Board of Directors

First Term (Parent Elected) 2018-2021
Second Term (Board Appointed) 2021-2025

Michelle is British and arrived in Hanoi in 1999 and has been working in Education in Hanoi since then. Firstly as a Teacher/Trainer and later Educational Management before becoming a School Owner/Director. Michelle joined the Board as a parent elected Board member in 2018 and became Board Chair in August 2021. Michelle has two children, her eldest is studying in the UK and her daughter is in Grade 9.
 

First Term (Parent Elected) 2019-2023

Maria S. Chung is an international lawyer and began her legal career as a City Prosecutor representing over 50 government agencies in the State of California.  Currently, she is the General Director of Kennametal Vietnam LLC.  Prior to joining Kennametal, Maria worked as a Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution Practice Group of Baker McKenzie’s Hanoi office focusing on corporate compliance and international arbitration.  She is admitted to practice law in the State of California and registered as a foreign lawyer with the Ministry of Justice in Vietnam.  Maria has one daughter in Grade 4. 

First Term (Board Elected) 2023-2027

Lynne is a career diplomat, with experience in ten different countries around the world. She joined the Finance Committee in 2020-2021, comes with previous school Board experience and attended the Governance as Leadership Training Institute at UNIS Hanoi in 2019. She has a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor's Degree from Cornell University. Lynne is the Economic Counsellor at the US Embassy and has two children at the school, in Grades 8 and 5.

First Term (Parent Elected) 2021-2025

Ananth works with Deloitte Consulting as the Chief of Party (Executive Director) for the USAID Vietnam Low Emissions Energy Project II. Ananth has over seventeen years of energy experience, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate change technologies and innovation. Ananth holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He has two sons in Grades 11 and 8.

First Term (Board Appointed) 2015-2019
Second Term (Board Appointed) 2019-2023

Hoa is Vietnamese with over 25 years experience leading, managing and evaluating international development programmes and policy dialogues. Hoa has held key positions with a range of development organisations including; UNICEF and the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Hoa holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics from Williams College (USA), is a Fulbright scholar and has two Bachelor's degrees from the Hanoi Foreign Languages’ Teacher Training College and the National Economics University (Vietnam). Hoa has a son in Grade 10.

First Term (Board Appointed) 2021-2025

Jonas is from Gothenburg, Sweden and began his career as a metalworker. He became politically active as a union leader in the Umeå Volvo plant in the early 1990s. From that position he moved into national politics and represented the Swedish Left Party as a member of the European Parliament 1995-2006. He became a member of the Swedish Parliament 2010-2020 and was the Party Chairman from 2012-2020. In 2020 Jonas stepped down from politics to join his family in Vietnam - his wife Ann Mawe, is the Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam posted in the summer of 2019. Jonas has published six books and has twins in Grade 9.

First Term (UN Appointed) 2021-2025

Diana (Colombian) is the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Assistant Resident Representative and Head of Governance and Participation. Diana has 14 years of experience working in the United Nations at HQ, regional and country level, in the field of democratic governance and sustainable development. Diana holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution and Governance from the University of Amsterdam, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Javeriana University (Bogota, Colombia). Diana has a daughter in Kindergarten.

First Term (UN Appointed) 2022-2026

Maria Helena is Brazilian, currently leading the Green One UN House Business Operations and the innovative Common Back Office providing services to 15 United Nations organizations in Hanoi through a one stop shop platform. She holds a master’s degree in Psychology with focus on contemporary culture and human relations from the Catholic University of Brasilia and MBA in Finance from the Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Brasília-DF. She has more than 20 years’ experience in working in international development organizations holding managerial responsibilities in strategic planning, change management, UN premises compound and operations, with a professional track record in enhancing organization efficiency & effectiveness and coordinating inter-agency collaborative initiatives including UN House Premises construction, implementation of modern management information systems to improve transparency and accountability (ERP/SAP, CSM and Service Now), implementing hybrid working models and greening the UN office (ISO 14001 and Lotus Platinum). Maria Helena has a son at UNIS Hanoi in grade 12.

First Term (UN Appointed) 2022-2026

Tara O'Connell has worked in the Education Sector for more than 20 years.Tara currently serves as UNICEF Chief of Education in Viet Nam, managing a USD24 million programme focused on strengthening government systems for improved quality, equity, inclusiveness, and resilience in the Education sector. Before Viet Nam, Tara was Chief of Education in Ghana and Zambia performing similar duties. Previous to joining UNICEF, Tara was a Senior Education Specialist and Country Lead at the Global Partnership for Education based in Washington DC and supporting fragile and non-fragile countries across multiple regions to develop solid education sector plans and to strengthen system capacity to implement plans. Tara also spent several years at the World Bank as an Operations Officer in the Human Development Network (Education) supporting the School Health and Nutrition portfolio across multiple regions. Before joining the World Bank, Tara spent a number of years working in the education sector in the Pacific Islands of Micronesia. Tara holds a Master's in International Development Studies from University College Dublin, Ireland, and completed her undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University in the United States.

Jane (Canadian) has been Head of School since 2018. Jane holds a M.Ed in Administration and Policy, a B.Ed in Intermediate/Senior Math and Science and a B.Sc in Mathematics all from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. Jane began her career as a Mathematics teacher in international Schools in Rome, Cairo and Bangkok. In 2001, Jane moved to be the IB Coordinator/College Counsellor and subsequently the High School Principal at the American School of Warsaw. In 2008, Jane became the High School Principal at the American School of Bombay and moved to the position of Assistant Superintendent in 2013. Prior to joining UNIS, Jane was the Director of Vientiane International School, Laos from 2015 - 2018. Jane has two daughters, the eldest recently graduated from the University of Toronto and her younger daughter, Gaby, is a UNIS Hanoi alumni - Class of 2021.