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The Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL) held its annual gala on Nov. 18, 2008, at the Four Seasons Hotel Georgetown. Since 1989, CAPAL has served as the sole non-partisan pan-Asian organization in the nationʼs capital promoting Asian American participation and leadership in public policy and government.

The eventʼs emcee was U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D, CA) and Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC).

Former US Commerce and Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta was the keynote speaker. Mark Keam, vice president and counsel with Verizon, former chief counsel to Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard J. Durbin, introduced him.

The special guest speaker was James C. Ho, Solicitor General of the State of Texas, the first Asian American to hold the office. He was former majority chief counsel of the Senate judiciary subcommittee. Les Jin, former executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and former staff director for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, introduced him.

The 2008 CAPAL Outstanding Service Award recipients were: M. Farook Sait, special counsel to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, US Department of Agriculture and president of the Federal Asian Pacific American Council; and Chiling Tong, chief of staff and associate national director at the Minority Business Development Agency within the US Department of Commerce, and founding president of the International Leadership Foundation

Other guests: Rear Admiral Kenneth P. Moritsugu, M.D., M.P.H., former acting US Surgeon General; USDA Associate Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Sherie Hinton Henry; Howard Moon, AMGEN director of global government Affairs, and former senior policy advisor and Floor assistant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Praveen Goyal, director of Government Relations at Research in Motion (RIM), former legislative aide to US Rep. Zoe Lofgren; and Lisa Hasegawa, executive director of National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, and former community liaison for the White House Initiative for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.