Henry Nguyen (''Vietnamese'': Nguyễn Bảo Hoàng) (born. 1973) is a
Vietnamese-American
Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...
businessman, entrepreneur and
venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
ist.
Early life
Nguyễn Bảo Hoàng's father, Bang Nguyen, was a
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
who held a position in the
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
ese government.
After
Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
came under the
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North ...
's control in 1975, he left for the United States, taking his wife, Kim Vu, their older son, Huy, daughters Thy and Linh and Henry, who was 22 months old at the time. Henry grew up in
Fairfax County, VA
Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...
.
Nguyen won a scholarship to attend
Phillips Exeter Academy
(not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God)
, location = 20 Main Street
, city = Exeter, New Hampshire
, zipcode ...
but instead attended
W.T. Woodson High before attending both
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and, later,
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
.
After graduating from Harvard in 1995 he began working for
Let's Go, a travel guide aimed at a student and backpacker readership.
The publisher decided to do a book on Southeast Asia, and as Henry spoke Vietnamese, the editor asked him if he would go, sending Nguyen to Vietnam for the first time since he left the country as an infant.
After returning, Nguyen attended
Northwestern's medical school, but also enrolled in Northwestern's
Kellogg Graduate School of Management
The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most p ...
in his third year, graduating in 2001 with both a medical degree and an
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
.
Career
Early career
Nguyen worked at
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
in his youth in America.
Nguyen's father, Bang, launched Viaworld Internet Telecommunications Corp (VITC) in 2001 in cooperation with Vietnam's state-owned telephone company, and Henry traveled to Vietnam to establish the
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
office, staying in Vietnam for four years.
Investment
After meeting
Patrick McGovern, the chairman of
IDG Ventures
IDG Ventures is a global family of venture funds with approximately $3.6 billion under management. All of the funds were originally sole-source-funded by International Data Group.
The first fund was created by IDG in 1996 and was located in ...
, Nguyen began to run a $100 million venture capital fund for IDG
as part of IDG Ventures Vietnam, which has invested in over 45 companies including VC Corporation, YAN Media Group, Vat Gia and VinaGame.
The fund continues to invest in four to six companies a year.
Nguyen brought both
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...
and
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
to Vietnam.
Having studied its business model as part of his master's degree, he also worked for ten years to ultimately introduce the McDonald's brand to Vietnam, where the first restaurant opened in 2014.
Nguyen also serves as Chairman of Good Day Hospitality, the main
franchisee
Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...
for McDonald's in Vietnam.
Sport
Nguyen leads a consortium of 22 investors who own the
Los Angeles Football Club
Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The club ...
. Other members of the investment group include
Peter Guber
Howard Peter Guber (born March 1, 1942) is an American business executive, entrepreneur, educator, and author. He is chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Guber's most recent films from Mandalay Entertainment include '' The Kids Are All ...
,
Tom Penn
Tom Penn is an American sports executive who is no longer the president and co-owner of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Football Club.
Penn is also an NBA TV analyst, former NBA executive and co-founder of the Sports Leadership Institute.
Lo ...
,
Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson,
Vincent Tan
Vincent Tan Chee Yioun (; born 1952) is a Malaysian Chinese businessman and investor. He is the founder of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, a diversified conglomerate listed on the Malaysian stock exchange. Besides holding stakes through the Berj ...
,
Mia Hamm
Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra (; born March 17, 1972) is an American retired professional soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Hailed as a soccer icon, she played as a forward for the U ...
,
Nomar Garciaparra
Anthony Nomar Garciaparra (; born July 23, 1973) is an American retired Major League Baseball player and current SportsNet LA analyst. After playing parts of nine seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played shortstop, third ...
,
Chad Hurley
Chad Meredith Hurley (born January 24, 1977) is an American webmaster and businessman who serves as the advisor and former chief executive officer (CEO) of YouTube. He also co-founded MixBit. In June 2006, he was voted 28th on Business 2.0's "5 ...
and
Tony Robbins
Anthony Jay Robbins (né Mahavoric, born February 29, 1960) is an American author, coach, speaker, and philanthropist. He is known for his infomercials, seminars, and self-help books including the books ''Unlimited Power'' and ''Awaken the Gia ...
.
Nguyen also has interests in both
Saigon Heat
The Saigon Heat is a Vietnamese professional basketball team based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Since the 2014 season, the Heat's home games are played at the CIS Arena on the campus of the Canadian International School in District 7. Saigo ...
and the
Vietnam Basketball Association
The Vietnam Basketball Association ( vi, Giải bóng rổ chuyên nghiệp Việt Nam), often abbreviated as VBA, is a Vietnamese national professional basketball league founded in 2016.
History
The formation of the VBA was announced by charter ...
.
Speaking
In May 2018, Henry Nguyen along with
Patrick Zhong,
Ridwan Kamil
Mochamad Ridwan Kamil (born 4 October 1971) is an Indonesian architect and politician who is the 15th Governor of West Java, the most populous province of Indonesia. He was also the mayor of Bandung from 2013 to 2018. As an architect, he design ...
, Noni Purnomo, were speakers on the "Innovators Who Are Changing Asia" panel
of the 2018
Milken Institute
The Milken Institute is an independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, California with offices in Washington, DC, New York, Miami, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. It publishes research and hosts conferences that apply market-based p ...
Global Conference.
Personal life
Nguyễn Bảo Hoàng is married to
Nguyễn Thanh Phượng, the Chairwoman of Viet Capital Securities and daughter of former Prime Minister
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng (born 17 November 1949) is a Vietnamese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Vietnam from 2006 to 2016. He was confirmed by the National Assembly on 27 June 2006, having been nominated by his predecessor, Phan Văn ...
.
External links
IDG Profile
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Henry
1974 births
Living people
American investors
Harvard University alumni
Wilbert Tucker Woodson High School alumni
Kellogg School of Management alumni
Feinberg School of Medicine alumni
American venture capitalists
American people of Vietnamese descent