Our Team
Titonath Dith (President)
Titonath Dith, a son of Dith Pran, was born in Cambodia and came to the United States when he was five years old. He has lived in San Francisco and Brooklyn. He has traveled to Europe and Asia and is proud to call the Seattle area home.
He has a Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Temple University. He has been a clinician since 1998 and has his own practice called Atlas Physical Therapy and Industrial Rehabilitation.
In his spare time he enjoys sports, the outdoors, gardening, movies and spending time with his family, especially his three boys. He is grateful to his parents for giving him the opportunity to live the American Dream.
David Barron (Vice-President)
David Barron is a Boston based photographer who has been photographing for schools and other non-profit organizations for 30 years. In between his local photo assignments, he has documented numerous research projects for Earthwatch and affiliated researchers in the United States and abroad.
He has a BA from University Of Massachusetts where he studied economics and geography. He lived in Israel 1980-81, and Barrow, AK 1985-87.
He has also been producing and editing video from his foreign travels, often in collaboration with Ruben Rassi.
Titony Dith (Board Member)
Titony Dith is the oldest son of Dith Pran. He left Cambodia in 1975 just three days before the Communist Khmer Rouge took over the capitol city of Phnom Penh. He was one of the lucky people to leave Cambodia before the "Killing Fields” started. He works in Washington D.C. in Information Technology. He has a daughter and a son as well as two sons by marriage. His wife lived through the killing fields (her story documented in People Magazine, May 1998) and together they live in Herdon, Virginia.
Ruben Rassi (Board Member)
Rubén Rassi has worked in the design and video field for over 15 years. He has produce commercials and design work for local latino businesses in the surrounding Boston communities. In addition, he has traveled and shot footage for nonprofit organizations in Baja California, Cambodia and Uganda.
He has a BA in Fine Arts from Massachusetts College of Art & Design with a concentration in filmmaking. Rubén has also done logo and website design work for various non and for-profit organizations.
Rubén Rassi currently lives in central Massachusetts with his wife Cindy and their three children, Paulina, Ariana, and Kamil.
Tung Yap (Board Member)
Mr. Tung Yap is currently the president of the Cambodian Americans for Human Rights and Democracy (CAHRAD). He was a member of the Advisory Council to Friends of Khmer Culture. He had served in different positions at Cambodian Investment Group and Cambodian American National Council. He was also the chairman of the Campaign for Hope and Renewal of the Cambodian Association of Illinois (CAI), a campaign that had raised over a million dollars to build the first Cambodian American Heritage Museum and the Killing Field Memorial in Chicago. He had served as the president of CAI for two two-year terms.
Mr. Yap had served as a member of the Asian American Advisory Council to the Illinois State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka for more than six years and had helped Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago with the Year 2000 Millennium Celebration, a celebration that invited two ordinary citizens from every country as honor guests.
Mr. Yap earned his BS in electrical and computer engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1989 and his MS in the same field at IIT in 1994. He earned his MBA from the American University in 2015. At present, he works as a software consultant and lives in Northern Virginia.
Tan Ser (Board Member)
Tan Ser, a Khmer Rouge survivor was born and raised in Cambodia. He escaped to a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand in 1980. He eventually came to the United States and was reunited with his sister Meoun Ser Dith & Dith Pran. Tan studied at the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Catholic University. He has worked for a Washington DC architectural firm for 27 years. His projects have included The Naval Sea Command Headquarters, the Department of Treasury, The Pentagon and The Cannon House Of Representatives.
Tan lost his father, one sister, two brothers, along with other relatives during the Khmer Rouge regime. At that time he was living with Dith Pran. Tan stayed in Cambodia after the Vietnamese invasion because his mother was still seeking to reunite with her other son, Chien Ser, (Tan older brother), who was captured, beaten and dragged away in front of them by young Khmer Rouge soldiers who accused him of being an enemy of Angkar (the highest ruling authority of the Khmer Rouge). He was never seen again and it is presumed he was killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Tan and his wife Seamy, live in Maryland and has two children, Tanner who is presently attending Univ. of Maryland, and Eileen who is in Medical School at Penn State.
Bess Renfer (Social Media Advisor)
Bess Renfer is Product Manager for a mobile advertising network based in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 2010 with a BS in Business Administration, she has worked in business development, ad operations, and publisher growth initiatives which have lead to a well-rounded understand of the digital marketing landscape.
Jane Simon (Advisor)
Jane Simon is a graphic designer and ceramic artist. She worked at the Boston Globe for 29 years as an editorial designer and designed ReVista magazine for the David Rockefeller Institute for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. She is a member of Feet of Clay Ceramic Studio in Brookline Village, MA where she happily spends time in between freelance projects.