Four leaders. Four industries. Real stories of navigating disruption. 

This special edition of the Leadership Circle brings together four handpicked alumni case studies — executives currently leading across industries, from established MNCs to lean, AI-infused ventures solving real growth challenges. Each has faced disruption differently: from within (restructuring, team rebuilds), from outside (digital transformation, market shifts), and now, from AI itself. Each has built a model that works in their own field — and it’s worth hearing directly from them. 

Participants will hear all four case studies, then choose who they want to go deeper with in a smaller group discussion, led by that speaker. Alumni will walk away with a how-to guide — it’s mindset and perspective that they can apply to their own challenge, plus a room of familiar and new faces worth staying in touch with. 

Event Agenda

• 8:30 – 9:00: Guest Welcoming & Project Showcases
• 9:00 – 9:15: Welcome & Framing 
• 9:15 – 9:55: Case Study Sharing 
• 9:55 – 10:00: Break 
• 10:00 – 10:30: Small Group Discussion — led by chosen speaker 
• 10:30 – 11:00: Networking

📌 Important note: Please register by 12 October. Due to the venue’s limited seating capacity, participation will be first-come, first-served.

Case Studies

Grounds for Disruption — Vinh Nguyen spent 25 years trading commodity the old way, then built his own AI agents (with help from his old high-school classmates, now university lecturers) to predict commodity prices at 75% accuracy — outperforming trading houses in Europe and America. Now CEO of a Top-5 Vietnamese coffee exporter. 

Brew the Future of Data — Nghiem Le leads one of only three APAC Analytics Hubs globally, at Heineken. His take: AI governance isn’t a tech problem but a people-and-process problem wearing a tech costume. 

In the Driver’s Seat of Ads — Grace Nguyen, Country Head of GrabAds Vietnam, on the leadership work nobody sees: building systems, not just attending meetings — and why communication, not authority, is what actually moves teams through complexity. 

Reading Between the Layers — Kha Dinh shows that whether as consumers or employees, no one wants to operate software. They just want to state an intent and get a result. Her case explores how companies must restructure when chat interfaces replace traditional software. 

Guest Speakers

	Vinh Nguyen — Managing Director, Tuan Loc Commodities  Vinh Nguyen began his coffee career in 2000 at Swiss trade house Sucafina. Today he leads Tuan Loc Commodities, a Robusta trading and processing company he started in 2021 that has since grown into one of Vietnam’s top five coffee exporters. Along the way, the team has built sustainability programs, reaching more than 10,000 smallholder farmers, working alongside partners such as Nestlé and Aldi. More recently, Vinh has been spending much of his time on a question he admits he’s still learning the answer to: what does it look like to run a commodity business with AI at its core? The direction he has set for TLC is to become one of the first AI-first global commodity trade houses, a company where a business-grade suite of AI agents takes on real, repeatable work across trading, operations and compliance, and where a lean team can solve problems at a scale that would otherwise be out of reach. Some of that work is done with former high-school classmates, now university lecturers, on price-forecasting models that are showing early promise. After 25 years in the hyper-competitive commodities industry, Vinh has learned to be skeptical of conventional playbooks, and equally skeptical of his own.
	Nghiem Le — Head of APAC Analytics Hub, The HEINEKEN Company  With 20+ years of experience, Nghiem is a futuristic yet pragmatic leader spanning technology, business, media, and digital transformation. After senior roles at Unilever, Kimberly-Clark, and FrieslandCampina, he founded his own venture and now leads the APAC Analytics Hub at Heineken Vietnam—one of only three globally. He views corporate governance as change governance, built on People, Process, and Technology, with AI impacting all three. Nghiem will share his perspective on AI governance and building high-performing teams that drive growth—reflecting his passion for data and transformation, which helped elevate Heineken Vietnam to APAC Hub status.
	Grace Nguyen — Country Head, GrabAds With 15 years in commercial leadership across Unilever, The HEINEKEN Company, and Google Asia Pacific, Grace Nguyen is now Country Head of GrabAds Vietnam, leading the advertising business within one of Southeast Asia’s largest tech platforms. She believes effective leadership happens behind the scenes: building systems, empowering teams, strengthening partnerships, and creating clarity. For Grace, communication is the thread connecting it all—helping teams navigate complexity, learn from setbacks, and turn experience into growth. Her guiding principle: leadership has no gender, only the courage to step forward, learn, and shape what comes next.
	Dr. Kha Dinh – Serial Entrepreneur · Author & Educator  Dr. Kha Dinh is an RMIT alumna, serial entrepreneur, business leader, author, and lecturer with 13+ years across marketing, technology, and business transformation. She has held executive roles, built ventures including PangoCDP, and currently serves as Vice President at Napoly Coffee and GiftZone, while contributing to the Vietnam Marketing Association’s Executive Committee. A MarTech thought leader and author of four books, she teaches marketing, strategy, and leadership across university and executive education. Her current work explores the “Master Layer”—an intelligent interface that translates natural-language intent into actions across existing business systems, reshaping how organizations work in an AI-driven world.