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Asians have
made significant contributions to the United States and the world. It is
time we stand up and be recognized, not just by our own ethnic
communities but by the larger mainstream community.
The mission of the Academy of Asian Leaders (AAL) is to discover, detail
and disclose the significant achievements and contributions of Asians
around the world. "AAL will preserve, teach, research and make available
for advanced inquiry and public awareness all of the records of
significant achievements of Asians. The Academy also serves as a forum
for research,
discussion, and analysis of the significant contributions that Asians
make to the world".
The Asian
Academy Hall of Fame Awards have been held in various distinctive places
around the world. The first one was held in the White House in
Washington DC in 2002, followed by a ceremony at the pyramids of Egypt
in 2003. In 2004, we had the knighting ceremony in New Mexico and in
2005, the awards were given at the Olympic Stadium in Greece. In 2006,
we had a royal event at the castle in Turnov. The 2007 awards was held
at the US Capitol on June 4, 2007 and the 2008 award was given at the Great Wall of
China in February 2008. The
2009 awards was held on October 10, 2009 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
To send in your
nominations, please click here.
- PABLITO ALARCON
- Asian Academy Hall of Fame
2005
- Athens, Greece
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 Past
President of the Philippine Association of Metropolitan Washington Engineers (PAMWE)
. As past Chairman of the PAMWE Scholarship Committee, he initiated and
implemented the Endowment Fund for all PAMWE scholars. He is a member of the
2004-2005 Board of Directors of the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of
Metropolitan Washington DC. With his wife Teresita R. Calderon, he founded the
FEED THE HUNGRY,(FtH) Inc. in 1993.
Among the projects he has undertaken are gift-giving to the
orphanages, senior citizens and victims of calamities; donated books, medical
equipment and medicines; provided scholarships, classrooms, houses for the
homeless; medical missions; TB Cure; soup kitchens; livelihood projects, and
more. FtH is now on its 13th year of existence and has reached 900,700 needy
beneficaries. Mr. Alarcon and his wife have totally dedicated their lives to the
alleviation of poverty. Mr. Alarcon holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil
Engineering degree.
- ELAINE L. CHAO
- Asian Academy Hall of Fame
2002
- Washington DC
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 Elaine
L. Chao was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 29, 2001 as the
nation's 24th Secretary of Labor. She is the first Asian American woman
appointed to a President's cabinet in U.S. history. When President
George W. Bush nominated Secretary Chao, he described her as an
individual with "strong executive talent, compassion, and commitment to
helping people build better lives."
A dedicated champion of the nation's contemporary
workforce, Secretary Chao is focused on carrying out the Department of
Labor's mission of inspiring and protecting America's workforce. She has
also focused the Labor Department on preparing the workforce to maintain
our nation's competitiveness in the 21st Century.
Secretary Chao's commitment to helping others stems
from her background as an immigrant. She arrived at the age of eight
from Asia speaking no English. Her experience transitioning to a new
country — supported by family, friends and neighbors — inspired her to
dedicate most of her professional life to ensuring that people have the
opportunity to pursue lives of dignity and financial independence.
Since assuming office, Secretary Chao has moved
swiftly to implement President George W. Bush's agenda to empower
workers. Under her leadership, the Labor Department set new worker
protection records through targeted enforcement efforts. The Department
also championed comprehensive reform of the Nation's publicly funded job
training programs, so it can better help dislocated workers.
The Labor Department updated the white collar
exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which provided millions of
low-wage vulnerable workers with strengthened overtime protections. For
the first time in 40 years, the Department is enforcing the law
requiring unions to file annual financial disclosure forms. This gives
rank and file members better information about how their hard earned
dues are spent.
These accomplishments build on Secretary Chao's record
of public, private, and non-profit sector leadership. She was President
and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of America. In that position,
she restored public trust and confidence in the nation's largest
institution of private charitable giving, which was tarnished by
mismanagement and financial abuse. As Director of the Peace Corps,
Secretary Chao established the first Peace Corps programs in the Baltic
nations of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and the newly independent states
of the former Soviet Union.
Prior to being Director of the Peace Corps, Secretary
Chao had been Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation,
Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, Deputy Maritime
Administrator in the U.S. Department of Transportation and a White House
Fellow. Her private sector experience includes serving as Vice President
of Syndications at BankAmerica Capital Markets Group and as a banker
with Citicorp. Prior to her nomination as Secretary, she was a
Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Secretary Chao received her M.B.A. from the Harvard
Business School and her undergraduate degree in economics from Mount
Holyoke College. She also studied at M.I.T., Dartmouth College, and
Columbia University. Secretary Chao has received numerous awards for her
professional accomplishments and community service. She is the recipient
of 26 honorary doctoral degrees from colleges and universities around
the world. |
- FRANCESCA MONTOYA -
CLOSE
- Asian Academy Hall of Fame
2005
- Athens, Greece
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 Ms.
Close is a principal of The Orbis Group LLC responsible for the development of
strategic global alliances and partnerships. She has held management positions
on the president’s staff of two Fortune 500 companies in the areas of marketing
and business development. As founder and chairman of the Alliance of Business
Women International (ABWI) she works with elected officials, local government
and grassroots participants to address sustainable economic development programs
and equitable educational initiatives to help strengthen small business sectors
and create a strong workforce throughout global communities.
Within the United States she has received support and recognition from the White
House, Small Business Administration, Department of Commerce, Department of
Education, Department of Labor, Department of Agriculture, and state and local
government, and the Commission on the Status of Women. In Washington D.C. she
was one of the four leaders of the E-Commerce Summit hosted by SBA, Department
of Commerce and Department of Agriculture which addressed the needs of the
public non-tech market, high tech companies and government agencies to create
more user friendly technology driven programs. She is often asked to represent
the U.S. as a delegate and speaker where she interfaces with the United Nations,
USAid, UIA, World Bank and the Women’s World Bank in addressing programs that
reflect the changing needs of the global economy.
Her strength in strategic
business planning has defined the success stories surrounding the doors opened
to markets for American states, corporate partners, small and medium sized
companies, women owned businesses and minority enterprises. These successes have
been recognized with awards and gratitude from people in various countries such
as England, Mexico, Canada, Philippines, China, Australia, Ireland, Bosnia,
Chile, and Panama.
- ANTONIO DAVID
- Asian Academy Hall
of Fame 2005
- Athens, Greece
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 Antonio David is currently
based in Istanbul, Turkey as Manager for Portfolio and
Credit-General
Manufacturing for Southern Europe and Central Asia of the
International Finance Corporation, the private sector affiliate
of the World Bank. He is responsible for a portfolio of over
US$ 1.0 billion in 15 countries.
He served for over two terms (2000-2002)
as President of the World Bank Group-IMF Filipino Association, leading some 600
Filipino-Americans in these two Bretton Woods institutions. Together with his
team of highly motivated officers and advisors, he has revitalized the Filipino
Association at the World Bank and the IMF and helped promote unity within the
community. Mr. David was Chairman of Philippine Festival 2002- the most
successful on record. The Philippine Festival is now an over 15 year tradition
of month-long celebrations in June involving thousands of participants.
- Asian Academy Hall of Fame
2005
- Athens, Greece
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 Dr. Lee has been the recipient of
numerous awards and honors. He has been recognized for his pioneering
research and dynamic leadership in the field of applied mathematics and
related areas of applied numerical methods, computational ocean
acoustics, and supercomputing. In addition to his scientific research
and mentoring, Dr. Lee has unselfishly contributed to the acoustic
community through his diligent efforts in organizing international
conferences. These conferences have provided a forum for active
researchers, scholars, and practitioners from around the world to
discuss and disseminate state-of-the-art developments and results in
various areas of theoretical and computational acoustics.
He founded the
International Conference on Theoretical and Computational Acoustics. The
interest and research initiated are a tribute to the dedication of Dr.
Lee to the scientific community and to education. Dr. Lee was born
in Ru Kao, China. He pursued his higher education in the U.S.A. and
earned his M.S.Degree in mathematics from Fordham University and a Ph.D.
in mathematics from Polytechnic Institute of New York.
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- Asian Academy Hall
of Fame 2002
- Washington DC
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 Norman
Y. Mineta is the longest serving Secretary in the history of the U.S. Department
of Transportation, becoming the 14th Secretary of Transportation on January 25,
2001.
As Secretary of Transportation, Mineta oversees an agency with almost 60,000
employees and a $61.6 billion budget. Created in 1967, the U.S. Department of
Transportation brought under one umbrella air, maritime and surface
transportation missions.
At the U.S. Department of Transportation, Secretary Mineta has delivered on the
President's historic commitment to safety. During his first four years as
Secretary, America achieved the lowest vehicle fatality rate ever recorded, the
highest safety belt usage rate ever recorded, and the lowest rail fatality level
ever recorded. The Secretary has overseen the safest three-year period in
aviation history. In addition, Secretary Mineta was instrumental in persuading
every state in the country to set a blood alcohol rate at .08 percent, an
alcohol level that has proved to be effective in preventing automobile crashes
and improving safety.
Secretary Mineta also oversaw the Coast Guard's response to the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001, including developing the Sea Marshal Program,
Maritime Safety and Security Teams, and expanding the number and mission of
Coast Guard Port Security Units.
Prior to joining President Bush's administration as Secretary of Transportation,
Secretary Mineta served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Clinton.
He was vice president of Lockheed Martin Corporation prior to joining the
Commerce Department.
From 1975 to 1995, he served as a member of U.S. House of Representatives,
representing the heart of California's Silicon Valley. As a member of Congress,
then Representative Mineta was known for his dedication to the people of his
district, for consensus building among his colleagues and for forging
public-private partnerships. Mineta's legislative and policy agenda was wide and
varied, including major projects in the areas of economic development, science
and technology policy, trade, transportation, the environment, intelligence, the
budget and civil rights. He co-founded the Congressional Asian Pacific American
Caucus and served as its first chair.
After leaving Congress, he chaired the National Civil Aviation Review
Commission, which in 1997 issued recommendations on reducing traffic congestion
and reducing the aviation accident rate. Many of the commission's
recommendations were adopted by the Clinton administration, including reform of
the FAA to enable it to perform more like a business.
Secretary Mineta and his family were among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese
ancestry forced from their homes and into internment camps during World War II.
After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, Secretary Mineta
joined the Army in 1953 and served as an intelligence officer in Japan and
Korea. He joined his father in the Mineta Insurance Agency before entering
politics in San Jose, serving as a member of its City Council from 1967 to 1971
and mayor from 1971 to 1974, becoming the first Asian Pacific American mayor of
a major U.S. city. As mayor, he favored greater control of transportation
decisions by local government, a position he later championed in ISTEA.
While in Congress, Mineta was the driving force behind passage of H.R. 442, the
Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which officially apologized for and redressed the
injustices endured by Japanese Americans during the war. In 1995, George
Washington University awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Medal to
Mineta for his contributions to the field of civil rights. In 2003, Secretary
Mineta received the Panetta Institute's Jefferson-Lincoln Award for his
bipartisan leadership in addressing the nation’s challenges and was selected by
the Council of Excellence in Government to receive the Elliot L. Richardson
Prize for Excellence and Integrity in Public Service.
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- Asian Academy Hall
of Fame 2005
- Athens, Greece
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Josie L. Olympia MD is currently Director
of Continuing Medical Education, Buffalo Psychiatric Center and
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, University at Buffalo. She
plans, organizes, and coordinates medical and psychiatric conferences in
the US and abroad for the UB Department of Psychiatry and its affiliated
institutions.
A retired Colonel of the US Army Reserve, her clinical
practice is spent at the WNY Veterans Administration Medical Center
where she takes care of patients with various psychiatric disorders. She
is a board certified psychiatrist and Distinguished fellow of the
American Psychiatric Association. In 2003,Dr Olympia was selected by the
Consumers Research Council of America as one of America's Top
Psychiatrists.
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- Asian Academy Hall
of Fame 2003
- Egypt
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 He is
known as the thorn in the side of multinational drug companies. Ever since he
announced that his company would sell a triple-therapy of AIDS anti-retrovirals
to Africa at a barely break-even cost of $350 per patient per year, Yusuf Hamied,
chairman of the Indian generic drug company Cipla, has been on the front lines
of what's known as the "Patients vs. Patents" battle.
The company supplies one drug - to stop mother-to-child transmission - free of
charge. Cipla has also offered free technology to make anti-AIDS drugs "to
state-owned companies in all Third World countries", says Dr Hamied.
Hamied traces his concern for India back to his father, Khwaja Abdul Hamied, an
organic chemist who, bitterly opposed to British colonialism, dreamed of
creating a great Indian company. After studying chemistry in Berlin in the
1920s, K.A. Hamied returned to India and founded Cipla in a rented bungalow in
1935. When he died in 1972, Yusuf—who has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cambridge
University—became its CEO.
TCipla's turnover is $220 million a year, and Hamied's personal fortune stands
at $550 million. The company manufactures 400 medications and exports its
products to 125 countries. In Hamied's view, this abundance creates a moral
imperative to address the AIDS pandemic—even if it brings the wrath of Big
Pharma and the World Trade Organization down on his head. "I've nothing against
the multinationals," he recently told United Press International. "Let them do
what they want to do. I'm doing my little bit."
Click here for the 2007 Awardees
Click here for the 2008 Awardees
Click here for the 2009 Awardees
Click here for the 2011 Awardees
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