Rad Kivette
Director of Development, Vietnam

Far from the sleepy southern town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where Rad graduated from college in 1974, Rad is now based in Ho Chi Minh City directing EMW's fundraising for EMW programs in Vietnam. After 18 years working in the textile industry, where he served in executive positions and eventually owned his own mill, Rad took on the position of Executive Vice President at Samaritan's Purse, one of the largest U.S. based international humanitarian organizations and became the International Vice President, managing seven foreign offices.

When Rad visited Vietnam to see Samaritan's Purse program work there, he decided to commit his life and resources to needy communities in Vietnam. In 2004 he began his own humanitarian organization, Hannah's Promise, and moved to Hanoi that same year to direct the organization.

In 2005, Rad began consulting with EMW on program work, and in 2006 went to work fulltime as the Director of Development. Rad has four children, three grown and living in the USA and one still at home in Ho Chi Minh City. He and his wife, who volunteers for EMW, enjoy cooking Vietnamese food and visiting My Khe Beach in Danang.

Connie Hoang Mi (Mimi) Vu
Development and Information
Management Officer

Connie Hoang Mi Vu, or “Mimi”, as she is known, came to EMW after six years of working in New York City and Paris, where she taught and worked in public relations, development and advocacy for nonprofits such as the Robin Hood Foundation, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the Fund for Public Health in New York.

Mimi has undergraduate degrees in English Literature and French from the University of Michigan and an MPA in International Nonprofit Policy and Management from New York University. Mimi was drawn to living in Vietnam and working for EMW because of a desire to further her career in international development, travel Vietnam and Asia and explore her Vietnamese roots. She says she hopes to make a positive impact on the development of her family’s homeland through her work at East Meets West.

Vu Thanh Binh
Office Manager

Binh joined the Ho Chi Minh City fundraising team in 2006. She says her role as administrative officer is not only a great job, but one that she finds suits her very well. In her previous jobs she worked in public relations, finance, copy-writing and translating. She now performs all of those tasks at EMW. She says she works for EMW because “"I love children and I want to help them.” In her free time Binh likes reading books and enjoys the theatre.

Tran Quoc Thanh
Development Assistant

Cathy Doan Uyen Nguyen
Editor