KAC Welcomes New Board Members for 2007

KAC would like to welcome its new Board of Directors for 2007. Please read on for each member's biography.

Frank Aum
Frank Aum is an associate in the corporate transactions department of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP.

Starting as a part-time volunteer in the mail room, Mr. Aum has been involved in the Los Angeles and San Francisco chapters of the Korean American Coalition since 2001. He served as External Affairs Coordinator for the Los Angeles headquarters from 2001-2002, where he helped organize a campaign to unify Koreatown under one city council district during the Los Angeles redistricting process. He was also instrumental in securing a $1.1 million grant for the renovation of Seoul International Park and a $100,000 grant for a Koreatown community technology facility. At KAC, and later at the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, City of Los Angeles, he played a primary role in the establishment and development of neighborhood councils in the Koreatown, Miracle Mile, Mid-Wilshire, and Hancock Park areas. In 2003, he served as Director of KAC’s National College Leadership Conference.

Born and raised in southern California, Mr. Aum attended Dartmouth College, where he studied social psychology and served as President of the Korean American Students Association during his junior year. After college, he spent two years in South Korea, the first year as a Fulbright Scholar in Cheju City and the second as a speechwriter in the United Nations Policy Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Mr. Aum also received a Masters in Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, focusing on international security policy, and a J.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. During law school, he was a judicial extern in Los Angeles for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Aum enjoys playing softball, snowboarding, listening to Britpop, soul, and downtempo house, eating meat, and making a suspect soondubu jjigae.

Yoonmee Chang
Yoonmee Chang is an Assistant Professor of English at George Mason University. She was previously an Assistant Professor of English and American Studies at Indiana University and received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She was recently awarded a Mellon Post-doctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University to pursue her research in Asian American literature and culture. She is currently writing a book on Asian American urban enclaves and ethnic authorship.

Drawing from her experience in developing undergraduate and graduate Asian American Studies programs, Chang has also published articles about the institutionalization of Asian American Studies programs in higher education. Her research emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary scholarship and collaborative relationships between academia and local communities. To this end, she has worked closely with grassroots organizations in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., focusing on building Asian American communities and leadership through the arts.

Adrian Hong
Adrian Hong is Executive Director of LiNK [Liberty in North Korea], an international grassroots movement dedicated to human rights in North Korea and the peaceful resolution of the North Korean crisis. LiNK's objectives are two-pronged. First, it is to press for more education and awareness about the North Korean human rights crisis, and its causes and consequences. To this end, LiNK has and continues to organize numerous lectures, teach-ins, screenings, forums, conferences and seminars, as well as hold public demonstrations and exhibitions using unconventional forms of education- art, media, music, dance, sport, etc. Second, it is to take that awareness and use it in action and advocacy to promote real and meaningful progress and resolution to the crisis. Working closely with governments, NGOs, coalitions and activists around the world, LiNK today has close working relationships with groups on the frontlines of human rights activism both in North Korea and China, while also maintaining a number of shelters underground in China for North Korean refugees in hiding.

Mark Keam

Mark L. Keam is Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel to Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Richard J. Durbin on the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Corrections and Rehabilitation. Previously, Mr. Keam held a number of positions in private, public, and political organizations, including service in the Clinton Administration at the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, as a trial attorney with the Federal Communications Commission, as staff of the Democratic National Committee, as an interpreter at a Summer Olympics, and as an entrepreneur.

Gie Kim
Gie Kim, a partner at McKenzie & Kim, PLC is an immigration attorney in Arlington, Virginia, specializing is deportation litigation. She currently works to help and protect members of the Muslim community who have been negatively affected by the registration requirement of the Patriot Act. Prior to entering the field of immigration law, she worked in U. S. Congress for Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart from the 21st District of Florida.

In her spare time, Ms. Kim is also an involved in community service. She is the current president of the Korean American Coalition, Washington Area Chapter (KAC-DC). She also represents KAC-DC on the KAC national board of directors and serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors and the chair of the national leadership development committee. She is also involved in the Korean Association of Greater Washington DC Area, Asian American Bar Association, and American Immigration Lawyers Association.\

Ms. Kim was born in Incheon, Korea and grew up in Potomac, Maryland. She studied Business Management at University of Maryland at College Park and received her law degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She also attended Georgetown University and received her LL.M. in International Law.

Mihae Kim
Founder and owner of Gimga Media Group, Inc., a Washington, D.C. based design and communications firm offering creative and professional service from print graphics to web design and public relations. Currently working with the Korea Gallery opening at the Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian, Children’s Art Festival and other Cultural exchange programs with Korea.

One of the founding members of Korean American Alliance, past president of Korean American Artists Association, member of American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA), Art Directors Club (ADC). Graduate of Corcoran School of Art & Design. Current Board member of KAC-DC.

Mike LaBelle
Mike LaBelle works as a lawyer handling civil litigation, wills, and probate matters in DC and Virginia, as well as juvenile, abuse and neglect, and criminal appeals cases in DC. Mr. LaBelle is also the father of two Korean American children, and is actively involved with Korea Focus for Adoptive Families (KFAF). He has served as craft sale coordinator for KFAF and has traveled extensively in Asia including trips to Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Burma in addition to four trips to Korea (in 1992, 2000, 2001 2002 2003).

Ann Lee

Ann S. Lee started her involvement with KAC in Los Angeles and joined the D.C. chapter in 2001. Today, she is getting her M.S. in Journalism at Northwestern University.

Previously, Ms. Lee was the Communications liaison for the University of Southern California, Office of Federal Relations in Washington, DC.

Becky Lee
Becky Lee is a women’s rights attorney specializing in domestic violence and family law. After placing third on Survivor Cook Islands, she took her earnings from the show to create the Becky Lee Women’s Support Fund (www.beckysfund.org). As Executive Director, she oversees this fund in awarding grants to small organizations that are successful in fighting domestic violence.

Currently, she does legal consulting for the Korean Community Service Center as a member of the Korean Americans Against Family Abuse Committee, does community outreach for the Asian Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project, and is Board member, Secretary, and VP of Programs for KAC-DC. She is also a member of the Women's Forum of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, DC Area and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. After graduating from the University of Michigan, she received her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Christine Oh
Christine Oh is currently a legislative aide to Congressman Xavier Becerra (CA-31) on Capitol Hill.  She previously worked in Congressman Becerra's district office in Los Angeles as a caseworker.  She received her bachelor's degree in American Studies with emphasis in Ethnic Studies and Political, Social, and Economical Analysis from University of California at Santa Cruz.  Christine is a member of Congressional Asian Pacific American Staff Association, Capitol Hill Toastmasters, and serves at Christ Central Presbyterian Church's Small Group and Mercy ministries.

Margie Perscheid
Margie Perscheid is the adoptive parent of two Korean teens and has been active in the Korean adoption community in Washington, DC since 1989. Ms. Perscheid is the co-founder of Korean Focus, an organization for adoptive families with Korean children that offers educational and cultural programs to families in the DC area. Since its founding, Korean Focus has grown to include chapters in Northern Maryland, Cincinnati, and Seattle, with a new chapter underway in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ms. Perscheid is also a past member of the Advisory Board of KAAN (the Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network) and co-coordinator of the 2003 KAAN Conference in Arlington, Virginia; the Board of Directors of the Korean Branch of the Washington Metro YMCA (now the Korean American Youth Association); and the Board of Directors of Adoption Service Information Agency.

Ms. Perscheid received B.S. and M. S. degrees in German and Applied Linguistics from Georgetown University, and taught German and English as a Second Language for ten years before moving into the technology sector. She has been with Verizon for fifteen years, and is currently a Group Manager with Verizon Business in Falls Church, Virginia. She, her husband Ralf, son Paul, and daughter Mara live in Alexandria, Virginia.

Sue Son
Sue Son is the Director of Finance and Human Resources for TSI, Inc., a government contracting company specializing in full food and custodial services with almost 200 employees. She oversees the payroll and accounts payables for the company, as well as ensures the company is in full compliance with all employee related issues. Ms. Son has been actively involved with KAC for more than 10 years, serving on the Board of Directors of both Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles chapters. She also served as a commissioner on Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich’s Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs.

Ki H. Wilson
Ki H. Wilson is the Director of the Verizon Regional Network Control and Provisioning Centers. His team is responsible for the provisioning of the core Transport Network, 24x7 surveillance and remote maintenance of the Network Elements (Switch and Transport), and power equipment located throughout the Verizon Mid-Atlantic Region. His team currently has Network Control Centers located in Falls Church, VA and Pittsburgh, PA, with several analysis and provisioning teams located throughout the region. Ki has over 24 years of telecommunications experience, with 10 year tenure in the United States Air Force prior to joining the former Bell Atlantic Company of Virginia in 1990. He has held various positions to include; Central Office Technician, Network Operations Field Supervisor, RCMAC Manager, Transport Maintenance Manager, and Tier II Transport Support Manager.

During the past 13 years, Ki played a vital role in the trial launch of the Star-Gazer Video On Demand Service, Network Operations Center Consolidation and Standardization efforts, as well as most recently the successful implementation of the Auto-MDF systems. In his present assignment, Ki leads highly a technical 500 member team with mission critical focus on on-time delivery of core Transport Network build-out, vigilant surveillance, in-depth analysis of performance trends, rapid segregation and resolution of alarm events in the Network. Originally from South Korea, Ki holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems (Magna Cum Laude) and Executive Leadership Development Certificate from Wharton-Penn University. Ki is actively involved in the community as member of the Verizon Asian Pacific Employees for Excellence (APEX) Employee Resource Group and currently leads the Mid-Atlantic chapter. Ki enjoys spending time with family and all outdoor activities.