Since 2011 until the present, as Administrator of the Virginia Asian Foundation and Executive Director of the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce My Lan Tran expanded the then local area “Asian American Business Center” to today being the Mid Atlantic’s Asian American economic development agency, known as the Official Voice of more than 137,000 Asian American owned enterprises, in Virginia alone, in addition to network members from DC, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, engaging in global businesses in 4 regions: The Americas, Asia, The Middle East, and Africa.
For seven years Ms Tran directed the City of Richmond Office of Minority Business Development where, in partnership with local, regional, state, national, and global partners, she successfully designed and implemented a national pilot program offering more than 5,000 small-diverse businesses with the critical business technical services they need to succeed.
Ms Tran was International Trade Marketing Manager then Investment Policy Manager at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) where she directed global trade counseling, marketing, and investment policy. During her tenure at VEDP, she directly assisted thousands of Virginia exporters to enter the global markets and helped Virginia lure hundreds of major Fortune and Forbes global companies to invest in the Commonwealth.
Ms. Tran spent 15 years in the workforce development system design and administration for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She obtained leaderships positions in prestigious organizations such as the Export Import Club, Virginia International Business Alliance, National Association for Business Economics in Richmond, International Sister Cities Commission, and the Virginia Human Rights Commission; The Hispanic project Colaborando Juntos, Institute of Supply Management, the White House’s Asian American Pacific Initiatives, and national think tanks such as The Democracy Collaborative & Next Street.
From 2012 to 2017, Ms. Tran taught classes in Contemporary Asian Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University School of World Studies where she was also Advisor to the Asian Students majoring in Business and Finances. She is also fluent in 4 languages in: Spanish, English, Vietnamese, and French. She traveled to 8 countries and worked in France within the aerospace and building materials trade show sectors.
In 1981, Ms Tran obtained a Master’s degree in International Policy Studies and advanced studies in Asian Affairs from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California, and she completed post graduate business education from Thunderbird School of International Management, in Arizona, and advanced linguistics from the Université de Caen, France. In 2003, My Lan is certified as International Trade Specialist (CITS) from N.A.S.D.A (National Association of State Development Agencies), the U.S. Department of Commerce/International Trade Administration and as an Economic Development Specialist (CED) from the Virginia Economic Development Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia. She earned certifications in Supply Chain Management, Black Belt/Six Sigma from the Institute of Supply Management, and Dupont. She completed advanced research at the University of California in Berkeley, CA, the Post Naval Graduate School in Monterey, CA, and the U.S. Veterans Training Institute at the University of Denver, CO where she obtained a Certification as a U.S Veteran Services Specialist (CVET) by the University of Colorado.
Ms. Tran is Cabinet Advisors to more than a dozen regional and state institutions in the energy, transportation, housing, municipality governing, higher education, wellness, and regional economic development sectors.
Ms. Tran won a dozen of local, regional, state,and national business awards for service excellence for her work in transforming Massachusetts Workforce Training, the U. S Veterans Affairs, and the SBA “Champion of Small & Minority Business” for Virginia and SBA Region III Region III in 6 U.S states. She won the Metropolitan Business League’s Vision of Excellence Award, and the “Person Making a Difference of the year “ by the Richmond Times Dispatch newspaper and American Red Cross award for leadership in advancing Virginia’s Asian and Hispanic immigrant population.