Chairman Sithea San, Against all odds Sithea San, as a teenager, lived through the upheavals of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime and finally, escaped across landmine riddled border to refugee camps in Thailand. She and her surviving family members immigrated to the US in August 1981. Sithea graduated from Cal State University of Dominguez Hills with a BS in Production and Operations Management. In 1995, Sithea and Richer returned to their ethnic homeland for five years to participate in the reconstruction of Cambodia. Sithea served as the Director of Commercial Royal Air Cambodge, the Cambodian National Airline. Sithea and Richer returned to Long Beach in 2001 and re-engaged their activity within the Cambodian community. In 2005 they spearheaded the first Cambodian New Year Parade, now an annual event. In 2007 they led a group of investors to establish the first Cambodian chartered bank in the United States – Golden Coast Bank. As chair of Cambodia Town, Inc., Sithea led the community to successfully persuade the City of Long Beach to form the first officially recognized Cambodia Town in the United States in July 2007. In 2014 Sithea was handpicked to be a CEO of First Cambodia, Co. Ltd., one of the largest Cambodian IT companies operating in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. In 2015, she resigned from the position but still stay on as Board of Director.
Sithea had considerable experience in community service at the municipal, state and national level in the United States of America and Cambodia. Sithea is a Chair of Cambodia Town, Inc. a Secretary of Cambodian Coordinating Councils, a Secretary of the Long Beach-Phnom Penh Sister Cities and an active board member of the Cambodian-American Chamber of Commerce and Cambodia Women Business Federation. She also received many leadership awards and recognitions from the congressional office and well-known organizations in United States and Cambodia.
1st Vice Chairman Monorom Neth, Monorom Neth is the Executive Director of Midtown Business Improvement District since October 2016.His goal is to revitalize and promote Midtown BID through various activities which contribute to the economic and neighborhood well being of the Midtown Business Improvement District in Long Beach. Prior to his Current position, he was the president of the Cambodian Coordinating Council for the 1st Vice-Chair of Cambodia Town Inc. and president of the Long Beach-Phnom Penh Sister Cities. Monorom is married to Princess Norodom Kessar and has three children: Alex, Reachny, and Norindra. He enjoys spending time with his family and outdoor activities. Treasurer Pasin Chanou, Mr. Pasin Chanou is the Chairman of Cambodia Town, Inc. He is a strong advocate for improving the social and economic well-being of residents and business owners in Central Long Beach. Mr. Chanou is a founding member of Cambodia Town, demarcating the neighborhood of Long Beach that is primarily populated by Cambodian residents and businesses. He is proud that his work has contributed to the changing public perception of Cambodians as merely needy frefugees escaping the Killing Fields, to a proud, hardworking people who are the direct descendants of the Great Khmer Empire that once ruled much of Southeast Asia. In August 2011, Mr. Chanou retired from United Launch Alliance (a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin), following 34 years of service as a System Specialist and Project Manager. He also currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors for Pacific Asian Counseling Services, and as a member of the Board of Directors for the Cambodian Coordinating Council. Mr.Chanou holds an MBA from Pepperdine University. Secretary Mariko Kahn, Mariko Kahn has a wealth of knowledge and experience working with diverse Asian Pacific Islander (API) communities. Kahn earned her BS in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Riverside in 1973 and a MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University in 1987.
Since 2004, Kahn has been the Executive Director of Pacific Asian Counseling Services (PACS), a non-profit that provides mental health services to the severely and chronically mentally ill in Los Angeles County. PACS is well-known for its culturally and linguistically sensitive services working with API refugee and immigrant populations. The agency’s staff usually has language capacity in eight API languages as well as Spanish.
Since 2008 she has been an active board officer of Cambodia Town, Inc. in Long Beach. Her work with CTI has enriched her understanding of this emerging API population. She has written a number of grants and contracts to improve the mental health and living conditions of Cambodians in Long Beach. As a past president and current Treasurer for the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), she has advocated for the needs of APIs and partnered in collaborations with other API agencies for grants.
In FY2011-2012, PACS was awarded an Innovation grant to provide integrated behavioral and medical services to the Cambodians in Long Beach under MHSA. She has been integral in the implementation of this community strength based project that has outreached and informed hundreds of underserved Cambodians about mental health. The use of non-traditional practices including spiritual ones like the Buddhist Blessing Ceremony have created great interest.
She has received several awards including: “2014 Woman of the Year” for the Commission on Women, awarded by Supervisor Don Knabe, 4th District; “Champion of Cambodia Town Award” from the City of Long Beach in recognition of her dedication in the creation of “Cambodia Town,” and the President’s Undergraduate Fellowship from the University of California, Riverside which allowed her to study Caribe Indians in the Orinoco, Venezuela. Dr. Elisa Nicholas and she were published in the AAPI Nexus Journal in the Fall 2014 on “Challenges to Improve Health Care Access for Cambodians,” Vol. 12, No. 1 & 2.
Kahn has presented at State and international conferences on cultural competency, integrated services in the public mental health field and the use of non-traditional and healing practices as part of mental health treatment in the Cambodian community. She is often requested as a speaker for API student organizations, presents on many panels and testifies at the County and State level on issues such as API disparity and cultural competency for ethnic minorities in the public mental health system. Kahn was appointed to the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s Systems Leadership Team in 2010 till 2019 by the DMH Director, Dr. Marvin Southard. This group oversees the implementation and evaluation of the Mental Health Service Act in Los Angeles County. She is a recognized advocate in Los Angeles County for the priority needs of APIs, and serves on many committees and work groups within LAC DMH to ensure that mental health funding is equitably allocated to API communities.
Kim Sour, In April 1975, when the Communist Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia, Mr. Kim Suor Ngann was serving as a captain in the Republic of Cambodia Air Force. Well aware of the imminent danger to his family because of his affiliation with the government, he and his wife Sophy successfully escaped to Thailand just minutes before the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh. After a brief stay in a Thai refugee camp, they emigrated to the United States to begin a new life.

Over the past twenty years, Mr. Ngann has been a dedicated volunteer for the Long Beach Cambodian community. For many years he and his wife prepared and donated meals to Wat Willow Buddhist Temple in Long Beach.

In 2001 Mr. Ngann volunteered for the campaign to designate Cambodia Town for a section of Anaheim Street in Long Beach. He participated in the petition drive and attended every Long Beach City Council hearing on the Cambodia Town name designation, which was eventually approved by the City Council on April 3rd, 2007. He is currently a member of Cambodia Town, Inc. board of directors.

Mr. Ngann maintains a strong commitment to preserving and promoting the Cambodian culture in Long Beach. In 2004 he joined the committee that worked to bring the Cambodian New Year Parade to Long Beach. Mr. Ngann’s hard work bore fruit when the inaugural Cambodian New Year Parade was held on April 27, 2005 in front of a large ecstatic crowd. He has volunteered countless hours in every New Year Parade held since then.

Mr. Ngann’s other contributions include volunteering for the annual Cambodian New Year Celebration at El Dorado Park in Long Beach. He is a current member of the board of directors of Cambodian Coordinating Council, which organizes the Cambodian New Year Celebration. He has also served as Treasurer and a member of the board of directors for Cambodian Veterans, Inc.

For thirteen years, Mr. Ngann was a businessman who owned and managed Royal Palace Restaurant, which was an enormously popular venue for Cambodian weddings. He is currently a senior technician at Robinson Helicopter Company. He has been married to his wife Sophy for over 45 years. They are proud parents to Stephanie and Andrew, and grandparents to two-year-old Aiden with another grandchild on the way.
Richer San, Mr. Richer San was a founding member and former Board of Director of Golden Coast Bank, the first Cambodian chartered bank in the U.S. He is President & CEO of Golden Shore Co. Ltd. In Phnom Penh, he advises business and economic development efforts in his native Cambodia from which he escaped the murderous Khmer Rouge regime as a teenager. He is, also, serving as member of the Board of Directors of First Cambodia, Company Ltd. The company is one of the largest IT companies in Cambodia with over 110 employees. With his wife, Sithea San, he was instrumental in establishing Cambodia Town in the City of Long Beach as a Business and Cultural District along the Anaheim corridor and Cambodian New Year Parade. Presently, he is working as Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Outreach Coordinator with Pacific Asian Counseling Services. His main responsibility is to conduct outreach to underserved communities through culturally appropriate mental health promotion and education services.
Mr. San is an active Board of Director of the Long Beach community-based organizations including Cambodia Town, Inc., Cambodian-American Chamber of Commerce, Cambodian-Coordinating Councils, the Long Beach - Phnom Penh Sister Cities, and the Long Beach Sister Cities Inc. He received numerous awards and recognitions from municipal, state and national levels for his community services. Richer holds a BS in Business Administration from Cal State University of Dominguez Hills.
Rong Be The Reverend Rong Be was ordained as a novice monk at the Botum Sakor Temple in Kompong Spean District, Preah Tropeang Province of Kampuchea Krom (current day South Vietnam). In 1989, he went to Wat Kampong Phnom Knong in the Kandal Province, Cambodia where he studied Pali, Dhamma doctrine and English. In 1992, he took up residence at Wat Mohamontrey in Phnom Penh to continue his studies. During that time, he continued to expand his extensive knowledge of Cambodian culture and spiritual practices. He was president of education at the Mohamontrey Temple teaching Khmer, prayers and culture to orphans and monks. In 1995, he completed his B.A. in Psychology.

In December 1995, the Venerable Be arrived in Stockton, CA and completed his A.S. degree in computer technology at Heald College while teaching laypeople about prayers, non-violence and meditation as well as volunteering for a number of non-profits in the Bay area that worked with the Cambodian, American, Korean, Laotian, and Vietnamese populations.

Some of his accomplishments are:
 As a Buddhist monk for over 21 years, he performed many functions internationally, mainly in Asia, Europe and America. He also went on Buddhist pilgrimages to India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Burma.
 Taught about Buddha Dhamma to a delegation of doctors at Stanford University in Santa Clara County.
 Former a Board member of the Faith-based Advocacy Council in Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.
 Served on the Cambodia Town, Inc. Council since 2015 and elected to the Board of Directors in 2017.
 Elected to the Board of Directors of Midtown Property and Business Owners Association in 2018. Simorn Moeun Simorn(Morn) Moeun’s upbringing has been anything but ordinary. Like his peers, his experience during the Khmer Rouge was about survival. Migrating from refugee camp to refugee camp throughout southeast Asia throughout the early 80s, losing his father during the killing field when he was 14 years old. To escape the horrors of conflict in Cambodia, he, his mother and three young siblings immigrated to the United States in 1984 by a church sponsorship through YMCA. As an immigrant, he had to immediately be the father figure of the house while adjusting to a new country. He and his family first settled in Alton, Illinois in March of 1984 for a short period of time. Later that year, with the help of fellow board member and friend Richer San, he and his family moved to Los Angeles and finally settling in Norwalk in 2000, where he resides today.
In 1990, he married his wife, Vanna with whom they have 2 boys, Westley and Winston. He graduated from Freeman School in LA in 1986 with an emphasis in Ethics and attended LA Trade Tech College from 1986-1989. He held numerous positions in the Hotel business starting with The Mondrian in West Hollywood (1984-1993) and then The Standard in West Hollywood and finally transferring to The Standard in Downtown LA where he retired from the business in 2009. He worked as a life insurance agent from 1997-2001 as a representative for 3 major companies with the first being The Midland Life Insurance Company, then Zurich Kemper Life, and finally Pacific Life Insurance Company. Using those experiences, Simorn became a small business owner in 2004 which he still owns currently.
His mission as a board member of Cambodia Town is to preserve Cambodian culture and to educate about who they are as a people. Evan A Braude
Evan has his own successful law practice specializing in Municipal Government and Administrative Law. Prior to opening his current office, he was the Contract City Attorney for the City of Lynwood. Before taking that assignment, Evan was the Special Assistant City Attorney for the City of Los Angeles for four years. In that position he helped administer an office of over 750 men and women representing all the legal interests of the City of Los Angeles. Half of the office represented the City in all civil matters, including representing the Mayor, City Council, Boards and Commissions as well as city departments such as the Port of Los Angeles, Airports, and Water & Power. The other half of the office prosecuted thousands of serious misdemeanors and code violations yearly. Having an active role in designing both local and state legislation regarding tobacco control, Evan has lectured throughout California to city attorneys, prosecutors and enforcement personnel on the state of the law and its compliance.

Prior to rejoining the LA City Attorney's Office, Evan was twice elected to the City Council for the City of Long Beach, and served from 1986 to 1994. As the representative of Long Beach City's 1st Council District, Braude spear–headed downtown redevelopment, pushed for affordable housing, championed the neighborhood improvement program, successfully authored Anti-discrimination legislation regarding AIDS and LBGTQ rights, and directed the effort to solve the region's difficult transportation and port issues. He wrote and sponsored the strongest anti-tobacco and anti-smoking regulations of a large city and over his terms was chair of the City’s Housing Authority and Housing & Neighborhoods Committee, chair of the Legislation Committee, and sat on the Council's Quality of Life Committee and the Harbor Liaison Committee. While on the Council he helped form and organize the Phnom Penh Sister City Committee.

In 1991, Braude was nominated by the Mayor and City Council to the influential Board of Directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD) and was elected to serve as Corridor "A" Rep by the 26 cities in the Southeast region of Los Angeles County. When the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was formed to supersede the SCRTD, he was re-elected by the Southeastern cities to serve as their representative. During his tenure until mid 1994, he served as Chairman of the MTA's Operations Committee.

Braude has a life–long history of public service, beginning as part-time Assistant Secretary of the California State Senate at the age of 15, and then, at age 22, serving as an aide to Cong. Glenn M. Anderson. After graduating from UCLA (1970) and while earning his law degree at Loyola University (1973), Braude worked in Los Angeles for the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. After passing the California Bar and serving as a Legal Assistance Officer for the United States Navy, Braude became a Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney and prosecutor. He was appointed by the Carter White House to assist the Secretary of Transportation as an attorney and legislative advisor in Washington, D.C. from mid 1977 until 1980, whereupon he returned to Long Beach to open his own law office. He was Assistant General Counsel of Mercury Savings & Loan from 1985 to 1990, where he oversaw legal
issues involving land use and financing.

Born and raised in Los Angeles County, Braude lives in Long Beach. Evan’s son, Jayson, graduated from UC Santa Barbara and Southwestern School of Law, is a member of the Washington State Bar and is currently is a Federal lobbyist for several LA County cities. Jayson previously worked for two United States Senators and two CA Congresswomen. Evan’s 32 year partner, Bonnie Lowenthal, termed out as a California Assembly Member, 70 th District, and now sits on the Long Beach Harbor Commission. They are long-term members of Temple Israel of Long Beach, where Evan sat on the Temple Board, as well as the Union of Reform Judaism North American Board of Trustees. He has been active in numerous legal and civic organizations including being a founder of Bet Tzedek Legal Services serving the poor in Los Angeles County. Additionally, he served on the Boards of the California Conference for Equality & Justice, Glenn & Lee Anderson Foundation, St. Mary's Hospital, Cambodia Town Board, the Long Beach and Los Angeles County Bar Associations, as well as numerous other legal and philanthropic organizations. He is the past President of the Historical Society of Long Beach and past President of Long Beach Affordable Housing Coalition bringing affordable housing to hundreds of families. He was a founder and former Board member of Golden Coast Bank, the first Cambodian Community based bank.

Evan and Bonnie have traveled the world extensively both for professional purposes as well as personal
enjoyment and education. They both have visited Cambodia more 8 times. Board of Directors

Honorary Chairman Phillip Thong, Mr. Thong is a founding member of First Choice Bank, having served as Vice Chairman since inception in August 2005, and as Vice Chairman of First Choice Bancorp since inception in September 2017. Mr. Thong is a Certified Public Accountant / Business Advisor, he is the Founder and Managing Partner of his own firm, Phillip T. Thong CPA, and has over 35 years of related experience including private and public accounting, management consulting, mergers & acquisitions, and other such areas. He previously was a Founder and Managing Partner of Thong, Yu, Wong & Lee, LLP, from 1982 until 2017. Mr. Thong currently is an honorary chairman of Cambodia Town Inc. and a member of the Advisory Board of CHPAA. He is a member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and California Society of Certified Public Accountants. Formerly, Mr. Thong was a member of the advisory board of the Senate Select Committee on Small Business Enterprises. Mr. Thong previously served as a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Committee at International Bank of California. Mr. Thong holds a BS degree in Accounting from West Coast University in Los Angeles, California and a Master’s in Business Administration from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California Cambodia Town, inc. council members Honorary Members ©2020 Cambodia Town, INC. | cambodiatown.org | cambodiatown.com Evan Braude | Kerry Chhay | Julie Daniels | John Edmond | Jim Fisk | Sakphan Keam | Tony Lai | Bonnie Lowenthal | Malou Mariano | Dr. Sue Needham | Sokthea Phay | Nanda Pok | Dr. Karen Quintiliani | Mary Sinn | Edward Tan | Sean Tu | Sandy Vendenberge | Gary Ung |