About Us

B O A R D

o f f i c e r s
President Ken Lee	A Seattleite born and raised, Ken loves the Pacific Northwest and is heavily involved with many different aspects of the Puget Sound community. His community roots are reinforced by the many activities he is involved in. These activities include everything from volunteering his time coaching girls' softball to involvement in political campaigns, as well as leading his Toastmasters organization as a CTM. Ken's favorite saying is, "If you don't have a vision, nothing happens." Apart from his community involvement, Ken is a registered civil engineer in both Washington and California. As a civil engineer for Bush, Roed and Hitchings, he has had the opportunity to travel across the United States. And in his spare time, Ken loves playing sports that include softball and golf. Ken is also an avid jogger and day trader.
Vice President Charles Wu	Charles has more than six years of experience in the environmental health field. As an Environmental Health Specialist, he has had many interesting jobs from being a restaurant inspector in the International District to environmental field sampling. He received a Bachelors of Science from the University of Washington and an MBA at the University of Phoenix Washington Campus. Charles' hobbies include snowboarding, snowshoeing, hiking, camping, fly fishing, golf and teaching water aerobics. Also in the past few years, Charles has been on NAAAP-Seattle's social committee, board of directors as the Secretary, and Scholarship Chair.
NAAAP National Representative Connie Sugahara	Connie has been a member for ten years and previous VP with NAAAP's former group called Asian MBA in 1998. After attending five NAAAP national conventions, she would like to continue with working with chapters from around the country and Canada. She has started her insurance business with World Financial Group. She is also will be selling mortgages with Quick Mortgage. Her other part-time job is working as Account Executive for the NW Asian Weekly newspaper. She serves on the Cherry Blossom Festival Board and advisory board for the NW Asian Film Festival as well. She has numerous years of volunteering with non-profits. She has a Marketing degree from Central Washington University. One of her hobbies is taking Japanese classical dance with the Fujima School.
Secretary Jennifer Phang	Having graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), Jennifer moved to Seattle four years ago to pursue her architecture career. The Pacific Northwest region is not new to her; she grew up in neighboring Vancouver after spending the first 3 years of her life in Malaysia. At UHM, she was involved in many community service, leadership, fundraising, and membership strengthening events as an active member of the American Institute of Architecture Students. Now as a professional, she is an associate member of the American Institute of Architects, serving on their Open House Committee. Her new role as Secretary for NAAAP Seattle will give her the opportunity to get more involved with community service projects and meet other professionals, which is something she has wanted to do since moving to Seattle. In her life outside of Architecture, she enjoys playing competitive volleyball and softball, wishes she had more time for tennis, and loves rubber stamping and cooking.
Treasurer Li Tan	Li graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and from Seattle University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Along with these degrees, Li has 5 years of experience as a CPA. She currently works at Deloitte & Touche as a Senior Manager where she enjoys the daily grind of working with her clients and helping them to resolve issues. Given her busy schedule, typically working more than 50 hours a week, Li still finds the time to contribute back to the community. She was an active participant in several NAAAP fundraising events that included the TSNW Dragon Boat & Cancer day. With NAAAP, she also enjoys meeting other professionals with a similar background and interests. In her spare time, Li likes to do outdoor activities, which include running, hiking, and snowboarding. She also likes to read, solve crossword puzzles, and cook.
c o m m u n i t y r e l a t i o n s / f u n d r a i s i n g c o m m i t t e e
Edward Alipio Community Relations Chair	Ed grew up in the Midwest (Iowa & Minnesota) before moving to Seattle. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in Economics. While at UofMn, Ed was president of the Philippine Students Association and board member of the Asian American Students Cultural Center and the International Students Association. Ed is a Vice President at Bank of America, in the Business Analytics unit of Middle Market Commercial Banking. He has been a board member of the Asian American Leadership Network (AALN) at Bank of America for the past two years where he has served as Communications Chair, National Newsletter Editor, and Treasurer. Ed is also a member of the bank's Diversity Network, and has been an tutor in the Youth Job Program for several years. In his free time, Ed enjoys traveling, learning about different cultures, snorkeling, hiking, biking, golf, Hawaiian music (slack key and Jawaiian Reggae), hedonism, finger puppets, tipping cows, yodeling and Jell-O pudding snacks.
Jeff Zhang Fundraising Chair	Jeff Zhang is NAAAP's Fundraising Chair. He is dedicated to the success of the group and is looking forward to a productive year.
p r / m a r k e t i n g c o m m i t t e e
Joneil M. Custodio Chair	Originally from Canada, Joneil’s childhood travels drove his family across the Washington border to the understated town of Richland (aka the Tri-Cities). Over the next fourteen years, Joneil grew accustomed and enjoyed the “small town” surroundings of the Tri-Cities and Spokane. Joneil proudly recalls his undergrad memories while studying Operations and Information Systems and Computer Science at Gonzaga University. Through his work-related (consulting) and personal travels to places such as San Francisco, Calgary, the Hawaiian Islands, Australia, New York, Pasadena and Los Angeles, Joneil began to fully appreciate the full nature of diversity. More significantly, the highly diverse classrooms of UW and Seattle U. served as the final seed of his multi-cultural interest. Joneil completed his Software Engineering certificate at UW and his Masters in Software Engineering degree at Seattle University. Currently, Joneil serves as the IT Director of the RevereGroup. Undeniably, the natural magic of the Pacific Northwest keeps Joneil keen on an active living: playing soccer, hiking, white water rafting, music and dancing, biking, trail running, sprinting, kayaking, snowboarding, hockey, writing, movies, eating, and “G-saling” (aka garage sale hunting). Joneil looks forward to meeting other Asian professionals (YOU!) and hearing your stories of work and family, in addition to making our own stories through the experiences NAAAP. “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
Stephen Hugh Webmaster	As NAAAP Webmaster, Stephen devotes his energies toward creating a exciting community portal in the internet marketspace. In addition to overseeing the NAAAP Seattle web presence, he keeps NAAAP members informed of the lastest happenings via regular email broadcasts. Stephen holds a Bachelor Degree in CS from UC San Diego and works as a Software Engineer at Washington Mutual. In his free time, he enjoys playing guitar, painting and snowboarding.
Bryan Chee Newsletter Editor / Community Relations Co-Chair	Bryan, a native Texan, graduated with a BA in Management Information Systems at Texas A&M University in 1993. In 1997, Microsoft transferred Bryan from Dallas to Seattle. He is currently part of the Windows Client Product Management team strategizing and enacting plans on how to grow the Windows business. While in Seattle, Bryan came to an epiphany that work life balance is important and that he needed to become more involved in the community. He also wanted to promote and enhance the Asian-American social and professional quality of life. He found that NAAAP would be the organization that would be the best blend of these two goals.
p r o f e s s i o n a l d e v e l o p me n t / c o r p o r a t e r e l a t i o n s c o m m i t t e e
Sharon Zhang Chair	Sharon is dedicated to making this the best year every for NAAAP Seattle in her position as Professional Development Chair.
m e m b e r s h i p / s o c i a l c o m m i t t e e
Hai Tran Social Co-Chair / Membership Co-Chair	Hai earned his Bachelor of Science at University of Washington and his Master of Business Administration at Seattle Pacific University. He is also a former member of Toastmaster International and a certified public speaker. Currently Hai is a senior engineer at Boeing. Throughout his 18 years at Boeing Hai had the opportunity to travel the world. In addition, while working at Boeing with his desire to serve others, as a Boeing representative in Shantou, China, Hai helped form the 'English Corner' to teach English to the local children. Also through Boeing, Hai participated in a variety of charitable activities such as cooking meals for children of the homeless at the Sacred Heart Child Care Center in Seattle, and building and repairing houses for the disabled. Hai is actively involved with several organizations that include the Boeing Diversity Council, the Boeing Asian American Professionals Association (BAAPA) and NAAAP-Seattle.
Oliver Hsu Membership Co-Chair	Oliver Hsu is NAAAP's Membership co-Chair. He is dedicated to the success of the group and is looking forward to a productive year.
Eric Yuen Social Co-Chair	Eric has over 11 years of professional experience and is currently Vice President of Well Gain Electronics, Inc., an international company with offices in the US, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Eric was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Taiwan. He has been in Seattle for 8 years and loves it. Eric’s focus this year in NAAAP is to work closely with the marketing and membership teams. His motto is "If you want to do something, do it right."
s c h o l a r s h i p c o m m i t t e e
Janet Ung Chair	Born and raised in Seattle, Janet felt the need to explore a part of the world. After graduating from the University of Washington and working a bit in Seattle, she decided to gain a little international experience and accepted an opportunity to work in Taiwan. Janet has over 8 years of marketing experience. Her experience includes consumer marketing research, consumer insights, and strategic planning. In 2001, she returned to Seattle after working in Asia for 6 years. She was a Project Manager at Asia Market Intelligence, Ltd. in the Taipei branch office and had the opportunity to travel and work in other Asian countries where the company is located. In fact, one of Janet's favorite things to do is to travel.
b o a r d at l a r g e
Christine Chiang	Before moving here in 2002, Christine lived in many places in the world. She was born and raised in Taiwan, lived in South Korea, New York, Canada and now Seattle. Christine has 5 years of banking experience. She has worked for several international banks, from a Singaporean bank in Taipei to a well-known bank (HSBC) in Canada. Currently, Christine works at Washington First International Bank as a Branch Supervisor and Private Banker in the International District in Seattle. While working more than 50 hours a week, Christine still found the time to not only attend but also to volunteer at several NAAAP-Seattle events in 2002. She liked being able to meet new people through NAAAP-Seattle's active networking events and in the process discovered that NAAAP-Seattle suited her. Christine's objective this year as a Board Member is to build better community relationships between NAAAP-Seattle and the community. In those rare moments when Christine has free time, she enjoys watching movies, reading, cooking, producing flower arrangements, and her favorite activity - traveling.
David Hsu	David's nomadic life has taken him from Taiwan to the Middle East, Canada, and most recently Seattle. He is currently a Program Manager in the Windows Program Management and Typography group at Microsoft, evangelizing software developers to write programs that can be used anywhere in the world and in any language. He's a graduate of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and can speak four languages. In his spare time, David enjoys watching movies, hanging out, reading, and getting involved with the community. "I've been helped throughout my life by so many people that I want to give back to the community and help those in need. NAAAP allows me to do that!"