Janssen Hang
Janssen@hmongfarmers.com
Janssen is currently the Executive Director of the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA), a member based organization that was newly created to serve, support and advocate for Hmong American farmers and their families.
Lillian Hang
lillian.hang@optum.com
Lillian Hang is currently a member of the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA), and has been one since the fall of 2013 which made her eligible to lease a three acre plot on the HAFA Farm in 2014. Lillian has been farming with her parents for over 25 years and connects her interest in public health to her summers picking and selling vegetables at the farmers market. Lillian graduated from Brown University with a degree in Community Health and received a Masters from Yale University in Public Health, and a Masters from the University of St. Thomas in Business Administration. Lillian currently serves as a Senior Lead Analyst at Optum Labs and grows herbs and flowers commercially.
Marge Higgins
higginsmarge@yahoo.com
Margaret (Marge) Higgins is a licensed social worker and who has worked at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) for almost 30 years. She currently holds the position of Health Systems Coordinator in the Refugee Health Program, working with the MDH team and the refugee resettlement agencies to ensure new refugee arrivals with medical needs are well-connected to appropriate care. Prior to this, she worked at MDH as the refugee and immigrant coordinator in the TB Program, and as a disease intervention specialist in the HIV/STI prevention program. She spent the first ten years of her career working in residential settings as a counselor and advocate for teenagers and adults in transition. Marge is a graduate of the University of St. Catherine in St. Paul, and grew up on a farm in Lakeville MN. Both her parents and grandparents were farmers in Dakota County.
Guolong Liang
gliang6@wisc.edu
Guolong Liang is currently an outreach specialist at University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, working with commercial vegetable production systems and water quality topics. His current work focuses on communicating with stakeholders in the conservation and farming spaces, to reach for better water quality through adoptions of conservation practices on the land. Guolong received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from UW-Madison in Horticulture, and he grew up in Yinchuan, China until he moved to Wisconsin. He is interested in learning from and serving people from diverse backgrounds who grow, love, and share food. Guolong is currently located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Eva Song Margolis
Eva.Margolis@gtcuw.org
Eva Song Margolis is a program officer at Greater Twin Cities United Way where she is responsible for championing United Way’s impact in the area of Economic Opportunity. She works with community partners and across sectors focusing on workforce development and wealth-building strategies that bring about equitable change.
Prior to joining United Way in May 2020, Eva served for over 9 years as Economic Empowerment & Employment Services Director at Lutheran Social Service. During her tenure at LSS, she was fortunate to partner with HAFA on a number of initiatives and community power-building/learning spaces. Eva has a passion for growing pilot projects into sustainable, scalable and adaptable programming. She also has experience working in the asset-building, housing, youth development fields. Eva received her B.A. in Anthropology from Occidental College in Los Angeles.
Eva is deeply committed to social, racial, and economic justice. Since the 2000’s, she has volunteered in various efforts that support a vision for the abolition of the prison industrial complex. Eva enjoys reading, running, writing poetry, and learning kayaguem (a Korean stringed instrument).
Mary Thao
mcyangthao@gmail.com
Mary currently serve as Vice President of Finance and Controller for St. Catherine University, as a member of the President’s Cabinet and CFO’s Senior Finance Team. In collaboration with the CFO, she manages the financial operations of the University with oversight over the functional business areas of student accounts and collections, receivables, payroll, accounts payable, tax, audit, GL, restricted gifts and grants, endowment/investments, external financial reporting and compliance, treasury management, debt financing, risk management, and institutional insurance. Mary also serves on the Board of Trustees as a staff member on the Audit Committee, Investment Subcommittee, and Committee on Finance, Infrastructure, Resources and Investment.
Prior to St. Kate’s Mary worked at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design) for 16 years in a number of progressive roles, last serving as Interim CFO and Vice President of Finance.
Mary has earned her BS in accounting and finance from St. Catherine University, and is also a MBA candidate at St. Mary’s University.
Mary currently serve on the board of the Minnesota Higher Education Facilities Authority (state agency) as the Higher Education Affiliation Member (year 2 of 4 yr term).
The majority of Mary’s career has been in non-profit finance, accounting, and management, with particular focus on private higher education. She enjoy working in higher education because of her passion with the transformative power of education, particularly financial literacy/personal finance education for disadvantaged and disfranchised groups like minorities and women, as knowledge/education can elevate and change the trajectory of one’s life and future generations.
Teng Thao
Teng Thao is currently a member of the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA).
We are dedicated to advancing the prosperity of Hmong farmers through cooperative endeavors, capacity building and advocacy. HAFA was started and is led by family farmers. Organizing is in our DNA.