Bina Sella di Monteluce (1949–2006) was an Indian-born real estate developer and philanthropist whose business activities linked London with the United States. She led property development businesses in London during the 1970s and early 1980s, and she later chaired the Island Development Corporation, which proposed National Children's Island in Washington, D.C. In 2002 she became High Sheriff of Greater London.
Background
Bina Sella di Monteluce was born on January 13, 1949, in Bombay, India, the daughter of Indurkumar Hassamal Shivdasani and Lakshmi (Sipihimalani) Shivdasani. Bombay, renamed Mumbai in 1995, was the principal port and commercial center of western India, and her birth took place only a few years after India became an independent republic in 1947.
A biography of her younger brother, Sonu Shivdasani, states that their parents originated from Sindh, in what is now Pakistan. Her family's background therefore combined Indian origins with connections to Britain and to international commerce.
Education
Bina Sella di Monteluce's recorded formal education consists of advanced certified education completed at Cheltenham Ladies' College in 1966. Cheltenham Ladies' College, founded in 1853 in Cheltenham, England, is an independent girls' school with a long academic tradition, and its advanced-level programme prepared students for further study and professional life in Britain.
Career
From 1970 to 1979 Bina Sella di Monteluce was president of a residential property development business in London. Property development combines the acquisition of land with financing and construction of buildings for sale or lease, so her role placed her at the head of the business's operations.
From 1979 to 1985 she was associated with commercial property development in London. From 1980 her commercial real estate work extended to Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, Dallas, and Houston, cities that were among the growing centers of American commercial real estate during the period.
In the 1980s she became involved with a proposed National Children's Island on the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. The river's islands, Kingman and Heritage, had been created by dredging in 1916, and many development plans were proposed for them over the following decades. By 1993 she had put more than $6 million into a new development firm for the project, and she served as chairman of the Island Development Corporation. Environmentalists and neighborhood groups opposed large-scale development on the islands, and the District of Columbia approved a 99-year lease for the project by a 7-6 council vote.
Achievements
She committed more than $6 million to a new development firm formed for National Children's Island, a proposed children's attraction on the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., and provided related project fees.
In 2002 she became the first High Sheriff of Greater London of Asian origin, a historic distinction in the office's long tradition of service to the county.
Religion
Bina Sella di Monteluce is documented as a Hindu. A 1993 Washington Post article described her as a Hindu philanthropist, and her Hindu affiliation is part of her recorded biographical data.
Hinduism is one of the oldest living religious traditions, developed over many centuries on the Indian subcontinent. It has no single founder or single binding creed; its traditions include diverse scriptures, devotional practices, and philosophical schools, and it emphasizes concepts such as dharma, karma, and the pursuit of liberation.
For a person of Indian origin living in Britain and the United States, Hinduism offered a religious identity that could be maintained through family, temple, and ritual life across several countries, while the traditions themselves remained diverse in practice.
Politics
Bina Sella di Monteluce's recorded political affiliation is with the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom.
The Conservative Party traces its origins to the 1830s and developed as a party of parliamentary government, property rights, the established institutions of the state, and gradual reform. In the twentieth century it combined free-market economic policies with support for national institutions and the traditions of British public life.
Membership
Bina Sella di Monteluce's board and trustee roles were concentrated in philanthropic and educational bodies. The Inlaks Foundation was founded in 1976 as a Liechtenstein-registered charitable foundation linked to the Shivdasani family. The related Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation CIO in the United Kingdom lists among its objects the advancement of education for young people resident in India, including scholarships for postgraduate study and grants for art residencies.
The Sella di Monteluce Foundation is a United Kingdom-based foundation associated with her family. Her trusteeship of the National Symphony Orchestra connected her with the orchestra founded in Washington, D.C., in 1931, which became one of the principal American orchestras of the twentieth century.
Her educational involvement included a governor's role at Sussex House School, an independent preparatory school founded in 1952 in Chelsea, London, and an advisory role connected with Atlantic College, the Welsh school founded in 1962 as one of the United World Colleges. The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, established in 1956, honours young people's participation in personal development programmes, and her fellowship linked her with that scheme. The Young Presidents' Organization, founded in 1950 in Rochester, New York, brings together young chief executives for peer learning and the exchange of business experience.
Governor
Sussex House School
,
United Kingdom
1989
Advisory role
Atlantic College
,
United Kingdom
1989
Trustee
Inlaks Foundation
1979
Trustee
Sella di Monteluce Foundation
,
United Kingdom
1985
Trustee
National Symphony Orchestra
,
United States
Fellow
Duke of Edinburgh's Award
,
United Kingdom
1989
Member
Young Presidents' Organization
Connections
Bina Sella di Monteluce married Nicolo Umberto Giovanni Sella di Monteluce on April 28, 1979. Count Nicolo Sella di Monteluce was an Italian national and was later recognized as the previous chairperson of the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation.
The couple had one child, Indoo-Domenico Sella di Monteluce, who is listed as a trustee of the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation.
Her parents were Indurkumar Hassamal Shivdasani and Lakshmi (Sipihimalani) Shivdasani. Her younger brother, Sonu Shivdasani, is documented in a biography that describes her as his older sister.
Father:
Indurkumar Hassamal Shivdasani
Mother:
Lakshmi (Sipihimalani) Shivdasani
Son:
Indoo-Domenico Monteluce
Listed as a trustee of the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation CIO.
husband:
Nicolo Umberto Giovanni Sella di Monteluce
Count and former chairperson of the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation.
Brother:
Sonu Shivdasani
References
The Washington Post
Article on her investment in the proposed National Children's Island project in Washington, D.C., and her description as a Hindu philanthropist.
1993
Sonu Shivdasani
Biographical article on her younger brother that describes her as a philanthropist in women's education and the first High Sheriff of Greater London of Asian origin.
