Amrit Kanwal to Succeed Bill Simon as National Urban Chair from Squash Media NEW YORK, April 1, 2016 -
NUSEA's Board of Directors has named Amrit Kanwal as board chair-elect.
When Kanwal assumes the chair role on May 18th, he will succeed William
E. Simon Jr., who will become chair emeritus after serving for 11 years
as NUSEA's founding chair.
Kanwal brings a wealth of
professional and nonprofit experience to NUSEA. Since 2007, the Boston
resident has served on the board of SquashBusters, the country's first
urban squash program. At SquashBusters, Kanwal chaired the governance
and nominating committee and co-chaired the SquashBusters Derby, the
program's annual fundraiser. Kanwal is also a board member of US
Squash, the national governing body of squash, for which he serves on
the finance and audit committees.
Kanwal is Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer of MFS Investment Management, a
Boston-based global investment firm where he has worked since 2009.
Previously, Kanwal held executive positions at Putnam Investments,
Pepsi, and Miller Brewing. A native of Hong Kong, Kanwal earned a
B.B.A. from the University of Texas and an M.B.A. from the University
of Southern California. He is an active squash player and one of his
two children plays competitively.
"Amrit has been an
enormous asset to SquashBusters, and NUSEA will benefit greatly from
his leadership and vision," said Tim Wyant, NUSEA's executive director.
"I'm excited to team up with him and work with our board to bring NUSEA
and urban squash to new heights."
"Amrit is smart, strategic
and super talented," said Greg Zaff, the founder and CEO of
SquashBusters, and a co-founder of NUSEA. "He loves what urban squash
stands for, and he has been a phenomenal contributor to SquashBusters'
success. He will be a wonderful partner to Tim in NUSEA's next chapter
and he will make all of us very proud as our next chair."
Simon,
who resides in Los Angeles, will transition to chair emeritus. Under
his leadership, NUSEA has grown from four programs serving 100 students
to 22 programs serving over 2,000 students. In 2015, Simon co-chaired
Urban Squash's 20th Anniversary in New York City, and received the
President's Cup, US Squash's highest award.
"Bill has been
an extraordinary leader of NUSEA, and he has left an indelible mark on
the urban squash movement," said Wyant. "His enthusiasm for the work of
urban squash is infectious, and for over a decade he has pushed NUSEA
to think bigger and be better."
"Bill has been behind urban
squash from the start," said Zaff. "He is an unbelievably generous and
committed person who has provided inspiration and leadership to all of
us."
"I am honored and humbled to follow in Bill's giant
footsteps," said Kanwal. "I look forward to working with Tim and the
board of NUSEA to continue to expand the urban squash mission across
the United States and beyond."
About NUSEA
The
National Urban Squash + Education Association is the umbrella
organization for 22 urban squash programs, including four outside the
United States, that enroll over 2,000 students from under-served
communities. Founded in 2005, NUSEA's mission is to support the
creation, development and improvement of urban squash programs. NUSEA
launches new urban squash programs, promotes best practices, evaluates
programs, and organizes educational and athletic events for students
across the country. 98% of students who remain in NUSEA programs go to
college, and 39% attend colleges or universities ranked by U.S. News
& World Report in the country's top 100. For more information,
visit www.nationalurbansquash.org
