Experience: Disaster preparation and assistance; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Health - general; Human services or multi-service; Philanthropy/grant making; Professional association or network; Women

Other professional experience: Adjunct associate instructor in the nonprofit management master’s program in the School of Professional Studies at Columbia University in New York; Exponent Philanthropy peer coach; mentor for philanthropy/nonprofit leadership development programs

Certifications: 21/64 certified trainer in multigenerational philanthropy

Sharmila utilizes her expertise in leadership development, program implementation, resource development and communications, advising clients on operations, strategy, board development, multigenerational engagement, grantmaking and community outreach activities.

Previously, Sharmila was appointed the first non-family executive director of the Siragusa Family Foundation in Chicago, directing operational, programmatic and administrative functions of the organization and advising on the same for their nonprofit grantees. She has held leadership roles on several boards and committees involving issues of women and children, immigrant communities, education and public health, and building philanthropic leadership and the capacity of the nonprofit sector.

A native New Yorker, Sharmila relocated back to Staten Island, NY after spending the past 17 years in Chicago. She holds an MPH from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, an MPA from the Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs, and a BA in International Relations from Brown University.