Quan Huynh

Executive Director, Defy Ventures

2022 HALO Award Recipient  | 2025 HALO Award Selection Committee

Quan serves as the Executive Director of Defy Ventures Southern California, leading initiatives that provide career readiness, entrepreneurship training, and personal development for people impacted by the justice system. A graduate of Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Program in Nonprofit Leadership, Quan brings a unique blend of lived experience and executive expertise to his work—helping to shift perceptions about talent, leadership, and second chances. He is the bestselling author of Sparrow in the Razor Wire: Finding Freedom from Within While Serving a Life Sentence, a memoir that explores how true freedom is found not in circumstance, but in mindset and personal transformation.