Meet the New Board of Directors!
Welcome!
We would like to formally introduce you to our five new board members: Craig Lane; Nita Vaidya, Phd; Asawari Deshmukh; Jay Scherger; and Jason Riveiro.
Our current board is full of dynamic individuals who embody and push forward the mission of World Affairs Council. We are coming in with, not one, not two, but FIVE new board members. If we weren’t already a force to be reckoned with, we are now!
Please welcome Craig Lane; Nita Vaidya, Phd; Asawari Deshmukh, Jay Scherger, and Jason Riveiro as they join our remarkable Board. We are so excited to have aboard these globally-minded, innovative individuals. Read more about them and their journey below.
Craig Lane at the Netherland’s outdoor windmill museum at Kinderdijk.
Meet CRAIG Lane, MunichRe
Craig Lane calls himself a ’newly arrived native’ to Cincinnati having recently settled in the area after two years of commuting between Texas and Cincinnati where he works for the Cincinnati location of the international insurer MunichRe. Craig long had an interest in international events graduating from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and working for several multinational financial corporations as a risk manager. He has lived in the UK, Poland, and Australia in addition to several short-term overseas assignments. In Poland, Craig met his wife Jagoda who is an accomplished artist. Craig and Jagoda have a son in Colorado and their daughter attends Xavier University. In his spare time, he can be seen cycling on the Loveland bike trail and preparing for his next travel adventure.
Meet JAY Scherger, Kroger Co.
Jay Scherger is the Director of Kroger’s Ecommerce Accelerator, a group within Kroger’s Technology & Digital organization dedicated to rapidly launching & validating new customer and commercial concepts. He has over 10 years of experience in retail, consulting and consumer goods, leading innovation and businesses at Kroger, McKinsey & Co and dunnhumby/84.51˚.
Jay has a passion for international affairs and education – having lived and worked abroad many years, he has done everything from leading service projects in Latin America and teaching college courses across Asia to starting a consulting practice in Russia.
Nita Vaidya, PhD while at The Cape of Good Hope is in South Africa.
Meet NITA Vaidya, PhD, Northern Kentucky University
Originally from India, Nita will be completing 35 years in the US this August 2021. Nita and her husband moved to KY when he joined NKU as its President in 2018. Nita has served as an educator and has a passion for teaching and learning. As a Sociologist, Nita has knowledge of and interest in, issues of global development, gender politics and equity and, immigration policies and experiences. She has taught at CSULA as an adjunct lecturer for nearly 25 years.
Nita is a big fan of animals, especially dogs. She would never be able to foster dogs, because she will have a hard time giving them up. She views herself as a global “citizen” a transnational, with keen interest in the histories of other cultures, especially their food and art. If you wish to eat homemade Indian food, you can reach out to Nita. She loves gourmet cooking and dining. She and her husband have traveled extensively first as graduate students and then as parents to their daughter and son. Nita is proud of her daughter who is completing her MBA degree from UCLA and of her son who is currently working for P&G
Asawari in Sydney.
Meet ASAWARI (Asa) Deshmukh, Lindner College of Business at University of Cincinnati
Asa Deshmukh teaches Economics at Lindner College of Business at University of Cincinnati. She is originally from Mumbai, India and now lives in Mason, Ohio. Asa has always loved to travel and has been fortunate to be able to pursue this passion for work and pleasure.
She has travelled extensively within India, in the US and outside of these two countries. Some of the most intriguing and marvelous places have been remote villages in India and places that she has experienced while on Study Abroad trips to Costa Rica and Australia.
Jason (on right) in Pamplona.
Meet JASON Riveiro, Realogy Holdings Corp.
Jason Riveiro serves as Senior Director of Global Growth Markets & Inclusion at Realogy Holdings Corp., the leading and most integrated provider of residential real estate services in the U.S. with brands like Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran, ERA, and Sotheby’s International Realty. Prior to Realogy, Jason served as Chief Marketing Officer for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). Jason is also responsible for pioneering the launch of multicultural marketing departments at Big Lots, North America’s largest closeout retailer and The Sherwin-Williams Co., the nation’s largest specialty retailer of paint and painting supplies.
Riveiro is the Chair of NAHREP’s Corporate Board of Governors and has served on several boards including the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Business Advisory Board, WCPO Community Advisory Board, Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority’s (SORTA) Board of Trustees, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Cincinnati Human Relations Commission’s Board of Directors, Clear Channel’s Community Advisory Board, Columbus Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Pittsburgh Pirates Diversity Advisory Board.
To commemorate his contributions, Riveiro has been awarded the Univision Communications’ Fellow, NAACP Freedom Fighter Award, LULAC National Presidential Citation, Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan Award, Business Courier’s Top 40 Under 40 and CityBeat Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2007.
A native of Houston Texas, Jason was born to a Colombian mother and Venezuelan father. He spent 10 years living throughout México, in cities such as Torreon, Mazatlán, Tepic and Tijuana before returning to his native Houston to complete his professional studies. He holds an MBA from Xavier University, a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX and has completed graduate courses at the Universidad de San Pablo-CEU in Madrid, Spain.
