BOARD OF DIRECTORS - Asian Pacific Americans for Progress is led by an all-volunteer board of dynamic activists, community leaders and organizers from around the country. Board members serve renewable two-year terms and agree to 1.) attend monthly board calls 2.) organize at least two events in their city 3.) give/get $1,000 and 4.) serve on one of our committees (fundraising, endorsements, web/media, membership and/or executive). If you are interested in joining, please send an email to Curtis at "curtis at apaforprogress.org". In particular, we are looking for people in cities like Seattle, Houston, Minneapolis and Las Vegas.

N. Nina Ahmad, Ph.D., is the President of PrymeJenomix, LLC, an emerging ophthalmic biotechnology company based in Philadelphia, PA. She received her Doctoral degree in 1990 from Chemistry Department of the University of Pennsylvania. As a Postdoctoral Fellow, she trained with noted collagen expert, Darwin Prockop, M.D., Ph.D. at Thomas Jefferson University. She is a Board Member of the Eastern Technology Council which serves leaders of more than 700 technology and life sciences companies. She serves on the Diversity Committee of William Penn Charter School (oldest Quaker School in USA) and was one of the founding members of APA for Progress, a grassroots, internet-empowered, national network of Asian Pacific Americans and friends for Progressive Action. Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia recently appointed Dr. Ahmad as the Chair of the Mayor’s Commission on Asian American Affairs.


Eugenia Beh (Austin, TX)  

Eugenia is the Executive Editor and Events Coordinator at Asian Americans for Obama, in addition to the Communications Director for APAP. She resides in Austin, TX, where she graduated in August with a Masters in Information Science from the University of Texas at Austin School of Information. She was recently featured at angryasianman.com as the Inaugural Angry Reader of the Week on January 9.  

Gregory Cendana (Washington, DC) - January 2010-July 2010

As a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Gregory Cendana received his BA in Sociology and Labor & Workplace Studies. While at UCLA, Gregory was Student Body Vice President and Campus Organizing Director for the University of California Student Association. Additionally, he served on the executive board of Samahang Pilipino, a Pilipino advocacy organization at UCLA, specifically addressing gender & sexuality issues and also helped found Pilipino Youth Empowerment Day, engaging local high school youth in issue education and organizing. He also sat on United States Student Association (USSA) Board of Directors as the Community & Labor Liaison and Outreach Officer, and is a certified GrassRoots Organizing Weekend (GROW) & Electoral Action Trainer (EAT) Trainer. He was the 2008-2009 USSA Vice President and was elected as the first openly gay Asian American President. In addition to APAP, Gregory also enjoys his roles as a national board member for Jobs with Justice, the Generational Alliance & the National Youth Advocacy Coalition. 

Curtis is a writer/producer based in Los Angeles. In addition to his film and television credits, he has been a long-time activist in the community. He founded the Asian American Writers Workshop in New York City and served as a director of AAPI outreach for the Democratic National Committee. Curtis has also been active in the marriage equality issue in California. 

Angelica Jongco (Oakland, CA) - August 2008-July 2010

Angelica is a public interest lawyer based in San Francisco and originally from the East Coast. During the 2008 campaign cycle, she was active with Asian Americans for Obama and Filipinos for Obama.


Ann Kalayil (Chicago, IL)

 Ann Lata Kalayil is Director of Client Services and Support in Networking Services and Information Technologies at the University of Chicago, where she has been employed for the past 16 years. She is co-director of the South Asian American Policy and Research Institute (www.saapri.org) and has taught Asian American Studies at DePaul University, Loyola University and the University of Illinois-Chicago for seven years. Currently, Ann serves on the Boards of the Asian Americans for Progress, the Indo-American Center, the Indo-American Democratic Organization, the Illinois Women in Leadership, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform and the West Rogers Park Community Planning Committee. Ann chaired the Asian American transition team for Attorney General Lisa Madigan and currently serves on the AG’s Asian American Advisory Council. She is a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow (2001) and served on the LGC Fellows Board. Her experience in politics includes being: President for four years of the Indo-American Democratic Organization, the oldest Asian American political organization in Illinois; at-large delegate in 1996; super delegate for the Democratic National Committee (1997-2001); at-large delegate in 2008; campaign manager for State Representative and Judicial races; testified during redistricting process in Illinois, volunteered on Obama's Senate camapaign, co-chair of Obama’s Asian Pacific American Leadership Council and a member of the South Asia Policy team (Presidential Campaign 2008).


Preeti Kulkarni (Los Angeles, CA) - May 2004-April 2010

 Preeti is a CPA based in Los Angeles with extensive experience working with non-profit organizations. In addition to serving on the APAP Board of Directors, she is also the Treasurer of the board of Center for the Pacific Asian Family. To complement her activism in the community, Preeti gained public policy advocacy skills as a fellow in the Women’s Policy Institute of the Women’s Foundation of California in 2007-2008.

 
Theresa Mah (Chicago, IL)

 Theresa is an educator and community activist in Chicago, Illinois. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Theresa moved to Chicago for graduate school, earning a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago in 1999. For the past ten years, she has been teaching history, Ethnic Studies, and Asian American studies at universities in the Midwest and East Coast. While living for a period Ohio, she served on the board of the Toledo Fair Housing Center, a community-based civil rights organization dedicated to ending housing discrimination. Currently she is on staff at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago, where she also teaches and fosters awareness of Asian American issues.

Erin Pangilinan (Washington, DC) - February 2010-January 2012

Erin Jerri Malonzo Pangilinan is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where she earned her BA as an Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies double major with honors. She believes in reviving various coalitions reinitiating the Asian Pacific Council at Cal into the Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC), the third world Liberation Front (twLF), and remains involved as active member of the Berkeley Asian American Pacific Islander Alumni Association. She is a prolific writer, working as a news correspondent for Philippine News for over four years, reviving the Third World And Native American Students Press Collective (TWANAS) at UCSC and publishing in Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves: A Contemporary Anthology of Asian AmericanWomen's Poetry, {m}aganda magazine, hardboiled asian american newsmagazine, and having her work performed by herself and others at various stages in San Francisco Bay Area. Erin continues working on immigrant rights as a Change.org Immigrant Rights blogger and enjoys her involvement with KAYA - Filipino Americans for Progress (formerly Filipinos for Obama). You can read her writing at immigration.change.org and apaforprogress/blogs/erinjerri

Theresa Thanjan (New York, NY)  

Theresa received her Master's in Social Work from Columbia University. Upon graduation, she served in a variety of leadership positions within the non-profit sector. Starting as a community organizer with Catholic Charities, Theresa worked with faith based organizations to create tutoring, English as a Second Language and senior citizens programs. She then went on to serve as Director of Youth Programming for the following community based organizations - South Asian Youth Action, Interfaith Neighborhoods and Citizen for New NYC. Theresa has also directed two educational documentaries highlighting the struggles of young immigrants in New York - "Whose Children Are These?" and "Asian Youth Unite Against Hate Violence." She has received awards from the City Council of New York, the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families and the World Malayalee Council USA. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Theresa was the coordinator of the New York chapter of South Asians for Obama (SAFO). Under her leaadership, SAFO-NY engaged hundreds of members in fundraisers, voter registration drives and canvassing in swing states. 

Michelle Wu (Boston, MA) - January 2010-December 2011 Michelle is a community advocate in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a background as a small business owner, mediator, and legal advocate.  After receiving a BA in economics from Harvard College, Michelle opened and ran a neighborhood cafe.  Between hosting poetry readings and open mic nights, she provided legal services to indigent veterans and worked with the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. Currently pursuing her JD from Harvard Law School, Michelle represents residents of publicly subsidized housing before local housing authorities, mediates conflicts in small claims court, and advocates for family preservation services on behalf of homeless women in Boston.

Honorary Advisor

 
Keith Kamisugi (San Francisco, CA) - Keith is the director of communications at the San Francisco-based Equal Justice Society. In addition to APAP, he serves on the boards of Chinese for Affirmative Action, the San Francisco Japantown Foundation, the Asian Law Caucus, and on the advisory board of Netroots Nation. During the presidential campaign, he served on the steering committee of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for Obama Leadership Council. A San Francisco resident since 2000, Keith is originally from Hawai'i where he was a political appointee on the executive staffs of two Hawai'i governors and an aide in the Hawai'i state Senate. He is a former chairman of the Young Democrats of Hawai'i and a member of Hawai'i's delegation to the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Connect with Keith via fbookr.com,goodtweet.com and keithpr.com.

To reach us by email, use our contact form or send to apafp (at) apa for progress (dot) o r g Phone: 213-453-1986.

Copy of the Bylaws.