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he US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation (USPAACC) culminated its months-long and first-ever virtual celebration of its founding with the 35th Anniversary Jade Jubilee Tribute Dinner - affirming the value of online technology in increasing access to and engagement with diverse business communities. The marquee event, held December 8, 2020, was part of CelebrASIAN Business + Procurement Con- ference, which launched virtually in July. CelebrA- SIAN is the countrys largest and most established B2B event convened by Pan Asian Americans to connect with small, medium and large enterprises. Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf, Former Pep- siCo Chairman & CEO and current Amazon board member Indra Nooyi and Vice President of Amazon AI, Amazon Web Services Swami Sivasubramanian were among the esteemed corporate guests who gave warm and encouraging remarks to start off the evening. For more than three decades, USPAACC has been instrumental in fostering economic growth and opening doors to Pan Asian American business own- ers, said Scharf. He added that USPAACC's work has educated a generation of Pan Asian Americans and traced Wells Fargos longstanding involve- ment with USPAACC and the Pan Asian American community. I honestly believe that USPAACC is an amazing organization, said Nooyi, who has served as CelebrASIAN Conference Chair a record four times. You have provided an environment for Pan Asian American businesses to exchange ideas, share best practices and have brought supplier diversity to the forefront of national discussion. Sivasubramanian acknowledged the communitys

A Pandemic Pivot

USPAACC hosts virtual and months-long 35th Anniversary Jade Jubilee Celebration

resilience in these challenging times and thanked USPAACC for raising the bar and supporting Pan Asian American businesses. Thank you to the steadfast support of our friends in corporate America, government agencies, national nonprofits and the small and diverse business com- munities who have been with us through our arduous journey, said USPAACC National President & CEO Susan Au Allen, who gave the welcome and closing remarks. The metaphorical acorn we planted in 1984 has now grown into a sturdy oak tree. The milestone event also paid tribute to select Stars from corporate America, government agencies and Asian American businesses who have helped USPAACC achieve its mission of providing procurement opportunities for its members, and for creating a unified and amplified voice for inclusion, equality and economic growth on behalf of the Pan Asian American business community. The 35 Corporation Stars honored were: AARP; Aflac; AT&T; Avis; Bank of America; Caesars Entertainment; Charter Communications; Dennys; The Hartford Group; Hilton; International Paper; JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Kaiser Permanente; Kelloggs; Major League Baseball (MLB); MGM Resorts International; Morgan Stanley; Nationwide; Nissan; PepsiCo; Professional Golfers Association (PGA); PNC; Southern California Edison; State Farm; T-Mobile; Target; TIAA; Trane Technologies; SunTrust; United; UPS; USBank; The Walt Disney Company; Wells Fargo and Wyndham Destinations. The Federal Small Business Program Stars honored were from the Office of Small and Dis- advantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing & Urban Development and Trea- sury, as well as from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the U.S. Postal Service. The Pan Asian American Business Stars honored were: Ampcus; MSL Express Inc.; TIG; RCI Technologies Inc.; Sugar Bowl Bakery; Qnexis and Softpath. Winners of the Fast 100 Asian American Busi- ness Awards - from a broad list of industries with combined revenue of $3 billion and with companies recording up to 431 percent growth - together with the winners of the 7th Annual Whats Your Pitch Innovation Competition and recipients of the 31st Annual College Scholarship Awards, were also presented during the dinner. The Conference Title Chair was Amazon and Chair for Financial Industry was Wells Fargo. Plat- inum Sponsors were Bank of America, Facebook, JPMorgan Chase and T-Mobile. Earlier in the day, the virtual Chief Technology/ Information Officers Forum and Business Leader- ship & College Scholarship Brunch were held via Zoom.