Longtime CAAM insider steps up as executive director amid industry uncertainty

San Francisco Chronicle​

09-05-2025

Call it a trial by fire. Less than 72 hours after the Center for Asian American Media was informed it was losing its federal funding, Donald Young took over the organization.
'It's a really treacherous time. Public media is under pointed scrutiny with their efforts to defund CPB, which is why CAAM initially was founded,' Young told the Chronicle, referring to the Trump administration's executive order to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 'The goal was to create an organization that could be full participants in public media. So we're very concerned about that.'
But he is up for the challenge. Young, who has worked for CAAM in various capacities for 30 years, was announced as executive director on the opening night of CAAMFest 43 at the AMC Kabuki 8 on Thursday, May 8. His first official day on the job was Monday, May 5.
He succeeds Stephen Gong, who was present during the organization's founding — as the National Asian American Telecommunications Association in 1980 — and served as executive director for the past 18 years before announcing plans to retire in December.
'I'm not anxious about CAAM's future; we will thrive and we'll do great work,' Young told the Chronicle. 'But I am anxious about the moment and the space that we all inhabit together, not just the Asian American community, but our partners in independent film and public media.'
Young, 57, was approved unanimously by the nonprofit organization's board members after a nine-month nationwide search conducted by the executive search firm Koya Partners. He was most recently CAAM's director of programs, and programmed CAAMFest 43, which runs through Sunday, May 11.
'Don's experience has proven him to be not only a producer of ground-breaking films about Asian American experiences, but an advocate for inclusive representation in the independent documentary and public media world,' board co-chairs Dipti Ghosh and Vin Pan said in a joint statement.
Young executive produced the Peabody Awards nominee 'Rising Against Asian Hate' (2022), the landmark PBS five-part docu-series 'Asian Americans' (2020) and Wayne Wang's indie feature ' Coming Home Again ' (2019). He is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
More than 200 films and television series produced by CAAM have aired on public television since 1982, including nearly 50 this decade alone. Young said he expects that to continue, even with the roadblocks by the federal government.
'We're still trying to understand how this is gonna play out,' said Young, who added that CAAM was notified at 8 p.m. Friday, May 2, that a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Arts would not be coming through. 'Understandably, people feel very targeted and concerned and anxious, as well as mad, frustrated. But we have a festival (this week) and that is the very best way to demonstrate what we can do.'
Born in San Francisco, Young is a fourth generation Chinese American who was raised in San Rafael. He, his wife Lisa Nguyen and their daughter Hannah live in Palo Alto.
Young noted it was an honor to succeed Gong, whom he called 'a mentor, confidant and role model.' He added that their time working together was 'an amazing partnership.'
'We're going to miss him,' Young said. 'It's the first time in (CAAM's) history that somebody who was part of our founding is not going to be a part of the organization.'