Ambassador Douglas B. "Pete" Peterson

Ambassador Douglas B. (Pete) Peterson, originally from Omaha, Nebraska, served for 26 years in the United States Air Force with worldwide assignments covering Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Asia. While on his 67 th combat mission over North Vietnam in 1966, he was shot down, captured, and spent the next six and a half years as a prisoner of war. He retired from military service in 1981 at the rank of Colonel and engaged in various private business enterprises.

Ambassador Peterson joined the faculty of Florida State University in 1985 to become Director of a specialized psychological treatment program, an innovative clinical program developed to provide professional psychological treatment to Florida's juvenile offender population. He entered US federal politics in 1989, and was subsequently elected to represent Florida's 2 nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives where he served for three consecutive terms.

Following his resignation from the US Congress in 1997, he was appointed by President Clinton as the first US Ambassador to post-war Vietnam. While serving in this post, he became alarmed at the enormous public health burden of preventable injury in Vietnam and decided to do something about it using his Embassy staff, and mobilizing the diplomatic and development community in Hanoi. From this experience, he gained a strong appreciation for the ways in which public health policy can be effectively used to enhance both development and diplomacy efforts. Ambassador Peterson resigned from his post in July 2001 to pursue business and philanthropic interests worldwide.

Vi Le Peterson

Vi Le Peterson was born in Saigon, (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam, and grew up mainly in Vientiane, Hong Kong and Bangkok. The family finally settled in Melbourne, Australia in 1977. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma in Corporate Finance from Swinburne University of Technology. Mrs. Peterson speaks English, French and Vietnamese fluently and has conversational level Thai and Laotian.

She joined the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ Bank), in 1981. During her 14 year career with ANZ Bank, she held key managerial positions in the areas of: retail and international banking; trade finance; marketing and strategic planning; correspondent banking; corporate banking and project finance. In January 1993, she was posted to Hanoi, Vietnam where she played a key role in the establishment of the ANZ's operations there. She was ANZ's Deputy General Manager for Vietnam from 1993 to 1996.

In April 1996, she was recruited by the Australian Government to become its trade representative in Vietnam. She held the position of Minister-Counsellor (Commercial) and Senior Trade Commissioner at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi from June 1996 to July 1999. In this position, she ran two independent trade offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for the Australian Trade Commission (AUSTRADE). In July 1999, she resigned her position in order to establish her own consultancy business in Vietnam.

In 2001 Mrs. Peterson and her husband founded Peterson International, Inc., a consultancy firm specializing in the provision of strategic advice and business solutions to companies involved in international business development and emerging market trade and investment. She also serves on the Board of Directors of a number of foreign-invested companies in Vietnam and on the International Advisory Board of Swinburne University of Technology ( Melbourne, Australia).

Robert L. "Bob" Schiffer

Mr. Robert L. "Bob" Schiffer has had a distinguished career that includes positions in both domestic and international settings and in both the public and private sectors. He received his formal education at the University of Tennessee and later attended the Harvard University School of Government in a program for senior government managers. His background includes positions in state government with the State of New York where he worked in finance, personnel, and health and human services; in the private financial sector in New York City; and in the Federal Government with OMB, USIA, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, (OPIC); and with the Department of State where he served with Ambassador Peterson in Vietnam.

His current position as Vice president of the United States / Vietnam Trade Council allows him to continue building good relationships between the two countries which were initiated in the late 1990's . Bob lives with his family in Chevy Chase Maryland.

TASC Co -Founded

In 2002, the Petersons founded The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC) , a not for profit non-governmental organization dedicated to making the prevention of child injuries a reality in the developing world. TASC has its operational headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand through which it conducts injury prevention research and programs in various countries in Asia, with the view to eventually expanding to other developing countries with child injury problems in Latin America and Africa.

Now recognized as global advocates for children's safety, Ambassador and Mrs. Peterson divide their time between Australia, the TASC project countries, and the United States. The majority of their energy is spent ensuring that injury receives the attention it is due as a leading cause of child mortality and morbidity in the developing world and assisting alliance partners in developing innovative intervention programs to prevent and reduce it.