Ascend Houston: AAPI Heritage Month Celebration

Wendy Nguyen, CPA has consistently demonstrated resilience and ambition throughout her life. As a mother of three - Leyna-Ceasar (19), Teddy (14), and Brianna (11), and a successful businesswoman, she has managed to balance her personal and professional life seamlessly. However, Wendy's ambitions go beyond the realms of business and family. she is driven by a desire to make a meaningful difference in the world and assist others. For two decades, she has pursued projects and consulted clients, always guided by her mission to benefit others. During the pandemic, she penned articles for Forbes, one of which, “The Most Important Thing You Need to Build a Flourishing Business,” became widely read. Alongside her 15 staff members and business partners, Wendy retained over 1000 jobs and provided her clients with access to over $20 million in 2020 and 2021. Despite encountering numerous hardships, she pursued her ideas with unyielding entrepreneurial enthusiasm, forming connections with experts in both the government and private sectors. Not only a businesswoman, Wendy is also a philanthropist advocating for education, a board member of various national organizations, and a speaker at global finance conferences. As an author, she shares her expertise with a wider audience. She considers herself a “Business Therapist,” continuing to inspire others through her multifaceted endeavors.

Vinita Pandit serves as an Associate TS&D Director in Dow’s Packaging & Specialty Plastics division at the Dow Chemical Company. She leads North Americas Rigid Packaging and Health and Hygiene market segments which makes up to 1.8 B lbs of Polyethylene business for Dow. Vinita has passion for growing the business in new areas which are beyond Dow’s existing scope of market segments. She is responsible for building the market segment growth strategy, shaping her market segment teams to expand Dow’s polyethylene offering into new areas to strategically grow Rigid Packaging and Medical market segments within Health and Hygiene and Medical. Prior to joining Dow, Vinita began her career in Dow Corning and belonged to various R&D/TS&D functions within Dow Corning. Vinita received a Bachelor and Master’s degree in chemistry from the University Department of Chemistry, Mumbai and a Ph.D. from Missouri University of Science and Technology. Vinita has 10+ external publications/presentations and her work in Dow Corning has accounted to 8 patent applications. Outside of work, Vinita has a very loving family of four kids a 17 year old boy, a 13 year old girl and the other two are 4-legged boy and a girl. Vinita is married to her husband who is a Polymer scientist for 21 years. Vinita enjoys watching tennis, reading biographies, cooking and spending time with her family.

Ravi is currently the managing director in the South-Central Region of the U.S. for 1898 & Co., part of Burns & McDonnell. In his role, he leads a team of professionals providing utility, technology, security, and management consulting services. With over two decades of engineering, advisory and acquisition experience, Ravi has developed, directed, and consulted on a variety of transmission project opportunities and has expertise in energy policy, economics, and regulatory affairs. He is an electric power systems engineer with a master’s degree. Currently, he lives in Houston with his wife and 10-year-old son.