title: Holly Ham
text: # Holly Ham
  
  Holly Luong Ham is an American business executive and former Washington, D.C., government official. She served as a senior official in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and in the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). Ham also served as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to that, Ham served as the Assistant Secretary for Management in the U.S. Department of Education, where she was appointed by President Trump on April 20, 2017.
  
  ## Early life and education
  
  Ham was born in Saigon, Vietnam, to Chinese parents. After the end of the Vietnam War, her parents took their five children and fled in the summer of 1979. In January 1980, at the age of 7, Ham and her family settled in Texas as refugees. Ham graduated from the University of Houston, where she received both her Bachelor and Master of Business Administration degrees and was a member of business honor society Beta Gamma Sigma.
  
  ## Career
  
  ### Early and mid-career
  
  In 1994, Ham worked in Finland as a software engineer and systems analyst. She spent over 18 years with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
  
  Ham joined Precise Software Solutions, Inc. as its Chief Growth Officer in March 2021.
  
  In May 2023, Ham lost a 3-way race for Position 6 for Humble ISD Board of Trustees.
  
  ### Government career
  
  On April 20, 2017, President Trump announced Ham's appointment as Assistant Secretary for Management in the U.S. Department of Education. The post did not require Senate confirmation.
  
  On November 13, 2017, Ham was appointed executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in the U.S. Department of Education.
  
  On August 20, 2018, Ham spoke alongside First Lady Melania Trump and federal colleagues at the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit on Cyberbullying, hosted at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
  
  Ham served as Director of Special Projects in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  
  In her role as Senior Advisor in the U.S. Department of Commerce MBDA, Ham connected the agency with a virtual business center to provide resources in support of minority business enterprises.
  
  