REE Corp. Chair Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh Reflects on 40 Years of Vietnamese Economic Transformation

Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh, Chair of REE Corp., is set to step down on July 10, concluding a 40-year tenure that paralleled Vietnam's significant economic reforms.

Her early life was shaped by conflict; at eight years old in 1961, she was relocated to a “strategic hamlet” in then-South Vietnam. By 1968, at 16, she joined Communist forces as a medic. After the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, she studied refrigeration in East Germany, a government assignment that diverged from her initial plan to pursue medicine.

Upon returning to Vietnam in 1982, Thanh joined the Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp. (REE), then a state-owned enterprise primarily producing food cans with limited resources. In 1985, she became its director, guiding the company through Vietnam's Doi Moi reform program, launched in 1986, which opened the economy to the private sector and international trade. Under her leadership, REE became the first company to privatize and publicly list in Vietnam.

Thanh spearheaded REE's pivot towards renewable energy, transforming it into a prominent developer of wind, hydropower, and solar projects. Her strategic direction also secured backing from a major global conglomerate.

Looking ahead, Thanh identifies substantial growth opportunities for renewable energy within Vietnam. She points to the escalating demand for electricity driven by the rise of electric vehicles and nascent industries like semiconductors and artificial intelligence. She emphasizes the importance of balancing economic development with environmental protection.

According to Fortune, Thanh will hand over key responsibilities to her children as she steps down from her chair role.