Director of Programs, The Eisner Foundation

Cathy Choi joined The Eisner Foundation as director of programs in January of 2009.  In this capacity, she oversees the planning, strategic development and distribution of $7 million in grants annually.

Cathy has 13 years of diverse professional experience in philanthropy, nonprofit and public sectors.  She was most recently a program officer at the California Community Foundation, overseeing and managing a number of special grant programs covering issues such as after-school programming, arts-based education, child care, foster youth programs, access to health care, historic preservation and homelessness.  Previously, Cathy was external affairs director with the Korean American Coalition national headquarters where she supervised advocacy activities on legislative issues affecting the Korean American and Asian Pacific American communities and implemented community outreach campaigns encouraging people to participate in the 2000 census. She also served as a legislative/field deputy to several local and federal elected officials, including Congressman Xavier Becerra and Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member George Kiriyama.

Cathy serves on the Southern California Steering Committee of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy. She also served on the Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification, Republic of Korea from 2003-2005.  She received her Master’s in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from University of California, Los Angeles.