Executive Board

BOARD BIOGRAPHIES

Fabian J. De Rozario - President & Chairman of the Board

Fabian was born and raised in Malaysia and completed his secondary education in Edinburgh, Scotland. He graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale with two B.S. degrees (Management and Marketing) and a M.S. degree in Parks & Recreation Administration. He served in student services leadership, instructor, and corporate trainer roles at Northern Illinois University and at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (where he was the student center director). From 1998 to 2006, Fabian was the Director of U.S. University Relations and Global Operations for an international academic honor society in Atlanta.

Fabian co-founded MAG (Malaysian Association of Georgia), served as Secretary of APAC (Asian/Pacific American Council of Georgia), and volunteers as a mentor for an immigrant child with CultureConnect. In June 2005, Fabian received the Georgia Society of Association Executives President’s Award and was named a “Mover & Shaker” of the association in 2007. In 2006, Fabian was named an honoree of Who’s Who in Asian American Communities in Georgia.

Currently, Fabian is a consultant and facilitator of programs in the subjects of diversity & inclusion, cross-cultural intelligence, workforce engagement, and leadership. He delivers programs at Fortune 100 companies across several industries in the U.S., U.K., and China. At NAAAP Atlanta, Fabian is serving as president in 2009 and 2010. Fabian is married to Jesslyna and they reside in Lawrenceville.

Matt Sinon - VP Community Relations

Matthew is a dynamic insurance broker and securities dealer with a fortune 100 financial holding company, he adds personality and professional expertise to his interactions with clients. For the past seven years, he has solidified his financial services practice by working with small business owners and professionals. Matthew's core expertise includes risk management, designing & managing investment portfolios, and developing sales & marketing programs.

Matthew was born in Indianapolis, Indiana but has roots in Georgia. He grew up in Marietta and has had the luxury of watching the Metro Atlanta area grow. As a graduate of the University of Georgia, he obtained a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the Terry College of Business. Matthew's professional and personal endeavors has contributed to the vision of NAAAP.

In 2009, he served as the Director of Finance and was appointed as the interim VP of Corporate Relations for NAAAP Atlanta. Matthew served on the 2009 Chopstix for Charity planning committee providing financial and logistical support, impacting 20 charities as a core team player.

An avid sports enthusiast, Matthew enjoys running, weight lifting, tennis, basketball, yoga, racquetball, biking and boxing. Beyond sports, other hobbies include cooking, baking, writing short stories, and ballroom dancing. Matthew maintains an active personal life, along with his thriving professional life to efficiently contribute to the community. He looks forward to being a catalyst to NAAAP's growth and to working with everyone.

Betty Lo - VP Corporate Relations

Betty Lo is the Senior Communications Manager and the global Knowledge Management Lead of The McDonald’s Division at The Coca-Cola Company. She leads the design and implementation of global knowledge management and collaboration systems and manages internal and external communications/public relation efforts for the division. Previously, she held several roles in the Global Information Technology group including leading the annual and strategic business planning process, implementing SAP change management solutions across Latin America and Asia-Pacific, and leading global data standardization processes across Coca-Cola and its bottling systems and manufacturing facilities. She started with Coca-Cola in 1995 working in the Industry and Consumer Affairs department and has held several positions in various functions within Coca-Cola, including Corporate Communications, USA Operations Marketing, Finance, Global IT and recently with The McDonald’s Division, serving Coca-Cola’s largest customer.

Betty is an active volunteer and leader of the community serving on the executive committee of The Coca-Cola Company’s Women’s Forum with over 1,300 members serving as the chair of the Corporate Reputations committee. She also serves as co-chair of the Diversity & Inclusiveness Committee of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) –Georgia chapter and is a founder, past chair and current steering committee member of the Coca-Cola Asian Employee Business Resource Group. She works closely with The Coca-Cola Company’s Community Connections department in stewardship of Coca-Cola’s community engagements with the Asian community. She also serves as the VP of Corporate Relations with National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP)-Atlanta and was the co-chair of the 2007 NAAAP National Convention that hosted more than 1,000 Asian-American professionals across North America in Atlanta. She coordinated local marketing, PR and media efforts with the White House during former Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao’s visits to Atlanta in 2007 and 2008.

Recently, she completed six year service as VP of Admissions and secretary for Wesleyan College's Alumnae Association Board of Managers and is the recipient of the 2010 Young Alumnae Award from Wesleyan College Alumnae Association.
Betty had the distinct honor of being selected by her colleagues as a torchbearer representing Coca-Cola during the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Torch Relay.
Born in Taiwan and reared in Houston, Betty is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, “Southern” and speaks conversational Spanish and a little Bulgarian. An avid world traveler and thrill seeker, you’ll find Betty globe trekking with her husband and toddler experiencing the many wonderful sites and cultures of the world.

Tamara Strickley - VP Finance and Administration

Tamara Strickley is a consultant with Accenture working primarily in IT telecommunications but has worked in other industries such as products, health care and government. Her focus is project management, service delivery, process and work flow management but is also experienced in heuristics, data extraction, reporting, and training.

Tamara started with Arthur Andersen in 1983 as a typist, but quickly moved to a technical support team for new technology. She transferred to Andersen Consulting in 1992 working with clients across the country to identify gaps in support organizations and implementing solutions. In 1998, Tamara joined Accenture’s largest outsourcing deal as the help desk lead, supporting over 2,000 people. Highly versatile and adaptable, Tamara continues to work on a wide range of roles and projects from managing up to 35 people, to working on teams as large as 100, to being a team of one. Tamara brings her years of experience to NAAAP-Atlanta as a leader and a mentor.

Christopher C. Chan - VP Marketing and Communications

Christopher C. Chan is a consultant in the Research and Development Tax Services Group at Deloitte Tax, LLP where he performs qualitative and quantitative analyses to substantiate his corporate clients' R&D tax credit.

Chris obtained his law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, with a concentration in intellectual property law. While at Case Western, Chris was an Executive Editor of the Canada-United States Law Journal and was selected by his peers to serve on the Honor Court. Chris completed his undergraduate education at Washington University in St. Louis with a B.A. in political science.

Prior to attending law school, Chris was the campaign manager for former State Representative John K. Stargel’s first election to the Florida House. In his first foray into political management, Chris coordinated volunteer recruitment, performed opposition research, and managed supporter relationships during a six week grassroots campaign to defeat a well-funded primary opponent. His candidate went on to achieve a general election victory, capturing approximately 75% of the district’s votes.

As Vice President of Marketing and Communications for NAAAP Atlanta, he leverages his political, legal, and technological skills to optimize event planning and promotions, create and manage strategic relationships with other non-profit organizations, and elevate NAAAP Atlanta’s presence in the metro Atlanta community.

Lisa Inthavong - VP Member Relations

Lisa serves on the Board of Directors for Michigan State University Alumni Association of Atlanta representing the Young Alumni Group. Lisa has been an active member of NAAAP Atlanta’s Professional Development as Co-Director of Entrepreneurship Series.

Lisa graduated with honors from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business with a degree in General Management and specialization in International Business. She volunteers as a basketball coach to young girls at Dunwoody United Methodist Church and enjoys working out (in styles ranging from kickboxing to yoga), team sports (especially basketball, kickball, softball and volleyball), traveling and spending time with friends and family.

Ed Hwang - National Representative

Edward Hwang began his career as one of the first employees of Atlanta-based MindSpring, which eventually merged with Los Angeles-based Earthlink to become one of the largest internet service providers. Edward worked in various strategic and financial roles and became the youngest member of the senior management team, serving as Director of Financial Planning and Analysis and helping the company grow to a billion-dollar, Fortune 1000 corporation. After eight years at Earthlink, Edward served as Director of Finance, Operations, and Business Development at New York City-based All Kinds of Minds, where he split his time between two offices to oversee fifty employees at this non-profit founded by Charles Schwab. Edward then served as Vice President of Finance and Operations at Execumé, a recruiting and career services firm. In 2007, Edward founded his own executive search practice while remaining active in the Atlanta entrepreneurial community as a Board member for several technology startups.

Edward received his B.S. in English and Biology from Duke University while studying literature at Oxford University and healthcare policy at Georgia Tech. Edward earned his M.B.A. in Finance and Information Systems from the Robinson School of Business at Georgia State University. Edward is also in the process of completing his Juris Doctorate and Masters in Public Administration degrees at Georgia State University.

As a member of both the NAAAP National and NAAAP Atlanta Board of Directors, Edward is committed to improving the relationship between the mainstream and minority business communities. In his leisure time, Edward enjoys playing sports, hosting dinner parties, listening to eclectic music, and hanging out with his son.

Sarah Hawk - VP Professional Development

Sarah Hawk is a partner at Fisher Phillips, where she specializes in the area of corporate immigration law. She provides immigration counsel to numerous corporate clients and is a frequent speaker nationally and regionally on business immigration issues. Sarah advises clients on current immigration legislation, and has comprehensive knowledge and extensive experience in a broad range of immigration petitions, nonimmigrant and immigrant visa applications, consular processing, waiver cases and outbound placement. She conducts I-9 compliance training, performs I-9 audits, and advises on immigration policy for companies. She was one of several featured speakers from across Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa and Asia at the "Lawyering in the International Market," seminar in Vancouver, Canada in 2007, sponsored by the Center for International Legal Studies. Sarah was recognized last year in "Who's Who in Asian-American Communities."

Sarah is legal counsel for the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce of Georgia, a member of the Japan-America Society, the Georgia Asian-Pacific Bar Association, the National Asian-Pacific Bar Association and has served on the National Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. As VP for Professional Development for NAAAP Atlanta, Sarah seeks to bring world class speakers and innovative knowledge exchange programs to NAAAP Atlanta members.

A Fulbright scholar, Sarah received her B.A. and M.A.T. from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia and her J.D. from Georgia State University.

Peter Kuo - VP Strategic Planning

Peter Kuo works as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. Previously, Peter worked with the law firm of Baker & McKenzie, assisting foreign invested enterprises with cross-border transactions in East Asia. He also worked with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, assisting senior counsel with asset acquisition, purchase, and technology licensing and transfer agreements.

Outside the office, Peter stays involved in the community. Most recently, Peter led a pro-bono project team to help the Metro Atlanta YMCA develop a membership growth strategy. In graduate school, as MBA Association president, he promoted networking events, professional development, cultural awareness, and community service. In college, as Asian Pacific American Theme program president, he focused on improving awareness of Asian American socio-political issues.

Peter attended the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University (Bloomington) and graduated with joint JD/MBA degrees. He attended the University of California (Berkeley) as an undergraduate and graduated with a BA in History. Peter also attended Peking University where he studied advanced Chinese writing and speaking. Peter is a member of the Georgia Bar.

As VP of Strategic Planning, Peter plans to foster teamwork, guide teams in problem solving, and facilitate the development and execution of an aspirational long-term growth strategy.