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Journal Profile: Civilitude's Nhat Ho in Austin

Each week we shine the spotlight on an influential Austinite via our Journal Profile series, which aims to get well beyond someone's LinkedIn page or online bio. In this week's installment, we get to know the president of civil engineering firm Civilitude. Nhat Ho got his first taste of America at Leander High School, having arrived here as a 17-year-old exchange student from Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City. He quickly canceled his return ticket to Vietnam and went on to attend college deep in the heart of Texas, where he built a life and family. Two decades later, Ho — the president of civil engineering firm Civilitude — considers Austin his adopted hometown. But he still has connections to Vietnam. Upon meeting his future wife in Houston years ago, he discovered during a late-night IHOP hangout that they had attended the same high school in the same grade back in Vietnam. He's also excited by the Vietnamese American community in Austin. His sons perform in Lunar New Year lion dances and attend Summitt Elementary School, a public school that he said has one of the few Vietnamese dual language programs in the country. The school is an 'amazing way for them to find their own path and connection to their culture," he said. His sons are also the perfect age for road trips, he said, and they've traveled extensively across the country and visited about 18 national parks, Ho estimated. Montana's Glacier National Park is his favorite so far, but he highlighted Yellowstone, Yosemite and Arcadia as well. Even after all that exploring, however, Ho said it's the simple things his kids enjoy. 'We did a lion dance show the other day, and it was too late so we stopped by a gas station and (one of the boys) ate a gas station hot dog and a slushie. He was like, 'This is the best day!'' Ho said. 'Really? I'm taking you to a lot of cool places, man! But with kids, it's the little things. Take them to Disney, and they'll come back and just want to eat gas station food.' What was your dream job growing up? I wanted to be an architect badly (because of the creativity involved). I don't think a lot of that has changed as much as I do think that the American practice of civil engineering is probably the most creative one in my mind because every site is different. Some of our architectural friends probably would disagree, but I really like the fact that when you look at a site, it's almost like a poker table. You get a new hand every time, and it's always the best one that wins. I've really learned to appreciate the practice of land development. I talked about that at UT when people asked what makes this career path interesting. I think it's ever-changing. Every site is different, every job is different. What's your dream vacation, and have you taken it yet? I think I have. The first time I came back (to Vietnam) was 18 years (after leaving), and that was when Covid first happened. So as soon as I landed, there was Covid in China. That was not cool, so I did a redo in 2022. I think I was in Vietnam for about five weeks, so it was a good sabbatical for me. And it's less about how long, but about how you spend the time. In my mind, five weeks was a long time, there's no question about that. I got to reconnect with a lot of old friends, but also kind of find rejuvenation. I think that's my dream vacation, to be able to submerge myself in that place, because it felt very foreign to me after 20-plus years. And we were in the village my family has been in since the 1400s. There's 18 generations in our own family cemetery and a long, long history, so that was very transformative for me. That kind of sabbatical really helped unwind the fatigue of two decades of building a business. Who is your hero? I would say that it's my mom. My mom came from this village in Vietnam with one pair of good clothes. This was in 1989, 1990, so after the Vietnam War when Vietnam was kind of finding its own way. So she came from the village, learned different languages, became a nurse practitioner and went and practiced in Iraq before the Gulf War. At one point, she spoke four languages, you know, English, French, Arabic, and some other language as well, and was just living the life. When the Gulf War broke out, she could have been a refugee in France and had a very nice life, but she was like, 'No, I'm going to go back and pick up my kids.' And so she gave up a lot of the career for us, for my sister and I. When I was 17, I gave my mom three months notice, and I was gone to America. The next time she saw me was when I graduated from UT six years later. As soon as I landed (n America) I canceled my return ticket, and told my mom I was going to find my own way. But now she's with me. I just had lunch with her earlier, and she was like, 'Don't do that again!' Would you say that your mother was your inspiration to try to make it abroad? Yes. She didn't like that, but yes. Growing up, I'm looking at her like, 'Of course I'll go somewhere and do something,' because look at her! She's done it all. If people come to visit you in Austin, what restaurant do you take them to? Paperboy and Loudmouth. You have the best brunch and then go out at the beer joint and grab some pizza. It's hard to beat. What's the most influential book you've read? We recently implemented "Traction" (by Gino Wickman). I've read other books like "Good to Great," which was a really good book when we were focusing on how to hone our craft, and we'll continue to do that. But "Traction" has allowed us to kind of think more about civil engineering not as an individual sport, but rather a team sport. It's been really interesting to see not just getting a project done, but to be able to influence policy and influence some of the practice of civil engineering in general so that we could play a role in creating a systematically better product, even if we're not the civil engineer. What do you like to do on the weekends? When I'm not with the kids, I do a lot of Bikram hot yoga. Nothing like sweating it out for 90 minutes, it's just a hard reboot of the brain. I would say that's my favorite thing, just to reset the brain and not be in a go-go-go-go mode, because I have quite a bit going on. Remember that breathing exercise where you only focus on breathing out and the breathing kind of takes care of itself? That's a good reminder sometimes. Just breathe out. How did you earn your first dollar? I actually did Chinese food delivery before Uber Eats was a thing. I probably earned a couple of dollars. That was great for a college kid. You drive, you drop off Chinese food and make good tips at the time. And the best part was, if the customer didn't want the food anymore, hey, now I got Chinese food. That's my memory of my first dollar. What do you listen to on your morning commute? Lots of sing-along songs. Although, my 10-year-old, he likes to listen to philosophy. He's a curious mind, and I like to think that I am also. So I like watching and listening to different YouTube programming, and there's a lot of this new wave of educational programming that I would say is made for adults. So a lot of these new programs that I found that are kids-oriented — where they hand draw on the boards, very kid-friendly — have adult-oriented topics, like talking about growth mindset and philosophy. So I've been enjoying finding this content that I can enjoy with my kids and talk about it. Nhat Ho, President, Civilitude Age: 38 Hometown: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Education: Bachelor of Science in architectural engineering from the University of Texas Family: Wife, Tram Ly; two sons, ages 10 and 8 Contact: nhat@ 512-761-6161