HOYT ZIA

Founding President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)

Hoyt Zia was born and raised in New Jersey, graduated from Dartmouth College, served as a US Marine Corps officer, and then received his law degree from the UCLA School of Law.

He recently retired as Senior VP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. Prior to joining Hawaiian, he was the publisher of Hawaii Business magazine, and before that the executive director of the Pacific Telecommunications Council, an international telecom industry non-profit organization based in Honolulu. For most of his career, however, he was an attorney who practiced in San Francisco and Honolulu, both in law firms and in-house with Motorola, Inc. and Amfac/JMB Hawaii, Inc. He also served in the Clinton Administration as Chief Counsel for Export Administration, Department of Commerce, in Washington, DC.

Hoyt is married and has two children. While in California, he served as president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area and the Asian Pacific Bar of California, and he was the founding president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He currently serves on the boards of the Consuelo Foundation and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, and is the board president of the Chinese Historical Society of America.

PAUL HIROSE

Perkins Coie 

Past President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)

Paul O. Hirose is Co-Chair of Perkin Coie’s Supply Chain Compliance & Corporate Social Responsibility practice group – the first such dedicated practice among the largest law firms in the United States. His unique background and insight allow him to counsel clients on their supply chain compliance programs in light of rapidly expanding laws and standards addressing human trafficking in businesses and their global supply chains.

A former Certified Public Accountant, Paul has significant audit and compliance experience. Moreover, he is an authority in product distribution as he has worked closely with and served in the legal departments of several multinational and mid-market companies (automotive, food distribution, technology), counseling them on marketing, business, litigation and transactional matters.

Paul was President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) in 2010 – 2011 and is Co-Chair of NAPABA’s Leadership Advisory Council. Paul is also Co-Chair of the Perkins Coie Asian Pacific Islander Resource Group. The Orange County Asian American Bar Association recognized him as its 2012 “Attorney of the Year.” Paul graduated from U.C.L.A. with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics/Business Concentration and Georgetown University Law Center where he earned his law degree.

MODERATOR: DENISE CRAWFORD

OC Public Defender

2019-2020 OCAABA President