Board of Directors

Lisa Spiegel

Lisa is a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She is a partner in the San Francisco office of the law firm Duane Morris. 

Lisa serves as president of the board of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. She is also a past chair of the Northern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and has been designated a certified specialist in immigration and nationality law by the State Bar of California. Lisa served as an editor of The Immigration and Nationality Law Treatise, and authored a chapter of Advising California Employers. She has published articles on immigration law issues and lectures frequently for various bar associations and conferences. Lisa is admitted to practice law in New York and California. 

Sokunthea Peng

“Thea” is a Cambodian lawyer living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She has a Bachelor of Law degree from Cambodia, a Masters of Law degree from Japan, and a Masters in International Human Rights Law from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago.

Thea has been extremely involved for many years in the protection and support of children in Cambodia and throughout Southeast Asia. She is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Child Rights Foundation Cambodia, the founder and an advisor to Child Assistance for Mobilization and Participation Cambodia, the founder and first president of Children’s Committee – Cambodia, and a core member of the Global March Against Child Labor. Thea also worked in Bangkok, Thailand as the Southeast Asia Coordinator for Child Workers in Asia.

Thea has also worked as a Legal Advisor for the USAID-funded Program on Rights and Justice in Cambodia, and taught at the Royal University of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh. Thea is currently a Program Officer with Special Focus on Human Rights with the Cambodia office of Diakonia.   

Larry Gibbs

Larry received a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Civilizations from Stanford University, a Master’s Degree in Humanities from the University of Chicago, and a law degree from Berkeley Law School. 

​Larry has combined a passion for law and for teaching for 35 years. Larry’s law practice has focused on criminal appeals and habeas corpus, including death penalty cases. More recently, Larry has developed an interest in immigration law, especially representing asylum seekers. He is now developing a pro bono asylum project to recruit and train volunteer attorneys and mental health professionals to work on asylum cases.
 
Larry taught for several years in a Great Books program at St. Mary’s College. He has taught courses on post-conviction remedies and on capital punishment at Berkeley Law School. He is now doing his most fulfilling teaching in an English as a Second Language program for new immigrants.
 
Bill Sakash 

Bill graduated from Marquette University, where he studied economics and philosophy. He joined his father’s industrial supply business immediately after leaving school and took over as president and chief operating officer in 1988.  The company has been in operation for over 60 years and employs over 40 people. He has served on various industry boards throughout his working career.

In 2006, he became a member of the Elmhurst Rotary Club, a service organization that brings together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian assistance where needed locally, nationally, and internationally, while advancing goodwill and promoting peace. He has served several times as Treasurer and a member of the board. Also in 2006, Bill began supporting impoverished Cambodian children who had been scavenging on a local garbage dump.  Since then he has sponsored several children from Cambodia and has been a mentor to many more.

Bill has been to Cambodia nine times, which allowed him to develop a good understanding of the culture and way of life of the people in both urban and rural communities.  He has been fortunate enough to have experienced village life personally, and has seen first-hand the living conditions of the average Cambodian.

Ellen Stein

Ellen has always been fascinated by the diversity of places and people around the world. She studied Anthropology at Pitzer College and Public Health at Columbia University, and focused her career in public health service and disease prevention research, including in Cambodia.

At the University of California San Francisco, she implemented epidemiological and intervention studies and randomized clinical trials in the U.S. and internationally, focused on the prevention of HIV and Hepatitis C infections, and unhealthy substance use. These have included HIV surveillance systems work in Ghana, Botswana, and Kenya; studies on HIV and stimulant use prevention among female entertainment workers in Cambodia; randomized trials of a Hepatitis C vaccine candidate and patient-centered models to treat HCV in persons who inject drugs; and a study designed to evaluate the impact of broadening methadone access for the treatment of opioid use disorder in San Francisco. She is a co-author on over 40 peer-reviewed academic publications.   
​
Now retired, Ellen enjoys traveling with friends and family, the movies, cooking and gardening, art, and nature. She is the proud mother of two children and an adoring grandmother.

Dan Bryant

Dan and wife Mei lived in Cambodia for three years, where they were attached to the US Embassy. During that time, Dan was a volunteer English teacher for EFC generations one, two and three on Sunday mornings, and became a believer in the importance of educating women. Dan has continued to tutor EFC scholars since 2018, and finds this immensely rewarding. Dan is inspired by the talent and dedication to scholarship that EFC students exhibit. He believes that EFC and the women it supports will create value that impacts and inspires their communities, families, and workplaces.  

In addition to the Department of State, Dan worked for Mercy Corps in support of COVID response and in its mission to Liberia during the Ebola crisis. His previous positions include directing risk management services for Washington State client companies of SedgwickCMS, and managing safety and security programs for PATH, the Microsoft Corporation, and the State of Minnesota. Dan received a B.A. in Social Welfare from the University of Minnesota, where he also completed graduate (MPH) work in Public Health, Environmental Health and Safety. He is married to Dr. Mei Castor, GHS (CDC). He speaks Spanish and (roughly) Khmer. Dan and Mei have retired to Olympia, Washington. 

Annette Jensen

Annette lived in Cambodia for over five years. For much of that time, she was the Executive Director of a 100-child residential center that gave new lives to children who had been garbage pickers at the local dump. The project was very successful during her tenure, over doubling in size and truly making a difference in children’s lives. Annette also volunteered with a Cambodian nonprofit organization focused on providing education, arts, and athletic opportunities to underprivileged children in Phnom Penh, worked as Project Coordinator for a Ugandan nonprofit focused on providing young adults with entrepreneurial skills, and served as the Director of Volunteering for a Bay Area nonprofit focused on improving health and preventing chronic diseases in underprivileged teens and their families. In addition to her work for Education First Cambodia, Annette has supported a leadership program for young women at a nonprofit in Myanmar and supported nonprofits in the Republic of Georgia to improve their residential programs for troubled youth. 

Prior to coming to Cambodia, much of Annette’s professional career was in the business world. She was the Chief Operating Officer of a multi-million dollar export company based in California. She also served as an Assistant Manager in the International Division of a major Danish bank. Annette is a graduate of the Copenhagen School of Economics and Business Administration.    

Neil Weinstein

Neil also lived in Cambodia for over five years. During much of that time, he served as a legal advisor with the USAID-funded Program on Rights and Justice, and was the first United States advisor to the Cambodian government. Neil also served as an advisor to the children’s organization that Annette worked with in Cambodia, and taught a class on current events and critical thinking to the top students there. He also taught a year-long class on current events and critical thinking to young adults in Myanmar. 

A lawyer by training, Neil’s career is now focused on improving the legal systems of developing countries and their human rights records. In addition to his work in Cambodia, Neil has also worked on U.S. government and European Union-funded law reform projects in the Republic of Georgia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Uganda, and is admitted to practice law in California.

Neil attended Cornell University, and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. His first job was as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. He then worked for many years as a partner in a San Francisco law firm before transitioning his career to international development.