Board of Directors

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Mr.  Mark Chandler  first began working on US-Vietnam relations in 1994 and was part of the founding team that established the San Francisco-Ho Chi Minh City Sister City Friendship Agreement in April 1995. 

This was the first sister city partnership between a US City and a Vietnamese City and preceded the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between our two countries by three months.  Mark has continually worked to further San Francisco's connections with Vietnam, including support in opening Vietnam's first Consulate General in the USA in 1997 and Vietnam Airlines North American Headquarters in 2002.  

Mark has organized and managed. three San Francisco Mayoral Trade and Friendship Missions to Vietnam.  Additionally he has been part of over twelve other missions to Vietnam covering areas such as investment, trade, governmental relations, medical support, cultural exchange, academic partnerships and airline connectivity.  

The last program coming to fruition in December 2021 with the establishment of the first nonstop flight from San Francisco (and the USA) to Ho Chi Minh City by Vietnam Airlines, a project that took 24 years.  Mark has hosted dozens of trade and governmental organizations visiting San Francisco and has consistently supported strong US-Vietnam partnerships and cooperation.  

Olga Buchonina founded ActionSpot Center in Silicon Valley with the vision to build an environment for entrepreneurs where they are focused on building products by integrating concepts of Data Science, Data Security, and Data Engineering, Blockchain technology helps us to bring it to the next level of innovation.    

ActionSpot promotes innovation through diversity and inclusion and measure people by what they can do to build great companies. Olga serves on boards of organizations such as Women Who Code and IEEE.to name a few. Olga's background is deeply rooted in Oil and Gas and High Tech. She spent over 20 years working at the senior level of business and engineering. roles and holds several patents.

Aaron Magenheim is an entrepreneur who grew up in California Agriculture and has become a global industry leader working across the Agriculture and Technology nexis. 

As CEO and co-founder, his companies Growers Insight and AgTech Insight specialize in business process mapping and innovation strategy by aligning business, processes, data, people, and technology. 

As a realistic boots-on-the-ground expert, Aaron leads diverse teams advising growers, food companies, Corporates, Governments, NGO's, investors, and startups on building successful ecosystems leveraging best processes, practices, and technology throughout the Agri-Food supply chain. 

Born in Bangkok, Thailand, the daughter of a noted architect, Soraya developed her deep interest in drawing and painting at an early age. She paints in watercolor, pen & ink, acrylic and Chinese brush. Her works have been exhibited extensively: in Vietnam, Thailand, USA, China and England. 

The wife of a formal senior US diplomat, Soraya has traveled extensively. Her work reflects culture and scenes of places she has been to. Her work gives positive feeling, details, and variety. In her previous exhibition in London, Soraya was noted as “…an artist with skill and mastery in different styles,” by the London Times.   

Soraya also owns and operates the well-known art website, www.Asia-Art.net dedicated to Asian art appreciation. A former gallery owner, Asian Art Gallery in Portland, Oregon, Soraya and her husband had hosted various art events, art exchange programs and art for disability children in Vietnam. 

Mr. Lloyd McLarty worked 30 years in the IT industry, mainly in systems and programming, for the predecessor to Verizon.   

Upon retirement and at the behest of a Vietnamese American friend,  Mr. McLarty decided to teach in many Universities/Colleges in Vietnam and have been doing so for nearly 20 years.   

Mr. McLarty hold both a BA from Cal State University Long Beach and MBA from Pepperdine University and a CELTA teaching certificate from Cambridge in the UK.   Currently, Mr. McLarty and his wife, a Vietnamese American, spend his time between Vietnam and Glenhaven, California.

Van Nguyen is the founder of Vietnam Alive Travel, a successful international travel company and Vietnam's leading specialist tour operator. He has worked extensively in the travel and tourism sector and is known for his wide-ranging knowledge of Vietnam and its culture, history, and geography. 

Van and Vietnam Alive Travel also have worked extensively supporting travel and learning programs for Universities, MBA, EMBA and businesses.  He also has 10 plus years in finding Vietnam's suppliers and products (sourcing) for international clients.    

Beyond Vietnam, Van and Vietnam Alive Travel have worked extensively in designing and overseeing travel and learning programs for North American and European travelers and educational institutions not only in Vietnam but also with Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.     

Van Nguyen is an MBA graduate from the Barnett School of Business at Florida Southern College, the United States. He has just founded Viet Sellers, a company and website aiming to promote business and trading between Vietnam and the United States.

Ken Cooper is Chairman of Access American Education LLC.  Mr. Cooper is a long experienced and well known entrepreneur with long expertise in many fields.  He has over ten years experience in Vietnam where his company is the leading international educational recruitment agency.  

 AAE is the leading educational recruitment company in Vietnam and its first advising office opened in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in November 2009. 

We have offices in Vietnam and in the United States to provide students with a smooth transition into the American education system. Both offices have outstanding relationships with the schools and governments in their respective countries.  

AAE also provides ongoing support and solutions for American institutions of higher education that wish to increase their foreign student enrollment. 

We provide marketing opportunities for our U.S. educational partners, coordinate travel and hotel accommodations, schedule individual visits to Vietnamese high schools for university personnel, and organize annual American Education Fairs in Vietnam.

  Ross Meador is a lawyer, entrepreneur, investor, teacher, and philanthropist.

Now an internationally recognized authority on international business and law, Mr. Meador’s career began in Vietnam in 1974 when he went alone to Saigon to open the wartime office for a child welfare organization, FCVN.

Mr. Meador graduated from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law in 1986, where he served as Executive Editor of the International Tax and Business Lawyer law review. He also studied entertainment law at UCLA. He is a former partner at Preston Gates & Ellis, prior to which he practiced with Morrison & Foerster and Howard, Rice for 14 years. 

He also practiced law with Kim & Chang in Korea, with SSEK in Indonesia, and with VILAF and Kirin in Vietnam for over 10 years.

His law practice focuses on privately held companies and entrepreneurial ventures, particularly in the areas of technology and entertainment. He has negotiated and drafted hundreds of business agreements, and advises clients on business models, financing issues, strategic relationships, and the protection and licensing of intellectual property. He applies all of these skills in service to his clients.

Mr. Hong Nguyen, a business man from Ho Chi Minh City, found and directed the First American Product Showroom in HCM City in  1995 in cooperation with the Foreign Trade Promotion Company in Vietnam and the Vietnam Resource Group in Washington DC.

 Throughout the years, Mr. Nguyen had also worked in many business projects from operating a successful restaurant, a gemstone business, a Vietnam Jewelry Institute  to investing in Real estate and Information Technology.

Even though he has been retired since 2010, Mr. Nguyen is always available to provide UVBC with his advice on doing business in Vietnam based on his extensive experience and business networks.

 Vasudha Badri-Paul is a technology marketing  professional in Silicon Valley, working with corporations such as Intel,  Microsoft, and GE. She is also involved with startups ecosystems in  Silicon Valley and India.

She  is active in growing and building bridges between communities and works  with India, Israel, USA, and now Vietnam to bring forth mutually  beneficial partnerships in technology, education, investment, and  consumer specialities.

Dr. Uyen Nguyen, Founder and CEO of the Agriculture and Automation Service (AAS) , a research development company based in the Quang Trung Software Park, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

AAS  specializes in automation for the agriculture in Vietnam. We have one patent completed and two submitted for review. 

AAS is currently working with agriculture companies in Vietnam to develop their own automation in growing mushroom, automatic aquaponics systems, and container plant factory

In addition, Dr. Nguyen is also a lecturer on Electrical Engineering at the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City.

Graduated from  from Catholic University in Washington DC with a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering in 2001,  Dr, Nguyen has spent 20 years working for various technology companies in the US before returning to Vietnam to work on the AgTech industry which is greatly needed in Vietnam.

Ms. Hanna K. Nguyen has been working in Business Analytics and Strategy Consulting space for more than 7 years with a diverse exposure to multiple industries including IT, E-commerce, Finance, Real Estate, Energy and Infrastructure Construction. 

In Vietnam, she worked as an Investment Consultant for Commercial Office of South Korean Embassy for 4 years, assisting Korean companies in investing and doing business in Vietnam. 

In the U.S. She worked as Data Modelling Analyst for U.S. Department of Energy based in Washington DC and Pacific Gas and Electric in San Francisco. Currently, Huong is working for a financial investment firm based in San Jose and serving as a Data Analytics Advisor for Vietnam IT Development Group.

Ms. Huong Nguyen earned Master of Art (MA) in Economics and Finance and Master of Business Administration (MBA), Data Analytics Specialization from Brandeis University based in Massachusetts, USA.