Bo Thao-Urabe

Bo Thao-Urabe (born 1973) is a social entrepreneur who has founded numerous organizations and efforts to advance social justice. She was appointed as a Regent to the University of Minnesota by Governor Walz in 2021. A sought after leader, Thao-Urabe has served community in local, state and national settings and is the founder and former Executive Director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders. President Obama appointed Thao-Urabe as a Commissioner to the President’s White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She has also served as Senior Director at Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP). She founded and served as the Chief Operating Officer of RedGreen Rivers, a social enterprise which develops and connects women artisans in Southeast Asia to global markets. Philanthropically, she founded of the BMPP Giving Circle, which brings Asian American families together to pool their resources together to fund social justice causes in the Upper Midwest. She has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the prestigious Bush Fellowship from the Bush Foundation in 2019. Both Saint Paul Mayor Coleman and Governor Mark Dayton declared November 1 as Bo Thao-Urabe Day.

Thao-Urabe was born in Laos. Her family is Hmong and fled to Thailand after the Secret War in Laos, a covert operation by the CIA during the Vietnam War. They spent three years in a refugee camp and immigrated to the United States in 1979. She received a B.S. from the University of Minnesota and lives in Minnesota.