Vietnam: Gateway to Southeast Asia

With a 10-country trade bloc of 600 million consumers fast adopting mobile and digital commerce, Southeast Asia has won the world’s attention as a vibrant consumer market and growing tech ecosystem. But it has also emerged as a preferred sourcing base for manufacturers – including many in Georgia – looking to keep costs competitive while reducing their reliance on China. 

Join Global Atlanta, Becamex Vietnam and high-level officials from Vietnam’s Binh Duong province (just north of Ho Chi Minh City) to hear from Atlanta-based executives about their experiences in the ASEAN region and how Vietnam can be a gateway to it, offering a hospitable business climate that can help firms solve supply-chain headaches in an increasingly volatile world.

Program

10:00 am – Program Begins

Vietnam Introduction 

• H.E Mai Hung Dung, Vice Governor of Binh Duong Province

Keynote:

• Ted Osius, President, US-Asean Business Council and former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam

Panel Discussion moderated by Trevor Williams, Managing Editor, Global Atlanta: 

• Steven Lustig, VP of supply chain, East West Manufacturing  — Focus Countries: China, Vietnam
• Dan Ellsworth, CEO, World Micro Inc.  — Focus Country: Malaysia 
• Patrick Winkler, VP of Customer Experience, Fox Factory  — Focus: Taiwan, broader ASEAN
• Wei Siong Tan, founder and CEO, AccuSentry — Focus: Indonesia

Presentations: 

• Vietnam incentive program, Binh Duong and Becamex by Dien Son Vo (Steve Vo), Chief Representative, Becamex Vietnam & Binh Duong Province in the USA 
• Supply chain solutions: Henry Yu, Chairman-National U.S. Hong Kong Business Association

Q&A session – audience questions for the speakers, panelists, and presenters

12:00 PM – Closing Remarks and Closing

Vietnam Gateway to Southeast Asia – flyer (3)

Meet the Speakers

*Not speaking during the event but is available for questions during the Q&A section of the program

H.E Mai Hung Dung

Vice Governor

Binh Duong Province

H.E Mai Hung Dung has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economy. He served from 2006 – 2010 as Vice Mayor for Thuan An City, Binh Duong Province. From 2010 – 2012 he worked as State Chief Inspector for Binh Duong Province. From 2012 – 2016, he served as Minister of the Department of Planning and Investment of Binh Duong Province. From 2016 up to now, he has served as Vice Governor for Binh Duong Province, Vietnam

*Le Phu Hoa
Provincial Minister of Foreign Affairs Department
Binh Duong Province, Vietnam

From 1989 – 2000, he served as Official of Foreign Affairs Division of Binh Duong Province. From 2000 – 2003, he served as Vice Chief of Foreign Affairs Division of Binh Duong Province. From 2003 – 2006, he served as Chief of Foreign Affairs Division of Binh Duong Province. From 2007 – 2013, he served as Vice Minister of Department of Foreign Affairs of Binh Duong Province. From 2013 – present, he has served as Minister of Department of Foreign Affairs of Binh Duong Province, Vietnam.

Ted Osius
President
US-Asean Business Counci and former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam

Former ambassador Ted Osius is President & CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council.  Founded in 1984, the Council represents 170 of the largest American businesses in Southeast Asia through its headquarters in Washington, DC, and its seven regional offices.

A diplomat for thirty years, Ambassador Osius served from 2014 to 2017 as U.S. ambassador to Vietnam.  Leading a team of 900, Ambassador Osius devised and implemented strategies to deepen economic, security and cultural ties between the two countries. In October 2021, Osius published his most recent book, Nothing Is Impossible: America’s Reconciliation with Vietnam, covering the two countries’ 25-year journey from adversaries to friends and partners.

After his departure from government, Osius joined Google Asia-Pacific as Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Policy, covering 19 Asian nations from Google’s Singapore headquarters.  Earlier, he was a senior advisor at the Albright-Stonebridge Group and the first Vice President of Fulbright University Vietnam.  Osius was associate professor at the National War College and Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

As a diplomat, Osius served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Political Minister-Counselor in New Delhi, India.  Osius also served as deputy director of the Office of Korean Affairs at the State Department, regional environment officer for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and senior advisor on Asia and trade to Vice President Al Gore.  He also served in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, and at the United Nations.

Steven Lustig
Vice president of Global supply chain
East West Manufacturing

Steven is strategic operations leader with a passion for developing people and leading continuous improvement throughout organizations. As Vice President of Global Supply Chain at East West Manufacturing, he is responsible for optimizing the company’s worldwide spend and strategic relations with key suppliers. Past roles have included leadership positions in the areas of Supply Chain, Quality, Project Management, Manufacturing and NPI. In these positions, Steven has facilitated successful teams and projects involving employees, suppliers and customers in the United States, Latin America, Asia and Europe.

Steven has held positions at companies ranging from one of the largest in the world (Manufacturing Manager for Freestyle drink dispensers at The Coca-Cola Company) through mid-size companies (Senior Operations Manager at LSI Corporation) to a start-up company (Vice President of Manufacturing and Supply Chain at Monsieur, making automated mixed cocktail machines). Steven holds a BSME from MIT, along with an MSME and an MBA from Georgia Tech, as well as Project Management Professional (PMP) and Six Sigma Green Belt certifications.

Patrick Winkler
Vice President
Customer Experience – Powered Vehicles Group
Fox Factory

Patrick Winkler began his operations career in the airline industry, spending 12 years running domestic operations for American Airlines before joining the Bosch Power Tools, where his decade-plus tenure included a four-year stint in Asia leading the After-Sales Service Business Unit across 14 countries out of Shanghai, China. In January 2020, he joined Fox Factory, which manufactures performance-defining products for bikes, ATVs, off-road trucks and other vehicles. He serves as Vice President of Customer Experience & After-Sales Services.

Dan Ellsworth
President/ CEO
World Micro

Dan co-founded World Micro in 1995 and provides leadership of sales and financials aspects of the business.  In addition to the oversight of World Micro’s legal, regulatory, and accounting functions, he also oversees growth and expansions into new geographies.

Dan attended Western Carolina University and in 2000, he  moved to Clearwater, Florida to start a career in the brokerage business. During the next decade, he spent many years working with Raymond James & Associates as an investment advisor. Dan was responsible for the active management of assets, diversification classes, establishment of new accounts and the development of prospecting tools.

After co-founding World Micro, the business was subsequently moved from Florida to Georgia. He has successfully applied the skills and disciplines gained during that period to World Micro, and continues to help lead an exceptional team of people today. World Micro is a stocking distributor of electronic components and avionics equipment used by Military, Commercial, and Aerospace customers. Headquartered in Atlanta, World Micro has several domestic offices and maintains its Asian HQ in Penang, Malaysia

Wei Siong Tan, Ph.D.,
Director – Business Administration
AccuSentry, Inc.

Dr. Wei-Siong Tan is the Founder and C.E.O. of AccuSentry, Inc. For over 30 years, he has led AccuSentry with a vision to become the leader in inspection solutions with production intelligence. Today, the AccuSentry systems are used throughout the world in over 40 countries, helping manufacturers improve product consistency, reduce product waste, and optimize production performance.

Prior to founding AccuSentry in 1991, Dr. Tan was a faculty member at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He served as a research team leader to develop Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuit chips for the image processing of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) of missile interceptors for the U.S. Army.

He holds a B.S.E.E., an M.S.E.E., and a Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He speaks at various technical conferences and holds half a dozen patents. In addition to being active in the technical and business fields, he is involved in the community. He is the founding president of the Indonesian Community Heritage Foundation (ICHF) and the president of the Indonesian American Chamber of Commerce (IACC). He currently serves as the President of the IDN-USA Georgia chapter. He is also active in the Indonesian Community Church (ICC) as one of the elders. He was recognized by the Georgian Asian Times as one of the 25 most influential Asian Americans in Georgia. He has been residing in Georgia for over 40 years. He is married to Mimi Tan and the couple is blessed with 3 grown children.

Dien Son Vo (Steve Vo)
Advisory & Marketing Director
Becamex IDC Corporation
Binh Duong, Vietnam

Vo, serving as Becamex Advisory & Marketing Director, has over 15 years of experience of providing investment consultancy and promoting foreign investments into Vietnam, especially in the mega industrial cities and new township creation. He is a member of a number of trade and commercial associations, managing numerous trade and investment delegations in and out the country. Since 1994, Vo was directly involved in the historic development of industrial parks which helped Vietnam’s economic progress. He also worked directly, and indirectly, with about 600 foreign companies from 34 countries seeking investment opportunities in Binh Duong Province from start-up to operational implementation and to future growth.

Vo is also a Vice President of Becamex Technology & Innovation Center (BTIC), which works to assist small tech start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures in Binh Duong. He is a Chairman of Sao Duong Joint Stock Company, comprised of 30 subsidiaries under the Becamex umbrella. He also serves as Chairman of Binh Duong Young Entrepreneurs’ Association. Vo has bachelor’s degrees in both economics and corporate law.

*Bill Dao
Chief Representative
Becamex Vietnam & Binh Duong Province in the USA

Bill, serving as North America Chief Representative for Becamex Vietnam & Binh Duong Province, has over 25 years of experience of providing business consultancy and promoting foreign investments into Vietnam, especially in manufacturing and supply chains industries. Bill has been managing more than 30 Vietnam events in US and Canada and bringing many US companies to Vietnam and Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, Bill has worked for US Commercial Service as a Senior Gold Key Executive and Canada Trade Office as a Trade Commissioner to help many US and Canadian companies explore business opportunities in Vietnam. He has also worked directly with more than 500 companies in North America that are interested in Vietnam market. Bill has been bringing many Vietnam business delegations to US and Canada to explore business opportunities there and is an active speaker on Vietnam market.

Bill is also Vietnam & Southeast Asia Trade Ambassador and Director for World Trade Center Tacoma in Washington State. Bill holds a bachelor degree in business administration from University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and another bachelor degree in international business from British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Canada. Bill has also got MBA degree from Brussels Liberty University (ULB) in Belgium and is living in Seattle, Washington State. Bill can speak Vietnamese, English, French and Chinese (Mandarin).

Henry Yu
Chairman-National U.S. Hong Kong Business Association

Henry Yu is an experienced and versatile global business executive passionate about bridging U.S. and Asian and other Emerging Market business. A retired banker of 37 years, Yu has many corporate and banking clients in Emerging Markets and in Asia Pacific. In addition to being a well-rounded commercial, international and investment banker, Henry had over 4 years in senior management position of a PE Fund from Asia. Henry has also been involved since 2015 helping a few U.S. firms with their Asian Entrance Strategies. Yu is an independent board member and audit committee chair of a Chinese company listed on Nasdaq. He is an avid volunteer helping many local non-profit groups,
and with over 15 years serving the National Association of Chinese Americans. Yu has devoted efforts in helping bridge business between Hong Kong, China, Asia and the U.S. Yu is currently President of the Hong Kong Association of Atlanta, and Chairman of the National U.S. Hong Kong Business Association. Henry has a great banking career having been affiliated with Bank of America Hong Kong, Standard Chartered Bank China and many U.S. banks. Before retiring, Henry held senior management positions (MD and SVP levels) at East West Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, SunTrust Bank and Fifth Third Bank. Henry is well versed in all facets of banking-Investment and Commercial banking, Compliance (SunTrust Bank CIB Compliance Task Force member), International and multinational lending, cross border trade finance, domestic and global treasury management, and credit administration. Henry was also the first and only foreign banker having travelled in 2009 and 2010 to Asia and Europe on RMB Roadshows with China’s Central Bank, and Shanghai Financial Office.
Henry is a regular speaker and guest lecturer in both U.S. and Chinese universities. Yu shares his insights on Global Supply Chain and Trade, Banking and Fintech, Financing cross border trade, and Risk mitigation on global Business. Yu has done many lectures at University of Memphis, Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate

School of Management, Emory University, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Wesleyan College and Florida International University. Universities in China also benefited from his lectures which included Beijing Language and Culture University, China Jiliang University, Sichuan University, and Southwest University of Finance and Economics. Yu believes in education and in mentoring young professionals. Yu finished his high school education in Hong Kong and received his BA in Economics from the University of Michigan, and MBA from the University of Detroit.