Xin chào and hello! Welcome to Season 3 of Thip Khao Talk Podcast. Sophia Tran-Vu, Legacies of War Board Member, sits down with Former Ambassador Ted Osius!

Former Ambassador Ted Osius is  President & CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council. A diplomat for thirty years, Ambassador Osius served from 2014 to 2017 as U.S. ambassador to Vietnam.

Leading a team of 900, Ambassador Osius devised and implemented strategies to deepen economic, security and cultural ties between the two countries.  In October 2021, Osius published his most recent book, Nothing Is Impossible: America’s Reconciliation with Vietnam, with a Foreword by former Secretary of State John Kerry, covering the two countries’ 25-year journey from adversaries to friends and partners. 

After his departure from government, Osius joined Google Asia-Pacific as Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Policy, covering 19 Asian nations from Google’s Singapore headquarters.  Earlier, he was a senior advisor at the Albright-Stonebridge Group and the first Vice President of Fulbright University Vietnam.  Osius was associate professor at the National War College and Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

As a diplomat, Osius served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Political Minister-Counselor in New Delhi, India.  Osius also served as deputy director of the Office of Korean Affairs at the State Department, regional environment officer for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and senior advisor on Asia and trade to Vice President Al Gore.  He also served in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, and at the United Nations. 

Ambassador Osius earned a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and an Honorary Doctorate from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education.  He was the first U.S. ambassador to receive the Order of Friendship from the President of Vietnam.  He serves on the Asia Foundation’s Board of Trustees and is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy. 

Ambassador Osius speaks Vietnamese, French and Italian, and a bit of Japanese, Indonesian, Hindi, Thai, Tagalog and Greek.  He and his husband, Clayton Bond, have a son and a daughter.Theme song by ⁠Lao Jazzanova⁠

Order Nothing Is Impossible

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