Benjamin Hum, President

Benjamin Hum is one of the founding partners and serves as Chief Operating Officer of Xystar Technologies where he plays a key role in overseeing strategic partnerships, International corporate development, and operations. As a premier social media specialists and application service provider, Xystar Technologies prides itself in providing innovative solutions that radically redefine the concept of online vertical communities.

In 2000, Benjamin co-founded the North American Association of Asian Professionals-Toronto (NAAAP Toronto) and currently serves as President. As one of the fastest growing Canadian Chapters of the National Association of Asian American Professionals, NAAAP Toronto is a non profit association with a focus on fostering leadership, community involvement and workforce diversity awareness. Benjamin is also a member of the advisory committee for Enterprise Toronto, City of Toronto Economic Development Office and the Progress Career Planning Institute Cultural Intelligence Advisory Council.

Benjamin's most recent prior experiences include being co-founder of Global Connexxions Inc. and was awarded the 1998 Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurship Best Business Startup Awards. As co-founder of United Nations Trade Point Toronto in 1999 (Member of the Trade Point NAFTA Forum, Member of the Inter-American Trade Point Forum, Member of the Technical Task force for the United Nations Inter-American Trade Point Forum, Member of the United Nations Global Trade Point Network), Benjamin was involved with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and played a critical role in fostering the efficiency of world trade with industry partnerships and integrating electronic commerce technology.

Vivian Poon, Vice President of Operations

Vivian graduated from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, and is currently working with Cossette Communication Group, as an Account Coordinator to the Bell Sympatico account.

In her role at NAAAP Toronto, Vivian will primarily be responsible for helping the organization reach its strategic and operational goals and coordinating organizational resources within all internal committees. Vivian is an avid dragon boater, and has competed in the sport nationally and internationally. Her other interests include traveling, video games, and all forms of performance arts.

Bernice Cheung , Vice President of Special Projects

After volunteering as the marketing director for NAAAP Toronto since Apr 06, Bernice moved to take on greater challenges as the VP of Special Events. In this role, she hopes to identify issues, develop solutions and lead projects that support organizational goals of NAAAP Toronto on a strategic level. Some examples include special programs, succession planning, executive mentorship, special membership drives, etc.

Her previous experience as the marketing director will help her immensely as she led a team of ten volunteers to accomplish many projects, such as understanding the membership base, revamping the membership package, strategizing online payment options, coordinating a clothing drive and media blitz in Apr 07 Dress for Success event, building hype for two Little Asia events (Sept 06 & Sept 07) where $5,000 prize was awarded as the most exciting cheering gallery.

Bernice is an alumni of McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business, where she earned a Honours B. Comm. in marketing and finance, with a minor in economics. She currently works at American Express Canada in the Portfolio Management team, where she focuses on the proprietary card products. Her main mandate is to identify strategic opportunities to enhance customer value and profitability of the existing portfolio.

in her spare time, she loves to travel - especially to different parts of Europe. She likes learning about different cultures, meeting new people and trying new things. She's also a photographer who enjoys the outdoors. Her personal website: Http://www.Bernice.ca/

Gregory Chang, Treasurer

This is Greg's fourth year with NAAAP. Greg graduated from the University of Waterloo and articled with PricewaterhouseCoopers to become a Chartered Accountant. He is currently Manager of Financial Reporting for Corus Entertainment's Radio Division. Greg enjoys summer canoe trips, good stories, creating videos, and traveling for good eats. Last summer, Greg was a Neighbourhood Champion runner at the 2007 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon representing NAAAP Toronto' Little Asia.

"With NAAAP, I'm always meeting someone interesting or learning something new. The board always has fantastic energy and NAAAP members come from all kinds of professions and experiences. Sometimes it's easy to forget that the group also has a strong community voice, which I've really come to appreciate."

Albert Ho, NAAAP National Representative

Albert Ho is the National Representative. In this position he is a voting member of the NAAAP National Board of Directors that sets the politices and agenda of this international organization. He has been in this role since June of 2006. He has been invovled with NAAAP since 1992 when he attended his first NAAAP Convention.

He is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Ryerson University in Toronto. He is also the Marketing Director for HiLife Entertainment, Canada's largest Asian promotion company. He is the President of the Loveboat Alumni Association in Eastern Canada. His career interests include healthcare policy, politics and marketing.

Miki Cheung, Director of Events

Miki graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Business Administration specializing in Marketing. She first worked with NAAAP for a non-profit organization, providing university students with career mentorship and job-shadowing opportunities. She loves design, fashion, singing, reading and playing volleyball. She hopes to bring new and exciting ideas to NAAAP and is dedicated to providing high quality events to NAAAP members and guests.

Melissa Chien, Director of Marketing

Melissa Chien graduated from the Schulich School of Business at York University with a degree in International Bachelor of Business Administration (iBBA) with Honours specializing in Marketing.

Melissa has embarked on several worthwhile opportunities, combining her love of travel and living abroad with the pursuit of enhancing her professional development. Her student exchange term in Sydney, Australia enabled her to gain valuable work experience from the Transport and Logistics Centre (TALC), a government initiative to build capability in the nation's T&L industry. She was given the distinguished task to produce the organization's very first activity report, communicating value-added programs to a variety of stakeholders. Melissa has also recently completed a work term in Beijing, China through the AIESEC Global Internship Program. She conducted marketing analysis reports for SINBON Electronics Co. Ltd., a Taiwan-based company providing electronic component integration design and manufacturing solutions to various markets.

As Director of Marketing, Melissa strives to build leadership qualities among her dedicated volunteers and to enhance NAAAP Toronto's impact on the Asian Professional community through many strategic marketing endeavors. Her previous experience includes leading the project of rejuvenating NAAAP's membership package, which is expected to be released in early 2008.

Cindy Wu, Director of Membership

Cindy Wu graduated from the University of Toronto with a Master degree in International Relations. She has had diverse experience in marketing, immigration consulting and recruitment. She is also actively involved with provincial and federal election campaigns. She currently works in the field of marketing, and is a partner at a printing advertising company. Cindy hopes to contribute by providing high quality services to NAAAP members and promoting membership. Her interests include traveling, writing, international affairs and learning about different cultures. Her personal website:http://www.bohemiansky.com.

Kulbinder Saran, Director of External Relations

Kulbinder has been a communicator, marketer, entrepreneur, consultant, executive director… culminating into Kulbinder being the ideal Life Coach. Kulbinder thoroughly enjoys being a Life Coach and her work has become a very rewarding part of her life.

Kulbinder looks forward to helping individuals answer the question:

Are you R.E.A.D.Y. (Responsible. Eager. Action-Oriented. Determined to be. Yourself) to live the "real" life you were always meant to live?

Kiki Genevieve Cheung , Director of Corporate Relations

Miki is a recent graduate of the civil engineering program at the University of Toronto. She is aspiring a career in the business management consulting industry and hopes that her analytical background, combined with her passion to work with different kinds of people, would bring some fresh perspective to the field. Her role at NAAAP Toronto involves maintaining ongoing relations with private sector companies while initiating new prospective contacts. She is responsible for handling the sponsorship programs and coordinating with other directors to integrate corporate programs and benefits. Through her participation with NAAAP, she hopes to extend her networking contacts as well as to be able to contribute to her community.

Helen Cao, Director of Mentorship

Helen has worked as an employment counsellor for the past seven years. Currently she is working within a government setting as a settlement counsellor helping newcomers to settle down in Canada. She is also working towards her real estate agent license and hopes to actively participate within the real estate market in the near future. Through her experiences she discovered her passion in meeting other people and helping others.

Prior volunteer experiences include organizing fund raising events, wedding planning, participating in Big Brothers and Sisters, helping different community groups and aiding organizational activities. She loves outdoor activities, nature, travel, people and diverse cultures.

Jing Liu, Director of Creative Designs

President of jingCo - a design and marketing company. Specializing in creative design and print branding for small to medium sized businesses. Jing is also the lead designer for JUZD - Urban streetwear clothing. JUZD is the planet's first bamboo designer label.