Best in Class Education CEO

From surviving gunfire to a grueling week-long boat trip, Lam has several life experiences that have shaped him into the successful entrepreneur and leader he is today.

“His story of coming over definitely influences him as a CEO; he’s not afraid to take big risks,” Stephanie Zhu, Best in Class Education's VP of business development and finance, told Franchise Times. “For him, that’s a minor risk on a relative scale.”

Lam left Vietnam after the fall of Saigon and spent a year as a refugee in the Philippines before starting over in Canada. After graduating from the University of British Columbia, Lam founded Best in Class Education in 1995 in Seattle and started franchising the company in 2010. In the first years of the company, Lam ran the company by himself.

“It had a similar atmosphere now where it was kind of a fun place to learn, and it wasn’t a really rigid classroom. He kept it very light and fun, but still very educational,” Zhu, one of Lam’s first students at Best in Class Education Center, told Franchise Times.

Since then, the company has grown to 43 units in eight states nationwide.