Board Members

Junann is President of the NAAAP-KC. She has worked at Hallmark Cards for 19 years, and is currently a Senior Credit Representative. She is the Vice Chair of the Asian American Resource Community at Hallmark, (AARCH). Through Hallmark’s volunteer program she has contributed to the community in a variety of organizations. She was lead for the Finance Division United Way Campaign, Special Olympics committee member, organized the first Disc Golf Fundraiser for Heartland MS Society, and judges debate and forensics tournaments for Basehor Linwood High School. Junann also volunteers for the Japanese Festival, Harvesters, Salvation Army, Headquarters Counseling Center, Friends of the Zoo, Christmas in October, Karios, Guadalupe Center and multiple church gatherings.

Junann has two children, Nicole a University of Kansas graduate working at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Lawrence, Kansas, and Nick a Marine currently stationed at Ft Lee, Virginia for training. She crochets, reads and loves traveling to new places.

Ashok Meka is from South India and came to the USA to pursue higher education. Ashok earned a Masters degree from the Northeastern University (2005) and an MBA from the University of Kansas in 2017. Ashok is currently working for UMB Bank as a Vice President, Business Data Analytics. Ashok is a steering committee member of the UMB Bank's Asian American BRG.

David is a Senior Production Artist at Hallmark Cards and has been with the company for more than 15 years. He has held various positions at the Kansas City based greeting card company including Production Designer, Process Artist, and Multimedia Designer. David is very involved with several Employee Resource Groups at Hallmark including the Military Interest Group and Hallmark Employees Reaching Equality. He has served on the Asian American ERG Steering Council for 3 years and was the 2015 Chair of AARCH, Asian American Resource Community at Hallmark. Prior to Hallmark, he was Operations Manager for Vanguard Airlines Reservations Center and served in the U.S. Army during Desert Storm.

David was born in Saigon, Vietnam, but has lived in various countries including Spain and Germany. He loves to travel, is obsessed with live theatre, and attends at least one local production a week. David travels to New York at least once a year and has seen 72 Broadway and Off Broadway shows to date. He lives in Shawnee, Kansas, with his partner of 19 years.

Y Pham is a Kansas City based designer originally from North Carolina. She moved to KC for a different environment, to see what it would be like to start over. Coming from an illustration and fine arts background, Y has found that a cross-disciplinary approach is what gives life to her work. Engaging in topics such as the refugee crisis, the immigrant experience and language learning, she seeks to answer questions derived from her own experiences as a Vietnamese immigrant and POC in America, to create designs that are meaningful, ones that inspire a response.

Kayla Reed is a Kansas City based digital marketer passionate about building engaging web and mobile experiences. Data-driven decisions and cross-functional agile teams are her jam. Originally from a rural town in Southeast Missouri, it wasn’t until starting her professional career that she was able to embrace her Korean culture and identity. She’s especially passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and ultimately just wants to make a positive impact in her community.

As a public health professional, I use data-driven evidence to inform actionable programs that improve the health of people and communities. I am committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in my career and communities, working as an advocate and ally for racial and gender equity and LGBTQIA issues.  I’m a science nerd and social butterfly who enjoys connecting people and projects that align with one another. 

Shah is a senior software engineer at Hallmark Cards.   He is a Java/Android developer and web/app server administrator. Shah interned with Sprint and Missouri Lottery and joined Hallmark out of college in 1998.

Shah received undergraduate degrees in CIS and Accounting and M.S.I.T. degree in Software Engineering from the University of Central Missouri (UCM) and briefly taught programming at UCM.

Shah is one of the founding members of the Asian American ERG called AARCH at Hallmark and is the chair of the group for 2020.  He is also involved with the Hallmark IT diversity and inclusion council and serves as its communications lead. 

Shah is a founding member of the Bangladesh Association of Greater Kansas City (BAGKC) and performed various roles in its board over the years. He is also involved with various non-profit organizations in the greater KC area.

Shah was an undergraduate honors student for English Literature in Bangladesh and was involved in the pro-democratic movement of the late 80s. He had studied many literary figures of the major languages of the world.

Shah lives with his wife (also an English major!) and daughter in Liberty, Missouri. His daughter is an undergraduate at MU, studying Chemical and Nuclear Engineering.  His family is split in 3 countries in 3 different continents: Bangladesh, England, and the USA.

In spare time, Shah reads classical literature, writes blog posts on socio-economic and literary topics, volunteers for non-profit organizations and runs long distances.

Srinivasan Nambi is a Digital Solutions Manager at Hallmark Digital Experience & Technology providing  consumer facing omni-channel digital solutions for the Seamless Retail of the Hallmark Gold Crown store network across North America. Previously he was in Charlotte, NC for 7 years serving as a consultant through Infosys for Bank of America on various roles in Mobile App Development & technical project management in mobility. Prior to that, he helped build & support eCommerce sites for different countries & markets of Avon Products based out of New York.

Srini has a bachelor’s degree from Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (India). He started his career as a Software Engineer and has worked across several major cities in India.  Srini came to United States in 2007 for work as a tech-consultant & has made US his home for almost 12 years now. He moved to Kansas City in 2017 to work for Hallmark and is excited to be a board member of NAAAP KC chapter. He is also an active member of AARCH – Asian American Resource Group within Hallmark and an ally of HERE – resource group supporting LGBTA community within Hallmark. While at Infosys, he served as an executive member of VoY(Voice of Youth) and an advocate of [email protected] He is passionate about leveraging technology to make a purposeful difference in the lives of people. During his free time, Srini likes reading, running, yoga and travelling with his family and friends. 

Dr. Andrea Hendricks, as the Senior Executive Director of Diversity, Inclusion Strategy, leads Cerner’s global diversity and inclusion efforts in over 30 countries and the US. She is making an impact on Cerner’s culture by driving strategy and engagement initiatives that foster organizational learning and enhanced corporate diversity and inclusion vision for Cerner associates, leadership and community collaborative partners. Prior to joining Cerner, She was the AVP of HR and Deputy Director of Diversity at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and SVP of Diversity at UMB Financial Corporation. Hendricks is a graduate of Kansas State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Development Psychology and Mass Communications and a Master of Science in Student Counseling Psychology and Personnel Services. She also earned a Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri -Columbia. She also has received a Certificate in Diversity Leadership. Recently, she became an author of a new diversity and inclusion book titled: The BIG Journey: Bold Inclusion for Greatness. As an active citizen in the Kansas City community, Hendricks participates in numerous professional and community organizations.

Hoang-Anh L. Tran is Chief of Staff for the Administrative Pillar at UMB Financial Corporation. She is responsible for project management supporting the successful integration of strategic organizational initiatives, processes, and communication strategies throughout UMB's Administrative pillar in partnership with Administrative leadership. Prior to her arrival at UMB in 2015, Hoang-Anh served as Assistant Chancellor and Chief of Staff at Syracuse University, providing critical, high-level support to the Chancellor and President in implementing the strategic goals and objectives set forth by the Board of Trustees, and established key institutional leadership networks to guide the planning, designing, and coordination of policies, programs, and projects that impact the structural & programmatic operations of University divisions and units.

Hoang-Anh has over 15 years of experience in administration and academia, from theological education to legal education as well as Division I higher education, and previously worked at Syracuse University, Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, and Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, CA. She has a bachelor's degree in arts and literature from Southern Methodist University, and masters of fine arts in creative writing from the University of North Carolina - Wilmington.

In addition to serving as an Advisor on the Board of NAAAP-KC, she currently serves on the Board of the Folly Theater, as well as the Education Committee of Kansas City Young Audiences, which oversees staff efforts to develop and deliver resources for unmet and emerging needs in arts curriculum & programming in school districts. She is also an advisory member of the KC Degrees Business Engagement Advisory Committee.

JiaoJiao Shen, Public Relations & Social Media Director, Hallmark Cards, Inc.

JiaoJiao Shen is public relations and social media director of corporate reputation at Hallmark Cards, Inc. Her primary responsibilities include protecting the Hallmark brand, overseeing PR strategy, managing media relations, and providing PR counsel to enterprise-wide business partners. The best part of her job is telling stories about how we can all put more care into the world by offering words of kindness, encouragement and gratitude.

Prior to her work at Hallmark, JiaoJiao served as an account supervisor at Trozzolo Communications Group where she managed accounts with clients in multiple fields ranging from hospitality to residential/commercial real estate to non-profit.

JiaoJiao wasn’t always a PR professional. She transitioned to this career path after spending more than a decade as a broadcast journalist, anchoring and reporting in several Midwest cities including Oklahoma City and, most recently, Kansas City, where she anchored the morning newscast at KSHB-TV (the NBC affiliate) for more than three years. She holds a broadcast journalism degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Mo.

JiaoJiao is a board advisor for the Kansas City chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), as well as the professional development chair for the Asian-American Resource Community at Hallmark (AARCH). JiaoJiao is also a contributing writer for the Kansas City Mom Collective, a collaborative online resource written by KC moms, for KC moms. She is passionate about sharing her Chinese culture with others.

JiaoJiao lives in Overland Park, Kan. with her husband, two young children and 14-year-old Japanese Chin. In what little spare time she has, JiaoJiao enjoys cooking food her children most likely won’t eat, reading novels with guaranteed happy endings, and running… mostly after her children but sometimes for exercise.

Lisa is Past President of the National Association of Asian American Professionals of Kansas City (NAAAP-KC). Since 2012, she has worked for Argus Health Systems, which is a subsidiary of DST Systems, Inc., as a Senior Project Leader. She received her undergraduate degree from Friends University and started her career in the utility industry, then managed air navigational aid programs for the FAA and airports around the world — and if you live in Kansas City, you must at least work for Sprint, which she did in their marketing departments.

Lisa grew up in Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Kansas City in 1997 with her husband and two daughters and currently enjoys her three grandchildren. She also enjoys volunteering for non-profit organizations centered on the fight against children’s cancer. She is also passionate about creating different wonton recipes and offers party platters for anyone who wants to bring something unique to an event.