Mayor Gloria Announces Appointees to Asian-Pacific Islander Advisory Group
MAYOR SELECTS 15 LOCAL API LEADERS TO ADVISE ON COMMUNITY ISSUES, EQUITABLE SOLUTIONS
SAN DIEGO – As a part of his commitment to ensure more diversity, inclusion, and equity in the City of San Diego, Mayor Todd Gloria announced today the formation of his administration’s Asian-Pacific Islander (API) Advisory Group and the selection of 15 outstanding San Diegans who will make up this group of API advisers.
“San Diego is home to a rich and diverse Asian and Pacific Islander community. Having a ‘San Diego for all of us’ means hearing all voices, so I’m particularly proud to announce this API advisory group so we can better address the issues and concerns of our API residents,” said Mayor Todd Gloria. “We have been able to assemble such an accomplished group of individuals who will strengthen our efforts to create a more inclusive San Diego.”
The focus of this advisory group will be to assist in guiding Mayor Gloria’s administration in tackling the unique challenges facing API communities. The 15 initial members of Mayor Gloria’s Asian-Pacific Islander Advisory Group are:
Dr. Allen Chan
Dr. Allen W. Chan is a practicing chiropractor and the owner of Jasmine Seafood Restaurant. He is the co-founder of the Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC) and was a key member of the redistricting process that created the new boundaries for City Council District 6, which includes communities such as Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa and Clairemont. Dr. Chan is the charter president of the San Diego United Lions Club, and also serves on the boards of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, APAC, Convoy District Partnership, US China Cultural and Economic Collaboratives, and serves on San Diego’s Kearny Mesa Community Plan Update Subcommittee. His community and charity work serve to empower the various Asian ethnic communities in San Diego and those less fortunate around the globe. Dr. Chan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy and Doctor of Chiropractic.
Ron Cho
Ron Cho is the current President of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association – San Diego Chapter. He has over 25 years of technology, progressive management and operational experience and has helped to lead venture-backed startup companies like Arbor Software and Ariba, Inc. With a proven track record in creating high-performance technology teams from the ground up, Cho actively participates in venture capital financing and private equity deals focusing on emerging companies. Cho currently serves on the City of San Diego Parks & Recreation Board and Regional Oversight Committee. He previously served on the City of San Diego Citizen’s Equal Opportunity Commission and Asian Pacific Islander Advisory Board.
JoAnn Fields
JoAnn Fields is a second-generation Filipino immigrant and advocate for communities of color in the South Bay area. She founded the Lumpia Club Luncheon, a Filipino-American professionals’ network that meets monthly to discuss concerns within the community. She is also the public relations director for the Asian Pacific Islander Initiative, where most recently, she helped ensure the API community was counted in the census and advocated for disaggregated data during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Panna Hazarika
Panna Hazarika is the current President of the San Diego chapter of the Federation of Indian Associations. Hazarika is an electrical engineer who earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has held several key management positions with technology companies focused on engineering, information systems, quality assurance and project management. As an executive in a "Big Four” management consulting firm, Hazarika has worked in various industries in both the private and public sectors. He is an entrepreneur and a past small business owner. His business background includes new business development and several years of small business ownership.
Judy Ki
Judy Ki is a retired public-school teacher who taught for three decades with the San Diego Unified School District. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a master’s degree in Educational Technology. She also earned five teaching credentials: K - 12 Multiple Subject; General Science; Computer Concepts & Applications; Gifted and Talented Education; and a special credential (SDAIE) for teaching English learners. After retirement, her volunteer work included Asian American Pacific Islander voter registration drives, candidate support and civic engagement and policy advocacy projects. In 2012, she founded the AAPI Democratic Club in San Diego. From 2012 to 2016, Ki served on the California Commission on Asian & Pacific Islander American Affairs. The Commission’s focus during her term was on language access, education, disaggregated data and immigration services. After completing her term, the California Legislature presented her with a Resolution of Recognition for Outstanding Commitment to the Advancement of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Ki remains active in her community, volunteering in issue advocacy and mentoring new candidates for political office.
Lee Ann Kim
For 16 years, Lee Ann Kim served as the founding executive director of Pacific Arts Movement, a dynamic nonprofit media arts organization best known for its annual San Diego Asian Film Festival, which grew to become the largest festival of its kind in North America. Kim also worked for nearly 12 years as a news anchor and reporter for KGTV-10, the ABC affiliate in San Diego where she earned numerous awards for her news coverage, including a regional Emmy for investigative reporting and California’s highest honor for educational reporting, the John Swett Award, for her coverage of bilingual education. Kim serves on the boards of Alliance San Diego, The Abundance Setting, and on the community advisory boards of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Korean American Coalition of San Diego, and SDG&E. Kim is an immigrant from South Korea who continues to strive to help amplify the authentic voices of marginalized communities through storytelling, advocacy and compassion.
Elvin Lai
Born and raised in San Diego, Elvin Lai is a fourth-generation owner-operator of the 71 room Ocean Park Inn Hotel in Pacific Beach since 2003. Lai is an active member of the lodging associations serving as Chair of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation and Chairman of the San Diego County Lodging Association. Previously, Lai served as Chairman of the California Hotel and Lodging Association, Board Member of the San Diego Tourism Marketing District, and Executive Board Member of San Diego Tourism Authority. Lai served his local community twice as past President, of the Pacific Beach Business Improvement District, also known as Discover PB. He also serves as a Board member of the Asian Business Association and as a San Diego County Alcohol Policy Panel Sector Leader. He also created, cofounded and co-chaired the PB Clean and Safe pilot program and continues to work to make this program a permanent reality for Pacific Beach. As an entrepreneur with six different businesses in four different sectors, Elvin’s greatest passions are building relationships, creating strategic alignments, supporting the growth of our economy and tourism industry, and working to better our community for future generations.
Mitz Lee
Mitz Lee has been a community leader, coalition builder, and neighborhood advocate for nearly three decades. Lee has served on San Diego City Human Relations Commission, co-founded several nonprofit organizations and has served on their board of directors. In addition, she is now spearheading two neighborhood-focused projects as Executive Director of Mira Mesa Senior Center and Chairperson of D6 Night Market. She continues to serve as President and CEO of Alliance for Quality Education. She is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Parents for Quality Education and the Asian Pacific American Coalition. Lee holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Economics from the University of the City of Manila and a master’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Financial Management from National University in San Diego.
Kirin Amiling Macapugay
Kirin Amiling Macapugay is a professor at San Diego City College, Founder of Asian Pacific Islander Community Actions (APICA) and serves on the California Commission on Asian American Pacific Islander Affairs. Macapugay has worked in education, health and human services and various not-for-profit organizations in San Diego since 1998, primarily in organizations serving API and other underrepresented communities. She helped spearhead efforts to improve the API community’s well-being, ranging from increasing life-saving prenatal care in National City to arts-based preventive programs for at-risk youth in southeast San Diego, to support programs for military families. Her organization helped springboard key community efforts, including Viet Vote, the Kuya Ate Mentorship Program, FilAmFest, Made in Paradise Hills, People’s Collective on Justice and Liberation, and Project Reo. She is a founding Chair for Made in Paradise Hills and is part of the San Diego API Coalition’s core leadership. Macapugay earned a Master of Social Work and Nonprofit Administration degree from San Diego State University.
Connie Matsui
Connie L. Matsui is a third-generation Japanese American and a native Californian. Her career spans three high-growth industries: commercial banking, biotechnology and social innovation. During and after her years as a senior executive at Wells Fargo, IDEC Pharmaceuticals and BiogenIDEC, she concurrently served on several nonprofit boards, such as the Mira Costa College Foundation, San Diego Grantmakers (now Catalyst) and The San Diego Foundation. Her longest nonprofit board service has been at the local, national and global level for Girl Scouts of the USA and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. She is currently active as Board Chair for three NASDAQ companies — Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO), Sutro Biopharma (STRO), and Artelo Biosciences (ARTL) — and as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Balboa Park Conservancy. Matsui holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Su Nguyen
Su Nguyen serves on the Little Saigon San Diego Foundation’s board of directors. He is a passionate advocate for the Vietnamese and refugee communities in San Diego and has worked hard to bring opportunities to the City Heights neighborhood.
Tony Olaes
Tony Olaes is the co-founder of TheFilipinoSchool.com in San Diego. Its mission is to educate, awaken and empower the next generation of Filipino Americans to uplift their community and motherland. He is president of Olaes Enterprises Inc., a 25-year corporation that supplies imprinted apparel to national retailers throughout the U.S. Olaes chairs the board of Global Electric Transport Inc., a mobility tech company that is committed to delivering smart transport to create sustainable cities. He also serves on the board of directors for Gawad Kalinga USA, a nation-building movement that aims to transform the poverty situation in the Philippines.
Jason Paguio
Jason Paguio is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Business Association San Diego (ABASD) and the Statewide Strategic Partnerships for the California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce. Focusing on economic equity for the region’s underserved communities, Paguio led ABASD’s Small Business Development Center through the pandemic by assisting thousands of minority-owned small businesses, helping them to receive no-cost technical assistance and tens-of-million dollars in COVID-19 disaster relief capital. In a historic effort, Paguio partnered to establish the Strategic Alliance, a group comprising the region's three largest ethnic chambers of commerce: the Central San Diego Black Chamber of Commerce, the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Asian Business Association San Diego. Together, the Strategic Alliance successfully advocated with the County of San Diego and City of San Diego for dedicated outreach and technical assistance to disadvantaged minority-owned businesses. Paguio’s additional involvement in boards, commissions, and committees spans the region’s philanthropic community, civic and business-centered institutions, to arts and education-based organizations.
Dr. William Tseng
Dr. William T.C. Tseng joined the Southern California Medical Group (SCPMG) at Kaiser Permanente San Diego in 2000. Dr. Tseng currently serves as a practicing board-certified internal medicine physician, President of Professional Staff, Assistant Area Medical Director, and is a physician ambassador to the corporate community. Dr. Tseng is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians and the American Medical Association. Dr. Tseng serves as a Trustee for the California Medical Association and on the executive board of the San Diego Medical Society. Dr. Tseng enjoys balancing his time between patient care, hospital accreditation, and patient safety while continuing to oversee physician education and Kaiser Permanente’s Diversity Council. Dr. Tseng is actively involved in the community, including involvement with the Union of Pan Asian Communities, Asian Business Association of San Diego, Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs, and Doctors of the World. He is an appointed volunteer faculty at UC San Diego School of Medicine. In his past role with the San Diego County Medical Society Foundation, he helped develop a successful physician volunteerism project offering donated physician office visits, surgeries, and procedures to low-income, uninsured patients. Dr. Tseng received his medical degree from the University of Utah School of Medicine and completed his residency at Johns Hopkins University Bayview Medical Center while jointly receiving his master’s in public health from John Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Natasha Wong
Natasha Wong is an international law attorney who began her career in San Diego as the Executive Director of the Chinese Service Center. Providing various social services to low-and middle-income Chinese, the Center provided services ranging from job referrals to free financial literacy courses. Wong helped implement the first IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for mono-lingual Chinese. Under her leadership, hundreds of Chinese restaurant workers also received training and earned a Food Sanitation certificate from the County of San Diego Health Department to work in restaurants all over San Diego County. Wong earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley. She earned her Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School and a Master of Law in International Law from the University of San Diego, School of Law. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Avery Tsui Foundation. She is a trustee of the Stephen Hawking Professorship at Cambridge University in England. She also serves on the Board of Advisors for the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Letters and Sciences. She is also the treasurer and serves on the board of directors of San Diego Balboa Park’s House of China.
The advisory group will meet quarterly and is scheduled to hold its first meeting on May 17.