Kay Ko attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Master of Arts degree in Art History, and a Doctoral Degree in Comparative Education. After teaching the Korean language at UCLA and Claremont McKenna Colleges, Kay Ko joined the FBI in December 1993 and worked as an Intelligence Analyst, a Supervisory Intelligence Analyst, and a Community Outreach Specialist. Kay Ko also earned a Juris Doctoral Degree from Loyola Law School in 2002 and retired from the FBI in 2020.

 

Kay Ko served as the Regional Network Lead for the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the southwest region covering California, Nevada, and Arizona from 2014 to 2019 to inform the public about federal government programs. The Regional Network consisted of over 90 representatives from 45 federal agencies conducting public

engagement events and presentations.

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Kay Ko was appointed by former Governor Brown to serve on the California State Board of Accountancy from 2013 to 2016. She also served on the Board of Visitors at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology and the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. She was a board member of the Asian Pacific Community Fund and the Korean American Scholarship Foundation.