Board of Director Profiles
Janet Penn
President and IFA Executive Director
Janet founded Interfaith Action in 2004 after working with the Youth Leadership Program since 1999. As Executive Director, she created the leadership and training model with the local program of 60 teens and forged local, national, and international partnerships to develop a high school interfaith youth movement. As Executive Director of Interfaith Action, she works with the Board of Directors to develop the vision and strategic plan for the organization.
Janet has 25 years of non-profit business management experience and has worked in health care and arts management prior to her work with Interfaith Action. She is former President of the Board of the South Area Solomon Schechter Day School and has been involved with other non-profit boards. She received her B.A. degree from Oberlin College and both MBA and MSW degrees, with honors, from Boston College.
Arnold Freedman
Chairman of the Board
Arnie serves as Board Chairman of Interfaith Action Inc. Arnie has been involved in the management of entrepreneurial businesses for over 30 years. He was the founder and CEO of Rustel, a Russian satellite telecommunications company and served as Chair coordinator of the Russian Winter Campaign, a $35 million humanitarian effort financed by US corporations and individuals which distributed vaccines to the former Soviet Union.
He is a founder and partner of Boston Equity Advisors, a boutique investment bank and licensed Broker-Dealer. Arnie has extensive experience in the development and financing of medical technology companies. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts.
Nalini Sharma
Board Clerk
Nalini Sharma was born and raised in India and has lived in the Boston area since 1981. Nalini worked in the Travel management industry in the Boston area for 10 years. Presently a homemaker, she is active in local and international philanthrophy.
Nalini is on the Council of Trustees of The American India Foundation, an organization that accelerates social and economic change in India. She is on the leadership council of the Boston chapter of AIF and has been instrumental in establishing AIF as a strong presence in the Boston area through a variety of philanthropic initiatives. She is also actively involved in organizing the annual benefit Gala, the AIF’s major fundraising event in the Boston area.
Nalini is on the Board of directors of MITHAS - an organization that is dedicated to the presentation, promotion and preservation of Indian Classical music, dance and theater in New England. Along with her husband Raj, Nalini is actively involved with The Museum of Science, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Boston Harbor Island Alliance.
Todd G. Patkin
Todd spent 18 years being very successful in the automobile parts industry. During this time he worked alongside his brother and father to grow Foreign Autopart, and then Autopart International into one of the premier wholesale parts businesses in the country. After selling this business in September 2005, his focus has changed to creating and running his company, the Todd G. Patkin Companies, with investments in several different businesses.
Todd’s passion has always been helping people and he currently spends much of his time doing just that. Todd’s charitable works focus on inner city children, the State of Israel and how to facilitate more dialogue through out America around the topic of depression. Todd also sits on many for profit as well as not for profit boards, including the executive committee boards for the Jewish National Fund both locally and nationally, the New England Board of the Anti Defamation League and The Friends of Yemin Orde Board. Todd’s proven ability to excel in the corporate world, his entrepreneurial spirit and his desire to institute change are instrumental to Interfaith Action, Inc. Todd is a graduate of Tufts University.
Shoaib Zahoori
Shoaib is currently a Managing Consultant at IBM, a Technology firm. He holds an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University, Masters in Computer Science from Tufts University and a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering from Aligarh University, India. He lives in Medway, MA with his family and grew up in New Delhi, India. In his free time Shoaib enjoys photography and playing squash.