2015 Outstanding 50 Asian American Business Award

Article by Jasmin Justo

The 2015 Outstanding 50 Asian American Business Award Gala is an annual celebration of 50 Asian American entrepreneurs who have shown excellence in leadership and have distinguished themselves in the community. This year completes the 14th anniversary of the event that has honored approximately 700 high achieving individuals since the founding of the first gala in 2001.

This prestigious event has been hosted by the president of the Asian American Business Development Center, John Wang. Since the founding of AABDC in 1994, AABDC has been dedicated to aiding Asian American business professionals who have overcome socioeconomic barriers to accomplish their dreams while contributing to the Asian American community. In John Wang’s speech he congratulated the honorees and their families for their “unflinching determination to succeed and their many accomplishments”. He also spoke of the importance to recognize the efforts of the Asian American community, “They represent a microcosm of the best of Asian American entrepreneurship and professionalism, with a pool of diverse and multi-talented individuals engaged in a wide range of businesses undertakings clearly demonstrate that Asian Americans are an integral part of the larger economy and are suited fto helping the U.S stay competitive in the global economy.”

In celebration of the 21st anniversary of the AABDC that has been hosting this annual special event, executives from various international companies including Thornton Tomasetti, PepsiCo, Morgan Stanley, NBCUniversal and JP Morgan Chase & Co., attended the celebration. NYS Assembly members and ambassadors from several Asian consulates including Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan, also attended to celebrate the accomplishments of the honorees.

The honorees come from a diverse Asian background including Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia. This year there were 24 female honorees including two Pinnacle awardees. The Pinnacle Award is the highest award granted to elite business leaders who are recognized by their community for their devotion to their careers and high level of expertise. This years’ Pinnacle awards were presented to Ms. Phyllis J. Campbell, Chairman of the JPMorgan Chase and Pacific Northwest, and to Ms. Huang, The Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and Managing Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Morgan Stanley.

For Ms. Campbell, she felt honored to be a receipt of the award because it has echoed what her grandfather and father has always taught her, “In spite of all the hardships that my family went through, my father and grandfather taught us it is really about giving back and making the community better despite what you’ve been through.”

For Ms. Huang, she felt honored to receive the award for what it represents, “The focus on diversity in corporate America has really come to life. There’s a real effort to create an environment of inclusion where all voices are heard and where everyone gets a seat at the table.”

At the end of the award ceremony, Paula Williams Madison, Chairman and CEO of Madison Media Management and a 2014 Outstanding 50 Award Recipient, highlighted the need to not just recognize the efforts of high achieving individuals but to recognize the importance of diversity in every respective field. As a entrepreneur with a Chinese grandfather and African-Jamaican grandmother, she understands the struggles that minorities face in the United States and with her diverse background, she represents the adversity of the Asian people; “As Asians we need to come together to overcome barriers that we are preventing us from accomplishing and getting the share we need to get as Asians.” In her speech, she encourages entrepreneurs to hire Asian immigrants to the United States to intern and to work in their corporations so with their education they can stay in the United States and contribute to the Asian American communities in the U.S.

The gala was held at Cipriani Wall Street on June 18th in an evening full of live jazz music performed by Paul Ramsey Group with Sapna Parikh, a medical correspondent for ABC News, as the host speaker.

List of honorees
Mr. Saurabh Abrol President of Wine Chateau
Mr. Ravi Aurora, Sr. Vice President of Global Communications of MasterCard
Ms. Jasmine Ball Partener of Televise &Plimpton LLP
Ms. Miko Branch, CEO of Miss Jessie’s LLC
Ms. Suja Chandrasekaran, SVP&Chief Technology Officer of Walmart Stores Inc.
Ms. Andria Chang, Vice President of Partnership Development of Axcess Worldwide
Mr. Xiaomin Chen, Managing Partner of DeHeng Chen, LLC
Ms. Patricia Chin, Co-Founder of VP Producers
Ms. Terri Cho, Director of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Mr. Adnan Durrani, CEO and Founder of American Halal/Saffron Road Foods
Ms. Tania Gilpatrick, Sales Associate of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
Mr. Alex Young Hao, Partner of Jun He Law Offices
Mr. Mahmud Haq, Chairman & CEO of MTBC
Mr. Henry (Fang Quan) He, President of B&T Realty
Ms. Cherry Huang, Co-Founder of New York Senior Care in the Valley, LLC
Mr. Jay Jayaraman, Vice President of Global Strategic Innovation & Technology Alliances of Colgate-Palmolive
Ms. Angie Karna, Managing Director and Head of Global Markets Legal of Nomura
Mr. Raana Imtiaz Khan, Managing Partnerof Meyer’s Associates, LP
Ms. Wing-Pin Winnie Kwan, Partner of Leslie E. Robertson Associates
Mr. Dorian Lam, Vice President of First Nationwide Title Agency, LLC
Mr. Michael Lam, Founder&CEO of LAM Development
Mr. Brian Li, CEO and President of Allegiant Health
Mr. John Zhiqiang Li, Owner of ACM FAN Inc.
Ms. Bei Ling, Managing Director and the Global Head of Compensation & Benefits of JP Morgan Chase
Ms. Annie Lo, Principal Architect, Co Founder and CEO of Haute Architecture DPC
Mr. King B. Look, Director of Electricity Supply of Con Edison
Mr. Richard Lui, Anchor of MSNBC and NBC News
Ms. Tiffany Ma, Partner of Young & Ma LLP
Mr. Sujal Mehta, Vice President, Corporate Development, M&A of Takni-Plex
Mr. George Ng, Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc
Mr. Ken Ohashi, Group Vice President, International of Aeropostale
Ms. Susan J. Onuma, Partner of Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti LLP
Ms. Diana Paek, Vice President and Human Resources of Macy’s Inc.
Mr. Elliot Park, President and Shine Electronics Co., Inc.
Ms. Shivani Patel, Senior Director, Application Development Mobile Apps & Service Integration of Aetna
Mr. Raymond Lei Qiao, Senior Vice President of Bank of China New York Branch
Ms. Teena-Ann V. Sankoorikal, Partner of Cravath and Swaine & Moore LLP
Ms. Susan L. Shin, Partner of Arnold & Porter LLP
Ms. Minerva Tantoco, Chief Technology Officer of City of New York
Mr. Pradeep Tyle, Director and Global CEO of Flex Films (USA) Inc.
Mr. Sheel Tyle, Principal & Co-Head Seed Practice of New Enterprise Associates
Mr. George Wang, Partner of Simpson Thacher & Barlett LLP
Mr. Alan Way, Senior Director, Remy Cointreau USA, Inc.
Mr. Shuji Bon Yagi, President of TIC Akean Inc.
Mr. Andy Yangeksakul, Executive Chef and Founder of Rhong-Tiam Restaurant
Mr. Qi Ye, Chief Operating Officer of Weidlinger Associates, Inc.
Ms. Alice Young, Founder of Alice Young Advisory
Mr. James Yuan, R&D Senior Director of PepsiCo
Mr. Xiaoming Zhang, CEO of Obridge Academy
Mr. Yi Zhu, Managing Principal of Thorton Tomasetti