Speaker Profiles

Adachi, Jeff

Jeff Adachi has spent nearly 18 years in the Public Defender’s office and two years in private practice, handling over 3,000 cases and trying over 100 jury trials. Hired as a deputy public defender in 1986, Adachi tried twenty-eight misdemeanor trials in his first 18 months in the office. He was then promoted to the felony division, where he began trying homicide cases two years later, and rose to a head trial attorney, assigned to handling the office’s most serious and challenging cases.

In 1998, Adachi was promoted to the Chief Attorney, the office’s second-in-command. He immediately modernized the office and introduced innovative new programs. In 2001, Adachi became the first public defender to receive the Mayor’s Managerial Excellence Award, an annual award presented to the city’s top mangers.

In 2001, Adachi declared his candidacy for Public Defencer. Through an unprecedented grassroots campaign effort, Adachi was elected on March 5, 2002, and assumed office on January 8, 2003.

Adachi was recently recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by San Francisco Magazine, and was featured in the nationally aired PBX Documentary Presumed Guilty (2002). From 197901983, Adachi worked to free a death row inmate who had been wrongfully convicted of murder, sparking his interest in public interest law. In the early 90’s, Adachi, whose parents were interned during WWII, became involved in efforts to win redress for Japanese American internees who were initially denied redress payments.

Adachi is a past board member of the Bar Association of San Francisco (2001-2003) and the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (2000-2002_, and served on the ABA’s Standing Committee for Legal Aid and Indigent Defense (2002-2004). Adachi is a member of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, the California Public Defenders Association, and the Northern California Criminal Trial Lawyers Association. He has also taught bar review for over 15 years and has published five books in this area. He is the co-author of Chapter 25: Immunity for Testimony in the California Criminal Law Procedure and Practice book, and has been a certified criminal law specialist since 1991.

Adachi also has a long history of community activism, serving as the president of the Asian American Bar Association (1991) and the Japanese American Citizen’s League (1992-1995). He also founded the Asian American Arts Foundation in 1995, which provides support to the emerging Asian American artists, and served as the president of the Asian American Theater Company.

In 1992, Adachi received the California State Bar’s Hufstedler award, which is awarded annually to a lawyer who has dedicated his career to pro bono work. In 1998, he received the Joe Morozumi Trail Lawyer award from the Asian American Bar Association. In 2006, Adachi was chosen to received the American Bar Association’s 2006 Dorsey Award, awarded annually to an outstanding public interest lawyer.

Adachi graduated from Hastings College of Law in 1985 and attended undergraduate studies at U.C. Berkeley. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Mutsuko, and daughter, Lauren.

Akutagawa, Linda

Linda Akutagawa is the Vice President for Resource and Business Development at Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP). She is responsible for LEAP's overall fundraising and business development. She also manages and maintains relationships with LEAP's diverse constituents ranging from Board members, program alumni, community organizations, corporations, student organizations, universities and employee network groups. Previously, Ms. Akutagawa was the Director of External Relations developing and implementing LEAP's marketing & sales strategy for it's programs and services.

Linda speaks and presents nationally on topics such as leadership, Asian Pacific American issues, employee network groups, diversity and networking and relationship building to a range of audiences such as corporations, student groups and community and professionalorganizations. Previous to joining LEAP, Linda was the Marketing Manager for Japan and Orient Tours, a tour operator specializing in Asia and the Pacific. In her 11th year at LEAP, Linda received her B.S. in International Business with a minor in Economics from California State University at Los Angeles.

Benavides, Vida

Vida is a co-founder and Chairperson of APIAVote, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that encourages and promotes civic participation of Asian Pacific Islander Americans in the electoral and public policy processes at the national, state and local levels. APIAVote envisions a society in which all Asian Pacific Islander Americans fully participate in and have access to the democratic process.

Vida is a bridge builder and is often called to serve as a communication link and strategist between nonprofit entities, governmental bodies, political institutions, community and elected leaders for the purposes of empowering communities and advancing political and policy agendas. For 13 years, Vida has been a practicing political and public affairs consultant specializing in developing political, policy, public relations, communication and fund development strategies with a focus on developing diverse and alternative outreach approach to multicultural communities.

Vida is also seasoned expert on electoral politics and often consults and advise national, statewide, and local campaigns/initiatives on voter education and mobilization, political leadership and civic engagement. She's the first Asian American woman that have consulted Presidential Campaigns and one of the few Asian American women who consults in the area of political strategies on the national level.

She served as the Executive Producer and Co-creator with Actress Tamlyn Tomita, the first national public service announcement called "Voice Your Vote" that featured 21 Asian American and Pacific Islander Hollywood Actors and Actresses that aired in 10 major media and ethnic media markets throughout the country.

And for the last twenty years, Vida as served a tireless political and community advocate for Asian Pacific American community, youth, women and fellow minority communities in the area of civil rights, health access, and political participation. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards and volunteered her skills and talent in the area of leadership development for youth, young professionals, and women, as well as infrastructure development for organizations, and coalitions at the national levels

Vida is currently serving as the pro-bono Campaign Adviser and Strategist for the National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity, a national coalition made up of local and national organizations committed to securing justice and equity for Filipino World War II Veterans who were denied their Veterans Benefits after WW II. She also produced a documentary called Second Class Veterans that features the lives of WW II Filipino Veterans who live in the San Francisco Tenderloin area that nationally aired on PBS in the past several years.

Byler, Eric

Eric Byler grew up in Hawaii and California before graduating from Wesleyan University in Connectitcut. Byler's mother is Chinese American and his father is German, English and Dutch. Byler's mixed ethnicity has effected him growing up and still continues to influence his work in film and his appearances as an APA activist.

His short film "Kenji's Faith" (1994) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to win seven festival awards, such as "Best Amateur Entry" Canadian International Annual Film Festival, "Best Experimental" Chicago International Film Festival, and "Director's Choice Award" Thomas Edison "Black Maria" Film Festival, among many, as well as a nomination for "The Student Academy Awards" sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His first feature, Charlotte Sometimes (2002), received the Audience Award for First Films Narrative at the South by Southwest Film Festival, and the Special Jury Award at the Florida Film Festival. Theater directing credits include "Texas" & "Laughter Joy & Loneliness & Sex & Sex & Sex & Sex".

One of Byler's passion lies in transforming the way we are represented in mainstream media, and he talks about why he believes this cause directly correlations to transforming the way we are represented by our leaders. Byler has recently demonstrated how new media technologies such as YouTube allow the national APA community to unite under important causes, as they did in the 2006 Virginia Senate race in response to the George Allen "Macaca" incident and in the opposition against the Japanese denying their governmental role of "comfort women" during World War Two, featured by Yul Kwon and other actors represented in the 2007 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

Byler currently serves on the board of Asian Pacific Americans for Progress.

Chakravarty, Atashi

Atashi is the Executive Director of Narika where she worked joined the organization as a volunteer in 1999 and has been involved with the agency in different capacities since that time. Atashi is a long-time Bay Area resident and active community volunteer. She currently serves as Chair of the East Bay API Coalition To End Domestic Violence Coalition (APIDVC), is a member of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition's (BAIRC) Leadership Council, serves on the Advisory Committee of the Marin Human Rights Roundtable to End Hate Violence, and serves on the Management Team of the Alameda County Family Justice Center as a representative of the APIDVC.

Ms. Chakravarty graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 1994 with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science. She worked to develop the first women's magazine at UCR called Diva! and the first LGBTQ magazine called Dish! in 1992 to help create an expressive venue for the issues and debates of the day. She also created the award-winning first non-profit monthly newsletter for the Marin non-profit community, called the Leadership Journal, with current RFP and resource information for non-profits in Marin.

Chao, Cedric

Mr. Chao is a partner in the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster, a global law firm of 1,000 lawyers. He co-chairs the firm’s international litigation and arbitration practice, and focuses on commercial litigation, international arbitration, and white-collar criminal defense.

San Francisco Magazine, in its fall 2007 issue, includes Mr. Chao on its list of “Northern California Superlawyers.” Chambers USA 2007 names Mr. Chao as a “recommended lawyer” on its national list for international arbitration. Asia Law, based on its survey of lawyers practicing in Asia, includes Mr. Chao on its AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers 2007 list, for dispute resolution. California Law Business, in an earlier survey, named Mr. Chao as one of “California’s Top 25 Lawyers Under Age 45.” Mr. Chao is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the West, and Who’s Who in American Law.

Mr. Chao counsels a number of companies on an ongoing basis, and coordinates these companies’ outside legal services. He serves as lead counsel in high stakes disputes in multiple contexts, before U.S. trial judges, U.S. juries (civil and criminal), appellate courts, and international arbitration tribunals. This breadth of experience contributes to his ability to efficiently discern the “forest from the trees,” “size up” the parties’ competing strengths and vulnerabilities, assess the value of a case, communicate the client’s position effectively to varied audiences, and craft creative legal strategies and business solutions.

Mr. Chao has led litigation teams in significant international commercial arbitration proceedings around the world, including London, Singapore, New Delhi, Guam, New York, as well as California. He is listed on the panels of approved international commercial arbitrators maintained by the arbitration commissions in China and Singapore, and has served as an arbitrator for the Paris-based ICC.

Mr. Chao is active in the legal community. His current and former positions include: Committee Coordinator and Chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee, Inter Pacific Bar Association; Chair, Northern District of California Magistrate Judge Screening Committee; Chair, Litigation Section of the California State Bar; Board of Directors, San Francisco Bar Association; President, Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area; and Co-Chair, International Litigation Committee, Litigation Section of the American Bar Association.

Mr. Chao is also active in the business community. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Association of Northern California. He previously served as president of the Singapore American Business Association and on the Boards of Directors of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the World Affairs Council of Northern California.

Mr. Chao received his B.A. degree in Economics from Stanford University (with distinction and departmental honors) and his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable William H. Orrick, United States District Court, Northern District of California.

Chea, Kao

In 1981, Keo Chea arrived in the U.S. with her family as a political refugee escaping the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. She was raised in Fresno and Sacramento, California, and received a degree in Political Science from the University of California, Davis. Keo has been speaking out against the deportation of Cambodian refugees since her brother received a deportation order in 2001 based on his first and only offense at age 17. In May 2006, Keo graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She currently works with Cambodian refugees in the East Bay, providing public benefits assistance as a Shartsis Friese Public Interest Law Fellow at the East Bay Community Law Center.

Chiang, John

Controller John Chiang was elected in November 2006 to serve as California’s Chief Financial Officer.

As State Controller, he presides over the Franchise Tax Board and is a member of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) Board. These two funds have a combined portfolio of $300 billion.

John brings extensive experience and fiscal leadership to the Office of the State Controller. He was first elected to the Board of Equalization in 1998. Since then, he has led with innovative and groundbreaking taxpayer-friendly services like the State’s free income tax return preparation service, ReadyReturn. As a member of the Board of Equalization, John represented 73 cities in Los Angeles County, including the City of Los Angeles. He was elected to his second four-year term in 2002. He has represented the Board of Equalization on the Franchise Tax Board and served as the chair of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project’s Board of Governors.

Strong in his belief that informed taxpayers make better decisions for the financial health of their families, businesses, and communities, John has sponsored innovative tax seminars to guide small businesses, non-profit organizations and religious institutions in understanding the state and federal tax codes. These programs provided access to information and services for those without the time, expertise, or resources to study the laws, rules, and regulations applicable to their circumstances.

He has also boosted small businesses by sponsoring events featuring experts from various government agencies to explain in clear and concise language compliance issues, the latest tax laws, policies, rules, and regulations. These seminars provide entrepreneurs with the tools to grow their businesses and prosper.

John has compiled an extraordinary record of public service going back decades. In recognition of his efforts, John has received numerous awards and distinctions such as the 2006 Award for Excellence by a Government Official from the Los Angeles County Bar Association, two Congressional Record tributes, the Leadership Vanguard Award from the Millennium Momentum Foundation, the Minorities in Business Magazine Multi-Cultural Prism Award, the City of West Hollywood Leadership and Service Award, and the Los Angeles Mayor’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Award.

John graduated with honors from the University of South Florida with a degree in Finance, and received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. He began his career as a Tax Law Specialist with the Internal Revenue Service and served as an attorney with the Office of the State Controller.

Chiu, David

David Chiu is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Grassroots Enterprise. He previously worked as Democratic Counsel in the US Senate, and as a staff attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights.

David has served as board president of the Youth Leadership Institute, president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, chair of California's 13th Assembly District Democratic Committee, and a board member with nonprofits focused on affordable housing, domestic violence and civil rights.

David was also appointed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to the San Francisco Small Business Commission. In 2004, David was named one of the country's "Best Lawyers Under 40" by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

David graduated with honors from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and also holds a master's degree in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Chou, Gary

Gary Chou runs MANJA, a website promoting Asian American arts and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2001, he has been active with several non-profit Asian American arts organizations, including Locus Arts, Kearny Street Workshop, and the Center for Asian American Media as an advisor, facilitator, curator, and volunteer. Originally from Chicago, Gary completed his undergraduate degree at Princeton University where he studied Molecular Biology, Photography, and Computer Science. Currently he helps organize Third Thursdays, a monthly dinner series for people in the nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors interested in Asian American & Pacific Islander community issues and service opportunities. He was formerly Director of Product Management at social networking startup Tribe.net, and is now at work helping media companies enhance the content and entertainment experience for consumers via the newly formed Cisco Media Solutions Group.

Corpuz, Rudy

Rudy Corpuz, Jr., is a 30 year-old ex felon and founder of United Playaz—a gang to end all gangs. When Corpuz got out of prison he realized he wanted to stop violence instead of start it. In 1994, he became a counselor at Balboa high school in San Francisco, Back then Balboa had earned a dismal reputation as a troubled school.

At a post football game dance in 1994, the police were called to stop a brawl between Filipino and black students. In the aftermath of that violent confrontation, Corpuz brought the combatants together. Through his deft intervention, some of them decided to band together to stop gang violence. They would call themselves United Playaz.

de Tourreil, Sunita

Sunita de Tourreil grew up savoring chocolate—her Swiss father and Indian mother often indulged her with their childhood favorites. As an adult, she combined her love of the sweet treat with her desire to work for social justice. In 2005, she and business partner Greg Wolff founded Chocolate Dividends, an organization devoted to supporting fair-trade industries around the world.

Do, Christopher H.

Christopher H. Do is Vice President and head of The Do Group at Merrill Lynch in San Francisco. The Do Group is responsible for advising wealthy executives with their global financial needs. The Do Group is comprised of specialists whose expertise includes financial planning, tax minimization strategies, estate planning, residential & commercial loans, life insurance, and portfolio management.

Prior to Merrill Lynch, Mr. Do was Vice President of a successful private client practice at Bear Stearns. In addition, Mr. Do has held several senior positions on the institutional side with the top New York banks. His experience includes investment banking, sales and trading, and portfolio management. Notably, he personally managed an institutional investment portfolio in excess of $20 billion for the State of Washington Investment Board, All State Insurance, and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

In 1992, Mr. Do began his career in the fixed income derivatives group at Salomon Brothers, which was directed by Myron Scholes, a Nobel Prize winner and developer of the Black Scholes option pricing model.

Mr. Do graduated in 1992 with three degrees. He received a Systems Engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania along with a Management degree and a Finance degree from the Wharton School of Business. Mr. Do is an active member of the Asian-American community. He sits on the Board of Trustees for the San Jose Repertory Theatre and is founder of the Northern California chapter of UPAAN (University of Pennsylvania Asian Alumni Association).

Fabunan, Eileen

Eileen is responsible for the research and development of brand extension strategies for the Media, Technology and Services group at Brand Sense Partners LLC in Los Angeles. She is an LA native, fluent in French, and she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Eileen co-founded UCLA's Women In Leadership Organization (WILO) and Le Cercle Francophone at UCLA and hopes to share her vision of growth and leadership with PbP this year. She loves food & wine and began volunteering with PbP in 2005 as a Steering Committee member on the Events team preparing for PbP's Food & Wine Tasting Benefit. Eileen served as the Volunteer Relations Director in 2006 and she is pleased to lead the 2007 So-Cal team for the 10th Anniversary of Project by Project.

Fan, Roger

Roger Fan has been impressing audiences with his range and versatility since his remarkable one-two punch at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. While co-starring as the charismatic and manipulative Daric Loo in Justin Lin's breakout indie feature "Better Luck Tomorrow," Fan also starred in, co-produced, and co-wrote the racy 17-minute short subject, "The Quest For Length," one of the surprise hits of the festival. Fan most recently wrapped up the mockumentary comedy "Finishing the Game," directed by Justin Lin, as the character Breeze Loo, who auditions for the role of Bruce Lee.

Born in Baltimore and raised in Southern California, Fan graduated from Brown University with a degree in Economics. He initially worked on Wall Street and in San Francisco as a financial consultant, but found time to create inspiration and excitement in local theatre. Gifted with a natural ability to perform and a uniquely handsome, leading-man style, Fan incorporated his love of the performing arts with his entrepreneurial flair and quickly parlayed them into a successful film and television career, leaving the financial world behind.

Today, Roger Fan is one of the industry's most interesting and exciting young actors, redefining the leading man aesthetic through a wide variety of projects and roles on film and on stage. Rave reviews from critics such as Roger Ebert, Richard Roper, Peter Travers, and Elvis Mitchell have pointed out that Roger Fan is a "charismatic and fearless actor" with a limitless future.

Hokoyama, JD

J.D. Hokoyama is the President and CEO of Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP), Inc. As LEAP's chief executive officer, he is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the organization. Mr. Hokoyama has been with LEAP for nearly 20 years – first as a founding Board member, then as President and Executive Director – and is a lead trainer, speaking around the country on leadership, diversity, and Asian Pacific American issues.

Mr. Hokoyama is also nationally recognized for his leadership and service to the Asian Pacific American community. In 2000, he was named one of the “100 Most Influential Asian Americans of the Decade” by A. Magazine, and has received numerous awards, including the “Executive Development Institute Service Award” by the Seattle Japanese American Chamber of Commerce and the “Community Leadership Award” by Asians for Corporate and Community Action at Pacific Bell.

Mr. Hokoyama has dedicated his professional life to educating others. A former Peace Corps volunteer serving in Ethiopia, Mr. Hokoyama has served as a high school teacher, an elementary school principal, and Director of Asian Pacific American Student Services at University of Southern California. He was also the Acting National Director of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the largest and oldest Asian Pacific American civil rights organization in the U.S.

In addition to growing leaders in Asian Pacific American communities, Mr. Hokoyama is committed to raising the visibility of Asian Pacific Americans. His current affiliations include board positions in organizations such as: Independent Sector, Alliance for Nonprofit Management, National Immigration Forum, National Diversity Network, Volunteer Consulting Group, and the Gates Millennium Scholars Program.

Huq, Farhana

Farhana comes from a family of self-made entrepreneurs of the South Asian Diaspora. In 2000, she founded C.E.O. Women, the 3rd start-up venture she has been involved with, after being inspired by the enterprise revolution in her father’s native Bangladesh and by the struggles that poor, single women in her own family faced to become self-sufficient. Farhana has always admired the creativity and freedom of micro-entrepreneurs. She envisions a world where the most powerful and unlikely relationships come together to connect women in meaningful ways.

Farhana created "Micro-enterprise in Action", a self-initiated audio documentary on the lives of women entrepreneurs from around the world. She was recently recognized as one of the “40 Under 40” up and coming business professionals to watch by the East Bay Business Times. She was named the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2005 National Finalist in the Supporter of Entrepreneurship Category. Most recently she was elected an Affiliate to The Ashoka Fellowship, the most prestigious fellowship for leading social entrepreneurs around the world.

C.E.O. Women’s work has been featured in prominent media outlets such as ABC News Now, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Tufts Alumni Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Oakland Tribune, and The Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Magazine. C.E.O. Women has won the 2005 Innovation Award for micro-enterprise development in the U.S. and the 2004 Isabel Allende Espiritu Award for the Empowerment of Women.

Farhana serves on the Board of Directors for the Chhandam Institute of Kathak Arts in Boston and was a Community Fellow of the Full Circle Fund, a San Francisco-based organization dedicated to addressing public problems through engaged philanthropy and public policy advocacy. Farhana also served as an Americorps*/ VISTA in the micro-enterprise field. Farhana holds a BA from Tufts University in Economics and Philosophy.

Hyun, Jane

Jane Hyun, President and Founder of Hyun & Associates, is an executive coach and leadership strategist to Fortune 500 companies, universities, and non-profit organizations. Her coaching programs have garnered praise from organizations in a variety of industries. In addition to coaching Asians and multicultural professionals maximize their potential, she advises diversity councils and senior management teams to raise awareness about the critical role that the global talent pipeline plays in today’s multicultural workplace.

Previously, she was a Vice President of Human Resources at JP Morgan, and Director of Recruiting at Deloitte & Touche and Resources Connection.

A graduate of Cornell University, she is active with the Cornell Women’s Alumnae Council. She serves on the Board of the Johnnetta B. Cole Diversity and Inclusion Institute at Bennett College and as an Advisory Board member of NAASA, the National Asian Society of Accountants. She is an advisor to the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force/Center for Work Life Policy.

Her work has received international recognition, and she has appeared in a variety of media outlets, including CNN, CNBC, National Public Radio, Time, Fortune, CEO, Working Mother, DiversityInc, and Crains. In 2005, HarperCollins released her groundbreaking book, "Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: The Essential Guide to Getting In, Moving Up, and Reaching the Top.” Jane lives in New York City with her family.

Jeong, Stephen

Stephen is an Associate Project Director at Towers Perrin-ISR’s San Francisco office. Stephen has over 8 years of project management experience related to test construction and validation for employee selection and certification. Prior to joining Towers Perrin-ISR, Stephen worked as a Senior Program Manager for Ohio State University’s Center for Education and Training for Employment (CETE). During his tenure at OSU, he was the primary consultant to Ohio Department of Education (ODE) for the design, implementation and validation of Ohio ’s Career Technical Competency Assessment (OCTCA) – a State-sponsored certification system administered to 42 vocational education areas.

Stephen partners with a variety of global organizations in high technology, pharmaceutical, energy, and construction and engineering firms to enhance organizational effectiveness through the development of superior and legally defensible human capital systems. His current clients include Texas Instruments, BP, Monster.com, McKesson, and AECOM. Stephen holds a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Jue, Clayton

Mr. Jue founded Leading Edge in August 2005 with the objective of bringing new and emerging investment strategies and managers to institutional investors. He was formerly Managing Director and Executive Vice President at Northern Trust Global Advisors (a subsidiary of the Northern Trust Company) (“Northern”) where he managed the San Francisco office and the Emerging Manager business which grew from $1.5 billion in assets to $3 billion under his direction. Mr. Jue was also a member of Northern’s Hedge Fund Investment Committee and Trust Investment Committee which oversaw all of the firm’s $25 billion in assets.

Prior to joining Northern Trust in 2002, Mr. Jue was a co-founder of Progress Investment Management, and Chief Investment Officer there for 11 years. During his tenure, the firm grew from 3 employees and $45 million in assets under management to 26 employees and $4.5 billion in assets across several asset categories that included domestic equity, fixed income, international equity, private equity and hedge funds. As a hallmark of success, the firm was sold to Liberty Financial Company (a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Insurance) in 1998.

Mr. Jue began his investment career at Callan Associates in 1986 and co-founded Callan’s International Consulting group in 1989. He is a member of the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP), the New American Alliance (NAA), the CFA Society of San Francisco and the CFA Institute. He is a founding Board member of the Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM). Mr. Jue is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds dual BA degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and a MBA from San Francisco State University.

Kamisugi, Keith

Keith Kamisugi is the director of communications at the Equal Justice Society. He is responsible for the organization’s media relations, new media strategies, IT and telecom. He was previously a consultant to EJS.

Keith brings to EJS more than 10 years of public relations experience, including positions as a regional spokesman for Verizon Communications, account manager for technology PR agency Niehaus Ryan Wong and serving a diverse portfolio of companies as an independent consultant. He also served for four years on the executive staffs of Hawai’i governors John Waihee and Benjamin Cayetano.

He has presented talks on public relations, online strategies, politics and business for numerous organizations, including: University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, University of San Francisco, Golden Gate University, The Anderson School at UCLA, Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Marin County Youth Commission, staff of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the Public Relations Society of America, the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, Greenlining Institute, EEOC Quad Council and the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network.

Keith’s legal and nonprofit public relations background includes consulting law firms such as Minami Tamaki LLP on PR and marketing related to class action and civil cases, the Asian Law Caucus on voter education, the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans political action committee, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.

His efforts involving journalists of color include managing communications for several AAJA national conventions and serving as communications director for the UNITY 2004 convention, which was attended by more than 7,000 journalists of color in Washington, D.C. He also helps coordinate the community media training workshops for the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles chapters of AAJA. Keith received AAJA’s national award for Member of the Year in 2004, the only non-journalist/media professional to receive that recognition.

Keith has served on the boards of numerous nonprofits and now serves on the board of the San Francisco Japantown Foundation and as a trustee and board secretary for Chinese for Affirmative Action, one of San Francisco’s leading APA civil rights organizations. He also runs hapihour.org, a seven-year-old community happy hour series that benefits APA community organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.

He previously served as president of the Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce (where he founded the Young Business Roundtable) and on the boards of the Asian American Theater Company, the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California and the Hawai’i Chamber of Commerce of Northern California.

He was also a past chairman of the Young Democrats of Hawai’i and was a member of Hawai’i’s delegation to the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

Keith was born in Hawai’i and attended the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, where he served as student body president and as co-founder and co-chair of the University of Hawai’i Student Caucus, a coalition of organizations representing more than 44,000 students of the university system’s ten campuses.

He also co-authors a column in the Nichi Bei Times, a Japanese American weekly newspaper.

Kang, Michael

Michael Kang is a Korean American filmmaker based in New York and Los Angeles. His feature film directorial debut The Motel which was produced by Indie veteran director Miguel Arteta (Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is currently on DVD through Palm Pictures. The Motel is the recipient of the Humanitas Prize as well as the top jury prizes from the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival,The San Diego Asian Film Festival and The VC Film Festival.

Most recently, The Motel was nominated for Best First Feature Film by The Independent Spirit Awards. Recently, Michael was honored with a National Endowment for the Arts Artist’s Residency Grant at The MacDowell Colony. Michael is recipient of the Geri Ashur Award in screenwriting through the New York Foundation for the Arts. Michael also received a fellowship through the ABC / DGA New Talent Television Directing Program.

Michael recently premiered his second feature West 32nd, produced by Teddy Zee (Hitch, Saving Face) and featuring John Cho (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle), Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica) and Jeong Jun Ho (My Hero, My Boss) at The Tribeca Film Festival.

Kang, Chancellor Steve

Sung-Mo (Steve) Kang has been Chancellor and Professor of Engineering at UC Merced since March 2007. He serves on the UC President's Science and Innovation Board, Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Board, MentorNet Advisory Board, and as chairman of the Board of the Great Valley Center.

From Jan. 2001 to Feb. 2007, he was Dean of Baskin School of Engineering and Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He initiated several interdisciplinary programs such as the Department of Biomolecular Engineering, Information Systems and Technology Management program, NSF Engineering Research Center for Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems, and collaborated with partner campuses for California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3) which includes bioinformatics, California Institute Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), and NASA's University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) which has $330M budget over next ten years.

From August 1995 to December 2000, he was Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. From August 1985 to December 2000, he was Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Research Professor of Coordinated Science Laboratory and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was named the first Charles Marshall Senior University Scholar, an Associate in the Center for Advanced Study

Until 1985 he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories at Murray Hill and Holmdel, and also served as a faculty member of Rutgers University. He led the development of world's first full 32-bit CMOS microprocessor chips and their peripheral chips as supervisor of high-end microprocessor design group.

He received his B.S. degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ in 1970, M.S. degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1972, and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1975, all in electrical engineering.

Dr. Kang is Fellow of IEEE, ACM and AAAS, and is listed in Who's Who in America, Who’s Who in Higher Education, Who's Who in Technology, Who's Who in Engineering and Who's Who in Midwest. He is recipient of the Chang-Lin Tien Education Leadership Award (2007), IEEE Mac Van Valkenburg Award (2005), Outstanding Alumnus Award in Electrical Engineering, UC Berkeley (2001), IEEE Third Millennium Medal (2000), SRC Technical Excellence Award (1999), IEEE CAS Society Golden Jubilee Medal (1999), KBS Award in Science and Technology (1998), IEEE CAS Society Technical Achievement Award (1997), Humboldt Research Award for Senior US Scientists (1996), IEEE Graduate Teaching Technical Field Award (1996).

He’s current research interests include low power VLSI design; optimization for performance, reliability and manufacturability; mixed-signal mixed-technology integrated system, and nanobioelectronics.

Kang, Sung

Originally from Gainesville Georgia. Sung Kang migrated to the west in the early 90's and began working on experimental theater with the F.A.T.E in Los Angeles under the guidance of method based director Sal Romeo. He credits this theater experience for teaching him the value of ensemble and collaboration. Taught a collective approach to acting Sung Kang has challenged conventional one dimensional Asian American roles and been fortunate to work with film makers with the same objective. Some of Sung Kang's film roles include Better Luck Tomorrow, Antwone Fisher, Pearl Harbor, the Motel, and most recently, Finishing The Game.

Kazi, Sumaya

Sumaya Kazi, 25, was recently recognized by BusinessWeek Magazine as one of America's Top 10 Entrepreneurs Under 25 and the only solo woman featured in its Global Top 75 Entrepreneurs list. Sumaya was also spotlighted in 2007 by CNN as a 'Young Person Who Rocks'. She currently serves as the Executive Director and Founder of TheCulturalConnect.com , a burgeoning media publishing company that publishes five weekly e-magazines dedicated to young, driven and forward-thinking adults around the world. To date it receives more than 500,000 hits to their site monthly with a readership that spans 100 countries. The CulturalConnect has been widely regarded as a refreshing and important young professional destination. She also serves as the Executive Director and Founder of the iGIVEadamnnetwork.org , a new non-profit organization that was started to create a young adult and professional movement towards awareness, giving and change. Aligning her team with the United Nations Millennium Development goals, her team has architected an innovative technology model to make it successful. Additionally, she works full-time as a Marketing Manager for the Global Communications group at Fortune 500 Company Sun Microsystems, the youngest in her division. In her spare time she is a Business mentor for Businesses United in Investing, Lending and Development (BUILD), a non-profit social venture that empowers underprivileged high schools with an education in entrepreneurship. Sumaya graduated from the University of California-Berkeley in Marketing and Strategic Planning. She is a Bangladeshi-American residing in the San Francisco, Bay Area.

Kim, Elaine

Elaine H. Kim is Professor of Asian American and Comparative Ethnic Studies and former Associate Dean of the graduate division at UC Berkeley. She has written, co-authored, and edited ten books, from "Asian American Literature: an Introduction to the Writing and its Social Context" in 1982 to "Fresh Talk/Daring Gazes: Conversations on Asian American Art" in 2003. she has produced and helped produce several video documentaries, from "Slaying the Dragon: Asian Women in U.S. Television and Film" in 1987 to "Labor Women" in 2003. Currently, she is working on a sequel to "Slaying the Dragon". Kim is Co-Founder of Asian Women United of California, the Korean Community Center in Oakland, and Asian Immigrant Women Advocates. She is the recipient of an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the University of Massachusetts and an honorary doctorate of laws from Notre Dame.

Kim, Jane

Jane Kim is a Commissioner on the Board of Education in the City and County of San Francisco. Jane was the highest vote getter in a field of 15 candidates this past November 2006 thanks to a volunteer-based, grassroots field campaign primarily led and organized by young people of color, 15 to 35 years old.

She is currently the youngest elected official and first Korean American elected in San Francisco.

Before being elected to the Board of Education in November 2006, Jane was the Youth Community Organizer at the Chinatown Community Development Center, a 28 year-old affordable housing nonprofit that also engages in community organizing, education and planning. For six years, she worked with over 200 San Francisco high school students developing youth leadership, organizing, advocacy and civic engagement through youth-initiated community service projects.

Previously, Jane was a fellow at Greenlining Institute, where she advocated for a range of issues, including consumer protection, access to higher education and universal life line issues, for low-income communities of color and immigrant communities.

She is also a co-director and co-founder of Locus Arts, a volunteer-run performance venue in San Francisco that showcases emerging musicians, writers, filmmakers and actors. Now, in its sixth year, Locus has showcased over 450 artists and reaches over 1500 audience members.

Kobara, John

January is National Mentoring Month and nobody knows mentoring like John Kobara, President and CEO of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire. For most of his life, Kobara has been involved in youth development, mentoring and community service. He has experienced both sides of mentoring, acting as a mentor and a "mentee".

Kobara was a Big Brother for 10 years, watching his Little Brother cultivate from an eight-year-old boy into a high school graduate and a man. A revelation about mentoring was made when his Little Brother, who was 10 at the time, stumped him with a question about God. "The power of mentoring wasn't about me telling him answers, but about me listening," said Kobara.

Another of Kobara's memorable mentoring moments came as he was contemplating a career change. This time, he was on the receiving end. While debating between two career options, Kobara went to seek advice from one of his mentors. To his surprise, his mentor advised him to go with neither and to broaden his "perspective on what's possible and what's real."

"People can't grow and learn by themselves," said Kobara. The mentoring process allows individuals to "benefit from other people, minimize mistakes and helps pave a direct path to your goals."

While some people believe that the success of mentoring can bemeasured through a structured or formal program, Kobara believes "…the power of mentoring can be done in a moment...A mentor and a mentee build a bond of trust to communicate freely. It's not a one-way, but a two-way trusted bond. Mentoring takes time and trust to be
successful."

When seeking to be involved in mentorship, Kobara suggested following one's heart. "Don't do it randomly. Start with a common and comfortable place. Mentoring possibilities are everywhere; mostly in front of them."

There are numerous mentors in Kobara's life, but his mother and his wife are some of the most influential ones. "My mother continues to be my mentor. I learn something new every time I talk to her." Thanks to his wife, who has supported him through all his endeavors, success hasn't gotten to his head. "My wife keeps me grounded and humble."

Kobara's passion for youth development, mentoring, and community service began early in his career as a counselor for juvenile felons in maximum security institutions. He later ventured into the cable industry, helped pioneer online education and contributed to higher learning at a public university. Although he has been in several emerging industries and organizations, his commitment to helping others and building a better future for children ultimately led him to his current role.

Kwok, Glen

A native of Washington, D.C., Glen Kwok moved to Indianapolis in 2000 to be the Executive Director of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. When he is not busy with his administrative duties running the competition, Mr. Kwok remains active as a violinist, performing with various ensembles and orchestras including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

Prior to moving to Indiana, Mr. Kwok was an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of the D'Angelo School of Music at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. He also served on the faculty of the Pennsylvania Governor's School of the Arts, from whom he won an award for his "Distinguished Service to the Arts." He has performed extensively throughout the United States and Canada, including performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Kwok received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University, where he studied with Henryk Kowalski and Josef Gingold.

Mr. Kwok is a member of the Board of the World Federation of International Music Competitions, based in Geneva, Switzerland. He is also active in the local community and is proud to serve on the Boards of the Asian American Alliance and the Indiana Chinese Professional Association. He was in the Stanley K Lacy Executive Leadership Series Class XXIX and was a recipient of the "Forty Under 40" award by the Indianapolis Business Journal.

Kwok, Wei Tai

With more than 20 years of experience in marketing and globalization issues, Wei-Tai Kwok plays a dual role at Ion Global as managing director of the San Francisco office and head of the company's globalization practice. Under his leadership, the company has attracted and developed long-term relationships with many high-profile global brands such as Apple Computer, MCI, Wells Fargo, Southwest Airlines and McAfee Security.

A well-known expert in the area of website globalization, Wei-Tai has chaired and spok en at numerous international conferences on the topic since 1997. He has been with Ion Global and its predecessor firm, Dae Advertising, for more than 14 years. His client base has included leading companies within a broad range of industries, including financial services, telecommunications, retail, packaged goods, technology, entertainment and others.

Previously, Wei-Tai worked as a marketing associate for a Silicon Valley consulting firm and also a case manager and legal translator for a law firm in Shanghai and New York. He has also served as a Chinese interpreter for the International Fencing Federation at the 1984 Olympics. A native of Washington DC, Wei-Tai holds a degree in economics and political science from Yale University and speaks fluent Chinese and English and a little French and Latin.

Kwon, Yul

Yul Kwon was born in Queens, New York to parents who emigrated from South Korea. The family moved to the West Coast when he was six years old and he was raised in Concord, California. He attended high school at Northgate High in Walnut Creek, California, where he played varsity water polo and track and graduated valedictorian.

Yul then attended Stanford University and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in symbolic systems (theoretical computer science). While at Stanford, he received the James Lyons Award for Service, attended officer candidates school for the U.S. Marine Corps and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Yul went on to receive his Juris Doctor Degree from Yale Law School, where he served on the editorial board of the Yale Law Journal.

Yul has enjoyed a diverse career straddling both the private and public sectors in law, business and technology. He practiced a mix of litigation, appellate, transactional and regulatory work at several law firms. He also served as a judicial clerk to a federal judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Additionally, he worked as a legislative aide to Senator Joseph Lieberman in Washington, D.C., where he helped draft sections of the Homeland Security Bill and other technology-related legislation. Several years ago, Yul decided to switch careers and become a management consultant at McKinsey. From there, he joined Google's business strategy group.

On his way to winning Survivor: Cook Islands, Yul led a multiethnic team to victory against overwhelming odds, earned the nickname "The Godfather" for his skillful maneuvering, and smashed stereotypes about Asian American men in the media. Since then, Yul has been active in supporting charitable causes, raising the profile of Asian Americans in media (including hosting a series for CNN focusing on issues within the Asian American community), and encouraging youth to become active in their communities and in politics. Yul was recently named in People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue and People Magazine's Hottest Bachelor's issue, and was profiled on EXTRA TV as one of its Most Eligible Bachelors.

Kyson Lee, James

James Kyson Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea, then moved with his family to New York City at the age of 10, where he later attended Bronx H.S. of Science. He studied Communications at Boston University and New England Institute of the Arts, where he also began performing in music, dance, and improv.

In summer of 2001, James sold his used car for $1800, packed one suitcase, purchased a one way ticket, and jetted off to Los Angeles. There he began training in jazz singing, musical theater, and for the first time - acting. In his first ever Television audition, he landed a guest-starring role on CBS' "J.A.G.", and since has appeared on NBC's "Las Vegas", "The West Wing", "Heist", as well as ABC's "Threat Matrix", and Fox's "All About the Andersons".

In addition to "Heroes," James will be starring in four feature films in 2008, including 20th Century Fox's "Shutter" with Joshua Jackson & Rachael Taylor, "Do Over" with Kuno Becker & Al Santos, "The Roel" with Shalim Ortiz & Ginuwine, and "Sleeping Room Only" - directed by David Boyle.

He will also be starring in the upcoming action-thriller video game: "The Darkness", for Playstation 3 & Xbox 360.

His middle name, Kyson, comes from the first letters of his parents' surnames (k & y) and the word "son". It also means "Child of the Spirit".

James is also a student of improvisation & sketch comedy, performing at I.O. West and Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles. When he isn't working, he enjoys playing basketball and the piano, as well as reading biographies, and watching documentaries.

He stars on NBC's Golden Globe nominated hit drama "Heroes." On the show James plays 'Ando Masahashi,' sidekick and best friend to 'Hiro'. Traveling from Japan to the states, 'Ando' begins his journey as a realist and is soon transformed into a believer, as he comes across supernatural events and begins to claim his place on the mission to save the world.

James currently resides in Los Angeles.

Lakshminarayanan, Dhaya

Dhaya Lakshminarayanan is currently an Investment Manager at the Omidyar Network, a mission-based investment group established by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay. Omidyar Network is investing in two funds: a venture fund (which invests in companies which profit only by creating positive social impact) as well as a philanthropic fund. At Omidyar Network, Dhaya sources, executes and manages investments that enable individuals to effectively pursue their own interests by collaborating with others.

Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Dhaya consulted with small businesses and entrepreneurs on strategy planning and operations. In late 2004, she received a research grant to study sustainable development and renewable energy entrepreneurship in Cuba.

From 1999 to 2003, Dhaya worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, a global management consulting firm. She also worked in asset management for Parnassus Investments, a $1 billion socially-responsible mutual fund from 2003-2004.

Dhaya received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999. Her graduate work focused on energy economics and infrastructure finance in Puerto Rico. She helped teach negotiation theory and practice at the Sloan School of Management.

Dhaya is active in her community. She is a member of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), a national community of business people who believe in protecting the environment while building economic prosperity. She holds elected office in the MIT alumni association. She has been an invited speaker at National Women's Political Caucus of San Francisco and at the Coro Foundation where she was asked to teach a course on negotiations, facilitation, and mediation for the 2005 public policy fellows.

She has been active in Democratic politics after her participation in the United States Senate Youth Program in 1992. In college, she volunteered on the Clinton-Gore campaign and attended the Inauguration of William Jefferson Clinton. She was active in campus politics and held elected office while an undergraduate. After graduation, she settled in San Francisco. She was appointed to the Urban Forestry Council by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and served a year term. She is a graduate of Emerge, a political training program for Democratic women in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dhaya has volunteered and fundraised on many campaigns including the 2004 Presidential campaign. She attended the Democratic National Convention as a journalist.

Lantos, Tom

Tom Lantos is serving his thirteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was first elected to Congress in November 1980 - the only Democrat to defeat an un-indicted incumbent Republican in the year of the Reagan landslide. He won his seat by the lowest plurality of any Member of Congress elected that year - 46% to his opponent's 43%. Through excellent constituent service, careful attention to his district's needs, and hard work in the Bay Area and in Washington, Tom has been reelected repeatedly by large margins.

An American by choice, Tom Lantos was born in Budapest, Hungary, on February 1, 1928. He was 16 years of age when Nazi Germany occupied his native country. As a teenager, he was placed in a Hungarian fascist forced labor camp. He succeeded in escaping and was able to survive in a safe house in Budapest set up by Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg. His story is one of the individual accounts which forms the basis of Steven Spielberg's Academy Award winning documentary about the Holocaust in Hungary, The Last Days. An article about Tom's background in World War II and the Spielberg film was published in the University of Washington alumni magazine. The San Francisco Examiner also published an article focusing on Tom's background.

In 1947, Tom was awarded an academic scholarship to study in the United States on the basis of an essay he wrote about U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In August of that year, he arrived in New York City after a week-long boat trip to America on a converted World War II troop ship. His only possession was a precious Hungarian salami, which U.S. customs officials promptly confiscated when he arrived. Just a few weeks after he left Hungary, the communist party seized control of the country.

Tom attended the University of Washington in Seattle, where he received a B.A. and M.A. in Economics. He moved to San Francisco in 1950 and began graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he later received his Ph.D. in economics. In the fall of 1950 he started teaching economics at San Francisco State University.

In the summer of 1950, Tom Lantos married his childhood sweetheart, Annette Tillemann. Their first home was a tiny apartment in San Francisco. After a few years, they were able to purchase a modest home in San Bruno, and later they bought a home in Millbrae, where their two daughters attended public schools and where Tom served for several years as a member of the Millbrae School Board.

For three decades (1950-1980) Tom Lantos was a professor of economics, an international affairs analyst for public television, and an economic consultant to businesses. He also served in senior advisory roles to members of the United States Senate.

Tom and Annette Lantos are the parents of two daughters - Annette and Katrina. Annette is married to Timber Dick, an independent businessman in Colorado, and they are the parents of ten children. Katrina is married to Richard N. Swett, former New Hampshire Congressman (1991-1995) and former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark (1998-2001). The Swetts are the parents of seven children.

Lew, Ginger

Ginger Lew is the CEO of a private consulting firm based in Washington, DC. She recently retired from a venture capital fund, where she was the Managing Director and sat on the boards of several innovative high tech companies. From 1993 through 1998, Lew served as the General Counsel for the Department of Commerce under Secretary Ron Brown. Lew also served as the Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer at the Small Business Administration. She was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate for both positions. Prior to joining the Administration, Lew was an entrepreneur for a San Francisco start-up company.

For the last five years, Lew served on the NASDAQ Listing Council where she served on the audit committee, independent director committee and was chair of the foreign issuers committee. Lew currently serves on the Board of a European investment fund, and two not for profit organizations. Lew practiced law for more than 20 years before moving to senior management positions.

Liao, Gordon

Mr. Liao is a leader in middle-market investments. He is currently a Vice President and Founding Member of Reliant Equity Investors, a $120 mm private equity firm based in Chicago focused on late stage buyouts. The firm takes controlling interests in smaller middle market U.S. companies, typically with transaction values ranging from $10 - $40 mm.

Prior to the founding of Reliant in 2001, Mr. Liao worked at Wind Point Partners, another middle-market private equity firm and divine, Inc, a publicly traded internet incubator. He started his career with Merrill Lynch in their investment banking group.

Mr. Liao serves on the board of Rhinotek Computer Products and Saginaw Powertrain, Inc. He was the founder of the Asian American Business Association of Harvard Business School and served as a founding member of the Asian American Artists' Collectives of Chicago and Boston. He is a produced and published playwright, film director, poet and spoken word artist.

He received a BS in Finance from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Toigo Fellow. A founding member of AAAIM, Mr. Liao's interests include promoting visibility of and empowering Asian Americans.

Lin, Bob

Bob is the co-founder of Acorn Campus and Acorn Angels, two of the most reputable investment organizations in Asian American community. In addition to having extensive angels and corporate investment expertise with multiple IPOs, he also has more than 20 years of international business start-up, marketing, and management experiences. He is very well known for being the first launching investor of Avanti (IPO '95), AltiGen (IPO '97) and LightLogic (Sold to Intel for $400M '01). He is an early investor in Vertex Network (Sold to Mitel for $200M '99). He is also the co-founder of Pine Photonics (sold to Hitachi/Opnext '03). With Acorn, Bob was also an investor of AFOP (IPO '00) and Rapidstream (M&A, '02).

Bob is the co-owner and board director of several medium-size manufacturing companies in Asia with a combined number of employees near 4,000. Bob also serves as the Chairman of Mobile Radius, a wireless platform company in California, and on the board of Pine Photonics and Luxnet in Fremont, California, as well as Atonics, a SoC Semiconductor company in Taiwan, plus EPIN Wireless System in Beijing. Bob is also the author of an inspiring book "Pursuit of Success & Happiness" and has been asked to write several more books for the next few years. In the past, he had been the lead guitarist and pianist of the rock band "Southern Breed" in Taiwan.

Bob has been very active in generous community services. He was the Chairman twice in Chinese Association of International Trade (CAIT), Board member of Monte Jade Association, Board member of Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce. He has also served both as the Commissioner and the Chairman of Santa Clara County - HsinChu County Commission. Bob has a MSEE degree from University of California at Santa Barbara. He has been very active in community services.

Lin, Justin

Born in Taipei, Justin Lin moved with his family to Orange County, California when he was nine. He earned a BA and MFA in film direction at UCLA’s School of Film and Television. While in the graduate program, he met fellow student Quentin Lee, and the two first worked together on Quentin’s film Flow (1996), with Lee directing and writing, and Lin working as the cinematographer. They subsequently wrote the screenplay for their next film, Shopping for Fangs (1997), sharing directorial duties. The film screened internationally at numerous festivals, including the Palm Springs International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

Lin went on to write and direct his own screenplay, Better Luck Tomorrow (2003), about a group of Asian-American high school students who, despite excellent grades and wealthy backgrounds, turn to crime for entertainment. Lin financed the movie using his life savings, 10 credit cards, help from family and friends and M.C. Hammer. He met the rapper at a Las Vegas convention while he was trying to raise funds to make the film, and Hammer asked Lin to send a script. After reading it over, Hammer decided to contribute to the film’s funding. Lin received a 2002 Visonary Award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival for his work.

Since then, he has helmed major motion pictures such as Annapolis (2006) and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). Lin resides in the Los Angeles area.

Louie, David

Louie joined ABC7 in 1972 after graduation from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, becoming the station's first and the Bay Area's senior Asian American reporter. He has been the East Bay and Peninsula bureau chief, business and technology editor, and financial news anchor, reporting live from the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange.

In 1996, Louie was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).

He was AAJA national president for two years. In 1994, Louie was the first minority elected Chairman of the Board of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which bestows TV's coveted Emmy Award. In that capacity, he launched the Academy's Web site, expanded a national program on media literacy for secondary school students, and created a $20,000 annual scholarship program. He's also appeared on the Daytime Emmy Awards. Other honors include national awards from the Organization of Chinese Americans and the National Asian Peace Officers Association. He is a charter member of the Hall of Achievement at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and a member of the Alumni Hall of Fame at Lakewood (Ohio) High School. He received the Meritorious Conduct Award from San Francisco Police for assistance in capturing a bank robber on the spot.

Before joining ABC7, Louie worked at television stations in Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago. He serves on the board of directors of the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) in Washington, D.C. and is a trustee of its foundation. In 1999, RTNDA awarded him the Rob Downey Citation for exceptional service. He was the very first RTNDA scholarship recipient in 1970. He is also a member of the Medill School of Journalism's Board of Visitors.

Louie has also served on the boards of several Bay Area community organizations.
Louie covers the technology and business beat in the Bay Area.

Low, Evan

Evan Low was elected to the Campbell City Council in November 2006. He is the Director of Community and Government Affairs, Volunteer Center of Silicon Valley. He attended San Jose State University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.

Evan is an Advisory Board Member for Chinese Historical and Cultural Project and Vision New America. He was awarded the Asian American Hero Award by Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued a Proclamation naming June 5, 2006, “Evan Low Day” in the City and County of San Francisco.

Ma, Fiona

Fiona Ma was elected to represent the people of California’s 12th Assembly District. She is also a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Assemblywoman Ma has authored groundbreaking legislation to protect young children from dangerous chemicals, help California’s working families pay the bills, increase access to quality healthcare, and provide equal rights for all Californians.

As a Certified Public Accountant, Assemblywoman Ma is also focused on improving California’s bottom line. She has authored legislation to keep jobs in California and grow the state’s economy. Assemblywoman Ma has also been one of the leading advocates for bringing high speed rail to California to keep the state moving forward. In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed Fiona to the White House Conference on Small Business. Her tireless advocacy for women and minority business owners has led to responsible public contracting in San Francisco.

Assemblywoman Ma received her B.S. from the Rochester Institute of Technology (NY), her M.S. in Taxation from Golden Gate University (SF), and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Mangaliman, Jessie

Jessie Mangaliman is a staff writer on the race and demographics team of the San Jose Mercury News, covering immigration. He is a former staff writer for the Washington Post and New York Newsday.

He was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University and was also a Jefferson Fellow.

Born and raised in Manila, the Philippines, Jessie speaks fluent Tagalog. He majored in journalism and French at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma. He serves on the national governing board of AAJA, and is the national board representative for AAJA's Bay Area chapter.

Mar, Eric

Eric Mar is a parent, teacher, and progressive educational leader who was elected to his first term to the San Francisco Board of Education in November 2000. He chairs the Board's Rules Committee and previously served as Board Vice President and Chair of the Curriculum and Budget Committees.

As an independent, responsive and effective advocate for students, parents and teachers, Eric has an impressive track record of leadership and accomplishments which have improved educational opportunity and achievement for all public school students in San Francisco. He serves as a delegate to the California School Boards Association [CSBA] and is active in the Council of Urban Boards of Education [CUBE] of the National School Boards Association [NSBA] and the National Coalition of Education Activists [NCEA].

Eric is a longtime educator and community activist who has taught Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University since 1992. He is the past director of the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights and former Acting Dean of New College of California School of Law. As a political leader, Eric was elected to the San Francisco Democratic Party Central Committee for three consecutive terms and served as its Second Vice-Chair. As a public interest attorney he served on the Human Rights Committee of the State Bar of California and the Civil Rights Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Eric lives in San Francisco's Richmond District with his partner Sandra Chin Mar, an SFUSD teacher, and their 4 year old daughter Jade Justicia Mar.

Masaoka, Jan

Jan Masaoka is a leading writer and thinker on nonprofit organizations with particular emphasis on boards of directors, business planning, and the role of nonprofits in society. She recently left her position of 14 years as executive director of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, a consulting and training firm for nonprofits based in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Jan writes the Board Café for nonprofit board members, a newsletter now with 44,000 subscribers. She authored The Best of the Board Café (published by Fieldstone Press) and her research work includes recent studies on women executive directors of color, executive director tenure, all-volunteer organizations, and nonprofit space & occupancy needs. She is a frequent keynote speaker and contributor to nonprofit journals.

Jan’s community activities include serving as the Chair of the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center, and as a board member of the San Francisco Foundation Community Initiative Funds and the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley . She is a member of the Advisory Board to the Stanford Social Innovation Review and she was a member of the Governance and Fiduciary Working Group of the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector convened to advise the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. She has completed two terms on the Telecommunications Commission of the City and County of San Francisco.

For the past eight years Jan has been named one of the "Fifty Most Influential People" in the nonprofit sector nationwide, and in 2003 she was named "Nonprofit Executive of the Year" by Nonprofit Times. In 2005 she was named “California Community Leader of the Year” by Leadership California.

Mendoza, H.P.

H.P. Mendoza is a native of San Francisco whose writing credits include the first three installments of the Magic At series, Colma : The Musical, its sequel (Serramonte : The Musical) and a new untitled musical film for The Center for Asian American Media. He has also placed in the top 15 of UCLA AsiaArts Top Creative Talents of 2006. H.P. Mendoza's first album, Everything is Pop, has just been followed up by his second full length album, Nomad, which recently has been made available for free download from www.hpmendoza.com.

Mendoza, Hydra

Hydra Mendoza is a member of the San Francisco School board. She has been a co-chair of her children’s school site council, Vice-President of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and an active classroom volunteer. Hydra is the former Executive Director and a founding member of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco, a national organization who engages parents and community members to support, promote and improve public education.

In 2005, Hydra was appointed as Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Education Advisor and Liaison to the San Francisco Unified School District. Hydra has been invited to speak on key educational policies ranging from parent engagement to school governance on panels for State and National organizations and school institutions such as the California Council of Parent Participatory Nursery Schools, Teach for America, San Francisco State University, Senator John Burton’s staff and Hawaii Unified School District. In 2005, she was honored with the Parent of the Year Award from the California Association for Bilingual Education.

Mineta, David

David Kunimitsu Mineta is the Associate Director- San Mateo County of Asian American Recovery Services (AARS), Inc. Over the last eleven years with AARS, he has worked on a variety of youth substance abuse related services, which target underserved Asian and Pacific Islander youth and their families. Mr. Mineta currently directs San Mateo County services for both adult and youth contracts. He has an extensive history of CSAP, CSAT, and CMHS grant management. Mr. Mineta currently serves as a trustee with the Jefferson Union High School District’s school board. As a member of the board, he serves as a liaison with the Pacifica School District, the Facilities Oversight and Improvement Committee, and the Jefferson Elementary School District. He was elected a delegate from San Mateo County to the California School Boards Association delegate assembly. He is also a member of the Asian Pacific Islander School Board Members Association. Mr. Mineta is a graduate of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. He earned his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in Political Science and then received his Masters in Social Work from San Jose State University. He is married to Christine Wong Mineta. The couple lives in Pacifica with their five year-old daughter, Lauryn Emiko, and their two year-old son, Mathew Norman.

Mineta, Norm

Norman Y. Mineta is the longest serving Secretary in the history of the U.S. Department of Transportation, becoming the 14th Secretary of Transportation on January 25, 2001.

He was also the first Asian-American Cabinet member during the Clinton administration, and the first Cabinet member to switch directly from a Democratic to a Republican Cabinet. In December 2004, Secretary Mineta accepted President Bush's invitation to continue his service in the Cabinet during the President's second term until July 6, 2006

As Secretary of Transportation, Mineta oversaw an agency with almost 60,000 employees and a $61.6 billion budget. Created in 1967, the U.S. Department of Transportation brought under one umbrella air, maritime and surface transportation missions.

At the U.S. Department of Transportation, Secretary Mineta has delivered on the President's historic commitment to safety. During his first four years as Secretary, America achieved the lowest vehicle fatality rate ever recorded, the highest safety belt usage rate ever recorded, and the lowest rail fatality level ever recorded. The Secretary has overseen the safest three-year period in aviation history. In addition, Secretary Mineta was instrumental in persuading every state in the country to set a blood alcohol rate at .08 percent, an alcohol level that has proved to be effective in preventing automobile crashes and improving safety.

Secretary Mineta also oversaw the Coast Guard's response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, including developing the Sea Marshal Program, Maritime Safety and Security Teams, and expanding the number and mission of Coast Guard Port Security Units.

Secretary Mineta guided the creation of the Transportation Security Administration, an agency of more than 60,000 employees charged with protecting Americans as they travel across our country. Starting from a blank sheet of paper on Nov. 19, 2001, Secretary Mineta led a team that met all 36 mandates set forth by Congress – including screening all airline passengers by the TSA's first anniversary and all baggage by Dec. 31, 2003. Because of the Secretary's leadership, the TSA quickly developed into an effective agency that has restored air travelers' confidence in aviation security following the terrorist attacks. The Transportation Security Administration was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

Prior to joining President Bush's administration as Secretary of Transportation, Secretary Mineta served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Clinton. He was vice president of Lockheed Martin Corporation prior to joining the Commerce Department.

From 1975 to 1995, he served as a member of U.S. House of Representatives, representing the heart of California's Silicon Valley. As a member of Congress, then Representative Mineta was known for his dedication to the people of his district, for consensus building among his colleagues and for forging public-private partnerships. Mineta's legislative and policy agenda was wide and varied, including major projects in the areas of economic development, science and technology policy, trade, transportation, the environment, intelligence, the budget and civil rights. He co-founded the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and served as its first chair.

Mineta served as chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee between 1992 and 1994. He chaired the committee's aviation subcommittee between 1981 and 1988, and chaired its Surface Transportation Subcommittee from 1989 to 1991. During his career in Congress he championed increases in investment for transportation infrastructure, and was a key author of the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, which shifted decisions on highway and mass transit planning to state and local governments. ISTEA led to major upsurges in mass transit ridership and more environmentally-friendly transportation projects, such as bicycle paths. He also pressed for more funding for the department's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

After leaving Congress, he chaired the National Civil Aviation Review Commission, which in 1997 issued recommendations on reducing traffic congestion and reducing the aviation accident rate. Many of the commission's recommendations were adopted by the Clinton administration, including reform of the FAA to enable it to perform more like a business.

Secretary Mineta and his family were among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry forced from their homes and into internment camps during World War II. After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, Secretary Mineta joined the Army in 1953 and served as an intelligence officer in Japan and Korea. He joined his father in the Mineta Insurance Agency before entering politics in San Jose, serving as a member of its City Council from 1967 to 1971 and mayor from 1971 to 1974, becoming the first Asian Pacific American mayor of a major U.S. city. As mayor, he favored greater control of transportation decisions by local government, a position he later championed in ISTEA.

While in Congress, Mineta was the driving force behind passage of H.R. 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which officially apologized for and redressed the injustices endured by Japanese Americans during the war. In 1995, George Washington University awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Medal to Mineta for his contributions to the field of civil rights. In 2003, Secretary Mineta received the Panetta Institute's Jefferson-Lincoln Award for his bipartisan leadership in addressing the nation’s challenges and was selected by the Council of Excellence in Government to receive the Elliot L. Richardson Prize for Excellence and Integrity in Public Service.

Secretary Mineta is married to Danealia (Deni) Mineta. He has two sons, David and Stuart Mineta, and two stepsons, Robert and Mark Brantner.

Park, Annabel

Annabel Park was born in Seoul, Korea and moved with her family to Houston, Texas when she was nine years old. She finished high school in Rockville, Maryland and then attended Boston University majoring in philosophy. Upon finishing her degree, Annabel was awarded the British Marshall Scholarship to study political theory at Oxford becoming the first Korean American Marshall Scholar.

She has had a variety of work experiences including: growing up working at a truck-stop diner in Houston, working with her family to create Capital Martial Arts, a martial arts and tutoring program for inner city children in Washington D.C., organizing a donated food distribution program in inner city Boston, working at The New York Times as a business strategy analyst, political organizing, campaign opposition and strategic research, and writing and directing theater and film.

After gaining experience in community outreach and media, she returned to the D.C. area in 2006 to find ways to promote direct citizen participation in the democratic process. She founded and led Real Virginians for Webb, a multi-ethnic campaign to support Jim Webb's 2006 Virginia senate campaign. She then worked as the National Coordinator for 121 Coalition, a grassroots coalition of over 200 civic organizations united to support the passage of House Resolution 121, the "comfort women" resolution. The H.Res.121 passed unanimously on July 30th, 2007.

Poy Lee, William

William Poy Lee was born in the North Beach-Chinatown districts of San Francisco on January 16, 1951 where he lived with one foot in a very traditional Chinatown and one foot in the bohemian arts, music, and politics of North Beach. He received his Bachelors of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969 and his Juris Doctor from Hastings College of Law, University of California, San Francisco in 1978. A lawyer since 1979, he lives in Berkeley, where he writes full-time. In his book, The Eighth Promise, Poy Lee gives us a rare view of the Chinese-American experience from a mother-son perspective.

Quan, Rick

Veteran sports reporter Rick Quan anchors sports on Eyewitness News Friday at 6 and 11pm and Saturday at 6:30 and 11pm. You'll also find him reporting live during the week, often from the headquarters of the top Bay Area sports teams. He won a 2006 RTNDA award for a story on jockeys forcing themselves to lose weight to ride. Readers of the Oakland Tribune chose him as their favorite local TV news anchor in 2000, a year in which the Northern California Arthritis Association voted him "media person of the year." The Oakland Tribune readers also bestowed the honor of favorite news anchor in 2001 and Alameda Times Star readers voted him as their favorite in 2002.

Since joining CBS 5 in 1987, Quan's excellence in broadcasting has consistently been recognized by organizations including the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Radio and Television News Directors Association, and the Associated Press. In May 1998, Quan received an Emmy for his piece "Hong Wah Kues," for which he also received an RTNDA award in March. He has been nominated three times for a Northern California Emmy and awarded four times for sports reporting by the Peninsula Press Club. In 1983, Quan was honored as the Hawaii Sportscaster of the Year. He was also a finalist for Hawaii's Outstanding Young Person Award, an honor presented to individuals who donate time to charitable organizations. Quan continues to work closely with the bay area's Asian community as well as other non-profit groups.

Prior to joining CBS 5, Quan was the news reporter and weekend sports anchor at KAIT in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He then moved to KITV, an ABC affiliate in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he worked as a sports anchor, reporter, and sports director. A native of Houston, Texas, Quan holds a bachelor's degree in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas in Austin.

Santisteban, Mitos

Mitos Santisteban is a manager for Community Relations at ABS/CBN International (The Filipino TV Channel). She was formerly president of Media Philippines, a marketing and advertising company with clients that targeted the Filipino market in the U.S. She is a community leader, past president of the Fil-Am Council of San Francisco, and the Fil-Am Chamber of Commerce of San Mateo, and active in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Santisteban serves as a member of the board of directors of Philippines International Aid and ABS/CBN Foundation, which both support the needs of children in the Philippines. She is fluent in Tagalog, Ilonggo, Spanish and English has over 20 years multi-faceted, hands-on management experience in Asia and in the US.

Sing, Lillian

Judge Lillian Sing is the first Asian American woman judge in Northern California.
Judge Sing has received many judicial and community awards, including:
* Trial Judge of the Year Award by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association,
* Outstanding Jurist award by the San Francisco Women Lawyers Alliance
* Presiding Judge Award by the Lawyers' Club of San Francisco.
* Women Who Could Be President Award, from the League of Women Voters
* Outstanding Contribution Award, from the SF Commission on the Status of Women
* Women Making History Award from then Congresswoman Barbara Boxer,
* Asian Pacific Leadership Award University of SF Center for the Pacific Rim
* Honored as a Living Treasure by the Asian Pacific Democratic Club.

Prior to being a judge, Judge Sing served as San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner, San Francisco Civil Service vice Chair/Commissioner, and President of the Trustees of the San Francisco Community College.

Judge Sing is active in the community. She was a founding member of Chinese for Affirmative Action, California Asian Judges Association, Wah Mei Bilingual School, Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition, and the co-chair of the Asian-American Task Force on University Admissions, and a member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Asian-American Affairs at U.C. Berkeley.

Presently she presides as Judge of the Delinquency Department at the Juvenile Court of the SF Superior Court.

Soo, Julie

Julie D. Soo, NAPABA’s Rapid Response Media Team chair, has been a staff counsel for the California Department of Insurance since 2001. She has served as legislative staff and advisor to members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Ms. Soo is well-recognized as a former staff writer with AsianWeek, where she continues to be a features contributor. She appeared on New California Media, a public television news roundtable for California’s ethnic news community, and served as a guest host for Voice of the Neighborhood, a political radio talk show targeted to the Bay Area Cantonese-speaking community. In 2006, Ms. Soo was selected as a California Endowment Health Journalism Fellow.

Ms. Soo is now in her fourth two-year term with the California State Democratic Central Committee, having received appointments from California Insurance Commissioner Harry Low, Assemblyman Mark Leno, and Board of Equalization Member Betty Yee. In 2004, Ms. Soo was elected as an at-large delegate for presidential candidate John Kerry, representing Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional District. She was elected Statewide Chair of the California Democratic Party’s API Caucus in 2005 and was re-elected in 2007.

Sugino, Dennis

Dennis is President of Cliffwater LLC. Prior to forming Cliffwater in 2004, Dennis was a Managing Director and principal of Wilshire Associates from 1992 to 2004 where he was a senior consultant leading a team of professionals in working with high profile and complex public funds, corporate plans and endowments/foundations on their investment strategies and implementation. Dennis began his career with the Los Angeles City Council where he was a Senior Legislative Analyst and became involved with recommending investment changes to the City's pension plans. He was Chief Investment Officer of the Los Angeles Police and Fire Pension system where he worked from 1986 to 1992, and was responsible for its multi-billion dollar investment fund and initiating investments in real estate, small cap and non US equity and emerging manager programs.

He earned a BS in Environmental Management from California State University, Dominquez Hills, and an MA in Architecture and Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dennis is a member of the CFA Institute and the Los Angeles Society of Financial Analysts.

Tellez, Cora

Cora founded Sterling HSA in 2004 and serves as its President and CEO. She has 25 years of management experience in health care finance and delivery. Prior to founding Sterling HSA, Cora was President of the health plans division of Health Net, Inc., an insurance provider that operated in seven states and achieved revenue of $8 billion from health plans. She began her career at Health Net as CEO of its California Plan. She has also served as President and Chair of Prudential's western health care operations, CEO of Blue Shield of California, Bay Region and Regional Manager for Kaiser Permanente of Hawaii.

Sterling HSA is a leader in a new category of tax-advantaged health care benefits called health savings accounts, or HSAs. As an independent HSA administrator, Sterling HSA serves the needs of insurance carriers, employers and consumers. The company offers a comprehensive range of services, such as payment of medical bills, education, collection, customer service and reporting to establish and manage HSAs. Sterling HSA delivers a simple, reliable and personal approach to paying for health care while saving for the future.

With a long and successful record of achieving stellar results, Cora co-founded Sterling HSA because of her strong belief that health savings accounts will have an enormous impact on the affordability and accessibility of health care for individuals and businesses. She speaks nationwide to groups of insurance professionals, companies of all sizes and consumers about the vital changes needed in health care benefits and the role that HSAs play in reform.

Cora received her master’s degree in public administration from California State University and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Mills College where she received a BA degree. She serves on the boards of First Consulting Group (NYSE:FCGI) and Crescent Healthcare and serves on the Advisory Board of PracticeFusion. She also serves on the board of several nonprofit organizations, including the Cowell Foundation, Philippine International Aid, Institute for Medical Quality and Mills College.

Tomita, Tamlyn

Born in Okinawa, Japan, actress Tamlyn Tomita performed on-stage in Los Angeles before making her film debut in The Karate Kid Part II in 1986 as Ralph Macchio's love interest, Kumiko.

In 1993, she was part of the excellent ensemble cast in the generation-gap drama The Joy Luck Club, based on the novel by Amy Tan. Other films include the Hawaiian-set romantic drama Picture Bride, the clever comedy drama Four Rooms, the horror thriller Killing Jar, and the independent relationship comedy Hundred Percent.

On television, Tamlyn has appeared in the sci-fi movie Babylon 5: The Gathering and landed reccurring roles on The Burning Zone JAG, and 24. S he also can be seen in Greg Pak's critically praised digital video project Robot Stories and Roland Emmerich's 2004 sci-fi disaster film The Day After Tomorrow.

Tran, Ham

Ham Tran is a UCLA graduate in Fine Arts and became best known with his thesis film The Anniversary that won him the prestigious USA Film Festival Award, which also qualified the film for the 2004 Academy Awards for Best Live Action Short. Ham Tran recently finished the much-anticipated boat people-movie Journey from the Fall which is often referred to as the Schindler’s List for the Vietnamese Diaspora.

 

Tran, Quinn

Quinn Tran is a serial entrepreneur and is currently founder and CEO of goQTT, an online travel service company focusing on Vietnam/Southeast Asia tourism industry. Tran is also founder and director of Global Connect LLC, a software and VoIP technology company based in the Silicon Valley. She also was a co-founder and Vice President and General Manager for a Xerox ColorgrafX Systems. She is a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum, Silicon Valley where a number of business and civic leaders come together to actively work on community causes. Tran also serves on the Board of Directors of numerous Silicon Valley organizations such as The Enterprise Network, The Children Discovery Museum and the Knight Ridder Foundation.

Wang, Prof. Ling-Chi

Professor Ling-chi Wang is a distinguished scholar and activist on Asian American issues. He was at the center of the struggles that shaped the creation of the Ethnic Studies Department at UC Berkeley, and has been an advocate ever since of the department’s social activist agenda, particularly in the wake of the Bakke court decision and other attacks on affirmative action. He has been centrally involved in activism, scholarship and dialogues about the rights of Chinese-speaking students in K-12 education, the housing crisis in San Francisco’s Chinatown, the 1996 campaign finance scandal, and, most recently, issues around the Japanese government’s responsibility to Chinese, Koreans, and other Asian targets of Japanese aggression during World War II. He played a key role as strategist and advisor during former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee’s battle against espionage charges. His recent publications in Asian American studies include "Being Used and Being Marginalized in the Affirmative Action Debate: Re-envisioning Multiracial America from an Asian American Perspective" in Asian American Policy Review and "Structure of Dual Domination" in Amerasia Journal.

Wong, Bill

Bill Wong has nearly 20 years of mainstream political and legislative experience with an unparalleled understanding of Asian Pacific Islander leaders and communities through decades of grassroots activism and community service. Mr. Wong is also an expert in mobilizing the emerging voting and fundraising power of Asian Pacific American communities. He has successfully employed these strategies and skills to contribute to victories for the Judy Chu Campaign for the Board of Equalization, the John Chiang Campaign for State Controller, "No on Prop. 54", "Yes on Prop. 55", and "Yes on Prop. 39."

He has served as chief of staff to state Assembly Member Judy Chu, chief of staff to state Senator Hilda L. Solis and legislative director to Assembly Member Mike Honda. In addition, Mr. Wong also worked over three years as a registered contract lobbyist for Lenny Goldberg & Associates. Mr. Wong's other experience includes work as chief consultant to the Senate Subcommittee on Asia Trade and Commerce, an associate committee consultant to the California State Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs; and a research aide for Senate Office of Asian Pacific Islander Affairs.

Mr. Wong has held leadership positions in numerous state and local community organizations and civic commissions, has been published in a nationally recognized campaign-related publication, spoken at several state and national conferences on the topic of public relations and legislative advocacy, and received awards for community service. In Sacramento, he has served as a member of the Mayor Serna's Citizen Committee on Campaign Finance Reform, the Sacramento Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission, and two terms as the president of the Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor degree in Asian American Studies at the University of California at Davis.

Yew, Erica

Governor Gray Davis appointed Yew to the Santa Clara County Superior Court on October 2, 2001. Yew is the first Asian-American female appointed to this bench.

Born in San Jose, Yew graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with Honors in 1982. She received her J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in 1985.

In addition to the law, community service is important to Yew. In 1990, the Santa Clara County Bar Association named her Pro Bono Attorney of the Year. The California State Bar gave Yew the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services in 1991. In 1995, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and the Human Relations Commission conferred the Award of Special Merit upon Yew for her service to the community. Also in 1995, the Honorable Zoe Lofgren entered Yew’s name in the United States Congressional Record in recognition of her volunteer efforts. In January 2001, Yew won an award from the Avant! Foundation for her volunteerism. In March 2002, the Asian Law Alliance gave Yew its Distinguished Recognition Award. In November 2002, Yew received a Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). In September 2003, Yew was recognized by the Women Lawyers Committee of the Santa Clara County Bar Association. In November 2003, Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) honored Yew, conferring upon her its “Giving Voice to Women” award. In January 2005, Yew received the Justice Byrl R. Salsman Award for her long-term contributions to the legal profession. On March 14 2005, Yew was named Woman of the Year for District 24 by California Assembly member Rebecca Cohen. In March 2006, Yew received the Juliette Gordon Low award from the Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County. In March 2007, Yew received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Santa Clara Domestic Violence Council for her work in the area of family violence.

Currently, Yew serves on the California Judicial Council Kleps Award Committee and on the Judicial Council Task Force on Self-Represented Litigants. She is also the Immediate Past President of the NAPABA Judicial Council, which is the national association of Asian American judicial officers. She is a board member of Greater San Jose After School All Stars, a national organization founded by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to promote after-school activities. Yew also serves on the Advisory Board for Latinas Contra Cancer, the Santa Clara County Law Library Board of Trustees, the Good Samaritan Hospital Board, and the Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute (APALI) Board. In 2006, Yew served on the California State Bar and Santa Clara County Bar Association Pipeline Task Forces on Diversity. Also in 2006, Yew established a program through which county-wide collaborative workshops are offered to serve victims of domestic violence. Finally, she is an American Leadership Forum senior fellow, Class XV.

As an attorney, Yew served as a District Three Representative on the California State Bar Board of Governors, having been elected by her peers. Yew is past President of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of the Silicon Valley. She has also served on the boards of the Pro Bono Project of Silicon Valley and the Asian Law Alliance. Yew is a past board member of the Legal Aid Society, past member of the Board of Trustees for the Santa Clara County Bar Association, past co-chair of that bar association’s Judiciary Committee, past chair of that bar association’s Minority Access Committee, past board member of Child Advocates of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, past member of the county Advisory Commission for the Children’s Shelter, past member of the Board of Trustees for Lincoln Law School, and a past board member of the Silicon Valley Campaign for Legal Services. In addition, Yew served on Attorney General Lockyer’s Blue Ribbon Commission on SWAT Policies and Practices. In 1994, Yew founded a monthly program for toddlers at the Agnews Family Living Center, a homeless shelter. As a volunteer and while practicing law, Yew coordinated this program for four years.

Yew is a frequent speaker at colleges and law schools and mentors a number of students and attorneys.

Yoon, Kyung H.

Professional Profile
One of Kyung Yoon's functions is to serve as a bridge between the United States and Asia Pacific. Since joining the firm in 1994, Kyung has been one of the key drivers in Heidrick & Struggles' Asia Pacific expansion, with management responsibility for the Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai and Seoul offices.

Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Kyung was President of Benten Investments, Inc. Previously, she was President of Pacific Union Asset Management and Vice President of Dillingham Development Company. Kyung started her career with Banque Nationale de Paris.

Clients Served
Kyung has conducted successful search projects for multinational clients including CP Group, CapitaLand, Dell, IBM, Komag, Maxtor, Merck, Microsoft, NCR, Nokia, NOL, Philips, Samsung, Seagate, SilTerra, Singapore Technologies, Sybase, TSMC and Unisys.

In the financial services field, Kyung has been retained by international investment banks and private equity and venture capital firms such as Deutsche Bank, H&Q Asia Pacific, JPMorgan Partners, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, Newbridge Capital, PAMA, Venrock Associates, Walden International and Warburg Pincus.

Education
Kyung obtained a bachelor's degree in economics and French from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, and holds an MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago.

Additional Information
Kyung serves on the board of directors of SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB). She is President of the Asia America MultiTechnology Association (AAMA). Kyung also serves on Stanford University's Project on Regions of Innovation and Entreprenureship's (SPRIE) Greater China Networks Project Advisory Board.

Kyung was awarded the "2004 Asia Pacific Leadership Award" by the University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim for building bridges of understanding between Asian cultures and the U.S. Kyung was recognized among the "Most Influential Women of 2003" by the American Cities Business Journal. She also has been selected as one of the top executive recruiters in the world in Nancy Garrison-Jenn's book, "The Global 200 Executive Recruiters." In 2001, Kyung was awarded the Heidrick & Struggles Globe Trotter Award for her role in helping to expand the firm's presence internationally.

Kyung has frequently been a speaker at international and other high-profile conferences, including the World Economic Forum, Harvard Business School, State of the World Forum, the Corporate Governance Seminar in Singapore, The Asia Society, the Global Human Resource Institute, the Mexico Business Summit on Corporate Governance, the 17th Annual California Governor's Conference for Women and the Global Summit of Women and Korea Information Technology Network Conference (KINCON).

Kyung has been featured on CNBC in "Managing Asia," "Working Women in Asia" and "SmartMoney Asia," as well as in newspaper and magazine interviews in the Sunday Times, The Business Times in Singapore, Han Kook Il-Bo, Business Weekly in Korea, South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.

Yu, Phil

Phil Yu's Angry Asian Man website has been called by the Washington Post "a daily must-read for the media-savvy, socially conscious, pop-cultured Asian American." His commentary has been featured and quoted in stories for the Post, Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, USA Today, MSNBC, NY Press, CBS News, SF Gate, Hyphen, KoreAm Journal, and AsianWeek.

Zheng, Eddy

Having arrived in Oakland, California, from China at age 12, Eddy Zheng was incarcerated at age 16, serving 21 years in the prison system, where he transformed into a critically minded and self-educated individual. He earned his college degree, participated in youth and religious programs, organized San Quentin's first poetry slam, and published two zines. After receiving parole in 2005, Eddy was transferred into a immigration detention facility by the Dept. of Homeland Security, which now seeks his deportation for the crime he committed as a teenager. He currently works for Community Youth Center in San Francisco and visits schools to speak to and counsel young people about the importance of education, self-respect, individual responsibility, and community awareness.