On Wednesday, April 15, 2015, more than 650 people gathered at Cipriani Wall Street to celebrate an unprecedented year of achievements at Apex and honor three inspirational leaders – Eva Chen, Chief Creative Officer of The Lucky Group; Gregory Yep, former senior VP of Research and Development at PepsiCo; and Ronnie C. Chan, Chairman of Hang Lung Properties Limited. Eva, Greg and Ronnie are strong advocates and supporters of our youth and education, and delivered inspirational acceptance speeches on mentoring and leadership in the community.
We were also joined by our 2015 honorary gala chairs Dao-Yi Chow and Jason Wang, as well as other special guests from the fashion world like Liu Wen, Bryan Boy, Soo Joo Park, Ju Xiaowen and Phillip Lim, who generously customized a makeover for the second year for 2015’s student speaker Shu Min He. Mark Bustos, the hair stylist who gives the city’s homeless free haircuts, also attended and styled Shu Min’s hair for the evening. Guests enjoyed a special performance by our P.S. 184 student dancers, led by ATS of the Rock Steady Crew, and tried their hand at winning the raffle prize of a student painting by answering test questions from the 4th Grade Common Core test, SHSAT and SAT tests–all tests we help our students prepare for. In between nibbling on passed canapes and sipping on Cipriani’s signature peach bellinis, guests perused stories from our mentors and students, displayed through a photo exhibit on the mezzanine level.
Our record-breaking gala this year raised over $875,000. With this support, we’ll continue to serve the city’s Asian and immigrant youth and double the size of our programs by next fall. Thank you for all your support and for helping us continue our work in the community.
For more on our gala, check out coverage on Vogue.com and Downtown magazine.
Thank you to all of our 2015 sponsors:
CHAMPION
James Chang
UNDERWRITERS
Columbus Hill Capital Management, L.P.
Eric T. Lee & Cindy Chua
BENEFACTORS
Alex & Irene Chu
J.T. Tai & Co. Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. Ronnie C. Chan
PepsiCo
The Plum Spring Foundation
PATRONS
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Basepoint Capital
BNY Mellon
RBC Capital Markets
Teresa Chan
Thomas S. Chin & PhotoShelter
SPONSORS
Adam & Brittany Levinson
Adam Kirby and Philip Ha
Blaise Chow and Jonathan Chu
Casablanca Ventures
Colgate Palmolive
Credit Suisse
CWS CPA LLP
Deutsche Bank
Edwin & Charmaine Chin
First American International Bank
GE Capital Aviation Services
International Academic Alliance
Karen Li, Dr. Raymond & Evangeline Yung and Barney & Yvonne Ghaw
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Melissa & Alec Gunn
Michael Chen & Nadine Graham
Michael & Michelle Cho
Mizuho Securities USA Inc.
Morgan Stanley
NBC 4 New York
Patrick Lo & Natasha Wattel
Ricky & Kathy Wong and Edward & Joyce Wu
Societe Generale
Stanley & Fiona Druckenmiller
The Sriratana Family
Waterfall Asset Management LLC