Board Of Directors

Sarah R. Kith

Sarah R. Kith is the chair of the SEARAC board. Sarah first arrived in the United States as a child refugee from Cambodia. Today, she works as an ombudsman at the American Red Cross and serves as a confidential, neutral, and independent resource for people to share concerns about the Red Cross and assists in finding options to address those concerns. She is a community leader who works with many people from across diverse backgrounds, bringing ideas and creative synergy to accomplish goals. In 2002, Sarah was one of 500 international facilitators for the America Speaks "Listening to the City" event. This event engaged 5,000 survivors from the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area impacted by 9/11 to discuss the future footprint of the twin towers.

Sarah has held numerous leadership roles in various Cambodian American organizations, including as the current vice chair for the National Cambodian American Organization, as the past president of the Cambodian Investment Group, and as past chair for the Night of the Apsara Second Annual Fundraiser in support of Friends Without A Border (FWAB). Night of the Apsara is an ad-hoc planning group consisting predominantly of Cambodian Americans who sponsor an annual fundraising event to support the Angkor Hospital for Children, providing Cambodian children access to health care.

Sarah received her undergraduate degree in an Interdisciplinary Study (Communication, Legal Institution, Economics, and Government) from the American University in Washington, DC and her Master of Science degree from the George Mason University Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. She is also a mother to three wonderful sons, Camerin, Zackiri, and Jareth.

Steve Arounsack

Steve Arounsack teaches at California State University, Stanislaus. He has worked alongside the Lao diaspora and Southeast Asian groups for almost 15 years in various capacities. Along with serving on multiple boards and national organizations, he has published numerous articles and papers on the Lao, including acculturation experiences, history, and identity. At age 19, he became Editor-in-Chief of Lao Vision Magazine, the nation's first Lao-American hybrid publication. Later, he founded and became president of Pacific Arc Media LLC, a digital media company that highlighted Southeast Asian culture. In over a decade of multimedia experience in digital video, web, and print, Steve’s productions have been showcased on PBS, satellite television, at universities, and theatre venues across the nation. His media projects have been funded by the Ford Foundation, Texaco Foundation, and the California Council for the Humanities among others. Additionally, Steve coordinated the first two Lao International Film Festivals for the Center for Lao Studies.

Steve has traveled to Laos numerous times in the last 15 years to document conditions there. He co-developed a touchscreen program for the Legacies of War project to educate the public about the secret bombings in the 1960s and 70s; he is also serving as the media director for the Lao Oral History Archive.

Steve holds a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis. He was part of the inaugural class of prestigious national Gates Millennium Scholars (2000-2005), a fellow with Sustainable Communities Leadership Program (2002), and a fellow for the American Leadership Forum (2009-2010).

Kevin Fong

Kevin Fong is the Founder and President of Elemental Partners, an organizational design and development firm that specializes in building leadership capacity; strategic planning; facilitation; teambuilding; evaluation; executive coaching; board development; and organizational systems. His mission is to clarify purpose, align principles, and integrate systems to cultivate health and prosperity in the workplace.

Kevin has extensive experience in facilitating trainings, retreats and meetings in a variety of settings, especially with diverse, multi-ethic/multi-lingual groups. He also serves as lead faculty in several leadership training programs and fellowships.  He coaches corporate and nonprofit executive leaders and facilitates seminars and conferences on leadership and organizational design.

The foundation of Kevin’s work is built upon “The Five Elements of Success,” a system that uses Eastern traditions and philosophies, along with conventional organizational and leadership theories to design functional and harmonious organizational systems. He has trained and lectured on the “The Five Elements of Success” system throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Prior to creating his consulting practice in 1995, Kevin spent five years in the management development program at Macy’s CA. He then moved to the nonprofit sector, where he directed the HIV program at Asian Health Services in Oakland, CA. Kevin supervised a multi-cultural staff who spoke 15 languages. He worked on the frontlines of client services and designed and coordinated outreach and organizational strategies, program management, public policy, evaluation, and fundraising activities.

In addition, Kevin was awarded a three-year fellowship from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. During his assignments in East Africa, Brazil, Guatemala, Turkey, Central and Eastern Europe, and throughout the U.S., Kevin paid particular attention to the effects of globalization on families, neighborhoods, and villages from the context of social justice and citizen leadership. He has served on numerous community and national boards, and has played a key role in the development of several HIV and social service organizations. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Kevin lives with his partner and two sons in San Francisco.

Linda Kim

Linda Kim is the Deputy Director of OneJustice, where she is responsible for expanding the organization's operational processes to ensure scalable infrastructure and organizational growth. Linda also oversees all OneJustice programs, focusing her advocacy on federal legislation, funding, and regulations that affect the capacity of California nonprofit legal organizations to serve clients. While at the University of San Francisco School of Law, she clerked with the State Bar of California Office of Chief Trial Counsel, mediated in Small Claims Division of San Francisco County Superior Court, and lobbied at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. Linda has worked in Cambodia and Indonesia developing legal advocacy projects, and in Costa Rica as a translator with the Central American Human Rights Commission. Linda currently serves on the Regulations and Restrictions Committee of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association’s (NLADA) Civil Policy Group and is thrilled to join the SEARAC Board.

Cat Bao Le

Cat Bao Le graduated with a BA in Ethnic Studies from U.C. Berkeley in 2005. Upon graduating, Cat joined the Asian Law Caucus (ALC) in San Francisco to coordinate media and grassroots voter education efforts for the California 2005 Special Elections. Cat continued as a Community Advocate at ALC until 2009, working closely with the Immigration Program and the Civil Rights and National Security Program. During her tenure, Cat assisted Vietnamese clients in naturalization, deportation, and other court proceedings. Cat also led special projects in the areas of grassroots leadership, capacity building, voting rights, and immigrant labor rights.

Cat joined the United Farm Workers guest-worker division in 2007, where she worked closely with Southeast Asian farmers in need of legal and language support. Following her work, she was awarded a Blakemore-Freeman Foundation grant as the Vietnam Fellow, and moved to Vietnam in 2009. In Saigon and Hanoi, Cat’s work focused on legal Vietnamese in the area of developing labor laws and worker’s rights.

Cat currently works in Charlotte, North Carolina to increase civic engagement and citizenship in this growing Southeast Asian American community. Her work is part of a national effort under the New American Citizenship Collaborative.

Cat is bilingual in both Vietnamese and Spanish.

Board Of Directors

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