Executive Board
President
Whitney Tantisuwanna is a litigation associate at Woodruff, Spradlin & Smart. Her practice focuses on public entity defense. Whitney received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and her B.A. in Communications from UCLA. In law school, she established Career Networking NIght for the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association during her tenure as Alumni Chair and, in college, she was an active participant in Thai Smakom and Asian Pacific Coalition. As President of Thai American Bar Association, she is excited to continue to celebrate her Thai heritage, while helping those in the Thai and Asian community connect and succeed.
Contact Whitney at president@tabalawyers.org
President Elect
Irene Ittisarnronnachai is a transactional associate at Milbank LLP. Her practice focuses on various areas of commercial law. Irene received her LLB from Thammasat University (International Program) and her LLM from Columbia Law School. In law school, she was part of the board of the Asian Law Students’ Association and Columbia Law International Students’ Alliance. Her previous work experience also includes working as an M&A associate in Weerawong, Chinnavat and Partners, Ltd. in Thailand.
Contact Irene at presidentelect@tabalawyers.org
Treasurer
Christopher T. Sukhaphadhana is a senior intellectual property attorney for Siemens Healthineers. Chris has experience working for Fortune 500 companies, a large IP boutique law firm, and examining patent applications for the federal government. He earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He served as the treasurer for the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association while at the University of Virginia, and as an advisor to the University of Illinois’ Thai American Insight undergraduate student organization while at UIUC. Chris served on the governing board for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and is currently serving as President of the Thai American Samakkee Coalition. He is a founding board member of the Thai American Bar Association and served as its president from 2014-2015.
Contact Chris at treasurer@tabalawyers.org
Secretary
Steve Chariyasatit is the Vice President, Legal and Deputy General Counsel at Instacart, a technology company that provides a grocery-delivery platform and other online solutions for retailers to better connect with their customers. Steve’s focus is concentrated on the company’s litigation and employment law. Steve also serves on the company’s executive team and take lead on public policy strategy and initiatives related to the future of work.
Contact Steve at secretary@tabalawyers.org
Governors:
Mac Bunyanunda is a Lecturer in Political Science at Chapman University in Orange, CA. He is a former multi-term TABA Board Member, the former Chairperson of TABA’s Committee on Law School Outreach, and a Founding Member. Mac graduated from the University of Southern California Law School where he served on the editorial board of the Southern California Law Review. His previous experience includes work at Mayer Brown in Los Angeles, in Bangkok at the Royal Development Projects Board, and as an intern at the Thai law firm of Vickery & Worachai. Additionally, Mac has taught at the Claremont Colleges and at UCLA, where he was a recipient of the University Distinguished Teaching Award. He has been active in the Thai community of Southern California, having also served previously as a Board Member and Board Chairperson of the Thai Community Development Center.
Phatchara Udomsin was born and raised in Thailand. He graduated from the University of Hawaii School of Law and currently works as a staff attorney at the Thai Community Development Center, a non-profit organization in Los Angeles, CA. Phatchara has assisted victims of human trafficking as well as worked to assist and advocate for underprivileged members of the Thai community in the U.S. He hopes to bring a public interest perspective to TABA and to assist TABA in serving the Thai community.
Tammy Sumontha graduated with a Bachelor degree of Law from Thammasat University in Thailand. During her time at Thammasat University, she served on the committee for the University Law Journal. After receiving her Bachelor degree, she worked as a legal consultant for Krung Thai Bank, where she provided legal advice to Bank officers and the Board of Directors at the headquarters and Krung Thai Bank branches nationwide. She was one of the team leaders that spearheaded the introduction and implementation guidance of the Thailand Bankruptcy Act Reform of 1997 to the Krung Thai Bank Board of Directors. She also spearheaded the legal team in the seminar “Year 2000, where the internet and the law collide” to Krung Thai Bank Board of Directors. After almost 3 years of working in Thailand, she came to the U.S. to continue her legal studies at California Western School of Law, where she later received her Master’s Degree of Law. After graduation, Tammy worked at Sony Electronics Inc. and volunteered at several local nonprofit organizations. During this time, she was involved with providing federal and administrative advocacy to Thais with limited English proficiency who were eligible to receive benefits, but were in a situation where they were unable to provide proof of their eligibility or had difficulties accessing their records. She assisted Thais and other individuals in obtaining immigration status, and social security benefits, including free medical treatments. Due to her continued and tireless contributions to the community, Tammy was nominated and selected to receive several awards, such as the Judge Judith Keep award and The Outstanding Community Service Award, both of which are prestigious and rarely presented. Tammy was the first Thai-born lawyer who was nominated and selected to receive these awards. Currently, Tammy manages her immigration law firm that she founded since 2011 and her linguistic service that she founded in 2013, both located in downtown San Diego, CA. The law firm focuses their practice in immigration for all family-based and employment-based petitions, including representation before the EOIR and BIA. The linguistic service provides translation and interpretations in the Thai and Lao languages. Tammy is licensed to practice with the state bar of New York and a member of the Judicial Council of California Court Interpreter Program.
Juthamas Judy Suwatanapongched is an associate in the business litigation group at the downtown Los Angeles office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP. She received her J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School in 2009 and her B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from Northwestern University in 2005. As an undergraduate, Judy was actively involved in the Asian Pacific American community and served as president of Northwestern’s Thai Club. Before law school, Judy taught Thai Classical Dance at the Thai Cultural and Fine Arts Institute in Chicago and various universities. At USC, she was Internal Vice-President of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association. Judy served as the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles County’s President in 2015 and now sits on its Advisory Board. Judy is one of the Founding Members of the Thai American Bar Association, was the founding President, and has served on TABA’s Advisory Board and Board.
Amanda Patanaphan is Associate General Counsel for The Siegel Group, a Las Vegas based real estate development company, specializing in hospitality and retail, where she primarily assists with the company’s litigation and eviction matters. Prior to this, Amanda worked for the firm Brown Brown & Premsrirut in Las Vegas, focusing on contracts litigation and certain class action litigation centered on HOA superpriority liens. Amanda graduated with her J.D. from University of Maryland Francis King Carey Law School in the Business Law Track, M.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management from University of Central Florida, and B.A. in East Asian Studies minoring in Managerial Studies from Vanderbilt University. She was the prior Law Student Liaison for the ABA Real Property and Trusts and Estates Section and the law student representative for the Real Property Section of the Maryland State Bar Association. She was also Treasurer/Secretary for the law school’s Business Law Society. She also founded a student organization, Real Property, Trusts, and Estates, in which she served as Vice President. Amanda was also an Executive Symposium Editor for the Journal of Race, Religion, Gender, and Class, and the Editor in Chief for The Authority, a publication dedicated to laws in affordable housing. During her 1L summer, Amanda studied comparative law in Shanghai, China and Aberdeen, Scotland, and interned in a prominent barrister’s chamber in Hong Kong. She was awarded the Maryland State Bar Association Section of Business Law Steven J. Mandel Scholarship Award and the William P. Cunningham Award for exceptional achievement and service to the School of Law.
Past Presidents:
2012-2013: Juthamas Judy Suwatanapongched
2014: Tanasawat Jacob Satayaviboon
2014-2015: Christopher T. Sukhaphadhana
2015-2016: Tanya Kiatkulpiboone
2016-2017: Sam Puathasnanon
2017-2018: Panida Rzonca
2018-2019: Jane Kespradit
2019-2020: Justin Ruaysamran
2020-2021: Panida Rzonca
2021-2022: Panida (Anna) Anderson
Founding Members:
Mac Bunyanunda
Michelle Bussarakum
Into Champon
Steve Chariyasatit
Wareewan Tina Charoenpong
Win Chevapravatdumrong
Luci-Ellen Chun
Gary C. Eto
Hon. Alan Friedenthal
Maria Harrington
Terry Huttayananont
Srivitta Kengskool
Jane Kespradit
Kathy Khommarath
Tanya Kiatkulpiboone
Edward W. Lew
Nedrudee Liu
Alisa Manasantivongs
Don Nghiem
Sam Puathasnanon
Panida Rzonca
Raymond Sakai
Tanasawat J. Satayaviboon
Vasudhsiri T. Sathienmars
Sanya Sukduang
Christopher T. Sukhaphadhana
Tammy Sumontha
Edmond Sung
William Sung
Juthamas J. Suwatanapongched
Lisa D. Tanner
Sirithon Thanasombat
Tonya Vachirasomboon
Phunphilas Viravan
Connie Charoonsrisavasd Wood
Lorraine Yu