Catholic Charities names Mukesh Saxena as new CFO

CLIFTON  Diocesan Catholic Charities has named Mukesh Saxena, who has a diverse experience in the corporate world, as its new CFO following the retirement of Rocco Zappile, who served the organization for more than three decades.

Saxena comes to Catholic Charities as a newcomer to the organization and looks forward to working for the non-profit agencies.

This change from the for-profit world to the non-profit world of service is a change Saxena is excited about as he begins this new chapter working for Catholic Charities. He learned about Catholic Charities after Catholic Charities CEO Scott Milliken first contacted him about the job opening. Saxena visited the diocesan Catholic Charities website to research the organization and said he was “impressed by the amount of services Catholic Charities was doing to help others.”

Last week as CFO, Saxena toured Catholic Charities agencies in Paterson and was moved by seeing the services in action and meeting those who were being served.

Born in India and a practicing Hindu, Saxena saw a significant similarity in the Catholic Church and his religion as both believe in service and serving humankind, which appealed to him greatly. “I visited the Father English Center in Paterson and it was very moving,” Saxena said, “I saw the children in the early learning programs, I spoke with those serving the veterans and senior citizens such as Sister of Charity Maureen Sullivan (director of community programs). Then visited the food pantry. It all moved me a lot.”

His career in the financial world began in 1994 in the consumer goods industry working at the Unilever Group as global audit manager. He then served as CFO and senior vice president at Shiseido International Corp/Nars Cosmetics Inc. He went on to work in the global investment banking industry at the Deutsche Bank Group as global head of control-client onboarding. Afterward, he worked at TRP Holdings LCC, a consumer goods business, and later at IT by Design Inc., a full service information technology solutions provider. His most recent position was at Globalise, India’s first platform for guided global investing, as its CFO. He holds a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Delhi, India and an MBA in financial management from the University of Mumbai, India. He is a Certified Public Accountant, is married, and he and his wife have two adult daughters.

“We welcome Mukesh Saxena with open arms. He is a true business leader, who will help take our organization to new heights. We are looking forward to a bright future at Catholic Charities,” Milliken said.

As he begins his time at Catholic Charities, Saxena said, “Working in the corporate world, whether it’s a big business or even a small business, there’s a lot of competition and at times, it can be self-serving with people asking ‘What is in it for me? But at Catholic Charities the question asked is, ‘What can I do for others?’ I could already see at Catholic Charities everyone is devoted to service not only to the poor or those most in need but also to helping each other as co-workers.”