Announcements 80-20 Board Election, November 8-16, 2008
Secretary Treasurer Nominations Committee Chair Board of Directors Fel Anthony Amistad (N. California) Secretary I am Principal of NAKANISHI RESEARCH AND CONSULTING LLC. I hold a Ph.D. in Transportation Planning and Engineering, an MBA in Management, and a B.A. in English Literature. An active member of 80-20 since its inception, I…
As Board member, I would continue to engage in these activities and also:
Kim Song, incumbent (Missouri) I have been a member of the 80-20 since 2004, and I founded the 80-20 St. Louis Chapter. I served as a chapter president in 2006. In 2007, I have become a board member of 80-20, and served as an acting secretary of Executive Board in 2008. I attended the annual board meeting in May, 2008 and an endorsement convention as a delegate in August, 2008 in San Francisco. As a board member of 80-20, I will be an advocate to recruit more members and be more active to promote our mission, equal right and social justice for Asian American in this country. David Yang is a foreign policy/national security policy analyst at the RAND Corp. in Washington D.C.. He is a current 80-20 Board member as well as chairman of its Legislative Affairs Committee. David is completing his doctorate in Politics at Princeton University, and was a visiting research fellow at Stanford University before joining RAND. A native of Canton, China, David immigrated to America as a teenager. After obtaining a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Brown University, David worked as a developer in the defense industry and Wall Street, completing an MBA at NYU along the way before returning to graduate school. David has been active in AA issues since his days as a columnist for the Brown Daily Herald. An 80-20 member since 2003, David assisted SB Woo on various 80-20 projects, all on a volunteer basis. He was elected to the 2004 Endorsement Convention, where he helped draft the Convention Statement. Since his election to the Board in 2006, David has actively participated in Board business, including the visit to Congressional leaders in 2007, and authored a number of 80-20 newsletters calling attention to legislative items of particular concern to Asian Americans. If elected, David will continue to push for greater equality for AAs, particularly in higher education, and promote closer cooperation among all AA communities. Jing-Li Yu, incumbent (Illinois)I was the former full-time Special Assistant and Operations Director of 80-20 from 2002-2006, and its treasurer from 2007 onward. Nominations Committee Chair
If elected, I wish to bring national 80-20 and the local community closer together. Linden Nishinaga, incumbent (S. California) As a member of 80-20 since 2000 and Board of Director member including being the current Nominations Committee Chair, I have among other things drafted our Congressional Resolution that clearly addresses the lowest by far glass ceiling for Asian Americans throughout the nation in all three major employment sectors. I have also garnered our current slate of diverse new 80-20 Board candidates. If elected again, I will seek to further help 80-20 secure justice and equal opportunity for all Asian Americans not only in employment but also in areas throughout the fabric of our great American society. Thank you for the continued opportunity to serve this wonderful organization. 17 candidates are listed below. The 15 with the most votes will be elected to the Board of Directors. Fel Anthony Amistad (N. California) I have the experience and knowledge to hit the ground running to continue the fight to empower our diverse AsAm communities. Many issues from education to tenure at colleges confront our AsAms. An example of a pressing issue facing Filipino Americans is the FilAm Veterans Equity Bill which has been languishing in the US Congress. Hopefully it will prevail this time in 2008. The failure to get it passed years ago indicates the need to empower and unite our AsAm communities. I hope to be one of many agents of this change. I have the experience as a past Vice President and director. My education includes a Human Biology degree (BA) from Stanford University. I also hold advanced MBA- Juris Doctor degrees from other US colleges and I am receiving my PhD this 2008 from Northcentral University. I want to be a mentor and leader for our next generation! I humbly ask for your vote. My name is Manzur "max" Chowdhury. I am a business owner and community worker. If I am elected as a Board Member of the 80-20, I intend to contribute in Organizational development of 80-20. a) To Increase membership. b) To create more local alliance and chapter for grassroot work, such as Houston Chapter. c) Create system to promote 80-20 in different Asian community through local news media and events. Beverly Hong-Fincher (D.C.)I will bring a diverse multicultural perspective to the Board. As an overseas Chinese brought up in Saigon,Vietnam, I was fortunate to be admitted to National Taiwan University through Nixon's counsel to the Chinese government to sponsor Southeast Asian youth (although I was tear-gased while protesting against his administration on the war in Vietnam). After my BA there, I attended the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, and finally Indiana University where I received my doctorate in linguistics. I have done extensive fieldwork on the Navajo language in Arizona, and have started the Chinese program at GWU. The U.S. State Department employed me as a "Scientific Linguist" I have also taught at the Australian National University where Kevin Rudd, the present Australian Prime Minister, was one of my best students. What I can do for 80-20initiative is to bring my multicultural experience and educational zeal for equality and justice for all Asian Americans. Chenming Calvin Hu (N. California)I am a Distinguished Chair professor of electrical engineering at University of California, Berkeley. A member of the US Academy of Engineering, I have received many international recognitions for professional achievements. I am a former chairman of the San Francisco East Bay Chinese School and a former BOD member of Chinese American Political Association. I have been 80-20’s Honorary Family Life Member since 1998 and served as a cochair of its 1999 San Francisco fund raiser that raised $100K. If elected a BOD member, I will help to strengthen 80-20 by adamantly sticking to the strategy of creating a swing vote bloc of Asian Pacific American voters. Alice S. Huang (S. California) There is a time to pay back and to insure that future generations of Asian Americans have the same access to all of the opportunities (and more) that I have in the United States. I am a former professor from Harvard Medical School and a Dean from New York University. Currently, as a semi-retired member of the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology, I consult and sit on several boards, including The Rockefeller Foundation. I am a member of the Committee of 100 and of the Academia Sinica. I am a founding life member of 80-20. It would be an honor to be a board member, so that I can help 80-20 gain greater influence and increase its impact. It is my hope that through the efforts of 80-20 all of us in the USA will flourish and be forever protected from racial bias. Roy Saigo (Minnesota)I have been in public higher education for 41 years, including two university presidencies. I fought racism in all forms as a faculty member and in multiple administrative roles. Started Asian Presidents Caucus for American Assoc. of State Colleges & Universities; turned it over to another President before I retired. Board of Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education. Major supporter and presenter for Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics. Mentored and counseled Asian colleagues across US. Took issue of American Indian sports imagery to NCAA, leading to major policy change. Published commissioned articles in Chronicle of Higher Education (1999, 9/26/2008) on under-representation of Asian-Americans in higher education leadership, including zero Asian Presidents and Academic VPs in the Calif. State Univ. System. 80-20 is the only organization positioned to challenge systemic racism. Now is the time for us to raise awareness and work to change this status quo, especially in education. Lena Tam (N. California)Lena Tam is a reputed activist and leader in the East San Francisco Bay Asian Pacific-Islander (API) American community. She is the elected Vice-Mayor for the City of Alameda. She has also served on the Alameda Hospital board, ensuring equal access to health care services through bilingual signage in the emergency room. She has chaired the Alameda County League of Women Voters and the East Bay Asian Voter Education Consortium, and increased voter participation and turnout among the API electorate. She led API political empowerment by forming the API Democratic Caucus and chairing the API Caucus of the League of California Cities. Lena has been an 8-year member of 80-20 and supported the presidential endorsement process as a voting delegate. She believes building unprecedented partnerships over the next two years will be needed to create financial and political support to advance 80-20’s goal of equal opportunity for the API community. William C. Uy (N. California)SHORT BIOGRAPHY Recipient of 25 patented inventions and major grants and fellowships from the Walter P. Murphy, Defense ARPA, NSF, and ACS. Author of thirty-five scientific publications and two books. Made presentations at professional meetings in the U.S., Australia, Canada and England. ORGANIZATIONAL EXPERIENCE CONTRIBUTIONS TO ASIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY GOAL: Continue to support and push 80-20 initiatives. Joel Wong (N. California)I have served as the Northern California Coordinator for 80-20 activities since its inception and I have served as a Board Member for the past two years. During my tenure as a Director I chaired the Ad Hoc Anti-Discrimination Committee and was effective in defending and asserting the rights of Asian Americans in several high profiles cases. I have consistently represent 80-20’s interests and points of view in ethnic and main stream media. Recently I chaired the 2008 Endorsement Convention in which 80-20 delegates voted to endorse Senator Obama for the Presidency of the US. As an executive member of CAPA and APAPA-BAC I actively promote 80-20 activities in Northern California. I am a life member of 80-20 and I wholly agree with the principles, goals and objectives of our organization. If elected again I will continue to work to make 80-20 even more effective. S. B. Woo (Delaware) Charles C. Zhang (Michigan) |