Bao Vang, President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Bao has more than a decade of leadership and management experience in business, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies. She has worked on various committees and task forces, including: Mayor Coleman’s Light Rail Taskforce; the MN Welfare Reform Non-Citizenship Committee; the board of directors of the Center for Asian Pacific Islanders (CAPI), and more. Her business interests reflect the entrepreneurial spirit of the greater Hmong community.  She was recently appointed to the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband Access. She holds a M.A. in Public Administration and Management and a B.A. in Business Administration/Accounting.  She is a 1999 Bush Fellow.

Mai Moua, Ph.D., Acting Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Dr. Moua is the founder and president of Leadership Paradigms, Inc., a consulting firm which specializes in leadership and organizational development and training. She has presented her research and conducted workshops on leadership and organizational effectiveness to an internationally diverse audience consisting of leadership scholars and academics, executives and directors, practitioners, and students on a national and international level including the Middle East, Europe, and Canada. She also currently serves as community faculty at Union Institute & University where she teaches graduate level courses in public and nonprofit management and leadership. 

Bruce Thao, Senior Project Manager & Policy Analyst

Bruce overseas all aspects of programming and projects, including the Hmong National Conference, scholarship program, and social media and communications. He also provides strategy and planning for HND’s federal policy work, local initiatives, and leadership development. Bruce has an M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Saint Joseph's University and an M.A. in Social Welfare from the University of Chicago. He combines his academic research background with several years of professional experience in clinical work with children and youth, community organizing, international development, program management and policy advocacy. He has developed and led programming for at-risk youth in several cities across the United States as well as Thailand. 

Yunie Hong, Policy Advocate

Yunie is based in HND’s Washington, D.C. office, where she focuses on national policy issues that affect the Hmong community.  Yunie has a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a J.D. from Berkeley Law at the University of California, Berkeley.  Yunie has practiced law in both the private and nonprofit sectors, with a strong background in serving immigrant and refugee communities.  She spent several years as a Legal Aid attorney providing free legal services to low-income immigrant victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, and survivors of torture, and engaging in policy advocacy on behalf of particularly vulnerable immigrant communities.  Yunie was one of 12 attorneys selected by the California Bar Association to become a Leadership Academy Scholar and participate in the Access and Fairness Leadership Academy, which provided training for attorneys with leadership potential and a vision for serving underrepresented communities.

Kham Moua, Special Projects Coordinator

As Special Projects Coordinator, Kham engages in community outreach and advocacy for the Hmong community focusing on both Minnesota and federal legislation.  Prior to this role he was a summer Policy Intern for HND. He received a B.A. with Honors in Political Science and a minor in Chinese. His B.A. research investigated voting trends in foreign-born and native-born Hmong Americans. While in college, he served as the President of Winona State University’s Hmong American Student Association as well as in various other leadership roles on campus. Kham also sits on the Board of Directors for Shades of Yellow and is part of the core team for Asian Pacific Islanders United for All Families.