VietNamNet Bridge - The positions of CEOs of many multinational groups are being held by Vietnamese as the business employ strategies to localize staff.


In July 2015, the US-based Ford announced it had appointed Pham Van Dung, a Vietnamese, to the post of CEO of Ford Vietnam. 

The predecessor of Ford Vietnam, Jesus Metelo Arias, left Vietnam for Shanghai, where he works as Ford Asia Pacific marketing and service director

Prior to the appointment, Dung worked as finance director for the automobile manufacturer. He began working there in 1998 as an accountant. 

He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and master’s degrees from the Vietnam Trade University and Swinburne University, Australia, respectively. 

The positions of CEOs of many multinational groups are being held by Vietnamese as the business employ strategies to localize staff.

Since taking office, Dung has helped Ford Vietnam gain big achievements: in September 2015, Ford Vietnam, for the first time in his history, reported the monthly best sales result. 

Also in 2015, Ford was recognized as one of the fastest-growing automobile brands. 

Dung is also the deputy chair of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA).

HSBC Vietnam recently released reports reflecting the domestic and international financial market performance. And the reports all were signed by Pham Hong Hai, a Vietnamese CEO.

Hai is the first Vietnamese appointed as CEO of HSBC Vietnam. The CEO working for 20 years for HSBC is described by local newspapers as a young manager (born in 1974), the ‘leading currency trader’ in Vietnam and a person with an ‘iron will’.

Some years ago, Dam Bich Thuy, CEO of ANZ Vietnam, was a Vietnamese name which often appeared in local newspapers. 

During the ‘reign’ of Thuy, ANZ Vietnam witnessed impressive growth rate of 70 percent right in the first year since it received an operation license.

Pham Phu Ngoc Trai of PepsiCo and Than Trong Phuc of Intel Vietnam are also ‘famous Vietnamese’ in the business circle.

Trai was the first Vietnamese person who took office as a regional director of a leading multinational group. During the 20 years of working for PepsiCo, Trai four times helped PepsiCo Vietnam gain the highest prizes of PepsiCo Global.

Meanwhile, Phuc was known as the person who deserved the credit for attracting the $1 billion investment project from Intel. He worked for Intel Vietnam for nine years, longer than any other CEO in non-US countries. 

In the first five years in Vietnam, Intel saw the highest revenue growth rate in Asia.

Vu Minh Tri has been well known in Vietnam as CEOs of many big conglomerates. In 2012, he was appointed as CEO of Microsoft Vietnam. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Sony Ericsson Vietnam andYahoo Vietnam and CEO of Qualcomm in charge of Indochina and Thailand.

H. Tu