Veteran broadcaster and producer Wenda Fong, who was appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees in 2018, visited the Cal State San Bernardino campus on Wednesday, Nov. 7.

Fong met with CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales and later met with the university’s vice presidents and members of the president’s staff. She then toured the CSUSB campus visiting the Obershaw DEN food pantry, the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFFMA), the Center for Global Innovation, the Cybersecurity Center and the Undocumented Student Success Center.

After lunching with the university’s student leaders, Fong met with members of the Faculty Senate and the Staff Council.

Fong is a partner of The Group, a strategic communications, and marketing company. She is the producer and director of music and variety specials, awards shows, reality specials, sitcoms, talk shows, documentaries, and live events.

Fong holds the dual distinction as being the only woman and the only person of color to have produced the Emmy Awards. In 2001, Fong joined the Fox Broadcasting Company and was with FOX for 13 years. She was its first executive director of Creative Development of Diversity and vice president of Diversity Development.

In 2002, she was appointed to oversee American Idol, which became the historical groundbreaking and network television ratings phenomenon. In 2003, Fong was promoted to vice president of alternative entertainment where she supervised all reality series and specials representing thousands of hours of programming including American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, and The X Factor to name just a few.

Among her community service, Fong is co-founder and chairperson emeritus of CAPE, the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, which began in 1991 and is the largest, longest-running, and most influential organization for Asian American Pacific Islanders in the entertainment industry.

She was president of East West Players, the nation’s oldest Asian American theater, co-founded Asian Americans for Fair Media and served on the board of the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists. She was the co-chair of the Leaders Forum and currently serves on the board of California Humanities and chairs the Programming Committee.

Fong has been a member of the Directors Guild of America since 1980 and is founding co-chair and chairperson emeritus of the DGA Asian American Committee. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Fong received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Asian American Studies from the University of Southern California.

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