By John Schwing

WESTPORT — Five new members have been selected to serve on TEAM Westport, the town’s multicultural advocacy committee, culminating a process that began earlier this year when a lawsuit was threatened by two town residents claiming the group’s composition violated the town’s charter.

Four new members of the advisory committee were introduced at TEAM’s Thursday morning meeting on Zoom. The fifth appointee was unable to attend.

Selectwoman Andrea Moore, who led the vetting process for the new members, said they reflect TEAM Westport’s mission of inclusivity with “interesting backgrounds, both personally and professionally.”

First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker joined TEAM Westport Chairman Harold Bailey Jr. in welcoming the new members, saying she looks forward to their contributions to the committee.

The process to add new members to TEAM Westport was launched amid controversy in January when residents Zack Alcyone and Camilo Riano threatened to file a lawsuit against the town, contending the committee’s composition at the time violated several provisions of the town charter. 

The legal action, among several points, focused on a lack of representation by members of minority political parties — the vast majority of members at the time were registered Democrats — as well as several non-residents serving as committee members.

Defenders of TEAM (Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism) Westport noted the panel was established in 2005 as an advisory committee, with no encoded authority under the charter. Its recommendations are not binding on town or school officials. The panel also initially had been set up to include members from the town of Weston, although its scope in recent years has solely been on Westport.

Tooker, reacting to the threatened legal challenge, in February issued new membership guidelines for TEAM and the town’s other advisory committees, essentially requiring that they conform with the charter-set rules for elected boards and commissions.

That means no more than 50 percent of TEAM’s appointed members can be from a single political party, and that all committee members must be registered voters in Westport.

Tooker issued a call for registered voters interested in serving on TEAM and the other advisory groups to submit resumes, and delegated the task of interviewing prospective appointees to Moore, her fellow Republican on the Board of Selectwomen, beginning last April.

The new TEAM members, introduced briefly at Thursday’s meeting, include:

• Liang Feng told the meeting she immigrated to the United States from China about three decades ago.

A PhD in bio-science who attended Berkeley and Yale, the mother of three previously taught at two all-girls schools in Connecticut, Miss Porter’s School in Farmington and Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden.

She said she is excited at the opportunity to serve on TEAM as a way to help make the town and its schools a better place.

• Andy Frankel, a 14-year resident of Westport, is the father of four children, all of whom have attended the town’s public schools.

He said he became interested in issues related to TEAM Westport’s mission when recent discussion of equity studies in town sparked “rhetoric, on both sides,” that he found disappointing.

As a TEAM member, Frankel said he wants to focus on issues that reflect people’s shared views.

• Patra Kanchanagom, the mother of three children attending the town’s schools, previously was an elementary school teacher and lately has been active in PTA programs.

She also is a leader of AAPI Westport, a group focusing on awareness of the Asian American Pacific Islander community.

She said she looks forward to the chance to help Westport be an “inclusive and welcoming” town.

• Joo Kershner, the mother of two children in the town’s elementary schools, before moving to Westport had a law career in California.

Since then, Kershner said she has volunteered to help with activities at her children’s schools.

As the first-generation child of immigrants, she hopes to use her experiences “to try to build bridges whenever possible” and “to make sure everyone has a seat at the table.”

• Carolina Mata, the fifth appointee, was unable to attend Thursday’s meeting because of a work commitment.

Mata is a lifelong Westport resident and Staples High School graduate, who raised her children in town. Professionally, she has worked for several large corporations in innovation, marketing, diversity and inclusion training, as well as communications, according to background information provided

She has volunteered for school sports teams, community events and is a board member of the Caroline House in Bridgeport. 

Mata hopes to use her professional background and roots in the Hispanic community to foster a welcoming, inclusive environment in Westport. 

John Schwing, the Westport Journal consulting editor, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.