Ashley Nguyen Ahn experienced more trauma, death and desperation by age three than most of us face in a lifetime.
The Texas Capital Bank associate general counsel and other lawyers spent the last three years rebuilding and transforming the Dallas-based bank into a premier financial services firm in the state, including the recent addition of an investment banking arm. She led the negotiation and execution of the bank’s 15-year lease of 200,000 square feet in the Texas Capital Center in Uptown Dallas, and leasing four floors of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas building in Richardson for the bank’s new North Dallas campus.
And while many lawyers are associated with high billing rates, Ahn was recently recognized by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter as its Senior Counsel of the Year for leading Texas Capital’s efficiencies in procurement, corporate security, technology and internal auditing that led to measurable improvements in the firm’s bottom line.
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“Ashley is truly the heart of the legal team,” Texas Capital Chief Legal Officer Anna Alvarado told The Texas Lawbook. “She was instrumental in operationalizing the legal department and our legal infrastructure. Ashley is truly a prime example of the American dream. Ashley’s background, upbringing and story is truly inspirational.”
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Bell Nunnally partner Dania Duncan Moreno said Ahn’s business and legal successes are because of her “holistic approach.”
“Ashley seamlessly combines her legal expertise with her deep understanding of business operations, ensuring that her advice not only mitigates risks but also drives strategic growth,” Moreno said.
What happened to Ahn as a girl shapes her life to this day.
Ahn’s story starts in 1981 in a small village south of Saigon. She was three years old when her father, an engineer who had escaped prison and certain execution by the Viet Cong, built a wooden boat with a hidden engine to help their family and neighbors escape the communist regime of Vietnam.
“He had to be secretive to avoid any suspicion from spies from the VC … until the day came to escape,” Ahn recalled. “On that fateful day there were 30 of us hiding under a bunker on the beach near our hidden boat.”
The “all clear” signal came.
“We all rushed out to the boat, pushed it in the water and drifted off to sea,” she said. “My parents did not know where we were heading. All they knew was that anywhere was better than war-torn Vietnam and communist rule. They had no idea how long we would be at sea.”
The group packed enough food — bread, dried fruit and dried fish and pork — for four weeks and water for five weeks. The days and weeks on the ocean passed. The food ran out in late June. A neighbor’s eight-year-old child “succumbed” to a lack of nourishment first.
“Our boat had drifted hundreds of miles off the coast of Vietnam and was literally in the middle of the ocean,” Ahn said.
On day 39 at sea, her mother’s youngest brother, who was 16, died due to starvation and dehydration. The next day, Ahn’s father passed away. He was 33.
“There was a black ant on the wood panel to my right and I remember using my fingers, one at a time, to block its path as it wandered on the panel for hours,” she said. “I had found something to play with.”
Texas Capital Bank associate general counsel Ashley Ahn and chief legal officer Anna Alvarado at the company’s corporate headquarters in Dallas.
Patrick Kleinberg/The Texas Lawb
On day 41 — the day after her father died — the surviving passengers noticed a ship on the horizon. It was a Greek freighter on its way to Japan. The ship’s captain circled Ahn’s boat several times before stopping to rescue her family and neighbors.
“We were all mere skeletons at this point,” she said.
“Being present when your father died of starvation — where there was no choice but to push his body into the ocean as the boat drifted away — and the resulting hardships of growing up in new lands raised by an immigrant single mother with three mouths to feed was hard to deny or ignore,” Ahn said. “I knew we were boat people and refugees. I knew we were poor. I knew life is hard and unfair. I accepted all of this early on. I figured out that acceptance and adaptation is the key to survival, and, if resilient enough, I could thrive as well.”
“I had no childhood, no guidance and raised myself and my siblings and often my mother as well, mostly due to the language barrier and cultural differences,” she said.
“All of these early events made me who I am today.”
Ahn said her mother was initially disappointed when Ahn wanted to be a lawyer.
“Her perception of what lawyers are is based on how law works in Vietnam — corrupt or lacking in all aspects,” Ahn said. “Happy to report her perception of lawyers changed around my tenth year into the practice of law. It took some time, but she came around.”
Alston & Bird partner Kyle Healy says Ahn has “terrific attention to detail and the ability to connect the dots to ensure cohesive and consistent approaches.” He says she has the “ability to be nimble and business-minded” to help Texas Capital pursue a “diversified growth strategy and navigate the recent turmoil in the banking industry.”
The Texas Lawbook is an online newspaper that focuses on business law and business lawyers in Texas. A longer version of this article can be read at TexasLawbook.net.
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