Vietnam’s Economic Outlook – Thriving in Uncertain Times

Nguyen Xuan Thanh

Lecturer of Public Policy

Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management

Nguyen Xuan Thanh has twenty years of experience in teaching, designing, and implementing development policies in finance and public investment. At Fulbright University Vietnam, Thanh teaches at the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management. Nguyen Xuan Thanh also is a senior fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Prior to joining the Fulbright School, Thanh served as an official in the municipal government of Ho Chi Minh City.

Thanh’s research interests are banking, public investment, and infrastructure development. His recent and ongoing research projects include financing infrastructure development and cross-ownership in Vietnam’s banking sector.

At the Fulbright School, Thanh teaches courses on Introduction to Public Policy, Local and Regional Development, Appraisal of Public Investment, and Leadership in the Public Sector. He also teaches regularly in the Fulbright School’s executive education and participates in policy dialogues with public sector agencies in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Thanh earned a B.A. (hons) in economics from the University of New Delhi, an M.S. in economics in finance from the University of Warwick, and an M.P.A. from Harvard University.

Michael Kokalari

Chief Economist, VinaCapital

Michael Kokalari, CFA serves as VinaCapital’s Chief Economist, where he is responsible for providing thought leadership and technical acumen on a wide range of global and local macroeconomic issues with a view towards maximizing investment performance.

Mr. Kokalari has worked in Vietnam for 12 years, prior to which he was a derivatives trader in Tokyo & London where he ran multi-billion dollar trading books for JP Morgan Chase, Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers, and Paribas. Mr. Kokalari co-authored the CFA guide to Credit Derivatives, and was a contributor to “Risk Management: Foundations for a Changing Financial World”, along with Nobel Prize winners Myron Scholes and William Sharpe of Stanford University.

Mr. Kokalari holds Masters Degrees in Business, Engineering, and Mathematics from Stanford University, and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at the Harvard Business School.

Country Manager, Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos, Asia Pacific, Mastercard

Winnie Wong is responsible for growing Mastercard’s business in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. With her experience in consumer and corporate payments and banking, she brings a fresh perspective to the markets on digital payments and solutions.

Prior to her current role, Winnie was the Commercial B2B Sales Head for the region, where she was responsible for driving growth for Mastercard’s Business-to-Business (B2B) solutions across Asia Pacific. This includes working with governments, banks and corporations on trade digitization with the aim of improving efficiency and transparency, especially for cross-border trade.