HIV/AIDS organization ASIAC this month announced that its interim executive director is stepping into the post permanently.
After a national search, the ASIAC board selected Kevin Huang as the agency’s executive director earlier this month.
Huang has been serving as the temporary leader since October, following the departure of longtime director Ronald Sy.
Board co-chair Melissa Frost said, that once Sy announced he was stepping down, the organization connected with nonprofit capacity-building agency Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, headquartered in San Francisco, to identify a consultant to facilitate the search process.
Frost said five candidates, including Huang, applied for the permanent job and were vetted through a process that included input from board members and staffers. Huang was not involved in the search process.
“We really wanted this to be a mindful and thoughtful process,” Frost said. “This agency is really important to all of us and important to the city, so we wanted a lot of thought to go into it. We didn’t want to rush this, so we thought we’d put an interim in to continue the process because it can be hard in a specialized area like ours. So Kevin was recommended for the interim position by our consultant, and then we were able to work really hard on identifying what we were looking for in a director and the skills they needed.”
Huang was most recently working on his art career, but moved to Philadelphia in 2008 after working as the policy and capacity-building specialist at New York City’s Asian & Pacific Island Coalition on HIV/AIDS.
Huang said he was eager to jump on board with ASIAC when the interim position arose and lend his skill set to growing the mission and influence of the agency.
“I appreciate a good challenge, and I could see there were a lot of opportunities for expanding the Asian-American health agenda in Philadelphia,” he said. “And I think the organization has the opportunity to reestablish a lot of connections that may have been lost with the gay community as well. I felt like this was a good opportunity to really make some policy strides in Asian-American health.”
ASIAC, like many other HIV/AIDS service organizations, has recently contended with budgetary challenges, Huang said; however, the economic conditions have not deterred, but rather bolstered, the agency’s commitment to further developing and diversifying its mission and programming.
“Over the past number of years, ASIAC has been battered in terms of budget and programs, as most nonprofits have, and that’s resulted in the loss of quite a few critical components of our program work,” Huang said. “But this is a good opportunity now to look into expanding the work that we do based on our most recent strategic plan and expand into health issues beyond HIV that are still critical to Asian communities.”
Frost said that Huang has already assimilated well into the ASIAC team.
“We’ve been really impressed by how well he did during the interim time,” she said. “He’s been a great fit for the agency. He has an amazing background in the world of HIV/AIDS and also in working with nonprofits and helping them stabilize and grow.”
ASIAC supporters will have a chance to discuss the future of the organization with Huang at the group’s fourth-annual Lunar New Year fundraising banquet next month.
The event, held from 6-10 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Hibachi Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar, 325 N. Columbus Blvd., will feature a cocktail hour, buffet-style dinner and cash bar. Guests can partake in a silent auction and several raffles, with all proceeds benefiting ASIAC’s programs and services.
Tickets to the banquet are $75, with VIP tables for 10 guests available for $1,000. Sponsorship packages and advertising space are also available.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call 215-629-2300 or visit www.asiac.org.