Board of Directors/Honorary Board
Board Of Directors
The APAA Board, comprised of Asian American, Pacific Islander and American community leaders, has undertaken various projects in support of the organization's vision.
The Board has also been active in promoting APA heritage and history by sponsoring special events and lectures, partnering with Rochester Museum & Science Center, Dryden Theater, George Eastman House, GEVA Theatre, WXXI, The Little Theatre, the Link Gallery at City Hall, University of Rochester, Monroe Community College, Memorial Art Gallery, St. John Fisher College, Nazareth College, Rochester Institute of Technology, major employers (Excellus BlueCross/BlueShield, State Farm Insurance, Eastman Kodak Company. Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, Carestrem), Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester and other historical and culture/arts organizations in Rochester.
Board of Directors 2023
- Mimi W. Lee, President
- Lily Lee, Secretary/Communications Director
- Mar Doromal, Treasurer
- Reeta Benoy
- Christina Lee
Honorary/Advisory Board
- Amy Hsi, Director of Compliance, Quality & Risk Management at Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York, Former Board President and founding member of APAA
- Randy Barbara Kaplan, PhD, Retired, former Professor of Theater and Dance, Founding Artistic Director, GENseng: Geneseo's Asian American Performance Ensemble, Director, Asian/Asian American Studies and Programming, SUNY Geneseo
- Debora McDell-Hernandez, Director of Advancement for College of Health Careers and DEI, Rochester Regional Health Foundations - University of Rochester, former Engagement Manager, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
In Memoriam:
- Marilyn Ajavananda, longtime Journalist and Community leader, was an active member from 2003, became project chair, and served as a Board member for almost 20 years. As a pioneer with a shared passion for increasing the visibility of AAPIs, she advocated for more diversity coverage by the Democreat and Chronicle, often coming upwith creative and fresh perspectives in sharing the stories of the AAPI community in Greater Rochester. She passed unexpectedly last month and left behind a rich legacy of her work through oral history interviews, photography and art exhibits, film and discussion workshops, documentary projects -- bulding collaborations across cultures, raising awareness against racism and discrimation, and supporting the caregiving of older adults. She was one of the 200 women featured in the 2020 RMSC's "The Changemakers: Rochester Women Who Changed the World" exhibit.
- Corky Lee, Community Activist, Photographer, known as the "undisputed unofficial Asian American Photographer Laureate," documented the daily lives of Asian Americans as well as various historical moments in American history. Corky served as a mentor and Honorary Board member of APAA from 2004 - 2021, when he passed away from complications of Covid. Corky led a team of 17 photographers and videographers for APAA's 2004 "Daily Lives of Asian Americans in Greater Rochester." In more than four decades of photography, Corky created a huge body of work -- his life was a constant act of creative intervention in a history he felt that did not include the contributions of Asian Americans. He often spoke of his camera as "a sword he used to pursue what he called “photographic justice” by documenting the overlooked role that Asian Americans played across the U.S. His pictures showed the complexities of the diverse cultures as well as intimate portraits of the AAPI community.
Former Board Members
- Marilyn Ajavananda
- Byoung Baek
- Susan Quan Chodorow
- Francis D'Souza
- Sharon Delmendo
- Daniel Dickerson
- Pilapa Esara
- Nevan Fisher
- Vivien Hao
- Sarah Hooper
- Amy Hsi
- Wayne Huang
- Alice Hsu
- Vikram Kekre
- John Lam
- Lam Le
- Betty Lee
- Yo0jin Lee
- Ruth Mathew-Leubner
- Qihong Lu
- Debora McDell-Hernandez
- Mridula Nair
- Greta Aiyu Niu
- Jun Okada
- Alison Parker
- Thomas Pian
- Kseniya Popov-Huang
- Leslie Schiff
- Shey-Shing Sheu
- Zosan Soong
- Ronna Treier
- Wendy Weeks
- Humphrey Wong
Former Honorary Board Members
- Marilyn Ajavananda
- Iris Chang
- David Hou
- R. Fashun Ku
- Corky Lee
- Cumar Sreekumar
- Carolyn Vacca
- Frank Wu
- Nat Yogachandra
- Paul Yu