Thao Griffiths
In 2021, Thao began working for Meta as the Head of Public Policy for Vietnam. She leads a country policy team that is dealing with some of the most interesting public policy challenges of our times including privacy, safety, freedom of expression, & the intersection with technology. Concurrently, Thao was appointed in 2022 to the Board of Commissioners of the International Commission on Missing Persons.
Thao has become a familiar figure in the halls of Congress and U.S. govt agencies as she assumed a professional and personal responsibility in bringing Vietnam and America closer together and dealing with war legacy issues. In 2009, Thao became the first non-veteran, the first Vietnamese and the first woman to head the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, in Vietnam. As a result of her work, President Clinton in 2015 sent a personal letter of thanks to Thao, writing, “I am grateful for the work you are doing every day to promote peace and reconciliation.”
In 2017, Thao became Policy Advisor to Dr. Vu Tien Loc, the Chair of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the longest serving member of the Vietnamese legislature. She worked closely with corporate America and the U.S. government on economic development, investment and climate change issues in Vietnam. She also continued to serve as an independent advisor to various offices of the government of Vietnam on policy issues, particularly Agent Orange.
In 2016, Anthony Bourdain featured Thao along with visiting President Obama for his “Parts Unknown” program on CNN. In 2019, during the Hanoi summit between President Trump and Kim Il Jong, the BBC turned to Thao for a live interview on how Vietnam’s journey of reconciliation with the former enemy might be a model for North Korea.
In Dec 2022, U.S. Senate President Pro Tempore Senator Leahy introduced a “Tribute to Thao Griffiths” into the Congressional Record, which states in part: “It would not be an exaggeration to say that none of the war legacy initiatives that have played such a central role in building a comprehensive partnership between the U.S. and Vietnam would have progressed as they have without Thao’s constant encouragement and thoughtful advice. ... Her efforts have had a profound and lasting impact on our relations, our mutual understanding, and on the lives of the Vietnamese and American people.”
Thao's a graduate of the Academy of Diplomacy of Vietnam. She has Masters degrees from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and American University in Washington D.C. She is a Fulbright Scholar and an Eisenhower Fellow.