The Hon. Gene Kim

The Hon. Gene Kim is serving his second term on the Board of Trustees for the San Mateo- Foster City School District, which serves more than 10,000 students across 21 schools. As an attorney with a background in law, public policy, business management, and technology start-ups, Gene has used his cross-sector expertise to shape education policy at the local, state, and federal level. In his role as a Trustee, Gene has been a vocal proponent of strengthening parent and teacher engagement, fostering transparency and accountability, closing achievement gaps through data-driven interventions, promoting rigorous learning, encouraging responsible technology usage, investing in greener more sustainable schools, and advancing initiatives to expand mental health services, improve school nutrition, and implement extended learning and
integrated community support programs. Gene previously worked on federal education policy as a legislative aide in the U.S. Congress, helped to pass state and local ballot measures to fund K- 12 education and school construction, and served as a strategic advisor to the nation’s largest community college district.

Gene has also held several prominent leadership roles in organizations that serve the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community, including as the Executive Director of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), as the Board Chair of the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL), and as a board member for the Asian Pacific Islander School Board Members Association (APISBMA), the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), the Congressional Asian Pacific American Staff Association (CAPASA), and the San Mateo County Asian American and Pacific Islander Alliance.

Gene is a graduate of multiple APAICS programs including the APAICS Summer Internship (2007), the APAICS Congressional Fellowship (2008), and the APAICS National Leadership Academy (2024). He previously served as APAICS’s Director of Communications and Program Development, received the 2013 APAICS Horizon Award, and is an inaugural member of APAICS’s Alumni Advisory Council.

Gene is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a J.D. from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.