Lâm Thu Nguyên, PSM, PAL I, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA, PMO-CP, PMP, PgMP, PfMP
Future 50 Honoree of 2024
For fostering the next generation of Vietnam’s project managers
Staffing Manager at GFT Technology Vietnam | Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam
Lam Thu Nguyên is a woman on a mission, and she’s not slowing down. She’s the youngest PMI Authorized Training Provider at the Atoha Institute in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Min City, and she’s the second woman in Vietnam to possess the “3Ps” of PMI certifications (project, program, and portfolio). With 15 different certifications under her belt and a soon-to-be-completed MBA, Nguyên humbly offers that she’s forever learning because “there’s so much more to know.”
Seven years ago, when working as a business analyst, Nguyên discovered project management and decided she wanted to know more. “It’s about diversity, working with so many different clients who have different processes and expectations,” explains Nguyên. “The ability to streamline all of that was interesting to me.”
In 2022, she completed her Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification, a goal and a journey that she says, “has been defined by a commitment to delivering value, driving innovation, and fostering growth across organizations, educational institutions, and communities.” She says her contributions reflect a blend of leadership, knowledge sharing, and a passion for continuous improvement.
That passion has extended to teaching other PMI-accredited hopefuls in Ho Chi Min City. “As a key member of the Project Professional Team at the PMI Vietnam Chapter, I continue to contribute to community initiatives and knowledge-sharing platforms, advocating for excellence in project management.”
For Nguyên, that includes mentoring participants in the #GrowTechTalent initiative, a yearly program that engages over 2,000 secondary school and university students to consider tech and project management careers. She’s also been a speaker at the SheCodes Hackathon in her hometown and a presenter at Project Management Day, an event organized by her employer FPT.
Underpinning these best practices, is in her opinion, all about mindset. And that’s something she learned through her own PMI accreditation.
How to engage a stakeholder in a project is one of the most important things I learned. Usually, when we think about processes, they’re fixed. But stakeholders are not, they’re flexible. As project managers, we need to know how to get them to understand our project objectives.
How to engage a stakeholder in a project is one of the most important things I learned. Usually, when we think about processes, they’re fixed. But stakeholders are not, they’re flexible. As project managers, we need to know how to get them to understand our project objectives.
As the current staffing manager at GFT Technology, she works closely with delivery managers and department leads to strategically allocate talent across projects, monitors the progress of internal training programs to ensure team members are advancing through their learning journeys, and manages workforce planning by forecasting project needs and identifying resource gaps. Her role is cross-functional, multi-layered, and in the service of others.
Not coincidentally, one of her key takeaways from leading professional workshops with high achievers at work and through her PMI chapter, is that she learns a lot from her audiences, too. “They share insights and case studies about the work they do, and I can often apply that to my work too,” she says, smiling. “It’s a give and take—they learn from us regarding how to project manage, and we learn from them regarding the journeys they’ve taken in their work. It’s a win-win.”