Charles Woo ’72, M.S. ’75

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While Charles Woo’s professional title is co-founder and CEO of Megatoys, Inc., he is sometimes known as “The Father of Toytown.” It’s an apt title for a man who has had such a major impact on the city of Los Angeles. While working on his graduate research in 1972, the young Hong Kong native started a small toy import business, ABC Toys, in industrial downtown Los Angeles. Woo soon began to buy and renovate nearby rundown warehouses and help Asian immigrants start small toy businesses. Today, the area is a thriving business area known as the Toy District.

After serving as CEO of ABC Toys for a decade, Woo launched Megatoys to further expand business opportunities. Named one of the top 100 fastest growing businesses in Los Angeles County in 1995 and recognized as the “Minority Enterprises Manufacturing Firm of the Year” by the city of Los Angeles in 1999, Megatoys continues to be a thriving enterprise.

Beyond his own personal success, Woo has been an outstanding asset to his profession, having serves as president of the Toy Association of Southern California, chair of the Workforce Investment Board of Los Angeles, and as delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business. Currently, he serves as chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce – its first Asian-American chair as well as its first small and medium business chair in 133 years. He has given back whole-heartedly to the community in which he built his success as well as his own cultural community, serving on boards of the Library foundation, Metropolitan YMCA, LA’s BEST, Asian Rehabilitation Services and Chinese Americans United for Self-Empowerment (CAUSE).

For his professional achievements, as well as the positive impact these endeavors have had on the community, Woo has received numerous awards, ranging from the Historymakers Award from the Friends of the Chinese American Museum, to the World Trade Hall of Fame Award from the World Trade Center Association. He was also honored by the League of Women Voters, the Anti-Defamation League and the Asian Business Association.