Frank Jao, a driving force behind Orange County’s Little Saigon, has been elected chairman of a national group that seeks to build ties with Vietnam via education.
Jao is set to chair the Vietnam Education Foundation, which was started by Congress and is in its third year of operation.
The foundation supports some 100 students from Vietnam at 37 U.S. schools, most studying for doctoral degrees.
President Bush appointed Jao to the foundation’s board in 2002 and reappointed him in 2003 for a three-year term.
Jao replaces Herb Allison Jr., chief executive of education pension fund TIAA-CREF and a former Merrill Lynch & Co. executive.
Jao is chief executive of Huntington Beach-based Bridgecreek Realty Investment Corp., a real estate developer and owner.
He’s had a big hand in developing the Little Saigon area, which covers parts of Westminster, Garden Grove and Santa Ana.
In 2001, Jao started the West Coast arm of the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce. He’s president of the group’s West Coast arm.
The Vietnam Education Foundation pays for graduate students from Vietnam to study science, medicine and other topics at U.S. schools. It also pays for Americans to teach in Vietnam.
