment focused social network in India).

Prior to Anion and his move to Florida, Sidd co-founded Simile Software (formerly nano.com) where he was the VP of Operations, VP of Marketing and on the Board of Directors.  At Simile, Sidd helped raise over $25 million inventure capital funding to build the company to 50+ employees before a competing firm acquired it.

Prior to being an entrepreneur, Sidd worked as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), where his expertise included debt and equity financings for Internet service, online content, andbandwidth infrastructure providers including AOL-Digital Cities, Nextel, and PSINet. He was one of the leading experts on Wall Street on the Indian software and technology space.

Sidd Pagidipati graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Georgetown University with a degree in Economics and International Relations.  He was a Landegger and Krogh Scholar, the highest academic honor at Georgetown. In addition, he was actively involved on campus and was the student body president for the School of Foreign Service.

Businesswoman of the Year – Rupa Mehta

Rupa Mehta has always been interested in business. When she was a young girl, she was involved in several thriving family businesses, and her father taught her everything she knew about the business world. But Mehta wanted to prove to herself that she could build her own successful enterprise. “I have always been entrepreneurial in nature, and my husband and I have built several businesses from scratch.”

Mehta was born and raised in Bombay, India. She came to the United States to attend college at New York University, where she met her husband, Kaushik Joshi. When Mehta’s brother-in-law passed away shortly after they got married, Mehta realized what a difference smart financial planning could make. “I had seen the value of what life insurance means.”

“I knew, too, that I didn’t want a typical 9 to 5 job….I wanted a flexible schedule and the ability to be in charge of my own career.” Mehta became an agent at New York Life in 2003. Within her first three months of operation, Mehta became part of the Million Dollar Round Table. She has qualified every year since, and she is the first Asian-Indian woman to earn a district agent contract. In 2007, Mehta qualified for MDRT’s prestigious “Top of the Table” level, meaning she earned six times the MDRTs base production requirement. Also in 2007, Mehta was New York Life’s top-producing Asian woman, and she was one of the top 50 agents in the company.

Mehta specializes in estate evaluation and business succession. In other words, she builds, protects and preserves assets. And Mehta is passionate about her work. “I bring a sense of dignity to families—promising to protect children, mothers and fathers. It has really gotten into my bloodstream.”

In addition to her work with New York Life, Mehta is licensed with several other companies. Besides being an MDRT member, she is also a member of Women in Insurance and Financial Services, the Nautilus Group and the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals.

Above all, keeping her clients happy is Mehta’s top priority. She strives to do whatever possible to make sure her clients are protected and are given the guidance they need and deserve. Mehta is not just in the financial evaluation business; she is in the business of changing lives.

Rupa Mehta’s Accomplishments at a Glance

  • First Asian-Indian woman to earn a district agent contract
  • Qualified for Million Dollar Round Table for five years
  • New York Life’s top-producing Asian woman in 2007
  • Part of New York Life’s top 50 agents in 2007
  • Member of the Nautilus Group
  • Member of Women in Insurance and Financial Services

Member of the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals

International Businessperson of the Year – Shyam Mohapatra, PhD

Professor Mohapatra has won numerous awards and recognition for his scientific work.  Dr. Mohapatra has a distinguished scientific career. He has published more than 100 papers and review articles in peer-reviewed journals in the area of molecular allergy and immunology. Professor Mohapatra has also received a plethora of honors and has served as a Member of the NIH Study Section on Nanotechnology Platforms for Cancer, among many other positions. Currently, he is Chairman for the American Heart Association Scientific Review Panel. Notably, he consecutively received awards for outstanding work in biotechnology from the University of South Florida Health Sciences Center in 2004 and 2005.

Professor Mohapatra is a core member of a USF team that is involved in a global health initiative to help build an infrastructure to fight AIDS. The USF team will use a $1.36 million, five-year AIDS/HIV International Training Research Program grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health to implement the interdisciplinary training program. One of the focuses of the grant will be on developing countries including India. Professor Mohapatra, recently played a major role in coordinating the first Indo-US Workshop on Adolescent HIV training, held in February 2008 at Vadodara Medical College in Gujarat, India. The foundation for an interdisciplinary training program, focusing on the biomedical, behavioral, cultural and ethical aspects of detecting, treating, and preventing HIV/AIDS among adolescents in India has been set. It is expected that an Adolescent AIDS/HIV Center of Excellence in Vadodara Medical College will be built in the future. Further developments would include city, state, and Government of India support to foster and develop state-of the art diagnostic, integrative HIV care centers, and to build a world-class network in adolescent HIV/AIDS research training.

Community Service Award – Rahul Mehra, MD

Dr. Rahul Mehra is a Board Certified Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist who has been in practice in Tampa for over fifteen years.  He has been the Medical Director for Joshua House for over ten years and is the consulting psychiatrist for the Children's Home Inc.  Dr. Mehra is a board member of  Hillsborough Kids Incorporated (HKI).

In October of this year, Dr. Mehra launched The Kamala Project.  The Kamla Project is a collaboration initiated between Voices for Children, and Rahul Mehra. Voices for Children is a local organization
that appoints a community volunteer to become the "voice" for a child in foster care.

The Kamla Project is named in honor and remembrance of Mehra's late mother, Kamla Kapur Mehra.

The mission of the project is threefold. First, provide free one-time psychiatric evaluation services to foster children and foster parents.  The specific goal of such evaluations is to significantly shorten the time for finalization of adoptions for the children. Second, the Kamla Project will provide training and resource to the Guardian ad Litem Program in Hillsborough County. Lastly, it looks to promote public awareness in partnership with Voices for Children for the special needs of children in foster care.

The honorary chairman was Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum.  The event, which raised $15,000 for Voices For Children, was held at the home of Dr. Mehra.

Under 35 Businessman of the Year – Rajan S. Patel, PhD

Rajan Patel is a senior statistation at Google in Mountainview, Ca, where he is one of the leaders in the group responsible to evaluate the quality of Google Web Search, Youtube search, Mobile phone search, and various other properties at Google.

He is also an adjunct professor of Biostatics at Emory University.  He maintains a faculty position at Emory conducting world-class neuroscience research. 

Before beginning his career at Google, he obtained his PhD in Biostatistics from Emory and a MS in Computer Science from Rice University.  Rajan's website and recent publications are available at:  http://www.sph.emory.edu/faculty/rspate2

Rajan is also actively involved in the Hindu American Foundation.

Under 35 Businesswoman of the Year – Mili D. Patel, DMD

Inspired to be a dentist at a young age, Dr. Mili Doshi Patel has acquired three dental practices since she finished her training in 2003.  She acquired her first practice in 2004 in Dade City.  In 2005, when an opportunity came to acquire another practice in Dade City, Mili jumped and doubled the size of her practice.  She merged the two practices into the largest dental practice in Dade City, Florida.  In 2007, she partnered with Dr. Gaurang Nanavati and they now have a practice in Dade City and Tampa Palms with sights on acquiring additional practices over the next few years.  Her success as a young business owner is exceeded by her patient satisfaction, many of whom travel 50+ miles for her services.  Dr. Patel is also recognized as a prominent member of the Dade City community and is active in the Rotary Club.

Dr. Patel earned her Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from Tulane University and her DMD from the University of Florida.  In 2003, Dr. Patel completed a one year dental residency, with a concentration in cosmetic dentistry, in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

Dr. Patel is an inspiration to everyone around her.  She is passionate about her work and career, which is evident when working with her staff and treating her patients.  She is currently working on a community project with Habitat for Humanity known as Building Smiles.  In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, and maintaining a disciplined exercise regimen.