STORYTELLERS
Ha Do is Senior Partner leading KPMG Hanoi office.
KPMG is one of the largest professional services firms in Vietnam. The Firm was granted the Prime Minister’s Award for its contribution to the finance sector, is recognized as a Tier One Tax Firm by the International Tax Review, and is the only to be voted as “Vietnam Tax Firm of the Year”.
Ha is also the Lead Partner of State Owned Enterprises (“SOEs”) Sector, in charge of developing business strategies for the sector, dealing with large SOEs, to whom KPMG offers audit and consulting services, assisting the SOEs to go through the transformation and IPO process, providing management consulting services. Ha is also Head of Infrastructure Sector in KPMG in Vietnam, coordinating advisory, tax and auditing services on projects for refineries, power plants, airports/ports, roads and real estate projects.
Ha has 19 years of experience in providing tax and consulting services, advising on investment forms, merger and acquisition, cross border transactions, investment and tax structuring to leading multi-national corporations in Vietnam. She has been advising both investors and EPC contractors on Vietnam’s major refinery projects, and has been deeply involved in the first SOE debt restructuring project in Vietnam, under a UK scheme of arrangement.
Ha holds the fellowship status of the UK Association of Certified Chartered Accountants. She is also an Australian CPA and a Vietnam CPA.
Ha is a frequent writer for various newspapers and an active speaker in conferences and seminars in both Vietnam and the region. She is also the co-chairwoman for the Woman Corporate Directors (WCD) in Vietnam, the only global organization for director women with over 900 members serving over 1,200 management boards of companies across the world. Ha is also an Executive Committee member of the Hanoi Business Association, actively involved in promoting business of Vietnamese private enterprises.
She sits in various advisory boards for non-profit organizations and also runs Sympameals with her friends, a charity fund providing free meals to poor patients in the city cancer hospital.
Ha has been a member of the AmCham board for three years and frequently participates in AmCham activities. As one of two Vietnamese and female board members, Ha has contributed to the Board from a different perspective, i.e. bringing on board views of foreign investors and business community she serves from the position of a female leader of one the largest auditing and consulting firms in Vietnam and in the world.
Maria S. Chung is the Strategic Projects Chief Coordinator (Attorney at Law), Kennametal Inc.
Maria S. Chung received her B.A. in East Asian Studies from University of California, Los
Angeles. She further received her J.D. from Southwestern Law School and was admitted to the
State of California Bar in December 2007. While attending law school, Maria worked as a
research staff member of the International Law Journal, completed International Law Courses in
Santander, Spain, and served as a law clerk for various Divisions of the Los Angeles City
Attorney’s Office.
Upon graduation from law school, Maria worked as a City Prosecutor representing over 50 government agencies within the State of California. She handled numerous misdemeanor and infraction cases during all stages of criminal prosecution.
In June 2009, Maria relocated to Hanoi, Vietnam for personal reasons and joined Hanoi office of Baker McKenzie.
Her practice focused on dispute resolution, corporate compliance and general commercial
matters. During her tenure with the firm, Maria received extensive training in international
arbitration from the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and participated in the Program on
Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
In January 2018, Maria secured a six-month secondment opportunity with one of Baker McKenzie’s global key clients, Kennametal Inc. And having thoroughly enjoyed the chance to work with an in-house legal team, Maria made a decision to leave the law firm life behind and embark on a new professional journey by joining Kennametal Inc. as a Strategic Projects Chief Coordinator in September 2018.
CURATOR
Irene has been based in Vietnam since 2012, and has focused on initiatives that inspire women to find their own paths, and to ignite their leadership. She is the co-author of a Book on Women Leaders, ‘Ba Trieu’s 21st Century Daughters’, the co-founder of the Women’s Story Telling Salon™, and has introduced the women leadership development programme Coming Into Your Own (CIYO) to Vietnam.
Irene’s truly global experience spans more than 20 years living and working as a certified coach and international facilitator across four continents in her country of origin (Austria), China, Brazil, New Zealand, and presently in Viet Nam.
Her Masters Degree in Sinology first brought her to China. There, in 2002, Irene became one of the first certified executive coaches working in Shanghai with Fortune 100 companies (in Mandarin).
In Brazil she continued advising as a China specialist, intercultural consultant and executive coach. There, in 2007, Irene also founded her own leadership development consultancy, iglobal Coaching ltd., which she later continued with new programmes for business and government agencies in New Zealand.
Each country and culture provided its own challenges and rewards; each move entailed deep reflections on how to best contribute to her new host country.
