Wisconsin’s 48 Most Influential Asian American Leaders, Part 5

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    This is the fifth of a five-part series. Part one is available here, part two is here, part three is here, and part four is here.

    Long Vue is the Executive Director of Wisconsin United Coalition of Mutual Assistance Association, Inc. (WUCMAA), a statewide coalition of 12 Hmong non-profit organizations here in Wisconsin established in 1996. As an executive director, he constantly looks for ways to strengthen the organization through collaboration with one common voice to ensure the coalition can obtain the resources necessary to provide culturally responsive services to the Hmong community in the state of Wisconsin. In his previous roles at Bay-Lakes Council and WISCAP, he leveraged and collaborated with other non-profit organizations and partners on fulfilling the mission and goals of those organizations.

    Kim Thao is the Operations Director for Bader Philanthropies Inc, a role she took on last September. In her role, she manages day-to-day office operations, oversees property and facilities management, and procures contracts with office and building vendors. Prior to assuming her current role, she served first as office manager and then as operations manager. Kim earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Human Resources Management/ Personnel Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2005. 

    Jeffery W. Yabuki is the executive chairman of Fiserv, Inc, headquartered in Brookfield. The global payments and financial services technology company is a part of the Fortune 500 and has more than 44,000 employees around the world. Before serving as executive chairman, Yabuki served as chief executive officer from 2005 through June 2020 and is expected to continue as the chairman of the board of directors through December 2020.

    Chungyia Thao is CEO and President of Thao Enterprises, Tongxeng Personal Home Care, and Long Cheng Marketplace, employing a total of more than 350 people. He is also an active member of the Hmong community in Appleton. Thao organizes educational workshops and business seminars for the Hmong Chamber of Commerce and the larger Hmong community. His work with the chamber of commerce also includes being the board of directors as well as the board of advisers for the organization. Additionally, in 2007, Thao was awarded the “Good Citizen Award” by the Wisconsin Department of Commerce and Wisconsin Minority Business. He has also been awarded the “2011 Most Charitable Business of the Year” by the 18 Councils of Wisconsin. Thao earned his master’s degree in organizational leadership from Marian University and an MBA from Lakeland University.

    Adam Jackson is a senior culture officer at Humana in Green Bay. He is the chair for the Brown County United Way Board of Directors and is on the board of directors for Green Bay Chamber’s Partners in Education. Jackson is a graduate of Madison East High and a 1998 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he studied English and Creative Writing. Active in his Green Bay community, Jackson has been a member of the event’s planning committee of the Brown County celebration to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

    LoNeng Kiatoukaysy is the Executive Director at Hmong American Friendship Association, whose mission is to improve the self-sufficiency of the Southeast Asian community and to preserve and share its culture throughout the Greater Milwaukee Area.

    Ritika Singh is the senior vice president and director of diversity, inclusion and engagement at Associated Bank and has over 15 years of experience in human resources management and leading diversity and inclusion for Fortune 50, Dow 30 and Top 10 Diversity Inc. global companies such as ESPN (The Walt Disney Company), Prudential Financial and United Technologies. Singh has a unique background as a seasoned human resource and diversity and inclusion (D&I) thought leader and her professional experiences include partnering with senior leadership teams to develop overall diversity and inclusion strategy to foster inclusion, achieve business results and enhance customer value. She has been awarded the 2016 Team Innovator of the Year Award at Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association (CTHRA)’s Excellence in HR Awards and the 2017 Diversity in Business Award from The Daily Reporter. 

    Dr. Anu Ebbe was recently selected as the new principal of Cherokee Heights Middle School in Madison. Prior to that, since 2011, she was the principal of Shorewood Hills in Madison. Under Dr. Ebbe’s leadership, the Department of Education designated Shorewood Elementary as a 2017 National Blue Ribbon School for their overall academic performance or progress in narrowing achievement gaps in targeted student subgroups. Ebbe earned her doctorate degree from Edgewood College in educational administration.

    Angela Yang is a student support services advisor and SUCCEED Summer Bridge Program coordinator at UW-Platteville, where she oversees a residential summer program for 50 multicultural students to help prepare for success in college. A first-generation college graduate who earned degrees in business administration and international studies from UW-Platteville in 2017, she also volunteers to help coordinate the Hmong Thanksgiving celebration in the Southwestern Wisconsin region, and helps manage Yang Seasonal Garden, a family business providing fresh produce through co-ops and farmers markets around southern Wisconsin. As a college senior, she earned the Alliant Energy/Erroll B. Davis, Jr. Academic Achievement Award.

    Dr. Chia Vang is associate vice chancellor in the Division of Global Inclusion and Engagement at UW-Milwaukee. She is also one of the nation’s only Hmong professors of history. She is an internationally known expert on Hmong history, culture and contemporary life. She founded UWM’s Hmong Diaspora Studies program in 2009 and serves as its director. Since 1999, she has provided research, evaluation, and planning consulting services to more than 40 community-based organizations, philanthropic institutions, and government entities in the human services, health, and education areas. The wide range of projects have enabled her to be knowledgeable about and sensitive to issues that affect Americans from diverse backgrounds. 

    Who did we miss? Let us know who should be on next year’s list. Email us at [email protected].