Tammy Tran Thi Thien Tam, President, thientam@vietact.org

Tammy Tran Thi Thien Tam is currently serving as the District Director for State Senator Lou Correa. Previously, she worked as a Field Representative for California State Assembly Member of Lou Correa of the 69th Assembly District. In this capacity, Tammy worked predominantly with the Asian Pacific American community and issues of health care, education, consumer protection, human trafficking, and small businesses. In conjunction with various local elected offices, social service agencies, and community organizations, Tammy was active in the Protect Campaign, a project to raise awareness on human trafficking on local and international levels. She also served of a statewide task force on advocating for model state legislation on anti-human trafficking. In 2002, she graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelors of Arts in International Relations & minor in Public Health. As a Ronald L. McNair Scholar, Tammy produced research on human trafficking discourse at a research institute in 2001. She continued her academic work on human trafficking through her senior thesis project. Tammy is a longtime active member of the Vietnamese American Public Affairs Committee, Doan Thanh Phan Boi Chau, Union of Vietnamese Students Associations, and Len Duong Vietnamese Youth Network. Recently, Tammy was honored by the Asian Business Association Community Leader Award as an Advocate for Education to Increase Awareness of the Problem of Trafficking in Humans Persons.

After watching Dateline NBC, participating in local anti-trafficking events, and a fact-finding trip to Indonesia and Taiwan in April 2004, Tammy joined other concerned individuals in establishing VietACT in August 2004.

Huynh Ngoc Phuoc, Vice-President, phuochuynh@vietact.org

Huynh Ngoc Phuoc graduated from Texas A&M University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering. He was a manager at Compaq/Hewitt Packard until 2002 and is currently working as an independent consultant in Houston, Texas. Mr. Phuoc started working with Father Peter Nguyen Van Hung in 2001 on the Vietnamese Export Labor and Human Trafficking issues in Taiwan. He has a wealth of experience in coordinating many youth and community organizations such as the Len Duong Youth Network and the Vietnamese Professionals Society. Mr. Phuoc has worked to promote public awareness on human trafficking issues and raise funds to support the victims recovery. He currently serves on the Vietnamese Professionals Society's and VietAct's Board of Directors.

Tran Kinh Luan, Secretary, luantran@vietact.org

Kinh Luan Tran is the co-founding partner of Lee & Tran, a business-litigation firm in Los Angeles, California. He holds three law degrees, including one from the Harvard Law School.

Since the early 1990s, he has been legal counsel to LAVAS, which provides legal assistance to Vietnamese asylum seekers in Asia. He also worked with The Vietnamese Institute (Vien Viet Hoc) to organize its annual College Day to inform Vietnamese college students and their parents about the college application process. He also serves as Judge Pro Tem for the Los Angeles Superior Court. Luan was recently selected as among the "Best Lawyers Under 40" in the U.S. by a respected national bar association and "Top 20 Under 40" in California by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal.

He got involved in VietAct after watching a Dateline report on human trafficking of young girls in Southeast Asia. He could not shake off the images of Vietnamese girls as young as 8 years old forced to engage in prostitution with foreigners as old as their grandfathers. VietAct gives him the opportunity to do something about this.

Cathy Ngo Ngoc Hang, Treasurer, cathyngo@vietact.org

Cathy graduated from CSU, Long Beach in 2004 with a Bachelors degree in Finance and International Business. She currently works for Raytheon as a financial analyst.

After graduation, Cathy spent 6 months traveling, working, and studying in Asia and Australia. Cathy first went to China, where she studied Mandarin, interned for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, and taught English classes. It was during her travel in Australia where Cathy first saw the clip of Dateline NBC clip on human trafficking. When Cathy returned to China, she begin to teach about human trafficking in her English classes. When she returned to the United States, Cathy joined VietACT in 2004.

Cathy is very active in the Vietnamese community. From 2001-2002, Cathy served as President of the CSU Long Beach Vietnamese Student Association. She mobilize students on campus to participate in community services activities including Culture Night, Black April Commemoration, etc. Ever since 2002, she has been an active member of the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations, where she was a Committee Chair for Hoi Cho Tet and was the Vietnamese Language Arts Coordinator.

Father Peter Nguyen Van Hung, Honoree Board Member, nguyenvanhung2025@gmail.com

Cha Hung grew up and went  to schools in Binh Tuy. In 1979 he escapes  from Vietnam by boat. He arrived in Australia and studied for mission in the Missionary Society of St. Columban. He studied and later ordained to the priesthood in 1991. Cha Hung worked in Taiwan since 1988. He first worked with homeless people in Taipei city. Later work with handicapped children. Cha was the Director of Hope Workers Center, which runs a shelter and assists abused migrant workers. In early 2004, he established Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Brides office in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Anne Huyen Le, Board Member, annele@vietact.org
 
Anne Huyen Le was born in Long Thanh, Viet Nam and immigrated to America in 1975.  Anne Graduated with Doctor of Optometry from University of Houston's College of Optometry in 1989.  After graduation, she established her private practice, Bellaire Optometry, and has been practicing there since then.  Anne has been actively involved in many charities and community events and organizations for the past 20 years. Anne is a co-founder and a teacher of Hung Vuong Vietnamese Language School since 1986. Anne also served as the President of Vietnamese Professionals Society (VPS), Houston Chapter, from 1990 to 1992 and again from 2002 to 2004.  Anne is also the Chairperson of Healthcare Committee of VPS from 1992 to 1994.  Anne is involved with theVietnamese American Youth Network from 2002 to date and is also a Member of the Board of Directors. Anne was also a show host and guest speaker for two Vietnamese radio stations, Saigon Houston Radio and Tieng Nuoc Toi Radio, from 2003 to 2005. 

Natalie Nhat Nguyen, Board Member, natalienguyen@vietact.org

Natalie Nguyen is currently completing a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Health Management at Yale University School of Public Health. After graduation in May, Natalie will relocate to Boston, Massachusetts where she will start a new adventure as the Administrative Fellow of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Natalie received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at the UC San Diego in 2002. Although a scientist by training, Natalie dreams of being the people’s champion for universal healthcare by day and a Broadway performer by night.

Following her father’s footsteps, Natalie has been a long-time community activist. Prior to joining VietACT, Natalie served as the External Vice President of the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California (UVSA, 2003-2004) and as the first Internal Vice President of the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (uNAVSA, 2004-2005). After watching the NBC video “Children For Sale,” Natalie immediately made contact with the International Justice Mission. She organized a community forum on human trafficking in May of 2004 which featured IJM’s President and CEO, Gary Haugen, as the keynote speaker. A fierce advocate for human rights, Natalie is one of the founding members of the Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking (VietACT).

Khoi Ta, Board Member, khoita@vietact.org

Khoi is currently an aide to Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez of Orange County, California.  He works on issues ranging from civil rights, human rights, housing, intellectual property, faith-based, telecommunication issues, and all other issues affecting the Asian Pacific Islander community.   After learning about the current state of human trafficking worldwide, Khoi joined a group of concerned individuals in establishing VietAct in 2004.

Khoi graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a degree in Political Science, and Phi Beta Kappa honors.  He was awarded the Hilton and Pritikin Research scholarships for his research using game-theoretical tools to analyze the nternational Criminal Court.   He looks forward to a day where individual perpetrators of crimes against humanity and genocide will be held accountable for their crimes. 

Van Le, Program and Office Manager, VanLe@VietACT.org

Van Le currently is the first full time staff for VietACT as the Program and Office Manager. Van recently graduated from Colorado State University with her Bachelors degree in Political Science and Sociology with a Criminal Justice Concentration. Van was heavily involved in Denver, participating in the Vietnamese American Community Board of Representatives as a student coordinator, as well as a co-founder of Nhom Tuoi Tre Ve Nguon, which helped coordinate the VietACT fundraising dinner and other activities. Van has also been involved with other student youth organizations and was a part of the organizing committee as a liaison for the 3rd International Youth Conference. Van is in Orlando Florida working for a new Vietnamese-American non-profit organization, the Vietnamese American Hue Association of Florida. Van is also serving as a regional representative for VietACT in Florida and getting more involved in the student community of Florida to promote awareness of Human Trafficking. Van is also served as secretary of the Union of North America Vietnamese Student Associations (uNAVSA) where she is actively working on the Relay Against Trafficking campaign.

Volunteer Staff

Anthony Vinh Tan Nguyen, San Diego Representative, V117H@aol.com

Vinh nguyen will be finishing up his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science this upcoming year at San Diego State University. He is currently the Premedical Representative for the Global Health Action Committee of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA). In this capacity, Anthony serves as the liaison to all premedical students across the nation. He manages the premedical aspect of the official health listserv, fosters ideas, and email news and updates on global issues. After learning about the human trafficking issue in Southeast Asia in the spring of 2004, Anthony soon joined others to combat trafficking and helped organize the first Candlelight Vigil in San Diego in the Spring of 2006. In the near future, Anthony will continue to fight for global health issues. He hopes to someday work in the U.S. Department of State as well as travel the world as a PeaceCorps Volunteer to implement grassroots and non-governmental organizations. He is the current President for the Vietnamese Student Association at SDSU (2005-2007) and a member of the Vietnamese American Youth Alliance (VAYA).

Huy Phan, San Jose, CA Representative, huy.phan@vietact.org

Ngoc Tram Tran, Internship Coordinator, ngoctramtran@gmail.com

Lilly Nguyen, Volunteer, mslilly05@gmail.com

Lilly graduated from the University of Minnesota in the spring 2006 with a Bachelors Degree in Child Psychology and Sociology. Lilly was the former President of Vietnamese Student Association of Minnesota (VSAMN) from 2005-2006. Lilly was an integral part of the successful inaugural Relay Against Trafficking event for VietACT in May 2006. She has been involved with the Catalyst Foundation as well, while in Minnesota. Currently, Lilly is currently living and working in Northern California. 

Minh T. Nguyen, Technical Coordinator, nguyentriminh@yahoo.com

Minh T. Nguyen graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in computer science and since then has been involved in the Vietnamese community mainly through the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California and the Vietnamese Professionals Society. As a co-chair to the VPS North American Conference 2004, he invited Tammy Tran and Phuoc Huynh to present VietACT at the "Improving the Lives of Women and Children in Vietnam" panel. Minh recently joined the VietACT staff as the technical lead to maintain the website and produce other promotional materials. He currently works as a Software Design Engineer for Microsoft in Mountain View, CA.

Quy Nguyen, Chicago Representative, qvn4@msn.com

Quy attended UCD Denver for  two years and DeVry in Chicago for an additional two years. Quy learned about VietACT through a friend March of 2006. Quy first particpated in the Black April Commemoration and Human Trafficking in Chicago this past year. Quy was very moved by the cause in general and the event propelled him to wanting to help out and do whatever he could to contribute. Quy currently helps run the family nail salon with his mom.

Quyen Vuong, Portland, OR Representative, vuongthuyquyen2002@yahoo.com

Attending Oregon State University, majoring in Political Science and the International Degree with a minor in International Businesss, active with Vietnamese Community through Oregon Committee to Protect Vietnam Homeland and Doan Thanh Nien Nguyen Trai. Got involved with VietACT after learning about issue from VietACT members and campaign. Quyen is currently in Taiwan, interning for the Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Brides Office.