About Elisa Chan

Elisa Chan was elected in May 2009 as part of the San Antonio City Council for District 9. She became the first Asian American woman on the City Council and also the first immigrant to serve on the council.

Since becoming a member of the San Antonio City Council, Elisa has led the City's international economic development efforts. In 2010, she was co-chair of the City's delegation to the Shanghai World Expo. The delegation was comprised of over 70 of San Antonio's civic and business leaders. Elisa believed that participating in the World Expo would be an important step towards positioning San Antonio on the global stage. She helped raise over $500,000 in private sector donations so that the City of San Antonio could celebrate "San Antonio Days" at the United States Pavilion.

Elisa was the catalyst in establishing the friendship city relationships with the city of Suzhou and Wuxi. Also, three major Chinese cities made trade mission visits to San Antonio during the latter part of 2010. Elisa has always shown passion for San Antonio economic development. Back in 2006, Mayor Phil Hardberger appointed Elisa Committee Chair of the China Steering Committee, in order to promote bilateral trade and foreign investment between San Antonio and China. Elisa has been a staunch advocate of fiscal conservatism and responsibility during her tenure on City Council. She fought hard and successfully the last two years to ensure that the City's budget was balanced without raising taxes, and its financial reserves maintained at 9%, especially last year when the City was facing a $19 million deficit heading into FY 2011.

Throughout Elisa's first term on City Council, some of her top priorities include increasing the number of City public safety personnel and improving public infrastructure in San Antonio. Elisa has also been a leading voice on the City Council for technology. In 2010, Elisa announced her plans for a first of its kind "bookless" library, which is expected to be built in District 9.

Elisa is an advocator for major San Antonio initiatives. Most recently she was selected by Mayor Julian Castro to represent the City of San Antonio on the board of BioMed SA. Elisa has also participated in the Mayor Castro's SA 2020 initiative to give the community a chance to voice their vision on what kind of city San Antonio will be by the end of the decade. She also took an active role in helping promote the 2007-2012 City of San Antonio Municipal Bond Program.

Elisa was involved in numerous public presentations and outreach programs, including the "Foundation for the Future" campaign to promote the City's $550 million bond election. She was a member of the City of San Antonio's Planning Commission. Elisa also took part in the 2008 Bexar County Visitor Tax Extension, where she was appointed Presentation and Planning sub-committee chair for the Cultural Facilities Committee.

Elisa has been actively involved in numerous professional, civic, public, and cultural organizations. Interested in advancing engineering practices, she is a Member and immediate-past President of the San Antonio Council of Engineering Companies. Also a strong activist toward improving San Antonio transportation, she was an Executive Board Member of the San Antonio Mobility Coalition and involved in the 2004 Advanced Transportation District (ATD) campaign. She was the driving force behind the Alamo Asian American Chamber of Commerce and its resurgence in San Antonio. She is also the current Chair for the Texas Federation of Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

Elisa is also savvy in business. In 1992, Elisa Chan and her husband, Clifford Hew, P.E. started Unintech Consulting Engineers, Inc. (UNINTECH); a structural and civil engineering design and consulting firm. The firm started with one full-time person to the current size of over 40 personnel. As President and Co-Owner, she is in charge of business development and strategic planning initiatives, and overseeing financial management, marketing and public relations, human resources and information technology for firm-wide operations. UNINTECH has consistently been ranked among the "Top 25 Largest Engineering" and "Women-Owned" firms in San Antonio by the San Antonio Business Journal.

Elisa was born in Taiwan and moved to the United States in 1988. She became a U.S. citizen in 1999 and has resided in San Antonio for 20 years. She received her B.S. in Computer Software Engineering at Beijing University of Technology in 1987. She received her Master's degree in computer science at the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1993. For 13 years, she worked successfully in the computer software development field.

Elisa, husband Clifford and ten-year-old daughter Nikola reside in North Central San Antonio.