Program Involvement
In 2015 Nam has joined the Baker/Polito Administration, first as Assistant Secretary of Business Development & International Trade, the first Asian American who has ever been a gubernatorial appointee at this level in Massachusetts. He oversaw the Mass. Film Office, Mass. Office of Business Development, Mass. Office of Travel and Tourism, Mass Sport Marketing Office, and Mass. Office of International Trade & Investment. From 2020-22, he served as Director of Office of Real Estate & Asset Management, Department of Transportation.
Nam was the CEO of Vietnamese American Initiative for Development, Inc. (VietAID) from 2011-2015, the first Vietnamese community corporation in the US.
Nam had also been a banking executive, working for more than 20 years in both international commercial banks and premier community bank such as BankBoston/Bank of America and Asian American Bank. He was Vietnam Country Manager for United Commercial Bank 2007-2011. From 1994 to 2000 Nam was the Commissioner of Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants. He was the first Vietnamese American who served under President Ronald Reagan as a Presidential Management Fellow in 1983. He also taught at Tufts University on Vietnam War, and US Refugee & Immigrant policies.
He has served on various boards. He cofounded Van Lang Vietnamese Language Centers in Boston, serving 400 youths per year for the past 25 years. Currently, he is President of Asian American Advocacy & Actions, and AI World Society Foundation, and a board member of the WorldBoston. From 2015 -20 he chaired both the Boards of Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation, and MassVentures, a quasi-public venture capital firm. He created and hosted a Vietnamese-English TV cable show for Boston between 2010-2015. He is the executive producer and writer of the soon-to-be released documentary “Through Our Eyes: Vietnam War from the Perspective of South Vietnamese.” He has also produced a 11-part digital series titled “Red China Threats to the World”.
Nam earned his BS degree in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, and MPA in Political Economy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.