Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS)

Background

The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) was founded alongside the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) in 1994 by then-U.S. Representative Norman Mineta (D-CA) and then-Guam Congressional Delegate Robert Underwood (D). Initially known as the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Institute (CAPACI), the organization continues to support CAPAC by providing resources to Congress and advocating for what it would deem to be a politically active and civically engaged Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander community. ¹

APAICS runs several programs to build a pipeline political leaders, including the National Leadership Academy, Regional Leadership Academy, Congressional Fellowship, and the Women’s Collective. These programs focus on leadership training and expanding the political representation of underrepresented groups at local, state, and federal levels. ³

Leadership

As of 2024, the president and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) was Madalene Mielke, who earned a salary of $235,000 that year. ⁴ Mielke is also the founder and principal of Arum Group LLC, a Democratic consulting firm specializing in political and nonprofit fundraising. In this role, Mielke has collaborated with the NAACP National Voter Fund, Democratic National Committee Asian American Leadership Council, Friends of Hillary, America’s Opportunity Fund, Asian American Action Fund and Young Democrats of America. ⁵

As of 2023, Dian Herrman was working as the chief administrative officer of APAICS. In 2023 she earned $160,252 from the organization. ⁶ Herrman has previously worked as a strategic communications advisor at American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and as a political strategist supporting AFSCME’s efforts to elect President Barack Obama. ⁷

Other key staff members in 2023 included chair Susan Jin Davis, secretary Jason Chan, and treasurer Robin Rorick. ⁶

Angie Cooper, a Walton family confidant, sat on the APAICS board of directors until 2020. ⁸ Cooper has longstanding ties to the billionaire Walton family through her work as senior director of Global Public Policy at Walmart, one of APAICS’s partner organizations. Cooper is now the president of Heartland Forward, a nonprofit organization. ⁹

Financials

According to APAICS’s tax forms, in 2023 they reported a revenue of $4,498,104, expenses of $3,246,516, and assets totaling $7,524,562. ¹⁰

According to APAICS’s 2023 annual report, the organization raised a total of $4,823,335 in 2023. Groups which provided APAICS funding that year included Amazon, Ballmer Group, Open Society Foundations, Walmart, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, Microsoft, General Motors, Raytheon, American Petroleum Institute, Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APAIHF), and Johnson and Johnson. ¹¹