Philip Nguyen is better known in the Southeast Asian Pacific American community nationwide as an ardent refugee & immigrant advocate. Mr. Nguyen finds this unusual since his education; professional training and early career was in Finance and Management. Mr. Nguyen graduated from the Australian University in Economics, trained as a small business management consultant in Japan, worked as the Director of Investment Promotion at the prestigious Industrial Development Bank of Vietnam, and taught economic development and financial management at various universities in Vietnam before 1975.
During his 7+ years at the Vietnamese Community of Orange County, he helped increase this agency's staff from 2 to 32, raise the annual budget from $100,000 to 2+ million, and was the key player in the establishment of the 1.4 million (1990 price) Asian Senior Acculturation Center on First Street, City of Santa Ana (wrote successful proposals, organized numerous fundraisers, and also helped supervise and monitor the construction of this center).
Among his many volunteer and community services, Mr. Nguyen is the Chair of the Vietnamese American Coalition for Civil Rights; Chair Emeritus of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC); Former Vice Chair of the National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies (NAVASA); Board member of the Community Technology Foundation of California (CTFC); former Board member of NOMNIC; and is currently on the Advisory Board of Blue Cross. SEARAC, NAVASA are national advocacy organizations while CTFC is at the state level. Mr. Nguyen was one of the founding commissioners of the Commission on Immigrants Rights, City and County of San Francisco.
