Sandy Hoa Dang is a social entrepreneur, inspiring speaker, experienced executive, leadership trainer, and management consultant. Her passion is to develop young people to maximize their leadership potential to benefit society.

Ms. Dang is the Co-founder and Principal of CoInnovate Consulting, a company that provides leadership training, capacity building, and strategic planning to companies, foundations, government, and nonprofit organizations.

From 2011 to 2018, Sandy served as a Presidential Appointee on the Board of Directors and Executive Director of the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF), an independent U.S. Government agency with a mission to strengthen the bilateral relations between the United States and Vietnam. During her tenure, Sandy initiated a leadership development program that includes Public Narrative and Adaptive Leadership for hundreds of VEF Fellows who are scientists, engineers, and policy makers.

Born in Hanoi, Ms. Dang left Vietnam when she was ten years old. After living in rural China and Hong Kong refugee camps, Sandy resettled in the United States at the age of thirteen. For more than a decade, she served as Founder and Executive Director of Asian American Leadership, Empowerment, and Development (AALEAD), an organization that supports immigrant and refugee families through a broad array of educational and social services.

Ms. Dang is currently the Board Chair of the Center for Asian Pacific American Women (CAPAW) a premier organization developing AAPI women to be leaders.

Ms. Dang has received numerous awards for her outstanding public leadership, including being named Outstanding Americans by Choice in 2021, Washingtonian of the Year in 2001.  Ms. Dang earned a Bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a Master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School.