At the dawn of the 21st century, a tide of change swept through the corporate world and it was no longer business as usual. Increasing media coverage of the corporate world’s impact on society led to concerns with social responsibility, sending a clear message to even the most global companies: Make a positive impact in the communities!
The oil and natural gas industry was no exception. Chevron Corp., the world’s fifth largest energy company, was increasingly examining how global issues such as human rights, transparency and poverty reduction would impact its business. The company sought to become a leader in social responsibility, developing the Chevron Way and leading the debate through its willyoujoinus.com discussion forum.
It was at this juncture that Tam R. Nguyen joined Chevron as policy adviser on global issues and corporate responsibility. Using his expertise in managing public-private partnerships, he has helped Chevron navigate socio-political issues in its business decisions and advised the company on directions to take.
His commanding yet soft-spoken individuality reflects a man whose career begun with persistence and the desire to keep learning.
How it started
Nguyen took the first steps on his career path in college, working his way up over the years from intern to the senior ranks of one of the largest companies in the world.
As an undergraduate at George Washington University, he secured an internship and later a position with the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs, a development management NGO based in Washington.
“The fortunate thing about going to school in Washington is there’s plenty of opportunity to intern and there’s not very much competition during the year because everyone waits until the summer,” said Nguyen.
At Citizens Network, he worked on two programs, on U.S.-Japan economic cooperation and agribusiness alliance, which gave him his first real introduction to development work and public-private partnerships.
Upon his graduation in 1993, he was recruited by the Pacific Basin Partners, an international consulting firm devoted to helping the Japanese become more engaged in development in the multilateral aid system.
His quest for knowledge led him to George Mason University, where he earned a master’s degree in international transactions. By 2004, Nguyen had obtained another Master of Arts degree, and plans were already in motion to pursue his doctorate in business administration at the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom.
Nguyen was awarded two prestigious fellowships - with the Export-Import Bank of Japan in Tokyo and the Asian Institute of Management in Manila - and a recent nomination from the Asia Society as a 2006 Asia 21 delegate to the Future Leaders for Asia summit in Seoul, South Korea.
Delving into CSRand partnerships
During his time at AIM, he helped develop a research framework for corporate responsibility. It was an interesting time for him as he sought to connect social responsibility and public-private partnerships from the perspective of both the private sector and aid agencies.
Then in 1999, he joined the Inter-American Development Bank, where he worked until 2001.There, he was involved in launching a special unit at IDB, which was funded by the Japanese government.
“The Japanese were interested in a new initiative that would look more at their own development experience and how they can translate that experience for Latin America,” he recalled.
Nguyen later joined the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines for a three-year stint, during which time he received his most challenging assignment: creating an enduring partnership between two different regions, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The cultures were so different, the institutions were different, and you really had to find the right champions on both sides who wanted to make it work and understood the benefits.”
His assignment paid off when a partnership agreement between the two institutions was signed at the IDB annual meeting in March 2001 in Santiago, Chile.
Advice to aspiring CSR professionals
For those considering a career in corporate social responsibility, Nguyen advises against seeking a job in CSR specifically.
“Do what you do well,” he said. “If it is finance, go into finance; if you do engineering, then go into engineering. Reason being that CSR is becoming much more integrated into the mainstream and whatever department you go to inside a big corporation, you are going to work with CSR. It is a cross-cutting discipline.”
Nguyen’s work at Chevron involves exactly that - working on cross-cutting issues that impact the company.
“It is a lot of issue engagement, risk management and advisory work, all of which have a focus on socio-political issues such as human rights, poverty reduction or anti-corruption,” he explained.
CSR it is not exactly rocket science - it can be learned on the job, said Nguyen.
“If you have an understanding of risk management, it becomes common sense,” he said.
About the author
Stella Ngumuta
Stella Ngumuta holds a Bachelor of Law from the University of Nairobi and a master's in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Boston. She has worked in the private and public sectors in Kenya, Somalia and Sierra Leone. Stella became a Devex fellow in June 2007 and after a stint in Washington, D.C., relocated to Nairobi, where she eventually became associate protection officer at the HIAS Refugee Trust of Kenya in Nairobi. She is fluent in English and Swahili, and speaks basic French.
