Tech entrepreneur Kimmy Duong to receive the Mason Medal

Colleen Rich — Tue, 16 May 2023 19:55:52 +0000

Tech entrepreneur Kimmy Duong to receive the Mason Medal Colleen Rich Tue, 05/16/2023 - 15:55

Kimmy Duong, an accomplished tech entrepreneur, philanthropist, and a refugee who has overcome countless obstacles to achieve success in life, will receive the Mason Medal, George Mason University’s highest honorary award, at the 2023 Spring Commencement on Thursday, May 18, at EagleBank Arena.

Kimmy Duong. Photo provided

Born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, in 1945, Duong earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Law from the University of Saigon in 1966. She started her career working for the Ministry of Social Welfare before joining IBM in 1968, where she worked until she escaped from the communist government in 1975. She came to the United States with just $30 in her pocket.

Despite the challenges she faced as a refugee, Duong's belief in education, hard work, and family guided her. While still in a refugee camp, she secured employment with IBM through a representative at the camp. She moved to Northern Virginia and continued her work with IBM while raising seven nephews and nieces and pursuing multiple side jobs to make ends meet.

In 1994, Duong joined Pragmatics, where she currently serves as vice chairwoman and CFO. Over the past 30 years, she has overseen finance, legal, facilities management, and human resources departments, playing an instrumental role in the significant growth of the company.

In addition to her professional success, Duong has been active in philanthropy for over a decade. In 2011, she and her husband, Long Nguyen, donated $5 million to George Mason University for what is now known as the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Building, and in 2015, she established the Kimmy Duong Foundation (KDF). The KDF supports a range of health, education, and welfare initiatives in the United States and Vietnam, and has established multiple scholarship programs with endowments of more than $4 million that administered by local universities.

Duong's commitment to philanthropy is evident through the KDF's scholarship program centered in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The program has awarded 218 scholarships to date and plans to award 150 more in 2023. During the pandemic, the KDF started a program to support families dealing with economic hardship, which has benefited 160 families since 2020.

Through her philanthropic work, Duong aims to give back to the United States and Vietnam and to spread a message of service and gratitude to everyone she impacts. She believes that the investment of the United States in a refugee like her has been rewarded with a lasting legacy of good works, and she hopes to inspire others to pay it forward.

At a scholarship breakfast on campus this spring, Duong shared her story.

“Education is the cornerstone of life,” Duong told those in attendance, saying many in her generation worked multiple jobs to send their children to college. “Now, we are giving back.”

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Volgenau School of Engineering

College of Engineering and Computing

Ernst Volgenau Honored with George Mason Medal

admin_alpha — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:29:00 +0000

Ernst Volgenau Honored with George Mason Medal admin_alpha Thu, 05/09/2013 - 13:29

By Catherine Probst

In recognition of his service to George Mason University, Ernst Volgenau will be honored with the George Mason Medal at the university’s 2013 Commencement ceremony. The ceremony takes place in the Patriot Center at 10 a.m. on May 18.

In 1978, Volgenau founded SRA International Inc. in the basement of his Reston, Va., home. SRA is a technology consulting and system integration company serving primarily the federal government. SRA sustained rapid growth and now has about 6,000 employees. SRA was the sixth most successful initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2002 and for ten years in a row, SRA was named by Fortune magazine to the list of “100 Best Places to Work in America.”

For three years, Volgenau was a member of the George Mason University Foundation Board of Trustees. In 2004, he was appointed to the George Mason University Board of Visitors and served as rector from 2007 to 2012. Contributions given to the School of Information Technology and Engineering, now the Volgenau School of Engineering, by Volgenau and his wife, Sara, are enabling the school to make strategic investments in critical areas of study such as biotechnology, knowledge management and information security.

“As someone who has a long-standing record of public service to George Mason University and to our country, I can think of no better recipient of this year’s Mason Medal,” says C. Daniel Clemente, rector of the George Mason University Board of Visitors. “We are honored to present this award to Dr. Volgenau, who has been a driving force behind the success of the university and the community.”

Volgenau has 40 years of experience analyzing, designing and developing large technological systems of all types. He was commissioned as a U.S. Air Force lieutenant in 1955, and later served as an analyst and team leader in the Office of the Secretary of Defense conducting large-scale weapon system and command structure analyses. He also helped develop space boosters, satellites and computer systems. He taught astronautics and graduated from the Air Force astronaut course. He retired as a colonel after 20 years of service.

From 1976-78, he was director of inspection and enforcement for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where he managed an office of nearly 700 engineers and physicists that inspected all of the commercial nuclear power plants under construction and in operation in the United States.

Volgenau received his PhD in engineering in 1966 from the University of California at Los Angeles. He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He is a professional engineer and a member of Tau Beta Pi.

“It is a great honor to be recognized for my service to our country and to George Mason University, and I am truly humbled by the kindness of my colleagues,” says Volgenau.

The George Mason Medal is designated as the university’s highest honorary award. Those receiving the award, which honors George Mason, the man, should have a record of service to their community, state or nation consistent with the level and quality of George Mason’s public service in his own time.

The first George Mason Medal was awarded to John T. Hazel in 1987. Other former Mason Medal Recipients include Lovey Hammel, Sally Merten, and Sidney O. Dewberry.

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Mason Medal