Nancy Chen

Nancy Chen leads the Midwest regional offices of the federal government's only agency designated by Congress to address issues and concerns of working women. In 1997, Nancy became the first Asian American regional administrator in the history of the Women's Bureau. She directs and develops the regional programs promoting better jobs, better earnings and better living for working women in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Since 2006, Nancy has the additional responsibility of overseeing the operation of the Women’s Bureau regional office in Kansas City, Missouri which includes the states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa.

Under Nancy's leadership, the regional offices continue to be a strong voice for women on issues such as financial security, family friendly policies in the workplace, and non-traditional employment for women through outreach and education. She has forged partnerships with women's organizations, employers, labor unions, state and local governments and community based organizations to help women overcome barriers and achieve economic self-sufficiency.

Nancy's career highlights public and community service in Illinois and Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the Women's Bureau, Nancy served as Director of Asian Pacific American Outreach at the Office of Presidential Personnel in the Clinton White House to identify and promote Asian American candidates for key political appointments throughout the second Clinton Administration. Before her Washington, D.C. service, Nancy was Director of U.S. Senator Paul Simon's Chicago office overseeing the Senator's legislative and constituent program relating to Chicago and northern Illinois for six years.

Committed to empowering and advancing women, Nancy is founder and past president of the National Women's Political Caucus of Greater Chicago from 1992 to 1994. In 1997, the Secretary of Defense appointed her to serve as a member of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS). She was a member of the Illinois Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights for over ten years.

A native of China, Nancy came to the United States as a student in the 1960s. Since then, she has been a trailblazer for others in the Chinese American community. She was a founding member of the Organization of Chinese Americans, Chicago chapter and was a board member of the Asian American Institute of Chicago.

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Phil Chen

Pending...

 

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Teresita Florendo

Teresita "Tessie" Florendo is the Director of Sales for the Heartland Region (IL / IN) at Frito Lay, a division of PepsiCo. In this role, Tessie leads a team of fifteen key account managers in the supermarket channel strategy, growth and customer management of accounts including Jewel, Dominicks and Kroger. She is responsible for over $500 million annual sales across mega brands such as Lay?, Ruffles, Doritos, Cheetos, Fritos and Tostitos.

Tessie brings 13 years of sales experience to the key account team. Prior to joining Frito Lay, she spent 11 years at PepsiCo's warehouse division, Quaker Tropicana Gatorade, in a variety of roles including Zone Sales Leader, Business Development Manager, Key Account Manager, and Broker Analyst. She also spent two years at Kraft Foods in Irvine, CA.

In addition to her management experience, Tessie has been instrumental in leading PAN (PepsiCo Asian Network) and an active member of their Women of Color National Advisory Council. She also led PepsiCo's corporate sponsorship of the 2005 NAAAP (National Association of Asian American Professionals) Convention in which they received the Convention Excellence Award. Tessie was recently recognized for her significant contribution towards PepsiCo's diversity and inclusion agenda with a special Chairman's award called the Harvey Russell Inclusion Award.

Tessie has a BA in Sociology with a minor in Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is of Filipino descent and currently resides in Chicago. 

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Alka Kapoor

Pending...

 

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David Lum

David Lum is the Director of Asia/Pacific Product & Support Operations for the Networks & Enterprise business in Motorola. For over 23½ years, David has worked in the land mobile two-way radio business and has extensive experience in a wide variety of markets and applications that use two-way voice and wireless data radio systems. David’s work experience includes product development, systems marketing, manufacturing, systems engineering, field engineering, project and program management, sales and engineering training, business development, product marketing, and supply chain management.

Prior to relocating back to Schaumburg in early 2003, David spent 5¼ years doing Business Development for Motorola’s Asia/Pacific division, living in Singapore. David travelled frequently to many customer locations within Asia to promote radio systems, advised on design, spoke at technical conferences and seminars, presented to many senior level government officials, and educated customers and regulators on technology trends and applications. David also contributed to the industry by writing magazine articles that have been published internationally. One of the more interesting and unique credits in David’s career is being the first Motorolan to enter into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (aka North Korea) in 2001.

David has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master’s of Science Degree in Management from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. In his spare time, David is an adjunct faculty member at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, teaching Project Management and International Business to MBA students. David also serves as President of the Asian Business Council, an employee-based network inside Motorola. David also started two Toastmasters Clubs and served as President, and continues to serve as Past President in his club, where he is a Competent Toastmaster. David also contributes his time towards the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) Chicago chapter as a senior advisory council member to help Asians in the Chicago area to improve their professional career and leadership abilities through personal growth and leadership development. David also serves on Roosevelt University’s Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration Dean’s Executive Advisory Council.

Born and raised in the United States of America, David is married to his beautiful wife of 24 years, has two great teenage sons, and lives in the Chicagoland area. David’s hobbies include aviation (where he is a licensed private pilot), reading, microcomputing, teaching, public speaking (on business, cultural awareness, and career management), movie-watching, golf, bowling and spending time with his family.

David can be reached at david.lum@motorola.com

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Kyu Park

Dr. Kyu Young Park is the Coordinator of Asian Programs and the Director of the Korean Institute at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) and has been in these positions since August 1996. During this time, Dr. Park has helped establish cultural and student exchange programs with a Korean institution of higher learning and a Korean Minor program in the Foreign Languages and Literatures, Department in the College of Arts and Sciences at NEIU. Before moving to NEIU, Dr. Park taught in the Chicago Public Schools system for some nineteen years as a teacher and a curriculum writer.

Dr. Park has also served as the principal of the Canaan Korean School (1992-1997), Founder and Director of the New World Korean Institute (1989-1992) as Principal of the North Shore Korean School (1985-1989).

She received her B.A. in French Language Education from Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea and earned her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with a specialization in Comparative International Education from Loyola University of Chicago.

Dr. Park is the author of four textbooks on the Korean language. In addition to her books, she has produced videotapes and CD-ROMs on the Korean language, which is widely used in Korean Schools across the nation and in Canada. Recently she published a pictorial history book titled “Korean Americans in Chicago” to commemorate the Centennial Year of Korean Immigration to the United States. This book is on the history on Korean American culture and society in the U.S. focuses on the Chicago metropolitan area. It is the first book of its kind on Korean American culture to be published in the United States.

Dr. Park has also been involved with numerous cultural, social, civic organizations in the Chicago Metropolitan area and has held various leadership positions. These include serving as the vice chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Korean American Community Services (2004-present); vice president of the Korean American Association of Chicago (2001-2003); vice president (1996-1998) and a member of the Board of Directors (1993-2001) of the National Association for Korean Schools; President of the Korean School Association of the Midwest, U.S.A. (1995-1999); Chairperson of the Education Committee of the Advisory Council on the Democratic and Peaceful Reunification of Korea; a member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Korean American Journalists Association; a member of the Board of Directors of the United Way (2002-2005); and a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Chicago Center of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (2005-present).

Dr. Park has also received numerous honors and awards including the FoundAsian Award (2004) from the Chicago Commission on Human Relation of the City of Chicago; Presidential Award of the Republic of Korea (2000); Distinguished Service Award, Korean School Association of the Midwest (1999); National Leadership Award of the Korean American Association of Chicago (1999); and the Merit Service Award, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea (1995).

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Don Sakamoto

Don Sakamoto is an investment advisor representative and registered representative with New England securities, a registered investment advisor and broker/ dealer. He is a licensed agent with New England Life Insurance Company.

Mr. Sakamoto received his B.A. degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1978. He has completed the following NASD exams, series 6 (investment company/variable contract products), series 7 (general securities) series 67 (uniform investment advisor law). He is licensed in life, accident, health, property & casualty and has also completed the required traditional long term care insurance policy courses for the state of Illinois department of insurance.

Mr. Sakamoto has completed the certificate program in financial planning at De Paul University and has passed the CFP exam. He is a current certified financial planner in good standing.

Mr. Sakamoto has been affiliated with New England financial since February 2004. He was previously a registered representative with the Lincoln financial advisors from 1994 to 2004. Before that he was with the Prudential from 1989 to 1994.

Mr. Sakamoto has served on the board of directors of the Japanese American service committee, the Chicago chapter of the Japanese American citizens league, and the Chicago chapter of the nation association of the Asian American professional. He has also been convention chairperson for two national conventions for NAAAP.

The three areas that Don specializes in are: working with small businesses and coordinating their employee benefits and their cash flow. The second area is retirees with sizable estates, and coordinating risk management and retirement planning for business executives and professional.

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Mitch Schneider

For over 10 years, Mitch Schneider has had a diverse career path working in corporate, small business, and in not for profit organizations. Mitch's work experience includes project management, small business consulting, diversity inclusion, marketing communications, IT consulting, and strategic, capacity, and business development.

Mitch has a BA in Psychology from Washington University, a MIM (Master of International Management) from Thunderbird, Gavin School of Management with a concentration in Marketing and Cross Cultural communication, and an MBA from Weatherhead School of Business with a concentration in eBusiness and Entrepreneurial Management. In addition, Mitch has recently earned a professional non profit management and a teaching ESL certificates.
From January 2005 to December 2006, Mitch served as the President of NAAAP Chicago. In this role, he was extremely proud to continue leading the development of the NAAAP Chicago chapter in partnership with the committed and visionary members of the Board of Directors. During his term, some NAAAP Chicago accomplishments include a new strategic direction towards “Leadership,” development of an engaging Senior Advisory Council (SAC), doubling of leaders (Officers and Directors of the Board), development of Director/Officer leadership trainings, doubling of membership, and the strengthening of the chapters infrastructure: marketing communications, policies, standards, best practices, and metrics. However, Mitch was most proud of NAAAP Chicago’s commitment to its members through valued programming and to the Chicagoland community.

As a leader with 2005 NAAAP National Convention, which surpassed all previous standards: doubling in corporate sponsorships, gross and net revenues, programs, and entertainment while pioneering national leadership awards, non profit and business expo, and continuing education classes (CEU), Mitch was delighted to help raise the visibility and value of the NAAAP brand and network while connection and working with established NAAAP leaders.

Currently, Mitch serves as a member of NAAAP Chicago’s Senior Advisory Council. Outside of NAAAP, he serves on the Chicago's Council on Human Relations- Asian American Advisory Council, Governor’s Asian American Advisory Council, the Dean's Executive Advisory Council for Roosevelt University’s College of Business, and is a founding member of Lightly Toasted Toastmasters. He also is a member of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy Chicago Chapter, Latino Giving Circle, and United Way Metropolitan Chicago site review team. Mitch was born in South Korea and adopted to the US. Some hobbies include rock climbing, tennis, aviation, sky diving, Harley Owners Group, travel, and reading.

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