Current Residency: Houston, TX
Undergraduate School: University of Texas at Austin
Highlighted Leadership Experiences (3):
- 2023-2025 UVSA South Secretary
- 2024-2025 UNAVSA Information Technology Director
- 2023-2024 UNAVSA Information Technology Committee
Alex Gobert (he/him/his) is a UT Austin alum from Houston, TX. He graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science, and currently works at SLB OneSubsea as a Subsea Wellhead Design Engineer. He is currently UVSA South Secretary and UNAVSA IT Director, continuously working to empower the next generation of leaders in the VSA community. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, video games, American football, and spending time with his girlfriend, Lynn, and his two corgis: Momo and Mushu.
“As President, I hope to provide impactful growth opportunities and strengthen interpersonal connections within the community. As we enter newer and newer generations of VSA members, we must adapt our practices to better suit the needs and wants of our constituents. At this point in time, I believe the best ways UVSA South can support its constituents are by connecting directly with local VSA members and by providing support to leadership across the organization. My main goals for my next term are investing in our Cabinet and providing workshops for leadership within our organization.
I believe that this organization can continue prospering if we invest resources into our Cabinet. By devoting resources to our Cabinet, we will be able to drive small, local initiatives that provide low-cost, low-commitment opportunities to connect constituents across our region. Small events are a great way for folks to network with each other and create relationships that serve as catalysts for attending future events, culminating in our flagship events.
Additionally, I want to restart workshops for our Partner School officer boards. This is a project started during my current term, but was put on hold due to bandwidth management. We received positive feedback from our schools, and I believe now, more than ever, is a critical time to begin these workshops again. As leadership cycles in and out of VSAs, useful background knowledge is often cycled in conjunction. Knowledge transfer is a critical piece of sustainability in leadership, and South can work to equip local VSAs with the resources and guidance they need to help their orgs flourish.
Workshops do not have to be restricted to the schools; we can open these workshops to our Cabinet and event staff as well. Our staff look to us, the Executive Board, for support and education. Our hands-on leadership model already provides extensive support, but we can bolster our knowledge base by hosting consistent, targeted workshop sessions to elevate our staff and our Partner Schools to the next level.
I want people to walk away from their time within South feeling fulfilled, feeling more confident in their abilities, and with a tight-knit community of friends they can call family. By cultivating interpersonal relationships and strengthening tangible, real-world-applicable skills, I aim to bring together everyone in our organization and ensure that we are ready to welcome the future of VSA with open arms as new generations of leaders rise within the community.”
Current Residency: Houston, TX
Undergraduate School: University of Houston
Highlighted Leadership Experiences (3):
- 2023-2024 UVSA South Event Coordination Chair
- LSXIII Entertainment Director
- UNAVSA-20 Programming Committee Member
Johnny Nguyen (he/him) is a seasoned leader with extensive experience within UVSA South, most recently serving as the Entertainment Director for LSXIII. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Houston and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Houston – Clear Lake. In his free time, he enjoys gaming, thrifting, and exploring new restaurants.
“As Internal Vice President, I aspire to be a pillar of support for our constituents to lean on and learn from as well to grow into their own leadership role. I have both empathy and a strong work ethic, which allows me to understand multiple perspectives, while still being proactive in my role. It is one that requires such, being able to deal with any conflicts that occur, but resolving them as quickly as possible, to ensure the integrity of the organization is intact.
My main reason to run for this role is being able to foster more close knit relationships with the ICCs to allow me to have a closer look in their local VSAs and find opportunities to collaborate with them in order to grow, develop, and sustain their organizations as well. As an active member, I love being able to connect and support newer generations that come into this space. Leadership development was always the greatest joy of my experience, as I was able to see the people I worked with, grow into new roles, and even being in my shoes someday.
Here are some of my goals!
- Accomplishing new records of high turnout and constituent engagement within our organization whether that is through a staff, attendee, or constituent. As IVP, I would be able to educate our constituents about what UVSA South can provide for them, and what an experience can really entail for them. I aim to work with my partner schools and ICCs very closely on providing resources, such as virtual or physical workshops for any member of our partner schools to attend to hear from alumni, myself, or anyone that wishes to speak about a certain topic that VSA relates to. My purpose of implementing these workshops would motivate, educate, and push constituents to take a chance on an event. Some workshop topics in mind would be project management, event management, conflict resolution, and member engagement!
- Providing a safe space for all constituents to be able to build their leadership skills and experience as well. A main goal for me is being able to provide more developmental opportunities and or conversations for anyone that wants them. These conversations can be either professional or personal. This would include collaborating with the EVP closely on this, especially looking for any volunteering, philanthropic, and professional opportunities that come up to provide this to constituents as well.
- Connecting more closely with my constituents and providing them with opportunities to connect with each other as well! A focus for my term is to be able to foster engagement with all partner schools and members through encouraging them to participate at each other’s externals and even internal events if they are interested. This would allow for more bonding to happen across all partner schools. My role in this would be being able to streamline this process by working with the ICCs on projects and events for their members to come out to.
As an Internal Vice President, I believe in UVSA South’s Mission and Goals as they are heavily based on cultivating that sustainable leadership, networking, and service that we are all about. After finishing my term, I want to leave a legacy for others to follow. These actions will provide constituents with a wealth of learning and knowledge, which is something that I always enjoyed about the space, was the idea and concept of continuously learning and growing not only as a leader, but a person as well.”
Current Residency: San Marcos, TX
Undergraduate School: Texas State University
Highlighted Leadership Experiences (3):
- 2024-2025 Texas State VSA President
- 2024-2025 Texas State University Gold Star Society
- 2023-2024 Texas State VSA Family & Sports Chair
Raymond Ton (he/they) is a Texas State senior set to graduate with B.A.s in English and Education. Armed with unique perspectives, he aims to use his experience to help guide the next generation of VSA leaders as a potential UVSA South Executive Board member. Aside from VSA, Raymond enjoys card games and writing in his spare time.
“Currently, constituents face growing isolation between partner schools as they look internally to fulfill their organization’s missions. Though the ICCs and the efforts of UVSA South’s projects have done much, I believe that focus should be routed towards connecting potential leaders and non-officer constituents with each other. My platform as Vice President Internal focuses on alleviating our most pressing issues on the following axes:
– Restore a foundation of unity between all partner schools by establishing more opportunities for connection, particularly virtual, which eliminates the most prevalent barrier in our constituents’ partnership: physical proximity.
– Facilitate a continuous dialogue between ICCs to highlight similarities that each school may face. Though each school faces unique challenges, many of them are common amongst all schools due to the nature of our organization. By recognizing these commonalities, UVSA South can best address the needs of the partner schools.
– Create collaborative resources with ICCs to establish a wealth of knowledge for current and future generations to utilize, alleviating stressors that may arise from transitions in leadership.
– Increase contact with partner schools by broadening check-ins to include others within each organization, not just ICCs. By including perspectives of other members, ICCs and UVSA South’s E-Board can better understand the current climate of the region as a whole.”
Current Residency: Houston, TX
Undergraduate School: University of Houston
Highlighted Leadership Experiences (3):
- UVSA South Leadership Summit XIII Executive Director
- 2022-2024 UVSA South Marketing & Public Relations Chair
- 2024-2025 UNAVSA Marketing & Public Relations Director
Amy Luong (she/they) is a first-generation Vietnamese American, born and raised in Houston, Texas, and a recent graduate of the University of Houston with a B.A. in Art. An active leader in the VSA community, Amy has taken on numerous leadership roles in events such as Leadership Summit and Camp Legacy. They previously served as UVSA South’s Marketing and Public Relations Chair and are currently the Executive Director for Leadership Summit XIII. Passionate about community building and leadership development, Amy is dedicated to creating spaces where individuals can grow, connect, and embrace new opportunities. In their free time, she enjoys journaling her silly lil thoughts away, capturing her yummy foodie adventures, and curating her ever-growing trinket collection.
“As External Vice President, I aim to strengthen and grow our community by increasing engagement and collaboration among our Cabinet, alumni, Partner Schools, and external organizations.
By nurturing these connections, we can build trust, create opportunities, and unite our community. Being in this role would allow me to enhance relationships within our communities, broaden our outreach, and cultivate lasting connections that ensure UVSA South continues to thrive.
My three core pillars are connection, culture, and community.
Connection – Connections are vital to sustaining our organization. Our growth and success are deeply rooted in the connections we’ve made over the years. Without the relationships we’ve built with our Cabinet, alumni, and constituents, UVSA South would not be where it is today.
Genuine connections lay the foundation for trust and support, strengthening the bonds that hold our community together. To sustain these relationships and our growth, we must continually nurture and invest in them, ensuring that they remain strong and lasting. By practicing sustainability, we can create a thriving, unified, and empowered community that supports long-term growth and continued success.
As External Vice President, I will work to strengthen bonds between our Cabinet, alumni, and our constituents, ensuring these relationships continue to grow and thrive.
Culture – Our culture unites us. Culture is where we can amplify our shared stories, traditions, and impact. To me, the culture within UVSA South is about celebrating Vietnamese heritage while creating safe and inclusive spaces for leadership development and collaboration.
By fostering leadership, mentorship, and cultural celebration, we can ensure UVSA South remains a place of positivity, learning, and growth. Whether through community service, volunteering, or cultural events, I aim to cultivate a safe, welcoming, and vibrant environment where everyone feels valued and inspired.
Community – One of the most important aspects to have in an organization is community. UVSA South has cultivated an incredible, supportive community over the years, and I am eager to continue contributing to its growth. My goal is to expand our reach by connecting with VSAs outside of our Partner Schools and establishing partnerships with Vietnamese and Asian-interest organizations for collaborative projects, cultural events, and leadership development initiatives.
By encouraging engagement among our Partner Schools, alumni, out-of-region friends, and external organizations, we can create a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued. I aim to serve as a bridge, facilitating opportunities and cultivating lasting relationships with external organizations, ultimately diversifying and enriching our community. Through this outreach and collaboration, we will foster both personal and professional growth.
UVSA South has grown tremendously over the years, and I’m excited to continue driving its success by introducing innovative initiatives and fresh perspectives that will further enhance our programs and engagement.
This organization has given me countless opportunities to grow—as a leader and an individual—while surrounding me with a supportive community where I’ve built lifelong friendships. I want to give back by creating more opportunities for both new and returning members to get involved and discover what UVSA South has to offer.
I hope to inspire the next generation of leaders by providing a space where they feel empowered, confident, and equipped to create positive change within the VSA community and beyond.”
Current Residency: Garland, TX
Undergraduate School: University of Houston
Highlighted Leadership Experiences (3):
- UVSA South Leadership Summit XIII Hospitality Director
- 2024-2025 UVSA South Council of Regional Representatives
- 2024-2025 UNAVSA Information Technology Committee Member
Crystal Nguyen (she/her/hers) is a first-generation Vietnamese American from Dallas, Texas, currently pursuing a Marketing degree at the University of Houston. Her journey with VSA began in 2021 when she discovered the organization by chance. Since then, Crystal has taken on leadership roles within local VSA, UVSA South, and UNAVSA. She currently serves as CoRR on UVSA South’s Cabinet Board and as Hospitality Director for Leadership Summit XIII. Outside of her academic and leadership commitments, Crystal enjoys playing video games, creating music, baking, and engaging in arts and crafts. She values personal growth and is passionate about helping others on their life journeys.
“I believe that the strength of UVSA South lies in the local Vietnamese Student Associations (VSAs) that make up the community. As a candidate for Secretary, my goal is to strengthen this foundation by fostering a supportive environment and providing essential resources that empower leadership growth. By ensuring that constituents have the tools, guidance, and opportunities they need, I aim to develop strong, capable leaders who will contribute to the long-term sustainability and advancement of the entire community.
UVSA South’s mission is to cultivate the next generation of leaders—empowering them to become stewards of the Vietnamese community. To further this vision, I propose creating a Resource Hub: a centralized platform offering leadership development resources at every level. This hub will include recorded workshops, templates, and curated materials focused on communication, project management, and community engagement. It will be designed to support both general staff and local constituents, ensuring that leadership skills are accessible to all.
By providing these resources, I seek to empower members to take ownership of their growth, building confidence and skills that will benefit them within the VSA and beyond. This initiative reflects my commitment to sustainability, ensuring that members are continuously supported as they step into leadership roles and extend their impact into the broader community.
On a personal level, I aim to inspire at least one member to embrace continuous growth. Through sharing experiences and providing guidance, I aim to help others develop their leadership styles with confidence. The goal is for each member not only to grow but also to inspire others to do the same, leaving a lasting impact on the organization and the community.
Through this vision, I strive to foster a thriving leadership culture, where every member has the tools to grow, lead, and create meaningful change.”
Current Residency: Houston, TX
Undergraduate School: University of Houston
Highlighted Leadership Experiences (3):
- UVSA South Leadership Summit XIII Logistics Director
- UNAVSA-20 Logistics Director
- 2023-2024 UVSA South Community & Civic Engagement Chair
A Dallas-turned-Houston native, Kaiden Law (he/him/his) is a senior at the University of Houston studying architecture. Inspired by others in the space, Kaiden took a leap of faith to become more involved within UVSA South, starting with being a local VSA officer, and now, the current Logistics Director for Leadership Summit XIII. Embodying the mantra, “Everyone starts somewhere,” Kaiden aims to bring new individuals into the space and empower them to lead their own communities. On his days off from work and VSA, Kaiden likes photography, eating good food, and looking for new furniture on Facebook Marketplace.
“I want to be UVSA South’s next Treasurer because I will be able to assist with gaining more resources, building stronger partnerships, and enhancing our organization systems within. Building structures is nothing new to me, and in this position, I’d be able to leverage my abilities to do so. With me in this role, I will be able to help us gain more sponsors to support us through our events, create new report sheets, as well as create detailed resource trackers.
More than that, though, I truthfully want to be one of the many available support pillars, and a prominent leader to all constituents within our Region. To me, this is much more than just managing the resources of our organization; I aim to be someone that is able to support the constituents of UVSA South. I plan on expanding the role of the Treasurer to encompass my goal of the continuous support and growth of our organization.
In an effort to achieve that, here are some goals I have in mind:
1. I want to re-establish, and potentially explore, ways for UVSA South to gain more revenue in order to help support our large events and other organizational efforts. One way is to reintroduce the production of merchandise of our organization. I believe that merchandise is an effective way to gain revenue and also market us to different circles. By working with the future Marketing and Public Relations committee, we will be able to design, produce, and distribute our goods to constituents, and ultimately, to those outside of UVSA South as well.
2. I aim to make the “South Space” more accessible to those who do not have the ability to make large time or money commitments to attend our large-scale events, Leadership Summit and Camp Legacy. I believe the safe space that we cultivate within our organization is due to the people who are already involved, as well as those previously involved. By introducing small-scale, low cost networking events to our major cities within our region, I hope to introduce more local constituents to UVSA South by connecting them with our current staff and our large alumni network. Through these small events, I envision that it will be able to kickstart and inspire attendees to start their own leadership journey and possibly interest them in joining us at our major events.
3. By the end of my term, I plan to have everything I have taken on and done, documented. Tangible documentation is one of the most important, and best, ways of passing on knowledge to the next person. I would like the Treasurer after me to be able to step into this role confidently and with purpose. Feeling lost is something I do not wish for anyone to experience, especially when they have their own ambition and ideas they’d like to see fulfilled. Through my meticulous documentation habits, I will be able to assist my successor into fitting into this role comfortably and ready to accomplish their own projects.
Of course, this will not be limited to those who come after me. I also hope to create useful templates and guides to assist those of our constituents who are also stepping into the Treasurer role for their local organizations. As long as they start with a step forward, they’ll be able to accomplish their goals and possibly more.”
Candidacy Applications Close & Candidacy Screening Begins
E-Board candidacy applications close at 11:59 PM CT.
2/23/2025Screening Process for Candidates
Elections Committee complete screening for all E-Board Candidate applicants.
2/23/2025-2/28/2025E-Board Candidate Announcement
Candidates are briefed on campaigning & Elections rules. They are announced publicly.
3/7/2025Campaigning Period
E-Board Candidates are free to campaign within the rules of engagement over this time period.
3/7/2025-4/4/2025Elections at UVSA South Leadership Summit XIII
In-person & virtual Elections programming happens during UVSA South Leadership Summit XIII.
4/4/2025-4/6/2025