Korean American Democratic Committee

2009-2010 KADC Executive Board

Alex Cha, President

Steve S. Lee, Vice President of Membership

Steve S. Lee is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Research Analyst at Chapman University. Steve teaches classes in research methods, social inequality, and music/arts. Research wise, Steve has written extensively on the musical and artistic landscape in American culture. His publications include a chapter on the social development of alternative country in the US and the effects of telecommunications deregulation in the 1990s on the diversity of music Americans heard on the radio. His current research focuses on education issues such as student development, cultural capital, and retention. Steve holds a PhD from Vanderbilt University, a MS from Clemson University, and a BA from James Madison University. Steve is also involved with Asian Professional Exchange where he serves as the OC University Affairs chair.

Will Choi, Vice President of Voter Registration

Gabriel Ahn, Treasurer

Gabe Ahn is currently the Treasurer and a Board Member of KADC. He has served in this capacity since 2008. Besides his duties at KADC, Gabe works for Southern California Edison (SCE) where he provides assurance and consulting services. Prior to joining SCE, Mr. Ahn worked at a public accounting firm and also at Arthur Andersen, LLP. During his 10 years in public accounting, he assisted clients in various industries including real estate, construction, engineering, products, governmental entities and non-profit organizations.

Gabe is a Certified Public Accountant and also a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of California. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law and his Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

Grace Chang, Secretary

Grace Chang currently serves as secretary for the Korean American Democratic Committee (KADC) Board of Directors. She has been an active member of the organization for the past two years, volunteering at numerous voter registration drives and candidate fundraisers since her tenure.

Grace is an Associate at The Raben Group’s west coast office in Los Angeles, California and offers her clients a wide range of communications and online advocacy campaign experience. She works closely with the LatinStrategies and Strategic Communications practice groups.

Grace assists clients with a number of national communications campaigns as well as with their daily communications needs by drafting media documents, newsletters, social media posts and pitching events and their policy priorities to mainstream and local media. Last year, she has worked closely with her team to create an interactive website with advocacy tools to confirm Justice Sonia Sotomayor, circulate a national petition to bring justice to a hate crime death victim in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, among other projects. Her clients have been covered by national media including CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, along with Spanish and Asian language outlets.

Prior to joining The Raben Group, Ms. Chang covered campus life and diversity issues for The Wellesley News, where she served as the features editor for more than two years. In 2006, she participated in the Korean American Coalition internship program, in which she conducted bilingual voter outreach and arranged a panel on the immigrant experience. She simultaneously served as the chief-of-staff intern to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, where she drafted a memo with specific recommendations on improving the city’s communications and use of information technology.

Ms. Chang holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Wellesley College.

Hanna Yoon, Board Member

Hanna Yoon is an attorney and the Director of Development for Jamison Services, Inc., a privately managed company engaged in ownership, management, development and acquisition of commercial real estate. Hanna is responsible for overseeing Jamison’s commercial development projects including initial feasibility studies, acquisition, entitlements, and project management. Prior to joining Jamison, she worked and volunteered with various nonprofit organizations including the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Public Counsel, and MFY Legal Services, Inc.

Hanna graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Political Science. She received both her JD and MA in Urban Planning from UCLA, where she was the Editor-in-Chief and Symposium Chair of the Asian Pacific American Law Journal. She is actively involved with the Network of Korean American Leaders (NetKAL) and the UCLA Korean American Alumni Association. She lives in Fullerton with her husband and two cockatiels.

Sarah Kim, Board Member
Sarah Soonjin Kim is a staff attorney at the Compton office of Community Legal Services, which is the free legal services provider for low-income residents in Southeast Los Angeles County. Her primary areas of practice are domestic violence-related family law and housing law. Ms. Kim is also an active volunteer with School on Wheels. She received her Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School and her Bachelor of Arts in History from U.C. Berkeley.

Ann Lee, Board Member

Ms. Lee has been with the District Attorney’s Office since July 2006. She has prosecuted over 20 jury trials. Several of her trials appeared in the local south bay newspaper, Daily Breeze. Most notably, Ms. Lee won a trial in which a convicted child molester failed to register as a sex offender; she successfully argued and won a sentence of twenty-five years to life in prison for this felon. The case appeared in the Los Angeles Times. More recently, Ms. Lee has been working in the juvenile justice system; working to help juveniles become rehabilitated rather than punished for their crimes.

Prior to joining the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, Ms. Lee attended College of Wooster in Ohio, earning a B.A. in philosophy and a minor in chemistry. While in her fourth year in college, Ms. Lee was published in a scientific journal, Protein Science, for her work with Arginine in proteins. Ms. Lee earned a J.D. from Northeastern School of Law, located in Boston. She has also attended William and Mary Law School, as well as University of San Diego School of Law. She has studied in Florence, Italy and Madrid, Spain. After law school, Ms. Lee clerked for a federal judge in San Francisco. After her clerkship, Ms. Lee was a bar review tutor, working for Emerson’s Bar Review. In August 2009, Ms. Lee was chosen to participate in a leadership conference sponsored by Overseas Korean Foundation. Ms. Lee continues to work for the Korean-American community in Los Angeles.

Eisenhower Lee, Board Member

Eisenhower Lee originally born in Chicago, raised in Arizona most of his life, and now resides in Los Angeles since 2003. Eisenhower is currently an active board member of KADC since 2009. Besides serving under KADC, he works as a compositor/editor/DVD/Blu-ray author freelancer for various clients. Through an agency, Eisenhower worked at Toyota Motor Sales, the national headquarters located in Torrance, California as a DVD Author. He was responsible for all DVD production from designing, authoring, and replicating for various clients throughout Toyota, Lexus, and Scion Corp. Beside from his DVD authoring, Eisenhower also maintained all video content for Toyota.com, Lexus.com, and Scion.com. Prior to joining Toyota Motor Sales, Eisenhower worked as a Multimedia Producer/Editor for GoTV Networks. He edited News brief, Weather Report, horoscopes, and all ABC content such as ABC News, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, etc for mobile application. Eisenhower also worked on V-Cast shows for Verizon Wireless. Beside his duties at KADC, Eisenhower is also an active member for KAC, Korean-American Coalition.

Eisenhower graduated from University of Advancing Technology with a Master of Science in Technology specializing in visual effects for independent films. He also received a B.A. in Digital Animation Production from University of Advancing Computer Technology. During his spare time, Eisenhower plays badminton. As of February 2010, he is currently ranked 38th in the USA in Men’s Singles.

Daniel Kim, Board Member

Daniel D. Kim is a partner with the US Immigration Law Group LLP. He practices in the area of business immigration and nationality law. Mr. Kim specializes in advising artists, emerging visual effects companies, international businesses, and foreign investors. Previously he practiced indigent criminal defense with the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender’s Office where he has tried numerous jury trials ranging from narcotics transactions to first degree murder. He received his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, with a double major in History and English Literature, and a minor in Asian American Studies. Mr. Kim then attended graduate school at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. on a Writing Center Fellowship. He received his J.D. with a Public Interest Concentration from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. While in law school, Mr. Kim was a summer clerk with the Asian Law Caucus, a leading Bay Area legal and civil rights organization serving low-income clients.

Yonah Hong, Board Member

Yonah Hong has been an active Board Member of KADC since 2009. Besides serving under KADC, Yonah works for the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA), as the Community Affairs Specialist. She deals with community and governmental relations, as well as internal and external communications for the Agency. Prior to joing the CRA/LA, Yonah worked as the Community Outreach Organizer for the Los Angels Unified School District (LAUSD) - New Facilities Division, working to build numerous new schools that were much needed for the students in Los Angeles.

During her spare time, Yonah tries to give back to the community by volunteering her time and services. She currently serves as a volunteer coordinator for the Unification of Disabled Latin Americans (UDLA), as a board member for the Charles H. Kim Education Fund and sits on the Seoul International Park Community Advisory Board. Yonah works hard to bring unity and friendship among the multi-ethnic groups that live in Los Angeles for the betterment of the people and the city.

Born in Korea, raised in Indiana, and now residing in Los Angeles, California, Yonah graduated from Purdue University with a Major in Environmental Health and a minor in Psychology.

Brad Lee, Board Member

Brad Hyuck Lee was born in Korea and immigrated to US at age 17 with his family. He is an Alma Mater of American College of Law for a Juris Doctorate (JD) and admitted to California State Bar in 2002. He presently specializes in civil litigation and personal injuries in Los Angeles.

He has demonstrated his commitment to the profession and to the community. Brad is serving as a Co-President of KADNO (Korean American Democratic National Organization) during 2009-2010. He has also been involved with KADC (Korean American Democratic Committee) of Los Angeles and served as a President of KADC during the US Presidential Election year of 2008. His experience as a President of the organization helped him in understanding what he could do to help Korean American Community to grow politically and level with the mainstream. His ability of speaking both Korean and English fluently would certainly be a priceless tool in connecting with the Korean American Community and the mainstream. In late 2008, he had an opportunity to participate in the retraction of English proficiency requirement that LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) imposed against the foreign players along with many members of CA assembly including but not limited to Assembly Member Ted Lieu, Mike Eng and BOE Chair now a Congresswoman Judy Chu. As you all know, the result was very successful by LPGA withdrawing such unconstructive requirement.

Additionally, he is presently sitting on a board and acting as a Executive Vice President/President Elect for Korean Community Lawyers Association (KCLA) where he has participated in many free legal clinics and various issues in Korean community. He has shown his passion and heart for this great organization and the Korean American community.

Brad also serves as an Executive Board member for WC/KNC (Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council).

Laura Shin, Immediate Past President

KADC Past Presidents
Brian Kim
Richard Choi Bertsch
Susan Lee
Do Kim-Takasugi
Bong Han Kim
Sukhee Kang
Ann L. Park
Kyung Ah Suh
Sabrina Kim
Grace Chi
Richard Kim
Brad Lee
Laura Shin