Sandra Kim

Sandra Kim currently works at Starcom as a media planner/buyer to help businesses connect with consumers through advertising. In the past, she has worked for clients such as Nintendo and Macy’s, developing business communication strategies. Sandra has a BA in Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and in long term, hopes to pursue a corporate marketing career for a global consumer packaged good company.

Sandra is passionate about developing leadership skills and believes in giving back to the community. During her undergraduate years, she held executive board positions for two of the largest campus organizations, Asian American Association and Student Alumni Association. She currently serves as the President for NAAAP Chicago and continues to volunteer for other organizations such as Team In Training and Chicago Cares.

In her spare time, Sandra enjoys finding new ways to challenge herself. Sandra has participated in Chicago Marathon with Team In Training and has raised over $2,000 for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The two mottos that she lives by are “things happen for a reason” and “be grateful for everything.”

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Grace Yoon is a Development Director at Korean American Community Services (KACS), the largest and oldest not-for-profit organization that provides comprehensive social services to Korean Americans and other immigrants in the Midwest. In her role overseeing grant research and writing, donor cultivation, external relations, and fundraising, she has refined her knowledge and understanding to become a creative and highly effective development officer.

Previously, as an Illinois Certified Domestic Violence Professional, she worked for Korean American Women In Need, a domestic violence agency. Grace has B. A. in Sociology and Professional English from Ewha Woman's University (Seoul, Korea) and M. A. in Social Sciences from University of Chicago. She was a teaching assistant at Dept. of Eastern Asian Language and Civilization, and a research assistant for the Survey Lab at U of Chicago.

Grace is passionate about fostering leadership and addressing social justice issues for Asian American community, and currently serves as Vice President for Strategic Development for NAAAP-Chicago. For past 3 years, she also served the organization as Director of Community Services, enhancing on-going projects such as annual holiday toy drive, and creating new initiatives. Outside of NAAAP-Chicago, she is also active in leading several community organizations including the Leadership Center for Asian Pacific Islanders (LCAPA), Chicago Foundation for Women Asian American Leadership Council, Chicago Korean Festival, Song-A Literature Foundation and more.

Grace moved to the U. S. from S. Korea in 2003. She likes swimming & biking, and interested in photography & foreign language. She ran a Chicago half marathon in summer of 2006!

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Mike Valdez

I am a strong advocate for Diversity and a believer in giving back to the community. My initial involvement with NAAAP-Chicago began in 2004 as a member in the Midwest Asian Affinity Business Network (MAABN) program. I came to understand first hand how NAAAP-Chicago focuses on creating an open forum for Asian American corporate leaders in the Chicago area. I have served on NAAAPCHI’s Board as the Director of Corporate Relations from 2005 – 2007.

This year I am serving the Board as Director of Affinity Groups. This new role will continue the efforts of MAABN in serving as a forum to Affinity Groups interested in providing leadership training and professional networking opportunities for its membership. I will focus on bringing together Asian Affinity Groups in the Chicago area to discuss the topics important to them. Businesses today need to find and retain talented leaders and many Affinity/Business Groups are being tapped to provide the means to successfully accomplishing corporate diversity.

NAAAP Chicago wants to provide the ability to network with other Affinity Group leaders in the continued development of their specific Affinity/Business Resource Groups as well as assist those companies looking to implement an Asian Affinity Group. The objectives for 2008 will be to lead the effort to build the Affinity Group network into a meaningful program that allows its participants to: share best practices and discuss value adds or contributions their groups can bring to their organization. NAAAP wants to serve as the forum for these important discussions as well as serve as an attractive resource for Affinity Group members individually.

Besides my involvement with NAAAP-Chicago, I also serve as President of the Asian Leadership Council at the Northern Trust Company. I am a Vice President with the Northern Trust Company in Chicago. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Elmhurst College and a Masters in Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management. I have been with the Northern Trust Company for over 20 years. I live in Crystal Lake, am married (Karen Valdez) and have two sons, Ethan and Harrison.

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Min Choi

Min Choi is a lawyer with Hanson Peters Nye, a law firm based in Barrington, IL. Min ‘s primary area of practice is business litigation. Prior to entering the legal profession, Min worked as a News Editor and Field Producer for Court TV in New York, NY and CBS 2-Chicago.

Min currently serves as the Director of Community Service for NAAAP Chicago. Min is passionate is about giving back to the greater community by volunteering his time, effort, and organizational skills. Min is also committed growing as a team leader.

In his spare time, Min is an avid fan of independent rock, jazz, hip-hop and electronic music. He also enjoys reading political history and biographies, watching a good movie occasionally, and unwinding with the Cubs and Bulls on TV.

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Andrew Samaniego

Andrew Samaniego is a Sales Executive with Getty Images, the world's leading creator and distributor of still imagery, footage, and multi-media products. As a member of the advertising vertical team, his ultimate responsibility is to help ad agencies find, license, and use images for commercial use. Before joining Getty Images, he worked as an Account Executive with the Michigan Daily and as an Account Manager with CDW.

Andrew holds a BA in Communications from the University of Michigan, and recently, was voted "Most Likely to Own Their Own Business." While working full-time, Andrew also strives to volunteer whenever and wherever he can. With organizations in Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement, and New City Youth Baseball, he has helped build a house, taught a 5th grade class about business and why they should stay in school, and managed concessions for a local youth baseball league, while coaching one of their 11-12 year old teams to a championship. As Co-Director of Community Service, Andrew is focused on creating, organizing, and leading similar philanthropic opportunities for Asian Americans.

Andrew was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey, where his parents relocated after immigrating from the Philippines. He enjoys playing sports, reading, and traveling.

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Justin Samaniego

Primarily responsible for developing the organization’s corporate sponsorship programs, Justin will continue promoting NAAAP Chicago’s efforts to provide leadership training, professional development and networking tools to all levels of Asian-American professionals in Chicago.

Engaged in various leadership roles, mentor programs and volunteer activities across different industries over the course of his young career, Justin has always valued the idea of having diversity in every aspect of his life. Previously a Corporate Account Manager at CDW, Justin has taken his wide degree of creativity and latitude into a new career as a Media Account Executive at Titan Worldwide. Similar to his role at NAAAP Chicago, he has the opportunity to network with various groups and corporations based in Chicago. Moreover, Justin works very closely with creative directors and marketing managers on a daily basis in developing cost/benefit analyses for out-of-home media advertising campaigns in Chicago.

Born in New York and raised in New Jersey, Justin graduated from Colgate University with a B.A. Degree in Computer Science and Spanish. A Chicago resident since April 2006, Justin joined NAAAP Chicago this past summer in an effort to meet new faces, exchange creative ideas, experience the city, and give back to the community. Involved in intramural sports, numerous non-profit groups, volunteer activities, traveling and the frequent culinary experimentation, Justin looks forward to his new experiences and strong contributions to the team.

Huu Ly

Huu is currently working as a Civil Design Engineer at A. Epstein & Sons International, Inc., a global architecture, engineering, interior design and construction firm. Huu has worked on a number of projects with Epstein including O'Hare International Airport and Illinois Tollway Open Road Tolling Project.

Huu is the son of the second wave of Vietnamese immigrant parents to arrive after the fall of Saigon risking their lives in dangerous waters in small fishing boats and was born in the Philippines in a refugee camp. His family settled in Iowa where they found factory work and a small immigrant community. Growing with predominantly white peers, Huu began to find his cultural identity while attending Iowa State University where he received his B.S. in Civil Engineering and continues to find avenues to educate himself and promote Asian American issues which lead him to his current position as Director of Cultural Awareness for NAAAP Chicago.

In his spare time, Huu enjoys DJing, photography, reading, political activism and volunteering.

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Sourixat Alan Thavisouk

The life purpose of Sourixat Alan Thavisouk is helping people live up to their god given talents. Sourixat Alan Thavisouk is a hard driving executive committed to developing leaders in all aspects of life. Sourixat is currently the Sales Manager of the Wright Business Institute. In addition to the sales management function, Sourixat coaches individuals and executives on Career, Vision, Sales and Leadership Development. Prior to the Wright Business Institute, Sourixat was at CareerBuilder where he consulted with companies on recruitment and talent acquisition strategies. Prior to CareerBuilder, Sourixat started his career at Bank One where he developed a winning team and future leaders.

Being born in Laos, Sourixat learned not to take anything for granted. He shares his talents and gifts through serving various non profit organizations like the SALF, LAO of Elgin, UIC Business Alumni Association, NAAAP and several non-profits serving education and children. Sourixat enjoys spending time with his family and friends, outdoor adventure, competitive sports, music, movies, and everything life has to offer.

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Rose Tibayan

Rose Tibayan is an award-winning senior producer with Medialink Worldwide, based in their Chicago bureau. A seasoned journalist, Rose brings a decade of broadcast journalism writing, editing and producing skills to NAAAPChicago as their 2008 Director of Marketing. Previously, she worked for four years as a general assignment reporter at WPVI-TV (ABC6) in Philadelphia -- the news leader in the nation’s fourth-largest market. She has also worked as a general assignment reporter/anchor and writer for stations in New York City, Milwaukee, Fort Myers and the island of Guam. Rose began her TV news career in New York City as a production assistant for NBC Weekend Nightly News.

She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Delaware and, in 1998, was accepted to the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York City. Rose was born in Manila, grew up on the East Coast of the United States and now lives in Chicago with her husband, Don Villar, an Emmy-Award winning writer/producer at WLS-TV (ABC7).

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Jeannie Suh

Jeannie Suh is currently the Regional Coordinator for T-Mobile USA, responsible for the creation and consolidation of multiple aspects of sales. Jeannie has a diverse work background, ranging from successful start-up business in the telecommunication field and the entertainment industry.

Jeannie was born in Korea and has been a resident of Chicago for close to 30 years. Some of her interest involves traveling, hiking, and new adventures.

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Howard Lien

Howard Lien works in the Global Wealth Management division at Morgan Stanley. Previously, he was Program Coordinator for Asian American Studies at Northwestern University. As co-Director of Membership, Howard's goals are to create a dynamic, high-performing membership team, double the size of the NAAAP-Chicago network, and strengthen member connections to NAAAP.

Howard holds a B.A. from Northwestern University with a double-major in Political Science and International Studies. He was active in the Asian American community at Northwestern, serving as President of Asian American Students United. He also conducted econometric research, receiving a grant for his work modeling oil and gas prices.

Howard is also passionate about international affairs and has studied at the London School of Economics and Tsing Hua University (Beijing). He is an active member of the Chicago Council for Foreign Relations and has co-authored a paper on UN peacekeeping operations.

In addition to NAAAP, Howard is an active member of the Organization of Chinese Americans. Other interests include international travel, downhill skiing, clubbing/bar-hopping, Asian American cultural events, discovering cheap eats, and reading up on politics and current events.

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Ramya Bavikatte

Ramya Bavikatte received her BA from Illinois Wesleyan University and her Masters of Urban Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. After five years of professional urban planning experience in both Joliet and Chicago, IL, she decided to embark on a new career as an accountant. Ms. Bavikatte is currently pursuing a Masters of Science in Accountancy at Depaul University while working for Graphic Packaging International in Elk Grove Village, IL.

Her past experience with professional development events and professional development non-profits includes serving on the board of Network of Indian Professionals(Net-IP)-Chicago for four years, during which she held the positions of president, vice president, treasurer and social chair, and on the Historic Preservation Commissioner with Village of Forest Park since 2006. Ramya is also a founder and president of Kiran Bavikatte Foundation.

She currently resides in Forest Park, IL with her husband and two puppies, Apu and Manjula.

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Caroline Chang

Currently, Caroline Chang serves as the Director of Special Events. Caroline has been working in the financial/institutional banking industry for over 7 years. She is a Business Consultant with U.S. Corporate Development Technology at Harris/ BMO, a highly diversified financial services institution that is ranked as one of the largest banks in North America serving over 11 million customers. Caroline specializes in managing and leading projects for Financial Risk Management, Private Banking, Lending and Internet Banking and is often engaged with clients to formalize strategy, planning, and execution. She has extensive experience in both business and technology management in the corporate and entrepreneurial arenas. At Harris/ BMO, Caroline is actively involved with the Asian Affinity Coalition for Employees, Ambassador for United Way, Holiday Choir, Toastmasters, Higher Performance Culture Team, and Working in the Schools Program. Prior to joining Harris/ BMO, Caroline worked for Bank of America involved with the successful implementation of a financial trading system for global interest rates derivatives estimating over $100 million.

Caroline holds a BS in Business Information Decision Sciences from the University of Illinois, and an MBA in Finance from DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

Caroline’s other interests and hobbies consist of spending time with her family and friends, traveling, volunteering, cooking, working out, playing tennis, biking, attending cultural events, dining, reading, scrap booking, and gardening.

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Eddy Chen

Eddy Chen is currently a senior consultant in the North American division of the telecommunications vertical for Cognizant Technology Solutions, a global IT consulting firm. Prior to joining Cognizant Technology Solutions, Eddy worked in various consulting capacities for companies including Telution, Xerox Global Services and Surebridge.

Born in Taiwan and raised in Southern California, Eddy has lived in the Chicago-land area since 1995. A graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, Eddy holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the McCormick School of Engineering and a B.S. in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism. When he has free time, Eddy enjoys dining out, poker, fantasy sports and grilling various types of meats.

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