Meet the VAPN Patrons

Tien Kieu  was born in Saigon, Vietnam where his family faced discrimination under the North Vietnamese regime, subsequently escaping by boat to find freedom. 

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Having finally settled in Australia, Tien worked as a labourer before attending the University of Queensland, and then the University of Edinburgh, where he received a doctorate in theoretical physics. 

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He was a former Victorian Member of Parliament and has worked at Oxford University, Melbourne University, CSIRO and Swinburne University. He has also been to Princeton, MIT, and as a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University. 

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Tien's community work led to membership of the Australian Labor Party and successfully winning a seat in the Legislative Council in 2018, representing the South East Metropolitan Region. Dr Kieu is proudly Victoria's inaugural STEM Education Ambassador, Deputy Chair of the Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee and Co-Chair of Victorian Parliamentarians for STEM. 

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Based in Hong Kong, Alisha Fernando is Bloomberg's Head of Diversity & Inclusion across Asia Pacific. 

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In this role, she leads the company's diversity and inclusion initiatives for the region, whilst establishing strategic direction, goals and accountability. Alisha also serves as a partner and thought leader and provides internal and external consulting services and subject matter expertise. 

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Additionally, Alisha facilitates employee engagement whilst helping to make Bloomberg's Asia Pacific office culture more equitable and inclusive. In her role, Alisha provides coaching and guidance to senior executives and leaders, whilst collaborating across HR and business functions to delivery objectives, measures and solutions to promote and progress diversity and inclusion. 

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Prior to joining Bloomberg, Alisha led the D&I strategy, programs and initiatives at the University of Melbourne. She previously spent most of her career at the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), where she served as the firm’s Inclusion Program Manager.

 

Recently recognised as one of Asia’s top D&I thought leaders by SpeakIn and awarded the Game Changer award by Tigerhall Asia, Alisha has also been credited with leading efforts that resulted in ANZ winning the Australian Government's Migration & Settlement Award for Business Inclusion, Bloomberg being awarded Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion by both Human Resources Online and Asia HR Director Awards. She is also the recipient of the Victorian Government’s full scholarship to the Joan Kirner Young and Emerging Women’s Leaders Program.

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Tuanh Nguyen is a Director in the corporate law practice at PwC Legal, specialising in providing legal advice to Australian and international clients on corporate transactions. In addition she is also Director in PwC’s Diversity & Inclusion Consulting practice. 

 

She has extensive experience in advising and leading and was previously the National President of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association (AALA). Tuanh is also a member of several charitable Boards, including CatholicCare Victoria Limited and the Vietnamese Museum Australia, and a member of the Governance Committee of Birdlife Australia and La Trobe Asia Advisory Board. 

 

She has received a number of legal industry awards for her work as a corporate lawyer, including the winner of the 2019 Women in Law Awards (Special Counsel of the Year) and a finalist of the 2021 Australian Law Awards (Special Counsel of the Year & Dealmaker of the Year) and Euromoney LMG Asia Women in Business Law Awards 2019. She is currently a finalist for Special Counsel of the Year in the 2022 Australian Law Awards.

Trung Dung Le, a Vietnamese-born entrepreneur and community advocate, is an institution in Victoria. The founder of Hollywood Nails Group, an icon in the beauty industry in Melbourne.

 

The Hollywood Nails Group manages multiple salon brands including Diamond Nails, Le Nails, Odyssey Nails and Hollywood Nails., positioning them in the Australian market to ensure high brand exposure, traffic and exceed high consumer expectations. 

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 Trung Dung has created hundreds of jobs across the state with over 50+ franchises and had a wide reaching impact on the lives of those he has employed.

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Trung’s support for and employment of migrants, in particular those with a refugee background, has offered critical opportunities and pathways to education and empowerment in these marginalised groups.

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Trung Dung also makes philanthropic contributions to the Victorian community and holds key advocacy roles across charities, local hospitals, ethno-specific aged care residences, multi-cultural community organisations and temples.

Julia Truong (also known as JT) has been event managing since the age of 14. With an extensive portfolio of experiences in conferences, exhibitions, awards, theatre, festivals, activations, and corporate events, Julia is a meticulous planner who leaves no stone unturned.

 

Her passion for live experiences and high customer service was a natural progression for Julia to establish her own business. JT. Production Management (JTPM), now in its ninth year of business, is an award-winning creative event and production agency based in Melbourne, servicing Australia-wide.

 

JTPM's purpose is to produce live experiences that brings joy, sparks enriching conversations, and builds better communities. Producing for a wide range of clients, including the University of Melbourne, Victoria Government, Victorian Multicultural Commission, CDC Victoria and Medibank, JTPM has been named for two years in a row as the Australian Entreprise Awards, Event Management Agency of the year in 2021 and 2022. This year, Julia was a finalist for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2016, Julia was recognised for her business and work in the community with the prestigious Victorian Young Achiever Award.

 

Later that year, she was appointed by the government to join the Multicultural Small Business Ministerial Council. Julia is again named the 2021 Career Achievement Finalist for the 7NEWS Young Achiever Award. As the enthusiastic Creative Director of her company, Julia likes to encourage the combination of creativity and precision in detail when planning events within her team. She brings a can-do mindset and sharp business attitude to every project. In 2020, whilst many competitors closed their doors during COVID-19, Julia continued to steer her company to innovate, securing 22 new clients and expanding JTPM's service offerings.

 

By 2021, JTPM grew three times its size. During lockdowns, Julia also started a new venture with co-founder Michael Lim in establishing a podcast called Collective West. The purpose of this venture is to produce regular helpful content aimed to mentor young people. The podcast covers a range of conversations and incredible guests' features, sharing insights on leadership, employment, networking and much more.

 

Julia believes that every young person has the potential to succeed if they choose to hold onto every opportunity with both hands. Given the help and support Julia had received when facing adversity, Julia likes to give back to her community where possible and hope to inspire other young people to follow their dreams.

Thu-Trang began her career as a commercial and information technology lawyer in Sydney.

 

She has been able to combine her social justice values and strategic leadership work over the past two decades across Australia and overseas, in private and public sector organisations. 

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Thu-Trang also serves as a Commissioner on the Victorian Building Authority Board and Victorian Liquor Commission, and a Board Director at Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand. 

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As a life-long learner, Thu-Trang is at the latter stage of her doctorate examining wise practice in public administration. 

 

Thu-Trang was able to spend 2 years in Vietnam, where she was able to work with the Vietnamese and expat communities to found a social enterprise, that brokered water safety and women’s empowerment projects.