Quang X. Pham escaped to the United States at the age of ten with his mother and sisters during the fall of Saigon. His father, a South Vietnamese Air Force pilot, was incarcerated in communist reeducation camps before reuniting with his family in 1992.

Mr. Pham became a U.S. citizen and graduated from the University of California Los Angeles. He completed Marine Corps Officer Candidate School, and served as a helicopter pilot in Operation Desert Storm. Mr. Pham was the first Vietnamese American to become a Marine pilot. A year later he was deployed on the U.S.S. Tarawa with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Persian Gulf, and flew United Nations personnel into Mogadishu, Somalia. After the Marines he was an executive with QTC Medical Services and chairman and CEO of Lathian Systems, a pharmaceutical sales company he founded. He raised $14 million from venture capitalists and helped Lathian reach profitability.

Mr. Pham has given many speeches and has appeared on national radio and television shows, and on Vietnamese-language radio and television, for entrepreneurial excellence, post-9/11 interviews, and reflections on Vietnam. His Op-Ed articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and many other publications. He serves on the boards of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, Chapman University School of Business & Economics, and the Orange County Forum.

In addition to his military decorations, Mr. Pham has been honored by Catholic Charities of Los Angeles and recognized by elected officials for his contribution to the Vietnam War Memorial dedication. The Orange County Register named him as one of thirty Vietnamese Americans to watch. He also co-hosted the recent Vietnamese American National Gala in Washington, DC.

Mr. Pham is author of the memoir, A Sense of Duty: My Father, My American Journey. Currently, he is exploring opportunities for his next company and writing a novel. He lives in Orange County, California with his wife, Shannon.

Additional Resources: More about Quang Pham View video of Mr. Pham's award presentation at the AILF Annual Benefit, on June 24, 2005.