Vivienne Nguyen

AM, BCom (1992), PGDip Economics (1993), MAppFin (2001)

Vivienne Nguyen AM serves as Chair of the Victorian Multicultural Commission, connecting multicultural communities to government while drawing on her extensive background in community activism and finance.

Bringing people together

In the face of a global pandemic, Vivienne Vy Phuong Nguyen AM spent her days in lockdown serving as a linchpin connecting government bodies to multicultural communities of Victoria. This was not a role she found herself in overnight, but one that she had been preparing for her whole life, from her time as a refugee in Vietnam and Malaysia, to the corporate world of Australian banking.

Born in Vietnam in 1971, Nguyen travelled by boat to Malaysia with her family in 1982, seeking refuge there. A year later, when Nguyen was just 12, they flew to Melbourne.

Though eager to become a social worker, Nguyen regarded the University of Melbourne as the best university in the area, and her family encouraged her to study economics to pursue work that was better remunerated. Her entry score was not quite enough on its own, but due to the Affirmative Action program, Nguyen was accepted by the Faculty of Economics and Commerce. She gained a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1992.

Drawing on her experiences as a child, she soon found a focus in community activism, seeing it as a way to ‘have a say’ in the world around her. At university, Nguyen took part in fundraising, social and sporting activities, and spent time as the president of the Vietnamese Students Association of Melbourne University and the Vietnamese Students Association of Victoria.

These experiences led her to stints in the organisation of Austcare Refugee Week and the Face-It drug education/prevention initiative for young Vietnamese people.

Career beginnings

Strengthened by her admiration of Treasurer Keating’s transformation of the economy in the 1990s, she chose a career in finance. Nguyen found there were few women in business development management, but she was determined to succeed and studied part time to complete a Master of Applied Finance.

Her first senior position in finance came at AMP in 1997, and several roles across the sector followed. Nguyen joined ANZ in 2004, ultimately rising to a position as Group Head of Diversity. She credits this experience as a valuable time that helped her develop the leadership skills she still uses today.

“When you’re an executive, you mostly work through influence, rather than through your own ability to deliver something,” she says.

A calling

Throughout her career, Nguyen has been devoted to advocating for multicultural communities. She was on the board of the Foundation for Young Australians, served as vice-president for Finance and Planning for the Vietnamese Community in Australia.

Appointed to the state government’s Victorian Women's Register, she was described as "a role model and an advocate for Vietnamese women in community leadership roles".

After leaving the finance world, she has spent time in several different sectors. This has included work with the Boards of the Graduate Union, roles here at University of Melbourne, City West Water, Western Health and most recently as a non-executive director on the State Trustees Board.

Nguyen is particularly proud of her time as president of the Victorian chapter of the Vietnamese Community in Australia, where she helped found their Dual Identity Leadership Program. This program has developed a great deal of talented people, many of whom are community leaders today.

Leadership in adversity

In 2019, she took up her current statutory position as Chair of the Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC).

Nguyen leads the VMC by providing a link between Victoria’s culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse communities and government. Just a few months into the role, she was thrown a bigger challenge as the COVID-19 pandemic consumed the Australian community.

During difficult times that disproportionately affected those represented by the VMC, the organisation played an essential role, giving the state's multicultural community a voice. Nguyen's leadership was tested as VMC worked with community to communicate government programs and restrictions. She was lauded by many for her outstanding service, earning a second four-year term.

She considers this time, in the face of adversity, to be one of the best successes of the Commission.

“The voices of [multicultural] communities are far more amplified, noticeable, involved and engaged now than we have ever seen. And that, you might say, is circumstantial, because we had the pandemic and hence needed to get to know those communities, right to the weakest link,” she says.

“To me, that is one of the most noticeable achievements.”

In 2021, Nguyen was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to the multicultural community of Victoria".

Leading the Victorian Multicultural Commission is the culmination of Nguyen's experiences as a refugee, a migrant, a leading community volunteer and a seasoned business executive. Her commitment is driven from the foundation of support she received from her family and the community around her while she came to Australia and gained an education. While she never directly pursued social work, today she gives back in many ways, just as she always intended.

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