Minh Chau Nguyen joined the EMW team as Vietnam Country Director in March 2009, and currently occupies a critical leadership role in EMW's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programs. Her previous positions at EMW include serving on the EMW board and on staff as EMW's Chief Strategy Officer. She currently sits on Oxfam's Board of Directors.

Minh Chau spent 25 years working with the World Bank Group in Washington DC. As an economist at the World Bank, Minh Chau was responsible for policy dialogues, project evaluations, and loan negotiations for projects in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She also served as the head of the Gender and Development Division at the World Bank. In this position, she led the World Bank delegation to the Women's World Conference in Beijing in 1995. Shortly thereafter, Minh Chau joined the International Finance Corporation, a private sector arm of the World Bank, to help direct IFC's operations in riskier markets. Prior to the World Bank, Minh Chau was a lecturer in economics at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. She is a co-founder of the ISIS Management Group, which promotes women entrepreneurs' access to venture financing. She has also worked with Small Enterprise Assistance Funds to help increase equity financing for small and medium enterprises in emerging markets.

Minh Chau received her B.S. from Macalester College, an M.S. in economics from the University of Washington, and Advanced Management Training at Harvard Business School.