Stephen H. Gordon is the Founding Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Genesis Bank. Mr. Gordon has over 35 years of financial industry experience, including serving as Founding Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Opus Bank; Founding Chairman and CEO of Commercial Capital Bank and its savings and loan holding company, Commercial Capital Bancorp, Inc; as well as Chairman and CEO of Fremont Investment and Loan and its holding company, Fremont General Corporation. Additionally, Mr. Gordon served as a Partner at Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P., a New York based investment banking firm.

Genesis Bank is a California state chartered commercial bank, organized by a group of highly experienced and successful bankers, investors, and business professionals. The Bank focuses on serving the financial needs of small to mid-sized businesses and owners, and investors in income-producing multifamily and commercial real estate located primarily in Los Angeles and Orange counties, California, as well as the western portions of the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino counties). Genesis Bank is a Minority Depository Institution, and is only the second diverse, multi-racial MDI in the U.S. The Bank is powered by GenTeckSM, a groundbreaking combination of best-in-class technologies, which are tightly integrated to give clients a seamless, digital first, and transparent experience. The Bank’s products, services, and solutions primarily include traditional commercial business, Small Business Administration (SBA), income property, and owner-occupied commercial real estate loan and deposit products, as well as treasury management services and solutions. Genesis Bank is headquartered in Newport Beach, California, and can be found online at www.mygenesisbank.com. Genesis is an Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC.

Mr. Nguyen has over 20 years of experience as a business, community, and philanthropic leader. Currently, Mr. Nguyen is the President & co-owner of Advance Beauty College with campuses in Garden Grove and Laguna Hills, in Orange County, California. Additionally, Mr. Nguyen teaches business management at California (Cal) State Fullerton University as a member of their faculty since 2016.

Mr. Nguyen serves on numerous boards such as the Orange County United Way as Vice Chair, Cal State Fullerton Philanthropic Board of Governors as Vice Chair, Garden Grove Community Foundation as President, Genesis Bank, Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce past chairman, Pacific Trade Culture Alliance, Orange Coast Memorial Community Benefits Foundation chair, and Orange County Transportation Authority director. Additionally, from 2010-2016, Mr. Nguyen served on the national board of directors for American Association of Cosmetology Schools and he holds a MD & MBA.

Tam lives and works in Little Saigon, Orange County. He and his wife have three children active in music and sports.

Dave Min represents California State Senate District 37, which is located in Orange County and includes the communities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Foothill Ranch, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin, and Villa Park.

Dave was a University of California Irvine law professor and a former economic policy staffer in the United States Senate and for the Center for American Progress. He began his legal career at the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect the retirement security of seniors, turning down high paying jobs to serve the public interest. Dave and his wife Jane live in Irvine, where they are raising their three young children.

Congresswoman Michelle Steel is serving her first term representing California’s 48th District. Born in South Korea and raised in Japan, Michelle immigrated to the United States to build her own American Dream. She is one of the first Korean American women to ever serve in Congress.

After fleeing North Korea during the Korean War, her parents met and built a life in South Korea before moving to Japan. Her father, a diplomat, encouraged Michelle at a young age to move to the United States to become fluent in English. Her mother and younger sisters joined her in America, where they opened a clothing store in downtown Los Angeles.

After seeing how difficult it was for her non-English speaking mother to navigate the tax laws and state regulations, she ran for the State Board of Equalization – the nation’s only elected tax board – where she represented more than nine million residents, including all of Orange County. At the time, she was the highest-ranking Korean American elected official in the United States.

Michelle later served her community as Supervisor and Chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors. She continued her work fighting for California taxpayers, while working to protect the Orange County coastline, and helping families and businesses fight back against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michelle currently serves on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, as well as the Committee on Education and Labor.

Michelle has been married to her husband Shawn for 39 years. They have two adult daughters and reside in Surfside, California.

Katrina Foley currently serves as the Second District Supervisor of the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Katrina was elected to the position in a special election in March 2021, and represents the residents of Costa Mesa, Cypress, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Stanton, the unincorporated area of Rossmoor, and portions of Buena Park and Fountain Valley.

Foley, a successful businesswoman, community leader, and attorney, became the City of Costa Mesa’s first directly elected Mayor in November 2018 and was re-elected in 2020. She served on the Costa Mesa City Council for 14 years, including serving as Mayor between 2016-2017.

Foley previously served on the Newport Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees from November 2010 to November 2014, with a focus on making local Orange County communities better for families.

Supervisor Foley is also President of the Foley Group, based out of Newport Beach, California. The Foley Group, PLC provides services in contract negotiations for artists and athletes, civil business and employment litigation, and non-profit compliance matters. In 2001 and 2004, Foley was honored by Women in Leadership and the National Association of Women Business Owners at the annual “Remarkable Women Awards” event.

A proud graduate of Head Start and a Pell Grant recipient, Supervisor Foley understands what it is like to grow up in a family facing financial challenges. It’s for this reason, Foley prioritizes ending homelessness, workforce development, living wage, job creation and housing for her top priorities at the County.

In 1986, Mayor Jones graduated from Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove. He continued his studies abroad by attending Kings College, Cambridge University, England in 1988. Returning to the states, he received both his Bachelor and MBA degrees from the University of Southern California, with a dual emphasis in Finance and Real Estate, graduating with Honors for high scholastic achievement by having an overall 3.9 Grade Point Average.

Mayor Jones is the Past President and a current Board Member of the Garden Grove Community Foundation since 2007. He also serves as a Board Member for the Orange County Transportation Authority and the Orange County Sanitation District. Mayor Jones served for 8 years on the Garden Grove Planning Commission, with several terms as Chair, and 10 years on City Council prior to becoming Mayor in 2016. Since 1999, he has been an active member of the Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce.

In his professional life, Steve Jones is the Founder and President of a privately held Asset Management company called Olympia Capital Corporation, formed in 2001.

Mayor Jones’ community goal is to remain open and accessible to the public and play a unifying role amongst fellow Councilmembers and other community leaders in order to facilitate consensus on what actions should be implemented to keep Garden Grove a great place to live, work, and play. He championed the “Re:Imagine Garden Grove” rebranding campaign, which in recent years has yielded several hugely successful Open Streets events, public art installations, a major music festival, and upcoming projects such as Cottage Industries and Steelcraft. Mayor Jones sees Garden Grove as a microcosm of the global economy magnified into one city and he envisions becoming the poster child for how public agencies ought to celebrate cultural diversity and learn to live together with one another harmoniously.

Born and raised in Garden Grove, he and his wife, Mani, are proudly raising their two sons, Jaden and Ashton, right here in the same community where he has lived since birth.

Hang Harper was the first-generation college student who came from Vietnam. Mrs. Harper received her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration Major Accounting in 2000 from Cal State Fullerton and became a Certified Public Accountant in 2003 while she was working at Poole, Foster and Dul. Today, she is a Certified Public Accountant specializing in accounting and taxation for small businesses and individuals. She is active in the Fountain Valley community and volunteers at Courreges Elementary School, where her three sons attend school. In 2013, Hang was one of 57 women honored by State Senator Lou Correa as one of the “Women Making a Difference” in Orange County.

Alexander Kim is Founder & Principal of Three Kings Public Affairs, a government & community affairs consulting company helping with public & private business clients with accessing municipal, state, federal, and international elected and appointed officials including outreach to community leaders, especially with Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders in the Southern California region.

He recently served as Senior Advisor to City of Los Angeles Council member David Ryu of the 4th District (2015-2017) providing guidance on budgeting, policy, and community engagement planning for over 300,000 residents.

He was appointed as Deputy Director and Community Liaison (Counties of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Orange) to former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from 2004 to 2010. He also was Central Area Director to former City of Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn from 2001 to 2004.

Alexander has been appointed by the Governor as a State of California Commissioner on the Board of Behavioral Science, in addition to having served on the Board of Naturopathic Medicine (2016-2018) and the Board of Optometry (2011-2016). Alex also has been active as a Community Advisory Commissioner under the County of Orange District Attorney Tony Rackaukus since the late 1990’s.

In the community, Alexander serves on several non-profit boards but he is passionate for improving the civic participation of Americans, especially the young leaders in our community. He is proud to be selected as one of 50 national minority leaders in 2010 as “America’s Leaders of Change” founded by the National Urban Fellowship based in Washington, D.C.

Amy Blakeslee is a Conscious Leadership Coach and Founder of Calm Ocean Coaching, where she helps leaders unlock their unlimited potential to achieve extraordinary results. Prior to starting Calm Ocean, Amy spent 25+ years in technology and held executive leadership roles at The Walt Disney Company and Universal Music Group, among others.

Amy is the bestselling author of Awakening Through Anxiety: A Journey to Finding One’s True Self, a memoir and self-help guide that provides wisdom and tools that we can all use to create an extraordinary life.

Dr. Seema Choudhary a long-term resident of Orange County is an ex UCI professor, a multi-skilled and multi-talented entrepreneur, a dedicated educator, an ardent community activist and a committed business mentor.

She is the Founder & Director of Montessori Preschool, Irvine & Lake Forest which are justifiably considered amongst the leading providers of excellent quality Montessori Education in OC.

She has also earned the distinction of being the President of OC India Association & Irvine Indians group with reach to 20,000 plus members in its tight knit circle.

She is the Founder of OC Indian Women (#OCIW) and its Strong Initiative program for connecting women. She has launched more than 300 FB Live sessions with experts and homegrown entrepreneurs onwards March 2020 till date to foster a sense of strength and unity within the community in order to combat the challenging phase brought on by Covid 19.

She is a City of Irvine distinguished citizen for being an active member of city wide activities, Irvine Global Village Festival & Irvine childcare committee member.

She has been part of School site council, GATE program coordinator & PTA member with Irvine Unified School district (IUSD).

She is an outstanding professional & committee member of Orange county association for the education of Young children (OCAEYC) for early childhood educators.

She is also an Influencer on Social Media who strives to make a difference and has been featured in many magazines & newspapers.

Tammy Tran has over twenty years of experience working in government, media, and nonprofit organizations. Currently, Tammy serves as Senior Manager in Local Public Affairs at Southern California Edison (SCE), leading its Orange County Government Relations Team. Tammy joined SCE in 2013 as Senior Community Liaison where she had responsibility for building strategic engagement and partnerships with community stakeholders across SCE’s service territory. In this role, she also served as a strategist to inform SCE’s senior management about important matters that impact diverse communities. Tammy have served in other roles including Government Relations Manager, Senior Manager for Community Engagement, and President of SCE’s Asian Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group.

Prior SCE, Tammy served as Deputy Chief of Staff and District Director for then California State Senator Lou Correa. She has also served as a campaign manager, executive director for a nonprofit combating human trafficking, policy advisor to a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, and field representative for a California State Assembly Member. In her spare time, Tammy volunteered her time as a co-host for a weekly bilingual Vietnamese television program aimed at civic education and bringing government closer to the people.

Tammy is a passionate advocate for youth leadership development and civic participation. She regularly volunteers to mentor college and high school students with career coaching, mentoring, and internship placements. She is an active board member of Orange County Youth, Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Human Trafficking, OC Forum, and the Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment.

A proud product of Orange County public schools, Tammy earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with a minor in Health Communications and Masters in Public Administration. Both degrees are from the University of Southern California. Tammy and her husband, live in Little Saigon and are the proud parents of two active, bilingual citizens of Planet Earth, Annalise-Quynh & Viet-Zander.

Preity Üpala is a Former investment Banker turned Thought leader and Media Entrepreneur based in Hollywood, California. Advisor to many private technology companies as well as a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization in various Travel, Technology & Innovation Council.

She works as a Geo-political Expert, award-winning International Columnist and is a member of the FORBES Councils as the director of The Omnia Institute. She hosts a popular show called ‘The Preity Experience’ and is a much sought-after Radio and TV expert around the world appearing in CNN, Republic TV among others. The former Miss India International has worked in Four continents including Bollywood and Hollywood as an Actor and Producer and is currently developing a show for Hollywood studios.

As an Dharma Ambassador, she brings Indian Spirituality to Hollywood and the world at large through a new platform, ‘A Preity Life’.

Michelle Miu Epstein began her career in Intellectual Property in 2011 working at a globally recognized intellectual property firm, specializing in domestic and international trademark prosecution. Over the years, Michelle honed her craft in navigating the particularities of brand protection in various jurisdictions worldwide.

Prior to starting her own firm, Michelle was the head of the trademark prosecution team and spent years focusing on domestic and international trademark prosecution and enforcement matters. She has represented clients in various industries, including, but not limited to Fortune 500 companies and other individuals and businesses in the food and beverage, cosmetic, fashion, entertainment, hospitality, financial services, and automotive and technology fields.

Since 2019, Michelle has been selected as an Intellectual Property Rising Star with Super Lawyers, where only 2.5% of attorneys in each state receive this prestigious distinction. Michelle was also recently appointed to serve as a member of the Emerging Issues Committee with the International Trademark Association (“INTA”) where she will lend her expertise to educate, propose policy recommendations and advocacy programs to the INTA Board.

Michael Aguillio currently serves as a Business Outreach Liaison for the State of California in the Office of Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Services. In this role, he educates business owners about the benefits and opportunities of pursuing a Small Business (SB) certification, Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) certification, and contract opportunities with the state of California.

Michael is a proud byproduct of a military family. He attended the school of hard knocks where he earned his degree in life skills. He has solid background is in public relations, strategic communication, and the art of the deal. He is a national certified girl’s softball coach where he teaches life lessons through sports and a former small business owner.

With nearly 20 years of experience in Procurement and Supply Chain, Ronald Tien has spent his career working at some of the most recognizable companies in the world. At Charter Communications, Ronald heads the Procurement Analytics and Insights team as well as driving Supplier Diversity.

Prior to Charter, Ronald lead the North America Procurement organization for Hain Celestial, a $2B global leader in the health and wellness category. In addition, Ronald has held various roles in indirect and direct material sourcing roles of increasing responsibility at Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, Mondelez and KIND Snacks.

Ronald holds a BA in Mathematics from Boston University and a MSc in Supply Chain Management from Case Western Reserve University.

Samantha Varela is the Senior Supplier Diversity Specialist supporting Sales & Marketing, Corporate Services, Facilities, and Manufacturing Service categories at American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

Ms. Varela joined Honda in 2008 through RMI International, a minority-owned security company. After serving in a variety of positions across the Honda divisions, and later became a Honda associate in 2016, Ms. Varela accepted the opportunity to co-develop and launch Honda’s Supplier Diversity department, where she currently leads all Indirect/Corporate supplier diversity work.

Vaughn is responsible for ensuring the advancement of small, minority and underrepresented businesses. This position coincides with his passion of service and economic development. Previously he served as Category Manager for Southern California Gas Company (A Division of Sempra Energy), where his responsibilities included management of all staff augmentation, contracts negotiation and management, fostering long-term client relationships in the areas of engineering, environmental, food services and Human Resources. Prior to assuming this role, Vaughn worked as the On-Site Client Services Manager (Sempra Energy Utilities) under the auspices of Agile-1.

Tom Nguyen, a founding partner, established WinCorp Solutions in 2009; an Irvine, CA family owned business specializing in recruiting and staffing. The core mission is to fill a major void in the staffing industry by differentiating with a less commoditized, more analytical and concierge client based approach in acquiring talent for client companies, a “staffing plus, management consulting light” company.

Tom oversees all FORTUNE 500 client relations at WinCorp Solutions and has oversight over quality assurance. Tom has spent many years in fine tuning the modern corporate workforce to deliver results with over 1,000 client projects. WinCorp Solutions has won many entrepreneurial excellence awards from industry, such as Orange County Business Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal, Congressional, Senate and State awards. Tom holds his MBA from Pepperdine University and Entrepreneurship education from UCLA and Dartmouth. Prior to WinCorp Solutions, Tom served in Senior leadership positions at companies, such as Warner Bros., The Walt Disney, California Pizza Kitchen and Mimi’s Café overseeing Finance, HR and IT.

Tom also is devoted to the community and has been past President and also Board of Director of ABAOC (Asian Business Association of Orange County), and volunteer Scout leader with Boy Scouts of America in Irvine, CA, serving as Cubmaster, Scoutmaster and Commissioner since 2012.