About Our Judges

An Nguyen, Vice President at CCS Fundraising, is a fundraising consultant with over 15 years of experience supporting organizations throughout the Western United States realize their aspirational vision through philanthropic support. She has partnered with nonprofits from myriad sectors including religion, health care, independent schools, human services, and arts and culture to raise over $150 million dollars cumulatively. An brings a depth of skill in marrying fundraising principles with staff and volunteer mobilization to bring about fundraising success. An resides in San Jose, California with her husband, two children, and two rescue puppies.

Andrew Truman Kim is an entrepreneur, growth-strategist, campaign manager, commercial broker, and angel investor - having recently managed over $17 million in real estate investment and private equity deal value, and developing political programs that have helped reach over 10 million voters. Andrew has been a U.S. congressional staffer and senior campaign manager for over 10 years - specializing in economic development, business development, and battleground campaigns. Currently, Andrew is a City Commissioner for the Economic Development & Housing Commission in West Sacramento and is a County Commissioner for the Climate Action Commission in Yolo County.

As a commercial landlord, Andrew owns, manages and operates multiple commercial and residential properties - focused on serving startup founders, entrepreneurs, and the growing workforce in California. As an aspiring real estate developer, in 2018, Andrew led the campaign to help realize the first Zero Net Energy Affordable Housing project in Davis, designed to provide significant affordable housing and ultimately house 2,000+ residents. Currently, Andrew’s part of a development team working on building 50+ townhomes in Downtown Sacramento and 15 multi-family units in Davis - housing products designed to be affordable to working families.

Andrew is also a business investor and equity partner in various ventures focused on sustainable agriculture, sustainable real estate development, and clean technology acceleration - having worked on multi-million dollar raises, Andrew has become an experienced fundraiser. Since 2019, Andrew has personally raised more than $250,000 in private equity. Andrew is also chair of various superPACs and boards working to advance triple-bottom line impact. Andrew is eager to bring best practices from multiple industries to help produce superior results and innovative solutions, while seeking to create meaningful partnerships to help tackle our world's most challenging problems. Andrew is a Certified Project Manager from Stanford University, and a proud UC Davis alumnus.

David is currently the Policy and Legislative Director for San José District 3 Councilmember Raul Peralez, who he has served for the last 6.5 years. Aside from legislative management, he oversees policy related to Land Use, Transportation and Economic Development for Council District 3 - which encompasses Downtown San José and its surrounding neighborhoods. He has had the opportunity to work on various projects and initiatives including the BART Silicon Valley Extension Phase II, the Downtown West/Google Project, the city's first Suicide Prevention policy and most recently strategies to combat against AAPI violence and hate. He began his career in 2009 as a Children’s Program & Volunteer Coordinator for LifeMoves after graduating from San José State University in Psychology and Behavioral Science. He spent four years in Washington, DC working first on service learning programs for alternative high school students at Washington Metropolitan High School followed by being the Development and Compliance Coordinator for the NCBFAA Educational Institute. David has historically been active in the Vietnamese faith community having started various leadership programs and is currently 2nd Vice Chair of the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Board. David currently lives in Downtown San José with his wife Alexia and two children, Charlie and Maddie.

Jackie Xu is a software engineer at Facebook working on the Civic Social Impact team, working on products to promote a healthier civic ecosystem on social media. She previously studied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at MIT. Outside of her work, Jackie is involved in educational initiatives in her community and abroad, from teaching user interface design to college students in Nepal to making technical knowledge accessible to students around the Bay Area, California.

Liang Chao, Ph.D., Cupertino Vice Mayor, Co-founder of Young American Policy Advocates

Dr. Liang Chao was elected to Cupertino Union School Board in 2016 and then elected to Cupertino City Council in 2018 to serve a 4-year term. In 2020, she was appointed to the Environmental Quality Policy Committee for the League of California Cities.

Dr. Chao co-founded Better Cupertino in 2015 to put power into the hands of local residents and co-founded Young American Policy Advocates in 2019 to empower youth for democracy. She advocated for parents on school issues and eventually brought a change in leadership in the school district to be more open to parents’ and teachers’ concerns. Through grassroots campaigning, she motivated citizens to take charge of the course of Cupertino’s future though initiatives, referenda and elections.

After serving as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for Iowa State University, as a researcher at Munich Technological University in Germany, she worked in Silicon Valley for 18 years writing software programs to optimize performance for hardware accelerators for large computer chips. Dr. Chao has a master;s degree in Computer Engineering from National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan and a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Princeton University.

Mimi Nguyen is a San Jose native, born and raised by Vietnamese immigrant parents. As a product of the East Side Union High School District, she went off to the University of California, Davis to receive her B.A. in Economics and Communications and a Minors in Managerial Economics. She then received her J.D. from Golden Gate University.

Mimi has dedicated her career to public interest work. She is currently the Executive Director of Step Forward Foundation. Previously, she was an immigration attorney at Catholic Charities, Step Forward Foundation, and Asian Law Alliance. Her immigration work includes: affirmative cases; defending immigrants in removal proceedings; and humanitarian cases assisting victims of human trafficking and crimes. She was involved with human trafficking operations with law enforcement and she volunteered to assist women and children in Dilley, Texas’ detention center with their asylum claims. Mimi has also helped those in deportation proceedings re-obtain their green cards.

As one of the incorporating board members of VAR, Mimi has served two terms as secretary and one term as president. She has also served as the President of the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California and a Board Member of Step Forward Foundation. As a board member of VAR, Mimi has been involved in planning and organizing public safety forums, candidate forums, and immigration workshops for Vietnamese and English speakers. She works to educate, advocate, and mobilize the community by engaging in civic engagement work, through census, voter registration, and election work. Her favorite event is a youth program, Student Engagement and Education for Development and Success - a safe summer program to help youth learn about their history and culture to develop roots for the future. In addition, Mimi represents VAR in racial equity work surrounding reimagining community safety and stopping AAPI violence.

In 2020, Mimi and her husband, Vietnam Nguyen, welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Sophia. In her free time, she enjoys calligraphing, weightlifting, traveling, and spending time with her family, friends, and two Shiba Inu dogs.

Yi Ding (Ding) is an educator, scholar, and activist committed to the holistic development of youths from diverse backgrounds. As an American Library Association Emerging Leader and a Certified PBS Media Literacy Educator, she translates her library and information science expertise into textbook affordability, digital equity, and civic information literacy efforts. Beyond her job leading the Library Online Instruction Team at California State University Northridge, Ding serves as the Vice President of Outreach at Northridge West Neighborhood Council, oversees Our Community School as a member of the Board of Directors, and builds multiracial, intergenerational, and transnational solidarity in the Chinese American community through the Xīn Shēng Project as the Co-Director of Outreach.