Pham Duc Trung Kien
Mr. Kien Pham is the founder of the Vietnam Foundation and the Vice Chairman of the VietNamNet Media Group, the leading multi-channel media company in Vietnam. He came to VietNamNet from the Vietnam Education Foundation where he was the founding executive director.
Mr. Pham brings to VietNamNet broad experiences in the business, government and non-profit sectors. In business, he was a market development executive in Fortune 500 companies as well as entrepreneur owner in technology and consulting startups. In government, he served in the executive branch under Presidents Reagan and Bush as well as in the U.S. Senate. He has established non-profit foundations to assist college students, orphans and the handicapped in Vietnam. Mr. Pham is publicly recognized for his leadership and management abilities.
Mr. Pham is active in international affairs. In 1986, he was chosen a Young Leader by the American Council on Germany, and in 1992 a U.S.-Japan Leadership Fellow by the Japan Society. In 1993, he was elected as a term-member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a participant in the American Assembly. Mr. Pham was the founder and chairman of the Vietnam Forum Foundation, a U.S. non-profit organization that provides college scholarships, schools and orphanage support in Vietnam. He was also a Board member of the Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped, a leading humanitarian program to help war victims. In 1996, Mr. Pham was a recipient of the “Never Fear, Never Quit” Award.
Mr. Pham grew up in Saigon, Vietnam. In 1977 at the age of 19, he came to the U.S. and settled in Colorado, where Mr. Pham became a factory worker, learned English and later attended college on scholarship. He received a BS in Marketing and International Business from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and won a scholarship to study in England. His graduate degrees, earned concurrently at Stanford University, include an MBA in International and Organizational Management, an MA in International Economics and a special diploma in Public Policy Management. In 1990, Stanford University named Mr. Pham among of the “Most Outstanding Alumni” in the school’s 100-years history. Mr. Pham is former White House Fellow and a recipient an honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Pfeiffer University.