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Nguyen, Long Vo

Published onOct 11, 2021
Nguyen, Long Vo
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Quick Facts

Alumnus Long Vo Nguyen had a distinguished academic career teaching computer science at Georgetown University and founded Pragmatics, Inc.


Source: Pragmatics, Inc. https://www.pragmatics.com/about-us/leadership/

Businessman and philanthropist Dr. Long Vo Nguyen is originally from Vietnam. His parents sent him to the United States to attend college.1 He earned a bachelor's degree in physics at North Carolina State University, 2 and a master's degree in physics at the University of Virginia (1965).3 Nguyen intended to head to Iowa State University and pursue a doctorate in computer science, but his visa expired and he returned to Vietnam and was drafted into the army. He was able to eventually return to the United States4 and earned his doctorate in computer science at Iowa State University (1975).5 Nguyen left a distinguished academic career teaching computer science at Georgetown University to found Pragmatics, Inc., a technology services company, in 1985. Nguyen is chairman and CEO of Pragmatics, Inc. and, since the founding of the company, he has grown the company into an enterprise that generates over $180 million in revenue.6

Nguyen actively participates in his community. He is a former member of George Mason University's Board of Visitors, the Board of Trustees of the Academy for Government Accountability, and the Transition Committee for Virginia's Governor-Elect (2005). He established relief funds for many recent natural disasters, including the Nepal earthquakes, Philippines typhoon, Oklahoma tornadoes and storms, Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Hurricane Sandy, Haiti earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, and for September 11 victims. He also created endowments at both George Mason University and Iowa State University, honoring past academic advisers.7 Additionally, Nguyen established the Lanh and Oanh Nguyen endowed chair in software engineering, in honor of his parents, at Iowa State University, in 2007. 8 In 2009, Long Nguyen and his wife Kimmy Duong donated five million dollars to George Mason University's Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering to name their new engineering building the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building.9

Nguyen is a member of the Iowa State University Alumni Association and the Order of the Knoll William M. Beardshear Society.10 His awards include the 2016 Iowa State University Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award, 2010 Greater Washington Government Contractor Executive of the Year, 2010 Greater Washington Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the IT services category, 2008 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, 2008 Washington Business Journal Minority Business Leader Award,11 2007 Corporate Leader from the Center for Multicultural Human Services, 2006 Leadership Award from the International Leadership Foundation, 2005 Federal 100 Awardee, 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Diversity Advisory Board of George Mason University, and a 2004 Citation of Merit from Iowa State University.12

He and his wife live in McLean, Virginia.13 Kimmy Duong is the CFO of Pragmatics and joined the company in 1987 after working at IBM for over 25 years.14 The couple has two sons, both raised in Virginia.15 Dr. Ben Nguyen is a board-certified neurosurgeon who graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School and Dr. Kim Nguyen is a graduate of Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in economics and a PhD in economics from the University of California Berkeley.16

Selected Sources

Nguyen, Long Vo, "Projection-based methods for solving systems of n nonlinear equations in n unknowns " (1975). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 5433.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/5433

Pragmatics, Inc. website https://www.pragmatics.com/directory/long-nguyen/

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