Microsoft, Bosch replace local CEOs with foreigners in Vietnam

American tech giant Microsoft and German engineering and electronics company Bosch have both assigned new foreign CEOs for their branches in Vietnam following the departures of their long-term Vietnamese executives for “personal reasons”.

Microsoft Vietnam announced the personnel change last Thursday, saying Aung San Maung from Myanmar has been appointed as its new CEO in Vietnam, a position which had been held by Vu Minh Tri for seven years.

The group’s communications representative said Tri officially left last month after accepting an offer to work for another company, which has not been identified yet.

Microsoft entered the Vietnamese market in 1996. Under Tri’s management, the company has become an active investor in local information technology and education development, it said.

Aung San Maung has been with Microsoft Vietnam since early 2013 as head of its Enterprise and Partner Group. He studied computer science in Canberra and has more than 30 years of experience working at global technology corporations, including IBM.

Several days ago, Bosch Vietnam also announced that Vo Quang Hue had left his 10-year position as CEO. Guru Mallikarjuna from India, who has been working with the group for 12 years, has been charged with leading the company forward.

"Hue built a strong foundation for the company in Vietnam, turning it from a representative office into one of the biggest European investors with more than 3,100 employees,” said the company, which entered Vietnam in 1994.

While Tri’s new workplace has not been revealed, Hue has been appointed deputy CEO of Hanoi-based conglomerate Vingroup, and will take charge of its newly-established automobile venture.

The private company, which is already a top property developer in Vietnam, has launched the construction of a $1.5 billion factory in the northern city of Hai Phong and is expected to deliver its first cars in two years.

Hue said the new job will continue his dream of helping Vietnam become an outstanding technology center in Southeast Asia.