BOARD OF DIRECTORS

---

Mr. Runckel is the principal and founder of Runckel & Associates, a Portland, Oregon based consulting company that assists businesses expand business opportunities including manufacturing, investing or opening an office/laboratory or factory in Asia. (www.business-in-asia.com). 

Mr. Runckel is a graduate of the University of Oregon and Lewis and Clark Law School and practiced law in Washington State before joining the Foreign Service in 1975. 

He has had a long association over his career with Asia and particularly with Vietnam. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1969-70. He worked in President Ford’s White House as Deputy General Counsel of the Presidential Clemency Board, which recommended clemency for Vietnam era draft deserters and evaders. In 1994, Runckel became U.S. Special Negotiator for Vietnam. 

He was assigned to Hanoi as the first permanently assigned U.S. diplomat since the Vietnam War. In 1995, Mr. Runckel headed up the U.S. Department of State office in Vietnam. In January, 1996 after helping to negotiate all the basic agreements, Mr. Runckel became Deputy Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Hanoi. In 1997, Mr. Runckel was recognized for the breadth of his contribution to U.S. - Vietnam relations by being awarded the U.S. Distinguished Honor Award, the highest U.S. Award for diplomatic service.

Mr. Runckel currently shares his time between Thailand, Vietnam, China and the US. He works with many Universities in taking student groups to Asia and is a frequent writer and speaker on Asian business.

Kevin Morgan has extensive experience in cultural and educational exchange dating back to the 1970’s.  He is currently Chairman of The Cultural Exchange Project (formerly The GeoVisions Foundation) and of Academic Language Solutions-iTEP .  

In these capacities he is active in promoting teaching, tutoring, au pair and volunteer experiences throughout the world, as well as innovative, online English Language tests for academic and career purposes.   

Kevin is recognized for his expansion of educational and cultural exchanges to then-underserved parts of the world, including South America, Africa and Asia.  He lives in New Hampshire (USA), and has resided and worked in Hong Kong, Thailand and Australia.  He has managed Asian marketing, operations and government relations for leading organizations.

With a background in Human Resource Development in public and private sectors in Vietnam and in the US, Mr. Trung Trinh decided to return to Vietnam in 1994 to explore business  opportunities where he could fully utilize his skills and experience to become a catalyst for mutual cooperation between Vietnamese and American companies. 

His first project in Vietnam was to organize and operate the First American Product Showroom in July 1995 in Ho Chi Minh City in cooperation with the Foreign Trade Promotion Company, a trade promotion agency of the city government. 
 
As CEO of the Vietnam Resource Group, Mr. Trinh - a graduate of the Saigon Law School in 1972 - has been involved with many projects related to trade/investment/ training/ education. 

Throughout his business development activities in Vietnam and in the US, Mr. Trinh has created and maintained a well-established and reliable networks and resources that will be beneficial for UVBC members. US Vietnam

Ms. Huong (Jenny) Nguyen has been working in  Business Analytics and Strategy Consulting space for more than 8 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 Research Associate for National Labs such as  Berkeley Lab, PNNL under U.S. Department of Energy and as a Data  Modeling Analyst for the Pacific Gas and Electric in San Francisco. 

Currently, Huong is providing the US-Vietnam Business Council with data analytics advisory services and treasuring support.

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.

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.  

As the Director of the San Francisco City Office of Global Engagement,   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. 

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

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 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.

 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.

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.

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 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. Huong (Jenny) Nguyen has been working in  Business Analytics and Strategy Consulting space for more than 8 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 Research Associate for National Labs such as  Berkeley Lab, PNNL under U.S. Department of Energy and as a Data  Modeling Analyst for the Pacific Gas and Electric in San Francisco. 

Currently, Huong is providing the US-Vietnam Business Council with data analytics advisory services and treasuring support.

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.

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.