Itu Otu

Board Member

Itu Otu is the Senior Manager of Supplier Diversity at Wyndham Worldwide. He is a 20 year veteran of supplier diversity. Itu has been with the company for over a year. He came from Mars Chocolate North America, where he served as the Supplier Diversity Manager for 5 years. His efforts have led to increased spend (CAGR 9%) with Minority and Women Business Enterprises (MWBEs). He created a robust Second tier procurement initiative that encouraged Mars business partners to engage more diverse businesses and a mentoring program that positioned mentees for immediate business opportunities. For these initiatives and the impact his efforts have had in the communities we do business, he received the Nation’s Champions of Diversity Award in 2011.

Prior to joining Mars, he had a 22 year career at the Walt Disney World Resort where he progressed through several roles within Merchandising, Accounting, Finance, Minority and Women Business Development and was instrumental in positioning Walt Disney World Resort as a choice destination for multicultural convention businesses.

Itu is a member of the Food & Beverage Group of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, and a Brain Trust member of the United States Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

Itu served on the boards of two non-profit organizations. He was the chairman of the board of directors for the African Community Association of Central Florida, Inc., and the treasurer for the Hope Waddell Training Institute Old Student Association North America, Inc.Itu served on the boards of two non-profit organizations. He was the chairman of the board of directors for the African Community Association of Central Florida, Inc., and the treasurer for the Hope Waddell Training Institute Old Student Association North America, Inc.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Rust College, Hollyprings, Mississippi and Master of Business Administration degree from Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Itu is married to Henrietta and blessed with two wonderful children, Tameka and Etim.

Lily Hui

Treasurer

Lily Hui, Partner with Raich Ende Malter & Co. LLP, has over 25 years of audit, accounting and tax experience providing audit, review, compilation, business consultation and planning to a wide variety of industries particularly closely and privately held companies. The industries include real estate, professional service organizations, manufacturing, wholesale & distribution and service industry. Lily also specializes in providing attest services to employee benefit plans, primarily 401(k) plans, profit sharing plans, and defined benefit plans.  Lily assists clients with tax planning and projections as well as taxation matters relate to S corporations, partnerships and individuals.

Albert Wei

Board Member

Albert Wei, President of Vizion Logistics, LLC, founded and established Vizion Logistics in March 2003 with his brother, Benjamin Wei. With over 40 years of combined experience, Albert and Ben decided to create a boutique logistics company; its objectives mainly to a) provide exceptional service to its clients; b) create a team of professionals who will have direct influence over the company’s bottom line and; c) have a “flat corporate structure”, instilling a sense of family unity.

Prior to Vizion, Albert was the Senior Vice President of Rical Logistics in both Los Angeles and New York. Albert has also lived and worked in Bangkok, Thailand as the Managing Director of Expeditors International, and was recruited to set up the Bangkok office. Previous to his logistics career, Albert was a banking executive with The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC). Albert graduated from the bank’s one year intensive “Executive Training Program,” which included a three-week Outward Bound course and a six month posting in the Solomon Islands. Albert has worked in various executive positions in the consumer banking, cash management and corporate finance divisions based in Hong Kong, New York and Los Angeles.

Albert graduated from SUNY Albany with a BA in Economics. Albert is married with two children. He loves to golf and hopes to dedicate more of his time to his heritage. Albert was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to the United States in 1969. He speaks fluent Cantonese and Mandarin.

Melanie Gunn

Board Member

Melanie Gunn serves as Assistant Manager, Supplier Diversity for Time Warner Inc. In this role, she is the primary contact and liaison for supplier diversity at Time Warner Corporate. Melanie is also responsible for managing the supplier diversity website & database, filling MWBE sourcing requests, coordinating internal and external outreach activities, and assisting all TW divisions with their supplier diversity efforts.

Jessica Choi

Board Member

As assistant vice president of talent acquisition and diversity, Jessica is responsible for developing best practices for talent benchmarking, talent assessment, and interviewing effectiveness for the Career Agency System at Penn Mutual. She is focused on supporting Penn Mutual’s efforts on recruiting a talented workforce and identifying candidates with passion and strong goals who can envision themselves growing and shaping their career at Penn Mutual.

Jessica has held various positions in diversity and inclusion, human resources, operations, sales, and other corporate functions with companies in the professional services and pharmaceutical distribution industries.

Jessica started her career with ARAMARK and worked in a variety of food service operations roles with increasing responsibilities before transitioning to a human resources function where she developed a high school internship program. Later, Jessica was in charge of leading strategic workforce planning before moving into a sales function where she managed large national account portfolios.

Jessica then became responsible for supplier diversity where she was charged with enhancing the ability to gain and retain business, promote capacity, and create policies that promote operational efficiency. She then led a global diversity and inclusion strategy and managed corporate partnerships with key external and industry organizations that aligned with business goals.

While with AmerisourceBergen, Jessica was the Director of Diversity and Inclusion where she was responsible for integrating global diversity and inclusion practices into business strategies as well as the enhancement of a diverse and high performing workforce.

Jessica serves as an Ambassador to the Elevate Leadership Forum by the University of California San Diego, a Corporate Brain Trust Co-Chair for the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, and the Women’s Business Enterprise Council Certification and Awards Committee. She holds a B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from University of Phoenix. 

Khoa Le

Board Member

Khoa is a results-driven entrepreneur and professional filmmaker with extensive experience in films, commercials, and corporate branding. As the founder of KVibe Productions, LLC and it's subsidiaries, Live Picture Studios and Climb The Search, Khoa established a reputation amongst the clients for delivering exceptional work in a timely fashion.   

Le established KVibe Productions, an award-winning full service film and video production company, in 2012 and its subsidiary, Live Picture Studios (LPS). Since it's inception, LPS has exponentially grown to become one of the most distinguished companies in the wedding industry for its cinematic wedding film services completing over 300 weddings a year. His company was awarded "Best of the Knot Weddings" in 2013, 2014 and 2015, as well as WeddingWire's "Bride's Choice Award in 2014 and 2015."   

Khoa is motivated by the belief that he can create an organization that not only delivers quality results, but one where employees will wake up inspired to come to work each day. Ultimately, through KVibe and its subsidiaries, Khoa aim to create more employment opportunities across all industries.

Punita Patel

Board Member

Responsible for developing and engaging certified minority-owned, women-owned, LGBT-owned, disability owned, veteran and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses to integrate them into the JPMorgan Chase sourcing and procurement processes.
 
Manage internal relationships between lines of business and global supplier diversity team to create firm-wide awareness and foster partnerships with global supplier diversity program
 
Direct the development and implementation of supplier diversity best practices, strategies, procedures and tactics to build an inclusive diverse supply chain
 
Drive diverse supplier utilization goals enterprise-wide
 
Champion for the growth of supplier diversity initiative internally and externally
 
Maintain visibility of the firm's supplier diversity activity and recognition within JPMorgan Chase and outwardly to build brand equity with targeted consumer markets
 
Facilitate strategic procurement alliances with business leaders, suppliers, customers and community

Judy Lai

Board Member

Judy is currently responsible for developing best practices for talent development and talent acquisition and implementing those strategies nationwide for the field agencies at Penn Mutual.  She is focused on marketing Penn Mutual’s great career opportunities, creating programs to attract talent to join the company as financial advisers, and helping current financial advisers grow and shape their careers at Penn Mutual.  As one of the faster-growing occupations in the US plus its high income potential, Judy is passionate about attracting new talent into this industry.

Prior to Penn Mutual, Judy held various roles in Human Resources and Diversity & Inclusion domestically and abroad with Aramark.  She started out her career in a HR rotation program and then moved into an HR Generalist role supporting the Business Services division at Aramark and Seamless, a newly acquired company at the time.  Judy then got the opportunity to work abroad in China managing HR for the Beijing Olympics and subsequently stayed after the project concluded with Aramark China, managing their recruiting, college recruiting, and training & development departments.  During her time with Aramark China, she was tapped again to lead University Relations and HR for the Asian Games project in Guangzhou, China.  After her time in China, Judy returned to the US in Diversity & Inclusion, a personal passion, managing Employee Resource Groups, external partnerships, the executive diversity council, and diversity training at Aramark. 

With Judy’s roles at Penn Mutual and Aramark, she was able to gain experience domestically and internationally in all aspects of human resources within complex environments while managing large-scale projects.  Judy has a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University in Industrial and Labor Relations.  She is also a Certified Internet Recruiter (CIR) and a Certified Diversity and Inclusion Recruiter (CDR).