Conference no. 4 in the "Taking Charge of Your Career Success" Conference Series:  Personal Leadership

Speaker:

Judy Shen-Filerman Principal and Founder at Dreambridge Partners LLC To view a Video of Judy's Bio, Click here Judy Shen-Filerman is Principal and Founder of Dreambridge Partners LLC, a cross-cultural talent management, leadership development and coaching firm focused on Asian-American and International professionals and executives. Judy is an accomplished business leader, consultant and entrepreneur with an expansive 20-year career. A Harvard College and Harvard Business School graduate, Judy held marketing management positions for the world’s top consumer brands including: Procter and Gamble, Campbell Soup Asia and Polaroid. As Vice President of Marketing at Polaroid, Judy led their $500 million US Professional and Business Division and launched their first ever e-business. Dreambridge Partner’s unique culturally-oriented methodology maximizes organizational success and ROI by helping cross-cultural employees develop leadership and integration skills critical for professional effectiveness and personal success. Dreambridge Partners identifies expectations in American corporate culture, defines critical factors for leadership and management success and teaches professionals how to think, communicate and perform more effectively.

Guest Speakers:

NAAAP Boston and Judy Shen-Filerman are excited to have several accomplished executives and leaders as Guest Speakers. They are not only well-known in their professional communities, but they are also eager to share their career insights and practical experiences to help Asian professionals advance. 

Anne H. Chow Senior Vice President, Premier Client Group, AT&T Global Services As Senior Vice President of the Premier Client Group (PCG), Anne Chow leads a national sales and support organization of over 2,000 professionals responsible for delivering a full range of communications solutions, including wireless and wired services, to enterprise customers.  Representing one of AT&T’s largest retail business markets with revenues over $9 Billion, PCG provides this diverse client set with comprehensive account management that encompasses the entire portfolio of AT&T products and services.  These clients hail from virtually every industry ranging in size from Fortune 500 companies to mid-market businesses, and Anne is also responsible for managing the P&L associated with this vital customer segment. Throughout her 20+ years in the telecommunications industry, Anne has held leadership positions in hardware and systems engineering, sales, customer care, international operations, product management, and strategic planning.  Her responsibilities have ranged from managing advanced product portfolios - such as Voice over IP and Contact Center Solutions - to driving quality and process management initiatives for AT&T’s premier international satellite services worldwide.  In 2005, she played a key role in the AT&T/SBC merger with overall responsibility for the Sales and Marketing integration planning effort.  Since the merger, she has had a variety of leadership roles across marketing and sales. Anne holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with Distinction from The Johnson School at Cornell University, as well as a Bachelor of Science Degree and Master’s of Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.  She is also a graduate from the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School of Music. She was chosen to serve on AT&T’s “T University” governing board which supports the corporation’s leadership development imperative, and is also an Advisory Council member of AT&T’s Asian employee resource group, Asian Pacific Islanders for Professional and Community Advancement (APCA).  A long standing and active member of the community, Anne currently serves on the Board of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) and as a founding member of the National Board of Directors for the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF). Over the years, Anne has been recognized for her contributions, receiving the Corporate Leadership Award from APCA, the Outstanding Women in Somerset County Award, and the YWCA-NYC Academy of Women Leaders.  She received the Distinguished Service Award from the Chinese Institute of Engineers – USA/GNYC, was recognized nationally as one of the 2009 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business as well as being honored with the Who’s Who in Asian American Communities Leaders and Legends Award.  She was named as one of the 2010 Multicultural Power 100 by the National Diversity Council and was also recognized by Sino Monthly as one of the twelve most influential Chinese Americans in New Jersey.  Most recently, she has been named to the Committee of 100 and Cornell University’s President’s Council of Cornell Women. © 2011 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. Printed in U.S.A. 6/7/11

James ("Jim") C. Fong Professional Development Co-director, NAAAP Boston Director of Strategy & Worldwide Planning (retired), Hewlett-Packard Services Jim is a board director of the Boston Chapter of the National Association of Asian-American Professionals.  He has also served since 2006 as Co-Director of the Professional Development Committee.  In this volunteer leadership role Jim led the production of more than 50 workshops and seminars for Asian professionals on topics such as public speaking, networking and career development.  He recruits topical experts, role models and speakers, and develops hosting partnerships with major companies such as Liberty Mutual, State Street, John Hancock, and Tufts Health Plan.  Foremost among Jim’s PDC initiatives is “Taking Charge of Your Career Success”, a series of quarterly conferences uniquely designed to help Asian professionals develop strategies for career advancement and leadership.  The Conference Series launched in 2010 and is becoming recognized as the premier Asian-focused professional development course in the Boston area. Jim’s professional experience is in strategic planning.  He retired in 2006 after a 32 year career in the I.T. industry.  He was Director of Strategy and Planning at Hewlett-Packard Services, where he led worldwide business planning for HP’s Consulting & Integration and Technology Services global business units.  These businesses entailed $8 billion in revenue, 35,000 employees and thousands of customer accounts in 30 district field operations worldwide. As an executive on the HP Services senior leadership team Jim ran the strategy development and implementation process.  He guided the work of external management consultants, aligned strategy with corporate priorities and engaged all of the business unit’s business segments, functional departments and field operations throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia Pacific.  The end result of Jim’s processes was a complete and integrated set of annual business plans, including P&Ls, budgets, and staffing, partnering, and performance management plans.  Jim managed the senior leadership team’s quarterly meetings, defining the agenda and orchestrating business reviews. Jim has deep experience in large-scale merger integrations.  He was a member of the elite merger integration team when Compaq Computer acquired Digital Equipment Corp. in 1998, and again when Hewlett-Packard acquired Compaq in 2002.  He developed leadership competencies in change management and high-performance teaming.  Earlier in his I.T. career Jim held positions in logistics planning, reporting systems development, financial analysis & budgeting, long-range planning, marketing, pricing strategy, major bid proposal training, external consulting, and business planning.  Jim’s very first job was a community service role as executive director of a neighborhood health center. Jim has a BS in engineering from Northeastern University, an MS in economic systems from Stanford University and an MBA from Boston University.  He grew up in Boston’s Chinatown.  He and his wife Donna live in the Boston area and they have two grown daughters.  Jim’s interests include business & management, world history, travel, sports and fitness, and music.  He volunteers extensively, especially with activities involving Asian-American advancement.

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Previous Conference's Guest Speakers (May 2011):

Lorrayne "Dina" Yen Chu Principal, Lorrayne Yen Chu Consulting Lorrayne “Dina” Chu acquired her professional credentials over 25 years in the financial, retail, and consumer products industries as a senior executive and entrepreneur.  A year and a half ago, Ms. Chu started her leadership and career transition coaching practice.  She is delighted to be able to share the cumulative wisdom she has acquired over her career by helping others to achieve their own goals and dreams. Most recently, she served as CEO, Co-founder and Director of New Basics, Inc. – a consumer products innovation company in the health & beauty industry. Ms. Chu is known for her strategic thinking skills, creative and practical problem-solving abilities, and successful track record in identifying and nurturing individual talents. Ms. Chu has also devoted substantial time to a number of non-profit boards and is currently an executive member of the Board of Interise, an organization dedicated to educating rising entrepreneurs in inner cities and gateway cities. She has formerly served as Chair of the Board of The Center for Women & Enterprise; Chair of the Board of First Night Boston; and member of the executive committees of the Boards of the Boston Children’s Museum and the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence (ATASK). Ms. Chu lives in West Newton, MA with her husband John. They are proud parents of Danielle, a budding documentary filmmaker based in New York.

Geoffrey G. Why Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable Geoffrey G. Why is the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable (DTC). The Department’s mission is to support competition in the telecommunications and cable industries, and to protect the public interest by ensuring the industries adhere to state regulations. Prior to his appointment as the Commissioner of DTC by Governor Deval Patrick in June 2009, he was the General Counsel of the Department. Before joining DTC in 2007, Mr. Why served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Attorney General Office’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division from 2001 to 2007. He also served in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney in the Appellate Division, from 1998 through 2001. He was a first-year legal writing instructor at Boston University School of Law from 2002 to 2005. He also speaks frequently on communications issues before national organizations. Mr. Why is active in a number of community groups. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts since 2003 and is currently a Commissioner of the Massachusetts Asian-American Commission. He was formerly on the board of the Massachusetts Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights from 2006 to 2008. Mr. Why graduated from Boston College in 1988 with a B.A. in political science and philosophy, and from Boston College Law School in 1998 with a J.D.

Sejung Kim Manager of Underwriting Operations, Process and Reporting, Liberty Mutual Group Ms. Kim is Manager of Underwriting Operations, Process and Reporting in Commercial Markets Underwriting at Liberty Mutual Group.  In this newly created role since July 2010, Ms Kim built up a new department comprised of 3 managers and 18 staff members.  Ms. Kim manages three operations, each with distinct objectives, but all providing expertise in each area and supporting all of Commercial Markets Underwriting:  UW Operations implement consistent operating procedures and drive operational excellence across UW segments; UW Process drives performance improvement and process efficiency; and UW Reporting & Analytics enables field UW operational decisions by providing actionable management reporting and analytics. Ms. Kim joined Liberty Mutual in 2006 as a Senior Business Consultant in the Corporate Development Program (CDP) where she completed various general management assignments in Commercial Markets, Personal Markets and Agency Markets SBUs.  Prior to Liberty Mutual, Ms. Kim worked in the IT consulting industry. Ms. Kim received her B.A. in mathematics and economics from Cornell University, M.S. in industrial engineering and operations research from University of California at Berkeley, and M.S. in finance from Carroll Graduate School of Management at Boston College.  She lives in a suburb of Boston with her husband and two children.

Valerie C. M. Ching Entrepreneur and Division Manager, Primerica Financial Services Ms. Ching is an entrepreneur in the health records management field. She also runs a business that provides financial literacy education to working families and links families to products and services that help them get out of debt, become properly protected against financial risk, and build financial security. Previously, Ms. Ching served as diversity program manager at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and program coordinator at the Center for Workplace Learning and Performance at Harvard Medical School. She designed and delivered career and professional development programs that utilize the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment as a tool to harness personal strengths and differences in ways that improve individual and team performance and enhance career satisfaction. She also designed and co-facilitated leadership development programs and provided leadership coaching. She continues to support the personal and professional development of individuals as a workshop facilitator, coach, and certified practitioner of the MBTI and Strong Interest Inventory assessments. members.

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Previous Conference's Guest Speakers (February 2011):

Joseph W. Chow Executive Vice President, State Street Corporation Joseph W. Chow is Executive Vice President of State Street Corporation responsible for developing strategy for emerging economies. Previously, Mr. Chow was Executive Vice President and Head of Risk and Corporate Administration and Head of Enterprise Risk management. He served as a member of the Operating Group and the Senior Executive Group, State Street’s most senior policy and strategy committees. He also chaired the company’s Major Risk, Fiduciary Review, and Environmental Sustainability Committees and served on the Financial Policy and Asset/Liability Management Committees, as well as the Asia Pacific and European Executive Boards. Prior to joining State Street in 1990, he held a number of international and corporate banking positions with the Bank of Boston. Mr. Chow is a board director of Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc., (HTGC) a publicly traded investment company providing structured debt and equity capital to high technology and bio-science companies. He also serves as board director of State Street Technology Co. Ltd. (Zhejiang, China), the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and the Hong Kong Association of Massachusetts. Previously, he served as board director of China Universal Asset Management Company (Shanghai, China), the Asian Community Development Corporation, the South Cove Community Health Center, and a member of the Massachusetts Governor’s Asian American Commission. Born in Hong Kong, Mr. Chow immigrated to the U.S. in 1967. He graduated high school in Mississippi and, before entering college, attended the Transitional Year Program at Yale University, a college preparatory year for minority students. He received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Brandeis University, a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master of Science in Management from the MIT-Sloan School of Management.

 

Renee Inomata Partner, Burns & Levinson LLP Ms Inomata is the Chair of the Labor, Employment & Employee Benefits Practice Group and Heads the Trademark Group at Burns & Levinson. Her practice focuses on counseling clients on workplace solutions, including developing and applying employment policies; negotiating and drafting employment, noncompetition and nondisclosure agreements; advising on electronic communications and privacy in the workplace; investigating discrimination and harassment claims; and training employers on hiring, disciplining and terminating employees. She also negotiates high level executive employment entrances and exits and has also litigated employment disputes involving claims for discrimination and harassment, failure to grant leaves of absence, wrongful termination, failure to pay wages, breach of noncompetition and nondisclosure agreements, theft of trade secrets, and breach of contract. In her intellectual property practice, Ms. Inomata handles all aspects of securing, obtaining, enforcing and maintaining trademark, service mark, trade dress and trade secret rights and copyrights. Her intellectual property experience also includes various e-commerce and Internet matters related to website development, trademarks, service marks and copyrights and patent infringement litigation. Ms. Inomata has written on various legal issues, including electronic communications in the workplace, enforcement of noncompetition agreements, independent contractor classifications, employee training and securing foreclosure surpluses.  She has also developed and conducted educational workshops and training for harassment and discrimination awareness for managers and non-managers and has spoken on a broad array employment issues. Ms. Inomata is a member of several legal organizations and sits on the Boston Bar Association Council. She is very active in the Asian American community and chaired Governor Deval L. Patrick’s Asian American Commission. She is a former Board member of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts and Boston Center for Community and Justice. She is a 2008 graduate of BCCJ’s LeadBoston Program. She has also been recognized as a SuperLawyer(R) in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Education: J.D., Boston University School of Law, 1993 and B.S., Neural Science, Brown University, 1987

Penn Loh Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy Penn Loh is Professor of the Practice at Tufts University's Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. From 1996 to 2009, he served in various roles, including Executive Director since 1999, at Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), a Roxbury-based environmental justice group. He holds an M.S. in environmental science and policy from Energy and Resources Group of the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. in electrical engineering from MIT. Before joining ACE, Mr. Loh was Research Associate at the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California and a Research Analyst at the Tellus Institute for Resource and Environmental Strategies in Boston. He has published broadly on environmental and social justice issues. He has served on the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council's Health and Research Subcommittee, the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, and on the boards of the Environmental Support Center, the Environmental Leadership Program, and Community Labor United. He is currently a board member of the New World Foundation and the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board. The oldest of four children, Mr. Loh was born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from MIT, he found an environmental position while searching for work in the non-profit sector. It was from his experience in California where he saw the connection between social justice and the environment, and realized that he could do work that followed his passion for social justice while utilizing the technical skills he learned as an undergraduate.

 

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Previous Conference's Panelists (November 2010):

Janet Wu Reporter with 7NEWS Janet Wu is a general assignment reporter at 7NEWS. She first joined 7NEWS in 1996, and has a variety of roles. She has covered medical and general news, and is often seen at the anchor desk. Before coming to Boston, she worked at stations in Seattle, Hawaii and Monterey, California. Before 7NEWS, Janet was the weekday morning anchor for KIRO-TV in Seattle. Prior to that, she was the weekend anchor and reporter at KGMB-TV in Honolulu. During college, she worked here in New England for WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut. A published writer, her essays and editorials have been printed in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and a number of college textbooks. She has lectured at Boston University, Brandeis, Bentley, and Emerson College. Janet is multilingual, speaking both Chinese and Spanish. Janet received her bachelor's degree in psychology and philosophy from Yale University. She earned a master's degree at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and International Affairs. She is currently working on another master's in literature and creative writing from Harvard Extension School. Janet is on the Board of Visitors for the Franciscan Hospital for Children and the New England Conservatory of Music. She also works with the American Heart Association, in memory of her father, a noted heart surgeon. In her spare time, she plays the cello and piano. She also loves to travel. Janet lives in Boston with her husband.

Lawrence W. Loh, PhD Former CIO, Analog Devices Dr. Loh has been an important contributor in the semiconductor industry for over 30 years. Most recently, Dr. Loh has served as Chief Information Officer at Analog Devices (ADI) in Norwood, MA. ADI has been repeatedly named one of the "InformationWeek 500" companies that innovate using IT. He has served on the technical advisory boards for Charles River Ventures, Catalyst Partners and Fidelity Ventures. Dr. Loh has also been a guest speaker at Babson College, SIM International and various other professional forums. Earlier in his career at ADI, Dr. Loh implemented SAP/R3 as one of a handful of early adopters in North America. He was instrumental in directing ADI towards supply chain optimization for real-time inventory management. He and his team pioneered enterprise business analytics and built a global, multi-dimensional Data Warehouse using Sybase and Oracle technology. Over time, he instituted management processes that facilitated internal leadership development and focused on continuous improvement. He was also the former MIS Director for World Marketing for the Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS) at Motorola in Phoenix, AZ. His IT career began at Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX. He started as a programmer/analyst and progressed to being the MIS manager of the U.S. Semiconductor Group at TI, with global responsibilities. Dr. Loh has a PhD in Computer Science from Southern Methodist University along with MS in Mathematics and BS in Engineering and Physics from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Loh was born in Shanghai, China at the end of WW II. He and his family migrated to Hong Kong, and at seventeen, he traveled to the U.S. for college and graduate work.

Whaijen Soo, M.D., Ph.D. Pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical R&D executive Dr. Soo is a global pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical research and development executive with over 25 years of management experience with strategic and portfolio planning, as well as execution of new drug research, development, and product registrations in US, Europe, and rest of world. He has a broad knowledge in a variety of drug classes including small molecules, interferons, antibodies, other protein therapeutics such as enzyme replacement, and evolving new technologies. He has participated in many mergers and acquisitions, licensing-in agreements, various research collaborations, business partnerships, and alliance management for drug co-development. Dr. Soo most recently was Senior Vice President and Head of Research and Development at Shire Human Genetic Therapies. Prior to joining Shire HGT, Dr. Soo was Senior Vice President, Medical Research, at biogen idec where he was responsible for the worldwide clinical development of all drugs in the biogen idec portfolio. Before joining biogen idec, Dr. Soo spent eighteen years with Hoffmann La-Roche Inc., as Vice President and head of clinical sciences in charge of worldwide clinical development of new anticancer drugs, antiviral and immunotherapies against AIDS and other viral diseases, as well as drugs used for transplantation.  Dr. Soo received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He also has an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco and received postgraduate training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in Boston. Dr. Soo was a member of numerous public and trade committees, including Round Table on Research and Development of Drugs, Biologics, and Devices, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Science, Board of Participants, Intercompany Collaborations on AIDS drug development, and Scientific Panel, American Foundation on AIDS Research. During the past several years, Dr. Soo has also been an advisor to various Asian countries in helping them establish national biotech strategies, increase competitiveness in new drug discovery and development environment, design and manage biotech parks, as well as build global networks. Dr. Soo is currently pursuing research and development ventures as well as bringing new medicines to Asia.in Boston.

 

Lisa L. D’Agostino Manager, Compensation Operations, Liberty Mutual Lisa is currently a Corporate Compensation Manager at Liberty Mutual.  She is responsible for managing corporate-wide compensation policies and programs, such as Liberty Mutual’s base pay programs, broad-based incentive plans, and reward and recognition programs.  Lisa joined Liberty Mutual in 2007 as a Compensation Consultant where she was responsible for consulting with business groups on the design of compensation plans and evaluation of specific jobs, and administration of compensation programs.  Prior to coming to Liberty Mutual, Lisa spent 18 years at The Gillette Company, now known as Procter and Gamble, in various finance and human resources positions.  Her most recent position at Gillette was Compensation Manager where she managed all compensation related responsibilities with the Procter and Gamble merger.  Lisa has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Massachusetts and a Masters of Business Administration in Management from Bentley College.  She also holds an industry certification of Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) through World at Work.