Wendy O’Neill, ACC’s Chairman, announced the appointments of Kazuko Aso, Tonia Hsu, YiLing Mao, Charles Rockefeller, and Mercedes Zobel to the ACC Board of Trustees at the fall 2017 and spring 2018 Board meetings. “We are thrilled to welcome Kazuko, Tonia, YiLing, Charles, and Mercedes as Trustees,” said Ms. O’Neill, “They each bring a wide range of talent and global expertise to the Board, and we look forward to working with them.” 

“One of our main priorities is to continue to strengthen Board diversity, which deepens our level of engagement and ever-expanding relationships across Asia and the U.S.,” said ACC Executive Director, Miho Walsh. “Our trustees are critical to the success of ACC’s mission of facilitating international understanding through transformative cultural exchange,” she added.

 Kazuko Aso
​Kazuko Aso is the Director and Organizer of Dandans (est. 2005), a platform showcasing emerging Japanese artists based in Tokyo, Japan. As a non-profit, all-volunteer venture, Dandans has organized fifteen exhibitions in Japan and overseas, including Washington D.C., Berlin, London, and Paris, and helped launch and advance the careers of over 170 artists. Mrs. Aso’s recent distinctions also include the 7th Annual Tokyo Prize 2017, given to an individual for their extraordinary support of Japanese contemporary arts. Mrs. Aso received her B.A. in Sociology from Keio University (1969). She served as a trustee of the Bunka Gakuin School (1988-2005), and has been a trustee of the Ruskin Library since 2005. Her philanthropic efforts include activities to support the Japan Alliance for Humanitarian Demining Support (JAHDS), and the establishment of a kindergarten in the Philippines in partnership with Sister Michiko Kakei in 2000. Mrs. Aso has been a member of ACC’s Japan Advisory Board since 2014.

Tonia Katherine Hsu
Tonia Hsu received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in New York with majors in History, Art, and the Humanities. She worked for Sotheby’s New York in specialist departments focusing on Asian Art and Chinese Painting for over a decade, as well as in education at the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has also worked as a consultant in leading galleries of contemporary Chinese and Korean art which place artworks in prominent private and museum collections. Ms. Hsu serves on the Board of Far Eastern New Century Corporation, Oriental Institute of Technology, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, the Y.Z. Hsu Science & Technology Memorial Foundation, and is an advisor and representative of Far Eastern Department Stores at many international functions. She has been an active participant in ACC’s activities since her father, Douglas Tong Hsu, Chairman of Far Eastern Group, joined ACC’s Board in 2006.

YiLing Mao
YiLing Mao is the Founder and Executive Director of Art Collectives LLC, an independent art consultancy that advises and develops boutique projects with artists, curators, scholars, collectors, institutions, and initiatives across the Chinese art world. She received her art history training at Harvard University (A.B. and A.M.) and Columbia University (M. Phil) and currently serves as Senior Advisor to Sotheby's Institute of Art, Beijing Design Week, the Tianlongshan 3D Buddhist Caves project at University of Chicago's Center for East Asia Studies, and the City Symphony in Beijing initiative at MIT Media Lab. A former Director at Sotheby's, Ms. Mao also freelances as an art critic, curator and a documentary producer and has served as a China Advisory Council member at Lincoln Center since 2012.

Charles Rockefeller
Charles Rockefeller is the Head of Partnerships at Composite Apps, Inc. Composite Apps is a digital consulting company that specializes in applying a combination of mobile technology, user experience, and advanced analytics to solve real-world business problems. A leader in large-scale enterprise solution development, Composite Apps works with businesses to maximize the value of existing IT investments by creating unprecedented visibility and empowering users with tools to impact data-driven change within their organization.

Prior to this role, Mr. Rockefeller was a co-founder at LearnerX and Halio Health, innovation companies that create science-based, technology-enabled products and services to help people develop practical habits to improve their lives. In 2013 Charles received a master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania, while concurrently earning three certificates from the Wharton School of Business. Prior to that, he earned a master’s degree from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.  Previously, Charles worked as a marketing manager at sothebys.amazon.com and then in the Global Private Client Group at Sotheby’s, Inc., where he created a loyalty program for Chinese clients. A graduate of Stanford University, Charles is a Trustee of Historic Hudson Valley and Asia Society as well as a member of the President’s Council of the University of Tokyo.  

Mercedes Zobel
At 23 years of age, Mercedes Zobel began her business as an entrepreneur in Singapore in 1980, setting up an interior design company. Later, she moved to Bali (1984 - 1992) and helped set-up the first Hotel Furniture Factory using indigenous and natural materials. She then retailed the first lifestyle shops in Bali, and later in Singapore through partnerships. In 1995, she was nominated to the Boards of several family holding companies such as Mermac, Inc. for Ayala Corporation, and in 2009 to E. Zobel, Inc. and Ayala España, a real estate project of a 200 hectares development focused on Polo and residential development in the South of Spain. Ms. Zobel is also on the Board of United Graphic Expression Corporation, a printing company that produces passports for the Philippines in partnership with the government. 

Ms. Zobel helped set up the UK Board for Women for Women International, a charity that helps women in countries affected by conflict, and chaired its first three Gala events from 2005 - 2011. She was given the award for “Making a Difference” and the honorary title of “Emeritus” when she stepped down. Ms. Zobel is a Board member of E. Zobel Foundation, Inc., specializing in education, supporting Philippine public schools in Batangas. She is an active patron of Outset Contemporary Art Fund, sponsoring art for public institutions, residencies, biennales, and in particular, the Freize Art Fair in London to allow curators of the Tate Modern to select art for 10 years. She also plans to set up Outset Philippines to promote Philippine Contemporary artists. Ms. Zobel sat on the Metropolitan Museum of the Philippines Board from 2013 - 2015. She is a Board member of the Purple Center Foundation, a container school for children living off the dumpsite in Tondo. She built and set up with her brother the Enrique Zobel Technical School accredited by TESDA. She is also on the Board of Fundación de la Milagrosa, a charitable foundation and home for the elderly in Spain. 

In 2015, Ms. Zobel joined the Boards of Tuloy Foundation, a technical school for children and youth, as well as the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) as a representative for Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc. (IMI), an Ayala Corporation European company. In 2016, Ms. Zobel was awarded the Philippine Tatler Philanthropy Award and became a founding member of The Cultivist, a global arts club. Ms. Zobel is a founding Board member of the Museum of Contemporary Arts & Design, joined the Board of the Asian Cultural Council Philippines Foundation in 2016, and also serves on the Board of the Dia Art Foundation for Dia Women project.