OCA – Orange County Chapter

2009 Organization of Chinese Americans Orange County Chapter Officers

President: Ellen Lu
Ellen Lu is the Associate Director of Community Relations for the University of California, Irvine, Office of Community and Government Relations. She supports the university in building relationships, upholding the university’s image and generating support for UC Irvine’s mission of education, research and public service. Ellen develops and implements UC Irvine policies concerning community interaction, with emphasis toward the Orange County community. In addition, she identifies activities and programs at UC Irvine and in the community that provide opportunities for interaction and partnership. Ellen currently serves OCA Orange County Chapter (OCA-OC) as president, the National Latina Business Women Association of Orange County (NLBWA) as board of director, the Asian Business Association of Orange County (ABAOC) as corporate advisory board member, as well as sits on many committees throughout the Orange County non-profit community. Ellen received the Community Leader Award from the ABAOC in 2008 and the Latino 100 Award in 2009 for her passion in giving back to the commutnity.

Ellen graduated from the University of California, San Diego with degrees in biology and Chinese literature. She is a proud alumna of Kappa Zeta Phi Sorority at UC San Diego. Her passions are giving back to the community through service opportunities and building partnerships amongst colleagues and organizations. She enjoys cooking, baking, tennis, bowling and traveling. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Ellen moved to Los Angeles in 1997. She currently lives in Irvine.

Vice President: Yao Lee
Yao received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine in computer engineering where he was a part of the Engineering Student Council. He was also involved in the UC Irvine Chinese Association where he served as the Sports Coordinator. He went on to receive a master’s degree from the University of Southern California in electrical engineering specializing in computer networks.
Yao is an avid sports fan and enjoys many sports especially basketball. Born in Taiwan, Yao moved to the U.S. at very young age and grew up in Palos Verdes Estates. He current lives in Irvine.

Secretary: Nikun Khoongumjorn
Nikun is a Software Engineer working in the mobile phone industry. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine in Computer Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. At UC Irvine, he was a part of the Engineering Student Council, IEEE, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu as well as the UC Irvine Chinese Association. Nikun went on to receive his Master’s degree in Computer Science from Stanford University. Nikun was born in Bangkok, Thailand and moved to the United States at a very young age. He currently resides in Irvine.

Treasurer: Milo Amorsolo
Milo was born in Manila, Philippines in 1978. He immigrated to the United States in 1985 and grew up mostly in Southern California.
Milo went to junior high in West Covina and attended high school in San Diego, then to college at the University of California Riverside where he majored in Electrical Engineering and minored in Computer Science. He graduated in 2001 and worked at Frontier Systems in 2001 then Geotest, Inc from 2002-2005 and now at Ricoh Electronics where he does lots of firmware programming. Ricoh Electronics is located in Tustin, CA.
Milo’s hobbies are drinking coffee while reading at Starbucks, hanging out and going to dinner with friends, watching sports and rooting for his favorite teams, or just going to a friends’ house and just chilling. He’s a party person too that likes to go clubbing once in a while and especially for friends’ birthdays.

Membership Chair: Shawn H Kim
Shawn is the District Representative/Constituent Services Director for California State Senator Lou Correa. He oversees and advises on all incoming constituent caseworks. Furthermore, Shawn advises Senator Correa on Asian Pacific Islander, Business, Senior, Veterans, and Mobilehome issues as well as representing the Senator in cities of Buena Park, Stanton and Garden Grove. In addition to his work, Shawn currently serves as a Korean Community advisory member to Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and a board member of the Korean American Federation of Orange County. Prior to his current position, Shawn has worked in real estate and as an investment banker. Shawn is a graduate of the University of California with Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology.

Education/Cultural Affairs Chair: Lisa Akiyama
Lisa is the Scheduler/Office Manager for CA State Senator Tom Harman. She manages and coordinates all aspects of Senator Harman’s District schedule. She also represents Senator Harman at District events, organizes all aspects of most District Advisory Events, and helps to identify outreach opportunities within the District. Lisa graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a major in Political Science and a minor in Education. Lisa has volunteered at Orange County’s Therapeutic Arts Center tutoring children with learning disabilities and at a number of political events in Orange County. She enjoys beach volleyball, biking, tennis, rooting for the Dodgers and Lakers, cooking and travel.

Fundraising Chair: Rex Chen
Rex Chen is a graduate student researcher at UC Irvine in the School of Information and Computer Science. He works part-time at Linksys-Cisco as a Product Engineer, and was a Software Engineer at Qualcomm prior. He is an engineer at heart with an entrepreneurial spirit, having won the UCI hITEC technology competition in 2003. Among other things, he is grateful to have met some wonderful mentors who have provided invaluable learning capacities and wisdom in life. He likes trying out new adventures and enjoys carrying conversations with people to talk about inspirational things on the world in large. Currently, he is learning ballroom dancing, and in particular, enjoys dancing Tango and going to milongas.

Information Technology Chair: Sherman Wong
Sherman Wong is currently working as a Software Engineering Manager at Yamaha Corporation of America (www.yamaha.com) in Buena Park, specializing in the globalization of the company’s website infrastructure and reporting. Formerly, he worked as a Product Manager at Panasonic Avionics Corporation (www.panasonic.aero) in Lake Forest, specializing in software applications and services for next generation in-flight entertainment systems on tier 1 international airlines. Some of his work can be seen on the new Airbus A380 (Singapore, Qantas, and others) and the new Boeing 787s. He has also worked as a Technical Project Manager for the Learning Network (www.learning.net) in Laguna Beach, specializing in project management, consulting, and development of online training materials that target corporate continuing education.
He boasts a background in both computer science and studio arts which puts him in a unique position to strike a perfect balance for both creating an effective visual front end web interface along with an efficient backend structure. Sherman now focuses on pushing business and product development through the implementation of the latest trends of technologies available.
Sherman earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Irvine, with a background in Studio Arts and Information & Computer Science.
Sherman also formerly served on the Board of Directors at the Asian Professional Exchange (www.apex.org) as the Director of Information Systems in 2005. APEX is a professional non-profit organization for Asian Pacific Americans in Southern California who have a strong commitment to excellence in professional development, community service, and cultural awareness.

2009 Organization of Chinese Americans Orange County Chapter Board of Directors

Board Advisor: Jhemon Lee, M.D.
Dr. Jhemon Lee is Vice Chair of the Department of Diagnostic Imaging of Los Alamitos Medical Center and a partner in Los Alamitos Radiology Group. Jhemon grew up in Maryland, received his bachelor’s degree in Engineering Sciences at Harvard University, and obtained his medical degree from the University of Maryland. He completed his residency in diagnostic radiology at the University of Chicago, where he was chief resident, and a fellowship in abdominal imaging at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Jhemon is a former president of OCA-Orange County and was on the steering committee for the 1997 OCA National Convention in Chicago. He is President of the Advisory Board for the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA). He has been involved in the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) for over ten years. His most recent position in NAAAP is Co-Chair of the 2008 NAAAP National Convention in Los Angeles; past roles include serving as its National President, the President of its Chicago chapter, and on the board of its Boston chapter. He has been a board member, Director of Professional Development and founder of the Healthcare Special Interest Group for Asian Professional Exchange (APEX) in Los Angeles. Honors include being named to “Who’s Who in the World,” “Who’s Who in America” and “America’s Top Physicians,” and a NAAAP National Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jhemon also does acting and improv comedy on the side, as a member of the Advanced Team of Cold Tofu Improv, and taking classes with East West Players’ Actors Conservatory, including studio project performances of “The Laramie Project” and “Twelfth Night.” His latest hobby, believe it or not, is cooking.

Alex Quong
Alex Quong is a software engineer for Boeing. He works on projects which defend the country. In his spare time, he is also the former OCA-OC Vice President. This involves defending Asian American civil rights. Alex, a.k.a. “the Defender.” He was born and raised in California and therefore, is ideally suited to serve on OCA, which stands for Organization of Chinese AMERICANS (emphasis added). Growing up in Palos Verdes, he decided to travel far from home and acquired his B.S. in Computer Science from Santa Clara University (Go Steve Nash!). From there it was on to UC Irvine for a M.S. in Applied Mathematical Statistics.
After graduation, it was time to pay back those student loans (see first paragraph). Since work is not that fulfilling (is it ever?), he has joined OCA-OC to meet friends! Seriously though, with his extensive knowledge of the Asian American community in Southern California and his first-hand knowledge of being a banana, he feels OCA-OC is the ideal outlet to improve the lives of Chinese and Asian Americans in Southern California and Orange County specifically. Not only did he serve as former Vice President for OCA, he also served with Young Generation Asian Professionals (YGAP) in many capacities.

Tammy Peng
Tammy Peng is an attorney and policy advocate for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center’s Orange County office. Tammy works with the ever-increasing and diverse API population in Orange County, home to the largest number of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam, on issues ranging from immigration and language access to education and hate crimes. Tammy is the immediate past vice chair of the Refugee Forum of Orange County, a coalition of community-based organizations and service providers targeting the county’s refugee community, and serves on the State Bar of California Committee on Delivery of Legal Services, and Orange County Bar Assn.’s Community Outreach, Diversity and Equal Justice and Pro Bono committees. Tammy received her J.D. from Whittier Law School, her M.A. in journalism from USC, and B.A. in political science from UCLA. (Go Bruin!)

Howard Wang, Ph.D.
Dr. Howard Wang received a B.A. in Biology from the University of Oregon, and a M.S. in Clinical Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After a brief career in teaching clinical mycology at the Mayo Clinic and conducting research in Legionnaires’ Disease at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he found his calling in education, and obtained both a M.A. and a Ph.D. degree from UCLA in Higher Education Administration.Dr. Wang is the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Executive Director of the Student Health and Counseling Center at the California State University, Fullerton. He served as the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs for two years at the California State University, San Bernardino; and as the Chief Executive Officer to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Development and Health Division at UCLA for more than a decade. His tenure in student affairs work includes managing many student services areas, including student health services and counseling and psychological services. He also served as an advisor to several student groups, including the International Golden Key Honour Society. He is often invited to China to provide training on student development theories, student affairs administration and governance, and other selected topics on the U.S. higher education systems. One of his presentations, “Student Affairs Management in Higher Education,” became part of a chapter in a book published by the Zhongshan University Press in 2005. An article, “Student Affairs in China,” was published in the Fall 2004 issue of Leadership Exchange magazine published by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. He was also a member of the writing team for the 1998 “International Student Affairs and Services Manual” published by the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) and is currently one of the editors for the 2nd edition of the same manual.
Dr. Wang became involved (since 2005) in a bill that was recently passed by Congress and signed by President Bush into law, designating eligible higher education institutions with 10% or more financially needy Asian Pacific American students as “Asian American and Native American Pacific Islanders Serving Institutions.” He worked with a number of colleagues in higher education and helped draft the “Findings” section in several legislative proposals during the early stages of the proposed bill; and with several community organizations and business leaders to help rally the passage of this bill. The current law will provide federal funding to eligible community colleges and universities for academic support services as well as community outreach programs to better serve the Asian American and Pacific Islander students. He is continuing his efforts in educating the community on this law, and work with his colleagues to insure its fair implementation.

Albert Wong
Albert T. Wong is proud to serve as an officer in Organization of Chinese Americans – Orange County Chapter. He currently works for IBM as an IT Architect designing, building and deploying innovative solutions for clients around the world and was a past president of the UC Irvine Alumni Association Information and Computer Science Chapter. He enjoys traveling all over the world, eating at local mom and pop restaurants, shopping at unique stores, learning about anything and everything, donating time to worthy causes and helping his family’s business.

2009 Organization of Chinese Americans Orange County Chapter Student Interns

Kathleen Arada
Kathleen is in her fourth year at the University of California, Irvine double majoring in English and Sociology with a minor in Management. Campus involvement proves itself as one of her top priorities with her being the co-founder and co-coordinator of the Anteater Mentorship Program, a CORE Consultant for UCI’s International and Multicultural organizations, and a Student Alumni Association council member. When she has time to spare from her busy school schedule, her leisure activities include traveling to both new and familiar places, experimenting with cooking/baking, finding more books to add to her favorites, and spending time with her loved ones.

Cynthia Au
Cynthia Au is a graduating senior at the University of California, Irvine. Double majoring in Sociology and International Studies with an emphasis in Asia and the Pacific Rim, she hopes to work in a field that deals with international affairs and policy. Studying abroad at the National University of Singapore during Fall 2007 has heightened Cynthia’s interest in both the local and international Asian community. She enjoys traveling to new places, eating all types of food, and working out during her spare time.