| Sarian Bouma | Ron Gordon |
| Jeong H. Kim | Patrick Oliphant |
| Eva Plaza | Jhoon Rhee |
| Flora Singer | Roman Totenberg |
| Philip Anderson |
Ms. Bouma purchased a cleaning franchise in 1987 and began with one contract for 200 square feet of office space, and one employee. Five years later, in 1992, she secured a large contract with the assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration's 8(a) program for minority entrepreneurs. Today she runs Capitol Hill Building Maintenance, Inc. directing cleaning services for over 2,000,000 square feet of space, employing almost 200 loyal staff members, and generating over $1,750,000 in annual sales.
Governor Glendening recently appointed Ms. Bouma as a cabinet member of Maryland's Economic Development Commission. Over the years, Ms. Bouma has received other awards for her work, including the ServiceMaster Merit Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Washington, DC area and the ServiceMaster Largest Growth Award in the Washington, DC area. Most recently, Ms. Bouma was named the Small Business Administration's 1998 Entrepreneur of the Year at both State and National levels. Her other accomplishments include the Welfare to Work Award from the National Political Congress of Black Women in 1998 and being honored as a Black Woman of Courage by the National Federation of Black Women Business Owners.
Ms. Bouma's personal story is one of profound determination.
After remarrying and having three more children, she has never
forgotten the days when she too received welfare. She hires
people who must rely on public assistance, who are homeless, and
some who came here as immigrants in an effort to help them start
down the road to financial independence.
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Mr. Gordon continued with communications work to fill a gap in the Latino community. He considered what he missed from back home in Peru and thought of the Hispanic artists and television shows that he watched as a boy. Mr. Gordon ventured to work in the growing Hispanic news and entertainment industry and to create some of the first U.S. produced television shows for the Latino community.
In 1989, Mr. Gordon formed ZGS Broadcasting, Inc. which consists of three Spanish television stations located in Washington, D.C., Tampa and Orlando, Florida, as well as two Spanish radio stations in Tampa, Florida. The television and radio stations reach more than one million Hispanic people. In 1997, ZGS Communications, Inc. and ZGS Broadcasting, Inc. had combined revenues of approximately $8 million.
As a leading producer of programming with Hispanic content,
ZGS Communications was nominated for four Emmys and won two. ZGS
is currently one of the leading Hispanic communications firms
that assists companies in developing advertising, marketing, and
public relations strategies aimed at the Latino community.
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Dr. Kim founded Yurie in 1992, while working as a senior project engineer at AlliedSignal. Yurie reached its Initial Public Offering in 1997 - only five years after its founding - with no debt and no venture capital backing. Three months later, Business Week named Yurie America's #1 Hot Growth Company.
The success Dr. Kim achieved with Yurie grew in large part from his diverse technological and management expertise. Prior to the founding of Yurie, Dr. Kim's career encompassed computer design, nuclear engineering, satellite systems, and data communications. He credits his seven-year career as a U.S. Naval Officer with giving him the leadership skills, management skills, and sense of accountability necessary to grow and manage a company successfully.
Dr. Kim set the pace and exhibited the determination of his future successes very early on. He immigrated as a refugee from Korea in 1975 at the age of 14, he worked full-time throughout his high school, undergraduate, and graduate education. Despite a hectic schedule and an initial lack of proficiency in English, he earned Bachelor's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in just three years. He also obtained a Masters degree in Technical Management from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Kim later completed in two years his Ph.D. in Reliability Engineering at the University of Maryland, again while maintaining a full-time job.
Dr. Kim serves on the Board of Directors for the Maryland Applied Information Technology Initiative (MAITI) and Coagulation Diagnostics, Inc. (CDI). He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award, the University of Maryland Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award, the KPMG Peat Marwick LLP High Tech Entrepreneur Award, and the Maryland High Tech Council Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He has also been nominated to serve on the Board of Regents for the University System of Maryland and is currently undergoing the final confirmation process. Dr. Kim speaks frequently at colleges and universities on the subject of technology entrepreneurship.
Dr. Kim is married and has two daughters.
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In 1975, Mr. Oliphant joined the Washington Star and moved to Universal Press Syndicate in 1980. When the Washington Star folded in 1981, Mr. Oliphant decided to work as an independent cartoonist without a home newspaper and he is the only cartoonist who continues to do so successfully. His work is published in countless newspapers and magazines worldwide. Specially commissioned works appear in The New Yorker magazine, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Pat Oliphant has won numerous awards, among them the Pulitzer Prize in 1967, the Thomas Nast Prize of Germany and the Premio Satira Politica of Italy, both in 1992. Dartmouth College honored him in 1981 with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree and the National Cartoonist Society named him "Cartoonist of the Year" in 1972.
Mr. Oliphant's achievements as a cartoonist, painter and
sculptor have been celebrated in major exhibitions presented at
the Smithsonian Institution, several presidential libraries and
most recently, at an installation in the Library of Congress, the
first exhibition presented in the newly restored Great Hall.
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Eva Plaza came to the United States from Mexico when she was two years old with her parents and three siblings. Ms. Plaza was admitted to Harvard University and graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor's Degree in Government. Ms. Plaza went on to study law at the University of California Berkeley (Boalt Hall) where she served as Associate Editor of The California Law Review and as Editor-in-Chief of La Raza Law Journal. After law school, Ms. Plaza was selected to the highly acclaimed Honors Program of the Department of Justice in 1984, where she worked as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Division's Commercial Litigation Branch.
Subsequently, Ms. Plaza entered private practice in Washington, DC. While her private practice focused on government contracts, she also served as one of the lead counsel in the well-known class action immigration litigation initiated as Ayuda v. Meese. Under the Clinton administration, Ms. Plaza joined the Department of Justice, where she managed and supervised a legal staff consisting of 254 employees specializing in all areas of tort law, including aviation, admiralty, constitutional torts, environmental torts, medical malpractice, AIDS litigation, banking litigation, vaccine and radiation litigation. She also chaired the Torts Branch's Representation Committee where it was her responsibility to ensure uniformity and equal treatment for federal employees in providing representation. Ms. Plaza briefed the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General on complex landmark cases that had fallen under media and congressional scrutiny.
Ms. Plaza has received awards for outstanding achievement such as the Albert Arent Pro Bono Award in 1989, Department of Justice and U.S. Office of Personnel Management Awards for outstanding contributions in furthering recruitment and advancement of Hispanics in the Federal Workforce in 1994, the National Conference for College Women Leaders Woman of Distinction Award in 1998, and a Fellowship at Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government in 1978-1980. In 1997, Ms. Plaza was honored as one of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States."
In September of 1997, President Clinton nominated Ms. Plaza
for the position of Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and
Equal Opportunity at the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Ms. Plaza was confirmed by the Senate on
November 8, 1997.
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Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee has been involved in every aspect of Tae Kwon Do. He has opened schools in order to teach not only the physical techniques of Tae Kwon Do, but the inseparable mental aspects, as well. His Martial Arts philosophy calls for building true confidence through knowledge in the mind, honesty in the heart, and strength in the body. His philosophy and seminars center around rediscovering the vision of America's Founding Fathers by restoring mental discipline in America and in the world.
Grandmaster Rhee has received a great deal of recognition for his achievements in Tae Kwon Do. He was named the 721st Point of Light by former President George Bush for helping inner-city children with his foundation through the Joy of Discipline program which teaches children self-respect, self discipline and self-motivation. In 1976, he was named "Martial Arts Man of the Century" at the U.S. Bicentennial Sports Awards. In 1975, Grandmaster Rhee was entered in the Professional Karate Magazine Hall of Fame and in 1983 was awarded Black Belt Magazine Man of the Year. Additionally, he was in a feature film, "When Tae Kwon Do Strikes," which is a Hong Kong production shown all over the world.
In addition to training Mohammed Ali and Bruce Lee,
Grandmaster Rhee has trained many members of Congress three
mornings a week for the past 33 years. Grandmaster Rhee fully
expects to continue teaching Tae Kwon Do for another 33 years
until he is 100 years old!
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Ms. Singer began her life in the United States in New York City. While living in cramped conditions and sharing one bathroom with four other families in the apartment building, she learned to read and write in English on her own at the public library. She supplemented the family income by sewing in a workshop at first, but then began to study stenography and obtained employment as a secretary and did translations. It was not until the age of 27 that she decided to resume her formal education and received her G.E.D. at Temple University in Philadelphia.
After marrying Jack Singer and having two children, Ms. Singer decided to return to school and earn her college degree. She attended the University of Maryland, College Park and received a Bachelor of Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude, in French and a Master of Arts degree, also in French. She was invited to complete the Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland as well as at Catholic University but did not accept either offer.
Instead, Ms. Singer began teaching in the Montgomery County Public Schools. She demonstrated wonderful teaching abilities and was constantly praised by her colleagues. It was while teaching that she learned about Dr. Alfred Butz of Northwestern University, who authored a book denying the existence of the Holocaust. This sparked Ms. Singer's anger and she began teaching her students about the Holocaust and its meaning. In doing so, she and two colleagues, Bob Hines and Sue Shotel, developed a class entitled, "The Holocaust: A History of Destruction, Resistance and Survival." This class teaches about truth, tolerance and survival.
Flora retired from the Montgomery County Public School System
in 1993, but continues to spread her message to people of all
ages.
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Totenberg continues performing as a soloist with orchestra in recital and in chamber music concerts. As his reputation for concert performances has grown, so too has his reputation for fine teaching and musical expertise. In 1983, he was named Artist Teacher of the Year by the American String Teachers Association. Currently teaching at Boston University, he headed the String Department there from 1961 to 1978. He taught at the Mannes School of Music in New York, headed the string department of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, and the Longy School of Music which he was the Director from 1978 to 1985.
His summers have blended teaching and performing. Since 1975 he has played and taught chamber music in Kneisel Hall at Blue Hill, Maine. Prior to that he taught and played at the Tanglewood Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West and Salzburg's Mozarteum.
Totenberg has recorded under various labels including Musical Heritage, Vanguard, Deutsche Grammophon (DGG), Telefunken, Philips and De Camera. In 1989, a compact disc of the Brahms and Lipsinki violin concerti was released under the Titanic label. It was on the list of that year's outstanding recordings.
In 1992, two Totenberg compact discs were released: the Ernest Bloch Violin Concerto and Bartok's Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra and Beethoven's Violin concerto with Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1 Opus 35.
In 1988, Mr. Totenberg was awarded a medal of merit by the
Polish government for his life-long cultural contributions to
Polish society.
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Mr. Anderson served by Presidential appointment on the U.S. Circuit Judge Nominating Commission Panel for the Eighth Circuit in 1978 and 1979 and was a member of the Federal Advisory Committee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit from 1983 until 1988. He is a Trustee of the Southwestern Legal Foundation and is involved with other public service organizations.
In addition to organizing symposia focusing on separation of
powers and public trust and confidence in the justice system
during his term in office, Mr. Anderson has spearheaded the ABA
commitment to providing legal services to immigrants. He has
challenged the Immigration and Naturalization Service and
Department of Justice to improve lawyer access to detained
immigrants and played a central role in the INS promulgating
detention standards to ensure attorney access. Mr. Anderson
remains committed to ensuring that these same standards are
extended to all facilities holding INS detainees and continues to
work with the Department of Justice and INS on this. Through
speeches, editorials, negotiation and publicity, Mr. Anderson has
sought to ensure that due process and fairness are provided to
all immigrants in the United States. His advocacy on behalf of
the immigrant population has brought compassion and hope to those
who arrived on our shores seeking their version of the American
Dream.
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