MEET OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS!
WENDY VANG-ROBERTS
BOARD CHAIR [she/her/hers]
Wendy, a first-generation Hmong American from the Twin Cities, is dedicated to dismantling racism and inequities through training, storytelling and creating spaces for meaningful dialogue. She is the Program Manager of Federal Strategies at Race Forward where she manages professional development on topics of racial equity for federal government agencies. Wendy holds a B.S. in Business Management and Master of Public and Nonprofit Administration from Metropolitan State University. In addition to the AAOP Board, she serves on the Antiracism Community of Transformation (formerly Antiracism Study Dialogue Circles) Board of Directors and Marketing Committee. Wendy is also an Antiracism Study Dialogue Circles facilitator, and she provides racial equity training and consultation to various nonprofit organizations. Wendy now resides in San Jose, California and spends her free time trying new restaurants, seeking out street food, embarking on adventure travels and hanging out with her husband and two dogs.
MICHELE GIRARD
BOARD MEMBER [she/her/hers]
Michele has been working with nonprofits for the past ten years funding, designing, and evaluating programs, training program staff, and supporting Senior Leadership teams in Minnesota, Colorado, D.C., Haiti, and Bolivia. Her passion for this work began at 20 as a Davis Projects for Peace Grantee, co-managing water provision programming in Haiti. She then worked for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Legislative Aide and U.S. State Department contractor designing educational programming for foreign delegations.
When Michele was not skipping school to work with folks in the field, she attended the University of Maine for a B.A. in Public Policy and University of Minnesota, earning her Masters in Development from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. In graduate school she was extremely fortunate to be a University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment Acara Innovation Fellow (that’s a mouthful).
SARAH GREENHALGH
BOARD MEMBER [they/she]
Sara Greenhalgh was born in Wonju, South Korea and grew up in Minneapolis. She holds a Bachelors and Masters in Social Work with a specialization in child welfare, and currently works as a social worker for a tribal nation. Sara has a background in applying a racial justice lens particularly in a Midwest Jewish setting. Outside of work, they’re a street medic, organizer, and dog mom.
KAYLA KHANG
BOARD MEMBER [she/her/hers]
Kayla is a public policy professional with 7+ years of experience in legislative advocacy and government relations. With experience in both the public and non-profit sectors, Kayla has demonstrated a commitment to driving positive change through strategic engagement with policymakers and stakeholders.
Kayla is currently the Government Relations & Policy Manager at LeadingAge Minnesota, a non-profit association of long-term care organizations. Prior to this, she spent two years in Austin, Texas where she supported various non-profits with their advocacy efforts at the Texas capitol. She also served for two sessions as a Committee Legislative Assistant for the Civil Law & Data Practices Committee in the Minnesota Senate.
Kayla is a proud alum of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies’ Legislative Leadership Academy (2022), the Texas Pink Granite Foundation’s inaugural cohort (2021-2022), and Hnub Tshiab: Hmong Women Achieving Together’s Hmong Women’s Leadership Initiative 2020 Cohort.
She was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota and is a proud daughter of a first-generation Hmong American. In her free time, you can find her vintage shopping or thrifting, on a walk in her neighborhood, or baking at home with her partner Joshua.
CRYSTAL LEE-THAO
BOARD MEMBER [she/her/hers]
Crystal Lee-Thao is a Hmong-American woman and daughter of refugees. This identity has shaped her into a passionate, action-oriented educator, leader, and scholar with over 10 years of experience in education, particularly in STEM diversity and inclusion, program management, and administrative leadership. Crystal is also a PhD candidate, and her main areas of research focus on the access and equity of student engagement practices and the role of family and culture in student success and motivation. Currently, Crystal serves as a Strategic Initiatives Lead for the College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota, as well as an adjunct instructor for the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences’ Career & Internship Services.