DFW AACC

Empowerment of all Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) has long been one of Daphne Kwok’s core values.

In July 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Ms. Kwok, Chair of his Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Ms. Kwok is the Executive Director of Asians & Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California (APIDC). A non-profit based in Oakland, it seeks to give a voice and a face to AAPIs with disabilities, to break down the stigma in the AAPI community about disabilities and to provide technical assistance to organizations wanting to effectively work with AAPIs with disabilities.

She was the Executive Director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) in San Francisco from 2005-2007. AIISF’s mission is to preserve and restore the Angel Island Immigration Station and to promote the role that it played in shaping America’s past and present.

She was the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) in Washington, DC for four years, focused on increasing political participation of the Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) community and working with the APIA elected officials from school board members to Members of Congress.

For 11 years, she was the Executive Director of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), a non-profit, civil rights organization with more than 10,000 members. She coordinated programs and services for 45 chapters and 37 college affiliates and monitored issues pertaining to the Asian American community, such as hate crimes, campaign finance reform, immigration reform, Census 2000, English-only, and affirmative action.

During the Wen Ho Lee investigation, Ms. Kwok testified before the Congressional Asian Pacific Caucus on the impact of federal counter-intelligence and security investigations on Asian Pacific Americans at the Department of Energy. She was subsequently appointed to the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Council.

From November 1997 until April 2001, Ms. Kwok was the first elected Chair of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, a network of national APA organizations.

A 1984 graduate of Wesleyan University in East Asian Studies and Music, Ms. Kwok is the first Asian American to serve on its Board of Trustees.

Ms. Kwok’s board service has included: Chair of APIAVote, Executive Committee member of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation, the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center, Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development, and a founding member of the Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund.