Mr. Pondicherry is a committed community leader serving on many committees representing the state. Pondicherry has served as a commissioner and Chair of the Nebraska Library Commission for 2 Terms, 2018 - 2024. He is currently serving his 7th term as the President of the India Association of Nebraska, Lincoln, a nonprofit organization. He has also served as the Finance Chair for the Lancaster County Republican Party and on the Nebraska Republican Party State Central Committee.
Pondicherry has served as a Fundraising Committee member and Executive Committee member for the Hindu Temple of Omaha, Nebraska, a nonprofit organization. He has also served as a Charitable and Fundraising Committee Member for Telugu Samiti of Nebraska, a nonprofit organization. Pondicherry attended and represented the State of Nebraska at the White House Briefing for Hindu American Seva in 2014. Pondicherry has served as a volunteer at the Matt Talbot Kitchen and currently helps fund and organize the First Friday Lunch every month.
Vice Chairwoman Tram Kieu
Ms. Kieu currently serves as Vice Chairwoman for the Commission. As a first-generation Vietnamese American and former refugee, she has found both purpose and a sense of belonging in calling Nebraska home. For over a decade, she has dedicated her career to serving the Asian community through her work in education, English language learning, immigration studies, and international affairs at the local, national, and global levels. Her work is rooted in fostering cross-cultural understanding and amplifying the multitude of voices and lived experiences of the Asian diaspora in Nebraska and beyond.
Secretary Vickie Schaepler
Vickie Sakurada Schaepler is Chair and Coordinator of the Japanese Hall and History Project at Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering, Nebraska. Here, the history of the Japanese on the High Plains and Nebraska are remembered through the preservation of a Japanese Hall built in 1928 and moved to the Legacy of the Plains Museum to showcase this history. She is a previous board member of the History Nebraska Board of Trustees and the Buffalo County Historical Society. Vickie has worked in both the public and private sectors, finishing her career with the Union Pacific Railroad.
Member at Large Weysan Dun
Mr. Dun was a Special Agent of the FBI for 30 years, retiring in 2012. He served as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC), or chief executive, of three FBI field offices: the Springfield, Illinois office; the Newark, New Jersey office; and the Omaha, Nebraska office, which covers all of Nebraska and Iowa, for a total of nine years as a chief executive of an FBI field office. Weysan is a founding member of the Omaha Metropolitan Police Chiefs Association. He is a long-time member of the Nebraska Chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates, and he received their Centurian Award in 2018. Since 2022, he has served on the Advisory Council of the American Museum of Law Enforcement and Organized Crime, commonly referred to as “The Mob Museum”, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Weysan is also an American Red Cross volunteer and the Senior Volunteer Partner to the Nebraska-Iowa Region Chief Executive Officer.
A graduate of Cornell University and the FBI National Executive Institute, he also has graduate certificates from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the U.S. Army War College. He received an honorary doctorate from Yeshua University. Weysan served four and one-half years as an active-duty U.S. Army Military Intelligence Officer, where he attained the rank of captain and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal before being Honorably Discharged. He and his wife, Linda Wojtan, have been happily married since 1984.
Member at Large Ryo Suzuki
A native of Tokyo, Japan, he was an avid baseball player and enjoyed living in the city until he moved to Nebraska. Growing up in Tokyo, a city of 14 million people, he never thought he would go to college and never dreamed he would find himself in central Nebraska. As he says, “In 2012, I decided to look for a change in my life and left Tokyo to learn more about business at UNK, one of the finest institutions in the United States. This journey has not been easy, but it has been an extremely rewarding and exciting one.”
He is a lifetime member of Beta Gamma Sigma, whose purpose is to encourage and honor academic excellence in the study of business and to foster professional excellence among the members. He is also a member of the U.S.–Japan Council. He has volunteered in various capacities within the Kearney community, including the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce, the World Theatre, and the Kearney Family YMCA. He graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2016 and an MBA in Marketing from the University of Nebraska in 2019.
Non-Exec Members
Maureen Brase (-Houchin), Commissioner Founder and Director of Kokyo Taiko Adult Program Coordinator, Willard Community Center
Deepak M Gangahar, MD, Commissioner Principal, Anant Operations, LLC Co-Founder & Past President: Nebraska Heart Institute and Nebraska Heart Hospital, Lincoln, NE Retired Professor & Past Chairman Section of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery, UNMC, Omaha, NE
Maorong Jiang, PhD., Commissioner Creighton University Director of Asian World Center Nebraska World Affairs Council Co-President
Joanne Li, PhD., Commissioner University of Nebraska at Omaha Chancellor, Barbara and Wally Weitz Endowed Chair in Higher Education Leadership
Carolina Mapes, Commissioner The Alliance Group, Retired Co-Founder
Yunwoo Nam, PhD., Commissioner University of Nebraska – Lincoln Professor & Director of the Community and Regional Planning Program
Rebecca Reinhardt, Commissioner Asian Cultural Center Cultural Program Coordinator & Chinese Community Advocate
Vickie Schaepler, Commissioner Legacy of the Plains Museum Japanese Hall and History Center Project Chair and Coordinator
Hiep Vu, PhD. Commissioner University of Nebraska – Lincoln Associate Professor of Virology
Carol Wang, Commissioner Metro Omaha Medical Society & Nebraska Credentials Verification Organization Executive Director
