2022 Asia Game Changer West Awards Gala - Honoring Innovative Leaders Impacting Asia and the World
VIEW EVENT DETAILSThe Naren Gupta Legacy Series: Year One, Program 1 of 4
View all Naren Gupta Legacy Series Programs
Join Asia Society Northern California as it hosts its fourth annual Asia Game Changer West Awards Gala in-person the evening of Thursday, April 14, 2022 at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. Asia Game Changer West Awards are bestowed to individuals, organizations, and movements that have inspired, enlightened, and shown true leadership in areas that reflect Asia Society’s core pillars of policy and business, technology and innovation, arts and culture, and education.
Our distinguished members and guests for the evening include San Francisco Consuls General from China, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea.
Join us for an inspiring night of stimulating company and delicious food and drink, featuring wines from The Donum Estate, Freeman Vineyard & Winery, and Yao Family Wines, chocolate from Asian, female-owned, San Francisco-based Socola Chocolatier, and coffee from Indonesia!
2022 ASIA GAME CHANGER WEST HONOREES
Russell Jeung
Co-Founder of Stop AAPI Hate and Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University
Dr. Russell Jeung is Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and the author of books and articles on race and religion. He's written Family Sacrifices: The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans (Oxford U Press, 2019); Mountain Movers: Student Activism and the Emergence of Asian American Studies (UCLA AAS Center, 2019); and At Home in Exile: Finding Jesus Among My Ancestors and Refugee Neighbors (Zondervan, 2016).
For his research and activism, the Association of Asian American Studies awarded Dr. Jeung as Engaged Scholar in 2017. He received the Excellence in Professional Achievement award from San Francisco State University in 2021.
In March 2020, Dr. Jeung co-founded Stop AAPI Hate with Chinese for Affirmative Action and the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council. It tracks incidents of COVID-19 discrimination to develop policy interventions and long-term solutions to racism.
Stop AAPI Hate was awarded the 2021 Webby Award for "Social Movement of the Year." In 2021, Dr. Jeung was named as TIME 100 most influential persons and among the Bloomberg 50 for his global impact.
Gitanjali Rao
Inventor, Aspiring Scientist, Author, and First-Ever TIME Magazine Kid of the Year in 2020
Gitanjali Rao is an inventor, an aspiring scientist, author, speaker and an active promoter of STEM around the world. She was recognized as America's Top Young Scientist and was a recipient of an EPA Presidential award for her invention of an innovative lead contamination detection tool. Gitanjali is also the inventor of “Epione”—a device for early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction using genetic engineering, and "Kindly"—an anti-cyberbullying service using AI and Natural Language processing.
She was honored as Forbes “30 Under 30 in Science” in 2019 and TIME’s “Top Young Innovator” and "TIME Kid of the Year" for her innovations and STEM workshops she conducts globally, which has inspired over 58,000 students in the last two years across six continents and 37 countries. She often presents in global and corporate forums on innovation and the importance of STEM.
Gitanjali is the author of the book Young Innovator's Guide to STEM, which guides students, educators, or teachers through a self-developed prescriptive 5 step innovation process. The book is adopted formally as a STEM curriculum in Kakuma Refugee Camp Schools and a few high schools in Ghana and is available in 5 different languages worldwide. She was honored as one of America's Top Youth Volunteers by Prudential in 2021 and was appointed as a UNICEF Youth Advocate for using science for solving social problems such as cyber-bullying and developing solutions for environmental protection. She recently received a grant as a National Geographic young Explorer to expand her workshops and self-sustain them beyond her.
Xiaoze Xie
Visual Artist and Professor of Art at Stanford University
Xiaoze Xie is an internationally recognized artist and the Paul L. & Phyllis Wattis Professor of Art at Stanford University. Xie received his Master of Fine Art degrees from the Central Academy of Arts & Design in Beijing and the University of North Texas. Xie has exhibited extensively in the US and internationally, his recent solo exhibitions include “Objects of Evidence” at the Asia Society Museum in New York City (2019-20) and “Eyes On” at the Denver Art Museum (2017-18).
Xie’s work has garnered critical acclaim, his exhibitions have been reviewed in The New York Times, Art in America, Artnews, and hyperallergic.com, among others. His work is in the permanent collection of such institutions as the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Denver Art Museum, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, San Jose Museum of Art and the Oakland Museum of California. Xie received the Painters and Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation (2013), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2003), and artist awards from the Dallas Museum of Art and Phoenix Art Museum.
SPEAKERS & PRESENTERS
Gala speakers and presenters from left to right:
- Daniel Dae Kim, Actor, Director and Producer and Member of President Biden’s AAPI Advisory Group;
- Dave Min, California State Senator for Orange County’s 37th State Senate District;
- Kiki Kapany, CEO and Executive Producer, Kikim Media;
- Jay Xu, Director and CEO, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco;
- Jishnu Bhattacharjee, Managing Director, Nexus Venture Partners;
- AGK Karunakaran, President, TiE Silicon Valley;
- Kelly Knox, West Coast Outreach Lead, Southwest Airlines;
- Rachel Cooper, Director, Global Cultural Diplomacy, Asia Society;
- Gary Rieschel, Chair, Asia Society Northern California;
- Jack Wadsworth, Honorary Chair, Asia Society Northern California;
- Margaret Conley, Executive Director, Asia Society Northern California
TRIBUTE FOR NAREN GUPTA
At our Gala we will pay tribute to the legacy of our long-time and beloved Advisory Board Member, Naren Gupta (1948-2021).
For more information, contact Rahul Devaskar, Director of Partnerships & Memberships, at [email protected]
SILENT AUCTION PACKAGES
To view our Silent Auction Packages, visit our Silent Auction Website.
If you are interested in submitting a bid for one or more auction items, email [email protected]
GALA ENTERTAINMENT
During our Gala Program from 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., guests will enjoy a performance by Bay Area based Homayoun Sakhi, the most innovative Afghan Rhubâb player of his generation, a brilliant virtuoso endowed with a charismatic musical presence and personality. He is a composer, vocalist, and musician born into a family steeped into musical tradition. Homayoun was born in Kabul in 1976 into one of Afghanistan’s leading musical families. From the age of ten, he studied Rhubâb with his father, Ustad Ghulam Sakhi. In 2001 Homayoun moved to California and received National and International acclaim and also launched his online music school Rhubâb Academy in 2020. He is a Grammy nominated composer and artist and has created works and collaborated with musicians from all around the globe such as Kronos Quartet, Hannibal Lokumbe, Ustad Farida Mahwash, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He has collaborated with many celebrated musicians from around the globe including Yoyo Ma and has enamored the hearts of icons including the Dalai Lama, members of various Royal families and Leaders of States.
He will be accompanied on stage by tabla player Zmari Aref.
During our VIP Reception from 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., guests will enjoy Filipino dancing from Parangal Dance Company and music from classical pianist and Stanford University undergraduate Cam Lincoln.
Parangal Dance Company’s mission is to give tribute to Philippine heritage by preserving and promoting ethnic attire, music, and dance through research, workshops, and performances. We aim to serve as a bridge, inspiring and connecting Filipinos globally to their roots to give them a sense of pride and identity, while educating diverse communities to foster awareness and appreciation of Philippine culture.
Cam Lincoln is a senior majoring in Human Biology with an emphasis in Biosocial Determinants of Global Health at Stanford University. Cam has been involved in music since his childhood, playing classical piano, cello, and percussion. Cam has written compositions for various student groups including SSO, student-ran chamber groups, as well as Stanford Cardinal Calypso Steelband. He is part of the Young Artist Guild 2018 Class (Music Teachers Association of California).
TABLE PRICING AND PARTNERSHIP
To purchase half or full tables or view our rate sheet, contact Rahul Devaskar, Director of Partnerships & Memberships, at [email protected]
Partnership opportunities are a great way to support Asia Society Northern California and the next generation of Game Changers. To learn more, contact Rahul Devaskar at [email protected]
AGENDA
Date: Thursday, April 14, 2022 from 5:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Pacific
- 5:00 p.m. Registration Opens
- 5:30 p.m. VIP Reception with Silent Auction and Wine, Coffee and Chocolate Tastings
- 6:30 p.m. Gala Dinner Program
- 9:00 p.m. Program Concludes
Attire: Black Tie Optional or International Dress. Please bring a mask.
Vaccination & Safety:
- Safety is a major priority, and we’ve reduced capacity to allow for ample spacing between tables at the event
- We suggest that guests take an at-home COVID test the day prior to the event
- Following CDC Guidelines, we will require proof of vaccination at registration CDC Definition of Fully Vaccinated
- Please remember to have a copy of your vaccination card on your person (can be a photo on your phone) to ensure timely check-in and a safe event with registration opening at 5:00 p.m. to allow for ample check-in time.
SPEAKER BIOS
Daniel Dae Kim is an actor, director and producer. Prior to his seven-season portrayal of Chin Ho Kelly on "Hawaii Five-0", Kim was best known for his role as Jin Soo Kwon on the hit TV series "Lost," for which he shared a 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble, and was individually honored with an AZN Asian Excellence Award, a Multicultural Prism Award and a Vanguard Award from the Korean American Coalition, all for Outstanding Performance by an Actor.
In 2016, he received a Broadway Beacon Award for his role as the King of Siam in Lincoln Center’s Tony award-winning production of “The King and I,” as well as the Theater Legacy Award from New York’s Pan Asian Repertory Theater.
Outside of his artistic endeavors, Kim is an activist who has been vocal about Asian American discrimination in the United States. In March 2021, Kim spoke to Congress regarding anti-Asian violence and urged lawmakers to pass bills protecting Asian Americans. In December 2021, President Biden announced Kim's appointment to serve on his Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
Kim spearheads his production company 3AD. Established in 2014 with a first-look development deal at CBS Television Studios, 3AD has developed original content, IPs and global formats. The company is committed to storytelling that integrates characters and cultures underrepresented in today’s media landscapes.
Dave Min was elected in 2020 to represent Orange County’s 37th State Senate District, which includes the cities of Anaheim Hills, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin, and Villa Park. Dave is a native Californian who resides in Irvine with his wife, Jane Stoever, and their three young kids. Before joining the State Senate, Min was a law professor at UC Irvine, where he taught and researched in the area of business law. He is one of the country’s leading experts on banking and housing policy, and has testified six times before Congress on these issues.
Dave is the son of Korean immigrants who grew up during the Korean War and its aftermath. Because of the values he inherited from his parents, including a passionate love of this country and what it has always represented, Dave has spent his career in public service, working to improve the economic opportunities available to working families. After graduating from Wharton and Harvard Law School, he began his career at the Securities and Exchange Commission, turning down higher paying jobs to try to hold Wall Street accountable in the aftermath of the Enron and Worldcom accounting scandals. Dave went on to work for U.S. Senator Charles Schumer as a senior economic policy advisor and then the Center for American Progress as an economic policy director before coming back home to California to teach at UCI.
Kiki Kapany is the CEO and Senior Producer at Kikim Media where she steers and produces all productions with a fundamental commitment to fairness and accuracy. Working with a firm conviction that a true story, honestly told, can change lives, Kapany has produced dozens of films documenting a broad spectrum of topics. Her productions have been honored with some of the most prestigious awards in television production, including Emmys and Ciné Golden Eagles. Kapany's films have been nationally broadcast to an audience of millions and also selected for numerous film festivals both domestic and international. Kapany is currently producing Our Beautiful Planet, a series of short documentary films illuminating the work of scientists studying diverse impacts of climate change in the United States specifically geared for the National Science Teaching Association and the Smithsonian Science Education Center, committed to STEM education for K-12. Additionally, she is inure-production on Climate Across America (wt), another one-hour documentary for PBS’s premiere science and technology series, NOVA, that highlights ordinary Americans from very different regions and backgrounds who are confronting the effects of climate change with innovative and surprising solutions. Her most recent productions include Secrets in our DNA (2021) and Look Who's Driving (2019) for PBS’s NOVA and The Ornament of the World (2019), a two-hour animated and live action documentary for PBS about interfaith relationships in medieval Spain.
Dr. Jay Xu has served as director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco since 2008, and he is the first Chinese American director at a major American art museum. Xu is committed to deepening understanding of Asian art and culture in the global context, and to advocating the art museum as an essential platform for cross-cultural understanding. Xu earned his MA and PhD in early Chinese art and archaeology at Princeton University, and has had nearly forty years of international museum experience as a research scholar, curator, and museum director. He previously served as assistant to the museum director at the Shanghai Museum; research fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; curator of Chinese art at the Seattle Art Museum. In 2015, Dr. Xu became the first Asian American museum director elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He sits on the board of Asia Society Northern California.
Jishnu Bhattacharjee is Managing Director at Nexus Venture Partners, a leading U.S.-India venture capital firm, that has been a pioneer of investing in innovative companies building global technology products leveraging India and technology-led businesses for India. Jishnu has invested in technology infrastructure, data, AI, SaaS and developer operations and is interested in a wide variety of start-ups. Jishnu’s current investments include Postman, Druva, H20.ai, Observe.ai, Minio, Kaltura, Blueshift, Jiffy.ai, and other exciting companies. His exited investments include Kaltura (Nasdaq: KLTR), Rancher (acquired by SUSE), Mezi (acquired by American Express), Cloud.com (acquired by Citrix), Gluster (acquired by Red Hat), Arkin (acquired by VMware) and Elastic Box (acquired by Century Link).
Jishnu holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, MS from Georgia Tech and BTech from IIT Kharagpur in electronics engineering. He is also an inventor on more than twenty US patents.
AGK Karunakaran, CEO of MulticoreWare, Inc., and President of TiE Silicon Valley, has 25 years of experience in general management, engineering and marketing for the computing, semi-conductor and embedded markets. The Indian American executive was the founding president and CEO of GDA Technologies Inc., a leading intellectual property licensing and electronics design services company. GDA was purchased by L&T Infotech, India, in March 2007.
Kelly Knox is the West Coast Outreach Lead for Community Outreach at Southwest Airlines. She started her career at Southwest Airlines in 2011 after graduating from Florida State University with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing. Kelly joined Southwest as an intern on the Community Affairs & Grassroots team and was hired full-time to work in Customer Relations, handling escalated calls on behalf of the Executive Office, and soon after was promoted to Team Leader. In March of 2015, Kelly returned to her roots at the Community Affairs & Grassroots Team, where she was responsible for managing Southwest's grassroots outreach programs, such as the Congressional Art Competition, as well as leading the airline's local outreach coordination. In her current role as West Coast Outreach Lead, Kelly champions causes that matter the most to the communities in California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Nevada.
Rachel Cooper is Director of the Culture as Diplomacy Initiative at Asia Society. She has extensive experience in traditional and contemporary Asian and Asian-American arts and culture. Rachel has developed initiatives across disciplines of music, film, literature and dance as well as across sectors of policy and education with a focus on culture as a central mode of global connection. She is a frequent participant at major conferences and a commentator in the media addressing international arts exchange and culture as diplomacy. Her passion is sharing artist voices with audiences broadly and to facilitate artist meetings at a global level. She has directed major initiatives including Creative Voices of Muslim Asia, The Great Debates: Traditions and Forms; New Visions Screenwriting Fellowship in India, Soul of Asia, and the Festival of Indonesia in Performance.
Gary Rieschel is Chair of the Asia Society Northern California Advisory Board and has over 25 years of successful operating and investing experience as a senior executive, entrepreneur, investor, and global business strategist. He is Founding Managing Partner of Qiming, a firm with over $3 billion focused on early stage investments in China and one of China’s premier venture capital firms. Gary’s personal investment areas are Healthcare and Cleantech. He advised the China Greentech Initiative, and the Rocky Mountain Institute in its move to China. He actively supports the US China Clean Energy Forum, PERC (Property and Environmental Research), The Nature Conservancy, the Climate Leadership Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the U.S. Olympic Foundation. He served on the joint venture boards of Blackrock and Bank of China and Silicon Valley Bank and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. Gary holds a BA in Biology from Reed College in Portland, OR, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He lived in Japan for five years in the late 1980s and lived in Shanghai from 2005 through 2016. He now lives in Seattle, WA.
John “Jack” Wadsworth is the Honorary Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and an Advisory Director of Morgan Stanley, globally based in San Francisco. He is the Honorary Chair of Asia Society Northern California. In 1987, he moved to Japan as President of Morgan Stanley Japan, Chairman of its Executive and Operating Committees, and as Head of the Firm’s investment banking business in Asia. In 1992, Mr. Wadsworth moved to Hong Kong as Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia. In 2001, he moved from Hong Kong to San Francisco. Mr. Wadsworth earned a BA from Williams College in 1961, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1963.
Margaret Conley, a Bay Area native, is the Executive Director of Asia Society Northern California. She is Chair of the global Asia Society task force "Asian Americans Building America". Margaret was based in Asia for several years as a television news correspondent with ABC News in Jakarta and Tokyo, and with Bloomberg Television in Shanghai. She was part of the global ABC team that won a News and Documentary Emmy Award for presidential inauguration coverage. Her interviews include Howard Schultz, Richard Branson, Ban Ki-Moon, LeBron James and Beyoncé. She has a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a master’s in journalism from the University of Hong Kong, which specializes in coverage of Asia. Margaret was selected as one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business by the San Francisco Business Times in 2019. She is a member of the International Women's Forum.
Event Details
Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco
757 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94103