Maria Mehranian elected as new Chairperson of Armenia Fund

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia Fund, the U.S. Western Region affiliate of Hayastan All Armenian Fund announced that its Corporate Board unanimously elected Maria Mehranian as the organization’s new Chairperson.

Mehranian succeeds Antranik Baghdassarian, who completed his tenure in early 2016, Asbarez reports.

“Mr. Baghdassarian’s strong belief in attracting a larger public participation through educating the Armenian Diaspora on Armenia’s successes as well as the challenges facing our Homeland, introduction of new projects benefitting residents of Armenia and Artsakh who are faced with economic hardship proved successful and resulted in a serious increase both in the number of donors and collected funds. We thank Mr. Baghdassarian for his years of dedicated service to Armenia Fund as well as for his very generous support of the organization,” said Ara Vardanyan, Executive Director of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.

Newly elected President, Mehranian is the Managing Partner and Chief Financial Officer for Cordoba Corporation, a full service civil engineering, construction management, and program management firm specializing in transportation, education and facilities as well as water and energy. Cordoba is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in San Francisco, Santa Ana, and San Diego, California.

For over twenty years, Mehranian has dedicated her career to building Cordoba into one of the top engineering consulting firms in the nation also leading it into international markets by heading multimillion dollar planning projects.

Having been appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown, Mehranian has been serving on the Los Angeles Water Quality Control Board since 2008, chairing it in 2012 and 2013.

Mehranian served as President of Armenia Fund, Inc. also in 2004-2008, establishing the Executive Office of the organization and laying the cornerstones for growth. For her extraordinary contribution to furthering Armenia Fund’s mission in the United States Mehranian was recognized with a Special Commendation by Armenian President Robert Kocharian in 2007. Mehranian is also the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

“I am honored and humbled by the Corporate Board’s unanimous vote of confidence. I always believed that a big part of Armenia Fund’s mission is to bring together the Armenian Diaspora’s best and the brightest around Armenia and Artsakh. As Armenia’s challenges change, so does Armenia Fund. More and more of the heavy infrastructure is being built by the government, allowing Armenia Fund to concentrate more on development projects. This takes not only financial resources, but also the know-how of many Armenian Americans who hold a unique and priceless knowledge, so desperately needed for ensuring Armenia’s long term development and competitiveness in the global marketplace,” she said.