Friday Keynote Speakers
Sandi Karrmann
Chief People Officer
Yum! Restaurants International
Sandi is currently the Chief People Officer for Yum! Restaurants International based in Dallas, Texas and is responsible for building and leading the Human Resources function. Prior to YRI, Sandi was the Chief People Officer for Pizza Hut US, also based in Dallas, Texas. Before re-joining Yum!, Sandi served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer, for Meritage Homes Corporation based in Plano, Texas. In that role, she was responsible for building and leading a newly-established Human Resources function for Meritage. Prior to Meritage, Sandi spent nearly 13 years with PepsiCo. Most recently, she was Vice President, Human Resources – Sales, where she led the Sales HR Team and supported both Field Sales and National Accounts, representing over 20,000 employees nationwide. She joined the Frito-Lay North America Division of PepsiCo in compensation and held positions of increasing responsibility in headquarters and the field with both Frito-Lay and Taco Bell. Prior to Frito-Lay, Sandi worked for Heller Financial and R. H. Macy & Company.
Sandi received her BA in Psychology and Communication from the University of Michigan and her MBA in Finance from the University of Southern California. She is an Executive Board Member of Camp John Marc, a camp for chronically ill/disabled children and Chairman on the School Board of Prince of Peace Christian School. Sandi, her husband Steve, and their three children reside in Lewisville, Texas.
Doreen Woo
Ho
Former President and CEO
United Commercial Bank
Doreen Woo Ho is a seasoned executive with over 35 years of banking experience. She is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of United Commercial Bank (“UCB™”), a leading commercial and community bank in the United States serving the Chinese community in America and in Greater China with assets over $12 Billion.
Prior to UCB, Ms. Ho spent ten years with Wells Fargo where she was the President of the Consumer Credit Group and a member of the Wells Fargo Management Committee. She also oversaw the bank’s Enterprise Marketing Group, where she was responsible for global branding, advertising and marketing programs, as well as strategic oversight for marketing across the lines of business in the bank. As the President of the Consumer Credit Group, Ms. Ho built one of the fastest growing and profitable asset groups within Wells Fargo from 1998 to 2007. She took Wells Fargo to number one in market share nationally for prime home equity loans in 2001 from fifth place in 1998, leveraging a multi-channel distribution strategy and customer centric value proposition, covering all 50 states. In addition, Ms. Ho was also responsible for personal lines and loans, student loans as well as a corporate trust business. Total portfolio managed under her leadership exceeded $100 Billion, over 8000 employees and over 12 operations centers across the country, as well as the servicing of $2 Trillion + of corporate securities.
Ms. Ho started her banking career with Citibank and underwent their corporate banking management training program.
Before joining Citibank, Doreen was a correspondent for Time magazine and CBS Radio News based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 1972 to 1973.
In October 2007, Ms. Ho was ranked among the top five of the 25 “Most Powerful Women in Banking” by U.S. Banker magazine, recognition that she received consecutively for five years since 2003. The same year, she was recognized by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the Bay Area's 100 Most Influential Women, an honor she has received every year since 2003 through 2009. Ms. Ho has received numerous honors and awards from the Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (2007), Asian Real Estate Association of America (2007), San Francisco Financial Women's Association (2004), Chinese Historical Society of America (2002), the Chinatown Community Development Corp (2003), and the Organization for Chinese Americans (2003 & 2007).
Active in the community, Ms. Ho serves on the board of the San Francisco Opera. She is also one of the founding board members of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF).
She is also a Board member of C100, an organization of Chinese American leaders dedicated to improving US/China relations and promoting the full participation of Chinese Americans in American society. She has served previously on the boards of the Hamlin School, the local chapter of the World Affairs Council, the International Institute of Education and the San Francisco Zoo. She has been a frequent speaker at various forums, including the Consumer Bankers Association, Inman Real Estate Conference, the Thomson Mortgage Technology Conference and the Financial Women's Association of San Francisco. She has also appeared as a guest commentator on CNN FN, Bloomberg Radio, and CNBC's "Closing Bell" and "Squawk Box" programs.
Ms. Ho is a graduate of Smith College and Columbia University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree respectively in History and East Asian Studies.
Doreen is married to James K. Ho, President of the Board of Chinese Hospital and former Deputy Mayor of San Francisco. The Ho’s have three children.
John S. Chen
Chairman, CEO, and President
Sybase, Inc.
John Chen has served as chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Sybase, Inc. since 1998. Under his leadership, Sybase has become the recognized industry leader in enterprise mobility infrastructure. In addition, the company has significantly strengthened its position in data management, and has a long track record of increasing revenue and profitability. In acknowledging his business leadership, Forbes magazine named Mr. Chen one of the Top 25 Notable Chinese-Americans in Business. He was named 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Northern California.
Mr. Chen is actively involved in international relations. He has testified before Congress on U.S.–China trade relations. In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush appointed him to serve on the President’s Export Council. In 2006, he was appointed co-chair of the Secure Borders and Open Doors Advisory Committee. In addition, Mr. Chen has been a longtime member of the Committee of 100 and currently serves as its chairman. In recognition of his leadership in building U.S.-Asia relations, he received awards from the US-Asia Institute in 2009 and California-Asia Business Council in 2007.
Mr. Chen serves on the boards of directors for the Walt Disney Company, and Wells Fargo & Co.
Mr. Chen graduated from Brown University magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He holds a master’s from California Institute of Technology (CalTech). He also has an honorary professorship from Shanghai University, an honorary doctorate from the San Jose State University in California, and the City University of Hong Kong, as well as an honorary doctorate in business administration from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Mr. Chen is active in the community. He is a trustee of CalTech as well as a governor of the San Francisco Symphony.
Friday Workshop Speakers
Richard-Abraham Rugnao
Senior Manager of Government Relations and Global Diversity
Yum! Brands
Richard-Abraham Rugnao is the Sr. Manager of Government Relations and Global Diversity for Yum! Brands, parent company of A&W All American Food, KFC, Long John Silver's, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. In his role, Richard-Abraham is primarily responsible for leveraging the company's grassroots government relations and diversity efforts in marketing, franchising, purchasing, and community relations to drive Yum's business. Prior to joining Yum!, Richard-Abraham was the Director of Public Relations for the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC.
Jie "Jay" Zheng
NAAAP Colorado Past President
NAAAP
Mr. Zheng is with Prudential Financial to pursue his dream in entrepreneurship. He is a seasoned professional with innovative thought leadership and practical experience in culture and global business integration. His business development-centric and people-focused approach has enabled organizations to connect business objectives with diversity and inclusion, global talent development and employee engagement
In addition, Mr. Zheng transformed Asian ERG at StorageTek and Sun Microsystems from culture-centric to business partnership focusing on global talent management and business development. He is the founder and the first term President of the Colorado chapter of National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) from 2006 through 2009. He was named by the Diversity Edge magazine as a 2008 Diversity Champion http://www.thediversityedge.com/diversity_champions.htm.
Mr. Zheng was born in China. He received MBA in Marketing, E-Commerce and Entrepreneurship from University of Rochester and MS in Polymer Chemistry from RIT.
Kimberly Wong Oleson
Vice President of Clinical Operations
Medtronic Inc.
Kimberly Wong Oleson is the Vice President of Clinical Operations for Medtronic Inc. Medtronic is the global leader in medical technology and is currently ranked #160 on the Fortune 500 list. As part of Medtronic’s Corporate Strategy & Scientific Operations group, Kimberly is responsible for the enterprise-wide strategy for Medtronic’s global clinical research operations.
Kimberly has successfully held positions of increasing responsibility across multiple businesses within Medtronic which include: Senior Director of Clinical, Regulatory and Quality for the Ventures & New Therapies business, Institutional Official for the Medtronic Physiological Research Laboratories, and Senior Director of Clinical for Medtronic’s Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management business. With 20+ years of experience in the medical industry, Kimberly’s technical contributions have led to the commercialization of innovative medical therapies in the fields of drug delivery, neurology, cardiology, interventional radiology, and cardiac electrophysiology. For distinguished service, Kimberly is a recipient of Medtronic’s Star of Excellence Award.
Kimberly is a Principal Advisor for the Medtronic Asian Employee Resource Group whose charter is to attract, develop, retain, and maximize business contributions from Asian employees. Kimberly is an invited guest lecturer for national and international organizations on the subject of research ethics.
Patricia T Summers
Global RAPA National President
Raytheon Principal Systems Engineer
Pat is a Principal Systems Engineer at Raytheon Network Centric Systems (NCS), Fullerton, California and has 30+ years of experience in software, systems, hardware, IT, and engineering processes (CMMI, IPDS) in the aerospace industry. She is a very active supporter of diversity and started the Fullerton Diversity Council in 1998. Prior to 1998, she was active on the El Segundo Diversity Council. In Fullerton, she leads the Diversity Council and has been instrumental in mentoring and starting various Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): RWN (Raytheon Women’s Network), FREENET (Fellowship and Resources for Experienced Employees Network), YES!Net (Young Employees Support Network), RAPA (Raytheon Asian Pacific Association), RAYBEN (Raytheon Black Employees Network), GLBTA (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Allies), HOLA (Hispanic Opportunities for Leadership Advancement), and MEENA (Middle Eastern Employees Network Association). She is currently serving as a Fullerton Site Diversity and Inclusion Contact (SDIC) to help promote diversity and inclusion awareness, develop a diversity toolkit, develop better communication, support the 2010 regional Rdiversity Summit, and to encourage ERGs to help Raytheon international business.
She is currently the Global President of the RAPA National Organization since 2009. As a 2003 alumni of LEAP PPS (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics – Path to Professional Success), she has sponsored LEAP educators and diversity leaders to speak at the Fullerton site for employee development. Each year, the RWN and HOLA EGs support MathMovesU and sponsor “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” and “Introduce a Boy to Engineering” day at the site where students (5th through 8th grades) learn about engineering theory and concepts. In addition, the Fullerton Diversity Council supports the Fullerton School District and has many young students visit the plant semi-annually to learn about science and engineering principles. Pat has been on the steering committees to help organize and plan these events to reach out to young ‘future’ engineers. Pat is also a member of the Raytheon Inclusion Council.
Pat Summers was one of the Co-Chairs of the 2008 NAAAP LA Convention as the Workshops and Speakers lead. The NAAAP LA Convention had over 47 workshops, 120 speakers/keynotes, and 6 celebrity emcees focusing on growing leaders. Pat was very proud of the successful 2008 NAAAP LA Convention. She is a founding member of NAAAP-OC who won “venture of the year in 2009”.
Pat has a double Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from UCLA and currently resides in Huntington Beach, CA.
Liz Kinniburgh
Director of Business Development
Sodexo
Liz has more than 20 years experience in food service management. Her career started in operations and then continued in business development.
Liz graduated from California State University Long Beach with a BS degree in Dietetics and Food Administration. Liz continued her education with an internship at the University of Southern California Medical Center and became a registered dietitian.
Liz has an extensive operations background and has held positions such as Operations Manager, Food Service Director and General Manager. Liz’s education and operations background help her to focus on our clients’ needs and on developing the right blend of products, services and terms for each future Sodexo client.
Liz believes in giving back to the company and colleagues. She serves as National Chair for Sodexo’s PANG (Pan Asian Network Group), and is recipient of Sodexo’s Champion of Diversity Award in 2007.
Shubha Ramaswamy
President and Founder
Reap Leaders
Shubha Ramaswamy is an IT executive with over 17 years experience in leadership and consulting in the pharmaceutical, finance and insurance industries. She has led very diverse global teams implementing large scale initiatives, working with senior executives, business leaders, external clients and their staffs.
Some of her success stories include:
- pioneering multimillion offshore projects for Met Life, integrating large staffs in India and in the US
- redirecting a under-performing diverse team for Chubb to produce on-time, on-budget results
- Mentoring managers and consultants to achieve successful collaboration on mission critical projects for a global financial firm
Shubha’s passion is growing women and minority leaders to achieve strategic business results in the competitive global market. She also works with managers on ways to manage in these multicultural, multigenerational environments. Shubha has herself been a minority woman leader and served at various levels within Fortune 100 corporations that uniquely positions her to understand key issues for multicultural women in the workplace.
Active professionally, she is a member of Women in Technology International (WITI), the Asian Women’s Leadership Network (AWLN), the South Asian Women’s Leadership Forum (SAWLF), National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) as well as the Project Management Institute (PMI).
Shubha received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Mysore (India), is a certified Project Management Professional (PMI) . She is fluent in Hindi, as well as many other main dialects of India.
Johnnie Giles
Regional Vice President of Government Affairs
Comcast
As Regional Vice President of Government Affairs, Johnnie Giles oversees all aspects of Comcast's governmental affairs activities and legislative advocacy efforts in California.
Giles is a seasoned cable veteran, with more than 16 years of industry experience. He started his career at the Chronicle Publishing Company in San Francisco, working on the mergers and acquisitions, and eventually moved into Chronicleís cable television division. In 2003, Giles assumed the leadership role of Comcastís government affairs in the East Bay. He then served as Comcastís Vice President of State Government Relations for California, providing leadership for both legislative and regulatory affairs.
Giles serves on the Board of Directors for the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA), Bay Area Council and the Sacramento Asian Chamber of Commerce. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and received his Executive MBA at Pepperdine University.
Nora D.
Senior Computer Engineer
CIA
Nora is currently an IT computer engineer with the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, DC, where she is responsible for the evaluation and selection of computer hardware and software for use throughout the Agency.
Nora came to the Agency with 25 years experience in industry ranging from a large defense contractor to an internet start-up.
She earned her BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MES in Digital Systems from Loyola College, Baltimore.
Clem Cheng
Vice President Human Resources
Comcast Spotlight
Clem leads Human Resources for Comcast Spotlight which is an advertising sales business unit at Comcast. In this role Clem is focused on supporting the business through strategic HR consultation and talent management. Prior to joining Comcast Clem held various senior HR leadership roles at CIGNA Corporation, Citigroup and W.L. Gore & Associates. Clem has also held various operations management positions during his career. He graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science and Economics from the College of William & Mary and also holds an M.B.A. from the University of Delaware.
Clem resides in suburban Philadelphia and is married with two daughters and a son. In addition to family and work, he is active with the March of Dimes, the College of William and Mary and participates in triathlons.
Gil Gido
Principle Consultant
Ulysses' Social Media Marketing Company
Based out of Seattle, Washington, Gil Gido owns a social media marketing firm Ulysses' Social Media Marketing Company (USMMC). His firm helps small and medium-sized businesses use social media technologies. He is also the President of the Seattle Chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP-Seattle) and volunteers his time supporting local organizations.
Crystal Jaing
Group Leader of Applied Genomics
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Crystal is the Group Leader of the Applied Genomics group in the Physical & Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She works with a multidisciplinary team to develop transformational DNA detection technologies for biodefense and public health applications. Crystal leads multiple research projects and manages a large number of scientific collaborations on pathogen discovery, biological threat agent characterization, forensics and product safety.
Crystal received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from China and her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry from Indiana University School of Medicine. She has a diverse scientific background and more than 10 years’ leadership experience in biotechnology industry and government research laboratories. She has given invited talks in a number of national conferences.
Linda Akutagawa
Senior Vice President of Resource & Business Development
Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP)
Linda Akutagawa is a Senior Vice President of Resource & Business Development at Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP) where she is responsible for fundraising and business development and oversees program design, development and delivery. Now in her 18th year, Linda bridges her development and program design and delivery roles through her consulting with LEAP’s diverse range of corporate, community, and government clients.
She is a Board member of the Asian Women Leadership Network and Japanese American Community Services. Previous to joining LEAP, Linda was the Marketing Manager for Japan and Orient Tours. Linda received her B.S. in International Business with a minor in Economics from California State University Los Angeles.
Brad Furukawa
Vice President, Chief Technology Officer
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Brad Furukawa is vice president and chief technology officer for the Information Technology Solutions organization. In this role, Brad is responsible for leading Northrop Grumman’s overall internal information technology strategic and technical direction. Brad is also responsible for leading IT strategy, enterprise architecture, advanced technology programs, standards and in driving toward common business processes. He provides technical and strategic guidance in an advisory role to the Corporate CIO and is the executive champion for the company’s Green IT Initiatives, Corporate Web 2.0 strategy, and chair of the Information Technology Review Board. Brad represents Northrop Grumman externally, providing leadership in our relationship with key strategic suppliers and industry organizations.
As vice president and chief information officer for Northrop Grumman’s Space Technology sector, he had responsiblity for defining the information technology strategic direction for the sector and for delivering cost-effective, timely, high-quality internal information technology (IT) solutions and services, which align with the sector’s business priorities.
As the director of software engineering, Mr. Furukawa directed the full life-cycle development through support of Northrop Grumman’s engineering, manufacturing, business and logistics information systems.
With this responsibility, he managed a national workforce of more than 1,100 software engineering professionals and managers, applying common Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Level 3 processes and leveraging the expertise and best practices from across the nation to deliver IT solutions. In this role, Mr. Furukawa implemented and supported SAP, PeopleSoft and Lawson ERP solutions across the corporation.
Mr. Furukawa earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. He also holds mutiple Six Sigma Greenbelt certificates. In 2007 he was honored with the Asian-American Engineer of the Year Award, and was also named a Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader. In 2008, his high-performance supercluster project was named among Computerworld magazine’s 10 Best in Class.
Nora Lin
Manager, Supportability Engineering
Society of Women Engineers (SWE) President
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Nora has broad working experience in engineering for more than 26 years in the defense industry. She is an employee of Northrop Grumman Corporation, Electronic Systems Sector for 16 years. She started her career as an Associated Scientific Programmer and later became a technical lead/manager in Software Engineering and led engineering teams with various sizes to develop relational database applications and real-time software for several military programs. In 2001 she moved into the Independent Research and Development (IRAD) Coordinator position, where she was responsible for managing $30M+ IRAD funds and coordinating/reporting the IRAD projects for her site. She became the manager of Supportability Engineering in 2002 and has been in that position since. In addition to her functional management responsibility, she led the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®) initiative and obtained the accreditation of CMMI Maturity Level 3 rating for Systems and Software Engineering at her site in 2007. Currently, she continues to support the CMMI initiative and prepare the site to pursue higher maturity level.
Nora is a Senior Life member of SWE. She has held various SWE positions at local, regional and national levels. Those positions include Director of Regions, Region H Governor, Section Vitality Task Force Chair, Region H Deputy Director, Leadership Coach, SWE-Chicago Regional Section’s President, Vice President and Treasurer. She also works closely with and supports nearby SWE collegiate sections. Six years ago, she initiated the creation of a corporate-wide Northrop Grumman Women Engineers group and served as the first chair. She is pleased to see within her company an increase in SWE membership and participation at the SWE national conference.
Nora was a recipient of Women of Color in Technology Career Achieve Award in 2008. She also received the Asian American Engineer of the Year Award in 2009.
Melissa Sandlin
Manufacturing Process Engineer
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Melissa joined Northrop Grumman Corporation as a Manufacturing Process Engineer where she again distinguished herself professionally as she rose through the engineering ranks. In her first position, she was responsible for an x-ray laminography inspection process, a machine that used x-rays to examine the quality of solder joints in military electronics. She then became a Project Engineer, following a product through its entire life cycle, from introduction to full-rate production. In this role, she addressed a wide range of issues, from material vendor problems, to manufacturing process problems, to problems with test yield.
The quality of her work has earned her praise and recognition from high level executives, but she is the first to admit that she did not get their on her own. Mentors and coaches played a vital role in opening Melissa’s eyes to the world of engineering, so she readily pays it forward by doing the same for upcoming generations of students. With each step of her engineering career, Melissa has actively participated in efforts to find and foster the engineers of tomorrow.
Melissa has always been active in engineering outreach programs. She has participated in Northrop Grumman’s DiscoverE program for the past five years, introducing engineering as a profession to third, fourth and fifth graders. She served as a mentor in and now leads Northrop Grumman’s WORTHY Program, a high school mentoring program aimed at inner city students interested in pursuing a career in engineering. WORTHY provides opportunities to students who may be aware of engineering but not necessarily have the role models or resources to follow through on their dreams. Melissa feels that the opportunities that were afforded to her should be available to every student and that exposing them to these possibilities at a young age increases their chance to develop career goals and strive for the education they need to reach them. She recognizes that nothing is more important than helping future generations shape their future and, at the same time, the future of engineering.
Leon Lee
Software Engineering Lead
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Leon Lee is the Software Engineering Lead/CAM for the Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) Common Gyro Reference Assembly (CGRA) for the Space based Infrared System (SBIRS ) – Follow-on Production (SFP). As the Software Engineering Lead and Control Account Manager, Mr. Lee provides leadership and direction with schedule milestones, tasks, and priorities for the Software Team, while keeping in line with the enterprise and site-specific procedures and processes. Mr. Lee presents the Software Team’s status to the customer on a weekly basis, and supports Program Management and Functional Management in managing the Team’s schedule and cost. With experience in the software development and defect containment processes, Mr. Lee also implements the company’s procedures and processes across various engineering disciplines.
Prior to this role, Mr. Lee was the Requirements Management Lead for the company’s F-22 Global Inertial Navigation System (GINS) Safety Critical (SC 3.1) Program, as well as the program’s application software engineer for the Ethernet System Processor Interface (ESPI) memory monitor software.
Mr. Lee believed that community involvement did not end at the university level. Mr. Lee joined Northrop Grumman’s WORTHY engineering outreach program in 2005 to promote interest in engineering within local high school students, and to provide strong mentorship and role modeling. Mr. Lee became WORTHY’s lead from 2007-2009.
Mr. Lee involved himself in the Leadership Development Program (LDP) in 2007-2008.
During the inception of the Asian Pacific Professional Network (APPN) in 2007, Mr. Lee assumed the role of Woodland Hills’ Chairperson to promote (together with the strong board of officers) a grass-roots culture, encouraging: employee involvement, leadership, professional development, networking, community involvement, and understanding of the Asian Pacific culture to other affinity groups. Mr. Lee served as Chairperson from 2007-2009.
Mr. Lee is the Electronic Systems Sector Co-Chair of the Asian Pacific Professional Network.
HueiShuan Liu
IT Project & Portfolio Manager
Northrop Grumman Corporation
HueiShuan (pronounced HOY SHEN) has been with Raytheon Company for seven years, since 2003. Currently, she is an IT project and portfolio manager overseeing a $3M collection of internal IT projects to ensure quality, governance and compliance, and project successes.
HueiShuan is a graduate of Raytheon’s Leadership Development Program and the recipient of Raytheon Space and Airborne System President’s Excellence Award. The award recognized her significant contributions in Raytheon’s diversity efforts as the president for Raytheon Asian Pacific Association – El Segundo – the largest employee resource group in the company.
HueiShuan graduated from Simmons College, Boston, in 2002, receiving B.S. in Computer Science and Biochemistry. Her passion is enabling the human potentials in others.
Ray Ju
President, PMI San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Vice President, PMI Diversity Specific Interest Group
Ray is an active member of the Project Management Institute since 1987, certified as PMP #560. He is currently President of the SF Bay Area Chapter and Vice President of the Diversity SIG. His professional contributions include being a speaker at PMI events in the EU, North America and AsiaPac. Ray enjoys sharing his knowledge and learning on an academic level having developed and taught Project Management courses at San Diego State University and is an instructor on the faculty of UC Berkeley Extension.
He is founder of Get IT LLC, an international project consulting company. His work experiences includes leading collaborative local, national and global project teams for AT&T, Wells Fargo, Sun Microsystems, City of Oakland, Cisco, Chiron, Blue Shield, Perot Systems, CSAA, CompuMentor, Gilead and now at California Pacific Medical Center. Where Ray is responsible for the IT infrastructure design of two new hospitals and medical office buildings and a member of the Quality Development System program team rolling out the Toyota Lean Production system throughout the enterprise to improve patient care and quality of service delivery.
David Lum
Director of Asia/Pacific Product & Support Operations
for the Government & Public Safety Business, Motorola
David Lum is the Director of Asia/Pacific Product & Support Operations for the Government & Public Safety business in Motorola. For over 27 years, David worked in the land mobile two-way radio business and has extensive experience in a wide variety of markets and applications that use two-way voice and wireless data radio systems. David’s work experience includes product development, systems marketing, manufacturing, systems engineering, field engineering, project management, sales and engineering training, business development, product operations, and regulatory affairs. David also contributes white papers and articles for industry magazines.
David is a self-proclaimed geek with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and went over to the dark side when he earned a Master’s of Science degree in Management from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
In his spare time, David serves as a Business Professor at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, teaching courses in global business, and effective leadership. David also serves as a senior advisory council member for the National Association of Asian American Professionals. David is also an Advanced Communicator Bronze in his Toastmasters club in Schaumburg.
Born and raised in the US, David is married to his beautiful wife for over 27 years, has two great teenage sons, and lives in the Chicagoland area. David’s hobbies include aviation (where he is a licensed private pilot), reading, microcomputing, teaching, public speaking, movie-watching, and spending time with his family.
Puon Penn
Head of the National CleanTech Group Sector
Wells Fargo
Puon Penn is head of the National CleanTech Group sector at Wells Fargo. The bank has provided over $6 billion in financing for cleantech companies and renewables projects.
Puon is an alumni of Reed College and the University of Chicago. Puon is involved with the Cambodian Children's Fund and Friends-Without-a-Border.
Marilyn P. Chow
Vice President of National Patient Care
at Kaiser Permanente
Dr. Marilyn Chow is the vice president of National Patient Care Services at Kaiser Permanente. She is also the Program Director for the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellows Program.
A graduate of the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing, Dr. Chow has made significant contributions to nursing through her scholarship, leadership, and political and civic involvement. She has served on the San Francisco City and County Social Services Commission and served as its president for two years.
Dr. Chow is committed to incorporating innovation and technology to reduce waste and improve workflows within the health care industry. She was the driving force in conceptualizing and creating the Garfield Innovation Center, Kaiser Permanente’s living laboratory, where ideas are tested and solutions are developed in a hands-on, mocked-up clinical environment. She also sits on the board for Kaiser Permanente’s Innovation Fund for Technology, which helps fund innovative ideas in early development to the point where benefits can be demonstrated in two to four months. Dr. Chow also brought design thinking to Kaiser Permanente by sponsoring some of its first work with IDEO, a world-renowned design firm, to develop and prototype ideas based on human needs. The work has now been internalized as the Innovation Consultancy group within KP.
She has received several awards, including Women’s Honors in Public Health and the UCSF School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award. She was recently selected as one of the distinguished 100 graduates and faculty of the UCSF School of Nursing for the Centennial Wall of Fame. Dr. Chow is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
Yukari Iwatani Kane
Staff Reporter
Wall Street Journal
Yukari Iwatani Kane is a staff reporter with the Wall Street Journal in San Francisco. She has been writing about technology for nearly 15 years and has covered everything from telecoms to consumers electronics to video games in Chicago, San Francisco and Tokyo. She currently writes primarily about Apple. Prior to the Wall Street Journal, she worked for Reuters and U.S. News and World Report.
S. K. Gupta
Vice President of Operations
Lockheed Martin Space System Company
Mr. Gupta is vice president of Operations for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (SSC). SSC designs, develops, tests, manufactures and operates a full spectrum of advanced-technology systems for national security, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include human space flight systems; a full range of remote sensing, navigation, meteorological and communications satellites and instruments; space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft; laser radar; fleet ballistic missiles; and missile defense systems. SSC provides over $8 billion of Lockheed Martin’s $43 billion of annual sales.
S. K.’s responsibilities include the Material Management, Transportation, Publications & Services, and Environment, Safety & Health organizations as well as about 17 million square feet of facility operations across ten states. Additionally, he manages all of SSC’s capital investments and leads SSC’s efforts for LM21 Operating Excellence and Target Zero.
As the first corporate director of LM21 Operating Excellence at Lockheed Martin Corporation, S. K. helped implement a culture of continuous improvement. He has held technical and management assignments in engineering, business operations, business development, operations, and program management on multiple programs, including the stealth ship, Sea Shadow, featured in the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies. Before moving to the U.S., he served as chief engineer on merchant ships.
In 2004 S. K. received the Asian American Engineer of the Year Award. He also was honored with the Lockheed Corporation’s Robert E. Gross Award as Engineer/Scientist of the Year in 1984 and was a member of the Management Council that received the Department of Defense’s 1997 Single Process Initiative Award. In 2008, he was awarded Lockheed Martin’s ES&H Leadership in Excellence award.
A graduate of Marine Engineering College in India, he earned another engineering degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Seattle University. He has attended executive management courses at Columbia, Northwestern and Santa Clara Universities as well as at Lockheed Martin’s Center for Leadership Education. S. K. has published and presented papers on leadership, business, and technical subjects at international levels and is frequently solicited as a motivational speaker.
S. K. was recently elected to the Sandia National Laboratories’ Board of Directors and Bay Area Council’s Board of Directors. He also serves on the Industry Advisory Board of Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan, the Senior Advisory Board of LMC Properties, Inc., the San Jose Museum of Arts’ Board of Trustees, and the Board of Directors of Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP). He is Lockheed Martin’s Co-University Executive for the University of Michigan and co-founder of Council of Asian American Leaders at Lockheed Martin. Earlier he was on Lockheed Martin Chairman’s Executive Diversity Board and on the Board of Directors for the Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI) consortium.
Mr. Gupta resides with his wife Neeta in Pleasanton, California.
Arnie Strebe
VP of Human Resources
Schwan's Consumer Brands NA, Inc.
Arnie Strebe joined Schwan's in 2000 as Director of Corporate Training. He was instrumental in the establishment of Schwan's University and served as its first President. He has also served as Vice President and Senior Director of Operations for the manufacturing facilities in Pasadena and Deer Park, TX; Regional Vice President for Schwan's Home Service; Senior Vice President and CHRO and is currently the VP of Human Resources for Schwan's Consumer Brands North America, Inc. located in Bloomington, MN. Previously, Arnie worked as Training and Development Director at United Research Scientists and the Minnesota Transportation Department. He also served as an officer in the United States Army. Arnie earned his bachelor's degree in education from Minot State University and has a master's degree from Jones International University. He is a certified USA Triathlon coach and has completed numerous triathlons around the country to include an Ironman.
Shelene Atanacio
Actress, Author, Community Activist, Entrepreneur
At the heart of Actress, Author, Community Activist, Entrepreneur & Mother, Shelene Atanacio, is a true creative artist. Her philosophy of approaching life as an art with every moment an opportunity to create can be seen in every aspect of her life. In co-founding The VERTE Project, Shelene combines her natural creative talents in writing, performance and business as a way to give back to the community.
Recently, Shelene Atanacio has been featured on various news and radio shows promoting the message of her latest writing project, her best selling book, Act From The Inside Out which serves as an inspiration for The VERTE Project.
In Act From the Inside Out, Shelene takes readers on a journey of finding freedom and success within themselves by utilizing powerful acting tools and cultivating an inspired mindset in their everyday lives. Non-actors have embraced Shelene’s message to successfully transform themselves into leaders, new entrepreneurs, succeed at challenging jobs, or simply to live out their passions.
Also an advocate for higher education, Shelene has worked with various outreach groups such as The Break The Cycle Program with missions devoted to breaking the cycle of limited educational opportunities in lower income communities.
As an actress, Shelene has graced the stage and screen with her talent of transforming herself into an array of characters.
Shelene holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and has studied acting with teachers such as Dee Wallace and Richard Seyd.
Sonny Vu
Chairman and Founder
AgaMatrix
After graduating with useless degrees in math and linguistics, Sonny managed to talk his way into a job at Microsoft where he tried to get computers to understand language. Having succeeded in only getting them to spell and realizing he could never come close to the stock options the group's secretary had from pre-Windows 3.1 days, he made a short-lived attempt to please his (Asian) parents by trying to get a graduate degree. Acting primarily out of peer pressure, Sonny dropped out of his PhD program at MIT to start his first company, FireSpout, a natural language software company whose technology a large search engine got suckered into buying. After a failed second attempt to finish his PhD, Sonny moved in with his old college roommate and started AgaMatrix, where he is now Chairman of the Board. Pre-financing, they leveraged a $2/day food budget and free Taco Bell sauce packets, rather than VCs (a term that has somewhat more positive connotations in his native country of Vietnam), to get things going. The two of them are dumbfounded that 8 years later, they now have 9 products FDA-cleared in this $9B market (again thanks in part to Taco Bell), have over 1M people using their glucose meters, and have now scored this amazing deal with sanofi-aventis who just loves their ultra high accuracy biosensor technology. At AgaMatrix, Sonny spends his time maintaining his United 1K status going around talking with fellow deluded entrepreneurs and technologists and devising hair-brained schemes to increase the company's growth, like putting glucose meters in cell phones to help reduce healthcare cost. In his spare time, he works on party tricks by learning useless languages like Hebrew and Hungarian, and attempting to directly connect his RSS feeds to his cerebellum.
Rear Admiral (Select) Colin G. Chinn
Medical Corps, U.S. Navy
U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific Surgeon
A native of San Francisco, Calif., Rear Admiral (Select) Chinn graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1979 with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health and received a Master’s degree in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in 1982.
After his commissioning as an ensign in 1981, he attended the Medical College of Virginia through the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program and earned a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1985. He completed an Internal Medicine internship and residency at Naval Hospital Oakland, serving as chief medical resident in 1990. Chinn completed gastroenterology fellowship training at Naval Medical Center San Diego in 1993.
Chinn has several tours with the Marine Corps. He was battalion surgeon with 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division from 1986-1987, group surgeon, 3rd Force Service Support Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force from 1998-2000 and force surgeon, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific beginning in 2008. He was selected as the Navy surgeon general specialty leader for Fleet Marine Forces during this tour.
Chinn has staff physician tours at Naval Hospital Corpus Christi from 1990-1991 where he served as head, Internal Medicine and Laboratory medical director and staff gastroenterologist and Independent Duty Corpsman Program director at Naval Medical Center San Diego from 1993 to 1998.
From 2000-2003 he was the director of Medical Services, U.S. Naval Hospital, Okinawa. He served as executive officer, Naval Hospital Lemoore from 2003 to 2006 and completed a two-year tour as the 15th commanding officer of Naval Hospital, Oak Harbor from June 2006 to June 2008.
Chinn is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and achieved board certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.
Chinn is a Fleet Marine Force qualified officer. His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with two Gold Stars, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Gold Star, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and various unit and service awards.
J.D. Hokoyama
President & CEO
Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP)
J.D. Hokoyama is the President & CEO and a founding board member of Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP). A former Peace Corps volunteer serving in Ethiopia, he has been a high school English teacher and department chair, a K- 8 elementary school principal, the acting national director of the Japanese American Citizens League and the director of the Office of Asian Pacific American Students Services at the University of Southern California. He speaks and trains nationally in all sectors on topics such as becoming a 21st century leader, understanding cultural values, risk taking and breaking the glass ceiling. Mr. Hokoyama holds a BA in English, a secondary teaching credential and a M.Ed. in Educational Administration from Loyola Marymount University.
Daryl Ching
VP Compliance for Clubb Finance
Daryl began his financial career at RBC Capital Markets, where he structured and executed multi-billion dollar credit card receivable, residential mortgage, and equipment and auto loan and lease transactions through the issuance of term asset backed securities (ABS) and short-term asset backed commercial paper (ABCP). Daryl later moved to Coventree, which was the largest non-bank ABCP issuer at $16 billion outstanding.
In response to the ABCP debacle which is now recognized as Canada’s largest financial crisis, Daryl launched his own consulting firm to fill the void and educate investors on these complex products. Clarity Financial Strategy provided insights on the $32 billion, 18-month long restructure that was recently completed which involved numerous counterparties and escalated to the Supreme Court of Canada. Clarity’s clients included several corporate noteholders of ABCP, as well as Canaccord, who hired Clarity to provide consulting to 1,400 retail clients. During the restructure process, Daryl ran a blog that was updated four times a week, was quoted in numerous media sources such at the Financial Times, the Globe and Mail, the Financial Post, Reuters news wire reports and Risk Magazine and made about 20 appearances on BNN.
Daryl Ching is currently the VP Compliance for Clubb Finance, an auto finance company that provides floorplan loans to dealerships to finance their auto inventory. Daryl is responsible for revamping the company’s compliance guidelines and procedures and formulating their debt funding strategy.
Jamie Borromeo
Executive Director
National Council of Asian American Business Associations
Jamie Borromeo is the Executive Director of the National Council of Asian American Business Associations, which is the largest national Asian business coalition in the United States. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, NCAABA provides a national voice for it's network of over 380,000 Asian American small businesses and over 100 Asian business organizations and chambers of commerce on issues of economic development, public contracting, supplier diversity and public policy.
Borromeo is former aide to San Jose Councilwoman Madison Nguyen and former intern to Congressman Michael M. Honda (CA-15), where she assisted in drafting Hurricane Katrina legislation on Capitol Hill. Borromeo graduated with a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is a graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program.
Albert Shen
President
Shen Consulting, Inc.
Albert Shen is small business owner whose leadership has made a big impact on some of the Northwest’s largest and most critical infrastructure projects.
Shen is currently the project management consultant on a new $400 million Rental Car Facility at Sea-Tac International Airport. Prior, his team helped complete the long awaited Third Runway and other multi-million dollar projects for the Port of Seattle. In 2008, The New York Times and other prominent national media reported on the innovative solution for airport “parking rage”, a project managed by Shen. In 2009, Shen Consulting, Inc. received the Seattle Mayor’s Small Business of the Year award.
Shen lends his expertise to support non-profit community organizations and political groups. He was appointed to the Washington State Commission on Asian and Pacific American Affairs, where he advises the Governor as the Vice Chair of Economic Development. Shen also serves four non-profit boards, including:
- Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (Council President)
- Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (Board Member)
- Northwest Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans Political Action Committee (Board President)
- National Association of Asian American Professionals (Executive Advisory Board Member)
Gary Wong
President
Westlake Realty Group, Inc.
Gary Wong is President of Westlake Realty Group, Inc. He is responsible for the implementation and execution of the company’s operating strategies, policies, financial performance and strategic relationships. Westlake’s real estate portfolio includes: shopping centers, commercial and residential properties. In aggregate, the company owns and manages approximately 2.5 million square feet of commercial property and owns or manages over 1,200 multi-family units in the United States. The company also has real estate holdings in Japan, China and Mexico.
Previously, Gary served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Westlake. At Westlake, he has been involved in over $900 million in real estate and financing transactions. Prior to Westlake, Gary was a Senior Vice President-Investment Banking for Wedbush Morgan Securities, member NYSE. In this capacity, he was group head for both the company’s Technology and Financial Institutions Group. Prior to Wedbush Morgan Securities, Gary was Vice President-Senior Leasing Officer with Bank of America, covering both the Utility and Aerospace Industry. During his six-year tenure with them, he helped build a fledgling equipment leasing operation into a world-class operation, starting with $300 MM in assets, increasing it to over $2 billion. While at Bank of America, they pioneered the leasing and project financing of power generating equipment and satellite financing.
Gary holds a B.A. and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a co-founder of the Asian Business League, a former Director of the United Way, Los Angeles, a member of the San Francisco Building Owners and Managers Association, the International Council of Shopping Centers, National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, the Urban Land Institute and is an Advisory Board Member of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Economics, University of California.
Mable F. Yee
CEO & Founder
Engage her, Inc.
Mable F. Yee is an entrepreneur, activist, filmmaker and business leader. She has spent the past 30 years in the corporate, high technology, non-profit and Media industries. She is the CEO & Founder of Engage Her, Inc. a non-profit dedicated to educating, activating and creating a new leadership pipeline of multicultural communities.
Yee spent 14 years working for large corporations and technology companies such as Xerox Corporation, Ashton-Tate and Network General. She worked at corporate headquarters and had national marketing responsibilities for launching and managing $50-$120 Million software, hardware and networking global product lines. She spent the next 10 years as the cofounder & CEO of several start ups in the Software, Internet and Consumer marketing industries including Soleil Network Technology and Kiracom.com introducing Network Applications and Internet Target Marketing technologies.
Mable has continuously volunteered her time for the AAPI communities and leadership development. She is a co-founder of the Asian Business League, was the Chairperson of the Chinatown Youth Center and a Senior Advisor of the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP).
Yee is a filmmaker and produced the ground breaking documentary: Engage Her: Getting minority women to lead and vote in 2008. The documentary was screened across the country to help turn out minority women and communities to vote. She also is a video producer, blogger and social media specialist on new social media technologies.
Yee has won numerous awards including: California Assembly District No. 14’s 2010 Woman of the Year Award, 2010’s 10 Women Building Bridges Award and NAAAP’s 100 Award. She is a fellow of the Women’s Media Center, Progressive Women’s Voices, a member of SheSource.org database of public speaking experts.
Mable has extensive media, public speaking and training experience. Among numerous media outlets, she has appeared on the Today Show, NBC, KRON-TV, Hard Copy, People, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, KPFA. She also speaks at conferences on topics ranging from technology to leadership development. She also has a consulting management practice focused on developing multicultural leadership best practices.
Judy Lao
Vice President, Community Alliance
NAAAP San Francisco
Judy Lao is VP of Community Alliance for NAAAP-SF. In this role, Judy is tasked with interacting with other bay area community organizations, and keeping NAAAP-SF aware of community projects and activities.
Judy brings her experience of developing relationships to NAAAP-SF. She has previously held various community leadership positions. She was President of the Santa Barbara Legal Secretaries Association and was heavily involved with the Santa Barbara Young Professionals Club. She will be an active and positive representative to the community on behalf of NAAAP-SF.
Professionally, Judy is a Litigation Paralegal for the law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP. Prior to moving back to her hometown of San Jose in September 2008, Judy worked as a Paralegal in Santa Barbara, California, for the law firm of Price, Postel & Parma LLP.
Judy holds a B.A. in Political Science from UCSB. In her down time, you can find her wine tasting and fine dining with friends and family, running with her dog, snowboarding, paddle boarding, dancing, figure skating, playing Fantasy Football, and watching her favorite sports on television.
Mark Zhang
Comedian
Mark Zhang (a.k.a. Zhangster), finalist in the 2009 San Francisco Walk the Plank Comedy Competition and a finalist in the 2010 Bay Area Killer Laughs Comedy Competition, Zhangster has been shaking up the comedy scene with his unrelenting energy.
Zhangster's unpredictable comedy hits hard on social issues with clever twists. His powerful stage presence has been seen at top comedy clubs around the country and internationally. He was invited to perform in Hong Kong in 2008, Malaysia in 2009, and England in 2010.