Dr. Vu Thanh Tu Anh

Dean, Fulbright School of Public Policy Management

Dr. Vu Thanh Tu Anh served for ten years as the director of research at the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Ho Chi Minh City.

He led FETP’s transformation into the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management, Fulbright University Vietnam’s graduate professional school. His primary research interests include economic development, industrial policy, and institutional economics.

He is one of the 15 members of the Economic Advisory Group of the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

He led FETP’s policy research and analysis efforts and coordinated research teams. He helps design and deliver the Harvard Kennedy School Vietnam Program’s executive education and policy dialogue initiatives with the Vietnamese government.

Tu Anh also serves as a member of the Consultative Group of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, member of the Scientific Committee at Vietnam National University. Tu Anh frequently comments on economic policy issues in the Vietnamese media.

During 2013-2015, Tu Anh was as a GEG Global Leaders Fellow, serving as a fellow at the University of Oxford and Princeton University. Tu Anh is a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Tu Anh holds a PhD from Boston College.

Marco Breu

Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company

Marco Breu is the Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company’s Vietnam office.

He advises private companies across sectors on corporate strategy, digital transformation, corporate governance, and growth. He also works with Vietnamese state-owned enterprises on business restructuring programs. Marco oversees McKinsey’s Public Sector work in Vietnam, with a particular focus on master planning, economic development, and social growth at the provincial level.

A Swiss national, Marco joined McKinsey’s Zurich office in 1999. He moved to Asia in 2002. Initially based in Seoul, he worked in Singapore before assuming the role of Managing Partner for Thailand. In 2008, he launched the Vietnam office and has been leading McKinsey Vietnam’s growth and expansion since.

Passionate about social innovation, Marco founded The Mekong Business Challenge, an annual entrepreneurship program for the Mekong region. Since 2006, the program has welcomed over 1,000 teams from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Bhutan and supported them in screening, planning, and incubating new businesses.

In 2018, Marco took a sabbatical from the firm to serve as Professor of Business Administration at the Royal Thimphu College in Thimphu, Bhutan. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Berne, Switzerland and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

Outside of McKinsey, Marco is an active angel investor in a series of startups in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe in the areas of fintech, e-commerce, retail, and agriculture. He also enjoys scuba diving, flying Cessna planes, and spending time with his family.

Michael Kokalari

Chief Economist, VinaCapital

Michael Kokalari, CFA is the Chief Economist of Vietnam’s largest private equity fund manager, VinaCapital ($3b AUM), where he sits on the investment committee and is responsible for guiding the firm’s overall investment strategy.

Mr. Kokalari worked in Vietnam for 10 years, prior to which he was a derivatives trader in Tokyo & London for 15 years, running multi-billion dollar trading books at 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 the book “Risk Management: Foundations for a Changing Financial World (2010)”, 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.

Richard Burrage

Managing Director, Cimigo

Richard has 25 years of experience in market research and strategic consulting. He is the founder of Cimigo and acts as a strategic partner for core clients, focusing on market feasibility, brand positioning, customer experience and communications development. Richard will lead consultant.

Richard has led businesses, which have supported numerous brands to leadership positions in Asia, including the innovation of over sixty brands. He has built a regional Asian market research business, bringing the voice of the consumer into client boardrooms.

Richard is the representative for the industry body ESOMAR promoting market research and standards. Richard teaches Asian Consumer Behavior for the Quinlan Business School, Loyola University, Chicago.