Board

The AALEAD Board of Directors is a dynamic, diverse group of professionals, parents, and students. To keep itself accountable to AALEAD’s clients, the Board of Directors is mandated by its own charter to include parents and students from its target population.

Board Chair Smita Dutta is a Senior Product Manager at IBM’s Software Group in Bethesda, MD where she is currently working on acquisition integration. She has over 10 years of product management, consulting and project management experience through her work at IBM, UBS, AG in Switzerland, and at the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution. Ms. Dutta graduated from the University of Dallas cum laude with a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in History, and has an M.A. in History of Science from the Johns Hopkins University and received her M.B.A. from Yale University’s School of Management. Prior to joining AALead, Ms. Dutta had been active with the Girl Scouts of the National Capital Area including being a Junior Girl Scout troop leader for many years.

Kinley Bray of Annapolis is an associate attorney in the real estate group at Arent Fox, LLP. She represents clients before local and federal administrative bodies in land use, planning, and zoning matters, and she has litigated real estate matters at both the trial and appellate levels. Bray’s practice also includes advising clients throughout feasibility studies and providing zoning opinion letters in connection with commercial real estate acquisitions, as well as assisting in resolving matters of title and survey in commercial real estate transactions. Prior to her appointment on AALEAD’s Board, Bray provided pro-bono legal advice that was key to helping AALEAD successfully renew its zoning application to continue to operate as a community center. Kinley is also a member of the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and District of Columbia Building Industry Association.

Virginia L. Cheung is general counsel and Managing Director of Estate Planning at McLean Asset Management Corporation, an independent investment advisory firm located in McLean, Virginia. Prior to joining her current employer, Virginia was previously a principal in a Rockville, Maryland law firm where she spent 24 years practicing in the areas of estate planning, business succession planning, and probate and trust administration. As an active parent volunteer at Wilson Senior High School in D.C., Virginia assists students in the college application process. She is also a former member of the boards of the Community Foundation of Montgomery County, Maryland and other community organizations, and assisted in the establishment of the Nonprofit Village in Montgomery County. In addition to serving on the AALEAD Board, she serves on the steering committee for the Nonprofit Advancement Fund in Montgomery County. Virginia received an undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Maryland, and holds a law degree from Boston College.

Will Choi is President and CEO of Vertical Applications Inc, a consulting company providing IT Program and Project Management services to public sector and commercial clients. Prior to founding Vertical Applications, Mr. Choi worked at AOL as Vice President of Product Management and has considerable experience in global product management, program management, software development, offshoring, and business process streamlining and automation. Mr. Choi graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.A. in Economics and earned his Master of Science in Information Systems Technology from the George Washington University.

Jessica Hsu of Washington, D.C. is the CEO and co-founder of Clairvoyant Technologies, Inc (CTI), whose mission is to enhance the overall education experience of students through the delivery of game-based interactive educational content as a homework supplement. Prior to starting CTI, Hsu was principal engineer and R&D manager at BAE Systems, with a diverse background in research, integration and testing, modeling and simulation, protocol design and development, and systems engineering. Hsu also has a decade of tutoring and mentoring experience with various age and education level of students, including teaching at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talent Youth.

Huynh-Nhu (Mimi) Le is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at George Washington University. She is also currently a licensed clinical psychologist in the Washington DC area. Prior to joining as a board member, Mimi was a member of AALEAD’s Evaluation Advisory Committee. She provides training on various psychological issues in working with AA families to AALEAD staff. Mimi received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Clinical and Community Psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and her B.A. in Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jimmy Lynn is the Vice President, Diversity Partnerships and Strategic Relationships for AOL’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. From 1995 – 2006, Lynn and his team were responsible for developing and managing the Sports content relationships for AOL, including NFL, NBA, NASCAR, MLB, WNBA, NHL, NFL Players Association, HBO Sports, Sports Illustrated, Turner Sports, etc. Lynn, who graduated from American University with a B.A. in Communications and MBA in Marketing, is also an Adjunct Lecturer at Georgetown University.

In 1995, Julia Moe founded and designed an arts education program sponsored by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, serving middle and high school students in the DC Schools. The program featured studio art classes taught by professional artists in the fundamentals of drawing and painting. Over seventy youth worked with public artists and landscape architects to create public artworks that reflected their local culture, neighborhood history and natural resources. In 2005, she launched an annual scholarship program that sends five DC youth to attend an international film festival, MountainFilm in Telluride, Colorado. Students have a chance to interview film makers, broaden their understanding of the filmmaking process, and view films focusing on culture, environment and change.

Thu Anh Nguyen of Rockville is a Dean of Students and English Teacher for Georgetown Day School. Nguyen, who has a background in creative writing and English, is also a past Director of Georgetown Day School Middle School Camp. Her dedication to youth and education is clearly reflected in her various public presentations and publications regarding equity and diversity in the classroom.

Hansel Pham is an attorney specializing in international dispute resolution at White & Case LLP. Prior to joining AALEAD, he volunteered as a big brother and after-school mentor to recent Southeast Asian refugees in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Hansel graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. degree in Economics and East Asian Studies and received his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Amee Kishore Shah is a Director with MorganFranklin Corporation managing the  Program Management service offering  for Public Sector clients and serving as a trusted advisor for her clients.  In this role, she oversees projects, manages contracts, fosters client and business partner relationships, and directs intellectual capital efforts in her offering area.  She possesses over 15 years of experience in the areas of program management, acquisition management, organizational transformation, and process evaluation and redesign. Ms. Shah has successfully lead projects in the United States and abroad, and worked with senior executives in the public and private sectors. She is also a member of the Executive Committee for the MorganFranklin Women’s Initiative.  Previously, Ms. Shah managed global projects at multiple non-profits providing program management and strategic planning expertise to organizations in emerging or fragile democratic nations.   She received her Bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College, her Master’s degree in International Relations from The American University, and a Masters of Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School at the University of Maryland.

Ban Tran is an Assistant Vice President and Senior Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch’s global Private Client Group. Mr. Tran has two decades of professional experience in the international banking and financial services industry, specializing in trade finance and international private banking covering both Europe and Asia. He serves on the Boards of the Vietnamese Association for Computing, Engineering Technology and Science, and Devotion to Children, a local nonprofit. Mr. Tran graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Economics and International Relations, and earned his MBA in International Finance from George Washington University.

Buu-Linh Tran is an Outsourcing Manager with Raffa & Associates, working with nonprofits on accounting system transitions, budgeting concepts, efficient year-end audit processes, and successful implementation of business procedures. Prior to joining Raffa, Buu-Linh worked with an international outsourcing organization, where she led a global team on the implementation of financial software products. Buu-Linh graduated from the University of Maryland with a BS in Accounting, and received a Master of Science in Information Systems Technology from George Washington University; she is registered in Maryland as a Certified Public Accountant.