South Asia Research and Information Institute (SARII) is governed by a board of directors consisting of the following directors.

Mr. Paul Pandian

Mr. Pandian founded Tech Mahindra R&D Services Ltd. (formerly Axes Technologies Inc.) in 1990 and has been President of the corporation since its inception.  Prior to founding Axes Technologies Inc., Mr. Pandian was at Rockwell International from 1975 to 1984 serving in various engineering and senior management roles. After leaving Rockwell, he was involved in the startup and growth of a high technology company engaged in the design and development of high performance computers and peripheral cards. Mr. Pandian is a member of the Dallas Chapter of the Lions Club, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Business School at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is also a member of the India-U.S. Business Council in Washington, D. C., and is a charter member of the Greater Dallas Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. Paul Pandian is the Chairperson of SARII's Board of Directors. He also serves as the Vice President and Treasurer of SARII.

Dr. Vijayan Pillai

Dr. Pillai is Professor of Social Work, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX. He has published several books and research papers on demography and sociology. Pillai earned his B.Sc. from University of Kerala, India, M.A.  (Social Work), from School of Social Work, The University of Indore, India, Post Graduate Diploma (Urban and Regional Planning) from Center for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, India, and Ph.D (Sociology) from The University of Iowa, Iowa City, U.S.A. Prior to coming to the University of Texas at Arlington, he was Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Texas at Denton, Texas. Vijayan Pillai serves as the Secretary of SARII.

Dr. S. Palaniappan

Dr. Palaniappan is an Indologist as well as an independent business consultant. He has been active in South Asian community organizations too.  He has authored articles and presented lectures dealing with South Asia.  Palaniappan has worked for several years in the transportation and information technology industries.  He earned his B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, India, MS  from the University of Iowa, MBA from the Wharton School, and PhD  from University of Pennsylvania. Palaniappan is Vice Chairperson of SARII's Board of Directors. He also serves as the President of SARII.

Mr. V. S. Gopi Gopinath

Mr. Gopinath is President and COO of the Enterprise business of Reliance Communications, part of the $29 Bn Reliance Group of companies. In this capacity he manages Reliance Communications’ global enterprise business spanning the geographies of India, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas. Mr. Gopinath came to Reliance in June, 2011 from AT&T, where he was Chairman and CEO of AT&T Global Network Services India, leading AT&T’s enterprise business in India, based in Bangalore. Prior to this Gopinath was responsible for AT&T's enterprise business in Asia-Pacific and came to Hong Kong after signing a $ 1 Billion contract to provide outsourced telecom services to GM by AT&T.  Gopinath has lived and worked in Hong Kong, Brussels and several cities in the U.S. while he was with Equant, Global One, and Sprint. Gopinath has a degree in Engineering from the University of Madras, a graduate degree in Engineering from the University of Iowa and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.