OCA - Georgia Board Members

MEET THE BOARD
ABOUT OCAMISSIONBOARD

Tricia Sung photo Tricia Sung
President
Chong Luo photo

Chong Luo
Executive VP

Background & Credentials:
• Tricia Sung is a long-time supporter of Asian Pacific American community issues. Most recently, she served as chair of OCA Georgia's Voting Initiative and Editor-in-Chief. Tricia's areas of focus are centered on voting rights, immigration, and equal opportunities in all employment and education sectors. Tricia also serves as a board member for the Friends of the National Archives Southeast Region and is executive director and founder of the Asian Pacific American Historical Society (APA Historical Society) which serves the U.S. South. Tricia formerly served as President of the League of Women Voters of Gwinnett County, one of the most rapidly increasing counties in Georgia which also has almost 20% APAs in some of its cities. Tricia formerly participated in the OCA State Farm Entrepreneur program which providing the training and support for the development of the APA Historical Society and in the JACL-OCA Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. which influenced her decision to take on a larger role in the APA community as the needs of diverse APA communities continue to grow as the population rapidly increase in the Southeast region. Tricia is Assistant Director of the Confucius Institute at Georgia State University. Tricia looks forward to continuing to partner with APA groups and partner organizations as OCA Georgia moves closer to celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2013, which is a time to reflect on how far OCA Georgia has come and what the future holds for APAs in Georgia.

Background & Credentials:
• Active member and recognized leader in the greater Atlanta Asian communities for 19 years.
• Chong Luo is an Investment Professional with JPMorgan Securities. He and his partners work with high net worth individuals with a focus on Senior Executives of corporations and medical physicians. As an active member in the community, Chong was the past VP of Cultural Affairs for OCA and VP of Member Relations for NAAAP, and co-chair for the Corporate Relations committee of the Friends Junior Committee- a fundraising arm of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Chong also rows competitively for the Lake Lanier Rowing Club, is a Wish Volunteer for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and is active with the University of Florida Alumni Association. Chong attended the University of Florida where he received a degree in Finance, a minor in Music, and was a member of the Varsity Rowing Team. Chong is trilingual, and enjoys listening to music and spending time with family and friends.

Laura Takeshita photo Laura Takeshita
Secretary
Joan Goh photo Joan Goh
Treasurer

Background & Credentials:
Laura R. Takeshita is a seasoned and experienced financial services professional who is employed by The Bank of New York Mellon in corporate trust. She has lived in Taiwan and Japan, in Los Angeles, Florida, Michigan and most recently Ohio before moving to Atlanta. She has volunteered with various non-profit agencies and has applied her banking background in her volunteer work. Before moving to Atlanta, she was involved with NAAAP in Ohio, serving as co-chair for Professional Development. Her father who was interred during the Second World War has been her role model in bridging the gaps between that generation and their children; to learn what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

Background & Credentials:
Professional: Current Position: OCA Secretary 2009-2010; Senior Associate of World Financial Group since 2008. Experiences: Director, OCA, GA 2004-2005; Technical Supervisor, AT&T- GA 1984-2005 Treasurer, 4A (Asian Pacific American of AT&T) –GA 2000-2005 Assistant Communications Officer, Highway Users federation, Wash DC 1979-1983 3rd Secretary, Singapore Embassy, Washington DC 1976-1979 Country Desk Officer, Foreign Affairs, Singapore 1968-1976 Education: BA Degree -Singapore; License agent for Health & Life in Georgia. Background: US citizen and live in America for more than 30 years. Born in Singapore. Married with one daughter. Husband is Vincent Goh. Hobbies/Interest: have a mission to help protecting family. Help in community service. Enjoy learning new business idea and products; take up dancing and yoga for exercise. Love to read as well as listen to music.

Kate Kim photo Kate Kim
VP of Public Affairs
Kevin Hamada Kevin Hamada
VP of Education Affairs

Background & Credentials:
Community Service:
Kate is a seasoned journalist with extensive connections in the Korean American and Asian Pacific American community. Her connections with the Korean American community would particularly be an asset as OCA Georgia broadens its scope to serve the needs and interests of all APA groups. With the Korean American Democratic National Organization, Kate worked tirelessly to amass broad community support on important issues like voting rights and protection against inequitable laws in Georgia. Moreover, Kate's excellent advocacy and organizing abilities with several APA community organizations will ensure great success for OCA Georgia as VP of Public Affairs. She is also a language teacher at the Center for Pan Asian Community Services. Kate Kim is Editor-In-Chief of the Alabama Korea Times.

Background & Credentials:
Professional Profile
Kevin Hamada began his career as a college intern at United Parcel Service. Today he is the Corporate Director of Business Intelligence Systems for UPS in Atlanta, GA. During Kevin’s 20+ years with UPS, he has held a variety of positions within the company. Notably, while working in their Research & Development group, he was awarded a US patent for an opto-mechanical design. Kevin is very active in the Diversity Leadership Development group within UPS, which focuses on networking and skills development to help attract, retain and develop employees. Kevin has been involved with OCA since 2009 and has served on the OCA-Georgia board as the VP of Education since January 2010. He was awarded the honor of the 2010 National Corporate Achievement Award. He facilitated the launching of the OCA-Georgia Mentoring Asian American Professionals (MAAP). The MAAP program provides a venue to expand the knowledge base and discover the skill sets of Asian American Professionals. The program’s focus is to assist professional APIs become successful in corporate America. In order to foster true leaders, it is essential that other individuals along with APIs participate in MAAP. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Kevin’s parents were born and raised in Hawaii and grandparents emigrated from Japan. He currently lives in a suburb of Atlanta with his wife and two daughters.

Josh Yuen Josh Yuen
VP Financial Affairs
Alexandra Kuo Alexandra Kuo
VP Cultural Affairs

Background & Credentials:
Josh has over 15 years of corporate finance experience in the consumer goods, retail, customer service and international business arenas. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Indiana University, and earned a MBA from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s degree in International Management from the University of St. Thomas. During his career with Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), a Fortune 200 company with revenue in excess of $20 billion, Josh held financial and strategic leadership positions of increasing responsibilities. During his previous role as a senior director, Josh provided financial thought leadership and decision support for a $3 billion operating unit while having direct responsibility over 50 finance professionals. Josh and his team was instrumental in developing and executing CCE’s high-profile marketing and growth strategies, including many strategic acquisitions and transformational initiatives. A trusted business partner with frequent interaction with C-level executives, Josh had significant experience in fostering business partnerships. Fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin, Josh maintains extensive personal and business contacts in Asia. He is a member of the Financial Executive Networking Group in Atlanta and currently operates a consulting practice specializing in developing cross-border trading and investment opportunities between the Asia Pacific and Southeast United States regions.

Background & Credentials:
My area of involvements in volunteer capacity (non-paying) are on: Promoting better understanding between East and West, through educational programs: i.e. as VP of Adult Education and special projects for Atlanta Symphony Associates. Organized Meet the Artists Series for Atlanta Symphony Associates, include Guest Chinese American Conductor and Violinist. Worked with Woodward Academy, Spellment College to promote Music Appreciation for next generation audience for Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Youth Orchestra Limited outreach effort include Chinese community, but I found it was harder, because Woodward Academy and Spellman College had better support structure. As Board Member for Georgia China Council (it was part of Asian Society. But the Council has long been replaced by other entity) Organized Lecture Demonstration of Chinese Opera Performance at Emory University, the first of its kind at Emory. Organized as Evening concert by a Chinese opera singer (a graduate of Juliard and returned as a visiting scholar after China was admitted to UN), also a first at Emory. Assisted in photographic exhibition at Emory Woodruff Library. As President of Asian American Women's Association in Atlanta: I promoted prevention, screening & vaccination. Specific attentions focus on initiating osteoporosis screening and Hepatitis vaccination among Asian community. (as Asian American women are more likely to have osteoporosis. Hepatitis vaccinations among Asian Community had below average record) As OCA board member: I organized 3 successful programs for National OCA Convention held in Atlanta year 2000 Health fair; "Multi-ethnic Women's Business Development Symposium" ; and Senior topics on Social Security and Medicare I also organized Donation of Chinese Literature to Dekalb County Public Library. Served on Board of Visitors for Grady Health System, participated in board meeting and spoke briefly on other Cancer Prevention meetings.

Natasha Patel photo Natasha Patel
Editor-In-Chief
Wooiyi Yin photo Wooiyi Yin
Board of Director

Background & Credentials:

Background & Credentials:
Objective To have a Dynamic Living life experience and opportunity to make a difference in the community. Experience 2005-2006 OCA-GA Board Member
- Increase voter registrations.
- Help in OCA 2005 lunar new year celebration.
- Sold tickets for Asian Tsunami and Katrina relief funds.
- Attended OCA 2005 National Convention. Education 1977-1981 Agnes Scott College Decatur, GA
- B.S. in Mathematics. 1981-1983 Emory University Decatur, GA
- M.S. in Mathematics-Computer Science Interests Movies, reading, traveling, learning about different cultures and people.

Jane Rolen photo Jane Rolen
Board of Director
Robert Ng photo Robert Ng
Board of Director

Background & Credentials:
Jane Rolen is the Team Leader for the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity (CREO), Social Security Administration in the Atlanta Region. Jane has held a number of different responsible positions such as Operations Supervisor, Labor Relations Specialist, and Management Analyst. She also served as Executive Assistant to the Regional Commissioner prior to her selection as CREO’s Team Leader. Jane was recently selected as a recipient of the “2011 SSA Commissioner’s Citation”, the highest honor award in SSA. This award is given to SSA employees who have demonstrated the highest level of excellence and service to fellow co-workers and the public. Jane is a member of the Board of Directors for Galing Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization promoting English literacy in the rural areas of the Philippines.  She is also a key member of the Volunteer Corps of the Office of the Honorary Consul General of the Philippines.  In July 2007, Jane was named a recipient of “Who’s Who in the Asian-American Communities” for her service as a leader and role model in the Asian Community.   Jane was born and raised in the Philippines.  She graduated with honors from St. Joseph’s College in Quezon City, Philippines, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, major in Economics.  Jane is married to William (Bill) T. Rolen, Jr.

Background & Credentials:
My name is Robert Ng. I am originally from Hong Kong, China. I have been in Atlanta for 19 years. My professional background is in Insurance and Financial Services. I am friendly, caring and outgoing. I love to social and meet new people. For the past two years I have been a board member with OCA. During this time I’ve learned more about management of teamwork and leadership. Therefore, I would like to continue in serving OCA for the upcoming term as a board of director for the benefits our community So, I appreciate everyone who is voting for me.

Teresa Chao photo Teresa Chao
Board of Director
Louis Tseng photo Louis Tseng
Board of Director

Background & Credentials:
Active member and recognized leader in the greater Atlanta Asian communities for 19 years;
• provided volunteer services to promote social, cultural and political events in the Atlanta area.
• Corporate Diversity Volunteer -- Co-Chaired the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month activities at AT&T Alpharetta Data Center, served as co-editor of the AT&T New Attitude Diversity newsletter, organized map painting projects at elementary schools, participated in park improvement projects, fundraiser for Camp Twin Lakes, food banks and Habitat for Humanity. Member of the IBM Atlanta LYNX – Education/Career Event Committee.

Background & Credentials:
My name is Louis Tsang. I have been in Atlanta since 1976. My profession is law enforcement. I have been an OCA member since 2000. I am passionate about civic rights and equality issues. Discrimination and prejudice still exist in many states, particularly in Atlanta, GA. I am a strong advocate in these areas; therefore, I believe I will be a good OCA board member for the upcoming term. Please keep me in mind for the board membership nomination.

 Robin Soh photo Robin Soh
Board of Director
Norman Chu photo Norman Chu
Immediate Past President

Background & Credentials:
Community Services:
OCA Georgia Chapter V.P. Public Affairs 2007-2010.
OCA Georgia Chapter Board Member for 2005-2006.
Current Vice President of Public Relation of Indonesian Community Heritage Foundation (ICHF)
Vice President of Indonesian Community of Atlanta (ICA) in 1994.
OCA National Executive Council member for 1991 to 1992.
OCA National Vice President of Membership Services for 1991 to 1992.
OCA Georgia Chapter President for 1990.
OCA Georgia Chapter President-Elect for 1989.
Member of OCA Georgia Chapter since 1983.
Previous Board of Director of Asian Pacific American Council of Georgia (APAC).

Achievement:
Received Distinguished Service Award as Treasurer of Indonesian Community of Atlanta (ICA) in 1996 to 1997.
Received Distinguished Service Award as Executive Vice President of Indonesian Community of Atlanta (ICA) in 1994 to 1995.
Received Outstanding Chapter Award from National OCA for Georgia Chapter in 1991 for chapter achievement in 1990.
Received Distinguish Service Award to the 1991 OCA Executive Council as Vice President of Membership Service.
Received Outstanding Leadership Award for Providing Invaluable Inspiration, Contribution and Dedication as President from OCA Georgia Chapter in 1990.
Received Outstanding Service Award for Dedication and Contribution to the 9th OCA National Convention as Chairperson of the Journal/Publication Committee from OCA Georgia Chapter in 1987.
Received Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution as Board Member of OCA Georgia Chapter in 1986.

Language Skill:
Speak in English, Mandarin Chinese, Indonesian, Malaysian and Hockien.

Background & Credentials:
• Organization of Chinese Americans – Ga. Chapter (OCA – www.oca-georgia.org) – President (2009-2010), VP (2007-08), Secretary (2005-06), President (1989), VP (1988), Editor-in-chief (1987), Board (1986), Election Chair (1991). Successfully organized Chinese New Year banquet, Cultural Night, Tennis Tournament, July 4th parade. OCA also raised $40K and increased membership to 100+ members in 1989.
• AT&T Asian Pacific Islanders for Professional and Community Advancement (APCA Atlanta Chapter) – President (2007-09), Planning committee (2003- 2004). Actively involved with membership drive, by-law improvements, elections process.
• Atlanta Olympics Envoy Program – Singapore Chief Envoy (1994-96), VP of ASIA group. The chief liaison between the Singapore Olympic team/delegation and ACOG. Successfully met their room/board, training, & event needs.
• Asian Pacific American Council of GA (APAC*) - Board member (1989).
• Ga. Tech International Student’s Association - President (1980-81)
• AT&T (1984 – Current). Current position – AT&T Labs – Principle Member of Technical Staff
*APAC - Heads of different local organizations - Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Pilipino, Korean, etc.

Plans/Proposals :
• Strengthen OCA membership and committee leadership through open dialog, and networking.
• Improve link between OCA, local community, and other cultural/ethnic groups - APAC, CPAC, NAAAP, others
• Improve diversity/cultural awareness through significant events- e.g. Asia Pacific Islander Month celebration.
• Enhance OCA’s reputation and image in the local community.

Patrick Sam photo Patrick Sam, Esq.
General Counsel
Christopher Chan photo Christopher Chan, Esq.
General Counsel

Patrick started the Law Office of Patrick Sam & Associates, P.C., a resource for immigration problems.   The firm speak English, Chinese (including Mandarin and Cantonese), Vietnamese and some French.  He likes to solve their immigrant problems, including complicated cases.

Christopher is a member of the Intellectual Property Practice Group of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP. He focuses his practice on the acquisition and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights for a variety of Fortune 500 and emerging technology companies involved in diverse fields such as financial transaction systems, computers, software, logistical systems, telecommunications, textiles, "green and clean" environmental technologies, power generation and controls, electro-mechanical devices, medical devices, and business methods.  Christopher serves on Sutherland's Pro Bono & Public Service and Marketing Committees.  He also advises clients with regard to protecting and enforcing IP in other countries and regions including China, Japan, and Europe...