Chinese American Bar Association
36th Annual Installation Gala Program
October 20, 2022
CNA Center (151 N Franklin St, 2nd Floor)
Order of Events
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[5:30 PM Networking Hour]
[6:30 PM Formal Program]
Opening Remarks & Acknowledgements
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Year in Review
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Installation by Hon. Rena Marie Van Tine
Officers; Board of Directors; Advisory Board; Student Board
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Brief Remarks from Hon. Sanjay T. Tailor
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Justice Laura C. Liu Lifetime Achievement Award
Rachel Huan Kao
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Distinguished Service in Law Award
Grace B. Hou
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Rising Star Award
Jianing Xie
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Presidential Leadership Award
Ivy Lee
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Closing Remarks
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Justice Laura C. Liu Lifetime Achievement Award
Rachel Huan Kao
Rachel Huan Kao is an attorney licensed to practice in Illinois, with a solo practice dedicated to immigration law. She serves AILA Chicago Chapter on various committees. She also serves Chinese American Bar Association - Chicago on the Board of Directors. She is a past board member and Treasurer of the Chinese Mutual Aid Association, past Treasurer of Chinese American Bar Association – Chicago, and past board member of Asian American Bar Association – Chicago. Ms, Kao is actively involved in the ISBA Minority Bar Association CLE program, enforcement of the Unauthorized Practice of Law, and has often spoken on immigration issues to the community.


Distinguished Service in Law Award
Grace B. Hou
Grace B. Hou has served under Governor JB Pritzker as the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) since March 2019. She also previously served as the Assistant Secretary at IDHS from 2003 to 2012, and during that time she was an architect of Illinois’ Immigrant Integration New American’s Gubernatorial Executive Order which was nationally recognized.
Grace has dedicated her career to advancing social justice by working in the non-profit and public sectors systems for change improvement through public policy development and implementation, social services provision, community organizing and engagement, and philanthropy.Â
Early in her career, she was the Executive Director of the Chinese Mutual Aid Association (CMAA) and has been a vocal advocate for immigrants’ rights. She is the board chair of the Healthy Communities Foundation, a 2001 Leadership Greater Chicago fellow, a member of The Chicago Network and The Commercial Club, and a German Marshall fellow.
Rising Star Award
Jianing Xie
Jianing Xie is a Staff Attorney at the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern, where she represents wrongfully convicted women and non-binary people. She is passionate about supporting families impacted by the criminal legal system, and creating a racially just society for communities of color. She regularly volunteers with the Chinatown Pro Bono Clinic, and is a member of i2i Chicago. Ms. Xie is a graduate of Harvard Law School, '19 and Duke University, '13. As a law student, she served as the Executive Director of Harvard Defenders and a student attorney in the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau’s family practice.


Presidential Leadership Award
Ivy Lee
Ivy Lee is an Assistant General Counsel at CompTIA, Inc. Prior to CompTIA, she worked as an attorney at Hlustik, Huizenga, Williams & Vander Woude Ltd., where she served as outside general counsel for middle market companies. Her practice includes commercial contracts, corporate governance, M&A, real estate, and counseling U.S. businesses on cross-border transactions. She is a regular volunteer at the Chinatown Pro Bono Clinic, where she provides free legal consultation related to landlord tenant, wills & trusts, divorce, and immigration.
Officers

Jon Yee
President

Yan Zong
VP of Operations

Kim Leung
VP of Communications

Eric Zhi
VP of Finance & Development

Xiang Siow
Treasurer

Olivia Li
Secretary
Board of Directors

Alan Chen
Winston & Strawn LLP

Ruth Chan
Persado Inc.

Di Fu
Loeb & Loeb

Frank Gao
Ladas & Parry, LLP

Yankun Guo
Ice Miller LLP

Huy Nguyen
Factor

Helen Ji
Schiff Hardin LLP

Vincent Kan
Illinois Department of Revenue's Board of Appeals

Rachel Huan Kao
Law Office of Rachel H. Kao

Ivy (Hsin-Hsin) Lee
CompTIA

Mona Li
Kempster, Corcoran, Quiceno & Lenz-Calvo, Ltd.

Elaine Liu
Mayer Brown LLP

Peter Liu
Baker McKenzie

Ning Ding
Z. Wang & Associates, P.C.

Tony Shu
Tony T. Shu & Associates

Andrew Sylora
Reed Smith LLP

Elaine Sit
Law Office of Elaine Sit

Jianing Xie
Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern School of Law
Advisory Board

Ann Chen
Transunion

Michael Chu
McDermott Will & Emery

June Htun
Law Offices of June J. Htun

Sharon Hwang
McAndrews, Held & Malloy

Nathan Leong
Microsoft

Dennis Mondero
Chinese Mutual Aid Association

Lei Shen
Cooley LLP

Darryl Tom
SLS Law, Inc.

Andy Wang
Wang Austin LLC

Virginia Yang
Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Gary Zhao
SmithAmundsen LLC