In 1981 SEAC was the first Asian group to appoint a non-Asian executive director.
Peter Porr was working on a Ph.D. program in the Politics of Education at the University of Chicago. But he took his assignment seriously, volunteering his services for the first ten years of his 31-year tenure while also donating his home to the Center.
Mr. Porr and San O, SEAC’s Director of Programs, donated half of their moonlighting salary, over 31 years, caring for a mentally disturbed, brain-damaged Chinese man in their home, establishing the David Tom Settlement House.
Peter Porr’s home on Ainslie Street (now designated San O and Peter Porr Way) was converted and expanded as SEAC headquarters and is probably the only school in Illinois modern history built by the sweat equity of its future students together with their parents and grandparents.
Presently serving as The Bridge International School DIrector, Mr. Porr is actively guiding SEAC’s educational programs and facilities which he developed, and as an educator, codified its pedagogical strategies to follow the organization’s Building Bridges vision.
Mr. Porr continues to assist SEAC in pedagogical, financial, management, and facility development matters.