Our leaders

Dr. Alan Phan was born in Cam Ranh, Viet Nam, and raised in Southern California. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics from the University of California at Irvine, a Master’s Degree in Counselling from Trinity University, a certificate of International School Leadership from the Principal Training Centre, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Bath.

He began his teaching career with a short stint teaching grade 3 and quickly moved into teaching mathematics in middle school in California and later in Washington, D.C.

In August 2000, he moved abroad to Mexico City to be a High School and College Counsellor at the American School Foundation, where he began the implementation process of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). After Mexico City, he continued his international career at Antwerp International School, Belgium as their High School and College Counsellor, working with the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and IBDP. Following his success, the American School Foundation in Mexico City recruited him again to be their High School Assistant Principal, overseeing both the IBDP and Middle Years Programme (MYP). In August 2007, Dr. Alan began his first principal position at ACS Hillingdon International School in London, where he implemented the MYP. He continued as a principal at the American School of Barcelona, Spain; American International School Chennai, India; and Shanghai American School, China.

NLCS HCMC is thrilled to welcome him back to his birth country as our Founding Principal.

In additional to the international school experience, over the span of his career, Dr. Alan has also worked as a consultant as a teacher trainer in mathematics in international schools and led math workshops at conferences. He also led workshops for the Middle Leader Certificate Programme for the Educational Council of International Schools (ECIS). Additionally, he served as a member of several accreditation teams with New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and Council of International Schools (CIS). Currently, he leads workshops for international schools and conferences on identity, implicit bias, microaggressions, and recruitment bias training as part of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long is a long-standing and distinguished educator with almost 40 years of experience in Education. Before joining NLCS HCMC, he was a leader in various roles:  

• Lead Teacher at An Tay Secondary School – Song Be Province 
• Lead Teacher at Ky Dong School – District 3, HCMC 
• Vice Principal of Bui Minh Truc Primary School – District 3, HCMC 
• Principal of Do Luong Primary School – District 3, HCMC 
• Principal of Phan Van Han Primary School – District 3, HCMC 

During his career, he has received numerous Certificates of Merit and Medals for the “Cause of Education” from the People’s Committee of Long An Province, Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and notably, from the Prime Minister of Vietnam. In addition to his professional knowledge and experience, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long is highly knowledgeable regarding modern pedagogical methods such as Dual Language Immersion methodology. With the desire to continue to contribute efforts to the development of education and training to develop a pioneering generation of leaders for Vietnam, we are proud that Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long has become NLCS HCMC’s Vietnamese Principal who will oversee the Ministry of Education and Training’s Curriculum development and implementation.