The Lightkeepers — Honoring the People Who Carry NTQ’s Spirit Forward

Over the past 15 years, NTQ has grown from a small technology company into a Global IT Services and Digital Transformation Partner serving clients across multiple markets. New offices have been established, new capabilities have been built, and countless projects have been delivered to organizations worldwide.

Yet behind every milestone, every breakthrough, and every chapter of growth lies something far more enduring than business achievements alone: The people who made them possible.

As part of NTQ’s 15th anniversary celebration, The Lightkeepers 2026 recognition ceremony was held on June 8 to honor founders and long-serving employees whose dedication, trust, and commitment have played a vital role in shaping the company’s journey.

More than a recognition event, The Lightkeepers serves as a reminder that sustainable growth is not built solely through strategy, innovation, or business performance. It is built through people who consistently choose to learn, contribute, and grow together.

Where Commitment Becomes Legacy

For many years, The Lightkeepers has been an integral part of NTQ’s anniversary celebrations—a special occasion dedicated to recognizing employees who have chosen to grow alongside the company through different chapters of its journey.

The program celebrates more than years of service. It honors the people whose commitment, resilience, and belief in a shared vision have helped shape NTQ’s culture, strengthen its teams, and support its long-term development.

As NTQ continues to evolve, these individuals represent something that remains constant: the spirit of dedication and collaboration that connects generations of employees. Their stories remind us that meaningful growth is never achieved alone, but through people who support one another and move forward together.

The Lightkeepers has become a meaningful tradition that reflects NTQ’s enduring appreciation for its people. Each year, the program offers an opportunity to celebrate the individuals whose contributions have left a lasting impact on the organization. This spirit was also reflected in previous editions, including The Lightkeepers 2024, which highlighted the stories and dedication of employees who have accompanied the company through important stages of its development.

By honoring The Lightkeepers, NTQ expresses its appreciation for those who have helped build the organization while reinforcing its commitment to fostering a workplace where people feel valued, connected, and inspired to grow.

A Ceremony Built on Genuine Appreciation

The Lightkeepers 2026 ceremony was held at NTQ’s Open Space on the third floor — an environment deliberately chosen for its warmth and intimacy. This was not an auditorium event or a formal awards dinner. It was a gathering: leaders and long-tenured employees in the same room, sharing the same moment, acknowledging a shared journey.

Commemorative awards were presented to each honoree — individuals who have been part of NTQ for five years, ten years, and in some cases, nearly from the very beginning. But what made the ceremony meaningful went beyond the recognition itself.

It was the room. The stories. The faces of people who remember what NTQ looked like before it became what it is today.

NTQ Chairman Pham Thai Son spoke directly to the honorees, with words that reflected something deeper than professional acknowledgment: “When I look back on NTQ’s 15-year journey, our greatest achievement is not the scale we have reached or the milestones we have accomplished. It is the people who chose to believe in NTQ, grow with NTQ, and help build the culture and values that define who we are today.”

His message underscored what the ceremony was truly about. In a technology industry defined by mobility, optionality, and constant change, choosing to stay and build something together over many years is a significant act. It reflects alignment — between individual values and organizational purpose — that cannot be manufactured or incentivized into existence. It has to be earned.

Portraits of a Shared Journey

Among the highlights of this year’s ceremony was an activity that took many attendees by surprise in the best way possible: Personalized portrait photos, created for each honoree and presented as a keepsake from the company.

On the surface, a portrait is a simple gift. But the decision to commission individual portraits — rather than generic awards or standard commemorative items — communicates something specific: We see you as a person, not just as a contributor.

Each portrait captured the honoree as they are now, while carrying the weight of everything that came before: early-career challenges, pivotal projects, the teams they built and led, the years they poured into an organization they helped define. For many attendees, the portraits became a quiet focal point of the ceremony — a moment to reflect on the distance traveled.

This is what distinguishes recognition that endures from recognition that simply acknowledges. It is personal. It is specific. And it leaves something behind.

The Architecture of a Resilient Organization

There is a business case to be made for long-tenured talent — and it is a compelling one.

Employees who have been with an organization for years carry something that cannot be transferred in an onboarding document or replicated by a new hire: Accumulated context. They understand how decisions were made, why certain principles matter, what the company looked like before it became what it is now. They are the organizational memory.

For NTQ’s clients and partners, this translates into something tangible. When experienced team members lead or contribute to engagements, they bring depth of understanding — of technical architecture, of industry dynamics, of how to navigate complexity — that elevates the quality and consistency of what is delivered.

Many of today’s Lightkeepers have moved through multiple roles across their years at NTQ. They began as individual contributors and evolved into mentors, project leads, and senior specialists. Along the way, they shaped how NTQ teams work: The collaborative habits, the commitment to knowledge-sharing, the culture of continuous improvement that runs through the organization.

That culture does not maintain itself. It is actively preserved by the people who built it.

Continuity as a Strategic Asset

As NTQ continues expanding across international markets, one of the most important questions for any growing technology company is this: How do you scale without losing what made you effective in the first place?

The answer, in large part, lies in the people who carry institutional knowledge forward.

The Lightkeepers are, in a very real sense, the connective tissue between NTQ’s past and its future. They were present during the company’s formative years. They have navigated growth, change, and challenge at each stage of the journey. And now, they play a critical role in ensuring that the values, practices, and professional standards that define NTQ are transmitted to the next generation of talent joining the organization.

Chairman Pham Thai Son articulated this responsibility directly: “I hope that in the years ahead, you will continue to be the ones who inspire, share your experience, and pass on the spirit of dedication to the next generations of NTQ — so that no matter how far the company grows or how many countries we expand into, we always preserve the values that have made NTQ what it is today.”

This is a vision of growth that is grounded, not just ambitious. It recognizes that the most sophisticated technology capability means little without the cultural foundation to use it well.

Fifteen Years In, Still Building

The Lightkeepers ceremony closed, as these kinds of events often do, with a sense of both reflection and forward momentum.

Fifteen years is long enough to build something real. NTQ has grown from a technology startup into a global digital transformation partner, with teams serving clients across multiple markets and a capability set that spans the full spectrum of IT services.

And yet the most important thing the past fifteen years have produced is not a service portfolio or a list of completed projects. It is a community of people — thousands of individuals who have contributed their skills, their creativity, and in many cases their best professional years to building something they believe in.

The Lightkeepers are among the most vivid expressions of that community. They are the ones who were there at the beginning. They are the ones who stayed through the hard parts. They are the ones who, in many ways, built the foundation upon which everything else rests.

To each of them: Thank you — not just for the work, but for the trust that made it possible.