The Committee of 100 is proud to announce that C100 members Ming Hsieh and Charlie Woo will receive Ellis Island Medals of Honor next month.

From the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO) website: “The Ellis Island Medals of Honor are presented annually to American citizens who have distinguished themselves within their own ethnic groups while exemplifying the values of the American way of life.”

The award is presented to living individuals who possess the following: integrity, passion, gravitas, humanitarian, and ethnic heritage. Past medalists have included seven U.S. presidents, two Nobel Prize winners and eight C100 members: Yue-Sai Kan, Howard Li, Arthur Liu, Henry S. Tang, Haojiang Tian, Charles P. Wang, Walter Wang, and Shirley Young. See the full list of 2017 recipients here. The award ceremony takes place May 13 at Ellis Island.

Ming Hsieh is the President and Founder of Fulgent Therapeutics Inc., a cancer drug research and development company. From October 2010 to June 2012, Mr. Hsieh served as the President of 3M Cogent, Inc., a provider of global biometric identification solutions, following the acquisition of Cogent, Inc. by 3M Company in 2010.

Prior to the acquisition, Hsieh served as the Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cogent since founding Cogent in 1990. Prior to that, Hsieh was a research and development engineer at International Rectifier Corporation, a manufacturer of semiconductors, from 1985 to 1987. Hsieh received a B.S.E.E. from the University of Southern California and an M.S.E.E. from University of Southern California.

Charles Woo is the co-founder and CEO of Megatoys, an international toy manufacturer company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The company also has an office in Hong Kong as well as manufacturing facilities in Shenzhen, China, and in Commerce, California.

Woo is known as the founder of the Los Angeles Toy District. He is credited with turning the once blighted industrial area of Downtown Los Angeles into a thriving international trade business district. He is also a prominent real estate investor and developer in the toy, fashion, and arts districts in Downtown Los Angeles.

Woo is a former Chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and has been the only Asian American to head the 128-year old business organization. He currently chairs the Workforce Development Board for the City of Los Angeles, a commission that oversees the nation’s second largest workforce development system. Woo also serves on the boards of many civic organizations: C100, Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment (CAUSE), Southern California Public Radio, and the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles.