Contact Information

Great Minds in STEM (GMiS)
Chief Executive Officer & Board Member

apark@greatmindsinstem.org
www.greatmindsinstem.org

Biography

Anna M. Park is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Great Minds in STEM™ (GMiS), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Los Angeles County, California. In 2018, GMiS is celebrating its 30th year servicing communities around the country by providing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programming, career opportunities, and outreach. Ms. Park joined the organization in July of 2000 as the Conference Manager, and soon rose to Director of Operations before accepting an appointment to the CEO’s position in 2014. Ms. Park is a full voting member on the GMiS Board of Directors. 

GMiS’ vision is to keep America technologically strong by promoting STEM careers, especially in underserved communities. GMiS has a series of programs for professionals, college students, as well as K-12 students, parents, teachers and administrators. GMiS programs and initiatives promote STEM awareness and support college readiness, retention and graduation from high school, community college, and college. These programs include the national Viva Technology™ Program, the HENAAC Scholars Program, the MentorNet virtual networking community, the College Bowl Competition, Technical Poster Competition, STEM-Up™ Initiative, and the NSF funded ASSIST & INCLUDES grants to support early career engineering faculty development.

In addition, GMiS organizes and runs the annual HENAAC Conference, which identifies, honors and documents the contributions of outstanding Hispanics in STEM. The conference also features a Career & Graduate Fair that offers STEM internships and jobs to thousands of students and professionals each year. In 2015, GMiS was recognized as a “Bright Spot in Hispanic Education” by The White House, and the organization continues to receive regional and national honors for its work.

Ms. Park has served as an expert panelist for various national STEM and educational conferences. She’s served on The White House FC-STEM Non-profit Subcommittee for the Federal Coordination in STEM Education in 2014, and The White House – Council on Women and Girls, Research Conference on Girls. Ms. Park has been a keynote speaker for Hispanic Heritage events, U.S. News & World Report Conferences, K-20 Education conferences and national STEM Roundtables. In 2012 Ms. Park was recognized by STEMConnector™ as one of the 100 Women Leaders in STEM.

In addition to being on the Board of GMiS, Ms. Park is also currently a member of the University of Southern California STEM Consortium; a co-member of the California State University, Los Angeles Dean’s Executive Advisory Council for the College of Engineering, Computer Science & Technology; and she’s the P.I. for NSF ASSIST (NSF #1548322) and NSF INCLUDES: LEVERAGE (NSF EEC #1649384) grants. Ms. Park is proud to be a part of the U.S. Army Advocates Group and the U.S. Army’s SAY Leadership Committee. 

Prior to joining GMiS, Ms. Park worked at 20^th Century Fox Film Company from 1998-2000 where she reported to the Vice President of Legal Affairs, Motion Picture Division, Michael Ross.   

Ms. Park received her J.D. degree from the University of Southern California and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. She remains an active almuna with both universities. Ms. Park enjoys serving as an annual judge for The International Latino Book Awards and she is a certified soccer referee for AYSO. She has three children in middle school and high school and the family resides in southern California where they maintain an exciting schedule centered on the kids’ school and sports activities.