Karen K. Narasaki

Karen K. Narasaki "is the President and Executive Director of the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), one of the nation’s leading voices advocating for the rights and interests of Asian Americans. Based in Washington, D.C., AAJC is a proven expert on issues of direct importance to Asian Americans of all ethnic groups in communities across the country.

"Ms. Narasaki serves in a number of leadership positions in the civil rights and immigrant rights communities. She is vice chair of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the nation's oldest and broadest civil rights coalition. In addition, she chairs the Rights Working Group, a coalition of human rights, civil rights, civil liberties and immigrant rights groups working to address the erosion of civil liberties and basic rights of immigrants since 9/11.

"Ms. Narasaki also serves on the board of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and is a past-board member of the Independent Sector. She also serves on the National Commission on Adult Literacy, a project of the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy which promotes adult literacy across the country.

"As chair of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition, Ms. Narasaki is a widely renowned leader in the Asian American community. She has also served as the immediate past chair of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans.

"She is also a member of the Asian Pacific American Advisory Council, a group of nearly a dozen community, civic and business leaders who advise Nielsen Media Research, an international provider of television audience measurement and advertising information services. The Council advises Nielsen on a range of issues involving the sampling of Asian Americans for television audience measurement while assisting Nielsen to reaching out to Asian American communities.

"Through her work, Ms. Narasaki is a nationally respected expert on immigrant rights, voting rights, affirmative action and civil rights issues. A regular guest on News & Notes with Ed Gordon, Ms. Narasaki has also appeared on ABC and CBS News, Fox News, PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, America with Dennis Wholey and National Public Radio shows including Talk of the Nation and Powerpoint. She has also been quoted by national newspapers including: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Los Angeles Times.

"Recognized by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the “100 most powerful women in Washington” in both 2001 and 2006, Ms. Narasaki has received numerous awards and accolades. She was the 2005 recipient of the American Bar Association Spirit of Excellence Award, and has received the Congressional Black Caucus Chair's Award, International Channel We the People Award, and was named one of the “100 Most Influential Asian Americans of the Decade” by A Magazine.

Ms. Narasaki is a graduate, magna cum laude, of Yale University and Order of the Coif, of the UCLA School of Law."


 * Advisory Board, White House Project