VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of Vietnamese were appointed as the chief executive officers (CEO) of the multinational conglomerates in Vietnam in 2012, the year of Dragon.

Vo Quang Hue, CEO of Robert Bosch Vietnam

The No.1 hired workers

Two important events took place in early July 2012 stirring up the high technology community in Vietnam. On July 1, Siemens Vietnam announced the appointment of Dr. Pham Thai Lai to the post of President and CEO. This was for the first time, Siemens group appointed a Vietnamese to the position.

Just one day later, Vu Minh Tri was accredited to the post of CEO of Microsoft Vietnam.

Prior to that, on May 16, 2012, Pham The Truong, also a Vietnamese, was appointed as the CEO of SAP Vietnam, the first Vietnamese CEO in the history of the group.

On the last days of 2012, Qualcomm designated Thieu Phuong Nam to the post of regional CEO of Qualcomm in charge of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

In early January 2013, or the last days of the Year of Dragon, two important pieces of news were announced. IBM decided to assign Vo Tan Long, who was then the CEO of IBM Vietnam from November 2008 to January 2013, to take care for special projects of IBM ASEAN, a move that recognizes the special contribution of Long to IBM Vietnam after four years of working there.

Lenovo has officially appointed Nguyen Minh Son to the post of Lenovo Vietnam. Son has also been well known in the business circle as he held the high ranking management positions at IBM, Siemens and Samsungs before.

The year of Dragon was the time when a lot of Vietnamese were appointed as the CEO of multinational groups. However, they are not the only top “hired workers” in Vietnam. For the last many years, Pham Phu Ngoc Trai has been on the post of President and CEO of PepsiCo South East Asia. Trai was one of the first Vietnamese who were accredited to hold such an important position in a big international group.

Than Trong Phuc is also a well-known name to Vietnamese. He spent 10 years working as CEO for Intel Vietnam. He deserved the credit of obtaining the one billion dollar chipset project for Intel Vietnam. After leaving Intel Vietnam, Phuc has been working as the CEO of DFJV.

Dam Thu Thuy has been a famous name in the finance and banking sector. She spent six years working as the CEO of ANZ Vietnam and now she is Deputy President of ANZ Indochina.

Like many other Vietnamese CEOs, Vo Quang Hue, CEO of Robert Bosch Vietnam is also a talented person, but unlike them, who have been in charge of market development, Hue has been holding the important position in the manufacturing sector.

How much Vietnamese character in being a CEO?

Hue said frankly, that it’s nearly impossible for those, 100 percent Vietnamese, i.e. lives and studies in Vietnam, and never worked for foreign groups before, to become a CEO of foreign companies in Vietnam.

Being Vietnamese is a great advantage to manage a company in Vietnam, but one needs to think globally, have much experience and good business culture foundation.

Hue himself spent 20 years living and working in Germany. Pham Thai Lai was born in Vietnam, but he lived and worked in Europe for 30 years. Than Trong Phuc has been known as a Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese). Before taking the office at Intel Vietnam, Phuc spent 14 years on working for the US Intel. Vu Minh Tri graduated from a Vietnamese school, but he then studied further at a foreign university and had much experience in his field.

Manh Ha