Walter Blocker

Walter Blocker, 39, is Chief Executive Officer of GANNON Vietnam Limited, an American licensed, 100% foreign invested service company with offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Bien Hoa City, and Hanoi Vietnam.

Born in New York and raised in Louisville Kentucky, Mr. Blocker has been a permanent resident of Ho Chi Minh City since 1995 and has

been involved in a variety of trade and trade development activities since that time.

In January of 1999, Blocker’s firm, Asian Trade Alliance (ATA GROUP) merged with The GANNON Companies Ltd. to form GANNON Vietnam Limited. GANNON Vietnam Limited was recognized as the Saigon Times Top 40 Enterprises in 2005.

Mr. Blocker is first and foremost an entrepreneur. During the 1990’s in Vietnam, Mr. Blocker pioneered a number of business units including the first retail trade model for L’Oreal and Maybelline cosmetics, Disney, and a variety of food service entities.

Mr. Blocker conceived and developed the GANNON Service Division, a warehousing, delivery, and asset management company supporting dozens of International firms including Eastman Chemical, Rohm and Haas, and BF Goodrich. Today, GANNON is one of the country’s largest warehouse and logistic asset management companies.

Gannon’s Commercial division, representing Carpet International, Milliken Carpet, Assa Abloy, and Mohawk Industries, is one of Vietnam’s primary suppliers of premium floor covering and hardware.

In September 2001, Mr. Blocker led the effort to design, build, and finance Vietnam’s most sophisticated beverage production facility. Commissioned in 2003, Gannon Beverages provides the most advanced aseptic dairy, juice, soya, and tea production available in Vietnam today and exclusively produces dairy and juice products for service many of the region’s largest beverage brand owners including Nestle, Pepsi, Uni-President, Lipton Tea, Frasier and Neave, Hanoi Milk, Tribeco, and Nutifoods. Additionally, Mr. Blocker is currently directing a research and development team in preparation for the launch of a new national dairy brand in Cambodia.

Mr. Blocker has served on the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam since 1997 and served three terms as Chairman between 2002 2006. In addition, he serves on the Executive Committee of the Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers representing 10,000 American Companies doing business in the Asia. Through participation on this body, Mr. Blocker has had first hand experience contributing to the development of the US/Vietnam Bi-lateral Trade Agreement in 2000 and its subsequent implementation which led to Vietnam’s WTO accession in January 2007.

Mr. Blocker has participated in numerous conferences and seminars promoting bi-lateral trade between the US and Vietnam and has co-authored a variety of national and international position papers used to help develop the legal and trade framework in Vietnam. His comments and views are often published or broadcast in regional and international media including the Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, Fortune, Forbes, NBC, CNN, NPR, and BBC.

Mr. Blocker has personally briefed dozens of political, scholastic, and economic delegations from the US including The Secretary of Defense, The Secretary of State, The Treasury Secretary, and two Presidents. He was a member of the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s official delegation during the historic visit to Washington DC in June 2005 and participated in numerous government relations activities in June 2006 supporting Vietnam’s granting of PNTR. In June 2007, Mr. Blocker hosted lunch in Washington DC for Vietnamese President Triet.

He is a frequent guest speaker and panelist at conferences sharing insights into Vietnam and its unique political and economic structure including leading speaking roles for the Asia Foundation, the Asia Pacific Business Outlook Conference, Enterprise Singapore, EuroMoney, and others. He has lectured students from Wharton, USC Marshall School of Business, The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Duke University, and Georgetown University both in Vietnam and while visiting their campuses.

Mr. Blocker is a Founding Board Member of the United Way International’s Vietnam Chapter and served on the Vietnam Board of Norfolk Virginia based medical mission Operation Smile. He also serves on the Board of the Young President’s Organization (YPO) Vietnam Chapter and the New York City based ORBIS International. His firm is the title sponsor of Vietnam’s largest annual golf event, the GANNON Vietnam Open Championship. He is Vice Chairman of the Saigon Town and Country Club.

Mr. Blocker enjoys a variety of activities including golf, travel, and Vietnamese art. He is married to Hanoi native Doan Phuong Ly.