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PPALM NEWS

2025 Military Leadership Appreciation Luncheon

The 11th Annual Military Leadership Appreciation Luncheon was held on May 14, 2025.  Here are some photos from this year's event.

PPALM / ROCKS ALLIANCE

PPALM and The ROCKS signed a Memorandum of Agreement on February 11, 2025 entering an alliance to partner, support and broaden their organizations by exposing their members to diverse populations, leveraging potential collaborative opportunities, and acquiring and sharing knowledge to benefit both organizations and their members.  The PPALM Board of Directors is planning a meet and greet with The ROCKS Board of Directors in the near future as a goodwill gesture and to build camaraderie.

Where in the World are our members?

PPALM is global.

Aside from our US Chapters, we currently have members in Okinawa (Cliff Chen), South Korea (Renee Lee & Jason Yee), Japan (Jonathan Ung), Greece (Shane Doolan), Ireland (Tina Carroll-Garrison), Italy (Yohei Sakamoto), Germany (Brandon Riddle & Lee Finemma) and Great Britain (Arnel David).

PPALM Launches New Membership Subcommittee

PPALM started the committee to increase, maintain and sustain its membership.

The committee is charged with the following tasks:

1. Assess current program

2. Create a strategy to include non-commissioned officers and equivalent rank/position in the civilian workforce

3. Consider Chapter's value in the development process

4. Develop and integrate a communications plan - on social media, online, in-person, and other mediums to highlight the core value of PPALM.

MG Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum, (U.S. Army, Retired), Incoming Director of DKI APCSS - December 19, 2024

The Pan Pacific American Leaders and Mentors (PPALM) is proud to announce the appointment of Major General Suzzane (Suzy) Puanani Vares – Lum as Director of DKI APCSS (Daniel K. Inouye Center for Security Studies effective) in January 2025.

The Inouye Center is a Dept of Defense organization dedicated to advancing security cooperation in the Asia – Pacific region which encompasses one third of the world’s population.

Major General Vares – Lum retired having serve 34 years in the US Army. Her leadership credentials include joint duty in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in her role as key advisor to senior executive and military leaders on key global, defense, and strategic issues regarding national security matters.

Following her retirement in the US Army and joint duty at Indo-PACOM, she served as President of the East – West Center in Hawaii.

Of note, Major General Vares – Lum is a member of PPALM and serve as a senior mentor to civilian and military leaders on the membership.

Congratulations General Vares – Lum on your new executive role and position as Director of the Daniel K. Inouye Center for Security Studies.

17th PPALM Annual Meeting and Dinner - October 13, 2024

The 17th PPALM Annual Meeting and Dinner was held this year at the Crystal Gateway Marriott.  This year's theme is "Legacy of Valor and Service: Honoring Service and Tradition". Below are some of the many positive comments we received from this year's  attendees:

"I didn’t know PPALM existed and I want to sign up."

"I didn’t expect to meet great leaders and young professionals..."

"..great job Tony and congratulations to your awesome team, much better location and great program from the Convention Center"

"I will sign up for your program, I was impressed with PPALM and now I know I can call on you to help me with my leadership plans"

Here are some of the photos from the event.

Military Leadership Appreciation Lunch - May 15, 2024

The APAICS-PPALM Military Leadership Appreciation Luncheon is dedicated to promoting leadership, diversity and AANHPI representation in our troops.

Here are some photos from this year's event.

Congratulations to four outstanding AANHPI leaders and PPALM members:

• Army Lieutenant Colonel John Abella on his promotion to Colonel ahead of his peers. He is currently serving at G-4/Logistics at the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii.
• Army Major Jae Yu on receiving his PhD in Public Administration at George Washington University on May 16, 2024.
• Thomas Mathews on his selection to attend the U.S. Air Force Officer Training School on July 30, 2024, at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, AL. He will be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and assigned as Cyberspace Warfare Operations officer. He is also a PhD candidate in Cyber operations.
• Elliot Ji Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at Rand Corporation working on nuclear related projects. He will soon join the US Air Force Reserve as an officer this summer. He is also a PhD candidate at Princeton University.

The enormous amount of talent and leadership displayed by these gentlemen are testament totheir AANHPI roots – to serve and give back to America.

PPALM STRATEGIC PLAN 2022

PPALM Strategic Plan (JUNE 2022) .pptx