Leadership & Committees
Meet the dedicated team and committees leading the Asian American Museum at Great Park.
Operational Team
Jack Toan
Executive Director, Asian American Museum
Executive Leader | Innovator | Social Entrepreneur
Jack Toan serves as the Executive Director of the Asian American Museum at Great Park, where he leads the vision, development, and strategic growth of a groundbreaking cultural institution dedicated to celebrating and advancing Asian American stories. Under his leadership, the museum is being shaped as a dynamic, inclusive space that brings communities together through storytelling, education, and cultural expression.
A social entrepreneur and community builder, Jack brings decades of experience at the intersection of philanthropy, nonprofit leadership, and corporate social responsibility. His work is rooted in a deep commitment to equity, representation, and collective impact—values shaped by his personal journey as a refugee and his lifelong dedication to uplifting underserved communities.
In addition to his role at the museum, Jack is the Principal of JT Consulting Group, where he advises nonprofits, foundations, and public-private partnerships on strategy, capacity building, and community impact. Previously, he served as Co-CEO of Illumination Foundation, a leading nonprofit addressing homelessness through integrated healthcare and housing solutions, and spent 18 years at Wells Fargo as Vice President of Community Affairs, overseeing regional philanthropic investments and community engagement initiatives.
Jack continues to serve in advisory and board roles across the nonprofit and civic sectors. He holds an MBA from the UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business and is an alumnus of the Southern California Leadership Network.
Steering Committee
Yulan Chung
Executive Director, South Coast Chinese Cultural Center (SCCCC) | Principal, Irvine Chinese School
Since 2013, Yulan Chung has served as the Executive Director of the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center (SCCCC) and Principal of the Irvine Chinese School. Her dedication and leadership have resulted in significant strides in Chinese education and cultural exchange, impacting thousands of parents and students.
Under Yulan’s direction, the SCCCC has become one of the nation’s premier cultural centers. Its mission is to promote and preserve Chinese heritage and culture as well as to foster unity and harmony in our diverse society.
She was a key driver behind the establishment of Irvine Unified School District’s first public Chinese-English bilingual immersion elementary school. Yulan was also the driving force behind the establishment of the Asian American History Museum of Orange County. The museum will serve as an important cultural amenity and attraction at the Great Park, while also creating a new national model for multicultural harmony.
She holds a master’s degree in cultural anthropology and completed doctoral studies in multicultural education at Lesley University.
Janie Tsao
Chairman, Miven, Inc. | Co-founder, Linksys
Janie Tsao co-founded Linksys in 1988 and made significant contributions to introduce home networking to the individual consumer. She grew Linksys from a garage entrepreneurship to a home networking leader that popularized the Wi-Fi router which led to the universal use of the Wi-Fi connections we use every day. In 2003, Linksys was sold to Cisco in order to expand its global reach. Due to her accomplishments at Linksys, Ms. Tsao was inducted into the Consumer Electronics Association’s Hall of Fame in 2014. Prior to Linksys, she worked in various software programming and system integration jobs. She retired from corporate life in 2007 and remains active in technology through investments and philanthropy.
For the last decade, Ms. Tsao has focused her time on giving back to the community. She has carried her entrepreneurial mindset to philanthropy and has been a pioneer by introducing proof of concept philanthropic models that allow others to explore supporting the same cause. Ms. Tsao carries out many of her charitable endeavors through the Tsao Family Foundation which supports education, health & wellness, and arts & culture. Its mission is to instill hope and help people realize there is always a path forward. This is accomplished by serving at-risk families, women, and children.
Ms. Tsao holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tamkang, Taiwan and serves on the boards of Miven Inc., South Coast Chinese Cultural Association, Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, and The Purpose of Recovery Inc.
Pradip K. Shukla, Ph.D., C.P.I.M.
The Shah Family Endowed Chair in Innovativeness at Chapman University
Dr. Pradip K. Shukla, CPIM is The Shah Family Endowed Chair in Innovativeness at Chapman University. He previously served as Vice-Chancellor for Entrepreneurship at Chapman University and Director of the Entrepreneurship program at Chapman University. Dr. Shukla is a Business Consultant/Advisor with pkshukla.com and founder/CEO of BestCEOAdvisor.com. Dr. Shukla has consulted with entrepreneurial firms at all stages—business plan, inception, growth, succession planning, going public, and liquidation. Dr. Shukla has served on the Board of Directors and Advisory Boards for for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations.
Dr. Shukla was selected in 2019 to receive a Marquis Who’s Who in America Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2024 and 2025, Dr. Shukla was nominated for an Innovator of the Year Award from the Orange County Business Journal. Dr. Shukla and his wife are also community leaders and philanthropists who have donated real estate properties to non-profit organizations.
Dr. Shukla was Director of APIDA Heritage and Achievement at Chapman University. Dr. Shukla is also an Affiliated Interdisciplinary Faculty member with Asian American Studies at Chapman University. He developed two new courses for that program: The Rise of Asian American Leaders in Business and Asian Indian American History and Experience. Dr. Shukla has researched and is interacting with Asian CEOs of public and privately held firms, focusing on how their parental values and cultural backgrounds influence their managerial success. He is also collecting oral histories of Asian Indians' immigration to the US.
He has served in leadership roles in the Southern California Indian Community, including the India@75 Executive Committee, Saahas for Cause, and India Impact International.
Wendi Chen
SCCCA Board President (2023-2024)
Wendi Chen has been actively involved with SCCCA in recent years. She has served on the SCCCA Board of Directors: 2019-2021 and 2021-2024. During her board terms, she served as Secretary of the Board in 2021-2022, as Vice President of the Board in 2022-2023 and as President of the Board in 2023-2024.
Wendi provided her advice while she was on the Construction Committee which supervised the remodeling of Amphitheater and Chinese Garden, and the additional building at 10 Truman, tenant improvement project, Classroom 101-104 bathrooms project and exploring the possibility of Chinese cooking class. With her kind support and dedication, the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center was able to establish the first South Coast Wushu Team in 2023-2024.
Wendi Chen was born and raised in Hong Kong. She obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering at California University, Fullerton. Then she went to live in Taiwan for about 10 years.
In 2000, she was one of the founding members of a start-up Blue LED chip manufacturer. Her position was Chief Administration Officer and in charge of the company IPO. In 2005, she moved back to the United States and started a company HDWC, Inc. doing real estate investments, manage residential units and/or developing commercial properties until now.
Prior to volunteering at SCCCA, she volunteered at varied nonprofits such as Global Federation of Chinese Businesswomen where she served as Southern California Chapter Vice President in 2013; Orange County Chinese Association CCF Scholarship Operation Committee Co-Chair.
Jason S. Kim
Deal Lawyer
Jason S. Kim is a deal lawyer. He helps companies at key growth stages by closing strategic deals.
Jason’s practice focuses on representing domestic and foreign companies, financial institutions, funds, and serial entrepreneurs in acquisitions, mergers, and divestitures and related financing and capital raises with special emphasis on cross-border deals.
Jason also served as an Adjunct Professor at USC Gould School of Law from 2009 through 2018 and taught International Business Transactions covering the legal principles and practices involved in private business transactions and movement of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and technology across the boundaries of different nation-states.
Jason is fluent in Korean.
Hiro Kinoshita
Founding Partner, KTGY
Hiro Kinoshita was born and raised in Japan and graduated from the Architectural School of Nihon University in Tokyo. He came to California to further pursue his career in architecture and planning. Hiro is a founding partner of KTGY, now one of the largest Orange County based architectural firms. The firm has six offices throughout the U.S. and employs over four hundred. While at KTGY, he designed residential and resort projects in California, Hawaii, and throughout Asia.
He retired in 2014 and now spends his time playing golf and traveling to destinations on his bucket list. Hiro resides in Newport Coast with his wife, Irene, and adorable poodles, Ben(nie) and Jerry.
Education Committee
Dr. Jeffrey Soo Kim
Dr. Jeffrey Soo Kim has served in education for 24 years as a teacher, administrator, instructional coach, and civic leader. He authored the nation's first high school Korean American Ethnic Studies course (Anaheim UHSD) and teaches future leaders as adjunct professor at CSUF and Vanguard University. A USC doctorate and National Board Certified Teacher, he has received multiple honors, including the 2022 Roy Erickson Civic Leadership Award, the 2023 Outstanding Ethnic Studies Community Partner Award, the 2024 City of Irvine Wall of Recognition, and the 2025 Civic Engagement Champion Award from the Asian Pacific Islander School Board Members Association. He is also the board president of the Irvine Unified School District Board and founder of the EdFamily w/ Dr. Jeff YouTube channel. He is married to his wife, Dr. Stephanie Kim, a minister at Saddleback Church, and together they have five daughters.
Dr. Priya J. Shah
Dr. Priya J. Shah received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine and is a longtime educator, artist, and community organizer in Orange County, CA. She teaches Gender Studies and Ethnic Studies at several local colleges and universities. Her activism on behalf of LGBTQ+ students and racial justice has earned her the Harvey Milk Jr. Award for Community Service and the OC Pride Community Advocate award. Priya is also committed to uplifting our South Asian American community and is currently working with the South Asian American Digital Archive on a project about the earliest Indian American women to immigrate to California.
Dr. Tony Hwang
Dr. Tony Hwang is a leader in higher education and educational technology with over two decades of experience navigating the intersection of academic excellence and applied innovation. Having served as the Executive Director for the Office of Enrollment Management at UC Irvine, he has built a career centered on developing scalable, data-driven frameworks that support student success. Recently, Tony has expanded his focus toward the EdTech sector, launching a suite of immersive XR and AI pilots designed to maximize instructional efficacy and establish scalable models for next-generation learning.
Tony's commitment to the Asian American Museum at Great Park (AAMGP) is foundational; he led the team that submitted the initial proposal to the Irvine City Council for its successful approval. Beyond this advocacy, he helped found the Asian American Youth Leaders program at the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center. As the creator and lead strategist of the Living Archive Initiative, he unites academic expertise with cutting-edge technology to transform archival assets into immersive, site-specific narratives, effectively turning the physical landscape into a "living museum."
A proud lifelong member of the UCI community, Tony is passionate about ensuring the diverse Asian American experience is preserved and shared through inclusive, high-tech engagement. He holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from California State University, Fullerton.
Julia Huynh
Julia Huỳnh is the curator for the Southeast Asian Archive (SEAA) and research librarian for Asian American studies at UC Irvine Libraries. In these roles, she offers instruction and research consultations, develops collections documenting the Southeast Asian American experience, and supports community-centered archives partnerships and programs. She has served on the board for the Association for Asian American Studies as board archivist, Orange County Archives in Action planning committee, and Images Festival as a board of director.
Also active as an interdisciplinary artist, she's exhibited her work in Canada and the United States, and her films have been screened at festivals including ReFrame Film Festival (Peterborough, Ontario), Reel Asian International Film Festival (Toronto, Ontario), Aurora Picture Show (Houston, Texas), and SEA x SEA: Southeast Asia x Seattle Film Festival (Seattle, Washington). Julia holds an honors BA in art and art history and an MA in photography preservation and collections management.
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu is Chancellor's professor of History and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She also serves as faculty director of the Humanities Center and Associate Dean in the School of Humanities of Research, Faculty Development, and Public Engagement.
She authored Dr. Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards: the Life of a Wartime Celebrity (University of California Press, 2005) and Radicals on the Road: Internationalism, Orientalism, and Feminism during the Vietnam Era (Cornell University Press, 2013). Her book, Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress (New York University Press, 2022), is a collaboration with political scientist Gwendolyn Mink and received the 2023 Mary Nickliss Prize, which recognizes the best publication in U.S. Women's/Gender History from the Organization of American Historians. Wu and Mink also collaborated on a comic biography of Patsy Takemoto Mink that is free for digital download.
Wu's most recent book, Moving Mountains: Asian American and Pacific Islander Feminisms and the 1977 National Women's Conference (University of Washington Press, 2026), focuses on Asian American and Pacific Islander Women who participated in the 1977 National Women's Conference and subsequently organized their own regional and national conferences on Asian Pacific American women.
Thuy Vo Dang
Thuy Vo Dang (she/her) is a professor of Information Studies and Asian American Studies at UCLA where she co-directs the Community Archives Lab. She holds a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, San Diego and a B.A. in English and Asian American Studies from Scripps College. Her previous role was Curator for the UCI Libraries Southeast Asian Archive and Research Librarian for Asian American Studies. With research and teaching expertise in Southeast Asian diaspora, ethnic studies, oral history, and community archives, Thuy brings an interdisciplinary approach to co-creating digital humanities and archival documentation projects with educators and community-based organizations.
Her current research and community engagement work center "refugee archival praxis" through the storytelling strategies and cultural heritage preservation of diaspora communities. She is coauthor of the books A People's Guide to Orange County (2022) and Vietnamese in Orange County (2015) and has published articles in Amerasia Journal, AAPI Nexus, Journal of Critical Archival Studies, Health Promotion Practice, History Now, Ethnic Studies in Academic and Research Libraries, and Toward a Framework for Vietnamese American Studies. Thuy is also a long time board member of Arts Orange County and the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association.
Virginia Nguyen
Virginia Nguyễn is a teacher, speaker, and mother who has spent over 20 years in education. She does it all right here in Irvine, where she lives in the Great Park neighborhood and teaches history at Portola High School.
The daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Virginia grew up knowing that stories shape us, and that too many stories have never been told. That belief drives everything she does, from her classroom to her work as Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Educate to Empower — a PBS SoCal Local Hero–recognized nonprofit dedicated to cultivating schools and communities where every student feels seen, valued, and inspired to dream big.
Virginia is passionate about Orange County's rich and diverse history and the people who have made it home. As a neighbor, a teacher, and a member of this community, she joins the Education Committee to help foster programs that reflect the full history of Asian Americans in Southern California and beyond. She is committed to making this museum a place where families and visitors of all backgrounds can connect with stories that matter.
Virginia believes that museums, like classrooms, have the power to change how we connect to the world and each other.
Natalie A. Tran
Dr. Natalie Tran is currently the Director of NRCAL and has completed her PhD in Education in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Tran currently serves as CSUF Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Department chair of Secondary Education and founder of the Vietnamese American Education Advisory Council, which was created to seek input from the community to develop the Vietnamese Bachelor's degree, credential pathway, and bilingual authorization at CSUF. Dr. Tran is also a heritage speaker of Vietnamese.
Currently, she serves as a Co-Principal Investigator for an NSF-funded project to develop Spanish-English dual language immersion curriculum and provide teacher training to improve math and science achievement among middle school, low income Latino students. She teaches Research Support Seminars: Linking Research to Problems of Practice and Connecting Research Questions to Scholarship in the doctoral program at CSUF. She will also provide support for NRCAL's research activities.
Dr. Tran was honored as a Community Hero Award Recipient on May 29, 2014 for her extraordinary dedication and contribution to the diverse Orange County community. Working at the intersection of research, area studies, the preservation and devotion to diversity, and public dissemination of knowledge, she understands the multiple roles necessary to be successful as the director of NRCAL, and can lead the center to marked success as an invaluable nationally-reaching resource for educators.