AABANY congratulates Karen Yau on her appointment as Executive Director of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families. Karen is a member of AABANY and co-chair of the Government Service and Public Interest Committee.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 12, 2013
COALITION FOR ASIAN AMERICAN CHILDREN AND FAMILIES NAMES KAREN KITHAN YAU NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EFFECTIVE JUNE 3, 2013
NEW YORK, NY- The Board of Directors of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) announces the appointment of Karen Kithan Yau as Executive Director, effective June 3, 2013. She succeeds Wayne Ho, who completed nearly nine years of service as executive director. Ms. Yau is currently an Assistant Attorney General of the State of New York, serving in the Labor Bureau.
“We are very pleased that Karen Yau will join CACF. She has deep legal, governmental, and community experience, and has shown that she gets results that matter for the least advantaged in our society. She has enormous enthusiasm for CACF’s mission,” said Edward Pauly, Acting President of CACF’s Board. “And we thank Wayne Ho for his extraordinary and selfless leadership for the past 9 years. He has successfully transformed CACF into the premiere advocacy voice for Asian Pacific American children and families.”
Ms. Yau began her career as an organizer for MFY Legal Services on the Lower East Side. An immigrant, she graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and Stony Brook University, and received her J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law. Prior to joining the Office of the Attorney General, she was an Assistant Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law. Ms. Yau was also a Robert M. Cover Teaching Fellow at Yale Law School. Recipient of a Skadden Fellowship, she worked at the National Employment Law Project. In addition to public interest law, Ms. Yau practiced as a litigation associate at Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard. Active in community service, Ms. Yau is a member of the inaugural Solidarity Board of Community Voices Heard and an alumna of the Immigrant Civic Leadership Program at the CORO New York Leadership Center.
“I am honored to be given an opportunity to lead CACF and to work with Asian Pacific American and immigrant children and families whose experiences I relate deeply to,” said Ms. Yau. “I am committed to working with the excellent Board, Staff, and Action Council of CACF to build on its legacy, and with fellow advocates to shape and implement an effective advocacy agenda for the well-being of the children and families in our diverse communities."
The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), the nation’s only pan-Asian children’s advocacy organization, aims to improve the health and well-being of Asian Pacific American children and families in New York City. CACF’s website is www.cacf.org.
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