Executive Committee
Rachelle Pastor Arizmendi, Co-Chair
Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Los Angeles, CA
Rachelle is the Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer at PACE (Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment). Founded in 1976, PACE is a non-profit, community development organization that annually serves over 50,000 people through job training and placement; business development; early childhood education; financial education and asset building; affordable housing; and energy, environmental and weatherization services. As the current Mayor of the City of Sierra Madre, she was the first woman of color to be elected to the City Council in 2014.
Rachelle serves in leadership positions on several Boards including the Board President of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, and Board Chair for the Foothill Workforce Development Policy Board. She also serves on the Board for the Community Development Financial Institution Coalition, Child 360, the CA League of Cities Women’s Caucus, and was appointed by the CA Governor to the California State Board of Food and Agriculture.
Angie Liou, Co-Chair
Asian Community Development Corporation, Executive Director
Boston, MA
Angie has been working in the affordable housing and community development field since 2004. Previously serving as ACDC's Director of Real Estate, Angie oversaw the asset management of ACDC’s portfolio of 300+ units, and was responsible for developing a pipeline of new projects for ACDC. She has worked as a consultant and project manager in Seattle and Philadelphia assisting nonprofits in providing safe and affordable housing. She has served as the project lead on over $95 million worth of projects. Angie received a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania with a concentration in Community Development. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Duncan Hwang, Secretary & Chair, Audit Committee
Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, Development & Communications Director
Portland, OR
Duncan currently serves as the Development and Communications Director for Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO), Oregon's leading AAPI grassroots advocacy organization. He first became politicized while attending the University of Michigan where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Asian Studies. During this time he worked on numerous civic engagement and environmental campaigns. After graduating, he worked as a field organizer for a national non-profit focusing on voter registration and GOTV campaigns. Duncan then moved to Portland, Oregon and obtained his J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School. After becoming an attorney, he relocated to Asia to practice international corporate law where he advised Fortune 500 companies on their cross-border merger and acquisition activities.
Ekta Prakash, Chair, Governance Committee
CAPI USA, Executive Director
Minneapolis, MN
Ekta is currently serving as the Executive Director of CAPI USA, an organization that is dedicated to building vibrant communities and helping Minnesota’s newest immigrants and refugees navigate the services and systems they need to thrive. Previously, she had worked as a Programs Director at CAPI, managing its core programs to refugees and immigrants in the Twin Cities. Originally from India, Ekta earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Patna University and then later pursued her Master’s in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics. She came to the United States after finishing her education in 2001.
Trina Villanueva, Chair, Fundraising Committee
Union Bank, Director, Community Outreach/Foundation Officer
San Francisco, CA
Trina Villanueva serves as Director, Community Outreach and Foundation Officer, covering Northern California and the Central Valley for Corporate Social Responsibility. In this role, Ms. Villanueva manages a portfolio of grants focused on Community Economic Development, Affordable Housing, Education and the Environment; oversees employee engagement and volunteer activities for Union Bank employees; and creates opportunities to partner with nonprofit organizations as well as government entities and private corporations. She has more than 20 years of community development and community relations experience. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2011, Ms. Villanueva served as Program Manager at the Office of Economic and Workforce Development in San Francisco where she managed the city’s Community Benefit District program. Previously, she served as a Senior Community Development Specialist at the Mayor’s Office of Community Development in San Francisco. Ms. Villanueva began her career in the nonprofit sector working at the Greenlining Institute and PolicyLink. Ms. Villanueva serves on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development and Filipino Advocates for Justice. She is also a member of the Greenlining Academy Alumni Association and was part of the founding alumni board. Ms. Villanueva holds a master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in International Development Studies and Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley.
Alisi Tulua, Treasurer & Chair, Finance Committee
Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance, Program Manager
Los Angeles, CA
Alisi Tulua is the Chief Operating Officer for Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC). While working as a health program coordinator for the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance in 2009, Alisi, along with a group of Pacific Islander young professionals, created EPIC as a way to complement existing efforts supporting and building the Pacific Islander community. In 2011, she became the program manager for the Tongan Community Service Center while continuing to build EPIC’s work with her colleagues. Prior to becoming staff at EPIC, Alisi served as a community health liaison for Asian and Pacific Islander Obesity Prevention Alliance. She received her M.S. in Biology and her B.S. in Biochemistry/Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego.
Members
Chhaya Chhoum
Mekong, Executive Director
Bronx, NY
Born in Cambodia in 1978 during the fall of the Khmer Rouge Regime, Chhaya and her family sought refuge in refugee camps in Thailand and the Philippines before making their way to the United States. After a refugee resettlement program abandoned her extended family along with thousands of other Cambodians and Vietnamese in urban poverty in the Bronx she began to organize her community against institutionalized oppression. When Chhaya was 16, she became a tutor in a pilot program run by CAAAV, one of the first organizations in America to mobilize Asian immigrant communities against the institutionalized violence of urban poverty, worker exploitation, police brutality, INS detention and deportation. Her summer internships soon turned into a full-time job as she became staff director of CAAAV’s new Youth Leadership Project (YLP). Taking on slumlords, overcrowded classrooms and cutbacks in translation services at public assistance centers and local health clinics, Chhoum harnesses the energy of the young in a community that has lost much of its adult generation. They would also begin to organize the adults as well as other youth to fight for justice.
In 2012, Chhoum co-founded Mekong, a community-based organization in the Bronx empowering the Cambodian and Vietnamese community through arts, culture, community organizing, and advocacy. She is currently the Executive Director of Mekong. She is also a mother of three – ages 13, 9, and 4. She was awarded Ford’s Leadership for a Changing World and awarded the Petra Foundation Award for unsung heroes in 2006. She has also received the 2013 Neighborhood Leadership Award from The New York Women Foundation.
Inhe Choi
Hana Center, Executive Director
Chicago, IL
Prior to joining KRCC’s staff in 2014, Ms. Choi worked as an independent consultant for nine years assisting community-based organizations and foundations with capacity building and strategic planning. Ms. Choi also served as the Program Director of the Crossroads Fund, the Asian American Liaison for the Harold Washington administration in Chicago and a community organizer for the Metropolitan Tenants Organization. She is a co-founder of Korean American Women In Need
(KAN-WIN).
Laura Choi
Senior Vice President, Public Engagement
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
Laura Choi is the senior vice president of Public Engagement at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. In this role, she provides overall strategic direction and leadership for the Community Development, Government and Civic Relations, and Regional Business Engagement teams. She oversees the Office of the Secretary and currently serves as the Community Affairs Officer for the Twelfth Federal Reserve District.
Laura’s previous roles at the San Francisco Fed include vice president of Community Development, Community Development research manager, co-editor of the Community Development Innovation Review, and regional manager for Hawaii. Her research has explored issues related to the practice of cross-sector community development, spanning topics such as healthy communities and financial well-being. She also edited What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Future of Families, Communities, and the Nation, a book jointly published by the SF Fed and Prosperity Now. Prior to joining the SF Fed in 2008, she worked in affordable housing development and management consulting.
Laura serves on the board of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development. She holds a BA in Economics and a Master of Public Policy degree, both from the University of California, Berkeley.
Wayne Ho
Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), President & CEO
New York, NY
Wayne Ho is the President and CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), the nation’s largest Asian American social services agency. He is responsible for leading this 53-year-old organization that promotes social and economic empowerment of over 60,000 Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income New Yorkers each year. CPC implements more than 50 programs at over 30 sites throughout New York City, including early childhood education, school-age care, youth services, workforce development, community services, and senior services. Under Wayne’s leadership that started in 2017, CPC launched Advancing Our CommUNITY, its organization-wide strategy to expand services to address persistent needs and emerging trends and to improve leadership skills among staff and community members.
Previously, Wayne served as Chief Strategy and Program Officer for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), an association of 200 community and faith-based member agencies aiming to promote upward mobility of underserved New Yorkers. He was responsible for expanding policy advocacy, capacity building, and faith-rooted organizing initiatives to achieve FPWA’s strategic plan. During his tenure, FPWA has advocated successfully for a funded $15 per hour minimum wage for City contracted social services nonprofit workers, grew the number of trainings and grants to member agencies, and increased its budget by 45%.
From 2004-2013, Wayne was the Executive Director of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), the nation’s only pan-Asian children’s advocacy organization. During his tenure, CACF collaborated with other organizations to successfully pass policies to improve language access, reduce bias-based harassment in schools, baselined funding for community-based child abuse prevention programs, and increased discretionary funding for the Asian Pacific American community. He has been recognized by the City and State in the inaugural Nonprofit Power 50 cohort in 2018 and as a 40 Under 40 New York City Rising Star in 2014. Wayne was one of 10 leaders invited to meet with President Obama during the White House’s Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration in 2011.
Wayne serves on numerous boards, including the board of Coro New York Leadership Center and Partnership for After School Education, and is appointed to several New York City and State advisory boards. Wayne received his Bachelor of Arts from UC Berkeley and his Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Chi-mei Lin
Chinese Community Center, Executive Director
Houston, TX
Chi-mei Lin has been the Executive Director of the Chinese Community Center [ https://ccchouston.org/ ] in Houston for the past 15 years. CCC is the largest Asian-led social services agency in the southwestern United States, serving over 10,000 families a year with educational, cultural, and social services. In 2015, CCC achieved recognition and accreditation from the Board of Immigration Appeals. Chi-mei actively engages in community work and is currently serving on the City of Houston Community Development Advisory Council, United Way of Greater Houston Care for Elders Leadership Council, Houston Immigration Legal Services Collective Executive Committee, and Houston Empower Community Initiative Executive Council.
Malcolm Yeung
Chinatown CDC, Executive Director
San Francisco, CA
Malcolm started as Executive Director on April 10, 2020. Before this, Malcolm served as the Deputy Director of Programs and Policy Manager of Chinatown CDC since 2009. Malcolm graduated from Duke University in 1994 (B.S.), University of Colorado at Boulder in 1997 (M.A. History), and Berkeley Law (J.D.) in 2001. Malcolm first practiced in venture finance and patent litigation at Perkins Coie LLP and then O'Melveny and Meyers LLP before joining the Asian Law Caucus in 2003. In 2011, Malcolm took a brief vacation from Chinatown CDC where he served in the Administration of San Francisco's First Asian American Mayor, the Honorable Edwin M. Lee, for one year to launch Mayor Lee's housing programs. Malcolm was former Co-Chair of the California Coalition on Civil Rights and President of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area. He currently serves on the Boards of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and API Council. Malcolm likes to tell bad jokes, ride his bike(s) slowly, and torture his two children by making them tell him what a great dad he is. Malcolm is co-editor of a collection of short historical essays, Chinese Americans on the American Frontier, which can only be found in the most exclusive bookstores.
Erich Nakano
Little Tokyo Service Center, Executive Director
New York, NY
Erich Nakano has been with the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) since 1992. LTSC is a 40+ year old nonprofit organization that builds affordable housing, engages in comprehensive community development work in Little Tokyo, and provides a broad range of social services for the elderly and families. Erich Nakano graduated from UCLA’s Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning with an M.A. in 1993. At LTSC he has managed affordable housing and community facility projects in Little Tokyo, and in other communities of color throughout the L.A. area, in partnership with other community-based organizations. He was responsible for program development for several LTSC programs including the Affordable Housing Collaborative, Asian Pacific Islander (API) Small Business Program, LTSC’s Child Development Program; and others. He has been LTSC's Deputy Director, serving as LTSC's chief operating officer. In October, 2019 he was appointed Executive Director after the former Executive Director passed away.
Prior to his work at LTSC, Erich Nakano has been involved in various community organizations and issues including the Japanese American redress and reparations movement, community preservation and tenant rights, educational rights, and various national and local political campaigns. He graduated with a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in political science.
Maiko Winker-Chin
Maiko Winker-Chin served as Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation Authority (SCIDpda)’s executive director since 2009, and prior to that role she served as SCIDpda’s Director of Housing and Facilities. She has worked at the SCIDpda for over 17 years. Maiko has served on numerous Seattle-area workgroups focused on core community development issues, including housing and commercial affordability, equitable development, transportation, and public safety. She was a founding member of Puget Sound Regional Council’s HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Equity Network, co-chaired the Urban Land Institute’s Center for Sustainable Leadership, and was a UW Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies Affiliate Fellow. Maiko is a recipient of the 2020 Women of Valor Award from Senator Maria Cantwell, and was named one of the "100 Most Influential People in Seattle" by Seattle Met in 2021.