Evan Louie
Principal
Evan Louie is a partner and founding member of Asian Pacific Joint Venture. He was appointed by Governor Sandoval and the state legislature of Nevada as Commissioner of Minority Affairs, chairing the Economic Development Subcommittee under the Department of Business and Industry. Evan built a business recognized by the Las Vegas Visitor and Convention Authority as one of three enterprises representing Las Vegas for global tourism. He has received numerous awards including commendation awards from U.S. Senators and U.S. Congressmembers. Evan has been a keynote speaker at national business conferences and associations on topics from social entrepreneurship to state policymaking. Evan represents several commercial real estate developers working on site plans, land entitlements, and legal teams for approval of commercial and mixed-use developments.
In 2022, he was selected to speak on a panel with the White House Initiatives for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders on businesses engaging with local, state, and federal agencies. His public affairs firm has represented some of the most prestigious brands ranging from companies featured in Forbes magazine, iconic industry-leading business establishments, and successful global award-winning companies. He is a prolific public speaker and a media magnet, with multiple appearances on local and national television, print, and radio. His passion is helping others achieve successful ventures and giving back to our communities.
Genevieve Jopanda
Principal
Genevieve Jopanda carries over 20 years of operations and organizational leadership experience across non-profit, corporate, and government environments where she served as a political appointee for the past 10 years. Her most recent immediate impact is having served as Chief of Staff overseeing the California State Treasury. There she managed the Treasury’s day-to-day operations including oversight of upwards of $ 3 trillion in transactions and an investment portfolio of about $280 billion in 2022 in addition to leading numerous state programs and divisions issuing grants, loans, and bonds funding California’s infrastructure.
She is a board member of the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO), a joint initiative of the Philippine Embassy, Consulates General in the United States, and the Ayala Foundation, Inc. (AFI) whose mission is to support the socio-economic progress of the global Filipino community.
Genevieve was staff jockey in the passing of California Assembly Bill 199 which implements the contributions of Filipino WWII Veterans in U.S. History curriculum as well as a champion for the Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2015 recognizing their outstanding wartime achievements and honorable service to the United States. She was also awarded by then Ambassador Cuisia for her instrumental work on the Save Our Industries Act.
Genevieve is a Hunt-Kean Fellow and studied Public Treasury Management at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School. She is a dual citizen and proud daughter of Ilonggo-Karay-a parents.
Andrew Ko
Principal
Andrew has spent the last 25 years working as an executive for several large technology and consulting companies in the world including: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Samsung, and Deloitte Consulting.
Throughout his corporate tenure, he’s created and managed multi billion-dollar businesses globally, led national programs including the White House’s ConnectED initiative recognized at the US President’s State of the Union, implemented the largest IT cloud adoption in education, and created new technology incubators and accelerators across dozens of countries improving digital workforce skills and entrepreneurship.
He advised the World Bank during South Korea’s 1997 financial economic crisis and helped the financial and corporate restructuring of commercial banks and conglomerates. He still continues to advise the World Bank on education systemic modernization and innovation for developing countries in primary, post secondary and technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
He is serving on the board for several technology companies and political appointed board member of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA). VIPA is the Commonwealth of Virginia’s start up investment fund ($300M+) and strategic programs to increase economic development for the State.
His prior appointments include Virginia’s State Board of Education, Virginia Asian Advisory Board, and Online Virginia Network Authority.
Michael D. Weis
Principal
Michael is a principal of Firsel Ross & Weis, representing privately and publicly held entities in business and commercial transactions. He has handled the negotiation and closing of hundreds of complex corporate and commercial real estate transactions both domestically and internationally. Michael’s clients span a number of industries including manufacturing, distribution, real estate, health care, food and beverage, technology, and professional services. Armed with a wealth of knowledge and experience in corporate, real estate, and finance matters, including being a Certified Public Accountant since 1985, Michael helps his clients succeed personally and in business. His corporate experience includes all aspects of mergers and acquisitions, securities, and corporate governance.
Michael’s legal career spans three decades. He focuses on mergers and acquisitions, “Outside General Counsel” representation, commercial finance, securities, real estate, tax and estate planning, and administration matters. Prior to joining Firsel Ross & Weis, Michael’s practice included 10 years at a boutique firm in Chicago where he served as chair of the firm’s business and transactional practice. Additionally, Michael was General Counsel for a long-term care organization. He began his legal career with a Chicago-based corporate and securities law firm, where he was an associate and then a partner.
Mark A. Serdar
Principal
Mark Serdar has spent over 2 decades working with political and business leaders in the Philippines and throughout Asia to grow their economies and create opportunity. As Managing Director at JP Morgan Chase, he served as firm-wide Head of Globalization Strategy where he led the migration and execution of 30,000 jobs to India, 25,000 jobs to the Philippines, and 8,000 jobs to LATAM. He also was As Chief Technology Officer for the Corporate Investment Bank where he managed over 6,000 technology resources globally.
Following that role, Mark was an Executive Vice President and COO at Expert Global Solutions, Inc. the 50,000-person BPO organization (over half based in the Philippines) before its +$1B strategic sale to Alorica. Most recently, Mark led a firm-wide transformation initiative for Tenet Healthcare, a Fortune 120 healthcare organization, where he stood up a 2,500-person business operations center from scratch in Manila.
He is currently partnering with Westbridge Capital in executing an acquisition and roll-up strategy aimed at disrupting and transforming the global promotional products industry. In March 2021, they completed their purchase of Overture Promotions as its platform. In addition, Mark is a co-founder of Sembridge Operations which in the process of building the industry’s next generation business process outsourcing company as part of a strategic partnership with Intrepid Capital Partners.
Cristina Won
VP Operations
Cristina’s expertise lies in successfully creating and implementing strategic operational processes, mentoring and developing high performing employees, and managing business development efforts increasing revenue for over 20 years. Through her experience, she has become adept in overseeing a wide variety of operational responsibilities to ensure outstanding customer service and optimize financial performance.
She currently advises several early-stage companies establishing their operational management such as financial accounting packages, CRM systems, and marketing outbound lead generation tools. Along with her duties at APJV, Cristina is the VP of Operations for Kovexa LLC, an advisory and investment company focused on improving education globally. She oversees all the strategic initiatives and client programs for the company and has designed and custom built their client database, payroll system, and lead generation systems using the latest cloud and machine learning technologies.