This is the fourth of a five-part series. Part One is here, Part Two is here, Part Three is here and Part Four is here.
This week we highlight some of Wisconsin’s Most Influential Asian American leaders. Previous lists of the state’s most influential Black, Latino, Native American and Asian American leaders are published at Madison365.org/MostInfluential.
Rev. Erica Liu
Rev. Erica Liu is the executive director and pastor of Pres House, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) campus ministry serving students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has served Pres House since 2004 and stepped into the executive director role in 2024. A second-generation Taiwanese American who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, she is an ordained Presbyterian minister. When Liu arrived in Madison, Pres House was largely dormant; under her leadership it has grown into an active campus center that reaches hundreds of students a year, expanding to include not only worship and pastoral care but also the Pres House Apartments, a community-focused student housing development, and Candid, a holistic wellness initiative. Over that period the organization’s annual budget grew from roughly $160,000 to more than $2.2 million. Beyond Pres House, Liu has been active in campus and denominational life, serving as president of the University Religious Workers of UW–Madison and on the board of trustees of McCormick Theological Seminary, and she has taught and led at national conferences on collegiate ministry, multicultural ministry, and Asian American young adult formation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. A longtime taekwondo practitioner, she earned her third-degree black belt in 2025.
Kristy Vang
Kristy Vang is the chief executive officer of the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that supports small businesses and economic development in underserved communities. She was named CEO in February 2026 after serving as the chamber’s executive vice president and interim executive director, and earlier as its director of operations and finance, roles she had held since joining the organization in 2023. A certified accounting and finance professional, Vang has spent her career in nonprofit financial management. Before the Hmong Chamber, she was finance and property director at City on a Hill Milwaukee, finance director at Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast, and director of accounting at Jewish Family Services, where she worked for more than eight years. She serves as board treasurer of the Fondy Food Center, a board advisor to the Asian Real Estate Association of America’s Greater Milwaukee chapter, and an advisory committee member for the Old World Wisconsin Foundation. Vang earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she is also pursuing a master’s degree in nonprofit management and leadership.
January Vang
January Vang is the interim general manager of the City of Madison Water Utility, which provides drinking water to Wisconsin’s capital city. An accountant by training, she stepped into the role after serving as the utility’s finance manager, and previously spent nearly a decade as finance and administration manager for the City of Madison Parks Division, beginning in 2015. Vang has built her career in accounting and public finance. Before joining the City of Madison, she was a revenue auditor with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, an accountant with Vision Service Plan in California, and an auditor and tax auditor with Gilbert Associates in the Sacramento area. She has served as treasurer of the Madison Professional & Supervisory Employees Association since 2018. Vang holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accountancy from California State University, Sacramento, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh.
Kent Yan
Kent Yan is the owner of Plato Commercial Real Estate in Madison, where he represents both landlords and tenants in commercial sales and leases. Many of his clients are entrepreneurs of color working with limited startup capital, and he has helped find homes for a wide range of local businesses and organizations, including Mishqui Peruvian Cuisine, Little Tibet, Anesis Family Therapy, Savanna Beauty Supply, the Wisconsin Latino Chamber of Commerce, and the Latino Academy of Workforce Development. In a typical year he closes around 60 deals. Yan grew up working in his parents’ downtown Madison Chinese restaurant, Yan’s Soupçon, and became interested in real estate as a child when his family bought a property on University Avenue for the business. He studied real estate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and has worked in the Madison market throughout his career. Beyond brokering deals, he counsels clients on city of Madison grant and loan programs for renovating or purchasing property, sometimes helping them complete applications, and has begun teaching clients the fundamentals of investing and building long-term wealth.
Who’d we miss? Email [email protected] to let us know who should be on next year’s list!
