Iresh Zaker Honoured with the AAA Alumni Award 2023 for Art and Culture

The Grand Ballroom of The Westin Dhaka was the kind of room where achievement fills the air. On October 26, 2023, Bangladesh’s most accomplished alumni of American universities gathered for the AAA Alumni Award ceremony, and when Iresh Zaker‘s name was called as the winner in the Art and Culture category, it was a moment that felt both earned and inevitable.

Across more than two decades, Iresh has moved between acting, music, and advertising with a consistency of purpose that is rare. This recognition is not a debut on the national stage. It is a formal acknowledgment of a body of work that has quietly, and sometimes loudly, shaped the culture around it.

Bangladesh needs citizens to step forward and strengthen sectors like arts and culture to help the nation achieve its Sustainable Development Goals.

Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan, AAA Award Ceremony 2023

About the AAA Alumni Award

The American Alumni Association (AAA) represents graduates of American colleges and universities who are connected to Bangladesh. Each year, the association honours a select group of individuals who have taken the education and values from their time in the US and channelled them into meaningful contributions back home.

The 2023 ceremony brought together an impressive group of awardees across multiple fields:

• • Prof. Rounaq Jahan, Lifetime Achievement
  • Saima Wazed, Education
  • Bimalangshu R. Dey, Service to Society
  • Dr. Qudsia Huda, Public Affairs and International Development
  • Prof. Syed Munir Khasru, Policy and Governance
  • Sonia Bashir Kabir, Innovation and Business
  • Prof. Ehsan Hoque, Science and Technology

Iresh Zaker, Art and Culture

Being named among peers of this calibre reflects the standing the AAA Award holds in Bangladesh’s professional and cultural circles.

Award at a Glance

The Recognition and What It Stands For

Iresh Zaker received the award in his capacity as Managing Director of Asiatic Experiential Marketing Ltd and Good Company. His AAA eligibility traces back to his academic years in the United States, where he studied at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, graduating in 2000 with a degree in Economics and Anthropology.

Art and Culture is not a ceremonial category at the AAA Awards. It sits alongside Science, Policy, and Education as a pillar of national progress. Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan, the chief guest for the evening, made this point with clarity, noting that the country’s development goals cannot be achieved without a thriving creative sector and the people who lead it.

A Legacy That Earned This Moment

To understand what this award represents for Iresh Zaker, you need to look at the full picture of his career rather than any single chapter of it.

The Roots

Iresh was born into one of Bangladesh’s most celebrated artistic families. His father, the late Aly Zaker, was a towering figure in Bangladeshi theatre and television. His mother, Sara Zaker, remains one of the country’s most respected cultural voices. Creativity was not something he had to seek out. It was the foundation of the household he grew up in.

What sets Iresh apart is that he did not simply carry that legacy forward. He added to it, on his own terms.

The Actor

Iresh Zaker made his television acting debut in 2006 in the play Batasher Khacha, sharing the screen with his father. His film debut came with Chorabali in 2012. Three years later, his portrayal of the antagonist Danny in Chuye Dile Mon earned him the National Film Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role. It was a performance that confirmed his range and his ability to hold the weight of a scene with quiet, controlled intensity.

The Musician

Away from the screen, Iresh is a founding member of Cryptic Fate, one of Bangladesh’s most iconic rock bands. His involvement in the band over the years reflects an artistic identity that has never been content to stay in one lane.

The Business Leader

As Managing Director of Asiatic 360, Iresh has built and led one of Bangladesh’s most prominent advertising and experiential marketing firms. His approach brings a genuine creative sensibility to the business side of the industry, and a commercial clarity to the creative side.

That combination, creative depth alongside business acumen, is precisely what the Art and Culture category of the AAA Award was designed to recognise.

The Evening at The Westin Dhaka

The ceremony on October 26, 2023 was held at the Grand Ballroom of The Westin Dhaka, bringing together some of Bangladesh’s most accomplished professionals in a single room. Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan presided as chief guest and used his address to congratulate each awardee while making a broader point about the responsibility that comes with achievement.

His remarks about the creative sector were direct: a nation cannot reach its development goals without people who are willing to lead its arts and culture. That evening, Iresh Zaker was recognised as one of those people.

Why This Recognition Matters

Bangladesh’s creative industry is changing faster than at any point in its history. Film, music, digital content, and advertising are all evolving, and the people who shape those spaces carry influence that extends well beyond entertainment. They shape how a culture sees itself.

Iresh Zaker has been one of those people for a long time. Not through a single defining moment, but through a sustained commitment to craft and creativity across multiple disciplines and decades.

The AAA Alumni Award 2023 does not define Iresh Zaker. But it does name clearly, and publicly, what his work has always been building toward: a Bangladesh where art is not a footnote to progress, but one of its most vital engines.

That is something worth celebrating.