At iACT, we are so grateful for our Board of Directors! In this Board Spotlight, Gopal Guthikonda, iACT Board Treasurer, tells us a little more about himself.
iACT Board Treasurer
Q: Where are you from? How long have you been in Austin?
A: I am originally from a small village, Moparru in Andhra Pradesh State in India. After completing my graduate school at Texas Tech, I moved to Austin in 1983, and have been here since.
How long have you served on the iACT Board?
I joined the IACT Board in January 2013, and served for over Five and a half years, and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
What made you want to serve as an iACT Board Member?
When I joined the iACT Board, my goal was to participate and contribute to some of the most important causes and issues that our community and citizens care about and in need of. Opportunity to serve alongside experienced and similarly passionate people with the same goal of serving and contributing to our community truly attracted me to iACT.
What do you enjoy the most about your role as a Board Member of iACT?
It has been an honor to serve on the Board with members of diverse professional, religious, cultural, and faith backgrounds. Your voice on the Board has a significant impact on the organization and it’s goals and knowing that your work is helping accomplish iACT’s goals gives me the most enjoyment of serving on the board. I enjoy knowing that our work is helping our low income senior citizens who have contributed immensely over many decades to our community, can afford to have a livable home and can live there with a peace of mind in their relaxing years. Considering the rising costs of home repairs and how un-affordable it is even to do basic home repairs, iACT’s work in helping our senior citizens brings me the utmost satisfaction. iACT’s work in bringing our community together and to provide a platform for people of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds to work together to foster a meaningful dialogue and understanding is very critical given the political climate we are currently experiencing. Our services to help new refugees to settle down in their adopted land and to improve their lives.
What’s the most challenging thing about working as a Board Member of iACT?
With any non-profit organization, available resources are limited to accomplish the vision and mission of the organization. It is very disheartening to see that the needs far exceed the resources to serve the vulnerable population of our community, mostly senior citizens and refugees. It has been very challenging to balance the resources at the same time accomplish our goals.
What’s the most rewarding thing about being a Board Member of iACT?
When you serve on the board, you have the honor, challenge, and responsibility to work with Organizational staff and other Board Members to accomplish the organizational goals. Knowing that I had a great opportunity to serve our senior citizens and providing a platform for diverse faiths to come together for a meaningful dialogue have been the most rewarding part of serving on the Board. Being part of iACT, provided me the opportunity to accomplish what I could not have accomplished by myself. Accomplishing so much with little effort from me has been the most rewarding part of being iACT Board Member. I have been very fortunate to be part of iACT Board.
Why would you encourage others to support the work of iACT?
This community provided all of us with immense resources, caring and nurturing, helped raise our families, and gave us a great quality of life. All this did not happen because of our greatness or effort, but because of the work of the entire community. We are enjoying the fruits that our community has created for all of us. I believe it is our responsibility to give back to our community to help our vulnerable population, especially our senior citizens that have helped immensely to build this community which has provided us with so many opportunities. With so much political uneasiness in the atmosphere, iACT’s work is of most importance now than ever, and we need to support this work in order to serve, converse, and care for each other.
