The Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce: Ovation

Paul Kim, Chairman of the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce

Fact: May, the month just passed, was Asian-Pacific American Heritage month.

Which is why it made perfect sense for the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce to hold their annual awards banquet last Friday, filling the Zilker Ballroom at the riverside Hyatt with all manner of business types and community boosters and various movers-and-shakers of Asian/Pacific heritage. Not to mention a posh phalanx of other-heritaged associates and political allies – and a few grizzled journos in the thick of it all, taking notes and knocking back the Chardonnay.

Fancy dress, open bar, a bright crowd of mingling citizens engaged in spirited palaver, the satin of tuxedos as black as the ledgers of the more successful enterprises shimmering in the spotlights. Those spotlights revealing, first, the emcees for the night – Dallas TV newswoman Elizabeth Dinh and comedian Danny Cho – then shining proudly upon the guests being honored for their hard-won economic and social triumphs.

For example:

The Lifetime Achievement Award this year went to William Wang, CEO of successful flatscreen TV company Vizio.

Jamie Amelio of Caring for Cambodia received recognition as Community Leader, for all the good works her educational nonprofit has brought to that country.

The Global Entrepreneur honors went to Jialiang Wang, whose Jialiang K-9 Kennels are the largest trainer and provider of working and companion dogs in China.

Business of the Year was Silicon Labs.

And – closest to this reporter's heart (or, perhaps, his gastrointestinal tract) – Jae Kim's Chi'lantro brand of food trucks and restaurants was chosen as Emerging Business of the Year.

And a few other honors, too, which we'll leave for the GAACC website to better inform you of … but we won't end this business-y burst of information before noting that Paul Kim, Ying McGuire, and LD&C's Robert Lee of that Chamber did a fine job of wrangling this event to celebrate Asian-Pacific American achievements in Central Texas.

Which is, of course, a win for all of us of any heritage.