NAAAP North Carolina Chapter

Did you know that by joining NAAAP, you can meet up with other NAAAP members across the US if you are visiting that city?

Did you know that membership in one chapter gives you access to all NAAAP events and NAAAP membership discounts in all chapters across the US?

Did you know that if you ever need to relocate outside of North Carolina, you can transfer your NAAAP membership to the NAAAP chapter in your new place of residence?

Members of NAAAP-NC have come from some of North Carolina's most important employers, including:

Alcatel

Bank of America

Cisco Systems, Inc.

Duke University

EMC Corporation

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

IBM Corporation

Lenovo

News and Observer

North Carolina State University

SAS Institute

State Farm

State of North Carolina

Talecris Biotherapeutics

University of North Carolina

Wachovia Bank

WRAL-TV

National Association of Asian American Professionals:
The North Carolina Venture

Vision: "NAAAP is the proving ground for North-American Asian Professionals, forging leaders of tomorrow through professional development, cultural awareness, and community service."

NAAAP is a national, 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization where Asian American professionals work together across the country to empower Asian American leadership, overcome barriers that impede our success, promote active participation within the community, and encourage Asian Americans to go into underrepresented professions and higher levels of responsibility.

We are a diverse community with varied interests and backgrounds. We are busy working professionals in the fields of law, medicine, science, engineering, financial services, business, and the arts. We include business owners and entrepeneurs, programmers, analysts, corporate executives, accountants, journalists, musicians, and graduate students. We have both recent immigrants and native-born Americans who can trace ancestries to China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, India, Thailand, and the rest of Asia.

Spanning many national origins and generations of acculturation, Asian Americans do not unite around a common language, culture, or tradition. Instead, we acknowledge a shared history of racial discrimination and prejudice that, unfortunately, continues to shape our society. NAAAP defines its membership and missions along racial lines because race is relevant to the way we are perceived and treated as Americans and as professionals.

Contrary to the widespread "model minority" myth, Asian Americans have not been disproportionately successful; nor do we yet enjoy equal opportunities for economic, social and political advancement. As Asian American professionals, we recognize a special responsibility to engage with one another, with our professions, and with our community in addressing these issues. Accordingly, NAAAP-NC is firmly committed to encouraging open dialogue on issues of race and undertaking educational and community service activities to promote racial equality and social justice in our workplaces, in our community, and across the nation and the world.

NAAAP-National (www.naaap.org) was founded in New York City in 1982 and soon expanded to the major metropolitan centers throughout the United States and Canada. The North Carolina Venture was founded in 1998 in the fast-growing Research Triangle Park region around Raleigh-Durham. This group merged in 2001 with the Charlotte APOCH to form today's NAAAP-NC. We have twice been awarded the coveted Venture of the Year Award at the NAAAP National Convention, in Boston in 2002 and in Chicago in 2005. We are the hosts for the 2005 National Leadership Retreat, became a full-fledged Chapter in 2006.

Acknowledgements: the contents of this section were originally written by NAAAP-NC member Andrew Chin, a professor at the Law School of UNC Chapel Hill, with additional remarks by Hector Javier, NAAAP-NC President for 2004-2006.

Disclaimer: NAAAP is a non-partisan organization and does not endorse any political party or candidate for public office, nor does NAAAP endorse any religious denomination or foreign geopolitical entity over any others.

MEMBER PROFILES
Hector Javier Hector is a senior consultant with Chicago-based Links Technology, and currently works at Cisco Systems in RTP. Hector earned double degrees in Chemistry and Computer Engineering from the Ateneo de Manila University, and as a student leader became a vice president of the national chemistry students union, and co-founded the new leadership council of the local science guild that won the Dean's Award for Community Service Excellence. He also served as a field volunteer for the citizens' movement that monitored the Philippines' first free presidential elections since the fall of Marcos. He then briefly studied law at the University of the Philippines, where his paper on global trends in software copyright law was submitted by the law school dean to the Philippine Law Journal. He left to become a programming supervisor and business analyst for the leading global consulting firm, Accenture, where his work on multinational IT consulting projects had him shuttling back and forth between Manila, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee. He immigrated to North Carolina in 1998, and joined NAAAP in 2002, becoming the North Carolina venture president in 2004. He was reelected for a second term in 2005, when NAAAP-NC won the National Venture of the Year Award. Hector is a Project Management Professional (PMP), a member of the Project Management Institute and of the International Institute of Business Analysis, and a charter member of the TechTalk Toastmasters Club in RTP. He is also a founding member and National Secretary of the National Leadership Council for the Young Professionals for International Cooperation (YPIC), United Nations Association-USA. He attends church at the Jesuit parish of Saint Raphael Catholic in North Raleigh. In his spare time, he has taken language courses at the NC Japan Center and Six Sigma Green Belt and international studies courses at NC State University; studied Japanese martial arts and sword arts; studied Latin dance and Argentine tango; and embarked on backpacking trips through Japan, China, Malaysia, England, Canada and Peru. He currently works as a software globalization analyst at Cisco Systems in RTP, where he is also a founding core group member of the local Cisco Asian-American Network (CAAN) and a member of the Conexion Spanish class. His future plans involve, among other things, expanding his international music and movies collection and racking up more frequent flyer miles. Michael Wu As Managing Director/Founder of Blue Angel Ventures, Michael brings more than 12 years of operating experiences from engineering consultancy and product management to senior and executive management roles in both start-ups and multinational corporations. Prior to founding Blue Angel Ventures, Michael has served as Principal at TechVest Ventures and has also been an investment banker in structuring and financing of numerous real estate and technology ventures. Michael has also served in interim/turnaround executive positions at regional start-ups in the Southeast. Most recently, he is a co-founder/Interim CFO of Southeastern Media Group, a transit media advertising company based in the Greensboro Triad of North Carolina. He also served as the interim CEO for Geyser Pump Tech. Co., a NC-based start-up with an innovative patent-pending aerated pump with applications in the waste water treatment, oil/refinery, and biomedical industries. Michael was a venture advisor to SystemRoot, a DC-based provider of IT support, network security, and wireless high-speed internet services in select niche areas. Prior to that, he was Senior Manager at Nextel Communications, where he led product management efforts for Nextel's new-generation mobile phones and Public Safety initiatives. Prior to Nextel, Michael was Senior Product Manager at Siemens and also held product management and technical marketing roles at Ericsson. Prior to joining Ericsson, he led the early commercialization effort of the CDMA technology in the U.S. and was also an engineering consultant for fiber optics networking at Nortel Networks. He currently serves on the Board of several technology ventures under his advisory as well as the Board of the National Association of Asian American Professionals- NC Venture. He is also a founding member of the North Carolina Chinese Business Association (NCCBA) based in Raleigh, NC. Michael holds an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, M.S. in both Electrical Engineering and Management of Technology from Georgia Tech, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with high distinction from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) candidate as well as a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) candidate and has invested in multiple real estate properties and premier restaurants around the U.S. He is fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, German, and English. Judy Tseng Judy grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia. She attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she graduated with an A.B. in Ethnic Studies. She then attended Georgetown University Law Center, where she received the Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund Fellowship and was an editor of the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review. Upon graduating from law school, Judy practiced with a Washington, D.C. area law firm, handling a diverse array of cases including a complex business fraud and conspiracy lawsuit, which resulted in a half million dollar settlement, medical malpractice and automobile torts, counseling to the local business community, and employment discrimination. She was also active in the community, becoming a board member of the OCA (Organization of Chinese-Americans) Young Professionals group in the DC area. In May 2001, Judy joined the firm of Kurtz & Blum in Raleigh, North Carolina, where as the sole civil litigation attorney she handled workers compensation, employment law, civil rights, personal injury, family law, professional malpractice and contract cases. Judy joined the Faith Herndon law office in 2003. She is a member of the Virginia and North Carolina State Bars, as well as the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers. Judy lives in the Cary area with her husband. She is active in various community organizations, serving as a boardmember and the 2002-2003 President of the National Association of Asian American Professionals-North Carolina, and as founder of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association-North Carolina chapter. She is a boardmember of both the Skating Club of North Carolina and Durham/Orange Women Attorneys. She is also an active member of the North Carolina Bar Association Minorities in the Profession section and the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and is learning Spanish. In her spare time, Judy competes nationwide as a figure skater, produces a show on The Peoples Channel, and makes films. Michael Lim Michael has been a NAAAP-NC member since moving to North Carolina from California several years ago. He is interested in the professional development of Asian-Americans in North Carolina, through career training, building leadership skills, and elevating our visibility within the state. He is also motivated to identify and raise awareness of the needs of the local Asian-American community and was on the planning committee for the inaugural Asian-American Community Leadership Forum held in Chapel Hill in May 2005. He joined the NAAAP-NC Board of Directors as one of the Professional Development Chairs in 2006. Michael was born in New York City and spent his formative years in Los Angeles, California. He received a B.S. in Chemistry/Biochemistry from UC San Diego and a Doctor of Pharmacy from UC San Francisco. He then continued post-doctoral training with a Pharmacy Practice Residency at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle and an HIV/AIDS Specialty Residency at San Francisco General Hospital. An interest in research brought him to the University of North Carolina for a Drug Development Fellowship where he conducted pharmacokinetic research and clinical trials with the UNC Center for AIDS Research. Michael joined GlaxoSmithKline in Research Triangle Park following completion of his fellowship. Michael is currently Lead Clinical Development Scientist in the Infectious Disease Medicine Development Center at GlaxoSmithKline, where his research is focused on the clinical development of novel antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. He is actively involved in the design, conduct, and analysis of Phase 2-4 clinical trials of HIV therapies and has published manuscripts in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, AIDS, and the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Michael lives in Raleigh with his wife. In their free time, they enjoy cooking, reading, and watching movies, and often dream of international travel and food. Giles Shih Dr. Shih co-founded BioResource International, Inc. (BRI) five years ago to commercialize the technology that his father, Dr. Jason Shih, developed through his research at North Carolina State University. Giles currently serves as President of the company and has been managing BRI's business development efforts since its inception. Giles received his B.S. in Microbiology from Cornell University and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Emory University. Prior to co-founding BRI in 1999, Giles served as a consultant to venture capital firms making investments in biotechnology companies in North Carolina. Giles is currently enrolled in the Executive MBA program at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Yongzhi (Mimi) Yang Mimi is a patent attorney specializing in the chemical and biotechnology fields. Her practice is concentrated in the areas of patent procurement and patent portfolio management. She has prepared, filed and prosecuted patent applications in various technology fields, including chemistry, biotechnology, advanced materials, semiconductor manufacturing, and microelectronics. Ms. Yang has also conducted patentability, freedom-to-operate, validity, and infringement analyses and counseled clients on issues relating to IP acquisition, licensing, technology transfer, and patent litigation. Prior to joining Scully, Scott, Murphy & Presser, Mimi worked for Intellectual Property/Technology Law, an IP boutique in Chapel Hill, NC. Mimi holds a Juris Doctor degree from Texas Tech University School of Law on Regent's Scholarship and a Bachelor of Science degree in Analytical Chemistry. She is also expecting to receive her Master degree in Bioinformatics from North Carolina State University in December 2005. Mimi was a Board Member and Professional Development Chair of NAAAP-North Carolina from 2003-2004. Lamei Jessie Chen Jessie was born in Hunan, China. At the age of 15, she was accepted into the Special Class for the Gifted Young in the University of Science & Technology of China (USTC). She received a Bachelor's degree in Life Science from USTC and a PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She joined GlaxoSmithKline in Research Triangle Park in the summer of 2005. She is now a principal scientist in the Cheminformatics Group of Discovery Research at GSK.	Mayron Tsong A native of Canada with roots in Taiwan, Dr. Mayron Tsong was one of the youngest musicians to complete a Performer's Diploma in Piano from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto at age 16. Since that time, she has performed extensively across the United States, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, China, Taiwan and Russia as a soloist and chamber musician. Mayron holds graduate degrees in both Piano Performance and Music Theory. Having served on faculty at California State University in Humboldt, as Chair of the Piano Area at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, Dr. Tsong is currently Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is also active as an adjudicator and judge in China, Hong Kong, Canada and the United States. Lisa Furukawa Ray Lisa Furukawa Ray is a bilingual Japanese-American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Utilizing her talents in contemporary and classical music, Lisa's performances and recordings display a fusion of Japanese folk and pop. Lisa has performed at various events and festivals, and has entertained audiences in large and small atmospheres. She is also the director of the annual Tori Amos Tribute Show/RAINN Benefit. Lisa was born in Tokyo, Japan, and began studying the piano at the age of three. She received BA's in Music and Asian Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill, and has taught piano lessons and music to many students in the Triangle area of NC. She also teaches ESL to Japanese Immigrants. She lives in Durham, NC with her husband and cat. Sean Pan Sean Pan is a co-founder, CEO and CMO of Red Pelican, a leading provider of Marketing Automation Tools and Campaign Management software based in Durham, NC. From RedPelican's inception, he has been the company's principal visionary providing both the strategic leadership for product development as well as the entrepreneurial leadership for the company's tactical deployment of its products into the marketplace. Sean's management style is not to manage, but rather to lead, a style that he executes with great passion and entrepreneurial zeal. With a keen understanding of the critical role that technology leadership plays in a company's early life, Sean has [wisely] elected to retain direct, personal control of this function and so he also serves as RedPelican's Chief Technology Officer. In this role, Sean's hand is directly on the wheel as he continues to chart RedPelican's technology roadmap and leads the Company in executing his vision of enabling a new digital world where knowledge-workers are empowered with personally managed, net enabled applications. With over 14 years experience in bring technology products to market, Sean's career track has been focused on computer technology and software solutions, including high-speed data acquisition systems, customer relationship management (CRM) software, software development tools, and Web-enabled applications. Prior to co-founding RedPelican, Sean was Director of Marketing at TogetherSoft, a leading JAVA development tools company acquired by Borland in 2003. Under his marketing leadership, he successfully developed and executed marketing programs that contributed significantly to the company's dramatic growth. Earlier his career, Sean served in key marketing and marketing management positions at Silicon Graphics, Edify/S1 Corp. Actional Corp. and Dolch Computer Systems. His background also includes a five-year engineering tour of duty in hardware design and software development at DSP Technologies. Sean holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University and an MBA in Technology Management. Andrew Chin Andrew is an Associate Professor of Law at UNC Chapel Hill. After serving as student government president at Texas, Andrew earned his doctorate studying combinatorial mathematics and computational complexity theory at St. Catherine's College, Oxford, England on a Rhodes Scholarship and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. Between 1991 and 1995, he taught mathematics at Texas A&M University, computer science at King's College, University of London, and public policy at the University of Texas at Austin. At Yale, he published a paper written during his first semester as a note in the Yale Law Journal, and several subsequent law review articles. After graduation, he clerked for Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and assisted Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson and his law clerks in the drafting of the findings of fact in United States v. Microsoft Corporation. Chin then practiced in the corporate and intellectual property departments in the Washington, D.C. office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP. He is of counsel to Intellectual Property Solutions, P.L.L.C., where he prepares and prosecutes patent applications in computer and Internet technology. Chin joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2001. He teaches antitrust, intellectual property, and patent law. Edward Yang Edward is currently a Vice President with Bank of America's Distribution and Channel Integration Management Group, where he leads marketing optimization strategies to drive incremental business revenue growth for the Customer Intelligence Integration group. Recognized by Asian Business News magazine for his volunteer efforts with the Asian American community, Edward is also a former NAAAP National President, where he also served on the board for the National Technical Assistance Center for Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders with Disabilities (University of Hawaii at Manoa), and co-led a study with NAAAP and Indiana University's Kelley School of Business on Asian American Mentoring and its Effects on Career and Salary Attainment. Edward is Green Belt with Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) certified and is a Certified Toastmaster (CTM). Edward received his bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and Business minor from NC State University, and currently calls South Carolina home. Hans Huang Hans is a partner at Maupin Taylor, a well-regarded corporate law firm that has served clients in North Carolina for more than 130 years, with offices in Raleigh, Research Triangle Park and Wilmington . Hans is member of the law firm's litigation section, where he concentrates his practice in commercial litigation, securities law, health care law, and insurance defense. He represents clients in contract disputes, software licensing and distribution matters, corporate fraud, insurance coverage, securities fraud, and unfair and deceptive trade practice claims. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Huang practiced law in Charlotte, North Carolina with Morris York Williams Surles & Barringer, L.L.P., where he concentrated on liability insurance defense and workers' compensation defense issues. He received an undergraduate degree in political science in 1994 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1998. Before entering law school, he provided software and hardware support to the National Institute of Environmental Health Services. He is the former President of the National Association of Asian-American Professionals - North Carolina Venture. During Mr. Huangs presidency, the Association and its members were recognized for numerous achievements, including the 2002 National Association of Asian-American Professionals Venture of the Year. In 2003, Mr. Huang was voted one of Triangles 40 under 40 for attaining a significant leadership role, achieving significant career milestones, and contributing to the community through volunteering before reaching the age of 40. He has also been active in Band Together and in the North Carolina Chinese Business Association. Bee Lin Cheang I am originally from Penang, Malaysia. I have lived in the US since 1996. I graduated with a BS in Chemical Engineering from SUNY Buffalo, NY and a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware. I moved to the Triangle area last year and I am currently a Process Development Engineer at Talecris Biotherapeutics. My job involves modernizing the purification of biopharmaceuticals from blood plasma. My hobbies are ballroom dancing, biking, reading suspense and crime novels, and all types of outdoor activities. I enjoy exploring local culture and trying out new restaurants. I am excited to meet others and become more involved within the organization. Bee Lin joined the NAAAP-NC Board of Directors as one of the Community Service Chairs in 2005. Balaji Sivasubramanian Balaji is an escalation engineer for the Gigabit Switching Business Unit at Cisco Systems Inc. He handles critical customer escalations. He is also involved in providing feedback to engineering teams on the development of new features and products. Previously, Balaji served as a team leader for the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) LAN Switching team and as a worldwide subject matter expert in LAN technologies. He has been with Cisco for more than five years. He is the co-author of the CCNP Self-Study: Building Cisco Multilayered Switched Network (BCMSN), 3rd Edition (ISBN 1-58705-219-9), and a technical reviewer of Cisco Catalyst QoS: Quality of Service in Campus Networks, (ISBN 1-58705-120-6), both from Cisco Press publications. In addition, Balaji has authored and reviewed many technical white papers on Cisco.com for the LAN technologies subject area. He has been a presenter at Cisco US Networkers event as well Technical Virtual Chalk Talk seminars for partners. Balaji has also hosted Ask-The-Expert events on various LAN technologies topics in Cisco Network Professional Connection forums on Cisco.com. Balaji holds a master of science in electronics and computer engineering from the University of Arizona and holds a bachelor of science in electrical and electronics engineering from Anna University, India. Balaji is the chairman of the Cisco Asian American Network organization in Cisco RTP campus. Balaji is also the Area Governer for Area 44 of Toastmasters Organization as well as VP of Cisco's Toastmaster club. He currently serves on the NAAAP-North Carolina Board as Co-Chair for Community Service. Bon-Jay Tseng My name is Bon-Jay Tseng, and I just graduated with distinction from the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia. While at UVA, I double-concentrated in Finance and Management, and also received my minor in East Asian Studies. I'm currently working at Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina conducting financial analysis and reporting in support of Global Commercial Banking. In my spare time, I like to pursue other interests, including new languages, golf, and piano. Bon-Jay was appointed to the post of National Secretary by NAAAP-National in 2005, vice Pamela Fong, also of Bank of America in Charlotte.