Hung Pham or Hung Kim Pham (born Phạm Kim Hưng; October 2, 1963 in

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_ ...

) is a former politician and information expert in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. He formerly served as a member of

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

, Canada.

Early life

Born and growing up in

, the capital of

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 ...

, Hung Pham was one of the boat people leaving the country after

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Coming to Canada in 1980 at the age of 16 without English, teenager Hung Pham worked as a part-time janitor to make his living while going to high-school in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Education

Hung Pham completed his high-school education in 1982 and subsequently took the computer science university transfer program at

Mount Royal College Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. History Mount Royal University was founded by Alberta provincial charter by the Arthur Sifton government on December 16, 1910 and officially opened on September 8 ...

, where he received many awards and scholarships for outstanding academic achievements. Pham then transferred to

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

in 1984 and graduated from the university in 1986 with two bachelor's degrees with Distinction: Bachelor of Science with Distinction in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

and Bachelor of Science with Distinction in

Pure Mathematics Pure mathematics is the study of mathematical concepts independently of any application outside mathematics. These concepts may originate in real-world concerns, and the results obtained may later turn out to be useful for practical applications, ...

. He went on to take Master program at University of Calgary, specializing in

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

Career

Starting as a prominent Information Analyst with Canalta Data Services in 1988, Hung Pham joined The City of Calgary in 1989 as a Database Technical Analyst. He was promoted by The City of Calgary to be Senior Programmer Analyst in 1991.

Community activities

As an active member of many non-profit organizations, Hung Pham helped Calgary Police Service with its multicultural and crime prevention programs. He was elected President of Calgary Vietnamese Canadian Association in 1990. In this position, he promoted programs to help low income workers. With his well-known speech delivered to the community on 1991

Tết Tết (), short for Tết Nguyên Đán (Chữ Hán: 節元旦), Spring Festival, Lunar New Year, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations in Vietnamese culture. The colloquial term "Tết" is a shortened form of , ...

celebration event, Pham publicly declared his programs to help cleaners in Calgary.

Political career

Elected to Legislative Assembly of Alberta (Progressive Conservative), Canada at the age of 29, Hung Pham was the youngest Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Alberta Legislature at the time. He is also the very first Vietnamese ever elected to a legislature outside of Vietnam. Re-elected four times later, Hung Pham has held many high-rank positions in Alberta Government. In 2006, he was promoted by Premier Ed Stelmach to be a member of Alberta Treasury Board, the legislative body responsible for all expenditures and budgets of Alberta (Premier Ed Stelmach is also a member of the board). In January, 2008, Hung Pham announced that he would not seek re-election.

References

External links

* http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=mla_bio&rnumber=17 Legislative Assembly of Alberta Elected Members Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Pham, Hung 1963 births Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Canadian activists Canadian engineers Living people People from Ho Chi Minh City Vietnamese community activists Vietnamese engineers Vietnamese emigrants to Canada Canadian politicians of Vietnamese descent Vietnamese refugees People in information technology Politicians from Calgary 21st-century Canadian politicians