Los Angeles, CA–State Board of Equalization Vice Chair Michelle Park Steel led the first-ever Asian Republican Leadership Conference focusing on opportunity, as Asians become the fastest-growing minority in the state.

Steel is the highest-ranking Republican in California. She and her husband Shawn Steel, current Republican National Committeeman, hosted the event.

The event took place September 17 at the JW Marriott Los Angeles at L.A. Speakers include five mayors, two county supervisors, eight council members, school board members and commissioners, as well as new candidates for public office from the Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, and Indian communities.

Partial list of APA participants included Ling Ling Chang, Mayor Pro Tem of Diamond Bar; Henry Charoen, Mayor Pro Tem of La Palma; Carol Chen, Mayor of Cerritos; Betty Tom Chu, Mayor of Monterey Park; Tyler Diep, Mayor Pro Tem of Westminster; Jeremy Yamaguchi, Mayor Pro Tem of Placentia, Steve Hwangbo, Councilmember of La Palma;

Allen Ishida, Supervisor of Tulare County; Janet Nguyen, Supervisor of Orange County; Warren Kusumoto, Councilmember of Los Alamitos; Alan Nakanishi, Councilmember of Lodi and former California Assembly Member; Miller Oh, Councilmember of Buena Park; Peter Ohtaki, Councilmember of Menlo Park; Tri Ta, Councilmember of Westminster; Michael Vo, Councilmember of Fountain Valley;

Sophia Tse, Board Member of ABC Unified School District, Cerritos; Naresh Solanki, Commissioner of Cerritos Planning Commission; Chuong Vo, Commissioner of Cerritos Planning Commission, and Ricky Gill, Candidate for 9th Congressional District (San Joaquin County, East Contra Costa County and South Sacramento County).

Asian population growth in California is outpacing Hispanic growth by a staggering increase of more than 1.4 million Asians in 2009 in just L.A. alone, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

The Census found that the state leads the nation with the largest number of Asian-owned firms at 509,097 (32.9 percent of all such firms), with receipts of $181.9 billion (35.8 percent of all Asian-owned firm receipts).

Also, there are 1.4 million Asians (self-identified as Asian alone or in combination with one or more other races) in L.A. County in 2009, which topped the nation’s counties.