Governor Kasich Staff
Cleveland Ethnic Leader Meeting
April 10, 2012
A group of Cleveland cultural and ethnic leaders has been working with the staff of Governor John Kasich to facilitate communications between the Cleveland ethnic community and Columbus. A face-to-face meeting was held on Tuesday April 10 at the offices of Margaret Wong. After a networking period, Lynn Stevens, Director of Minority Affairs for Governor John Kasich, welcomed the crowd and introduced the evening's gracious host, Margaret W. Wong.
Lynn Stevens,
Director of Minority Affairs for Governor John Kasich
Margaret W. Wong
Ms Stevens then introduced staff members from the Governor's Office.
Nicole Kostura, Northeast Ohio Regional Liaison
Office of Ohio Governor John R. Kasich
Merle Madrid, Director of Office of Public Liaison
for Ohio Governor John Kasich
The Governor's staff made it clear that they were eager to listen and hear the concerns and ideas of the NEO ethnic communities. Committee members Debbie Hanson, August Pust, Laurel Tombazzi and Dan Hanson spoke next.
Debbie Hanson, ClevelandPeople.Com
August Pust - city, state, national and international expert
Laurel Tombazzi, Rusyn Ambassador to ClevelandPeople.Com
Dan Hanson, ClevelandPeople.Com
Committee members stressed the importance of communication between the Cleveland and NEO ethnic communities and the Governor's office.
The meeting proceeded with individuals representing many different groups coming up and sharing ideas with the crowd and the Governor's staff.
Arnie de la Porte,
Honorary Consul for the Netherlands to Ohio
Hiroyuki Fujita, CEO of QED
Jonah Weinberg, Executive Director of
the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development
Myron Pakush, District Deputy Director
for State of Ohio - Department of Transportation
Hao Zhou, VP of
Chinese Professionals & Entrepreneurs Association
Jure Žmauc, Consul General of the Republic of Slovenia
Hiram de Jesus, Managing Partner
of Patriot Development Group
Rufus Darkortey, Liberian Ambassador to ClevelandPeople.Com
Sanjiv Kapur, Partner at Jones Day
Judy Wong of Margaret W. Wong & Associates
Felton Thomas, Cleveland Public Library Director
Pierre Bejjani, President of
Northern Ohio Lebanese American Association
Bernardine van Kessel of TeamNEO
Xian Wen Jin, M.D., Ph.D. of Cleveland Clinic
Mark George, Cleveland American Middle East Organization
Vi Huynh, president of MotivAsians
Radhika Reddy, founding partner of Ariel Ventures
Liming Wang, Vice Chariman of
Cleveland Contemporary Chinese Culture Association
Taras Szmalaga, American Nationalities Movement
The event was a successful first step as relationships were established or reinforced and ideas shared. Thanks to Margaret Wong for hosting the evening and to the Governor's Staff for coming to listen.
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