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Judges & Mentors
Colin Blackwell
Founder, Enablecode & Hyperion Fintech AG
Colin is the founder of Enablecode, a social enterprise based in Vietnam with the mission to create employment for people with disabilities. He also runs Hyperion Fintech - a Swiss fintech company He is a global judge of the United Nations Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge, a regional judge of the United Nations Hult Prize, and judge of the Vietnam Human Resources Awards. Colin is a regular keynote speaker and media contributor on the topics of artificial intelligence, transformation, and the future of work.
Michele Wee
CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam
Michele Wee Sung San was appointed CEO, Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Ltd on 01 February 2021. After one year in the role, she successfully led the bank through an unprecedentedly challenging year due to the profound impact of the 4th wave of COVID-19 in the country. The franchise recorded a solid financial year, its branding is on an upswing and its people are placed on a strong development agenda. Michele is a big advocate for Diversity and Inclusion, saying “Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is a choice”, and “Gender should not be the barrier of development”.
Vivien Maidaborn
Research Mobilisation Manager, UNICEF
I love to work in places where people are generative and future focussed; where the best of business, social change and community come together to create new culture and increasing social justice. I am passionate about working with people who are engaged in social innovation aimed at creating inclusive communities. My work experience includes CE roles at Relationships Aotearoa, and CCS Disability Action Aotearoa. I founded Lifetime Design, an accessibility qual-mark for houses, and am a co- founder of the online SaaS product Loomio. Through Loomio I have become passionate about the systems and support organisations require to create the conditions for collaboration. Perhaps most fundamentally of all, the work of distributing and sharing power. I was the Executive Director for UNICEF New Zealand between 2014 and 2020, and am now working with UNICEF Viet Nam to mobilise resources toward child rights in Viet Nam.
Mario Mendis
General Manager, Sofitel Saigon Plaza
Over 23 years as a Passionate International Hotelier starting my career in Brisbane - Australia as a kitchen steward. I was fortunate enough to work my way up the ranks in locations such as Brisbane, Colombo, Dubai, Hamilton, Bangkok, Hua Hin, Da Nang, Pattaya & now Saigon, in 5 & 4 Star Iconic, Luxury City & Resort Hotels. Most of all gathering my experience from my father who was a renowned hotelier in Europe, Sri Lanka & The Middle East. One of my greatest strengths that I have developed over the years, is being able to adapt to different cultures & values in the teams that I have worked with, to achieve the best out of them. Thus resulting in achieving our overall goals.
Denis Brunetti
President of Ericsson Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia & Laos
Denis Brunetti is the President of Ericsson Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos since July 2017. Prior to his current role, Denis was President of Ericsson in Sri Lanka and the Maldives from May 2014 to June 2017. He has worked in the global ICT industry for over 30 years, having held leadership positions with Ericsson across a range of countries, including Australia, Sweden, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Denis proudly served as the Co-Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam in 2018/2019, contributing to the EU & Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). Denis has also been Co-Chairman of the Industry 4.0 Advisory Group in the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and is currently Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD) and Board member of the Vietnam Business Council for Women’s Empowerment (VBCWE). Denis also currently serves as a Director on the Board of the Australian Chamber of Commerce (AusCham) and member on the Industry Advisory Council (IAC) of the School of Science, Engineering and Technology at RMIT Vietnam. Denis believes that diversity & inclusion fuels innovation, and a focus on diversity & inclusion aims at increasing a sense of belonging and strengthening an organization’s culture and business performance. Indeed, Diversity & Inclusion is fundamental to an organization’s culture and core values, embracing equal opportunity for all, irrespective of gender, age, nationality, ethnic group or personal and professional background
Vu Thi Quyen
Co-founder/General Director, We-Edit Vietnam
My name is Quyen, I am one of the founders and currently the General Director of We-Edit Vietnam - a company providing graphic solutions services for the real estate market in regions such as the US, Australia and Europe. I have worked on disability rights for almost 10 years as a youth partner with several UN agencies, the Ministry of Home Affairs, CSOs in Vietnam. And now, my company is also providing an accessible working environment, creating employment opportunities and promoting the development of marginalized people, especially young people with disabilities. In 2018, I was selected for the Australian Short-course Scholarship Award for Women in Leadership Journey and YSEALI Professional Fellows Program Award in Economic Empowerment in 2020 of the American Councils.
Mentors
Dao Thu Huong
Disability Right Officer
Nguyen Van Cu
Vice Director
Vi Thanh Tuan
Head of Function Plant Logistics Vietnam
Nguyen Tuan Tu
Equitable Learning Services Advisor
Le Thanh Khang
Corporate Organization Development Manager
Partners
Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang
People Program and Employee Communication Manager
With 15 years’ experience at Intel in Human Resources, Manufacturing, and New Products Introduction, Trang is highly skilled in integration management and a strong advocate for diversity & inclusion. Joining tech field from non-tech background, she has grown to become Intel Vietnam’s first local female Operation Shift Manager in 2013. Running production gave her no chance to make the same mistake twice, working in a highly disciplined environment, fast moving pace, with multiple stretch goals, it bolstered her resilience and learning capacity, that became one of her strongest values that she continued to prove in the role of New Product Introduction Program Manager when she worked with cross-functional teams to qualify multiple product platforms, before moving on to hold the current role as People System Manager in which she co-chairs Culture & People forum, oversee Employee Communication, Employee Engagement programs and Leadership Development. Trang found her inspiration learning from new aspects & diverse backgrounds. When not working, she enjoys everything outdoor, playing padel and travelling with her husband & daughter.
Albert Tiong
Director
Albert is currently the Chief Theoretical Knowledge Instructor at Viet Flight Training based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He has been instructing Air Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) theoretical knowledge for 9 years, having instructed for two flight schools in Singapore prior to Vietnam. Some of the pilots he has trained are now flying for Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot, Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Pacific, Vietjet, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Cambodia Angkor Air. He has keen interest in the area of Human Factors, regularly analysing aircraft accidents and incidents and exploring methods to effectively educate ab initio pilots on human errors, and Threat and Error Management(TEM). He has introduced mindfulness practices in his classroom to improve student performance, with the objective of enhancing core competencies of pilots.
Oscar Lopez Alegre
CTO
CTO of Deskimo with balanced skills in Technology, Product and People. Agile coach mindset with a passion for people, culture and continuous improvement, in search of products and teams that want to challenge themselves to do better. Love delivering the right business value in a lean fashion. Specializes in the pragmatic application of agile methods and lean.
Vu Ngoc Anh Thuyen
Marketing Director
Thuyen is a strategic marketer with over 10 years experience in diverse Marketing positions, from communication marketing, market research and strategic marketing planning. Thuyen used worked as a Client Manager in Corporate Practice at Edelman Vietnam. Thuyen was responsible for planning and leading of comprehensive Communications Marketing campaigns as well as providing overall communications counsel to clients. Prior to Edelman, Thuyen served as a strategic consultant of Global Integration Business Consultants. She was focused on building business strategic plans for local corporations (SMEs & SOEs) and developing rebranding roadmap to enhance their competitiveness in the context of economic integration. Her clients were diverse in multiple industries, F&B, FMCG, Agriculture and Education.
David Trong Huy Dao
People Development Assistant Manager
Mr Huy is a people oriented person who has 5 years of experience working in Hospitality Operations and Human Resources in Australia and Vietnam. He started his journey with Food & Beverage role, he worked his way to become a People Development Assistant Manager for an upcoming hip & chic property in the heart of Saigon. He has been supporting the students by providing career advices, attending student’s activities. His philosophy is: “Regardless who you are, if you have the right ability to join the squad, we await for you”.
Do Duc Toan
Head of SMB
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Van Tran
Principal Business Development Manager, Education
Ms. Van is the Principal Business Development Manager Education of Study Queensland, a division of Trade and Investment Queensland in Vietnam. She had experiences working in Australia in Marketing, Non-profit, and Technology, before choosing Education as her focus. Came back to home country, Ms. Van is leading Study Queensland to work with various stakeholders both in Australia and Vietnam to achieve the mission of promoting Queensland’s Education, as well as maintaining a good government to government connection.
Quynh Nguyen
Chief People Officer
Having devoted over 12 years at Savvycom, Mrs. Quynh Nguyen has led the charge in Acquisition/Recruiting, Training, and Human Resources. This has increased the talent pool at Savvycom by a substantial number. Compared to the beginning years at Savvycom, we now have over 300 IT Specialists, and the number is expected to rise to over 500 by 2023.
Mrs. Quynh Nguyen's experience in development, implementation, onboarding, training, and employee relations is, without a doubt, among Savvycom's greatest assets. As she plays the most crucial role in building and nurturing Savvycom Culture.
Daisy Hazra
Country Lead, Vietnam
Daisy has spent 13 years in the advertising agency eco-system across global giants and mid sized regional networks, before leading Polar London’s Asia venture. Polar London is London HQ-ed new age agency that creates campaigns merging digital creative with new technology na has significantly grown in volume in its 2 years of operations in Asia. Daisy’s professional knowhow spans across creative, strategy & consulting, digital and consumer engagement & commerce. She is deeply passionate about organisational culture and building empathetic workplace environment.
Phan Thanh Van
CEO
Phan Thanh Van has 10 years of experience in the field of communication, especially communication on social issues. Van has an early interest and interest in the social enterprise model, which focuses on sustainable development and ensures the harmony between business goals and social impact. Van joined Tohe social enterprise in 2013 and has spent most of her dedication here, from communication, marketing & sales, to roles of design-creation-product development position, event planning. Phan Thanh Van deeply understands the philosophy of Tohe. She has started working as CEO at Tohe in March 2019.
Quang Bang
Head of Supply Chain
Mr.Quang Bang worked at many muitl-national companies in FMCG, Industry, Chemical, Pharma...such as Cargill, Friesland Campina, British Arican Tobacco,...expert and experienced end to end Supply chain (Planning, Procurement, Production, Distribution, Logistics, Transportation, Warehouse), hobby weekend is to join many activies of training, lecturer at unniversity, be Mentor at many Supply chain Club and also be Trainer of in-house training from Company need, to aim to sharing knowledge, apply standard methodology into practical to help business on improvement and sustainable growth, wish to contribute into social networking to develop future talent people
Michaela Connor
Regional Peopleworks Leader
Michaela was born and raised in Sweden and at the age of 19 left her home country to explore the world. That was 21 years ago and she hasn’t looked back. She caught the travel bag which took her to many amazing parts of the world where she learn a lot from other people, cultures and herself. She finally settled in NZ in 2006 where she started working as a Travel Consultant for Flight Centre. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined where that career would take her. At Flight Centre she found her passion for Learning and Development and became the HR Leader for the company with 1200 staff. In 2018 she dreamt big and moved her family to Laos for a new challenge with Buffalo Tours (now Discova). Her passion and expertise is in development and coaching, leadership mentoring, HR advice, building culture in organizations, change management and an advocate and champion for sustainable travel, gender equality and child protection
Tan Bui
Chief Operating Officer
With 13 years of Banking & Finance experience in Australia, working as a grad to senior management, he has had extensive knowledge and Insights into the SME landscape. Managing multiple portfolios throughout his career, ranging from fashion, construction, Tech companies and food and beverage. Helping companies navigate through the financial crisis to grow and adapt to the many challenges businesses face. Innovative and creative thinking has been key factors to success in all businesses. As COO of En Pointe Management and Managing Director of Vietnam International Institute of Sport (VIIS) he dedicates his energy to Internationalizing Vietnamese Brands and Localizing International Brands, as we take the best of both worlds and make something truly unique and suited for Vietnam
Hoang Nhat Minh
Communications & Special Needs/ Education Officer
Mr. Hoang Nhat Minh - Communications / Special Needs Education Officer As a visually impaired individual who's active in contributing to the welfare and development of people with disabilities, Mr. Minh has 10 years of experience of working in special needs education, through sports coaching, learning support assistance, tutoring, and mentoring, especially for people with visual impairment and developmental disabilities, including autism.At Saigon Children’s Charity, Mr. Minh has led a project to develop various materials to train small children on cyber safety. He also plays an important role in the Special Needs Education Programme team to provide education support to children with different disabilities in disadvantaged circumstances
Nguyen Gia Hung
Solution Architect Lead
I am a Multi-skilled technical architect with over 15 years of experience in multi IT domains. Have a comprehensive knowledge of designing, developing and deploying architectures and infrastructure for the enterprise and possessing a proven ability to lead project teams to successfully deliver agreed-upon solutions of the highest quality, often in complex and challenging customer environments. In the IT world, I am also an enthusiasm IT instructor that loves to learn, sharing and go deep-dive to every unknown technical black box, never leaving any student goes out of my training class without a clear understanding of what they have learned, why the subject is needed, and how the material is created or designed.
Duc Nguyen
Vice President, Deal Origination
Mr. Duc has over 10 years of experience working with leading organizations, including global investment banks, multinational companies and educational institutes. During his career, he has been collaborating with high-net-worth individuals, experts and professionals. His fields of expertise are mainly in business development and clients & stakeholders relationship management. Currently, Duc is the acting head of the origination team and manages external affairs along with branding activities at ASART Deal Advisory – a leading boutique advisory firm in Vietnam. He has an MBA with Distinction with a scholarship and a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from RMIT University.
Pham Sy Phu
Assembly Engineering Integration Program Manager
Mr. Phu has 14 years of experience working in engineering field, specialized at equipment and process, including equipment safety and maintenance, process control and improvement, equipment/product/process development and qualification. He has experience in both R&D / Innovation and Mass Manufacturing environment. Mr. Phu is a Technical Lead and currently hold position of Assembly Integration Program Manager at Intel Products Vietnam. He has Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification.