B3 Leadership Summit Speaker Team

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B3 Leadership Summit Speaker Team

Thought-starter Speaker

May Chen, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University in Taiwan

May Chen is a psychologist with many interests. Within the field of psychology, she has worked as an organizational, social, health, forensic, and clinical psychologist. She had declined opportunities to work for the NYPD, FBI, and CIA, and instead became licensed as a Clinical Psychologist and taught at the US Military Academy at West Point, training cadets in dealing with combat stress.  She currently teaches at the National Central University in Taiwan, and has been engaged in projects ranging from the psychological evaluation of violent and sex offenders to the development and training of EQ for school children. Her main research focus is in the area of stress, emotions, and health. 

May’s interests, however, extend beyond the study of psychology. She is a trained Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), a certified locksmith, bartender, and advanced SCUBA diver, and had served as a Hospital Chaplain in a Level One Trauma Center. Prior to getting her Ph.D. in psychology, May had worked as a manager in the International Human Resource Department at Citibank, both in Taiwan and in its New York Headquarter. All these experiences have given May different angles to observe human behavior, in ways that constantly stimulates her interest in psychology and its application to everyday life.

 

Moderator

Henry Tanaka

Former Academic Dean of Art, Design and Humanities at Oakland Community College

Henry Tanaka is a recently retired Academic Dean for the Division of Art, Design and Humanities at a community college in Southeast Michigan.   Serving for 24 years in various roles including Professor of Art and Department Chair of Humanities.  He has received several accolades for leadership and teaching.

Henry has been a practicing artist for 30 years, exhibiting locally and nationally.  He has served as President of the Michigan Ceramic Art Association from 2003-2007. He has presented workshop and seminars on his personal art work nationally. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kansas City Art Institute and his Master of Fine Arts from the New York State School of Ceramics at Alfred University.  He currently resides in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Appointed in 2012 as a State Commissioner on the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPAAC). He has served as a board member for the Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Oakland. He is currently Board member of the Japanese Americans Citizens’ League (JACL), National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) and Council for Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA). Henry is a fourth Generation Japanese-American.

Speaker

Lisa Allen

Vice President, Organization Change Management Manager, Comerica Bank

Lisa joined Comerica in August 2018 as a Vice President, Organizational Change Manager.  She has more than 15 years of experience in creating and sustaining organizational change.  Prior to joining Comerica, Lisa worked in a wide variety of industries such as utilities, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, federal government, military, and non–profit.  Some of her more interesting projects include a federal administration’s Electronic Record Archive Project, an organization design to support Lean manufacturing, and a Proactive Customer Notification project for a utility.  Even though she has worked in such diverse industries, Lisa has grown to recognize and admire the creativity and resilience of people experiencing change.

Speaker

Paula D. Cunningham

State Director, AARP

Paula D. Cunningham is the State Director for AARP Michigan which has more than 1.4 million members.  AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, social welfare organization with a membership of nearly 38 million.  They work to lead positive change and deliver value to all people 50+.

Prior to joining AARP Michigan, Paula D. Cunningham was the CEO of Capitol National Bank (CNB).  CNB has been in the community for more than 32 years.  She was the only African American woman in the country to be president of a majority owned bank.

Prior to joining Capitol National Bank Ms. Cunningham was the first woman to be President of Lansing Community College.  Lansing Community College has more than 30,000 students and is the State’s 3rd largest community college.  As President of Lansing Community College, she successfully led a community millage campaign to generate an additional $9 million for the institution into perpetuity. Under her leadership, the college implemented a strategic planning process that resulted in five new buildings. The main building on the LCC campus was officially named the Paula D. Cunningham Administration Building in 2006.  This is the only building named after a woman in downtown Lansing.

President Cunningham has also been a small business owner.  She and her husband owned and managed an 18-hole golf course and she was the founder of an entrepreneurial academy for young people.

Paula Diane Cunningham’s dedication to education, small business and community has been recognized by many organizations.  She has received numerous awards and recognition throughout her career, including the 2016 Michigan Black Caucus Trailblazer Award, being inducted in to the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, a former recipient of the prestigious Athena Award, featured in Ebony Magazine as a “Woman on the Move” and featured in Bridge Magazine as a woman who “Breaks Barriers”, as well as other featured articles.

Paula serves on numerous boards including, but not limited to Davenport University, McLaren Health Systems – Lansing, and she was the first African American female to Chair the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce Board. 

Speaker

Sue Sun-LaSovage

Managing Director, Ashford Connex

Sue Sun-LaSovage has thirty years of Human Resources experience in China, Singapore and the United States.  She is the Managing Director of Ashford Connexn and prior to that she was the Vice President of Human Resources for SRG Global, a Guardian Industry company.  

Sue began her Human Resources career in China at the Hyatt Regency Xi’an.  She also worked in various Asia Regional HR roles in Singapore with Molex.

In 2000, she came to the U.S. to advance her studies in the field of Human Resources. She then took on global HR responsibilities in various roles with Dow Chemical Company and SC Johnson, where she drove people strategy, culture change, and strategic initiatives for talent development and talent acquisition.

Sue earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Optical & Mechanical Engineering from HuaZhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China and a Masters degree in HR and Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in the US.

 

Speaker

Farzan Siddiqui MD, PhD, CPE

Vice-Chair, Radiation Oncology, Henry Ford Health System

Farzan Siddiqui MD, PhD, CPE, currently serves as the Vice-Chairman of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford Cancer Institute in Detroit, Michigan. He is also the Director of Head and Neck Radiation Oncology. Dr. Siddiqui completed his initial medical training at Grant Medical College in Mumbai, India followed by a residency in Radiation Oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. This is a large tertiary and quaternary cancer institute serving patients from India and other Southeast Asian countries. After completing his training in India, Dr. Siddiqui came to the United States to pursue a PhD in Radiation Biology at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. Following successful completion of his PhD program, he completed his second Radiation Oncology residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. After residency, he was appointed in a faculty position at Ohio State University from 2010-2012. Since March 2012, he has served in his current capacity at Henry Ford Cancer Institute. In addition to his clinical and research interests in the treatment of head & neck and skin cancers, Dr. Siddiqui is also involved with the operations and management of the radiation oncology department which is currently providing these services at 6 locations in Southeast Michigan. He is board certified in Radiation Oncology, Hospice and Palliative Medicine and is a Certified Physician Executive.

 

Career Coaching Speaker

David Chang

Chief of Enterprise Agility and Business Platforms, Comerica Bank

David Chang currently is the Senior Vice President and Chief of Enterprise Agility and Business Platforms for Comerica Bank.  He is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of business and technology strategy, and program delivery experience in the automotive, high tech, aerospace and defense and financial services industries.  He is currently leading several transformation initiatives at Comerica Bank including Contact Center Transformation and the implementation of agile and DevOps practices. Additionally, he has responsibility for Enterprise Payments and Deposit platforms. David previously worked at General Motors in Information Technology and Accenture as a management consultant. David earned his Bachelors in Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University and a Masters in Business Administration from UCLA.