Staff & Consultants

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Staff

Doua Thor is the Executive Director of Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC.) Ms. Thor has worked with national and grassroots Southeast Asian American organizations as well as other diverse refugee organizations for many years, formerly as a New Voices Fellow with Hmong National Development, Inc. (HND). Currently, she serves on the boards of Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote and of the Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF), and is a member of the Nielsen Media Research Asian Pacific American Advisory Council.

Ms. Thor is Hmong American. She and her family immigrated from Laos to Detroit, Michigan in 1979. They were one of hundreds of thousands of Hmong families who became refugees after supporting and fighting on the side of the United States during the Vietnam War. She holds a graduate degree from the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work with a concentration in social policy and evaluation.

Chanmoni Chim is the Administrative Manager for SEARAC. Her refugee processing and administrative background includes nine years in the immigration reception and placement program in Washington, DC by working closely with the partner agencies and the Department of State. She also has four years of collection experience with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) travel loans for the refugees. She has her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and two minors in Sociology and Business Management from the University of Maryland University College. She can speak both Vietnamese and Khmer.

Helly Lee is the Director of Policy for the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC). Prior to joining SEARAC, Ms. Lee spent some time on Capitol Hill interning and later working in Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum’s DC office. She was also a Program Coordinator at Hmong National Development (HND) where she coordinated the annual Hmong National Conference, the HND annual scholarship and supervised interns among other roles. Ms. Lee has also worked for the Healthy Asian Americans Project at the University of Michigan’s School of Nursing, educating Asian American women about the importance of preventative women’s health and providing cultural and language appropriate services. During her graduate studies, Ms. Lee interned with the Legacies of War Project in New York which raises awareness about U.S. cluster munitions in Laos left over from the Vietnam War era that continue to maim and kill innocent children and villagers today. She also has an extensive background in child welfare and juvenile justice.

Ms. Lee received her Masters of Social Work with a concentration in Social Policy and Evaluation from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and her B.A. in Social Work and a concentration in Criminal Justice from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Cinnsye Ly is an intern at SEARAC. He is a rising senior at Oshkosh West High School in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Prior to coming to DC this summer, Cinnsye worked at Hmong Home Care, Inc. and Care At Home, organizations which offer home health care to elderly and disabled Hmong-Americans. After high school, Cinnsye plans to attend college where he will major in biology and pursue a medical degree. In addition to helping SEARAC with organizational development and research, this summer he is also interning with Hmong National Development (HND) where he will be assisting with policy work, communications, and technology development.

Eileen Morrison is an intern at SEARAC. She is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University where she received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an additional major in International Relations. During her time in college she studied Khmer at SEASSI (Southeast Asian Summer Studies Institute) at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and went abroad to Cambodia where she studied Cambodian history, Khmer, and volunteered at the Reyum Institute of Arts and Culture. Prior to attending college, Eileen was an AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps volunteer, serving in the southeastern United States.

Catherina Nou is the California Policy Advocate for SEARAC. In this capacity, she conducts policy analyses and advocates for policy issues on behalf of California’s Southeast Asian community. Her family came to the United States as refugees from Cambodia in 1982. Catherina is a graduate of the University of California, Davis with a BA in Psychology and Asian American Studies. She is passionate about higher education among Southeast Asian youth. While at UC Davis, she founded the Khmer American Student Association (KASA), which seeks to inspire, motivate and empower Cambodian American students to succeed and encourages Cambodian high school students in the Central Valley to attain a higher education.

Catherina served as an intern in the Capitol and District Offices of California State Assembly member Dave Jones, District 9 -Sacramento. She is also recognized for her winning essay, “The Nature of Life” at SEARAC’s “Beyond Refugees: From Flight to Setting Roots” Gala Celebration in 2005.

Jennet Sambour is the Development and Finance Manager for SEARAC. Prior to that, Jennet was a New Voices Fellow at SEARAC serving as the Southeast Asian American Women's Leadership Advocate. Before joining SEARAC in 2005, Jennet was an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Rhode Island where she established and coordinated mentoring programs for disadvantaged youth. In 2003, she was awarded a B.A. in Psychology and Economics from Brown University. While there, she was instrumental in the creation of Southeast Asian/American Week, a week-long series of events dedicated to educating people about Southeast Asian issues. Jennet's family arrived in the United States from Cambodia in 1981.

Naomi Steinberg is SEARAC's Deputy Director. She has worked with national and grassroots Southeast Asian American organizations since 2000. Before joining the Southeast Asian American Values, Empowerment, Resources, and Betterment (VERB) project in early 2003, she was the Program Coordinator for SEARAC's Successful New Americans Project (SNAP). Prior to working for SEARAC, she was the Director of Program Development and Communication for the National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies (NAVASA). Ms. Steinberg received a B.A. in Political Science from Macalester College in 1997 and her M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies from Cornell University in 2000.

Linda Tran is a Program Associate at SEARAC. Linda is a graduate of the University of California, Davis where she received a BA in Women and Gender Studies and History, and a minor in Asian American Studies. While at UC Davis, she was the Director for the Asian Pacific Islander Leadership Program and Asian Pacific Islander Culture Week. Linda also served as an intern for the California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. She is passionate about women’s rights issues concerning the Southeast Asian community. Linda is currently pursuing a degree in Baking and Pastry Arts from the Kitchen Academy. Her family came to the United States from Vietnam as refugees in 1983 and settled in southern California. She can speak and write Vietnamese fluently.

Soumary Vongrassamy is the Education Advocate with SEARAC. Prior to joining SEARAC in 2008, Ms. Vongrassamy worked at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction administering various provisions of No Child Left Behind, served as an executive board member with the United Asian Services of Wisconsin, Inc. (formerly the United Refugee Services of Wisconsin), and served as an advisor to the Lao American Organization of Students (L.A.O.S.) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ms. Vongrassamy earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in both Marketing and Business Management in 2004.

Consultants & Advisors

Jane Bloom, ACSW, is SEARAC's program consultant for its Evaluation of ORR Formula Grant Programs and other new initiatives. She is the founder and former Director of RefugeeWorks, ORR's technical assistance arm for employment and self-sufficiency. Bloom has worked extensively with Mutual Assistance Associations (MAAs), helping SEARAC and several state agencies strengthen their MAA networks. She received her master's degree from Syracuse University with a specialty in gerontology and subsequently served as Public Policy Director for the National Council on the Aging; she has led several large studies on older refugees and now consults with SEARAC on its elderly refugee health programming.

Diana D. Bui is a nationally known expert in refugee issues with over twenty years of professional experience, primarily at the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center. She serves on the Advisory Council of Atlanta-based Refugee Women's Network, and has professional affiliations with the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children and Episcopal Migration Ministries. Ms. Bui's 1979 MAA paper called attention to the potential of Mutual Assistance Associations in refugee resettlement; over the intervening years she ensured that the paper's forward-looking set of 13 recommendations were implemented. In addition, Bui authored and was instrumental in passage of the 1990 "Refugee Women and Children's Protection Act," now permanently incorporated into the State Department's refugee assistance authorization language. In her volunteer capacity, Diana has served as PTA President, teaching assistant (poetry for first graders), and coordinator of the children's education program at church. Her first job after graduation from Sarah Lawrence College was English Teacher/Community Development Worker with International Voluntary Services in Ban-me-thuot, South Vietnam.

Yael Flusberg serves as a Consultant for meeting planning, training, and grantwriting. She has extensive experience working with both national and community-based multiethnic organizations.

Andria and Barry King are communications professionals who come from nonprofit backgrounds. Their private consultancy service, Wyrdwright, Inc., provides a variety of integrated communications and information system services to several nonprofit and voluntary groups. They are currently supporting SEARAC’s information strategy by improving its computer systems and data management, and by enhancing its Internet presence.

Max Niedzwiecki, Ph.D. the Emeritus Executive Director originally joined SEARAC in February 1999 as the Director of Programs and Resource Development. He was then appointed Acting Executive Director in January 2004 and Executive Director in June 2004. Before joining SEARAC he worked with arts and social service organizations in the United States and Asia, including the Cambodian Community of Massachusetts, Inc.; Cambodian Shadow Puppet Theater; the Cambodian Handicraft Association; the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma; the Panat Nikhom Refugee Processing Center; and the New England Folklife Center.

Max was awarded a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Boston University in 1998. In 1989 he earned a B.A. in Clinical Psychology and Asian Studies from Tufts University.

Le Xuan Khoa served as SEARAC's President and Executive Director between 1982 and 1997. At present, he advises SEARAC on domestic and international matters, and monitors the SEARAC-implemented microcredit projects which continue to operate in Vietnam. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.

KaYing Yang, who served as Executive Director of SEARAC between 1997 and 2003, was also formerly the Executive Director of the Women's Association of Hmong and Lao (WAHL) of St. Paul, Minnesota, a mutual assistance association. A community activist and advocate, Ms. Yang participates in the activities of many civil rights organizations whose mission is to increase the visibility of Asian Pacific American communities locally and nationally. In 1998, Ms. Yang was featured by the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper as one of ninety-nine people to watch in 1999. She was also named one of the 500 most influential Asian Americans by Avenue Asia magazine in 1995. Ms. Yang has traveled extensively in the United States and Southeast Asia to speak about the Hmong American experience and diaspora, as well as to learn about the globalization of refugees and the internally displaced people. She and her family came to Columbus, Ohio in July of 1976, as refugees from Laos. Ms. Yang now works for the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in the resettlement of the Hmong refugees at Wat Thamkrabok, in Thailand.