Board of Directors

First Term (Parent Elected) 2018-2021
Second Term (Board Appointed) 2021-2025

Michelle is British and arrived in Hanoi in 1999 and has been working in Education in Hanoi since then. Firstly as a Teacher/Trainer and later Educational Management before becoming a School Owner/Director. Michelle joined the Board as a parent elected Board member in 2018 and became Board Chair in August 2021. Michelle has two children, her eldest is studying in the UK and her daughter is in Grade 10.

First Term (Parent Elected) 2019-2023

Maria Soo Chung is a Korean-American international lawyer with strong interest in the connections between sustainability, people and social impact. She began her legal career as a City Prosecutor representing over 50 government agencies in the State of California. After relocating to Vietnam in June 2009, Maria worked as a Senior Associate in Dispute Resolution Practice Group of Baker McKenzie’s Hanoi office focusing on international arbitration and corporate compliance.
Currently, Maria serves as the General Director of Kennametal Vietnam LLC. She is also actively involved in community and business organizations such as the American Chamber of Commerce, the Korean Chamber of Business, the Korean Residents Association (specifically, the Education Committee), and the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council of the Republic of Korea. Maria is admitted to practice law in the State of California and registered as a foreign lawyer with the Ministry of Justice in Vietnam.
Maria holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from University of California, Los Angeles and a J.D. from Southwestern Law School. She has one daughter in Grade 5. 

First Term (Board Elected) 2022-2026

Lynne is a career diplomat, with experience in ten different countries around the world. She joined the Finance Committee in 2020-2021, comes with previous school Board experience and attended the Governance as Leadership Training Institute at UNIS Hanoi in 2019. She has a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor's Degree from Cornell University. Lynne is the Economic Counsellor at the US Embassy and has two children at the school, in Grades 9 and 6.

First Term (Parent Elected) 2021-2025

Ananth works with Deloitte Consulting US as the Chief-of-Party (Executive Director) for the USAID Vietnam Low Emissions Energy Program II (V-LEEP II). He leads a team of Vietnamese staff to build the capacity of the Government on clean energy policies and planning, and supporting the private sector in Vietnam for mobilization of finance for clean energy projects. Ananth has two decades of energy experience, with strong expertise in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate change technologies and innovation. Ananth holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Ananth and his family have been part of the UNIS community for over four years (since August 2019). He has two sons in Grade 12 and Grade 9. Originally from Northern Virginia in the U.S., they moved to Vietnam from Accra, Ghana.

First Term (UN Appointed) 2023-2026
Shane is the Communications Lead with the WHO in Vietnam, working with government and other partners on a broad range of public health issues. Prior to this, Shane was part of WHO's Western Pacific Regional communications team, supporting countries across the Region in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has worked in communications and stakeholder relations for over 20 years across the government, university, non-profit and corporate sectors. This work has included roles as media adviser to Australia's Assistant Foreign Minister and lecturing on global and cross-cultural communications in Australia and Vietnam. Based in Hanoi, Shane has a PhD in Communications (Monash University) and a MA East Asian Studies (Australian National University). Shane has three children attending UNIS Hanoi in grades 4, 6 and 8.

First Term (Parent Elected) 2023-2028
Peter is appointed for a four year term. Peter studied law in Australia and is also a qualified lawyer in the UK. Peter is currently the Chief Financial Officer for a foreign invested power project in Vietnam. He and his family are long term residents in Hanoi having arrived in Vietnam in 2010, he has two children currently attending UNIS (grade 1 and 7).

First Term (Parent Elected) 2023-2027
Trang joined the Board as a parent elected member in 2023. She was born in Vietnam where she spent her formative years before moving to England during her high school period. Following her graduation from Durham University with a Law degree, Trang pursued a career as a social welfare lawyer for a not-for-profit organization in London. After 20 years living in England, she relocated to Hanoi with her family in 2022, and her son is currently enrolled in grade 4 at UNIS.

First Term (Board Appointed) 2021-2025

Jonas is from Gothenburg, Sweden and began his career as a metalworker. He became politically active as a union leader in the Umeå Volvo plant in the early 1990s. From that position he moved into national politics and represented the Swedish Left Party as a member of the European Parliament 1995-2006. He became a member of the Swedish Parliament 2010-2020 and was the Party Chairman from 2012-2020. In 2020 Jonas stepped down from politics to join his family in Vietnam - his wife Ann Mawe, is the Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam posted in the summer of 2019. Jonas has published six books and has twins in Grade 10.

First Term (UN Appointed) 2022-2026

Maria Helena is Brazilian, currently leading the Green One UN House Business Operations and the innovative Common Back Office providing services to 15 United Nations organizations in Hanoi through a one stop shop platform. She holds a master’s degree in Psychology with focus on contemporary culture and human relations from the Catholic University of Brasilia and MBA in Finance from the Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Brasília-DF. She has more than 20 years’ experience in working in international development organizations holding managerial responsibilities in strategic planning, change management, UN premises compound and operations, with a professional track record in enhancing organization efficiency & effectiveness and coordinating inter-agency collaborative initiatives including UN House Premises construction, implementation of modern management information systems to improve transparency and accountability (ERP/SAP, CSM and Service Now), implementing hybrid working models and greening the UN office (ISO 14001 and Lotus Platinum). Maria Helena has two sons, her older son a UNIS Hanoi alumni - Class of 2023.

First Term (UN Appointed) 2022-2026

Tara O'Connell has worked in the Education Sector for more than 20 years.Tara currently serves as UNICEF Chief of Education in Viet Nam, managing a USD24 million programme focused on strengthening government systems for improved quality, equity, inclusiveness, and resilience in the Education sector. Before Viet Nam, Tara was Chief of Education in Ghana and Zambia performing similar duties. Previous to joining UNICEF, Tara was a Senior Education Specialist and Country Lead at the Global Partnership for Education based in Washington DC and supporting fragile and non-fragile countries across multiple regions to develop solid education sector plans and to strengthen system capacity to implement plans. Tara also spent several years at the World Bank as an Operations Officer in the Human Development Network (Education) supporting the School Health and Nutrition portfolio across multiple regions. Before joining the World Bank, Tara spent a number of years working in the education sector in the Pacific Islands of Micronesia. Tara holds a Master's in International Development Studies from University College Dublin, Ireland, and completed her undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University in the United States.

First Term (UN Appointed) 2024-2028
Jonathan is the UNESCO Representative and Head of Office in Vietnam since January 2024. He has over 20 years of experience working for UNESCO both at headquarters in Paris and in the field. Prior to his arrival in Hanoi, he was the Regional Advisor for Science and Head of the Science Unit at the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture for Europe based in Venice, Italy where he managed UNESCO programs in the natural sciences, environment and climate change in the region. Previously, Jonathan also worked for UNESCO’s natural sciences sector in Costa Rica and Uruguay. Jonathan had started his career at UNESCO in Paris, first within UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme, then as attaché de cabinet and focal point for the Natural Sciences, strategic planning and the private sector in the office of the Director-General of UNESCO. Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Tufts University and a Juris Doctorate from Tulane University Law School. Jonathan has three daughters attending UNIS Hanoi.

Jane (Canadian) has been Head of School since 2018. Jane holds a M.Ed in Administration and Policy, a B.Ed in Intermediate/Senior Math and Science and a B.Sc in Mathematics all from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. Jane began her career as a Mathematics teacher in international Schools in Rome, Cairo and Bangkok. In 2001, Jane moved to be the IB Coordinator/College Counsellor and subsequently the High School Principal at the American School of Warsaw. In 2008, Jane became the High School Principal at the American School of Bombay and moved to the position of Assistant Superintendent in 2013. Prior to joining UNIS, Jane was the Director of Vientiane International School, Laos from 2015 - 2018. Jane has two daughters, the eldest recently graduated from the University of Toronto and her younger daughter, Gaby, is a UNIS Hanoi alumni - Class of 2021.