2006-2007 SPEAKERS
2007 AAWIL Conference Speakers
 Christine
Callahan is a GE
Aviation Plant Manager in Lynn, Mass responsible for Supply
Chain Operations for the Assembly & Test of aircraft engines
and components supporting both commercial and military markets.
Christine has over 15 years in GE with responsibilities ranging
from environmental, health & safety management, product
development, and operations leadership. From 2000-2004, she
ran the 1,400 person airfoils manufacturing plant in Rutland,
VT. Christine has a B.S. Chemical Engineering from the University
of New Hampshire, is married and has three children.
 Suyin
Copley is the Global Human Resources Manager for
the GE
Plastics Cycolac, Geloy business ($1B revenue). She is
responsible for the organization effectiveness for approx.
1,100 employees across six global manufacturing locations
and multiple commercial locations across Americas, Europe
and Pacific poles. Suyin has over 17 years experience in GE
Plastics from roles in Human Resources, Six Sigma, Environmental
Engineering and Marketing. She is also an active leader in
GE’s Asian Pacific American Forum (APAF) initiatives.
She graduated from Cornell University with a BS degree in
Mechanical Engineering. She is an American born Korean and
lives in Pittsfield, MA with her husband and two children.
 Komal
Kirtikar, Technical Leader on CF34-8C Engine Assembly
Line for GE
Aviation, is responsible for the quality and implementation
of a renewed assembly line at the Lynn Aviation Facility.
Komal has been working at GE for 2.5 years and recently graduated
from their Operations Management and Leadership Program. In
this 2-year training program, Komal held 6-month roles in
International Sourcing and in the Central Lean Manufacturing
Team in Cincinnati, a supervisor role in the Albuquerque Structures
shop, and a Quality Leader in the Wilmington, NC Rotating
Parts shop. She completed her Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering
from the University of Florida in 2003. Komal is a member
of the GE Asian Pacific American Forum.
 Naveena
Shastri is an Indian national and is currently a
business counsel within GE
Plastics, primarily responsible for providing legal counsel
to the sourcing and commercial teams. She has been with GE
for six years in a legal role, five of which were spent working
in India. She and her family moved to Pittsfield, MA in August
2005. Prior to working with GE, she worked in Dresdner Kleinwort
Benson, a leading investment bank and in the London office
of Linklaters & Alliance, an international law firm. Naveena
received her bachelor's degree in history, economics and politics
from the Bangalore University in India and has law degrees
from Cambridge, England and Harvard. She is married with two
children aged 11 and 8. She is an active contributor to the
GE Women's Network. She enjoys Indian classical dancing and
all types of theater.
2005-2006 SPEAKERS
2006 AAWIL Conference Speakers
 Carmen
Chan is the Director of Major Gifts and Communication
of the Boston Chinatown
Neighborhood Center. Carmen was born and raised in Hong
Kong before coming to the US to attend college. A former journalist,
Carmen began her development career 10 years ago as she raised
funds to create the first battered Asian women shelter in
New England. Since then, she was involved with the Boston
Women’s Fund to spearhead a grassroots endowment campaign
- the 2000 Club - to raise a million through 2000 donors each
giving $500 in five years. She was the Director of Fundraising
at Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation before
she joined the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center in 2002
to launch a $2.3 million capital campaign to build a community
center. This summer, she completed and exceeded the campaign
by raising a total of $2.8 million. The five-stories, 20,000
square-feet community center was opened in July.
 Since
returning from Asia in 2000, Ida Chang has
been actively engaged in helping graduates from New
England Job Corps programs transition into full time employment
with several national non-profit and for-profit organizations.
After more then sixteen years in corporate business, working
with the Nation’s at-risk youth has become a compelling
passion for Ida. A native New Yorker, Ida graduated from Saint
John’s University and has diverse professional background
in medical services, manufacturing, corporate relocations
and executive search. With over sixteen years of experience
in Asia, Ida understands the complexities of today’s
multicultural work environment and the issues facing companies
in this global market.
 Veronica
Chao joined the staff of The
Improper Bostonian in 2002 as editor. She moved to Boston
from Washington, D.C., where she was executive editor of the
travel magazine Destinations. She holds a bachelor's degree
from the University of Virginia, and is a graduate of the
Stanford Professional Publishing Course, a member of the Asian
American Journalists Association, an ASPIRE mentor, and a
board member of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.
 Anuradha
Desai is the Executive Director of Organizational
Development at Citizen
Schools. In her seven years there, she has helped Citizen
Schools to grow its annual fundraising revenues from $850,000
to $7 million and spearheaded a $25 million multi-year investment
campaign. Prior to joining Citizen Schools in 1998, Anuradha
served as a Director of Special Projects at Tufts University’s
Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutritional Policy and served
in various leadership positions at Oxfam America for over
a decade. She was trained as an architect before coming to
the U.S. in 1983. She received her graduate degree in urban
planning from the Royal Danish Academy in Denmark and her
undergraduate degree from the Center on Environment, Planning,
and Technology in Ahmedabad, India. After serving as a board
member for six years, currently Anuradha serves as an Advisor
to Grassroots International’s development committee
and as a board member for the Massachusetts Service Alliance.
She resides in Jamaica Plain, MA.
 Pam
Gao is a vice president and quantitative analyst
in the small and emerging growth equities group at Putnam
Investments. Pam graduated with a B.E. in Computer Science
in China and worked for five years in China as founding editor
of the China Financial Information Weekly Magazine. Pam received
a M.S. in Financial Mathematics from Worcester Polytechnic
Institute and a MBA in Finance from SUNY Binghamton. Pam has
over seven years of investment industry experience and is
a CFA charterholder.
 Arar
Han is currently Special Assistant to the CEO of
Panera Bread,
the nation's leading fast-casual chain concept. She is also
co-writing a book on department stores in the 21st century
with a professor at the Harvard Business School, and is a
partner at a Wiki-based educational startup called Writers
Street, LLC. Prior to joining Panera, Arar was a Casewriter
at Harvard Business
School specializing in Retail Marketing. Arar is a coeditor
of Asian
American X: an intersection of 21st century Asian American
voices (University of Michigan Press 2004). She is a speaker
in demand at college campuses across the country for her workshops
and lectures on Asian American identity. Arar is also engaged
as a consultant to the Rotary Club of Cupertino, an organization
currently seeking strategic direction towards greater ethnic
inclusivity. Arar's broad range of 'extracurricular' interests
at the moment include fusion food, modern symphonic works
(Tan Dun and others), and traveling to Sarajevo and San Salvador.
 Since
1991, Vivien Li has been Executive Director
of The Boston
Harbor Association, a non-profit, public interest organization
founded by the League of Women Voters and the Boston Shipping
Association to promote a clean, alive, and accessible Boston
Harbor. TBHA was the first public interest organization to
call for the clean up of Boston Harbor, and continues to actively
work for the restoration of harbor beaches for urban residents
and the completion of a 47-mile HarborWalk public access network
along the waterfront. Previously, Vivien was senior staff
to Governor Michael Dukakis and was elected to serve two terms
on the Board of Directors of the national Sierra Club. She
is the recipient of numerous awards, the most recent being
the Boston Theological Society's 2005 Annual Humanitarian
Award and the first John W. Gaston, Jr. Award for Public Administration
presented earlier this year by the American Society of Public
Administration. Vivien and her family live in Boston. (Globe
article)
Michelle Liu is currently a student at the
Harvard Business
School. Prior to HBS, she spent three years as an Assistant
Marketing Manager for Shiseido
Cosmetics, managing all products under the Shiseido and
Clé de Peau Beauté brand names. Before that,
Michelle was a financial analyst in the Mergers & Acquisions
group at Peter
J. Solomon Company. From 2004-2005, Michelle served as
co-Director of Developing
Aspiring Women Nationally (DAWN). In addition, she is
a NY Department of Health certified counselor and volunteers
for the New York City Anti-Violence Project's crisis hotline.
Michelle received a BA from Stanford University, majoring
in Economics and minoring in French and Chinese.
 Michelle
Okimoto is an AVP of Human Resources at The
TJX Companies. She has experience in both start-up and
large company environments, having worked over the last 10
years in a variety of areas within Human Resources. Michelle
began her career working for GTE in several areas and was
a part of their international team that worked in partnership
with the PLA in a start-up joint venture in China. She has
also worked for Genuity which was a leading provider of intranet
infrastructure services as a Performance Consultant and a
Director in Organization Effectiveness focused on management
and leadership development, succession planning and performance
coaching. In her current role as AVP, she is responsible for
overseeing learning & development, the merchandise training
program and employee relations for the home office. Michelle
holds a B.A. degree in English from the University of Colorado
at Boulder and a Masters degree from Boston College.
 Janet
Sun is VP of Marketing at Experience,
a web-based university recruiting solution for top-tier employers,
where she is focused on defining and implementing the company's
go-to-market strategy. She is responsible for creating the
strategic vision, product marketing and marketing communications.
Before joining Experience, Janet was Vice President of Marketing
at Genuity, a leading provider of Internet services to enterprises.
Prior to Genuity, she spent 8 years with GTE/BBN where she
held senior positions in marketing, business development,
strategic planning and investor relations, helping BBN's Internet
business to grow from $5 million to $1 billion in revenues.
She holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins and an MBA
from MIT's Sloan School of Management.
 Grace
Talusan is a writer and teacher. She earned an MFA
in fiction writing from the University of California, Irvine,
and was an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the
University of Oregon. Grace was awarded a Massachusetts Artist
Grant, and other grants to support research and writing. She
was an English major at Tufts
University, where she currently teaches. She is a member
of the Writers' Room of Boston and teaches for grub
street.
 Mary
Truong is currently an independent consultant, after
having worked as an executive for ten years at Fleet/Bank
of America. She was a Corporate Community Development
Officer and Vice-President of FleetBoston Financial’s
Community Investment Group. She cultivates partnerships with
internal and external partners to provide technical assistance
to public and private local organizations. Through her work,
Mary helps Fleet achieve its Community Reinvestment Act ratings
by helping low to moderate income communities gain access
to capital. As an active community leader, Mary currently
volunteers for many organizations including the Caritas Carney
Hospital, Dorchester Board of Trade, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood
Center, Ford Hall Forum, Massachusetts Vietnamese-American
Women’s League, and the Vietnamese-American Community
Center. She has also helped raise money for political candidates
and elected officials for over a decade. Mary graduated from
the University of Massachusetts, where she majored in Sociology,
and attended Northeastern for her Masters in Business Administration.
2004-2005 SPEAKERS
 Linda
Akutagawa is the Vice President for Resource and
Business Development at LEAP.
Founded in 1982, LEAP is a national nonprofit organization
that aims to achieve full participation and equality for Asian
Pacific Americans. Linda speaks and presents nationally on
topics such as leadership, Asian Pacific American issues,
employee network groups, diversity and networking and relationship
building to a range of audiences such as corporations, student
groups and community and professional organizations. Linda
received her B.S. in International Business from California
State University in Los Angeles.
 An
honors graduate of Harvard College with a degree in Applied
Mathematics and Economics, Joanne Chang left
a career as a management consultant to enter the world of
professional cooking. She started as garde-manger cook at
Boston's renowned Biba restaurant, worked for a year assisting
the owner/head-baker of Bentonwood Bakery in Newton, and in
1995 was hired as Pastry Chef at Rialto restaurant in Cambridge.
Joanne moved to New York City in 1997 to oversee the cake
department of the critically acclaimed Payard Patisserie and
Bistro. Returning to Boston a year later with dreams of opening
up her own pastry shop, she brought her French and American
training to Mistral where she was the Pastry Chef until summer
of 2000. Now she has opened Flour,
a bakery and café, in Boston's South End. Flour has
been featured in Gourmet, Food and Wine, the New York Times,
Conde Nast Traveler, Lucky Magazine, and Boston Magazine and
has received numerous Best of Boston awards. An avid runner,
she has competed in every Boston Marathon since 1991.
 Lisa
Fan joined Filene's
Basement as an Associate Buyer of Men's Designer and Outerwear
in 2003 after three years as an Associate Buyer of Trend Jewelry
and Innerwear at Macy's in New York City. While attending
Syracuse University, she brought the first Asian-interest
Greek Organization to campus. She has advised many Asian American
organizations, including serving as a Director for the Asian
American Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York. Lisa
received her B.A. in Marketing from Syracuse University in
2000.
Hazel Kim is Director of John
Hancock Community Relations, where she manages the company's
$5 million corporate grant program, employee volunteer programs,
and department administration and finance. She was selected
as one of only nine associates company-wide to work at both
the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and 2004 Summer
Olympics in Athens. Previous to her position at John Hancock,
she worked as a Communications Coordinator for the New York
State Assembly and as a Campaign Field Coordinator for the
New York State Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee. She
has an M.B.A. with a concentration in Marketing and certificate
in Public/Non-Profit Management from Boston University and
a B.A from SUNY Buffalo. Hazel is a graduate of the NCCJ LeadBoston
Class of 2003 and her volunteer activities include serving
on the WGBH Community Advisory Board, Board of Advocates for
Bay Cove Human Services, Co-Chair of MA Asian American and
Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP); volunteer math
tutor in the Boston Public Schools and Playspace Activities
Leader for Horizons for Homeless Families. Hazel has been
recently named as one of Boston’s Ten Outstanding Young
Leaders Award by the Boston Jaycees.
 Kija
Kim is co-founder, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Harvard
Design and Mapping Company. Ms. Kim directs all of HDM’s
major projects, marketing efforts and client relationships.
Prior to founding HDM in 1988, Ms. Kim held senior managerial
positions with several regional civil and environmental engineering
firms in New England, and focused her cartographic expertise
through independent consulting. Recently named one of Enterprising
Women's Top Ten Women in Technology, Ms. Kim is an active
participant in professional and community affairs as well
as an advocate for minority and women business issues.
 Joanna
T. Lau is Founder and CEO of Lau
Technologies, an executive consulting and investment company
with expertise in Defense and Security Industries located
in Concord, Massachusetts formed in 1990. Joanna was previously
with Digital Equipment Corporation and General Electric Corporation.
Joanna earned her MBA from Boston University, her MS of Computer
Engineering from Old Dominion University, and her BS in Computer
Sciences and Applied Mathematics from SUNY at Stony Brook.
She was appointed by the United States President to serve
on the Army Science Board and the National Women Business
Council from 1999 –2001. Joanna is a member of the Young
President Organization, the Committee of 200, and the International
Women’s Forum.
 Monica
Lee is a first-year Harvard
Business School MBA student. Prior to HBS, Monica spent
two years in the for-profit sector, working as a business
analyst at McKinsey
& Company. At McKinsey, Monica focused on business
development and growth strategy initiatives for clients in
a wide range of industries, from construction to biotech to
consumer goods. Monica also spent two years in the nonprofit
sector, first as the manager of the Springboard
Venture Capital Forum, which has helped women-led companies
raise over $1 billion. Monica also spent one year as middle-school
teacher for a charter school in New Orleans.
Susie Lee is Director of Partnership Development
at New
Sector Alliance, bringing significant experience in early
stage venture capital and late stage private equity. Susie’s
had previous experiences at BU Venture Capital (Community
Technology Fund), TAG Venture Partners and worldlyinvestor.com
(oneFN), where she worked closely with entrepreneurs and senior
executives of technology companies on a wide range of strategic
initiatives including raising capital, analyzing acquisitions,
and evaluating new products and markets. Susie holds a BA
in Political Science and History from Columbia University.
Throughout her career in the private sector, Susie has been
actively involved in the social sector, leveraging her business
skills to help develop social enterprises on a volunteer basis.
 Grace
Niwa is Founder and CEO of Niwa
Public Relations. An expert in industry and government
affairs, fundraising, community relations, corporate relations
and events marketing for the Asian Market, Grace currently
oversees PR activities for Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Asia Society
& Museum, Asian Chefs Association, AsianWeek, International
Sejong Soloists and Committee of 100 among others. Most recently,
Grace was a consultant for the Asia Society on their historic
first collaboration with the NBA for the NBA China Games.
A classically trained pianist, Grace went to New York City
in 1991 to attend the Juilliard School where she received
her Master’s degree and gave her debut at Carnegie Hall
in 1996. In 1998, she founded Korean American for Global Action
(KAFGA) with Mercy Corps International and raised over $100,000
for the children of North Korea. Grace was also honored by
WNBC-TV during the Asian American Heritage Month Festival
in 1998 for her philanthropic work in the arts. Grace is very
active serving on boards for numerous Asian American committees.
She and her husband moved to Boston from New York City in
2003.
 Deb
Rosenbloom is a Career
and Executive Coach at Next Step Partners, specializing
in career management networking. She has led training for
organizations including Harvard University's Business Leadership
Program, The Wharton School of Business, Bentley College Alumni
Organization and Northeastern University. She has presented
on career management strategies, personal marketing plan development,
networking for success, interviewing best practices and women's
leadership issues. Deb started her career with the U.S. National
Security Agency as a cryptologic mathematician and was later
a Management Consultant with Bain & Company, Inc. She
earned an M.B.A. with distinction from The Wharton School
of Business, and a B.A. in mathematics from the University
of Pennsylvania. Deb serves on the Board of the Beacon Hill
Civic Association, and in leadership roles with The Young
Professionals of the Boston Public Library Fund and The Esplanade
Association.
 Judy
Shen-Filerman is a career/life
coach and a strategy and marketing consultant. As a coach,
Judy's work with universities and individuals focus on defining
personal work success, with special interest in women and
ethnic minorities. As a business consultant Judy works with
businesses and non-profit organizations to develop new strategies
and marketing excellence. Judy has managed product brands
at Procter & Gamble, Campbell Soup, Johnson & Johnson
both in the US and in Asia. Until 2000, Judy was Vice President
of Marketing at Polaroid, running their $450MM US Business
and Professional Division. Judy has also pursued various start-up
opportunities. Today, Judy is particularly interested in enabling
people to reach their dreams and in the process help honor
their identity, gifts and passions. Judy received her BA and
MBA from Harvard University, is married and has a 3-year old
daughter.
Phitsamay Sychitkokhong is completing her
Doctoral degree in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy
with a focus on Communities and Schools at the Harvard
Graduate School of Education. Her dissertation research
focuses on Lowland Lao youth and their academic careers and
achievements. She currently teaches "Culture, Identity,
and the Asian American Experience" at Boston College.
Her previous work experience includes being an elementary
teacher, development coordinator and a project consultant
for the Southeast Asian community. Originally from Houesai,
Laos, Phitsamay holds a B.S. in Human Resource Management
and M.ED in Elementary Education.
Millie Tan, Vice President of Marketing
for Monster.com,
is responsible for marketing strategy and development with
particular emphasis on local market development. Millie has
had over 19 years in global Marketing and Sales with responsibilities
ranging from strategic planning, new product development,
new business development, corporate branding, and brand management.
Her previous employers include Polaroid Corporation, the Gillette
Company, Xerox Corporation. With Polaroid, she traveled extensively
and lived in Hong Kong and Japan. Millie has an MBA from The
Tuck School at Dartmouth College, an MA from Columbia University,
and a BA from Skidmore College. She lives in Marlborough,
MA with her 6 year old daughter, Ellie.
 Sara
Ting is a diversity consultant and trainer, formerly
a freelance TV reporter on WHDH's Urban Update, a weekly public
affairs program. Her passion for the issue of diversity led
her to initiate and organize a citywide multimedia campaign
promoting harmony and unity in Boston, New York City and Providence
Rhode Island in the 80’s. In 1993, she founded World
Unity, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to making
an enduring contribution to the elimination of all forms of
prejudice, bias and discrimination. Since 1979, she has been
a poet in residence within the Boston Public Schools, teaching
elementary school students the art of writing poetry. Sarah
is a graduate of Boston University School of Fine & Applied
Arts.
Connie Wong is currently an Assistant Clerk
and Trial Magistrate at Suffolk
Superior Criminal Court, where she works directly with
judges and other court personnel handling felony cases. Prior
to joining the court system, Ms. Wong was an attorney for
the City of Boston - first as an Assistant Corporation Counsel
at the City of Boston Law Department, and later as the chief
legal counsel for the Boston Fire Department. Ms. Wong also
serves on the Board of Directors for Asian American Civic
Association, and the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
where she is Vice Chair of the Board. She is also actively
involved with the Chinese American Women's Oral History Project
of the Chinese Historical Society of New England, where she
serves as Co-Chair of the Project. Ms. Wong holds a B.S. in
Finance from Boston College and a J.D. from Suffolk University
Law School.
 Diane
Yu, Chief of Staff and Deputy to the President
of NYU, manages the Office of the President and serves
as a vehicle by which one can communicate with the President.
She also teaches a freshman honors seminar in the College
of Arts and Science. She was previously Associate General
Counsel and Managing Counsel at Monsanto Company, a $6B biotechnology
company. Prior to that position, she was General Counsel for
the State Bar of California, a California Superior Court Commissioner,
appointed by the President of the United States as a White
House Fellow, and in private practice in Oakland, CA. Her
B.A. is from Oberlin and J.D. from the University of California
(Boalt Hall School of Law in Berkeley). A national bar leader
and frequent speaker, she was the first woman of color to
chair the American Bar Association's Section of Legal Education
and Admissions to the Bar, and the first Asian American to
chair any section or division of the ABA in its history. She
is now Chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession,
the first woman of color to serve in that role. Diane also
sits on the boards of the American Corporate Counsel Association,
the White House Fellows Association, and the Asian American
Bar Association of New York (AABANY). Her many awards include
the 2001 Missouri Women Justice Award, 25 Most Influential
Women in Business in St. Louis, Diversity Awards from the
Minority Bar Association and the Judicial Council of California,
and 2003 Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific
American Bar Association.
2002-2004 SPEAKERS
Education
Eileen Chang, Associate Director of Admissions at Harvard
Business School
Betty Chu, M.Ed., Second grade teacher at the Edgar F. Hooks
Elementary School in Chelsea, MA
Eileen Ng, Science Teacher at Fenway High School
Laura Morgan Roberts, Professor at Harvard Business School
Non-Profit
Gouri Banerjee, Ph.D, Professor of IT at Emmanuel College
and Vice-Chair of Saheli
Meizhu Lui, Exec Director of United for a Fair Economy
Audrey Paek, Manager of Diversity Initiatives at WGBH Educational
Foundation
Val Thompson, Project Manager of the Women of Ethnic Diversity
Initiative at the Commonwealth Institute
Sciences
Sandy Chin, MD, Urologist
Janet Huang, Business school student and formerly a Chemical
Engineer at Exxon Mobil
Melissa Lai, ER doctor at Mt Auburn Hospital
Shin Tsai, Public Health student
Reshma Thadani, MPH/3rd year medical student
Media
Veronica Chao, Editor of Improper Bostonian
Michelle Fishberg, Brand Planner for Arnold Worldwide
Eun Lee Koh, Reporter for Boston Globe
Cindy Moon, Graphic Designer at Arnold Worldwide
Janet Wu, State House Reporter for WCVB-TV
Sangita Chandra, Producer for the Chronicle and CityLine news
at WCVB TV 5
Law and Public Policy
Deborah Dong, Partner, Tremont Law Group
Vanessa Hwang, General Litigation for Goulston & Storrs
Siu Tip Lam, MA Assistant Attorney General
Lisa Nam, Estate planning lawyer for Rackemann, Sawyer &
Brewster
Tobi Quinto, Staff for State Senator Cheryl Jacques
Greer
Swiston, Entrepreneur currently running for State Representative
Cynthia Tsai, External Affairs for the Governor's Office
Business
Lindee Goh, Consultant at Boston Consulting Group
Nellie Hsu, Business school student and founder of ASPIRE
with experience at Arnold Worldwide
Sandy Joung, Atlas Ventures and JAFCO Ventures
Raneeta Sawhney-Rigby, Business Development at Millenium
Beverly Stern, Former retail executive at Pottery Barn, Gap,
and Gymboree
Katy Young, Focuses on domestic insurance at Putnam Investments
Other
Deb Rosenbloom, Career and Executive Coach with Next Step
Partners and formerly at NSA and Bain & Company
Judy Shen-Filerman, Career Coach with experience at P&G,
Campbell Soup, and Polaroid
Helen Yu, Special Agent with the United States Air Force
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