Thoai Nguyen

Thoai Nguyen, CEO of SEAMAAC since 2005, is a first-generation Vietnamese refugee.  A long-time community organizer and an advocate for the civil and human rights of all people, Thoai has worked on advocacy, community organizing, and community development projects to address the environmental, economic, and social inequities in many communities in Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Central America, the United States, and Mexico.  Thoai has fought for the rights of Native American and Indigenous peoples, LGBTQIA+ communities, immigrant workers (including taxi drivers and migrant farm workers), and worked on gang truce efforts in St. Louis and Los Angeles, investigated cases to prosecute incidents of police brutality and organized to dismantle of the prison industrial complex, and organized Rroma communities in their fight for civil rights in Eastern and Central Europe. Most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Thoai led the hunger relief and voter protection efforts at SEAMAAC to address over 500,000 unique instances of food insecurity in marginalized households and reached more than 40,000 BIPOC voters who were targeted for voter suppression and intimidation, and from being counted in the 2020 Census, while also opening the first Pennsylvania refugee focused health center and completing Phase I of the Mifflin Square Part rebuild in March 2021.
 
Thoai was a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship in 1988 and the Charles Bannerman Fellowship in 1995.  He was a 2008 recipient of the Harvard Business School Asian American Alumni Association’s scholarship, and has been honored by Bread & Roses, Penn Asian Senior Services (PASSi), Social Innovations Journal, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, Jefferson Health, 6ABC News and HIAS PA for his anti-poverty, immigrant rights, and social justice work. Since 2008, Thoai has served as Commissioner for five City Commissions under Mayors Nutter and Kenney.