Ms Tan Le

Ms Tan Le (BCom(Hons), LLB(Hons) 2000)

Distinguished Young Alumni Award 2011

Ms Tan Le (BCom(Hons), LLB(Hons) 2000) is founder and CEO of Emotiv Lifesciences, a bioinformatics company focused on identifying biomarkers in the brain for mental and other neurological conditions using electroencephalography. She is a technology entrepreneur, business executive and sought-after speaker.

In 2003 she co-founded Emotiv, a neuroengineering company that has developed a breakthrough interface technology for digital media taking inputs directly from the brain- revolutionising the field of brain-computer interface.

Before she co-founded Emotiv, Ms Le co-founded and ran SASme International, a pioneer in providing Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) platforms to telecommunication carriers and content aggregators, with branches in Asia and Europe. Ms Le was part of negotiating a successful merger for SASme in 2003.

Ms Le has been a Special Visitor to the UK as a guest of the British High Commission and Foreign Commonwealth Office, a Goodwill Ambassador for Australia in Asia, an Ambassador for Aboriginal reconciliation and a Patron of the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development Program.

She has also been an Ambassador for the Status of Women since 2001 and served on prominent boards, including Plan International Australia, the Australian Citizenship Council, the National Committee for Human Rights Education and the Centre for the Mind.

Ms Le’s story was featured in the Eternity Exhibition of the National Museum of Australia. She has been featured in the ‘Who's Who in Australia’ list since 1999 and ‘Who's Who of Australian Women’ list in 2007 and 2008, Fast Company's Most Influential Women in Technology in 2010 and Forbes' 50 Names You Need to Know in 2011. She has been honoured by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader since 2009.

Born in Vietnam, Ms Le migrated to Australia as a refugee with her family in 1981. At 15, she began helping Vietnamese people in Melbourne. By 18, she was president of the Vietnamese Community of Footscray Association (VCFA), (subsequently renamed the Australian Vietnamese Services Resource Centre- AVSRC) that was established to find employment for Vietnamese Australians. Her goal was to build bridges between the Vietnamese community and the wider Australian community. Through the organisation of community and charity events she succeeded in making the AVSRC one of the most effective ethnic support organisations in Australia.

Ms Le started studying at Monash at the age of 16. Awarded a KPMG Accounting Scholarship in 1997, she went on to complete a Bachelor of Commerce/Law (Honours). In 1998 and started her career with one of Australia's leading law firms, Freehills. She was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 2000.

Ms Le’s efforts were acknowledged when in 1998 she was awarded Young Australian of the Year and voted as one of Australia's 30 Most Successful Women Under 30.

Ms Le’s sense of community spirit has been a continuing part of her life to this day.

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