On November 9, 2007, Assemblymember Mary Hayashi (D-Hayward) will receive the honor of being named “Person of the Year” by the Korean American Chamber of Commerce of the Northern Pacific Coast.

The Korean American Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1967 and has members throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.   It advocates on the behalf of a diverse group of businesses and promotes positive relations between the Republic of Korea and the United States.

Assemblymember Hayashi, a Korean-American, has dedicated much of her adult life to Asian Women’s health issues and is the author of Far From Home, Shattering the Myth of the Model Minority.  In the State Assembly, she is a leader on health care issues and was appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly to his working group on health care reform.

Hayashi is the founder of the Iris Alliance Fund, an organization dedicated to mental health issues and is a member of the Proposition 63, Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission. 

Elected to the State Assembly in 2006, Assemblymember Hayashi will be honored by the Korean American Chamber of Commerce on November 9 at 8:00 p.m.  The event will take place at the Marines’ Memorial Club in San Francisco.