The newly elected President of The Thana Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman, Mr. Zarsis Dorabsha Udhnawala, has served the Parsi Community, in and around Thane, over the last 30 years, is a very dynamic person with a vision to take the community to new heights… setting new and high standards of excellence and taking on the challenges faced by the community by operating from a new strategic perspective, a proactive approach and, above all, functioning with the values of integrity and commitment as guiding principles.

Professionally, he has made a mark in his career in the fields of Insurance and Investment, as a Wealth Manager. He is elected as the All India President by the Life Insurance Round Table 2007. He held the post of the President of Life Insurance Agents’ Association Thane Division. Having qualified 9 times at international level for the Million Dollar Round Table – USA.

He really needs no introduction, as most of the Zoroastrians of Thane and elsewhere know him as a hardworking Parsi capable of taking tough decisions. He is associated with Thana Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman since 1976 (for 23 years as secretary and 5 years as Vice President)

He was brought up in a very poor family and most of his needs were provided by his maternal uncles and many Zoroastrian Trusts. As promised to his beloved mother, he is repaying those debts of kindness by serving the community and achieving higher and higher targets in all fields of social work. He is a self made man and a first generation entrepreneur along with his brother Farokh. He is a Founder - Director and Partner in the Aavan-Mazda Group of companies, who are reliable manufacturers in the field of electronics and suppliers to Electronics giants like Philips, L&T and others.

He was appointed as a Trustee of Thana Zoroastrian Charity Fund by Charity Commissioner Bombay, under the order of Hon’ble Bombay High Court and he has proved himself worthy by contributing his enormous talents and unbound enthusiasm, in increasing liquid assets of the 297 years old Trust from just 1.9 lakhs in 1979 to about 50 lakhs at present plus a building of 12 tenements for the weaker section of our community. He is sensitive to social causes and has not hesitated to approach the courts of law and spent endless hours in untangling legal issues not by short cuts but by strictly observing the law of the land however painfully slow the process. He has contributed in great measures to the legal victories of the Anjuman and Trusts. Recently he was successful enough in getting back land now worth over 2 crores working with the Thana Municipal Corporation,from neighbouring occupants who had encroached the land.

He was inducted in Thana Agiary Fund in the year 2000 mainly to bring to the Trust his un-bounded enthusiasm and innovative ideas and to complete the project of construction of Hall and reconstruction of old heritage Agiary.
He believes in respectable and reasonable compromise & consent but does not believe in surrender of values. In many ways he is the engine of the several Trusts he is associated with and the community sorely needs several men of his integrity and passion.

Mr Phirozshaw Daver has worked in Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. for the last 37 years as Assistant Manager. having retired from Godrej on 5th December 2007. He is also a Charter Member for Lions Club of Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli for the past 25 years has organized many eye checkup camps, medical and Blood donation camps in the remote villages and Schools of Alibaug, Panvel, Kalyan and hutment areas of Vikhroli and Ghatkopar.

He has also worked as Entertainment and Sports Secretary for the Godrej Staff club.
Mr Phirozshaw Daver joins this committee for the 1st time and brings with him the experience of his previous years of charity and social service.

Mr Bomi Boyce has done his diploma in Mechanical Engineering./ Automobile Engineering from Don Bosco Kurla.

He is in the Electrical Business since the past 28 years which was inherited from his late father Mr Russi K Boyce. He is a resident of Bhandup. He has been associated with TPZA first as a co-opted member for 5 years and a Trustee for the last 18 years. He is associated with 8 different trusts. He is also a Trustee of the Gulistan institute of Home Science at Walkeshwar which was started by his paternal aunt in the year 1955. He is also on the panel of past pupil of Don Bosco ( St Joseph ITI), Kurla Mumbai.

Firdosh N Kotwal has done his Bachelors in Computer Science from Mumbai University & Post Diploma in Industrial Electronics. He then moved to US and after working in a small consulting firm for some time he started his own minority owned business enterprise in Supply Chain consulting. He became a member of APICS group and chapter lead for the Deleware North Americas sector.

After residing in US for 8 years he decided to move back to India and is currently working as a country manager for the SCM Practice in SEAL Consulting Inc.

His most recent achievements include being a Runner up winner in the LEAD INDIA MOVEMENT from Mumbai zone to be the first 25 in the list.

He is an active member of the road monitoring committee, Active working member of AGNI, Member of India Vision Foundation NGO. He has also helped children in Tihar Jail who are stuck with their mothers that are subject to life imprisonment and is an active social worker in the local ward and area where he lives supporting the TMC and Local Traffic dept in civic issues and traffic.

Active member All India Congress Committee (youth congress headed by Mr. Rahul Gandhi)
Mr Firdosh N. Kotwal joins this committee as a Trustee for the 1st time.

Mr Hoshang Mohta holds a Higher certificate in internal combustion and automobile engineering from Parekh Technical Institute, Surat.

He is the Recepient of Consumer Service Management Award from National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering Mumbai.

He has served for 3 years as Shift engineer in Khadki Water Works Pune and 34 years as Supervisor in Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co. Mumbai.

Mr Mohta joins this committee as a Trustee for the 1st time.

Mr. Kaizad M. Billimoria is a young and dynamic member of the Zoroastrian Community at Thana. After completing college in 1988, he started his own engineering unit for reconditioning of machine tools. Today he is focussed on developing his businesss in pest control.

His helping nature and keen interest in community affairs prompted the TPZA manging committee to co-opt him as a member trustee in 2003. This confidence in his abilities was more than confirmed when he was elected with a handsome majority in 2005 and again returned unopposed in the recent election held in Dec 2007. As a successful entrepreneur he is devoted to growing his business. But this has not stopped him from participating regularly in all functions and contributing meaningfuly in evolving the policy af the Anjuman and spending his time in implementing the various projects. He along with his wife Havovi were instrumental in bringing out the latest edition of the Thana Directory which is today a much referred book in every zoroastrian household members of the Anjuman.

The community looks forward to his zeal and acumen in taking the Anjuman forward. His articulateness and committment to the several projects that are currently on will go a long way in building solidarity in the community.

Prof. Katy Y. Gandevia has done her B.A. Psychology and M.A. Social Work and is well-known in the field of Professional Social Work. Currently she is working at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences as the Chairperson of the Centre of Health and Mental Health where she is involved in teaching, training and research in the mental health and disaster management.

She is a committee member on various voluntary and government organizations and spends her time towards betterment of services for the needy, specially the mentally and psychologically affected. She has presented papers at Local, National and International levels in her field of specialization. She is a Fulbright Scholarship holder and has participated in an International Exchange Programme for social workers.