About

Jacqui Wu was born in Hawaii and grew up in Taiwan. After graduating from Taipei American School, she moved to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, where she earned her Bachelors of Business Administration. Jacqui began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in the Dispute Analysis & Investigations group, which focused on the accounting aspects in litigation and fraud investigation. She recently moved into investment banking and joined Sevara Partners LLC, a start-up boutique investment bank focused in mergers & acquisitions, restructuring advisory and capital raising. Jacqui is excited to be working with TAP to build a community of “expatriate” Taiwan-folk to pay homage to their Taiwanese roots and meet other foodies who appreciate delicacies like stinky tofu and chicken gizzard.

Charles Pan spent most of his childhood in Kentucky before going to Philadelphia to attend Penn. After graduation, he moved to Austin, Texas before moving to New York. He’s been actively involved in the Taiwanese American community, including participation in the Formosa Foundation’s Ambassador Program, Penn Taiwanese Society, and the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association (ITASA). He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of ITASA. Charles hopes to help broaden TAP’s engagement with its membership and bridge ever more Taiwanese American connections.

Brooke was born and bred an East Coast girl. She grew up in NJ and attended Rutgers University, where she majored in finance and fell into a career on Wall Street instead of law and never looked back. After starting her career at Merrill a month before the world imploded, she now works at an Australian bank where she learns phrases like arvo and bogan. Brooke loves to snowboard and dance in her free time and is always willing to try new foods/adventures.

Debra was born and raised in Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Austin where she majored in Public Relations and minored in Business. In college, Debra was an active board member of a Taiwanese student organization and thesbian of an asian awareness theatre troupe called Silk Mangos. Post college, she found herself in the windy city of Chicago and on path of a perk-filled career in media advertising at Starcom Worldwide on the Kelloggs account. After 2 extreme winters where the city couldn’t afford to salt down the roads, she packed up a van, drove to NYC and found herself quickly settled in, in a tiny apartment in the heart of LES. Currently a media supervisor at KSL Media, Debra juggles her free time searching for obscure movies online, 3 hr power shopping sprees and encouraging others to read The Fountainhead.

Crystal Tang was born in New Jersey and lived there until moving abroad to Hong Kong in 8th grade. While she was abroad she had the opportunity to visit family in Taiwan multiple times a year and has come to think of it as home. After finishing high school, Crystal moved to New York where she attended Barnard College, studying Art History and Visual Arts. During undergrad, she was involved with the Taiwanese American Students Association and also participated in the Formosa Foundation’s Ambassador Program. Crystal currently works as a Regional Director at Teach For America where she oversees recruitment and outreach efforts in New York.

George was born in Taiwan but grew up in New Jersey. After high school, he attended Columbia University and graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering. Upon graduation, he worked as a developer at Goldman Sachs, developing trading and workflow applications. Since then, he has moved to a New York City startup, Seamless Receipts’, where he manages the infrastructure and design process, as well as develops the systems. During his free time, George likes to go out in the city and meet new people.

Vivian is a Cali girl through and through, born and raised in a suburb in the LA area, and this shows in her ability to wear flip flops in 50 degree weather and punctuate her statements with “yo” and “man”. She moved to the chilly East Coast to attend the University of Pennsylvania’s undergraduate business program at the Wharton School, concentrating in Finance and Marketing. Vivian is currently employed at American Express in a Marketing role, and encourages everyone to get an Amex card. She spends her free time eating her way through as many restaurants as possible (and reviewing them on Yelp), regularly singing her heart out at karaoke (always looking for new karaoke buddies), and curling up with a good book (her favorite genre being fantasy, yes she’s nerdy like that). She is thrilled to be joining the TAP-NY board, and can’t wait to help build an even larger community of Taiwanese-Americans and make it’s next year better than ever!

Alex was born and raised in Connecticut. He graduated from Princeton University, where he studied public policy, in 2011. At Princeton, he was actively involved with the Taiwanese American Students Association. He served as the Vice President of the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association (ITASA) from 2010 to 2011. Taking part in activities with TASA, from attending the simplest of study breaks to organizing the 2011 ITASA East Coast Conference, make up some of his happiest moments as an undergrad. Alex is interested in public relations, advertising, and media. He keeps up with the latest in Mandarin and Korean pop music and loves to go KTV. He enjoys meeting new people, hanging out with friends, and discussing the politics of East Asia and Eastern Europe.

Eugene Morimoto Tsai was born and raised in NY. He attained his undergraduate degree at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA and completed his graduate work at The Cornell Hotel School in Ithaca, NY. He is currently working for RockSteady Development LLC, which is a NY based real estate and hospitality company. He is currently the local chapter president for TJCCNA (Taiwanese Junior Chamber of Commerce North America) and was also the founder and president of a NY based nonprofit organization for 2nd generation Taiwanese Americans.