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CRYSTAL CITY, Virginia–The Asian American Government Executives Network (AAGEN) successfully held its 2010 Leadership Conference and Awards Banquet on June 10 at the Double-Tree Hotel here.

Both the daytime conference and the evening awards banquet drew record attendance, with several senior administration officials, top leaders and sponsors, as well as the AAGEN planning committee officers and members present.

Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra delivered the welcome remarks. The opening keynote address was made by Ginger Lew, Senior Counselor to the White House National Economic Council. The luncheon keynote speaker was Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth. The closing keynote speaker was Susan Tsui Grundmann, Chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board.

A moving tribute during the luncheon program, hosted by the Department of Defense, honored wounded APA soldiers.

In his opening message, AAGEN Chair Dr. Yann King told the members, “The conference will provide you with all the tools you need. However, it is up to you to open up the tool box and use the tools when you go back to your workplace.”

As part of its mission to champion the present and future APA leaders in public service, AAGEN is reaching to the next generation of young professionals who aspire to executive-level placement.

Awards

AAGEN presented three awards to honor government leaders for their significant contributions to this great nation and for promoting diversity in our workplace.

The Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Senator Daniel Inouye (D, HI), a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and chairman of the Senate committee on appropriations. He was recognized for his heroic and distinguished service to the nation.

The Outstanding Public Service Leadership Award was awarded to Admiral Gary Roughhead of Navy for his exemplary leadership in promoting diversity in the most senior ranks of the US Navy. Admiral Roughhead is the Chief of Naval Operations and is one of only two officers to have commanded the fleets in both the Pacific and Atlantic.

The Stanley Suyat Memorial Leadership Award was awarded to Ms.Ellen Law for her long and dedicated service to the Asian Pacific American community and her selfless service to the AAGEN mission.

AAGEN also announced the 2010 AAGEN Scholarship winners to deserving students interested in public service. They are: Francis Cheng, New York University; Cyndi Trang, Marymount University; Nancy Guarneros, University of California, Los Angeles; Megan Hiner, Meredith College, and Rena Wang, Harvard University.

This year's conference theme, “Asian Pacific American (APA) Leadership–Strategic Paths to the Top,” offered a vision to promote APA leadership in the governments.

Three track sessions were offered: “Getting In,” “Getting Ahead,” and “Getting to the Top.” Under these tracks, breakout workshops with expert speakers provided full coverage on improving professional effectiveness in the workplace. In particular, they provided opportunities to hear from the senior Administration officials on the coming challenges, underscoring the ability of every employee to participate in bringing about positive change, and influencing professional direction.

Throughout the day, the very popular and highly acclaimed one-on-one Career Coaching Clinics, conducted by 21senior executives from the government, resulted in a total of 84 individual coaching sessions for upwardly mobile civil servants.

AAGEN was founded in September 1994. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan organization of the highest-ranking Asian Pacific American career and appointed executives. Its mission is to promote, expand, and support Asian Pacific American leadership in Federal, state and local government. For more information, visit www.aagen.org, and www.facebook.com/aagen.org.

Recently, AAGEN executive members Bel Leong-Hong, James Meng and Tommy Hwang were interviewed by Ms. Pat Lawson Muse of the NBC-TV4’s “Viewpoint.” A DVD record of the interview and the AAGEN awards banquet will be available for viewing on www.aagen.org.