Commissioners

Commissioners

Sonal Shah, Chief Commissioner

Sonal Shah is a social impact and innovation leader who has launched and led social impact efforts in academia, government, and the private and philanthropic sectors for over 25 years. She is the Founding President of The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), starting the largest philanthropic effort to serve the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. Prior to TAAF, Shah founded and led Georgetown University's Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, providing students a first-hand opportunity to work on social impact projects in the public, private, and social sectors. She served as Deputy Assistant to President Obama and created the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, worked on international development at the Department of Treasury, and led social impact efforts at Google and Goldman Sachs. She serves on the boards of TAAF, Oxfam America, the Century Foundation, and the National Democratic Institute.

Sarah Min, Deputy Chief Commissioner

Sarah Min is an advocate and former media executive. Min promotes the advancement of mission-driven organizations who are transforming how to use technology, media, and person-to-person outreach to mobilize people and change perceptions about women and people of color. From 2013 to 2019, Min was an independent consultant, working with clients such as HBO, Penguin Random House, and nonprofits. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President for Marketing & Corporate Development at ScrollMotion, an enterprise software company. Min also was the Managing Editor of Vibe and Domino magazines, a director at media company Bertelsmann, as well as President of literary publishing company McSweeney's. She serves as a director on nonprofit boards, including Color of Change and EMILY's List, and has been engaged in grassroots organizations, including the Korean American Community Foundation and the Asian American Power Network. Sarah holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Teresita Batayola

Teresita Batayola is the President and Chief Executive Officer of International Community Health Services (ICHS), Washington State's largest Asian and Pacific Islander non-profit health center providing comprehensive health care to all those who need affordable care, especially immigrants and refugees. Batayola is an advocate for providing health care access and equity and addressing social determinants of health. ICHS has received awards for its high quality of care. Batayola received Puget Sound Business Journal's Award for Outstanding Business & Philanthropic Contributions, and was named a Woman of Courage by the University of Washington Women's Center and the Filipino Women's Network's Most Influential Filipino Woman in the World.

Luisa Blue

Luisa Blue retired from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in August 2020 after serving as an Executive Vice President for four years, one of the highest ranking AAPI officials in the labor movement. During her term, she was responsible for the SEIU Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Engagement and Leadership program, was a member of the Racial Justice Task Force, Chair of the Environmental and Climate Justice Committee, and Chair of the Ethical Culture Committee. She served on the SEIU Executive Board prior to her election as Executive Vice President. Luisa continues to be active in the community and serves on the Asian Health Services Community Board, as a Trustee on Alameda County Health Systems Board of Trustees, and as Vice President of the AAPI Victory Alliance Board. Luisa is the proud grandmother of seven grandchildren.

Kimberly Chang

Kimberly Seu Gin Chang, born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii in a six-generation kama`āina family, is a board-certified family physician at Asian Health Services, a federally qualified community health center in Oakland, California. Dr. Chang has dedicated her 20+ year career to focusing on the health of the underserved AA and NHPI community, including people vulnerable to and affected by human trafficking and exploitation, developing national clinical and health policy recommendations for this issue. Dr. Chang has received numerous awards, most recently the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health 2020 Emerging Public Health Professional Award and the 2021 UCSF Alumni Humanitarian Service Award. She received her undergraduate degree from Columbia College of Columbia University, her medical degree from the University of Hawai`i, her MPH from Harvard with the Commonwealth Fund Minority Health Policy Fellowship, and her residency training at UCSF. Dr. Chang currently serves as the Vice Speaker of the House for the National Association of Community Health Centers, and as expert faculty for Health Partners on Intimate Partner Violence + Exploitation at Futures Without Violence.

Emily Chen

Emily Chen is Chief of Research at Olshan Realty and manages the Private Wealth Real Estate Services. She co-founded the Olshan Luxury Market Report, a weekly real-time snapshot of the Manhattan residential real estate market. Chen was previously a Vice President in Institutional Sales at Goldman Sachs and a Senior Consultant in the Capital Markets Group at PwC. A former National Big Sister of the Year, she serves on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Chen also sits on the Board of Directors of the Beau Biden Foundation and is on the Women & Science Committee at Rockefeller University, the Creative Council at The Shed and the Advisory Board of The Imagine Society. She is past president of the American Friends of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. A graduate of Georgetown University, Chen is Co-Founder and Executive Producer of Stand Up For Georgetown and served on the University’s Board of Regents and the Advisory Board of the McDonough School of Business.

Kamanaʻopono M. Crabbe

Dr. Kamanaʻopono M. Crabbe serves as a seasoned spokesperson and representative for the Native Hawaiian community on Native Hawaiian rights, social inequities, community health and resilience, and cultural, educational, economic, and political issues affecting Native Hawaiians, Hawai‘i and the Pacific. For over 30 years he has focused his personal, academic, and professional career toward improving Native Hawaiian health and well-being. He has received several formal awards recognizing his executive leadership and accomplishments, such as the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education Leadership Award, The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement’s Native Hawaiian Advocate Award, and the Hawai‘i Psychological Association’s Patrick H. DeLeon, Ph.D. Lifetime Achievement Award. He currently is the Executive Counselor for the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, Executive Lead for the Hawai`i Executive Collaborative’s Rediscovering Hawai‘i’s Soul, and CEO for Pouhana Consultation Services. He is a board member for several organizations including aio Foundation, `Aha Kane Foundation for the Advancement of Native Hawaiian Males, and Ekolu Mea Nui nonprofit.

Kerry Doi

A fourth-generation Japanese American born on a Hawaiian plantation, Mr. Kerry Doi has spent his life combatting hate and solidifying his commitment to social and economic justice. For over 46 years, Mr. Doi has dedicated his work to the cause and the community development space through his leadership at Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment (PACE) – one of the nation's largest Asian-led community development organizations serving 40,000 minority, low-income individuals annually through workforce, small business, environmental justice, affordable housing, and early childhood education. He has served on numerous local, state, and national boards including his current appointments as Chair of the California Community Economic Development Association, Vice Chair and Treasurer of the Los Angeles Housing Partnership, and member of the Los Angeles County Small Business Commission.

Sameera Fazili

Sameera is an economic policy expert with over 20 years of experience in policy development, program execution, and crisis management across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House’s National Economic Council from 2021-2022.  In that role, she led the Biden-Harris administration’s work on industrial policy, supply chains, and regional economic development, and the administration’s response to numerous supply chain crises. She also played a leading role in the passage and implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Her expertise spans multiple industries including financial services, manufacturing, clean energy, housing, small business, transportation, and logistics. Sameera served in domestic and international economic policymaking roles in the Obama White House, the Treasury Department, and in the Federal Reserve System. Prior to the Biden-Harris Administration, she worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta as a Senior Researcher and as Director of Engagement for community economic development, served in research roles at the Urban Institute, taught development finance at Yale Law School, and worked at Shorebank, the nation’s first community development bank. Sameera is a graduate of Yale Law School and Harvard College.  She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and three children.

Grace Huang

Grace Huang is a Taiwanese American attorney who has advocated on behalf of the rights of survivors of domestic and sexual violence for almost 30 years as a legal services lawyer, attorney in private practice, and policy advocate. She currently is the Director of Policy at the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, where she focuses on federal policy to address the needs of survivors in Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Ms. Huang serves on the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence, on the Washington State Women's Commission. Ms. Huang also co-chairs the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors, working to address the needs of survivors of gender-based violence in the immigration system.

Victoria Huynh

Victoria Huynh is a dedicated community advocate with over 18 years of experience in supporting immigrant and refugee communities in Georgia. As the former Senior Vice President/Chief Officer of External Affairs at a leading AAPI nonprofit in the Southeast, she brings extensive expertise in driving positive change. In 2022, Huynh founded the Georgia AAPI Hub to empower diverse AAPI organizations and enhance advocacy efforts for immigrants and refugees. Her advocacy focuses on equitable language access, local civic engagement, immigrant rights, cultural competency, and social service program development. Growing up in a limited English proficient (LEP) Vietnamese refugee household, Huynh's personal experiences fuel her passion for community building and policy work. Currently she serves as a consultant, board member, and panelist, influencing state and local AA & NHPI projects, nominations, and programs benefiting communities of color.

Mia Ives-Rublee

Mia Ives-Rublee is currently the Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress. She obtained her Master's in Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). She was recognized as one of Glamour's Women of the Year in 2017 and She the People's 20 Women of Color in Politics to Watch in 2020, and received the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UNC School of Social Work. Ives-Rublee works at the intersection of disability, race, and gender, helping promote equity and opportunity for marginalized communities through policy and organizing.

Kamal Kalsi

Dr. Kamal Singh Kalsi, LTC, USAR, is an emergency medicine physician from New Jersey who has served in the Army for 20 years and was awarded a Bronze Star medal for his work taking care of hundreds of combat casualties on the front lines in Afghanistan. He has transitioned into the Army Reserve, and now serves as a senior advisor for Policy Vets and a Fellow of the Truman National Security Project's Defense Council. He founded the Sikh American Veterans Alliance (SAVA) in order to promote diversity, religious freedom, and service.

Daniel Dae Kim

Daniel Dae Kim is an award-winning actor, director, and producer. In addition to his series regular roles on TV's LOST and THE HOT ZONE: ANTHRAX, Kim starred as the King of Siam in Lincoln Center's Broadway production of the KING AND I. In addition to his numerous credits as an actor, he is developing both film and television projects as a producer with his company, 3AD. His current projects include THE GOOD DOCTOR currently airing on ABC. Recently, he also turned to advocacy, joining The Asian American Foundation, where he serves a Co-Chair of the Advisory Council. Mr. Kim can next be seen as an actor in the live action adaptation of AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. He currently lives in Hawaii with his family.

Vida Lin

Vida Lin has dedicated 30 years to empowering Nevada's Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community by taking decisive action where she saw the greatest need. As the founder and president of the Asian Community Development Council (ACDC), Vida transformed her vision into reality by establishing Nevada's first Asian food pantry, hosting vaccination clinics, offering free citizenship assistance, and opening the HAPI Medical Center in Las Vegas.

Vida’s journey began in San Francisco, where she ran a small family business and later transitioned to the insurance industry to protect families after a personal tragedy. During her successful 20-year career as an insurance broker, Vida's passion for helping the underserved drove her to advise and serve as a board member for numerous charities and causes. Her unwavering commitment to civic engagement and advocacy was recognized with the Bank of America "Neighborhood Builders: Racial Equality Award" in 2022, and the City of Las Vegas honored her with "Vida Lin Day" on January 18, 2023. Vida's legacy is defined by her relentless pursuit of uplifting and empowering the next generation of leaders.

Simon Pang

Emigrating from Singapore in late 1989, Pang has been in banking industry since 1981. Pang is currently an Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of Royal Business Bank. He is active in community service and has been appointed to positions in statewide and nonprofit organizations, including as a California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs member, California Highway Patrol Citizens Advisory board member, Los Angeles County Sheriff Youth Foundation board member, US-Sino Friendship Association President, and US-Sino Aviation Heritage Foundation Honorable Chairman. He has also served as a National Governing Board Member and National Diversity Coalition Advisor with the national nonprofit Asian Pacific Islander American Affairs.

Raynald Samoa

Dr. Raynald Samoa is an endocrinologist at the City of Hope. His current research projects include a faith-based community-centered diabetes prevention program in the San Gabriel Valley investigating a social-connectedness modified approach. Dr. Samoa served as the Lead for the National Pacific Islander COVID-19 Response Team and has authored several manuscripts describing the impact of COVID-19 on Pacific Islander communities. He has testified to the House of Representative Ways and Means Committee during a session entitled, The Disproportionate Impact of Covid-19 on Communities of Color. He currently is the technical assistance lead for the Healing Association of Pacific Islander Physicians, a professional organization associated with the National Association of Organization of Pacific Islander Organizations.

Smita N. Shah

Smita N. Shah is an engineer, entrepreneur, and civic leader serving as President and CEO of Chicago-based SPAAN Tech, Inc, a multi-disciplinary firm with expertise in public and private infrastructure projects including transportation, aviation, and facilities. Shah serves in various roles with the Chicago Plan Commission, M.I.T., the Museum of Science and Industry, After School Matters, Delhi Chicago Sister Cities Program, YPO, the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, and the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. She is a member of the board of MacLean Fogg Company and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Economic Club of Chicago. Shah earned her Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University, her Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from M.I.T., and a Post Graduate Certificate in Management Studies from Oxford University.

Robert A. Underwood

Robert A. Underwood is a former Member of Congress representing Guam for 10 years. He is also President Emeritus of the University of Guam and has the distinction of being the longest serving President of the university. He has served the nation as Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the founding Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Scholarship Fund. As a scholar and activist, he has served his region and his people as a passionate advocate for the respect and maintenance of the CHamoru language and the empowerment of the peoples of Micronesia.

KaYing Yang

For more than two decades, KaYing Yang has been a social justice advocate who has built and led community organizing, public policy engagement, and development efforts locally, nationally, and globally. She began her career as a community organizer and executive manager providing social services and advocacy for the protection of refugees and immigrants in Minnesota at the Women's Association of Hmong and Lao. She then went on to defend and promote immigrant and human rights by serving on a number of organizations including the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, the International Organization for Migration, the International Finance Corporation, and the Coalition of Asian American Leaders in Minnesota. All of her work comes from a deep experience having come to the United States as a Hmong refugee at the age of seven, in 1976, when she experienced firsthand the struggles faced by communities experiencing generational trauma and poverty.