Shekar is a founding board member of Upakar and is current serving as an Advisory Board Honorary Member. He is a Managing Partner at Beekman Advisors providing strategic financial advisory and investment banking services. Shekar is formerly a Managing Director of the Prudential Mortgage Capital Company, one of the nation’s leading providers of commercial mortgage financing.
Shekar is Secretary of the National Housing Conference and sits on the boards of the Community Preservation Development Corporation, Low Income Investment Fund, and Executive Committee of the National Multi Housing Council. He was also appointed a Fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University and to the Advisory Board of the Housing Development Reporter. He was the founding Chair of the Campaign for Affordable Housing and still serves on its board. Shekar has served several terms on the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Board of Directors, was elected as the first Chair of the Fannie Mae DUS Advisory Committee, and was appointed to the Fannie Mae National Advisory Council. He has received numerous awards in the real estate industry, including the MBA’s highest honor in 1999 and the Fannie Mae Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Shekar has earned the designation of Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB).
Shekar is active in community affairs, serving on Sri Siva Vishnu Temple’s Board of Trustees and as its Treasurer, on the Board of Advisors of the Cooperative Development Foundation, and on the Children’s National Medical Center Foundation board in Washington, DC. Shekar holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from IIT-New Delh and an MBA from Katz Business School at the University of Pittsburgh.