Adelamar “Dely” N. Alcantara, Ph.D.
Founder and current president of the board of NMAFC, Dely served as the volunteer Executive Director and grant writer in the early years of NMAFC. Dely is a lifelong advocate for social justice, veterans, and children’s issues. She founded the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Rio Grande Chapter and serves as a trustee of FANHS National. In collaboration with TRICKLOCK Theater Company, Dely and her husband, Ted Jojola, established the Manoa Project, an annual teen playwriting competition and ensemble apprenticeship. Ted and Dely have also established an endowment for Cultural Diversity at the Albuquerque Academy in honor of their son, Manoa. Dely is the current president of the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Foundation of New Mexico (BCMF). As president of BCMF, she was instrumental in the construction of the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial in honor of the 200th and 515thCoast Artillery. She facilitated the passage of the Senate Joint Memorials that created the Asian American Day and the Veterans Day at the State Legislature. Dely is currently the director of the University of New Mexico Geospatial and Population Studies. She has a Ph.D. in Sociology with specialization in Demography and Gender Studies from the University of Hawaii and the East-West Center. She has a B.A. in Philosophy, minor in Psychology from the University of the Philippines at Diliman.
Sue Thorson, MPA
Sue, also known as Hwasoon Thorson, is the President of the Asian American Association of New Mexico (AAANM). As a certified mediator, she mediates workplace/employment conflicts, family disputes, and civil cases at metro court. She also is a contract Senior EEO Investigator for several Federal government agencies. She had been a Human Resource Manager and worked in the field of social work. Sue holds a Master Degree in Public Administration from Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, California and a certification from University of Southern California in Social Work. Sue enjoys ballroom dancing and travel.
Kyoko Sonoda, MA LPC NCC
Kyoko is the one of the founding members of NMAFC. She was born and raised in Japan and immigrated to the USA in 1997. She obtained her master degree in counseling psychology from the University of Colorado at Denver in 2004. She is a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor of the State of NM, a National Certified Counselor, a Certified Gambling Counselor, a Tobacco Cessation Instructor, and a Certified EMDR (Trauma work) Counselor
Chih-Wei “Will” Hsieh, PhD
Chih-Wei is originally from Taiwan and has lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico since 2009 where he teaches in the School of Public Administration at the University of New Mexico. He joined NMAFC as a board member in early 2011.
Roderick Ventura, Attorney-at-Law
Roderick is an attorney with experience in various areas of civil practice including education law, environmental law, and Indian law. He graduated some time ago from the University of Colorado School of Law and Cornell University which are both big schools with lots of people. His parents both came from the Philippines and emigrated to New York City for the pizza. He speaks fluent German (go figure).
Kiutus “Ki” Tecumseh
Kiutus “Ki” Tecumseh is a retired federal employee who has lived in New Mexico for about 38 years. Ki, an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, has been on two National Boards and a dozen state and local Boards and commissions/committees. Ki is married to Nancy and they have two grown children.
Heddy Long
Heddy is the Family Life Director of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. She is originally from the Philippines and majored in sociology. Eventually, she moved on to Second language learning and speaks the two Filipino languages of Tagalog and Pampango. She also speaks some Spanish and a little Portuguese. She has worked and volunteered for marriage and family life for the last 35 years.
Victor Limary
Victor is Director of Operations for Talin Market, New Mexico’s largest international grocer. He grew up in Albuquerque, having attended Albuquerque Academy. He later graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a BS in Electrical Engineering. After having worked for Hewlett-Packard in Dallas, Victor returned to Albuquerque to help develop the new Talin Market. In addition to his role at Talin, Victor works with community-based organizations, and is currently a board member of St. Joseph Community Health and the New Mexico Asian Family Center.
Baoyuan Fan
Baoyuan was born in China and moved to Albuquerque, NM in 2000. She received her Master degree in Accounting from Anderson School of Management, University of New Mexico. She has been a Certified Public Accountant and an active member of the New Mexico Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs since 2007. Fan has been working for international and local public accounting firms and serves a wide range of the clients. Fan can speak Chinese, English, and Japanese.
Past Board Members
Zia Hossain, PhD
Zia was born in Bangladesh. He did schooling in Bangladesh, Canada, and the United States. He received a Ph.D. in Child and Family Studies from Syracuse University, New York. He did a post-doctoral research training at the University of Miami Medical School in Florida. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Malaysia. Prior to joining the Department of Individual, Family and Community Education at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 2005, he taught in the Department of Psychology at Fort Lewis College in Colorado and became department chair. He was president of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research (http://www.sccr.edu). Currently, he is a tenured Associate Professor and Program Chair of Family Studies at UNM. His research focuses on fathers’ role in child development across cultural communities.