Sang Yup Lee is the Director of Development for The Chicago Bar Foundation. In this role, Sang leads the CBF’s fundraising efforts and oversees all aspects of the CBF’s individual and corporate giving programs.

Prior to joining the CBF, Sang was the Development Manager at the Public Interest Law Initiative. Prior to his career in development, Sang was an attorney for the Progressive Law Group LLC, where he worked on class action litigation and consumer rights cases. Besides his community work through AABA, Sang serves on the Board of Directors of the National Conference of Bar Foundations and on the Development Committee of the Management Information Exchange for Legal Aid. He earned both his undergraduate degree and J.D. from the University of Notre Dame.

Huy Nguyen

First Vice President

Stephen Lee

Second Vice President

Stephen Lee was a federal prosecutor in Chicago for 11 years, senior counsel for the Chicago US Attorney Office's health care fraud unit, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and a partner at a mid-sized firm. He is now a solo practitioner focusing on health care fraud defense and data analytics in complex litigation. He is a graduate of Yale College and Columbia Law School. He has researched and written about cases involving Asian American legal history, created the website "Our APA Heritage," which provides resources for Asian Americans to interview their parents and relatives, and was featured on This American Life talking about a "coindence bombshell" involving his family.

Belle Katubig

Secretary

Belle Katubig is a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney where she focuses on defending physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals employed by John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital and its affilated institutions and clinics. Prior to joining the State's Attorney's Office, she was a trial attorney and partner at a mid-sized law firm speciailzing in complex civil litigation. Throughout her career, Belle has mentored associate attorneys and recently, law students involved with the Diversity Scholarship Foundation. She also volunteers and supports local schools and community organizations that promote the health and safety of the underserved population. She is an active member of the Filipino American Lawyer's Association, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Women's Bar Association of Illinois, North Suburban Bar Association, and Chicago Bar Association. Belle received her law degree from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law and her undergraduate degree from University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.

Debjani Desai

Treasurer

Debjani Desai is the General Counsel for the Illinois Office of Comptroller. She leads a team of lawyers in Chicago and Springfield to provide legal counsel on state comptroller mandates, such as ordering payments through the Treasury, managing the state’s fiscal accounts, and conducting audits and reports on the state’s fiscal health. She advises the office on litigation, legislation, finance, operations, compliance, and labor and employment matters. In prior roles, she served as an Administrative Law Judge presiding over medical vendor and Medicaid appeals. She managed state and federal litigation for the state Medicaid agency serving elderly, disabled, and indigent populations. She also advocated for victims as a prosecutor of financial crimes and public corruption. Debjani sits in leadership positions for various bar associations and community organizations that promote diversity, inclusion, and equity. She is President of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago's Foundation, a SABA Advisory Council member, a Board Member of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois, and a SABA North America Leadership Institute participant. She is a junior board member of the Chicago Lighthouse, serving the blind, visually impaired, disabled and Veteran communities. She has previously served as President of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago and Board Member of the Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago.