DemsPublicService

Vietnamese American Democrats in Public Service

Hubert Vo, Texas House of Representatives

District 149

Hubert Vo is the first person of Vietnamese heritage to be elected to the Texas Legislature.

Representative Vo, a successful businessman, has been a member of the Alief community for over 20 years. He serves on the board of the Alief YMCA and is a council member on the Alief Super Neighborhood. He is an active member of the community, who strives to provide opportunities to others, as he was once provided, and help better the community as a whole.

He attended the University of Houston during the day and worked at Hughes Tool Company as a steel worker at night. In 1983, he achieved his dream of a college education and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Hubert opened a computer business in 1985 and in 1995, he decided to diversify his business and acquired his first investment property. Since then he has continued to grow and develop new projects. Hubert owns an office/shopping center, in Alief and owns several apartment complexes. He is currently developing phase II of his shopping center in Alief.

In pursuit of his dream, Hubert has had a vast array of work experiences. These include waiter, busboy, cook, assembler and quality assurance specialist, convenience store clerk, phone book updater, steel worker, goldsmith, data technician, and realtor.

Kim Oanh Nguyen-Lam, PhD,

Trustee, Garden Grove Unified School District

Associate Director, Center for Language Minority Education and Research, Cal-State Long Beach; Past-Pres., La Quinta H.S. PTSSO; former school teacher and administrator; M.A. degrees, Administrative Credential, Pepperdine University; Ph.D., CIIS; State Superintendent Advisory Council Member; Elected 2004, present term expires Nov. 2008.

Madison Nguyen, Council Member, City of San Jose

In September 2005, Madison Nguyen (30) received 63% of the votes cast in a special election, becoming the first Vietnamese American to serve on the San José City Council. Since she took office, her life has been non-stop with neighborhood meetings, community events, committee assignments, and staying on top of policy issues at City Hall.

Madison currently serves as a Board Member on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and is a member of Building A Strong Neighborhood Committee, Driving A Strong Economy Committee, and the Evergreen East Hills Vision Strategy Task Force.

Prior to coming to the City Council, Madison served as President of the Franklin-McKinley Board of Education. She was the first Vietnamese woman elected to public office in California in 2002. As well as being an active member of the Board of Education, Madison worked full time as an Associate Ombudsperson with the County of Santa Clara's Office of Human Relations, served as a member of the United Way Silicon Valley Community Advisory Board, and the Asian American Community Advisory Council at San Jose State University. Madison has also taught Sociology and Vietnamese American Culture at both De Anza and Evergreen Valley community colleges.

Born in Vietnam, Madison Nguyen and her family immigrated to the United States in the early 1980's. She received her Bachelor of Arts in History from UC Santa Cruz; and her Masters Degree in Social Science from the University of Chicago.

John Tran, Council Member, City of Rosemead

Councilmember John Tran is currently serving his first term on the Rosemead City Council. He was elected on March 8, 2005 and was born on November 20, 1975 in Vietnam. He is one of six siblings and has lived in Rosemead for over 18 years. He is proud of his two gems in his life, his sons, Joshua and Andre.

John has been involved in the real estate industry since 1994 as an agent and consultant. He currently works with Coldwell Banker Real Estate Mart in San Gabriel. Through his hard work and dedication, he won many prestigious awards for his sales and service to clients over the years.

John attended school as a student in the Garvey School District during his elementary and middle school years. He graduated from Garvey Intermediate School and went on to graduate from Mark Keppel High School in what was then the Alhambra High School District in 1993.

John served his community as a member of the Garvey School District Board of Education from 1999-2005, serving as School Board President in 2002 and in 2003-2004, where he became the youngest member ever elected to the Garvey School Board at the age of 23. During his tenure, he set high expectations for district administrators and staff and as a result, one school was awarded National Blue Ribbon Status, two schools were recognized as “California Distinguished Schools” and three schools were recognized as “California Title I Achieving Schools. John was also instrumental in the development and approval of two joint-use agreements with the City of Rosemead to build two gymnasiums to be placed on each of our two intermediate school campuses. As a School Board Member, John served on the Board of Directors for the California Latino School Board Members Association and as a Member of the California School Boards Association.

John was chair of the Garvey School District bond committee and successfully coordinated the work of staff and community to accomplish the passing of General Obligation Bond Q, a $30 million bond initiative, which will benefit the students of the Garvey School District by continuing modernization of the school sites