Hyepin Im
President / CEO Korean Churches for Community Development |
Ms. Hyepin Im is a U.S. Presidential Appointee on the Board of the Corporation for National and Community Service. She is the President and Founder of Korean Churches for Community Development (KCCD), a national nonprofit empowering churches and nonprofits to leverage their resources by building capacity, leadership, and partnerships in economic development and serving as a bridge between the Asian American community and the greater community. Since 2001, KCCD has had over 300 partners, ranging from the White House to Fortune 500 companies.
She has been featured on CNN, NPR, LA Times and the Washington Post and presented at numerous conferences including the White House, U.S. Department of Labor, and Christian Community Development Association. In 2013, she was recently honored by Los Angeles Magazine as “Ten Inspirational Women of Los Angeles .She was honored as 2012 Woman of Action by California Speaker of the Assembly John Perez and also as Pioneer Woman of the Year by Council President Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Tom Labonge. She was also recognized by LAUSD School Boardmember as a Trailblazer for her work and advocacy for students. She has a B.S. from U.C. Berkeley, M.B.A. from University of Southern California, and M.Div., summa cum laude, from Wesley Theological Seminary. |
Tony Suarez
Executive Vice President National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference |
Rev. Tony Suárez serves as Executive Vice President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, serving 40,118 congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico and 500,000 congregations globally. The NHCLC is the nation’s largest Hispanic Christian organization representing millions of Evangelicals and seeks to reconcile evangelist Billy Graham’s message of salvation with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s march of prophetic activism through its “7 Directives” of Life, Family, Compassionate Evangelism, Stewardship, Justice, Education and Youth. Newsmax has named him as one of the 50 "Most influential Latino Republicans" in the United States.
Rev. Suarez has been featured on CNN, TBN, Telemundo, Univision, Mundo Fox, NBC Latino, WGN, CBN, Charisma, The Christian Post and other print media. Rev. Suarez can be seen weekly via his program on TBN Salsa, “Faith Alive” and as host of “Praise the Lord” Salsa. Rev. Suarez regularly meets with members of Congress and Senate, the White House and speaks at events where the voice and participation of the NHCLC has been requested. Rev. Suarez was honored to be Congressman Luis Gutierrez's guest to the Presidential State of the Union address in January of 2014. He is author of the book "Use Me Lord”. (2012) Rev. Suarez serves on various committees including: American Heart Association Diversity Council, Executive Committee member, Hispanic Israel Leadership Council (HILC), Executive Committee member, Bible Study Fellowship, Hispanic Advisory Board Evangelical Immigration Table, Principals Board, Una Familia Foundation, Director In 2007 he and his wife founded The Pentecostals of Norfolk church in Virginia where they served as Senior Pastors until 2013. During their pastorate Rev. Suarez founded The Norfolk Learning Center, in collaboration with Regent University's Youth and Urban Renewal Center. He is a frequent guest speaker at churches and events around the nation as well as outside the United States sharing the saving and healing message of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rev. Suarez, his wife Jessica, and their three children reside in Virginia. |
Jannah Scott
Deputy Director DHS Center for Faith-based & Neighborhood Partnerships, Presidential Appointee |
Jannah Scott has served in many capacities with government, faith and the nonprofit community for the past 35 years. In March of 2009, Jannah joined President Obama’s administration as Deputy Director, Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In that role, Jannah guides the engagement of faith-based and community groups on issues of emergency preparedness, community resilience, and other issues within Homeland Security. Her most recent endeavors include: modeling “whole community” engagement in crisis management; and development of policies, standards and protocols for government work with private sector groups. Jannah also helps groups connect with President Obama’s White House Office for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships and the 14 other centers in federal Departments. Jannah received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and an honorary doctorate from the Gateway International Bible College in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Teresa W. Gerton
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Department of Labor |
Teresa W. Gerton brings 28 years of service as both an active duty Army officer and a civilian member of the Senior Executive Service. She has a broad range of experience in all aspects of Defense resource and logistics management at various organizational levels, driving process efficiencies and optimizing information systems.
Most recently, Ms. Gerton worked for The Cohen Group, a Washington, DC consulting company. Prior to joining Cohen, she served for eight years as a member of the Senior Executive Service in the Department of Defense. Most recently, she was the Executive Deputy to the Commanding General of Army Materiel Command. There, she was responsible for the daily operations of over 70,000 civilian and 1,500 military employees around the world. Prior to that, she served as AMC's financial controller for three years. She also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Program Analysis and Evaluation where she was responsible for executing all aspects of the development of the OSD Future Years Defense Plan and submitting the plan to Congress. Ms. Gerton's twenty years of military service included a variety of staff and leadership positions, including the Executive Officer for the Army's largest battalion (a 1200-soldier corps support maintenance battalion at Fort Hood), Professor of Economics at the United States Military Academy, and Company Commander of a 300-person direct support maintenance company in Germany. Ms. Gerton graduated from the United States Military Academy and earned an MBA from Duke University. She earned the Distinguished Presidential Rank award in 2011 and the Meritorious Presidential Rank award in 2008. She also received the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service in 2011. |
Congresswoman
Grace Meng U.S. House of Representatives New York, 6th District |
U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng is serving her first term in the United States House of Representatives. Grace represents the Sixth Congressional District of New York encompassing the New York City borough of Queens, including west, central and northeast Queens. Grace is the first Asian-American Member of Congress from New York, and the only Representative of Asian descent on the entire east coast. She is also the first female Member of Congress from Queens since former Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro.
During her first term in the House, Grace scored several legislative victories, an unusual accomplishment for a new Member of Congress. Her first major legislative effort, to allow federal disaster funds to be used for rebuilding houses of worship damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, passed the House just six weeks after she was sworn in to Congress. She also secured passage of her bill to reduce the massive backlog of veterans’ disability claims, as well as legislation that better protects American diplomats serving overseas, in the wake of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. In addition, the House approved her measure to make the desecration of cemeteries a violation of religious freedom. Born in Corona, Queens, and raised in the Bayside section of the borough, Grace graduated from Stuyvesant High School and the University of Michigan. She then earned a law degree from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Prior to entering public service, she worked as a public-interest lawyer. Grace resides in Queens with her husband, Wayne, two sons – Tyler and Brandon – and her dog, Bounce. |
Mark Brinkmoeller
Director Center at the U.S. Agency for International Development |
Mark Brinkmoeller leads developing high-level strategic partnerships within the faith, NGO and related industry communities to increase the effectiveness and reach of ones advocacy efforts. He manages relationships with faith-motivated artists and on partnerships for ones Living Proof Project. On the national scene, Mark served on the International & Domestic policy committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the CRS advisory board. He served on the board ROUNDTABLE, the national association of diocesan social action directors for six years, including three years as chair. He was a founding board member of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice (now Interfaith Worker Justice).
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Ed Royce
Congressman U.S. House of Representatives California, 39th District |
U.S. Representative Ed Royce [R] is serving his eleventh term in Congress representing California's 39th District, based in Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Counties. Congressman Royce's priorities include: addressing our naional debt, protecting our homeland, eliminating pork-barrel spending, improving our children's schools, spurring job creation and strengthening Social Security and Medicare.
Congressman Royce is currently the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a committee he has been a member of since 1993. Prior to becoming Chairman of the Committee, Royce served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-proliferation, and Trade and a member of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific A California native, Royce is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton. His professional background includes experience as a small business owner, a controller, a capital projects manager, and a corporate tax manager. Royce and his wife, Marie, have been married for 28 years. |
Mark Takano
Congressman U.S. House of Representatives California, 41st District |
For more than twenty years, Mark Takano has worked to improve the lives of Riverside County residents, both as an elected official and as a teacher at Rialto High School.
Born and raised in Riverside, Mark's commitment to public service began at an early age. His family roots in Riverside go back to his grandparents who, along with his parents, were removed from their respective homes and sent to Japanese American Internment camps during World War II. After the war, these two families settled in Riverside County to rebuild their lives. Mark attended La Sierra High School in the Alvord Unified School District, and in 1979 he graduated as the school's valedictorian. Mark attended Harvard College and received his bachelor's degree in Government in 1983. In 1990, Mark was elected to the Riverside Community College District's Board of Trustees. At RCC, Mark has worked with Republicans and Democrats to improve higher education for young people and job training opportunities for adults seeking to learn a new skill or start a new career. He was elected Board President in 1991 and helped the Board and the District gain stability and direction amid serious fiscal challenges. During Mark’s long history of public service in Riverside County he has served on the Community Advisory Board of the Children's Spine Foundation and the Board of the Chancellor's Asian Pacific Islander Community Advisory Center at the University of California, Riverside. He has served as chairman of the Riverside Mayor's Task Force on the Digital Divide, as a charter member of the Association of Latino Community College Trustees, as a member of the Association of California Asian American Trustees and as a member of Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education. He is a recipient of the Martin Luther King Visionaries Award. Today, Mark Takano represents the people of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Jurupa Valley and Perris in the United States Congress. He serves on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and the House Education and Workforce Committee. |
Adam Estle
National Field Director National Immigration Forum |
Adam Estle brings a great diversity of experience in the world of immigration to his role as the National Field Director with the National Immigration Forum. A former high school Spanish teacher, Adam previously directed a federally funded program providing housing and care for unaccompanied immigrant children. Before that, he worked as the lead faith organizer for the Forum’s Bibles, Badges, and Business initiative throughout the Mountain West. Adam has also practiced immigration law under accreditation by the Board of Immigration Appeals at LifeBridge Community Alliance and Neighborhood Ministries, both in Phoenix, AZ, where he lives with his wife Kendra and their four children. Adam has an MA in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary and a BA in Spanish Education from Olivet Nazarene University.
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S. Floyd Mori
President / CEO Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) |
S. Floyd Mori was born in Murray, Utah, of parents who were immigrants from Japan. He grew up on a farm and graduated from Jordan High School in Sandy, Utah, in the Salt Lake Valley. Active in sports, he became a high school All State Baseball Player. After graduation, he served for six months on active duty at Fort Ord, California, with the United States Army Reserves.
Mori entered college at the University of Southern California (USC). He interrupted his college studies to serve a two year mission to Hawaii for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). He then attended Brigham Young University (BYU) from which he received a Bachelors degree with a dual major in Economics and Asian Studies. He received a Masters degree in Economics and Political Science from BYU. He has attended fellowship programs at Stanford University and UCLA. He taught Economics at Chabot College in Hayward, California, for ten years. He was on the Faculty Senate, was a member of the credit committee for the college credit union, taught religious education classes, was advisor of student clubs, and was a member of several professional organizations. In 1972 he was elected City Councilman of the City of Pleasanton, California, and later served as Mayor. He was elected to the California State Assembly in March 1975 and served for six years in that capacity. He was later Director of the Office of International Trade for the State of California. He worked as an International Business Consultant for over twenty years and has been an owner of a golf business. Mori has held various local and national positions for the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), including four years as National President and four years as Vice President. He joined the JACL staff in 2005 and was Director of Public Policy in Washington, D.C, followed by the assignment to become the National Executive Director/CEO of the JACL. He retired from that position on June 1, 2012, and received the title of Executive Director Emeritus. He has been on the Executive Council of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. He is currently the President/CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS). He is a member and supporter of many civil rights and community organizations. He has received various awards, including Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award from OCA National, Community Leadership Award from APAICS, and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette Award from the Government of Japan. He has held many church and civic volunteer positions including in youth sports, the Boy Scouts, and inner-city service work. He is a sports fan and an avid golfer. He has spoken numerous times over the years to various groups about the Japanese American and Asian American experience. He has a book published entitled, The Japanese American Story As Told Through a Collection of Speeches and Articles. He has written several ebooks including Bullying Is Not Just a Kids’ Problem: It’s a Matter of Civil Rights and In the Aftermath of the Tsunami: Photos From the Japan Tsunami, among others. |
Jim Wallis
Editor-in-Chief Sojourners |
Jim Wallis is president and founder of Sojourners in Washington, DC. a non-profit faith-based organization, network, and movement whose mission statement calls for “putting faith into action for social justice.” He is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine and web site which has a combined print and electronic media readership of more than a quarter million people with several million unique visitors to the website, sojo.net, each year. Is a bestselling author, public theologian, national preacher, social activist, and international commentator on ethics and public life. Wallis has written ten books, including The (Un)Common Good and the New York Times bestsellersGod’s Politics and The Great Awakening. He is a frequent speaker in the United States and abroad, has written for major newspapers, does regular columns for Huffington Post and TIME.com, and appears frequently on ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR; on shows from Jon Stewart’s Daily Show to the O’Reilly Factor and Sunday shows like This Week and Meet the Press. Also teaches at Georgetown University and has taught at Harvard University. He served on President Obama’s first White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and as the chair of the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum.
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Juliet K. Choi
Chief of Staff U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
Juliet K. Choi became USCIS Chief of Staff on July 9, 2014. From 2012 to 2014, Choi was the chief of staff and senior advisor for the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. From 2006 to 2011, Choi worked with the American Red Cross, National Headquarters, serving as a member of the Disaster Services executive leadership team in the capacity of senior director for disaster partnerships.
From 2004 to 2006, Choi served at the Asian American Justice Center as the inaugural NAPABA Partners Community Law Fellow and staff attorney. She also spent seven years with the corporate division of Gannett Broadcasting (1992-1999) and subsequently as policy director with the National Mental Health Association (1999-2000). A certified mediator, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Dennis M. Sweeney (retired) of the Circuit Court for Howard County, Maryland (2003-2004). |
Matthew Lee
CEO / President Fastech Inc. KoBE Government Contracting Alliance |
Matthew Lee founded FASTech Inc. in 1990. He currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company. Mr. Lee has guided the growth of FASTech from its inception to its current position as a well regarded business serving the Baltimore-Washington corridor. He has overseen the Company's growth in many technical and administrative areas and has enabled FASTech, Inc. to build a strong reputation by providing quality Information Technology (IT) products and services to Federal, State and Local Agencies, and commercial clients. Under Mr. Lee’s leadership, FASTech now offers a wide range of services including custom application and database design, network engineering and desktop support, web technologies, digital audiovisual technologies, project management, facilities management, and cyber security.
A strong technical leader, Mr. Lee began his career at the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, MD. There he served as an Electronics Engineer designing optical data link for ground-based radar and designing circuits for training devices. He managed custom hybrid products for fuses in the Patriot Missile System used in Desert Storm. He assisted the Science Advisor to USFK/Eighth US Army in the planning, conductance, and preparation of test documentation for the M1 APU System and the Acoustical Detection System. Mr. Lee’s vision and collaborative business style have made him stand out among his peers and business associates. In 2015, at the 42nd Anniversary of Commerce and Industry Day, Mr. Lee was awarded with the Korean’s prime minister’s citation. Again, in 2015, Mr. Lee was selected for the Small Business Administration (SBA), 2015 Emerging Leaders Program. In 2006, 2008 and 2010, Mr. Lee was honored with a Top 100 MBE Award recognizing those minority entrepreneurs that fuel the nation’s economy through their innovation, sacrifices, and dedication. In 2004 thru 2008, he also received a Maryland Governor’s Citation. The KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) honored Mr. Lee in 2004 and 2010 with the Distinguished Award for exemplary promotion of trade and investment between Korean corporations and U.S. customers. In 1990 and 1991, Mr. Lee was awarded the AMC-FAST Junior Engineering Award from Army Research Laboratory. Adding to Mr. Lee’s already vast accomplishments is his commitment to helping small businesses market to the U.S. government. For the past four years, Mr. Lee has been the President of KoBE Government Contracting Alliance; a non-profit organization with a diversity partner’s network, which shares combined resources with more than two hundred minority owned and operated businesses spread throughout the U.S. KoBE, is committed to advancing economic empowerment, sharing knowledge, and assisting other diversity small businesses. Recently, Mr. Lee serviced on Larry Hogan’s (Governor, State of Maryland) Governor's transition team and was appointed for a four-year term on TEDCO Board of Directors Secretary. TEDCO, was created by the Maryland State Legislature in 1998 to facilitate the transfer and commercialization of technology from Maryland’s research universities and federal labs into the marketplace and to assist in the creation and growth of technology-based businesses in all regions of the State. Finally, Mr. Lee is President of the Maryland International Development Center (MDIDC) for the bilateral trade and investment globally. Mr. Lee earned a Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering in 1988 from Virginia Polytechnical Institute and a Master of Science Electrical Engineering degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1994. Since then, to remain current in his field, he attends technical and executive training on a continual basis. |
Piyachat Terrell
Pathways Programs Officer National Recruitment and Outreach Specialist U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
Piyachat Terrell has over 25 years of experience in the federal government with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. She is the Chair of the EPA Asian Pacific American Council (APAC). She is committed to building effective partnerships with AAPI serving institutions. She works closely with the AAPI communities on environmental challenges. During the Katrina aftermath, while serving as the Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on AAPIs, Piyachat was instrumental in mediating meetings between the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Vietnamese community in New Orleans East regarding the controversial Chef Menteur Landfill. As a result of the meetings, the State of Louisiana agreed to close down the Landfill, bringing the victory to the Vietnamese community. During the BP Oil Spill, Piyachat helped organized the first public meeting for the fisher folks and the EPA Deputy Administrator ensuring full community participation. Piyachat is also an art advocate who believes in the power of social and environmental change through art. At the 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Piyachat presented photographs taken by children of the fisher folks on the Talkstory stage. Piyachat shared personal stories of fisher folk youths ensuring that their voices were heard. Piyachat’s current work focuses on women and children issues, a selection of her work is devoted to raising visibility of targeted and victimized hill tribe children in Thailand. As an environmental artist, Piyachat works with recycled materials.
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Christopher Kang
National director National Council of Asian Pacific Americans |
Christopher Kang is national director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, a coalition of 35 national Asian Pacific American organizations. Prior to that, he served almost seven years in the White House as Deputy Counsel and Deputy Assistant to President Barack Obama; Senior Counsel to the President; and Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs. In the White House Counsel’s Office, he was in charge of the selection, vetting and confirmation of President Obama’s judicial nominees and also advised the President on commutations and executive clemency. In the Office of Legislative Affairs, Chris led the legislative outreach and strategy for the confirmations of Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, the Senate’s successful effort to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and the reduction of the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses. He also has worked for U.S. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), including four years running the floor operations in the Office of the Assistant Democratic Leader. Chris is a second-generation Korean American. His father, Young Woo Kang, was the first blind Korean person to earn a Ph.D. and was an international disability rights pioneer; his mother, Kyoung Sook Kang, continues to aid people with visual impairments.
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Dr. Paul Murray
Vice President Global Peace Foundation, USA |
Dr. Paul Murray is an award winning author and internationally sought after speaker and minister. Dr. Murray serves as the Vice President of the Global Peace Foundation and Senior Pastor of the Lighthouse Church. An ordained minister serving in ministry for more than twenty years, Dr. Murray holds his ministerial credentials with One Way Churches International (OWCI). A former Peace Corps Volunteer to the country of Tunisia, Dr. Murray has built upon his years of community service and volunteerism to exemplify the qualities of Servant Leadership. He serves on several national and regional non-profit boards, and has received numerous awards for his community and ministry works. Dr. Murray holds a Doctoral Degree in Pastoral Leadership from Howard University's School of Divinity, a Master of Divinity and a Master of Art in Pastoral Counseling from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Science in Health Care Services from the University of Phoenix.
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David Kyuman Kim
Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies |
David Kyuman Kim is Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies at Connecticut College, where is served as the Inaugural Director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity. Kim is author of Melancholic Freedom: Agency and the Spirit of Politics, and has written widely on race, religion, and public life. He has served as Senior Advisor to the Social Science Research Council’s Program on Religion and the Public Sphere, as well as Editor-at-Large of The Immanent Frame, the SSRC’s blog on secularism, religion, and the public sphere. In 2009, he was the Inaugural Visiting Professor of the Humanities at Brown University. Kim is host of the dialogue series Love-Driven Politics on MeaningofLife.tv and co-convener of the Love-Driven Politics Collective, a cohort of scholars, artists, and activists seeking to cultivate a political culture animated by compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and generosity. His current book project is The Public Life of Love.
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Galen Carey
Vice President Government Relations National Association of Evangelicals |
Galen Carey, Vice President of government relations for the National Association of Evangelicals, is responsible for representing the NAE to Congress, the White House and the courts. He works to advance the approach and principles of the NAE document, “For the Health of the Nation.” Galen is the son of long-time missionaries to the Philippines, where he grew up on the island of Cebu. Before joining the NAE staff, Carey was a longtime employee of World Relief, the relief and development arm of the NAE, serving in Croatia, Mozambique, Kenya, Indonesia and Burundi. He received an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a Doctor of Ministry from McCormick Theological Seminary. Galen is the co-author with Leith Anderson of the recently released “Faith in the Voting Booth: Practical Wisdom for Voting Well,” published in March, 2016 by Harper Collins Zondervan. You can follow Galen on Twitter @GalenCarey.
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Sam George
Executive Director Parivar International |
Sam George is of Asian Indian descent and have lived in Singapore, Hong Kong and Liverpool (UK). He has lived in the US for nearly twenty-five years and have served as youth pastor, community leader and scholar. Sam holds degrees in engineering and business, and worked in the corporate world for nearly ten years before going to Fuller and Princeton seminaries. Over the last fifteen years, he has served South Asian American churches and communities in different capacities. In 2014, he completed a PhD on diaspora missiology from the UK and is an expert on family, migration and South Asian issues. Sam is a frequent speaker in Asian American churches and conferences, and is the author of several books, including Understanding the Coconut Generation and Malayali Diaspora. He lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two boys.
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Rev. Sam Koh
Pastor/Founder Hillside EM at LACPC/NexGen Pastors Fellowship |
Rev. Sam Koh is the Lead Pastor of Hillside Church in East Los Angeles. His unique ministry focuses on developing a multi-ethnic congregation by reaching out and inviting his neighboring community of El Sereno to join, worship and fellowship with the pre-existing Korean Immigrant congregation. He is the Founder of NexGen Pastor's fellowship, an organization that seeks to help Korean-American pastors thrive and reach their capacity, and is also a board member of ISAAC (Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity). He is a strong advocate for social justice and is devoted to taking care of the homeless and the marginalized in the East Los Angeles area. In addition to spiritually, relationally and physically supporting the homeless near his church, Sam’s last innovative project provided portable showers for the homeless in the East Los Angeles vicinity.
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Séan Bennett
Director Marketing and Outreach, Homeownership Preservation Office, U.S. Department of the Treasury |
Séan Bennett leads Marketing and Outreach efforts for the Homeownership Preservation Office at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury). Bennett joined Treasury in January 2013 to promote the Making Home Affordable® Program (MHA), a key part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. In his role, Bennett leverages more than 25 years of communications leadership on digital strategy initiatives, advises on strategic communications matters, and engages local and national organizations to increase public awareness. Previously, Bennett was a senior manager with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), providing project management and strategic communications leadership for NCRC’s advocacy and financial empowerment activities. Bennett’s early career experience also includes spending 16 years in the Corporate Communications and Development unit of NeighborWorks® America, a federally appropriated nonprofit created by Congress to provide financial support, technical assistance, and training for community-based revitalization efforts. For over two decades, Bennett’s work has been grounded in communications and community development.
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Steve M. Miska
Colonel (Retired) U.S. Army First Amendment Voice |
Steve Miska retired after 25 years of service in the military. His last assignment was three years as the Army Chair at the Marine Corps University. He has taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Previously, he served in the White House as a Director for Iraq on the National Security Council, focusing on security aspects of the Iraq portfolio. He has published articles on protecting local allies during conflict. In 2007 Steve led a team that established an underground railroad for dozens of interpreters from Baghdad to Amman to the United States. He currently serves as a consultant for the Global Peace Foundation having performed research about radicalization and is actively involved in the First Amendment Voice campaign to reinvigorate citizen awareness and appreciation for the principles espoused in the 1st Amendment of the Constitution.
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Traci G Lee
Digital Editorial Manager NBC Asian America |
Traci G. Lee is the Digital Editorial Manager for NBC Asian America, where she oversees the country’s largest English-language Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) news source, and executive producer of “NBC Asian America Presents…,” a video channel containing documentary series focused on AAPI issues, themes, and voices. She is currently based in New York City and holds degrees in literary journalism and global cultures from the University of California, Irvine.
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Mee Moua
President & Executive Director Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, |
Mee Moua is the president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, a leading national nonprofit organization that works to advance the human and civil rights of Asian Americans and build and promote a fair and equitable society for all.
At Advancing Justice | AAJC, Moua leads efforts to advocate for policies and programs that enable Asian American and other vulnerable communities to reach their full potential and address unfair and discriminatory structures and institutions that systematically deny Asian Americans and other vulnerable communities their civil and human rights. Before moving to Washington, D.C., Moua served as a three-term Minnesota State Senator and was the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Moua currently serves on a number of Boards and Advisory Committees, such as the Board of Directors for the Leadership Conference in Civil and Human Right, the Advisory Board for the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, the National Advisory Committee to the Census Bureau, the Public Committee for the Independent Sector, the Consumer Advisory Panel for AT&T and the Diversity Advisory Council for Comcast/NBC Universal. Born in Laos, Ms. Moua immigrated to the U.S. in 1978. She attended Brown University as an undergraduate, earned a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Texas-Austin, and a law degree from the University of Minnesota. Moua has been named twice on the Washingtonian's "Most Powerful Women in Washington" list, including the most recent list in 2015. |
Charles B. Rangel
Congressman U.S. House of Representatives New York, 13th district |
Charles B. Rangel, war hero, history-making congressman, master lawmaker. A founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, he made history as the first African American member of Congress to lead the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Now serving his 23rd term in the House of Representatives, he was the primary sponsor of President Obama's historic healthcare reform law and is a leading advocate for equal rights and opportunity. Following Saint Matthew's teaching, he has been a stalwart champion for the "least among us," dedicated to improving the lives of working families. He was first elected to Congress in 1970, after serving in the New York State Assembly and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Rep Rangel is a veteran of the Korean War, where he earned a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. He and his wife, Alma, reside in Harlem where he was born. They have two adult children and three grandchildren. |
Erika L. Moritsugu
Assistant Secretary Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development |
Erika Moritsugu joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as its Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs in August 2014 after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 30, 2014. Moritsugu most recently served as Deputy Assistant Director for Legislative Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). She previously served as Deputy Legislative Director for U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawai'i; held several different roles at the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, including Acting Staff Director, Policy Director and Counsel, and Economic Policy Advisor; and practiced international trade, legislative, and immigration law. She has been an active volunteer in the community with organizations focused on community engagement, mentoring, civil rights, veterans, organ donation, domestic violence counseling, and disaster relief. She attended Brandeis University, the College of William and Mary, and George Washington Law School. Erika was born in California and raised in Hawai’i. She now lives on Capitol Hill with her husband, Brian Kernek, and two children, Vianne Leilani and Chester Richard.
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Paula A. Lincoln
Director Center for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development |
Paula A. Lincoln is the Director, Center for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In this role Ms. Lincoln provides leadership, direction and supervision of Center staff; responsible for leading the Center to develop and execute targeted, strategically-focused projects for faith-and community based organizations seeking to partner with HUD to address the housing and community development needs of low-income communities.
Prior to this position, Ms. Lincoln served in a number of high-profile positions at HUD since 2001 requiring her legal, management and organizational expertise, including Associate General Counsel for Human Resources Law, Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Ethics, Assistant General Counsel for Ethics and Chief Performance Management Officer. She previously worked as an attorney for 16 years at the U.S. Department of Labor, and served in the White House Counsel’s Office advising senior officials on ethics-related matters. Ms. Lincoln successfully completed HUD’s Senior Executive Service (SES) Candidates Program, a highly-selective training program that grooms distinguished federal employees for positions of higher responsibility within Senior Executive Service, and has been a member of the Senior Executive Service since 2007. She is a graduate of The American University and Howard University School of Law. |
Lisa Coffman
Program Specialist Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development |
Lisa Coffman is a Program Specialist in the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). SNAPS is the office that manages HUD’s homeless programs. Her primary role as Program Specialist is serving as Desk Officer for the State of Illinois. In addition to her Desk Officer role, she is SNAPS’ subject matter expert on domestic violence, human trafficking and HIV/AIDS. Her work as subject matter expert includes responsibility for ensuring the needs of those populations are addressed within HUD’s homeless programs and the coordination and intersection of those populations within mainstream homeless service systems.
Before coming to HUD in 2010, Lisa was responsible for the City of Evansville (Indiana’s) CBDG, HOME and ESG funding, served as the Director of Programs for the Indiana State Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and was a senior staff member at the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. She has over 20 years experience in affordable housing, community development and HIV/AIDS programs and services. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of Dress for Success (Indianapolis), the Damien Center, which is the largest AIDS service organization in Indiana and the Evansville (Indiana) African American Museum. |
Rev. Darlene Hutto
Director Grants and Fellowships, Forum for Theological Exploration |
Reverend Hutto is an ordained Itinerate Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and is currently employed with the Forum for Theological Exploration, a non-profit organization that advocates excellence and diversity in pastoral leadership and theological scholarship. Darlene serves as the Director of Grants and Fellowships, in her role she provides planning and leadership for Regional Discernment Retreats for Young Adults in Discernment of Call and Vocation and oversees the organization's grant initiatives for Pastoral Leaders and Congregations that notice, name and nurture the next generation of young leaders.
Darlene holds a Master of Divinity degree from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Religion from Wilberforce University. |
Diana Yu
Chief of Staff White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders |
Diana Yu serves as the Chief of Staff for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In this capacity, Diana leads the Interagency Working Group, provides administrative oversight, and supports the education portfolio at the Initiative. Prior to this, Diana was an educational program specialist with the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education. She specialized in monitoring state educational agencies’ management of special education programs with an emphasis on fiscal systems. She served as an expert in the areas of discipline and fiscal systems and also completed a detail at the Initiative while at OSEP.
Previously, Diana was a special education teacher who taught students with disabilities in the areas of emotional disabilities, learning disabilities, and mental retardation K-12. She also held leadership roles including mathematics department chairperson and technology lead teacher. In these roles she helped transform the teaching practices at her school by training colleagues on ways to innovatively provide classroom accommodations and modifications to curricula. Her middle school students were the first in the school’s history to pass the Standards of Learning (statewide) assessment in Algebra. Diana also has extensive international educational experiences through short term trips to Mexico, Korea, and Kenya. Diana received her Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in Psychology and Master of Education degree magna cum laude in Special Education from George Mason University. She is currently working on her Doctoral degree at the George Washington University in the Leaders for System Change program within the Special Education program. |
Reva Gupta
Senior Policy Advisor White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders |
Reva Gupta is a Foreign Service Officer on detail from the U.S. Department of State. Reva is a Senior Policy Advisor for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, focusing on immigration policy.
At the State Department, Reva has served overseas in New Delhi, India and Mexico City, Mexico and domestically in the Bureau of Population, Refugee, and Migration and the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. Prior to joining the State Department, Reva worked for over a decade on comprehensive immigration reform. Beginning at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Chicago, where she also served on the board of the Asian American Institute (now Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago), she then went to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky’s office in DC. Reva worked in both the women’s rights movements and the labor movements to highlight the needs of immigrant women and immigrant workers in the push for comprehensive immigration reform. She organized immigrant communities in the southern and southwestern parts of the United States for the Immigrant Worker Freedom Rides and New American Freedom Summer and joined the staff of the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Reva received her Bachelor in Arts at the University of Maryland in English Literature with a focus on post-colonial theory. |
David S. Kim
Deputy Administrator Federal Highway Administration |
David S. Kim was appointed Deputy Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration on Feb. 8, 2016, by President Barack Obama and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
In his new role, Kim serves as second-in-command for the 2,800-person agency and plays a leadership role in the agency’s daily operations. He also oversees the agency’s implementation of the recently-enacted “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act” (FAST Act) and co-chairs the U.S.-Canada Transportation Border Working Group and U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee. Additionally, Kim serves as DOT's representative on the Interagency Working Group of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. For five years, Kim served as the FHWA’s Associate Administrator for Policy and Governmental Affairs in which he was a principal advisor to the Administrator and managed a team of 75 career employees involved in transportation policy development, legislative analysis, highway data collection and analysis, and international programs. Prior to joining DOT, David spent five years with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) as Deputy Executive Officer, Federal Advocacy and Government Relations. In this capacity, he led the agency's Government Relations Department and managed federal relations on behalf of one of the largest transit providers in the country. From 1999 to 2003, David served as Deputy Director in the Washington office of Gov. Gray Davis (D-Calif.) and represented the State of California's interests before Congress and the executive branch on transportation, water, energy and environmental issues. From 1998 to 1999, Kim worked in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Congressional Affairs. He also spent three years as a Washington representative for the City of Los Angeles. For a decade, Kim served on the staff of numerous elected officials in Los Angeles, Sacramento and the nation’s capital. He spent five years with Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) in various capacities, including overseeing the day-to-day operations of his Sacramento office while Becerra served as a California State Assemblyman. Kim began his public service career as a field representative and administrative assistant to State Senator David Roberti. A native of Davis, Calif., David earned a B.A. in Political Science from Occidental College and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. David resides in Fairfax County, Va., with his wife Julie and two children, Tessa and Jaisohn. |
Christine Chen
Founding Executive Director APIA Vote |
Christine Chen, the founding executive director from 2006-2008 returned to APIAVote in January 2011 to serve as its current Executive Director. During her tenure she had strengthened and expanded APIAVote's partners into 22 states. APIAVote’s research and polling of Asian American voters and their regional trainings and field programs have strengthened the local grassroots programs in reaching and mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Islander voters. Through all these efforts, APIAVote has played a key role in elevating the Asian American and Pacific Islander electorate to an unprecedented national level in recent years. In addition Chen serves as President of Strategic Alliances USA, a consulting firm specializing in coalition building, institutional development, and partnerships among the corporate sector, government agencies, and the nonprofit and public sector.
Profiled by Newsweek magazine in 2001 as one of 15 women who will shape America’s new century, Chen served from 2001 to 2005 as national executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), one of the leading APIA civil rights organizations in the country. Leading an organization with more than 80 chapters and affiliates across the nation, she worked with OCA’s national board, executive council, chapter representatives, members and funders while managing a staff of 13. Chen is well-known by activists across the county. Her track record in building coalitions and working at the grassroots and national levels established her as one of the strongest voices in the APIA community. She has more than two decades of experience in organizing and advocating on issues such as immigration, hate crimes, affirmative action, census, racial profiling, voting rights, election reform, and various derogatory and racist media incidents. Her role as a trusted coalition builder has her effectively building relationships with key Congressional offices including the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, federal agencies, and the administration. Throughout the years with Chen's multitasking abilities, Chen also was a member of the executive committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. She also served on numerous boards such as the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, Demos Board of Trustees, Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL), Youth Vote, Gates Millennium Scholarship Advisory Council, advisory board for the Progressive Majority Racial Justice Campaign, and the Board of Advisors for the Midwest Asian American Students Union, East Coast Asian American Students Union and the Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association. In 2003, she was a founding member of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund and also in 2006, a founding member of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote. Chen currently serves on the Kennedy Center Community Advisory Board, Center for Asian American Media, OCA Northern Virginia Chapter, and the advisory boards for the Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association (APAMSA), and CAPAL. |
Dr. Brian Sims, M.D.
Senior Director Medical and Behavioral Health, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors & Consultant, National Center for Trauma-Informed Care (NCTIC) |
Brian Sims is currently the Senior Director of Medical and Behavioral Health for the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, as well as an ongoing consultant for the National Center for Trauma-Informed Care (NCTIC). A psychiatrist who has worked in forensics and corrections, Dr. Sims has previously worked as a Staff Psychiatrist with Correctional Mental Health Services, an organization serving the mental health needs of inmates in 60 detention centers in 10 states. In that role, he was responsible for the provision of care for more than 3,000 inmates in need of mental health. As a consultant with NCTIC, he has provided lectures and trainings for staff, consumers, and administration in the United States, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, as well as Atsugi, Japan, on the practice of trauma-informed care, its applications, and the neurobiology of trauma for many years. Before joining Correctional Mental Health Care Services, he was the Senior Director for Behavioral and Mental Health for health care management company (Conmed Healthcare Management), where he was responsible for the development of core strategic planning for the company’s correctional mental health provisions in nine states. Prior to this, Dr. Sims served in the State Mental Health System for 25 years, as well as private practice.
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Rita Flegel
Director Office of HIV/AIDS Housing, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development |
Rita Flegel is the Director of HUD’s Office of HIV/AIDS Housing. Prior to joining the Office of HIV/AIDS Housing last year, Rita worked for more than 20 years in the nonprofit sector developing and operating housing and supportive programs for special needs populations including PLWHA and people experiencing chronic homelessness.
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Stephen Broyles, MPH, MSW
Training and Technical Assistance Manager, SAMHSA Grassroots Community and Faith-Based Technical Assistance Project |
Stephen Broyles has 25 years of experience working with community and faith-based organizations that provide health and human services to minority populations. He is a national expert in nonprofit capacity building and is currently serving as the Training and Technical Assistance Manager for the SAMHSA Grassroots Community and Faith-Based Technical Assistance project. In this capacity, he is responsible for coalition development and the design, coordination, and delivery of capacity building activities to all Collaborative sites nationwide.
Mr. Broyles has generated over $32.9 million in grant and unrestricted funding for nonprofits through various nonprofit and private sector partnerships. At the age of 26, he became one of the youngest directors in the NAACP and led three divisions within the 55,000-member Detroit Branch NAACP, the largest branch in the national organization. Mr. Broyles also developed and coordinated programs for the Detroit Urban League, International Center for Injury Prevention, Salvation Army, and Ford Motor Company. He directed numerous initiatives addressing health disparities in minority populations, and has served as a national trainer for CSAT focusing on issues of HIV/AIDS, infectious disease, and the co-occurrences of substance abuse and mental health. He has led efforts that successfully built the capacity of HIV/AIDS organizations in the District of Columbia and assisted in the pilot of the national Access to Recovery program for CSAT. He coordinated the technical assistance for over 30 SAMHSA faith and community-based collaborations nationwide to reduce substance use and improve mental health services and has assisted the White House Office of Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships increase the enrollment of faith-based participants in the Affordable Care Act. He partnered with the DC Office of Partnerships and Grant Services (OPGS) to create and secure funding for the Strengthening Community Fund project, which created economic development opportunities for the unemployed/underemployed in the District through faith and community organizations. He partnered with OPGS to create a grant writing series that has increased nonprofit funding in DC by $4.3 million in three years, and developed and secured funding for Export DC, the first program in the District to increase the amount of small businesses that export. He assisted in the creation of the Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence and piloted the America’s Promise Child Seat Safety Program for General Motors. Mr. Broyles currently serves as an adjunct assistant professor at the Howard University School of Social Work. Mr. Broyles has taught courses in the Department of Intergroup Relations and facilitated discussion groups in the Department of Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. Mr. Broyles received a bachelors degrees in both psychology and sociology in 1994, as well as a Master of Public Health degree and a Master of Social Work degree in 1996 from the University of Michigan. |
Grace Choi
Policy Advisor, Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues, U.S. Department of State |
Grace Choi is a Policy Advisor in the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues at the U.S. Department of State. Previously, she served as Staff Assistant in the White House Liaison’s Office at the Department of State. She is also a NetKAL Fellow and served on the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership's (CAPAL) Board of Directors and is Vice Chair for Programs.
Prior to her political appointment at the Department of State, Grace worked for the Council of Korean Americans (CKA), where she helped to create a greater platform for Korean American voices at the national level, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) in Congresswoman Judy Chu’s office, the Presidential Inauguration Committee (PIC), President Obama’s 2012 Presidential Campaign in Virginia, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Refugee Affairs Division. Grace is a Robertson Foundation for Government Fellow and graduated from the Fletcher School at Tufts University with a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy and from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies. Grace is a proud southerner who hails from metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. |
Mark Keam
Delegate Virginia House of Delegates 35th District |
Mark Keam represents Fairfax County in the Virginia House of Delegates. In 2009, Mark became the first Asian immigrant elected to hold state-level office in Virginia.
As a third term legislator with a reputation for bipartisanship and effectiveness, Mark focuses on creating jobs, improving schools, addressing traffic gridlocks, reducing burdens on businesses, strengthening social safety nets, and making the government more accountable. Mark serves on Commerce, Education, Finance, and Agriculture Committees. Several bills he authored have become law in Virginia, including green jobs tax credit, healthcare jobs for military veterans, property tax relief for elderly homeowners, food allergy safety training, sales tax fraud prevention and prisoner reentry reforms. Born in Seoul, Korea, Mark spent his childhood in South Vietnam until just before that country fell to communism. His family then moved to Australia before settling in America when Mark was a teenager. He graduated from the University of California at Irvine and Hastings College of the Law. |
Richard Kim
KA UMM National President General Commission on United Methodist Men |
Richard Kim is National President of Korean American UMM (United Methodist Men) and was Immediate President of California Pacific Annual Conference. He is actively engaging in broad issues such as social justice and mental health for the community and involved with several key UMC leader groups.
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Rev. Dr. W Jamie Kim
Founder & Senior Pastor Core Community Church |
Rev. Dr. W Jamie Kim is a Founder and Senior Pastor of Core Community Church in Rockville, Maryland, just outside of Washington D.C. He was born in South Korea and came to the United States in 1971 at the age of 16 and earned his BA in Economics from University of Maryland and pursued MBA at American University in Washington D.C. prior to his decision to become a pastor.
He received his Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Master of Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, and Doctor of Ministry from Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Deerfield, IL. He has also served as Founder and Senior Pastor of New Covenant Fellowship Church which he and his wife started with 17 people and watched it grow to 3,000 in 23 years while he served there. In the last 35 years he has traveled extensively both in the States and abroad serving as an international speaker in over 35 countries. |
Woogie Daniel Kim
Director of Development and International Relations Biola University |
Woogie Daniel Kim is a board member of KCCD, the Director of Development and International Relations at Biola University, the Lead Pastor of English Ministry at Torrance Good Shepherd Church and a co-founder of South Bay Together. For the past twenty years, he as devoted himself to defining and living out the gospel of Jesus Christ for the young Christians in South Bay area, promoting celebration of unity through diversity in the Kingdom of God, bringing churches together for the cause of social justice in both local and global communities. More recently, he has been devoting most of his time and energy to raising scholarship funds for missionaries’ children for college, bringing together churches to help homeless children in school, and helping refugee children from Myanmar in Thailand.
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Christina Li
East Asia and Pacific Advisor for the Secretary’s Office for Religion and Global Affairs U.S. Department of State |
Christina Li is the East Asia and Pacific Advisor for the Secretary’s Office for Religion and Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Prior to joining RGA, Christina served as a Senior Program Manager, also at the State Department. Her extensive engagement with civil society and government representatives across the globe, as both a USG official and microfinance practitioner, has given her many examples that illustrate the importance of incorporating religious stakeholder perspectives in formulating effective and robust policies.
Before her microfinance and government service, Christina specialized in marketing and risk analysis for start-up and Fortune 500 companies. |
Richard Lui
Journalist and News Anchor MSNBC / NBC News |
Richard Lui is a journalist and news anchor for MSNBC / NBC News. Before that at CNN Worldwide in 2007, he became the first Asian American male to anchor a daily, national cable news show in the U.S. Lui recently reported from Paris and San Bernadino on the terror attacks and Ferguson and Baltimore on racial unrest. Lui’s charitable and philanthropic work spans 30 years and six continents. He is UN Spokesperson for its HeForShe campaign, U.S. State Dept. Traveling Speaker, and ambassador for several NGOs in gender equality. He is ranked in the top 1% of social media users by Twitter Counter, and Business Insider named Lui one of 21 careers to watch alongside Warren Buffett and Sheryl Sandberg. Lui attributes much of his sensibilities to his father who was one of the first AAPIs to graduate from Fuller Seminary in California in the 1950s.
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Jinha Park
Board Member Korean Churches for Community Development |
Jinha Park is the former Director of MRI and Radiology Research at the City of Hope Medical Center. He is active in the American College of Radiology working to improve access to imaging screening tests and increase the role of diagnostic and interventional radiology in improving the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. He is also a Board Member of the Korean American Coalition and the Korean American Medical Association. Dr. Park obtained his B.A. degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. He then completed both the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Southern California studying a specific tumor associated protein called HER-2 in breast cancer and developing an antibody against this cancer protein for future diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. He then completed a Residency in Diagnostic Radiology at UCLA Medical Center and a Fellowship in Abdominal Cancer Imaging at Stanford University Medical Center.
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Rev. John Jongdai Park
KCCD Board Co-Chair/ Senior Pastor Joong-Ang Korean Church |
Rev. John Jongdai Park is an ordained pastor and advocate for Korean immigrants. He is originally from South Korea and came to the States in 1982, where he attended Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Rev. Park served as the past President for The Council of Korean Churches in Southern California. He also currently the Chairman of KCCD and of the Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation of America as well as Co-Chair of the Board of Korean Churches for Community Development. Rev. John Park is currently in Los Angeles California where he continues to serve as Head Pastor of Joong-Ang Presbyterian Church in Hollywood.
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Lauren Erickson-Mamane
Senior Advisor Faith Initiative, U.S. Peace Corps |
Lauren Erickson-Mamane is Peace Corps’ first Faith Based Advisor. In this role she is working to engage communities of faith that connect to Peace Corps’ mission and to collaborate with faith-based organizations that wish to work with the Peace Corps through all of the phases of engagement for Volunteers—from recruitment, to their years of service, to their lives when they return to the United States.
Lauren is a seasoned public health professional with over 18 years of international development experience. She previously served as the Country Director for Peace Corps Togo, the Director of Programming and Training for both Peace Corps Zambia and Benin, as well as the Associate Peace Corps Director (APCD) for Health and Environment with Peace Corps Benin. Lauren earned a MPH at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Washington and Jefferson College and is a RPCV from Niger (1997-2000). |
Tiffani Moore
Senior Affordable Housing Specialist Affordable Housing Programs (OAHP), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development |
Tiffani Moore is a Senior Affordable Housing Specialist in the Office of Affordable Housing Programs (OAHP) at HUD and is the Office’s subject matter expert on Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs). In her nearly 9 year tenure at HUD, Tiffani has been the Team Lead of the Continuum of Care Program Regulations and Policy Team in the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs at HUD and a Community Planning & Development Representative in the Richmond, VA Field Office. Prior to joining HUD, Tiffani was a Planner for the Harris County, TX Community and Economic Development Department and an intern for the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, 18th District – Texas. A native of Houston, TX, Tiffani received a Bachelor’s Degree from Dillard University in New Orleans, LA, a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan, and Master of Business Administration from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business.
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Dr. Maya Rockeymoore
Founder, President and CEO Global Policy Solutions LLC |
Dr. Maya Rockeymoore is the Founder, President and CEO of Global Policy Solutions LLC, a social change strategy firm, and the Center for Global Policy Solutions, a nonprofit think and action organization, Dr. Maya Rockeymoore is dedicated to making policy work for people and their environments. With more than twenty years of experience in the government, not for profit, and business sectors, Rockeymoore has directed successful research and advocacy strategies for an array of nonprofit, philanthropic, academic and corporate clients. The recipient of many honors, she was named an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow in 2004. Rockeymoore has appeared on MSNBC, NPR, CNN, Fox News, and C-SPAN among other media outlets.
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Rev. Raafat Girgis
Interim Pastor/Head of Staff Immanuel Presbyterian Church |
For approximately 14 years, Rev. Girgis served on the National Staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) directing the office of Multicultural/Intercultural Ministries. Raafat pioneered innovative and cutting edge programs of transformational leadership, evangelism and racial and cultural diversity, networking, ecumenical partnerships, and church growth.,
Raafat holds two undergraduate degrees and three Master’s degrees in social sciences, history and theology, in addition to five years of studies and research in the area of history and theology, (incomplete PhD). His cross-cultural and interfaith relations experiences along with his multi-discipline academic background contribute insights to both classroom and sanctuary. Raafat’ professional experience includes transformative leadership training, team building, conference design, teaching and consulting. Since 2015, Raafat services as the interim pastor/head of staff of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. Immanuel is a great multicultural cathedral of hope where faith, justice and culture are joyfully and cohesively intersected. |
Rev. Rob Vaughn
Pastor Community of Faith United Methodist Church |
Rev. Rob Vaughn, Ph.D. was a delegate to the United Methodist Church’s General Conference (a global legislative assembly which meets every four years) from Virginia which concluded last month. The pastor of Community of Faith United Methodist Church in Herndon, Virginia, Rob also frequently teaches in the area of sexuality & Christian faith and sexual ethics for spiritual leaders and recently taught at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. and Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, VA. With a group of lay and clergy professionals, Rob also leads a denominational crisis response team for congregational healing after instances of clergy sexual misconduct. Academically, Rob holds an M.Div. from Wesley Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in human sexuality education from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Jenny Yang
Vice President of Advocacy and Policy World Relief |
Jenny Yang provides oversight for all advocacy initiatives and policy positions at World Relief. She has worked in the Resettlement section of World Relief as the Senior Case Manager and East Asia Program Officer, where she focused on advocacy for refugees in the East Asia region and managed the entire refugee caseload for World Relief. Prior to World Relief, she worked at one of the largest political fundraising firms in Maryland managing fundraising and campaigning for local politicians. She is co-author of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion and Truth in the Immigration Debate, serves as Chair of the Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) Africa Work Group, and was named one of the “50 Women to Watch” by Christianity Today.
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Robert Kim
Lead Pastor Gracepoint Church |
Robert Kim was appointed to the School Board of Upper Dublin School District in February of 2015 and subsequently re-elected in November 2016. Robert planted and serves as Lead Pastor of Gracepoint Church in the Philadelphia area. Living missionally, Robert was transplanted from Southern California to Philadelphia in 2006 where he has sought to see Kingdom renewal by building up Gracepoint Church and being a faithful member of his community. Robert's work in the school district focuses heavily on policy, education, and equity & excellence.
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Rev. Dr. Sunny Ahn
Pastor/President San Ramon Valley UMC/ National Association of Korean American Clergywomen |
Rev. Dr. Sunny Ahn is a Pastor at San Ramon Valley UMC and President of National Association of Korean American Clergywomen.She is a Korean American who is a fourth generation Christian, descended from ancestors who were converted under the ministry of the first Methodist missionary to Korea, R.A. Hardie. She was born in Incheon, Korea and immigrated to the United Sates when she was 15. She was ordained as Deacon in 2000 and as Elder in 2002 in The United Methodist Church.
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Hannah Kim
Communications Director Office of Congressman Charles Rangel |
Hannah Kim is in her 7th year as the Communications Director for Rep. Charles Rangel in the U.S. Congress, where she is actively involved as former chair and current member of the Board of Democratic Communicators Network and as founder of the Congressional Yogi Association. She also has drafted and ushered four bills into passage. She started working for Rep. Rangel after successfully spearheading the historic enactment of a bill that created a memorial day for Korean War veterans on July 27, 2009. She is the founder Remember727, an organization dedicated to honoring Korean War veterans and facilitating peace on the Korean Peninsula. Hannah's experiences span working at USIP and Peace Corps Headquarters, as well as being a published author and entrepreneur. She studied at various institutions including Seoul National University, GWU’s Graduate School of Political Management, UCLA Anderson School of Management and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She is on the board of a DC charter school, scholarship foundation and other community organizations. As a proud pastor's kid, Hannah remains committed to public service, lifetime learning, and fitness.
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Rev. JC Moon
Senior Pastor New Horizon Community Church |
Rev. JC Moon is a Senior pastor at New Horizon Community Church. He is also currently a professor at Washington University of Virginia and a Sr. Analyst for Freddie Mac.
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