The Chair of the Board of Governors for 2013-2014 is the Governor from Vietnam, Ambassador Thiep Nguyen. He replaces the Governor from Canada, Ambassador John Barrett.
Ambassador Nguyen took up his current assignment as Ambassador to Austria and Slovenia, and Resident Representative of Vietnam to the International Organizations in Vienna, including the IAEA, in 2011.
He began his extensive diplomatic career in 1982. From then on, Mr. Nguyen occupied several international postings, including a posting from 1989 to 1992 as Attaché in the Embassy of Vietnam in Algeria.
Ambassador Nguyen also served as Assistant Director General, Department of North-Western Europe Affairs (1996-1999); Deputy Director General and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the International Affairs Weekly Review (1999-2002); Counsellor-in-Charge of the UN Human Rights Council, Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland; and thereafter General Consul of Vietnam in Geneva and five other Cantons of Switzerland (2002-2005).
Mr. Nguyen has also worked as Assistant Director General, Department of North-Western Europe Affairs (2006-2008). From 2008 to 2011, he served as Director General in charge of the negotiation of the Comprehensive Agreement (PCA) between Vietnam and the European Union and talks between Vietnam and the Holy See on the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Mr. Nguyen holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Diplomacy in Vietnam and is a Graduate of the École nationale d'administration (ENA) in Paris. He was born on 10 January 1960 in Ha Noi, Vietnam, and is married with two children.