Duc Tran
Executive Board Advisor
Duc Than Tran is the Chairman and CEO of Viet Wah Group, a company that imports and exports food products. He has also been involved in various businesses including Viet Wah Supermarkets, Viet Wah Superfood Market, Viet Wah Asian Food Market, Tea Palace Asian Restaurant and Banquet, and Simply Fresh Bakery.
In the past, Mr. Tran has worked as a Program Manager of Community Development for the Washington Association of Churches, where he served as a liaison to the Southeast Asian Refugee community and helped refugees set up their own mutual assistance associations.
He founded the Indochina Chinese Refugee Association and the Southeast Asian Refugee Federation. In addition to his professional roles, Mr. Tran has also been active in his community as a member of the Renton Mayor's Inclusive Task Force, a national advisor for the International Leadership Foundation, and a board member for various organizations including the Renton Chamber of Commerce, Kin On Nursing Home, and the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. He has received numerous awards for his dedication to the community, including a proclamation that April 6th 2020 was "Duc Tran Day" in the City of Renton.
Tam Nguyen
Board director - Chair
Tam.Nguyen@vnsf.foundation
Tam Dinh Nguyen and his siblings escaped out of Vietnam in May of 1980 and landed in Paulo Bidong, a refugee island in Malaysia. He arrived in Seattle as a refugee in December of 1980. Graduated from Evergreen High School, finished undergraduate studies at the University of Washington, then graduated with a Doctor of Pharmacy from Idaho State University. Worked as a staff pharmacist for Veteran Affairs and later moved to Valley Medical Center.
In 2000, Tam visited Vietnam for the first time since escaping, along with his parents to exhume his ancestors remains. During this trip, Tam witnessed the children of Vietnam with no schooling due to lack of money to pay for tuition. Once back in Seattle, Tam convinced his good friends Tyler Loc DuLam, Michael Grainger, and Tom Page to help start a scholarship foundation to help the poorest Vietnamese children continue school. After a few months of planning and meetings, the four good friends formed the Vietnam Scholarship Foundation Board in 2001.
Tam and his family opened a family business in the heart of Little Saigon in Seattle in 2004, the Tamarind Tree restaurant and then Long Provincial restaurant a few years later. While operating the family businesses, working as a staff pharmacist, and being the VNSF chair; Tam starts to become aware of the injustice in the Vietnamese community of Seattle.
Tam slowly removed himself away from VNSF and pharmacy to focus more on the Vietnamese community of Seattle. Tam was the first to raise his voice about land re-zoning next to the Little Saigon district which will result in the gentrification of small businesses in the district. Tam joined the larger Vietnamese Community Organization of Seattle to defend the Vietnamese businesses, rights of housing, and employment; and pursue the goal to build a cultural center in Seattle to serve the Vietnamese community. Tam later chaired the Friends of Little Saigon to focus on the vibrancy, safety, and culturally relevance of Little Saigon district of Seattle. Tam got invited by the city of Seattle to join the Public Safety Taskforce, Commercial Affordability, and the Seattle Investment Fund Boards.
Tam is now back with VNSF as chair and still an advocate as a Vietnamese voice at the City of Seattle and a board member of Friends of Little Saigon and Seattle Investment Funds.
Michael Grainger
Board director - Treasurer M
ichael.Grainger@vnsf.foundation
As a founding member of the Vietnam Scholarship Foundation, I am extremely proud to return to the board as the organization’s treasurer effective July 1, 2018. Over twenty years ago, our current Chairman Tam Nguyen approached me and asked if I would be interested in founding a non-profit organization to provide educational scholarships to children living in remote rural parts of Vietnam. We quickly assembled a willing band of colleagues to accomplish this task, and before we knew it our tax-exempt status was approved by the Internal Revue Service here in the USA. At this point, I stepped away from the board and pursued my own career in Southern California as a teacher and school administrator. During this time, I obtained my doctoral degree in administrative leadership and I currently serve as a middle school principal here in Palm Springs, California. As I approach the end of my current career as an educator, I recognized that now was the perfect time to return to the board to revitalize the organization’s mission and vision in the provision of educational scholarships. During the past two decades, VNSF has made remarkable strides forward and I would like to thank all members of the current and former board for their dedication and commitment to this wonderful organization. I am delighted to be back doing what I can to make a difference in the lives of these amazing students.
Hao Lam, CEO and Chairman of Best in Class Education Center and co-founder of Adaptively Education, has devoted his entire career to advocate for supplemental education. Ironically, he was illiterate when he was a kid. As a child living under the Communist regime in Vietnam, Hao was faced with adversity and hardships that affected his ability to attain a conventional education. It took him 13 years to finally make it by a boat to a Philippine Refugee Camp. Inspired by the wisdom and courage of his would-be future wife Lisa Lam, he learned his first English words in the refugee camp at the age of 20.
He made his way to Canada where he realized his dream of graduating from high school at the age of 23. In 1995, Hao's true passion for teaching and entrepreneurship propelled him to open his first tutoring school in Seattle. In 2011, he franchised the business. Fast forward a quarter-century, Hao’s Best in Class franchise operates over 50 locations across the U.S., while Adaptively Education, his latest EdTech venture, was selected as part of the November 2021 cohort of Techstars Seattle, the most highly regarded accelerators in the world.
Lam is a serial entrepreneur whose passion for the environment led him to co-found a recycling company in Vietnam. He also co-founded a Seattle-based mortgage company, co-owned a commercial real estate acquisition and management firm and invested in multiple restaurants. Hao is also a real estate and VC investor. In addition to his responsibilities at Best In Class and Adaptively, Lam is a motivational speaker, who encourages people to achieve their full potential. In his book From Bad to Worse to Best in Class: A Refugee’s Success Story, Hao shares his success story from humble beginnings as a Vietnamese refugee to leader of a national education franchise in the US.
Lam also served on the board of several non-profit organizations:
Past President of Indochina Chinese Refugee Association
Past President of Entrepreneur's Organization of Seattle
Advisory Board member of UW Consulting and Business Development Center
Florence Thao O’Quinn is a Vietnamese refugee baby. She was born in Galang, Indonesia and immigrated to the US as a 3-month-old. Florence credits all the successes that she’s earned in life to the free education and financial aid support she’s received to attend college. Her mom was the youngest of nine kids in Vietnam and was only able to attend school up through the third grade. Florence has seen first-hand the difference that education can make in one’s self esteem and access to other opportunities in life. This is why she’s passionate about providing education for others.
Florence is a lifelong student believing that there is always an opportunity to add to your toolbelt. After spending over 15 years in accounting and finance, she’s decided to take some time away to focus on volunteering and starting Bestie Gram, an online mailgram company aimed to make connecting with loved one’s fun and affordable.
As a new board member, Florence is looking forward to continuing to build upon the work the team has done over the last 20 years!
Kasper Wu has been involved in philanthropic endeavors for more than two decades through the organization of many fund-raising events for numerous local non-profit organizations as well as serving on the board of directors at the America Red Cross Seattle Chapter for 6 years. Her experience from managing an individual event to an entire non-profit organization allowed her to contribute to multiple facets within VNSF.
With her career in the technology sector for more than quarter of a century, Kasper has been digitally transforming numerous industries from real estate to Formula 1 racing technologies. Her experience in global software product and platform development, big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence made her recognize the importance of technology in transforming the lives of enterprise businesses.
Through her doctoral studies in Information Systems and Technology, Kasper also recognizes the importance of education in transforming lives. She believes that the lives of underprivileged children can be transformed through the programs at the Vietnam Scholarship Foundation. More importantly, education provides hope to those who might not have an opportunity to accelerate in life.
Kasper is looking forward to continuing this amazing journey in helping transform the lives of underprivileged children through the work of VNSF in the years to come.
Tuyet-Quan Thai
Board director Q
uan.Thai@vnsf.foundation
A long-time supporter of VNSF, Tuyet-Quan Thai is happy to rejoin the Board. She is looking forward to expanding VNSF’s programs and serving more students in underprivileged communities in Vietnam.
Quan left Viet Nam in 1978 and arrived in the United States in 1979 after spending a year in France. She is forever indebted to her parents, who braved the extreme adversities of a country in chaos to provide their children with freedom and opportunities. She is grateful for the help of teachers and friends, but morever, the goodwill of strangers she met along the way, who encouraged and helped her to excel educationally and professionally. Quan is thus committed to making a difference in the lives of disadvantaged children, and is thrilled to serve an organization that does exactly that for children in Vietnam.
Gary Ly
Board director - Vice Chair G
ary.Ly@vnsf.foundation
Gary Thai Binh Ly came to the US in 1993 from the suburb of Saigon. Seattle became his second home. Gary was from a teacher family. He began to work at a young age to support his own schools in Viet Nam and in the US. His dream and vision are to help underprivileged children in Viet Nam to get the basic education so they can advance for a greater future. This is his PASSION. He strongly believes that education is the greatest tool to prosperity, especially for many of the underprivileged children. Gary strongly commits his time and energy to VNSF to empower and share its vision and mission.
Gary has been volunteering with VNSF just over 10 years. Gary is currently a Realtor in the greater Seattle and Bellevue area.
In Loving Memory of Lisa Lam 1959-2023
Board director
Lisa Lam was one of the Boat people, who left her hometown, Saigon in 1988 and arrived in New York as a refugee from a Philippines Refugee camp. She was so overwhelmingly grateful to be able to attend college while working - she was moved to help others, starting as a social worker for LIRS (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service).
When her family from Vietnam was granted immigration through her sponsorship, Lisa moved to Seattle. After marriage to Hao Lam - a companion whom she escaped together with from Vietnam - together they started a tutoring center. From one location in 1995, today they’ve expanded to sixty-eight franchise tutoring centers in thirteen states, with the name Best in Class Education.
In December of 2006, Lisa accompanied by her family, made her first trip back to Vietnam Subsequently, after more trips back to the orphanages in Vietnam, she told her younger son, Albert, that she needed to do something for the underprivileged children there. Gifts and cash given to them on each visit were only temporary measures. She wanted to contribute in a way that would have a lasting impact. She understood that would mean ensuring those children could have an education. Albert replied that he knew that there was an organization in Seattle doing exactly that, VNSF. Lisa was overjoyed to find them. She actively searched for their contact information and started as a volunteer and supporter. Since October 2019, she has served on their board.