Members of the Board
- Klaus Buntua - Retired Certified Public Accountant. Co-founder of Myint
& Buntua, largest Asian owned public accounting firm in the United
States. President of the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce.
Founding President of the Association of Filipino Accountants. Served as
treasurer to various Filipino-American organizations.
- Celia Pangilinan-Donahue - Entrepreneur and business owner. A bridge
and partner in trade between the United States and the ASEAN region.
Owned and managed a travel agency for 22 years. Active trader of steel
industry products for the past 12 years. Received Bachelor of Science in
Foreign Service degree from the University of the Philippines. Founding
Vice President, and former President of the Philippine American Chamber
of Commerce of Washington DC, Virginia, and Maryland area. Convenor and
first Executive Vice President of the Federation of Philippine American
Chambers of Commerce in the United States. Director, US-Philippines
Tourism Advisory Council.
- Rodney Garcia is Counsel with the Collins Law Firm. He graduated from
the George Washington University National Law Center after earning a
Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from George Mason University and the
Trial Advocacy Institute of the University of Virginia. He is
licensed in the California, Maryland and Virginia Bars. He is also
admitted in the U.S. Tax Court. Very active in his community, Rod
served as Commissioner for the Human Rights Commission of Prince
Georges County, Maryland from 1996 to 1998, as Legal Counsel of the
Philippine American Bar Association from 1998-2000, as President of
the Philippine American Bar Association from 2000-2002 and as Legal
Counsel for the Philippine American Foundation for Charities, Inc.
from 1984 to the present. In addition, he founded Angkan in 1981 and
taught Legal and Argumentative Writing and English Composition and
Writing at the Catholic University of America. Rod is a published
author having been a Legal/Tax Columnist Profit Sharing/401(k) for
Council of America (1998-2000) and a columnist for Tax Practice
Magazine (Tax Analysts) (2000-2002). His book, "The Right Place and
Other Stories" was published in 2003. Rod is also an talented
songwriter and performer who frequently performs with his children.
- Soledad B. Ilagan - Retired from the World Bank in 2003. Currently
serves as the Secretary of the North Kona Catholic Community Finance
Council. Also an office volunteer for St. Michael's Catholic Church.
Serves as President of the Paulinian Global Foundation, Inc. Former Vice
President of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Filipino
Association, former Secretary of the Filipino Organization of Kona, past
President of the Hawaii Council of Filipino Catholic Clubs and former
President of St. Michael's Kona Filipino Catholic Club. Soledad was an
original incorporator of Feed the Hungry in 1993. She is married to
Angelito Ilagan.
- Bettina Bonnevie Obias - Former Assistant Treasurer and Second Vice
President of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Filipino
Association. In 2007, she served as member of the Board of the
Philippine American Foundation for Charities (PAFC) and served twice, in
2004 and 2006, as President Elect of the Philippine Medical Association
Auxiliary (PMA-MWDC). She is also a lifetime member of the Bicol
Association of the greater Metropolitan area. In 2004, she orchestrated
one of the biggest medical and surgical missions in the Bicol region,
Philippines in cooperation with the Naga City government with Mayor
Robredo and her high school batch mates, the Bicol Association and the
Philippine Medical Association of Chicago and Washington Metropolitan
area where 105 physicians and surgeons from the U.S. came to volunteer
to provide free major surgeries to more 300 impoverished poor and
thousands received free medical care. Bettina is a single mother of four
beautiful children and a full time civil servant of the World Bank
handling compensation matters for the Bank’s 120 country offices,
worldwide.
- Ex Officio Members representing World Bank Group /International Monetary
Fund Filipino Association