Sima Zokaei

Sima Zokaei, lives in the Bay Area since 1980. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration & Technology Management from Notredame de Namur University. She has over ten years of experience in various industries in the area of development, consulting and product/project management. In the recent years she has been involved with Real Estate and worked as a volunteer for a non-profit organization. 

Sima has been an active member in her community. Previously, she was a Vice President of PTA membership, school auditor and involved with San Carlos educational foundation team, working with corporations to raise money for school district.

Lale' Shahparaki Welsh

Lale' Shahparaki Welsh is currently the founder and executive Director of Beyond Persia, a non-profit organization that actively promotes the arts of Iranian diaspora. Ms. Welsh has 18 years of experience in executive roles at various at Fortune 500's starting at Paramount Studios, Hollywood, to Regional Vice President of Business Development at Monster Worldwide and Senior Vice President of Marketing at YellowPages.com (AT&T). Both her undergrad in Radio, Television and Film Production, and post-graduate work in American Studies were completed at California State University. She currently lives in the Bay Area with her husband and 4 children, and serves on the board of several charitable, professional and cultural organizations.

Shiva Pakdel

Shiva graduated from Tulsa University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and moved to San Francisco Bay Area in 1981 when she began her career. Shiva has held key marketing and advertising positions for several large and small firms in the Bay Area.

In 1992, Shiva joined Pacific Bell Directory (SBC SMART Yellow Pages) in the Marketing Department. Within the past 11 years at SBC, Shiva has held positions ranging from Senior Product Manager to Regional Market Manager directing marketing efforts in its flagship San Francisco and the North Coast branches and garnering numerous industry awards for SBC.

Shiva lives in Marin County with her husband and two children and looks forward to the goal of helping IACC become a powerful and dynamic organization that unites the voice of Iranian-American businesses and professionals.

Mehran Matt Kamkar

Community Background - Matt Kamkar is an active member of the Bay Area Iranian Community as well as the larger community. He currently serves on the Board of Bay Area Iranian American Chamber of Commerce. He is the Chairman of the Small Business Development Commission with the City of San Jose. He is one of the organizers of the Norouz Festivals in Santa Clara County. He coached Youth Soccer for 7 years, Robotics for 3 years and judged High School Science Fairs for 3 years.

Professional Background - Matt Kamkar is a Professional Civil Engineer and principal of CCC Engineers, a small Consulting Engineering and land Development firm in San Jose. He has over 20 years of experience in most facets of Civil Engineering both in Public Works and Private Projects. He has worked on State projects in Northern as well as Southern California, including its the first Toll Road in Orange County. He has testified as an Expert Witness in Construction Claims. His expertise is in Drainage Design of large facilities and Flood Control.

Educational Background - Matt Kamkar and his family immigrated to San Jose, CA in 1976 from Iran. He attended high school at Bellarmine College Preparatory, received his Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Civil Engineering from San Jose State University. He also attended and graduated from Stanford University with a Master of Science (MS) degree in Engineering and Management in June 1985. He scored in the top 1% in the nation in the quantitative section of the National GRE in 1984.

He can be reached at mkamkar@cccengineers.com or by telephone (408) 999-0211

Cameron Douraghy

Cameron left Iran in 1977 to pursue his High School Education at Forest School in London, England. He then attended Syracuse University where he graduated with a Bio-Engineering/Pre-Med Degree. After working in Sales for a High Tech Medical Distributor in Pittsburgh, Upstate New York, and finally Boston, he joined Bio-Vascular as their European Marketing Manager and moved to Basel, Switzerland. He then transferred to Paris, France and remained there until he returned to the US to attend Graduate School. After graduating with a Masters in International Management from Thunderbird, in Phoenix AZ, Cameron moved to Frankfurt, Germany where he worked 6 years for Braun. At the time of his departure, Cameron was a Regional Marketing Director for 32 countries. Cameron finally moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1999 where he lives with his wife and three kids today. Cameron is currently Vice President and co-owner of Artisan Creative - a Graphic Design Services company located in Los Angeles and San Francisco and runs the company’s Northern California operation.

Sopida Siadat

After graduating from Shahrara high school in Tehran, Sopida moved to Sweden where she received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Jonkoping University. In 1996 she moved to San Francisco Bay Area and began working in several fields including medical technologies, real estate, construction and property renovation. She is currently a Realtor, a financial and investment consultant and President and Chief Executive Officer of Property & Construction Management, Inc. in San Francisco. Sopida has been member of several Iranian organizations in the Bay Area and an active philanthropist. Sopida believes that all Iranian organizations should adopt in their Mission Statement a clause that requires them to unconditionally cooperate with each other.