Member Highlights

Meet the Board

Lena Chang, President

Current position and where you work:

Information Coordinator, FWS COVID-19 Sustained Response Team, US. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Emergency Management & Physical Security, Headquarters, working remotely from the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, Ventura, California

Why did you join FAPAC-DOI?

FAPAC-DOI came to me at a time in my life and career when I realized that sharing our stories as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders has tremendous value. My personal goal for diversity and inclusion is to break biases through sharing our stories, creative outreach, and education. My goal as a member of the FAPAC-DOI board is to continue to work with all of you to inspire the desire to engage members of the AAPI community across the DOI, supporting and amplifying each other as we create ways to build awareness and community both nationally and within our home offices.

More about Lena

Lena was born and raised in southern California and identifies as Korean American with an additionally rich Japanese cultural influence from family members who were born and raised there.  Her early background is in special education and wildlife rehabilitation, specializing in birds of prey. Inspired by conservation, she went back to school to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Biology before being hired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2008 as a Fish and Wildlife Biologist.  Lena spent nearly 13 years working with State, Federal, and private partners toward conservation of threatened and endangered species in coastal southern California with the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office in Ventura, California.  Recently, she transitioned to a position for Headquarters serving on the FWS COVID-19 Sustained Response Team and the Office of Emergency Management & Physical Security and will continue to be based in southern California. Lena served as FAPAC-DOI Executive Secretary (now Vice President of Outreach) in FY2019.

Thomas Liu, Leadership Liaison

Current position and where you work:

Deputy Regional Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Pacific Region

Camarillo, California 

Why did you join FAPAC-DOI?

I joined FAPAC-DOI as a founding member when the chapter was created in 2017 to share my experience as an Asian American working at Interior and learn from others. For a few years, I was fairly uninvolved as I had family commitments and being based out of California made it difficult to attend meetings and events. I became the senior liaison in 2019 after understanding how few AAPIs were in leadership positions at Interior and as video conference capabilities made collaboration from the West Coast easier. I'm interested in helping FAPAC thrive as an organization, serving as a resource to help other AAPIs enter and advance at Interior; yet at the same time, reminding and reinforcing to members that even though we face challenges as AAPI's (as do other minority groups), that the great thing about America is that our decisions and choices still matter more to career success than the circumstances or conditions we are born into. And I also want to continually emphasize that I believe that America's greatest strength comes from the fact that our country is unique in the world as a melting pot and that fundamentally, we are more alike to our fellow Americans than to anyone else in the world. So while FAPAC is a much needed safe space for us to share and process events, we must not use race to separate us off or wall us off from our fellow Americans.

More about Thomas:

Thomas started his DOI career in 2009 as a Presidential Management Fellow and the Chief of Concessions for Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks and transitioned to BOEM in 2011 after a brief stint at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He completed the White House Office of Management & Budget SES Candidate Development Program in 2016. Prior to government, he worked in finance and held positions as an investment banking analyst, corporate strategy analyst, product manager, and a hedge fund investment analyst. Thomas holds a BS from Stanford, an MBA from Northwestern, and completed the Senior Executive Fellows program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Thomas grew up in Cary, North Carolina. Thomas is proud to be a 2nd generation Taiwanese American and to be in a leadership position where he can provide insight, transformational thinking, give back to America, and make Interior a great place to work. [Note: I was sure if I was supposed to write this in 1st person or in 3rd. I can do it in 1st person if needed. Its sorta easier to write in 3rd person when writing about your career though.

Janet Cushing, Senior Advisor

Current position and where you work:

Deputy Chief,  U.S. Geological Survey, National Climate Adaptation Science Center, Reston, Virginia

Why did you join FAPAC-DOI:

I joined FAPAC-DOI officially last year, after being a non-active participant for a couple years prior. The impetus was the ever increasing racial intolerance and hate crimes that I was seeing across all minorities, but in particular the sharp increase of abusive behavior towards Asian Americans made me realize that I need to be part of the solution.

Anything else about you that you want to share with FAPAC-DOI?

I am grateful to have a community in DOI that provides a safe space to discuss issues pertaining to the AANHPIs as well as meet more people across the different DOI bureaus.

Shuwen Cheung, Vice President of Finance

Current position and where you work: 

Accountant, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration, Falls Church, Virginia 

Why did you join FAPAC-DOI? 

There has been a lot of positive attention on diversity, inclusion, and related issues in my work environment in the past few years, especially from senior management. I'd like to get involved to learn and contribute more to the movement and put more attention toward dealing with unconscious bias in the workplace. I am interested to join the FAPAC-DOI Board to encourage the movement toward a more diversified and inclusive work environment. 

More about Shuwen:

Shuwen was born and raised in Taiwan. Her early background is in International Trade, specializing in Cost Accounting. Inspired by exploring more opportunities, she went back to school to earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics before being hired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2008. In her current position, Shuwen is proud to be involved with the WSFR group working through partnerships to conserve and manage fish and wildlife and their habitats for the use and enjoyment of current and future generations.

Karen Sinclair, Vice President of Outreach

Current position and where you work:

Fish and Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office

Ventura, California

Why did you join FAPAC-DOI?

Due to being mixed race and adopted at a young age, I strive to reconnect to my heritage through trying new recipes, learning about the history of Asian Americans, and engaging in conversations about race. I look forward to becoming more actively involved with the FAPAC-DOI community! 

More about Karen:

When not in the office, Karen enjoys teaching her friends about local birds and native plants, training her deaf dog, and encouraging others to document their observations of nature through art.

Cindy K. Lowman, JD, CISSP, CIPP/G, Branch of Financial Policy and Analytics, JAO-PERMA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lakewood, CO

“Our sweet cat is a rescue pet and we adopted him from Anchorage Animal Care and Control in July 2013. The staff named him Mochi, and we kept the name since the thought of our family fur member being named after a Japanese rice cake immensely pleased me. The veterinarian estimated Mochi was 2 when we adopted him, so he's around 9 years old now. Mochi is a tuxedo domestic short-haired cat and he is atypical regarding the perception of a stereotypical cat.

He is very loving and affectionate and friendly to our friends. Mochi loves curling up on our lap or enjoys being next to us. I took a break to sit on the couch and he chose to perch on top of it. He is truly a great teleworking buddy.”

Barbara Green, Equal Opportunity Manager, National Park Service, Anchorage, AK