2011 CUNY Conference on Asian American Economic Empowerment – Biographies

banner_2011economicDate: Friday, March 18, 2011 Time: 8:30AM to 4PM

Place: CUNY Graduate Center
Concourse Level
365 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan


Savio S. Chan is a pre-eminent expert on doing business in China. He serves as President and CEO of US China Partners Inc., a privately held business development firm specializing in Market Entry, Strategic Sourcing and Marketing Development in China for U.S. companies, and facilitates local and cross-border joint ventures among leading Chinese multinationals as well as Fortune 1000 companies.

Savio is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist at business and technology events including the American Express Minority Small Business Seminars, and the e-Business Conference and Expo, co-organized by BusinessWeek and InformationWeek. Among his many awards and recognitions are :the “40 Under 40″ Business Leader Award , and  Top 10 Movers and Shakers on Long Island, Top 100 Most Influential and in 2007, ExecuLeaders presented him a special award in the category of International Business Leadership.

Savio, started his career in international marketing and business with his studies at Baruch/CUNY. He has been featured in numerous industry and trade success profiles, including articles in The New York Times, Chief Executive Magazine, and InformationWeek. He serves as Vice Chairman of ITP China and is the president of the Northeast Chapter of US Pan Asian Chamber of Commerce, the largest Pan Asian Chamber in the country, senior advisor for the Outsourcing Institute, on the boards of Executive Council of New York and Association of Commerce, Industry and Technology (ACIT). Savio also hosts the PBS syndicated TV show, Asian America, sponsored by Wal-Mart.


Yvonne Y. F. Chan is a Partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, in the Corporate Department and a member of the Investment Management Group, where she concentrates on the organization’s pooled investment funds that raise private equity, including buyout funds, venture funds and funds of funds, as well as the arrangements among fund principals and sponsors. Ms. Chan has also worked extensively on foreign direct investments in China and mergers and acquisitions in the U.S., with a focus on cross-border joint ventures. Ms. Chan is recognized as a leading Investment Fund Formation and Private Equity lawyer by Legal 500.

A New Zealand-trained lawyer, Ms. Chan has worked in the firm’s Beijing, Hong Kong and New York offices, and formerly served as General Counsel-North Asia of Glaxo China Limited in Hong Kong.

Ms. Chan is fluent in English and Mandarin. She is qualified as a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand. 


Glenn Chua is the Vice President, Senior Business Relationship Manager of HSBC USA Bank N.A. in the Asian Market District.  He is responsible for managing the portfolio of small and mid-sized businesses for the 2 branches in Brooklyn Chinatown.  His primary role is about providing financial services and business advice to both consumers and small business customers across the tri-state area.

Mr. Chua has over 10 years experience in the financial industry.   In 1992, he started his banking career in the Philippines working as Account Officer with Union Bank of the Philippines and Lending Officer at the International Commercial Bank of China – Manila Branch.  When Mr. Chua migrated to the US, he worked as Business Banker at Flushing Savings Bank prior to HSBC.  He spent 5 years with a company that assists US and Asian companies interested in doing business in China

Mr. Chua is actively involve with the following organizations: Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corp, East Williamsburg Valley Industrial Development Corp,  Long Island Business Development Corp and Greater Jamaica Development Corp.

Mr. Chua received his Bachelor Degree in Finance and MBA degree from De La Salle University – Manila, Philippines.  He holds certificates in Finance from CUNY-Bernard M. Baruch College and in Credit Analysis from New York University.


Howard Cohen joined Advanced Wealth Solutions Group, LLC in January 2010.  He is licensed in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania for Life and Health Insurance products.   Howard recently earned the designation of Special Care Planner, a title that is unique to the industry. The Special Care Planner certificate program is offered by The American College in Bryn Mawr, PA, exclusively for MassMutual financial professionals.

Prior to joining AWSG Howard was involved in several businesses as an owner, executive, business development manager and national recruiter.  In his capacity as Executive Vice President of New Jersey based trading company, Howard spent considerable time in China and Hong Kong.

Today Howard’s business is focused on family planning, professional and family businesses, medical and dental practices.

He is an active member of the US Pan Asian Chamber of Commerce (USPACC) and the Asian Indian Chamber of Commerce (AICC).  Howard is active in many community organizations including Jewish Federation of Middlesex County, a member of the New Jersey Israel Commission, New York Blood Center’s Apheresis Donor program.


Ramon Gil is the Managing and Creative Director of Fresh Concentrate. Since 1991, Ramon has worked for ad agencies throughout New York City, and was creative director at the Earth Pledge Foundation. He is an active community organizer and has taught at the Parsons School of Design, FIT and is currently a guest instructor at the Workshop in Business Opportunities. He has been featured in the Artists’ and Graphic Designers’ Market, the Society of Illustrators Annual, Stephen Romaniello’s The Perfect Digital Portfolio, Crain’s New York Business, PBS’ Asian America, Altra Magazine, Crème Magazine, and most recently in Liz Lynch’s Smart Networking.


Joanna Lei Huang is a Career Agent with Advanced Wealth Solution Group, LLC, a general agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company.  Joanna specializes in Investments, Insurance, Cash Flow and Net Worth, Liability Management, Qualified Retirement Plan/IRA Review, Retirement Cash Flow Planning,  Education Funding, Business Succession Planning, Tax Reduction Strategies, Planning for Incapacity, Gifting to Children/Descendants, Charitable Gifting, and Titling of Assets. She advises her corporate clients on several different types of benefit programs and qualified plans for their employees, including customized carve-out programs for senior executives.  She works closely under the guidance and support of Agency Supervising Principal Marc S. Pico, who has over 14 years experience in the industry and is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

Born and raised in Shanghai, China, Joanna is fluent in English, Mandarin and Shanghainese.  She attended the Engineering and Science University of Shanghai, and received a Bachelor degree in Business Management with a concentration in Finance.

Joanna carries Life, Health, and Variable Annuity insurance producer licenses and is a Certified Long Term Disability Income Insurance Specialist.  She is also a registered representative of MML Investors Services, Inc., member SIPC, and holds a General Securities Representative (Series 6) and Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination (Series 63) FINRA registrations.

Joanna currently resides in Bay Ridge, NY where she is the Vice President of her local business networking group and is active in the Chinese community and women’s market.


Felicitas Izar is the President of IZAR Associates, Inc.(IZAR), an information technology company providing services across a breadth of industries for both federal and state agencies and commercial customers.

For thirteen years, IZAR has served leading clients such as Unisys, Verizon, Delta, and Northrop in their management, technical, and staffing services needs.  Izar is a certified woman and minority-owned business focused on infrastructure engineering, systems operations and quality management services as well as IT staffing solutions.  IZAR also offers data center migration, server consolidation, desktop asset management and packaging, project management, quality assurance and quality management, ITIL consulting, configuration management, change management, and technical writing.

Prior to this role, Felicitas was a management and technical consultant for several Fortune 100 companies in the New York and New Jersey area, including Chase Manhattan Bank, Philip Morris, Home Box Office.

Felicitas occupies a leadership role in various non-profit organizations such as FASHI, AWIB and FACPA.  She currently serves as the President of USTEAA, a non-profit organization whose main goal is to provide scholarships to qualified engineering students at the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines.


Bomi Kim is the Vice President and Director of Opportunity M/W/DBE for New York City Economic Development Corporation.  Bomi joined NYCEDC in 2006 to develop, implement and manage Opportunity M/W/DBE, NYCEDC’s business development program for certified minority, women and disadvantaged business.  Opportunity M/W/DBE is dedicated to increasing participation by M/W/DBEs on NYCEDC projects while providing capacity building assistance.  Through Opportunity M/W/DBE, NYCEDC has awarded over $100M in contracts to M/W/DBEs in both prime and subcontracts.

Prior to joining NYCEDC, Bomi managed Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s procurement assistance program and served as Deputy Director of Economic Development for Queens Borough President’s Office.

Bomi is a graduate of New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service in Urban Planning.


Susan Kim is a Vice President of Retail Banking at Capital One Bank developing business and personal relationships in the Tri-State area in Retail and Commercial Areas. Ms. Kim joined North Fork Bank in 2003, which is now Capital One Bank N.A.  Prior to that, worked several years for another major bank in Manhattan ,Fleet Bank N.A. In addition to a career in the financial sector, Ms. Kim has worked for famous Pop artist Peter Max and as as a freelance reporter covering people like the Mayor of New York City to events such as the World Series & Super Bowl.

Ms. Kim is a Member of the Board of (USPACC) US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, a not-for-profit representing all Asian Americans to promote, nurture and propel economic growth by opening doors to contracts, and developing educational and professional opportunities for Asian Americans and their business partners in corporate America and government agencies.

Ms. Kim is also a member of (KACF) Korean Community Foundation a not-for-profit which provides support for underserved Korean American social service agencies often serving as the first source of outside funding. She is an active member of (AWIB) Asian Women in Business, a not-for-profit assisting Asian women entrepreneurs and promotes the inclusion of minority and women owned business and professionals. Ms. Kim is a graduate of Baruch College with a Bachelor of Arts in Corporate Communications.


Kevin Kong is the Managing Director of Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that provides direct financing and technical assistance to small business owners and entrepreneurs in all five boroughs of New York City.  Previously, Kevin was the General Counsel of two Nasdaq-listed publicly traded Chinese companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong and was a corporate finance lawyer practicing at law firms in New York City.  A native of Chinatown in New York City, Kevin graduated from Columbia University and Cornell Law School.  In his spare time, Kevin’s interests include US-China relations and organizing alumni events at his alma mater.


Man-Li Kuo Lin is the Business Development Specialist at U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), New York District Office. Her service area covers Queens County, Rockland County and the Asian communities, business owners and business organizations in 14 New York counties.  Prior to joining the SBA employment, she worked as an Employment Services Representative in the NYS Department of Labor Employment Services Division. She established the Asian Job Service Employer Committee (Asian JSEC) in 2004 providing employment services and government policy educational programs to employers.

Ms. Lin is the principal of the Families Adopt Children from China (FCC) Long Island Chinese School. She is the author of The Resume Writing and Interview Skills, The 214 Radicals of Chinese Characters, Adult Chinese Conversation Textbook I, II, and III, Children Chinese Reading Book I, II, and III”, and English Phonics. She received a Bachelor’s  degree in Chinese Literature and Education from National Taiwan University, a, Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language and Master’s degree in Management Engineering , from Long Island University C.W. Campus, 1991.


Chunyee Miot is a Certified Public Accountant whose firm provides tax and accounting services to individuals and businesses.

Prior to establishing her own firm, she worked for 10 years, with public accounting firms in New York City and Long Island.  She is also a former business advisor at the Small Business Development Center at LaGuardia Community College/ CUNY where she counseled individuals on starting a business; and existing businesses on getting financing and developing marketing plans.

She is a frequent speaker in seminars and workshops to educate individuals and business owners about tax and financial matters for such organizations as Asian Women In Business. Chunyee Miot holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Baruch College/CUNY.


Joyce Moy is the Executive Director of the Asian American/ Asian Research Institute. She was the first Asian American director of a NYS Small Business Development Center. Her area of expertise is entrepreneurship and economic development. She has taught business law and taxation at Queens College, the CUNY School of Law, and at Cornell University School of Law.  She is a former practicing attorney with over 15 years experience in corporate law, franchising, taxation and commercial areas. She recently served on the NYS Governor’s Taskforce on Small Business and currently co-chairs the NYC Comptroller’s Taskforce on Community Benefit Agreements.


Lonnie Sherman is an insurance professional with 24 years of sales, recruiting and training experience.  A managing director with Advanced Wealth Solutions Group, LLC, a general agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), he has shown excellence as a sales manager, trainer, coach and mentor at the agency as well as in previous positions with MetLife, John Hancock and Guardain.

Lonnie holds professional licenses in life, heatlh, P&C and holds series 6 and 63 registrations.  He is also a luTCF and has earned the designaton of Special Care Planner, a title that is unique to the industry.  The Special Care Planner certificate program is offered by the American College in Bryn Mawr, PA, exclusively for MassMutual financial professionals.

His career highlights include Million Dollar Round Table member, John Hancock Nationwide Top 40 and Top 20 Sales Professionals and co-general agent at John Hancock.  He has recruited and trained numerous sales reps and developed a brokerage operation for a nationally recognized Guardian office.

An expert with a heart, Lonnie never confuses effort with results.  Passionate about giving back to the community with the skills he has acquired, he is active with several charities and committees, such as Ronald McDonald House, NAIFA, LUTC American College and Temple Beth David.  As a motivator and mentor, he is sought out by his peers for insurance product advice, sales guidance and networking abilities.


Antonio Tseng is an Account Manager for the NYC Business Solutions, Queens Center. For the last two plus years, he has assisted numerous customers start, operate and expand their business in New York City. In addition, Antonio has helped entrepreneurs and business owners obtain financing, business establishments, recruiting employees and M/WBE certification. Prior to joining the NYC Business Solutions, Antonio worked with the Workforce1 Career Queens Center as a Career Advisor and as a Job Developer for a non-profit organization assisting Chinese immigrants.


Robin Wilson is a Business Advisor and Program Coordinator of the Financial Literacy Program at the LaGuardia Community College/CUNY – Small Business Development Center. Robin has experience in financial counseling and economic development. She spent two years working with ACCION New York/ACCION USA, a domestic microfinance organization. She began as a loan officer and gave technical assistance to businesses and eventually focused more intensively on financial literacy education. Financial literacy counseling took her throughout New York City’s boroughs, working in some of the most economically distraught areas and exposing her to a wide array of problems that people face throughout the city such as over-indebtedness, bankruptcy, judgments, ID theft, investment advice, and improving credit scores.

Prior to her counseling at ACCION, Robin worked in many different areas, such as company rating for investors, tax preparing, debt analysis, and working as an ESL teacher for the Peace Corps in China. She received a B.A. in Communications from Emerson College, and an M.S. in International Business and Economic Development at NYU. Her experience in the Peace Corps and other travels gave her a love for languages and cultures, speaking Spanish and English.


Brian Yeung is a business advisor with the New York State Small Business Development Center at York College. With over 10 years of diversified experience and expertise in small businesses development, Brian focuses on small business counseling, business plan development, and business financing. Entrepreneurs assisted by Brian include the 2007 NYS SBDC Minority Entrepreneur of The Year and the 2005 NYS SBDC Start Up Company of The Year. His clients also include the 2001 Queens Success Story – World Trade Center Disaster Small Business Recovery Loan and the 2008 Queens Success Business of the Year.

Prior to becoming a business advisor, Brian was a loan officer at the Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a small community bank in New York City’s Chinatown. Brian holds a M.B.A. in Computer Information System from Baruch College, and a B.S. in Business Management and Finance from Brooklyn College. In addition to his full time duties as a business advisor, Brian is an adjunct lecturer for the teaching business management and marketing in the York College Accounting and Business Department . Brian is a member of the Queens Chamber of Commerce Minority Business Development Committee.


Disclaimer: The information provided at this conference is for educational purposes only, and in no way represents legal, financial or tax advice. Individuals are advised to consult their attorneys, or other professionals for guidance.

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