BIOGRAPHIES
Irene Bueno is the current Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation (Congressional Liaison) at the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Among other responsibilities, Ms. Bueno advises the Secretary and other Department and Administration officials on the development and implementation of legislation on immigration issues as they relate to Health and Human Services programs. She is also a member of the District of Columbia Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs and is a pro bono attorney. Ms. Bueno is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Barbara Chow is from California and is the Associate Director for Human Resources at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Executive Office of the President. She is responsible for budget, legislative, and policy review of all human resource programs of the Federal government including the Corporation for National Service and the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities. Ms. Chow formerly served as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs at the White House and was integrally involved all the Administration's major economic initiatives, including the 1993 economic plan, the 1997 balanced budget and the resolution of key appropriations. In her current work, she draws on her in-depth experience working for the U.S. Congress and Price Waterhouse. Ms. Chow attended the University of California at Berkeley and Pomona College and currently lives in the District of Columbia.
"T.S." Tong Soo Chung is the Director of the Advocacy Center in International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce. As Director, Mr. Chung coordinates the activities of the 19 U.S. Government agencies in the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee to assist U.S. companies as they compete for primarily infrastructure-related projects overseas. He has been active in California community affairs and has served on the Board of Directors of RLA (previously Rebuild L.A.) and the Constitutional Rights Foundation. He is a founding board member of The Ethnic Coalition and was the founding President of the Korean American Coalition. Mr. Chung graduated from Harvard, Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and the UCLA School of Law.
Ivan K. Fong serves as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice. Before joining the Justice Department, he was a law partner in private practice and a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Abner J. Mikva. Currently, Mr. Fong is also an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he co-teaches a seminar on Law and New Technology. His community and professional involvement include serving on the Board of Governors of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and formerly serving as the president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. area. His numerous educational accomplishments include: a B.C.L. (a post-graduate law degree) with first-class honors from the University of Oxford, where he was a Fulbright Scholar; a J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School; and S.M. and S.B. degrees in chemical engineering practice and chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Robert W. Gee is a native of Houston, Texas and is the Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs of the United States Department of Energy. As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Gee is a principal advisor on all domestic and international energy matters. Mr. Gee brings to the Department of Energy 15 years of experience in public utility regulatory law and extensive experience in gas pipeline, electric, and transportation public utilities. He is an expert spokesperson on utility regulatory issues affecting states who has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress. Mr. Gee has also been interviewed by various news media, including Wall Street Journal and National Journal and has discussed utility mergers and acquisitions on "Inside Opinion". He received a B.A. in Government from the University of Texas and J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.
Lon S. Hatamiya is a native of California and currently serves as Administrator of U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. As Administrator, he helps American farmers find new export markets. Mr. Hatamiya's experience being raised on a family farm and his education in economics, business, and law are fundamental to this successful work at the USDA. He graduated with honors from Harvard University with a B.A. degree in Economics and then received his M.B.A. in Entrepreneurial Studies and International Business from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law.
Dang Pham came to the United States as a refugee from Vietnam and currently serves in the U.S. Department of Education as the Deputy Director of the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs. Mr. Pham has held numerous positions in education at the local and state level, including Director of Educational Programs at the Office for Refugees and Immigrants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In addition to his education in Vietnam, he received an undergraduate degree in Managerial Economics from Rhode Island College and a graduate degree in Education from Boston College.
Dr. Isi Siddiqui came to the U.S. from Haldwani, India and is currently the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. Siddiqui's scientific projects involving pest eradication, quarantine, and detection has led to significant agriculture advances that serve the public interest. Dr. Siddiqui holds a Bachelor's degree in plant protection from Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University in Pantnagar, India, and Master's and Doctorate in plant pathology from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
Stanley Suyat comes from Hawaii and now serves as the Director of Civil Rights for the Department of Energy. Mr. Suyat work on civil rights is informed by his experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer, as the Associate Director for Management for the Peace Corps, and as the White House Liaison/Chief of Staff at the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission. Mr. Suyat is the founder and president of Hawaii Youth at Risk. His other community and professional affiliations include involvement with the Asian Pacific American Federal Foreign Affairs Council and the Asian American Government Executives Network. Mr. Suyat graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle and Fordham University Law School.
Dr. Jeanette C. Takamura comes from Hawaii and is Assistant Secretary for Aging at the Department of Health and Human Services. As the Assistant Secretary, she ensures the development and coordination of aging policy, both within the department and throughout the federal government. Dr. Takamura's state-level experience as the Director of the Hawaii Executive Office on Aging and the first Deputy of Health for the Hawaii Department of Health contributes to her demonstrated ability to serve the public interest at the federal level. She received both a B.S. Degree in Political Science/Sociology and a Master of Social Work from the University of Hawaii. In addition, she has a Ph.D. in Social Policy from Brandeis University
Philip W. Yun is Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Stanley O. Roth. Mr. Yun draws on his experience with East Asian and Pacific regional securities matters and with coordinating the implementation of President Clinton's Pacific Community vision as a framework for American policy toward Asia and the Pacific. Prior to government service, he practiced corporate law with an emphasis on international transactions. Mr. Yun is a former Fulbright Scholar who holds an A.B. in Mathematic Economics from Brown University and a law degree from Columbia University, where he was an associate editor of the Columbia University Journal of Transnational Law.APA Heritage Month
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