Inspired by Father’s Wartime Experience, Meredith Ludlow and Marc Teillon Give Generously to Educate Young Women in Vietnam

A decade ago, Meredith Ludlow and her husband, Marc Teillon, journeyed to the coastal region of Núi Thành District, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, to the village of Chu Lai. Ludlow, a Lotus Circle advisor and member of The Asia Foundation’s President’s Leadership Council, was visiting the place where her father had served with the 198th Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Army. As a platoon leader during the Tet Offensive, he was awarded a bronze star for heroic and meritorious achievement. But after the war, he never received the care he needed for severe PTSD. Ludlow, her family, and Teillon spent years trying to help her father, who died recently from complications of his illness. At Chu Lai, a Vietnamese general invited Ludlow and Teillon to tour the base where her father had been stationed, taking them to view the very hangar from which Ludlow’s father had dispatched rescue and supply planes. For Ludlow, the moment was transformative.

This week, Ludlow and Teillon announce their generous contribution to educate young, disadvantaged women in Vietnam. The gift is made in memory of Ludlow’s father, and inspired by their passion to educate the next generation in Vietnam, specifically in fields of study that will help shape the country going forward. Meredith and Marc are equipping 80 Vietnamese girls from An Giang and Can Tho provinces with the resources to pursue undergraduate degrees in agriculture and information technology at two highly respected regional universities. They chose these fields of study because they are in high demand in the local labor market. Ludlow and Teillon say education has opened many doors for each of them, and created unimaginable opportunities in their lives. Information technology has a special allure for Teillon, who invests in technology and software for a private equity firm in San Francisco.

Read Meredith Ludlow’s recent op-ed in the Washington Post.