Two University of Louisville faculty members and an entrepreneur affiliated with the university’s co-working space iHub are among the five honorees of the 2017 MOSAIC Awards, scheduled for presentation May 18 at the Hyatt Regency Louisville.

Named to recognize “Multicultural Opportunities for Success and Achievement In our Community,” the MOSAIC Awards benefit Jewish Family & Career Services and honors international Americans who make a significant contribution in their profession and in the local and global communities.

From UofL, faculty members Anna Faul, Ph.D., and John La Barbera and iHub co-founder Vik Chadha will be honored, along with J. Barry Barker, director of Transit Authority of River City (TARC), and restaurateur Huong “CoCo” Tran.

“JFCS was founded to assist newcomers to Louisville, and this event honors its original mission,” Judy Freundlich Tiell, JFCS executive director, said. “To date, the event has recognized 57 international Americans who make our community a richer and more interesting city, creating a mosaic of many colors and perspectives.”

At the event, a cocktail reception will start at 5:30 p.m., featuring a showcase of new micro-businesses that have received training and financial assistance from the JFCS Navigate Enterprise Center. Dinner and the awards presentation will follow.  

Tickets to the event are $150 per person, and table sponsorships begin at $2,000.  For reservations, contact Beverly Bromley, JFCS director of development, at 502-452-6341, ext. 223 or bbromley@jfcslouisville.org.

Title sponsor of the MOSAIC Awards is the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence. Kindred Healthcare is the new American sponsor. WLKY32 is the media sponsor and Papercone Corp., PharMerica, TARC and Churchill Downs are major sponsors.  Rachel Greenberg is this year’s event chair.

About the 2017 MOSAIC Award winners

Annatjie Faul, Ph.D. – South Africa

Faul originally hails from South Africa and is Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Health and Optimal Aging at the UofL Health Sciences Center and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Kent School of Social Work. A specialist in gerontology, Faul has been awarded multiple grants to develop rural health collaborations that address serious diabetes problems in the outlying rural areas of the state. She has established outreach programs to Latinos and Hispanics, created services in rural Kentucky, and most recently was awarded more than $2 million to help primary physicians in the region better serve the geriatric populations.

John La Barbera – Sicilian Descendant

The son of Sicilian immigrants, La Barbera is a first-generation American and Grammy-nominated composer/arranger whose music spans many styles and genres. He is a professor emeritus of music at the UofL School of Music and is an international music clinician and lecturer whose topics range from composing and arranging to intellectual property and copyright. His works have been recorded and performed by Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Torme, Chaka Kahn, Harry James, Bill Watrous and Phil Woods, to name a few. Though his major output has been in jazz, he has had works performed and recorded for symphony orchestra, string chamber orchestra, brass quintet and other diverse ensembles. He is a two-time recipient of The National Endowment for the Arts award for jazz composition. His published works are considered standards in the field of jazz education.

Vik Chadha – India

A native of India, Chadha is the co-founder of two successful technology companies - Backupify and GlowTouch -  that collectively employ more than 1,300 people globally. He was instrumental in conceptualizing and creating the high-tech, co-working space, iHub, at UofL’s J.D. Nichols Campus for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. His roles at EnterpriseCORP, the entrepreneurial arm of Greater Louisville Inc., and Nucleus allowed him to help create hundreds of high-paying jobs within the city of Louisville, and he has played an instrumental role in developing the city’s entrepreneurial environment. Chadha is a board member of the Jefferson County Public Education Foundation and was recently appointed by the governor to the board of the Kentucky Work Ready Skills Initiative.

J. Barry Barker – Great Britain

Barker is from England and has been a leader and innovator in the fields of public transit and community planning for over four decades. Currently he manages a $64 million budget serving as the director of TARC. His primary contributions in the field include introduction of service innovations, priority on and increasing customer centric services, initiating improvement in labor-management relations, and improved safety and environmental leadership. Also, he has added hybrid and electric buses and significantly increased outside funding for Louisville’s transit authority. He has served as a board member and chaired many community boards and has been recognized and awarded for his contributions by many local and national organizations.

Huong “CoCo” Tran – Vietnam

A Vietnamese refugee in 1975, Tran opened the first Chinese fast food restaurant in Louisville. Since opening the Egg Roll Machine, she has opened a total of nine restaurants. She hired many of the first Vietnam refugees who came to Louisville. She has impacted the community greatly by promoting healthy eating. She encourages and guides other Asian entrepreneurs by mentoring them. For the past 16 years, each of her vegetarian restaurants has provided free meals on Thanksgiving Eve. She is a member and a strong supporter of the Vietnamese Community of Louisville and served on the Advisory Community Board.