Siniva Bennett was raised in American Samoa, California and Oregon. She is a longtime member and current board member of Samoa Pacifc Development Corporation, a non-profit founded in Portland, Oregon to serve and empower the Samoan and Pacifc Islander communities. She received a Master’s degree from the University of Hawaii in Pacific Islands studies for her thesis “Warriors, at What Cost?” a political analysis of U.S. militarization and American Samoa. She holds a law degree from the University of Oregon.

Jennifer’s public and nonprofit service career over the last three decades has focused on improving housing and health opportunities for marginalized communities. She has over 18 years’ experience in the nonprofit sector where she led efforts for resource development, health education, policy advocacy and evaluation. She is currently Senior Policy Coordinator at the Portland Housing Bureau and leads policy implementation for Portland’s Housing Bond, the first ever affordable housing bond in Portland. Her prior work at the City include playing a key role in forming Multnomah County’s A Home for Everyone collaboration, developing racial equity tools and spearheading the creation of the policy framework for Portland’s Housing Bond.

In addition to her involvement with APANO, Jennifer volunteers time providing grant writing support to a faith-based free clinic in Tualatin, OR. She previously served on the board of an organization providing service opportunities in Mexico and also led a team of college graduates in operating a multi-cultural tutoring program in South Los Angeles.

Kathleen Jonathan is the Salem-Keizer School District’s outreach coordinator for Marshallese students. She is a member of our Marshallese community and has been active in APANO for many years. She is a former fellow of the APICLI Program, a former part-time APANO staffer as the Parent Organizer for the Marshallese community, has attended a number of the lobby days, and testified to some of the bills APANO submitted to the legislature. She is an educator who brings connections in Salem-Keizer region, and is also a board member of COFA and IRCO.

Sayer has 15 years of direct experience working with institutions structuring and measuring the impacts of their investments. He led the regional impact investing practice at Meyer Memorial Trust in program related investment and mission related investment portfolios for 12 years, deploying over $50 million. Sayer has chaired city and state boards focused on impact investing and managing public portfolios for impact. He has led investors in workshops to align social values with financial and cultural returns, and has experience as an entrepreneur, representing asset owners, and managing fund managers and consultants. Sayer is also on the Board of the Oregon Capital Scan, which collects and presents data to identify gaps in Oregon’s investment ecosystem and guide economic development strategies to address those gaps. Sayer is a board member of the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, the Oregon Growth Board and the Indian Land Capital Company.

Nhi Nguyen is a Strategic Planning Consultant at Legacy Health, where she supports the leadership team in their decisions related to the strategic growth and business development. Her work portfolio includes facility planning, healthcare community needs assessment, partnership evaluation, and merger and acquisition planning. Nhi Nguyen has a strong passion for Healthcare as she understands many challenges that the industry is facing and the significant impacts it has on the community.

Nhi’s interest in nonprofit work was kindled since a young age by her mother’s active community involvement as a social worker in a rural village in Vietnam. Nhi moved to Portland from Vietnam for her Master Degree in Financial Analysis at Portland State University. Here she continues to be involved in many activities in the Vietnamese community. In addition to her involvement with APANO, Nhi also serves on the Board of Maybelle Center for Community and runs her own business.

As a third-generation of a big Vietnamese family in the U.S. Nhi is the family’s bridge to connect the Vietnamese culture and the American lifestyle. As a mother of two boys, Liam and Louis, Nhi spends most of her free time learning, self-training how to be a “cool” mom, whom her boys could proudly introduce to their friends.

Kia Sorensen, Ph.D. is an Academic Policy Specialist in the Office of Academic Policy and Authorization at the Oregon Higher Education Coordination Commission (HECC), where she leads work on postsecondary transfer and articulation, as well as math education reform. Prior to her work at the HECC, as a research analyst, Kia helped lead the redesign of the Oregon Department of Education school and district “At-A-Glance” statewide report cards. Kia also has a background in research and teaching. Her research focuses on the intersection of education, policy, and family and has been published in Research in Higher Education, The Future of Children, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. Kia received her B.A. in sociology and interdisciplinary visual arts from the University of Washington and an M.S. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Cleo is the Development Director of Partnership for Safety and Justice, an advocacy group that advances policy reforms in Oregon to reduce incarceration and better address the needs of both crime survivors and people convicted of a crime. Previously, she worked in development at UCLA, where her focus was on increasing access to STEM education and raising support for the university’s research, education, and community outreach programs in women’s health. Cleo received a BA in Criminology from UC Irvine and MPhil in Criminological Research from the University of Cambridge. In addition to her involvement with APANO, she serves on the board of Oregon Abuse Advocates & Survivors in Service (OAASIS).