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Board of Advisors

The Advisory Board is a group of individuals that has a history of involvement in Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) politics and provides guidance to the organization.

Board Members

Board Members work with the Executive Team to help elect progressive Korean American candidates through endorsements and fundraisers.

Advisors

BOARD OF ADVISORS

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Jonathan Zucker

Jonathan Zucker is a campaign finance attorney and political technology entrepreneur. He was the first COO and second CEO of ActBlue. Prior to that, he served the DNC as National Director of Operations for Finance during the 2003- 2004 presidential cycle. More recently, he has founded or advised several political tech start-ups, including It Starts Today, Democracy Engine, ruck.us, and Crowdpac.

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Howard Moon

Howard is an Executive Director of Government Affairs at Amgen. Prior to joining Amgen, Howard spent a decade working in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Senior Policy Advisor and Floor Assistant to the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. In addition, he was a Floor Assistant for the former Democratic Whip David Bonior and worked for the late Congressman Robert Matsui (D-CA), former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

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Mark Keam

Delegate Mark L. Keam is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.

His legislative district is entirely within Fairfax County, and includes 85,000 residents. In 2009, Mark became the first Asian-born immigrant and the first Korean American elected to any state-level office in Virginia. Since then, voters in the 35th District have returned Mark to Richmond for additional two-year terms. Active in the community, Mark has helped start or worked with dozens of nonprofit organizations that focus on his passions, including civic engagement, serving immigrants and minorities, developing youth leadership, and promoting literacy and lifelong learning.

(In Order of Formation)

Members

BOARD MEMBERS

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Grace Choi,
President

Grace Choi is the Founder and CEO of Karis Consulting Group, a national consulting firm that provides community organizing, strategic advising, and coalition building support for AANHPI organizations to empower the voice and capacity of the community. Grace is a community strategist and political leader with over 15 years of experience in community  organizing,  policy, advocacy, diplomacy, international development, and politics, where she has worked closely with high-level government, United Nations, non-profit, and private sector officials in the U.S. and around the world.

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Linda Shim,
VP of Campaigns

Linda Shim is an Executive Director of External Affairs at Comcast NBCUniversal in Washington, DC. She works to advance Comcast's partnerships with external stakeholders including advocacy organizations, public policy groups, and political organizations. Linda has over a decade of experience on Capitol Hill working for Members of Congress from California. She most recently served as Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27) and also as a Legislative Assistant to former Congresswoman Jane Harman (CA-36). 

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Esther S. Im
VP of Operations/Secretary

Esther is the Peace and Security Policy Advisor at Foreign Policy for America (FP4A), where she leads on issues related to China, Iran, North Korea and nuclear policy. Previously she worked at the National Committee on North Korea and the United Nations. She was born and raised in Arkansas and now lives in Washington DC.

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Rep. Andy Kim

Congressman Andy Kim was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. He represents the Third Congressional District of New Jersey, which stretches from the Delaware River to the Atlantic Ocean encompassing most of Burlington County and parts of Ocean County. Rep. Kim is a member of the House Small Business Committee and Chairs the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access. He also sits on the House Armed
Services Committee.

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State Rep. Sam Park

Sam Park is the State Representative from Georgia House District 101 in Gwinnett County which include the cities of Lawrenceville and Suwanee. Georgia native, born and raised. Korean American son of immigrants and grandson of refugees. First lawyer in the family. Living the American Dream and working to ensure others have the same opportunity.

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Jihee Huh

Ms. Huh serves as the Vice Chair of PAFCO, is the Co-Founder of Pete’s Seafood Club, and is the Asian Pacific Island American Public Affairs Commissioner for the State of  California. She is also the Vice Chair of the Saban Research Institute at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Ms. Huh is a philanthropist and distinguished activist who has done transformational work in human rights and education.

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Erica Lee,
Treasurer

Erica graduated from George Mason University where she served as the president of the Korean-American Student Association and was an active board member of the College Democrats of America where she was elected as the National Director of Political Affairs and appointed as the National Chairwoman of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus. She currently works in Washington D.C. at FiscalNote, one of D.C.'s top tech companies. 

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Daniel Y

Daniel is in the government relations department at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. He was a former Obama campaign field organizer and appointee in the Obama Administration. He lives in Washington DC.

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Julia Kim

Julia is Chief of Staff for Virginia State Senator Barbara Favola. She is the former Chief Of Staff for Virginia Delegate Mark Keam, and former Chairman of the Virginia Asian Advisory Board. Julia has a long history of U.S. and international start-up experience as well as extensive experience in politics, policymaking, public relations, and building programs from the ground up. She lives in VA.

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John Yi

John is currently the Executive Director for Los Angeles Walks, a pedestrian and greater mobility advocacy group in Southern California. Before at LA Walks, he was the Advocacy Director for the American Lung Association and the Interim National Director for Parent Revolution, an education and social justice non-profit. He received his Masters degree at Georgetown University and his Bachelors degree at the University of Michigan. He is also currently the Board Chair for the Korean American Democratic Committee and resides in Los Angeles.

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Gene Kim

Gene is a JD-MBA candidate at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and Kellogg School of Management. Gene previously served as the Executive Director of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, President of the Korean American Democratic Committee, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership, and multiple other political and community leadership roles. Gene is originally from Los Angeles and currently lives in the greater Chicago area.

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Sam Cho

Sam Cho is the CEO of Seven Seas Export, an international trading company that exports to Asia and a former political appointee under President Barack Obama, a legislative assistant to a member of Congress, and an analyst at the US Department of State. He lives in Seattle.

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Laura Shin

Laura is a federal government attorney. She was one of the founders of Korean Americans for Obama and Korean Americans for Hillary and former President of KADC LA PAC. She resides in Washington DC.

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Katherine Kim

A native of New Jersey, Kat received her BA in International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and worked for the federal government in Washington, D.C. for six years. She is currently pursuing her MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

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Irene Kang

Irene is Chief of Staff to DC City Councilmember Anita Bonds. She is located in Washington DC.

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Jay Cho

Jay Cho is the Manager of Federal Government Affairs at Verizon. In this role, he advocates for Verizon’s policy positions on Capitol Hill, develops advocacy strategies, and works with stakeholders to educate Members of Congress and staff about Verizon’s business and policy positions. He previously worked for Congresswoman Robin L. Kelly (D-IL-02) from 2013-2018, and currently resides in Washington, DC.

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Michael Ahn

Michael is the Digital Director for U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a leader in the Progressive Caucus. He also volunteers his time as chair of the Congressional Korean American Staff Association. Michael resides in Washington, DC.

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Daniel M. Lee

Dan Lee is a healthcare entrepreneur and founder of Auxa Health. He previously held positions at the World Bank and various offices in federal and state government. Dan serves as a trustee and board member at Partners for Development. He resides in Washington, DC.
 

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