It was in the first month when I joined GE CR&D in 1997, HP came to my desk and greeted me. I didn’t know he was one the first Asian scientists in the center, just knew him as a friendly co-worker. He gave me a lot of info about the area and tips on how to adapt to the workplace. He also invited me to his home and I met Tingting for the first time. Since then, we became close friends and our friendship continuously strengthened over 25 years.
Thinking back, what brought us together was his genuine inclusiveness. He came from Taiwan, but never interacted with people from mainland with any bias. He also connected easily with people of different backgrounds. He has mentored and inspired me in many different ways over the years. I would like to share two stories.
Founding of APAF
In the 90s, Asian employees, especially Chinese immigrants, faced significant challenges at GE. The turnover rate was extremely high and the job satisfaction was low. In additional to helping each individual colleague, HP got an affinity group idea from Bell Lab and GE African American Forum (AAF). He initiated the employee based Asian-Pacific American Forum (APAF). He tirelessly shared the idea with his peers and leaders. However, management was not supportive. APAF's initial meetings had few participants. I remember Richard Keck and Hongyu Wang were there often. Everyone showed skepticism, but HP was persistent. Finally in 2020, we decided to have the first summit. We carefully invited the R&D leadership, but none of them attended. A small group of scientists proudly launched the APAF. With HP’s relentless pursuit, we got great responses from all the businesses and different geographical locations. We have also received guidance and increasing assistance from the corporate. Headquarter wanted us to find a corporate champion – an Asian with senor leadership position at GE. Out of 300,000 employees, we had only 3 names in the directory. One of them was overseas, and one was inactive. Norm Liu, VP marketing of GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) was the only qualified candidate and he graciously accepted the first champion role. The 3rd APAF summit was the largest conference I ever organized. It was a national event, held in a fancy hotel. Delegates from all over the country attended. GE Board Chair and CEO Jeff Immelt gave the keynote speech. Today, APAF has 26 chapters and over 6000 members.
Fundraising for the CCC Building (2001-2003)
HP introduced me to the local Chinese community CCC. He was also the one who introduced concepts of philanthropy and charity to me, since I grew up in a society where people were not accustomed to donations and fundraising. HP articulated that a community building would foster a sense of belonging, and most importantly it would serve as a resource center bridging Chinese culture and traditions to mainstream America. CCC had worked on raising the building fund for many years. Many long-time members would notice a big difference when HP became the building fundraising chair. HP and Tingting led by example and inspired almost the entire community involved in volunteering and participating. HP and Tingting literally turned their home into the community gathering places. Many of us almost addicted to Tingting’s sticky rice cake which she was making nonstop to treat people at different community activities. HP’s effort had snowball effect. I was the CCC president at the time and remember myself was very passionate, joining many high spirit volunteers, experienced my most memorable community service years at the CCC. I was supporting HP to promote “a dollar a day,” United Way, and many specific donation campaigns, such as name a room. I remember hosting CCC restaurants (volunteer families offered authentic Chinese dinner banquets and donate the proceed to CCC), selling cookbooks, organizing professional cultural performance events, and numerous creative ideas to raise funds. Within a short 2-3 years, we raised over $300,000 cash plus individual pelages of $114,200 for the CCC building project. This fund later was the key allowing CCC to acquire the Avis Dr facility in 2005.
HP put his heart and soul into something bigger than himself. He has touched, helped, and inspired so many people. He will be forever remembered.
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