Peter Chhun

Peter Chhun is an Emmy-award-winning news editor/producer for NBC Network News.

In 1970, Mr. Chhun began his long career with NBC News as a cameraman covering the Indochina wars in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. Since that time, he has covered countless news events across the globe on just about every continent on the planet.

Out of the Rice Fields and into the Television Industry

Peter Chhun was born in a remote Cambodian village that had no electricity or running water. Being poor country farmers, the members of his family could neither read nor write. Upon the urging of his parents, Peter traveled to the town of Siem Riep where he was fortunate enough to receive mentoring from the Buddhist monks there and also continue his formal education.

When war broke out in South East Asia fortune again came his way when he joined a NBC News team based in Cambodia. Then, in 1975 (through NBC’s evacuation plan) Mr. Chhun escaped the Khmer Rouge when they captured Phnom Penh and claimed victory in Cambodia. Upon arriving in the United States, he settled and worked for NBC News in Los Angeles as an editor.

Since then Mr. Chhun has distinguished himself in the Cambodian-American community in Long Beach through a number of charitable works and activities. He has assisted refugee families settling in the United States, provided an outlet for troubled teenagers in the Cambodian community, produced and directed the first major Miss Cambodian-American Beauty Pageant, and many other notable endeavors. Recently, in conjunction with Cambodia Town Corporation and Phnom Penh Sisters City, he helped establish the first ever Cambodian New Year Parade in Long Beach, California.

Mr. Chhun continues to work tirelessly with the government of Cambodia and other Cambodian non-profit organizations (such as “Cambodian Women For Peace and Development”) to help promote human rights awareness and the fight against human trafficking (especially among Cambodia’s poorest children), to help improve the country’s substandard health care system, and to promote both business and tourism in the country of his birth.

Lakhena Chhuon

As a young girl of 4, Lakhena Chhuon began her journey to America by walking across the Cambodian Killing Fields with her family to the refugee camps in Thailand.

Today, as a successful businesswoman, Ms. Chhuon is President & Chief Executive Officer of Belmont Shore Travel. She’s an award-winning airline-tickets producer with extensive knowledge of the international travel industry, with special emphasis on travel to The Kingdom of Cambodia.

In conjunction with United Cambodian Community (UCC) she has created the CAMBODIAN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT program--an educational course that gives young people first-hand experience with Cambodian culture and traditions. In addition, the program develops both teamwork and leadership skills while providing humanitarian services, the donation of goods, and classroom assistance to Cambodian English teachers.

George Lewis

George Lewis is one of NBC News' most honored correspondents. The winner of three Emmys, the George Foster Peabody and Edward R. Murrow awards, he is no stranger to world crises.

In 1989, Lewis was present in China for the revolt in Tiananmen Square and the revolution in Romania. During his career with NBC News, he has also covered wars and revolutions in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. Most recently, Lewis has been reporting on stories from his base in Los Angeles. His current assignment includes coverage of the revolution in information technology.

He was part of the NBC team that covered Operation Desert Storm, spending nine weeks in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait. Lewis was also present in Iran during the early days of the 444-day hostage crisis in 1979, and in Lebanon for the 1982 Israeli invasion.

His major domestic assignments have included covering the O.J. Simpson criminal and civil trials and the Los Angeles and Atlanta Olympics.

Lewis began his career with NBC News as a war correspondent in Vietnam in 1970. He spent a year and a half there, returning in 1975 to cover the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese. He's been back four times since the end of the war to report on the legacy of Vietnam.

In more peaceful times, Lewis has done stints in NBC's Washington, Los Angeles, Houston and London bureaus.

In December 1993, Lewis was the correspondent on "Almost 2001," an innovative five-part series that aired on "NBC Nightly News." During that week, viewers were encouraged to write to NBC News using Internet e-mail, resulting in thousands of worldwide responses. The series marked the beginning of interactive electronic exchanges between viewers and television networks.

Cecilia Alvear

Cecilia Alvear, a pioneering Latina journalist in television news and the former President of the National Association of

Hispanic Journalists is a Field Producer with NBC Network News in Burbank, California.

As a producer Alvear has covered many major news stories; among them, the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1980's, the Mexico City earthquake in 1985, protests and elections in Chile and, the "War on Drugs" in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia , the Mengele investigation in Brazil, unrest in Panama, two interviews with Fidel Castro in Cuba, the Pan American Games in Havana, the Barcelona Olympics, the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas, the Colosio assassination, and all the events that have affected the Los Angeles area in recent years: riots, earthquakes, Hollywood and the O.J. Simpson trial. In 1988 Cecilia Alvear was one of twelve American journalists chosen for the prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University where she spent the academic year 1988-89.

Dr. T. S. Rajan

Dr. Rajan has been practicing medicine in Southern California for more than 25 years. He has trained extensively in both the U.K. and U.S.A. in the fields of internal medicine and cardiology.

Over the past 30 years, Dr. Rajan has taught clinical medicine throughout the United States and has held academic teaching positions in medicine at both Loma Linda University (White Memorial Hospital) and Marthur Luther King Jr. Hospital in Los Angeles.

Throughout his distinguished career, he has authored many articles including: “Risk Factors In Cardio Vascular Disease,” “Stress In The Workplace,” and “Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation,” etc.

Dr. Rajan has appeared on many radio and television programs sharing his expertise on cardio vascular disease, chest pain syndrome, and on proper diet and exercise. He often travels to India and Cambodia to lecture on these and other medical subjects.

Robert Chau

Robert Chau is the President & CEO of B&H/Golden Bake Food Service, PAC/AM Investment Group, and PAC/AM Land Enterprise.

A survivor of Cambodia’s Killing Fields, Robert Chau came to the United States in 1979 with only his clothes on his back. In 1983, after putting himself through college, he got his first job as a baker in a donut shop. 3 years later, after learning as much as he could about the bakery business, Robert bought his first donut shop.

Living the Cambodian-American dream
Hard work, persistence, and a do or die attitude put Robert in a position to buy more stores, soon at a pace of at least 5 a year including Baskin/Robin Ice Cream stores. By 1991 he owned numerous stores spread across the United States.

His vision and acute business sense led him into the wholesale supply and real estate businesses, first purchasing B&H Distributor Company, then Golden Bake Food Service, PAC/AM Investment Group (Commercial Real Estate), and PAC/AM Land Enterprise (Farm Land Real Estate).

Through the years Robert has enthusiastically shared his expertise with people of all ages who are willing to help themselves through education, persistence, and hard work.

Ann Curry

Ann Curry is co-anchor for Dateline NBC and news anchor for NBC News’ Today show.

Ms. Curry became an NBC News correspondent in August 1990, and later, "Today" news anchor in May 1997.

In addition to her extensive coverage of national and international events, she has distinguished herself in humanitarian reporting. She was the first network news anchor to report from inside the tsunami zone in southeast Asia, filing live and taped reports from Sri Lanka for Dateline, Today, and NBC Nightly News. She was also the first network news anchor to report on the humanitarian refugee crisis caused by the genocide in Kosovo, filing live and taped reports from Albania and Macedonia.

Ms. Curry has earned numerous awards for her journalistic work including multiple Emmys, Golden Mikes, and Associated Press Certificates of Excellence, among others. She has been honored by Americares, the Anti-Defamation League as a Woman of Achievement, and the Asian American Journalists Association. She has also won numerous awards for her charity work, primarily for breast cancer research.

Ms. Curry graduated from the University of Oregon School of Journalism in 1978.

Susan Friedman

The Emmy-award-winning producer has extensive experience in both domestic and foreign news coverage, in both breaking news and feature reporting. Friedman has worked for NBC Nightly News and the Today Show covering earthquakes, floods, fires, stem-cell research, cults and politics; the war in Bosnia, the catastrophe of Kosovo, the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, prison riots in Turkey, the death of Princess Diana and the 25th anniversary of the end of the war in Vietnam.

Alex Morales

With a total of twenty-five years of elected public service as a Board of Education member in Whittier California Alex Morales a life long resident in the area of Whittier, Santa Fe Springs and Norwalk. He currently resides in the Beverly Hills Estates in the city of Whittier. Mr. Morales is the Director for the School Improvement Initiative at the Center for Language Minority Education and Research at California State University Long Beach. There he uses his twenty- eight years of experience as a classroom teacher, university professor, school principal, board of education member, and district administrator to assist schools in improving the educational programs and opportunities for all students. Mr. Morales is also a member of the Latino School Board Association of California, Rio Hondo Community College Advisory Committee, past State President of the Association of Mexican-American Educators, and an active member of several advocacy and humanitarian groups such as the Hearts Without Boundaries, American G.I Forum, Cambodian Civilization Association, and Progressive United Action Association.

The first part of Mr. Morales' professional career was focused on advocating for Latino students and their inclusion in all aspects of the public school system. These efforts resulted in the production of one of Los Angeles County’s first bilingual children’s musical “Annie” which ran for three consecutive years. Then as a school principal Mr. Morales was instrumental in the support and encouragement of Los Angeles County’s first elementary school Mariachi group at his school. The “Rayitos de Sol” were the opening act at the “Summer Mariachi Festival at the Hollywood Bowl for two consecutive years. Mr. Morales in his work as the state president of the Association of Mexican American Educators worked closely with Cesar Chavez in the development of the UFW/AMAE farm workers educational curriculum. This curriculum provided thousands of Californian students with the history, struggles and successes of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers.

It was in 1994 when Alex made a professional career move to Long Beach California that his interest in Cambodia developed. Here in Long Beach Alex became acquainted with the Cambodian American community and made many Cambodian American friends.

In 2004 Mr. Morales embarked on a short ten-day vacation to Cambodia. Here at the encouragement of some of his friends he visited an NGO ESL school in the city of Phnom Penh. It was at this school that he met some of the Cambodian teachers, the students, and the staff. He visited and spoke in the classrooms, purchased some rice and noodles and traveled four hours out of the city to impoverished rural villages to deliver the rice and noodles. He also met a young girl named Chanpheany Ty from the school who asked him to adopt her as his Cambodia daughter. This was Alex first and last vacation to Cambodia. Since that time he has returned seven times, but never as a tourist, but as a humanitarian where he, his family, and friends provide, rice, noodles, literature, medical supplies and educational consulting services.

Mr. Morales is honored to be part of “Hearts Without Boundaries Board of Directors and has promised to support the mission of the organization.