Throughout Mr. Vang's public service life, he has been called upon to perform a variety of Community based support actions. Working daily with Youth and Women's Programs, to coordinating with elected officials, he has held a variety of positions that have yielded the invaluable lessons of managing programs and working with diverse peoples. He has been a "problem solver" for everyone from Janitor to President of the United States Jimmy Carter as he has counseled the Hmong refugees arriving in their new home of America. He is widely recognized within the Hmong American Communities as a primary Leader and, especially, as a most fair Leader to all groups.

Mr. Vang, born in 1950, graduated with the equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts degree from Laos, 1970. Faced with the ongoing crisis in Laos, he left school at the end of 1970 to enter Special Ground Unit military service as a Sergeant. One year later, he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and again to 1st Lieutenant in 1973. Thereafter he was selected for assignment to service with the Central Intelligence Agency in Laos. His duties at that time entailed preparing daily munitions transfers for the Ammunition Detachment at Long Tieng Headquarters, Military Region II.

As the United States withdrew from Southeast Asia in 1975, he repatriated to America, where he held a series of service positions, from hospital laundry to factory assembly, as he studied English and prepared for the arrival of more of his family members and countrymen. Finally establishing residence in Minnesota, Mr. Vang worked with the St. Paul Public Schools as a Bilingual/Bicultural instructor to teach Hmong students English as a Second Language and mathematics for children and adults.

In June, 1980, the Lao/Hmong Community elected Mr. Vang to be Project Director of the Lao Family Community of Minnesota. After two years, as that organization was efficiently operating, he moved forward to work with the University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension Service Department, where for four years he taught Hmong refugees to grow American fresh produce. Since that time, the Hmong have become one of the single largest Farmer's Market produce suppliers, even as the Extension training program was phased out in 1986. Mr. Vang returned to the St. Paul School District as the Resource Program Coordinator for Hmong High School students. The Lao Family Community then requested he assist in work orientation for incoming Hmong. In 1989, he was selected for duty in St. Paul Public Housing as interpreter and outreach worker serving Lao/Hmong people in public housing.

In many ways, the work of Mr. Vang has been to establish a well-informed, central position for the Lao/Hmong people arriving in the United States. When issues reach the point of a crisis within the Community or within any state, Mr. Vang is often the first person called to come and help create a clear and agreeable solution to solve the conflict.

In late 2000 Mr. Vang was sworn in to serve on the Board of the Minneapolis Empowerment Zone, a position arising as a result of his acceptance of the responsibility to serve as Executive Director of the Hmong American Mutual Assistance Association, Inc., of Minneapolis in February, 1999. Well known and respected by both the young Hmong intellectuals, as well as by the older soldiers, he is currently working to develop an agenda for the Hmong Minnesota Community which incorporates the best of the Hmong cultural strengths with the new demands for Welfare to Work programs, housing, education and job development.

Parallel with his daily duties, Mr. Vang has been a Community volunteer leader for many years. His positions have included Secretary and later Vice President of the Hmong Association of Minnesota, and Director of the Lao Family Community. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women of Minnesota, as Chairman of the Hmong Youth Association of Minnesota, is Public Relations Officer for the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Lao Family Community of Minnesota, as well as spokesman for the Hmong Community in Minnesota. He is also the chief translator for Hmong American Community Leader General Vang Pao.