A local business leader has been tapped by President Joe Biden to take on a leadership role with the U.S Department of Agriculture.

Blong Xiong, executive director of the Fresno-based Asian Business Institute & Resource Center (ABIRC), has been selected by Biden to serve as the USDA State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency of California.

https://www.facebook.com/fresnoasianbusinessinstitute/posts/981068125879642

Xiong will be leaving his current post at the ABIRC, where he served small Asian businesses and Southeast Asian farmers in the Central Valley.

Prior to his role as executive director for ABIRC, Xiong served on the Fresno City Council from 2007 to 2014, being the first elected Hmong council member in California and the first Asian council member in the city.

Xiong also served as deputy director for The Fresno Center, a nonprofit organization that assists immigrants, refugees and new Americans.

“Xiong is very active in issues that span education, economic development, health, and equitable access to resources, and has sat on statewide commissions, the Asian Pacific Islander Commission, the California Volunteer Commission, as a committee member on the Insurance Diversity Board, and was a local board member of Valley Small Business Development Corp,” a press release from the White House stated.