Press Release

For Immediate Release Contact: July 12, 2005 Doua Thor Tel: 202/667-4690, doua@searac.org

Doua Thor Named Executive Director of SEARAC

Washington, DC — The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Doua Thor as its new Executive Director.

Ms. Thor, who now serves as SEARAC's Deputy Director, will take on her new post on July 18, 2005. She has worked with national and grassroots Southeast Asian American organizations for many years, and served as a New Voices Fellow with Hmong National Development, Inc. (HND). She is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF), and holds an MSW degree from the University of Michigan, where she focused on Social Policy and Evaluation. As an intern at SEARAC in 2000, she was largely responsible for the creation of the first national directory of Southeast Asian American mutual assistance associations (MAAs). Ms. Thor and her family moved to the United States from Laos as refugees in 1979, and settled in Detroit, Michigan.

"Doua is bright, creative, hard-working, and - most importantly - committed to serving all of the diverse Southeast Asian American communities. It is exciting to have her leading SEARAC," according to Bouy Te, the Chair of SEARAC's Board of Directors.

"When Doua speaks, people listen. That's because she knows Southeast Asian American communities so well and cares about them so much, and because she has real integrity. She has a 'sparkle' about her, and will make SEARAC even stronger than it has been in the past," according to Max Niedzwiecki, SEARAC's out-going Executive Director. After July 15, Mr. Niedzwiecki will become SEARAC's Director of Policy, and will begin an independent consulting practice.

SEARAC is a national organization primarily led by, as well as for, Americans with heritage in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Its constituents include a network of over 190 refugee-led community organizations throughout the country that can be viewed on-line at www.searac.org/maa. Founded in 1979, SEARAC focuses on building the capacity of organizations in its network, on advocating for and with Southeast Asian Americans for improvements in public policy, and on generating and presenting information about the communities.

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