Our Instructors
Mr. Douglas Abrams is an Adjunct Associate Professor with NUS Entrepreneurship Centre. He is also the Managing Director at Parallax Capital Management in Singapore, where he co-manages the private equity business. Prior to joining Parallax, Douglas managed information technology at JPMorgan for 13 years where from 1997 to 1999, he was Global Markets Head of Internet Marketing, and from 1991 to 1997, he was VP and Manager of Investment Banking Technology. Douglas graduated from Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Communications and received an MBA from the Wharton School.
Eunice has more than 10 years of teaching experience in entrepreneurship at a local institution of higher learning, teaching the modules of Innovation and Enterprise, Starting A Business, Enterprise and Creation Development, Innovation and Product Development, Business Planning, and Finance for Entrepreneurial Venture.
She also currently serves as a mentor and consultant to youths seeking for funding from the local institution (Enterprise Scheme) and the Government (Entrepreneurial Talent Development Fund). She has conducted short courses/seminars on entrepreneurship for schools and the public at large. She is also co-author of an entrepreneurship book entitled “Winning Strokes” featuring some of our best home-grown entrepreneurs.
Kim has over 25 years of international experience in the pharma and biotech industry in Scientific Affairs, Regulatory, Marketing, Business and Corporate Development, during which she negotiated and closed more than 80 licensing deals and numerous other deals. She worked at Les Laboratories Servier, Asia and Paris; Serono (MerckSerono) in the Asia-Pacific, European and International Operations and Debiopharm S.A., a drug development company in Lausanne, Switzerland as Vice-President, Business Development, Licensing and Legal Affairs and a member of the Management Board. After founding Creative Business Solutions in 2007, a biopharmaceutical consultancy for Business and Corporate Development, she continued to hold the position of Vice- President, Corporate Development at Debiopharm. She is a Board Member of Aurigene Technologies Inc and the Swiss Pharma Licensing Group. Kim Bill holds a Pharmacy degree from the National University of Singapore, an MBA from the University of Hull, UK and General and Marketing Management with Stanford University, USA and Bocconi University, Italy.
Adeline Hsieh (MBA, CPA) has more than 15 years of consulting, commercial and financial experience in pre-investment due diligence, consulting, financial management, and auditing. Her career began with an international accounting firm and proceeded to a public listed property developer and has been involved in the last several years with pre-investment due diligence for local investors in a due diligence consulting and financial management capacity for infra structure projects, real estate development and business start ups.
She holds a CPA professional qualifications as well as an MBA, majoring in Finance, from the National University of Singapore. In her projects consulting work, she has work with companies in China, Australia, and Singapore. Her present company has infrastructure development and investment consulting work in Sri Lanka, India, Middle East, America, Europe, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia.
Mr. Eric Feng is an award-winning public speaker, best-selling author and a highly sought after executive speech coach in both Singapore and the United States. Known for his generous dose of humor and incisive coaching ability, Eric has successfully helped over 3000 executives, managers and entrepreneurs to become confident and compelling speakers.
As a celebrated Toastmaster in Singapore, Eric has won several national level speech competitions. In 2005, he won the Division Humorous Contest in Philadelphia, US. Furthermore, in 2006 and 2007, he beat over 100 veteran speakers to win the International Speech Competition at Division Level. As acknowledgment for his speaking achievements, The Straits Times featured him as one of the top 25 alternate achievers in Singapore.
Eric’s success and achievements are also regularly featured in regional media like Straits Times, Business Times, Lianhe Zaobao and News Radio 93.8. He was most recently seen on TV, as a guest on Prime Time Morning, interviewed for this bestselling book - The FAQ Book on Public Speaking.
Eric’s dream is to travel around the world and impact people’s lives through his words and experiences. He believes that if everyday he can touch one person’s life, he knows that he has done his part for humanity.
Mr. Harris, Duane Lee
Mr. Harris is from San Francisco, California. He has been teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in Asia for nearly 10 years. Before that, he was a language translator in the United States for 21 years. Students often find themselves laughing and having fun while learning at the same time in Duane's classes. He believes the learning process can happen faster and more efficiently if students are enjoying themselves.
Mr. Harris specialises in teaching grammar, listening, conversation / speaking and pronunciation. He has been able to motivate students to improve their fluency and accuracy, as well as expand their vocabulary. It is his goal for students to be deeply interested in the topics they are discussing that they forget they are speaking and thinking in English. This is a more natural approach to learning that can lead to great improvement.
Mr. Harris Jay Vertlieb
Harris Jay Vertlieb is the Managing Director for Maveric Ltd (formally known as Singapore Total Automation Ltd), reporting to the Board of Directors on all activities of the company. He oversaw to the negotiations, due diligence, execution and closing. Harris also advises the acquisition of new businesses.
Harris has worked for M3nergy Berhad as the General Manager before he was seconded to Maveric.
He has the experience in setting up international sales network, international business development, marketing, PR and communication. He was also a government liason within South East Asia. Previously, Harris has managed 34 sales and business development managers, team of economists and administrative staff. He was responsible for overall strategy, product development and implementation. Residing in Singapore, Harris holds a Bachelor’s degree of Arts in Psychology from the Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York.
Mr. Robert A. Hulse
Robert A. Hulse is a partner in the Intellectual Property Group of Fenwick & West LLP, a law firm specializing in technology and life sciences matters. His practice focuses on prosecuting patent applications in a wide range of technical fields, including electronics, computer software, telecommunications, audio/video media, electromechanical and medical devices, and business methods. His practice also involves intellectual property counseling, such as evaluating risks from third-party patents and assisting in efforts to design around those patents. Serving as an independent expert evaluator for a major patent pool, he has significant experience determining the essentiality of patented technology to a number of standards bodies’ specifications. Mr. Hulse has also analyzed intellectual property issues for numerous due diligence and litigation matters.
In addition to providing legal services for his clients, Mr. Hulse is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where he teaches patent drafting and prosecution.
Dr. Jay Sian Eira
Dr. Sian has a doctorate in Social Anthropology from Oxford University. Since coming to Singapore 15 years ago, she has pursued her other great passion for art and design, which she lectures and writes about in a variety of capacities. She has run highly popular art and design appreciation courses for students and the public. She currently lectures part-time in art, design, anthropology and archaeology at Lasalle, Inspiration Design, the Centre for American Education and STPI.
Joshua Kwai holds both Bachelor and Master Degrees in Business Administration, and reads Doctorate degree in Business Administration with RMIT University, Australia. He served in the Ministry of Defence (Provost Division) as a Military Police Officer and Intelligence Department as a Field Intelligence Investigator from 1993 to 1996. During those years with the Defence Force, he was involved in both covert and overt operations such as surveillance exercises, Intel gatherings, security and control of military detention facilities, etc.
Apart from that, he also served in the Singapore Police Force from 1997 to 2000 as a Law Enforcer. In his career with the State Police Force, he served in both staff and line positions; from Regional Police Headquarters Officer to Team Policing Officer. While serving as a Law Enforcer, Joshua had acquired a substantial amount of experience in maintaining border security at various land checkpoints and sea port; Woodlands Joint Operations Command, Tuas Joint Operations Command & Jurong Fishery Port, together with other State Security Agencies (Immigration Department, Customs Department, Central Narcotics Bureau, K9 Police Dog Unit, etc). He also conducted various field operations and onsite investigations against illegal immigrants, smuggling of contrabands goods, controlled drugs, etc.
Joe Hani has an abundance of experience and technical know-how particularly in the fields of securing commercial buildings, and the financial and energy industries. He holds a Higher Diploma in Information Systems and various professional certifications such as the Fire Safety Manager (Singapore Civil Defence Academy), Maritime Policing (Singapore Police Coast Guards) and the Occupational, Safety and Health (Productivity and Standards). He is currently pursuing his certification in Physical Security Protection (PSP) from ASIS International and a Bachelor Degree in Business Information System from Victoria University.
Based on his regional communication ability and security technical knowledge, he was hired by ExxonMobil Inc. for the management position of Technical Advisor- Risk Management and spent most of his career with ExxonMobil in war-torn Aceh Indonesia (pre-Tsunami), where he coordinated and executed the Crisis Management and Emergency Evacuations Plans during the massive exodus and expatriate extractions. He was also the adviser to the security designs of Access Control, CCTV Systems, Intrusion Systems and Integrated Security Systems for ExxonMobil Aceh Production aviation, maritime and land transportation operations which spans the entire Aceh Province of Indonesia.
Being a former Police Officer with the Singapore Police Force and equipped with his industrial experiences, he has a career spanning more than a decade in the Security Industry, both commercially and in the civil service. He is trained as a Weapons Specialist, Driving Specialist, Martial Artist and a sniper during his career with the Singapore Police Force.
Dr. Fernando is a full time industry practitioner, part-time trainer and consultant. His areas of expertise include – strategy, leadership, organization design and human resource management. His clients have included IHS Energy, SAP China, Sumitomo, Textron, Media Corp, Pfizer, Caltex, Glower Hair Care, SCI, etc. He is the author of 3 books on Strategic HRM and is currently writing his 4th book on Competitive Strategy.
Dr. Fernado brings with him more than 15 years of industrial experience, having worked in Local, Japanese and American multinational companies. He is currently the Vice President for Strategy, HR and IT (Asia Pacific & Global Electronics) for a US$2 billion business unit of a US$16 Billion multi-industry USA multinational.
Dr. Fernado has a DBA from Gibaran Business School (Australia), MBus (Accounting) from Victoria University of Technology (Australia), Masters of Management from University of Southern Queensland (Australia), MBA from University of Leicester (UK) and Graduate Diploma in Management Consulting from Sheffield Hallam University (UK). He has trained at the under graduate and post-graduate level for a number of Australian, UK and American Universities and Professional bodies.]
Mr. Lau Tat Chuan (Management)
Tat Chuan has extensive management experience in the corporate sector. He started his career in contract manufacturing, working with line supervisors and line leaders to start up and manage the process for liquid crystal display products. Desiring to move into the service industry, Tat Chuan then went into change
management consulting with an international firm of management consultants. Some years later, he was offered an HR management position in a regional conglomerate that had businesses in paints, electronics, hospitality and real-estate.
Tat Chuan then took a break to do his MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management. After his MBA, he went into banking as a corporate banker with a global financial services company. His last position with the bank was managing a team of analysts to assess the bank’s credit risk exposure to customers in the real-estate, manufacturing, commodity-trading, retail and conglomerate industries.
Apart from his MBA, Tat Chuan also holds a Bachelor of Electrical & Computer Systems Engineering from Monash University; a Master of Arts in HRD from the George Washington University; and a Postgraduate Certificate in Dispute Resolution from the University of Massachusetts. He is also certified to consult with the Harrison Innerview and FIRO-B instruments.
Spencer Chan specializes in sales, marketing and customer service training and development. With over 20 years of experience that spans a spectrum covering management of fast-moving consumer goods, computers, luxury goods, food service, and consumer banking, Spencer brings with him a rich and diverse set of hands-on management expertise.
Spencer has worked extensively in the USA, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He spent over 13 years in Switzerland holding management positions at Hewlett-Packard’s European HQ in Geneva, Switzerland and as a marketing manager at Procter & Gamble with assignments in the Far East, Central America, and the
Caribbean. He then returned to Singapore and took up a position as marketing director of Citibank Global Consumer Banking in Singapore.
A former Colombo-Plan scholar and Rotary International Foundation Fellow, Spencer was an adjunct professor at the Geneva campus of the Webster University of St. Louis, USA from 1983 to 1990. Spencer was also on the part-time faculty of the Nanyang Technological University’s Nanyang Business School and the University of Leeds MBA program.
Spencer holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Western Australia and a Master’s degree in Business form Purdue University.
Dr. Constance Chay-Nemeth received her Ph.D. in Public Affairs and Issues Management from Purdue University, U.S.A. in 1998. She has more than 14 years of experience in the fields of education and communication both in the United States and Singapore. She teaches, trains, consults and researches in crisis management, public and corporate communications, public relations writing, campaigns and case studies, and health communication, among others. Besides training and consulting, Constance is also an adjunct instructor in business communication at a local university. She also held previous teaching positions at the Nanyang Technological University and Slippery Rock University (USA).
Constance has worked with a variety of organisations including Baxter International; Ogilvy Public Relations Singapore; the Public Relations Academy of the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts; NUS; Jackson, Jackson and Wagner (USA), and Sage Marcom Communications (USA). She has peer-reviewed for the Journal of Public Relations Research, Journal of Communication Management, and the International Communication Association and contributed to peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Public Relations Research, the Journal of Health Communication, and the Journal of Knowledge Management. In 2003, she wrote a book chapter on “Public Relations in Singapore,” published in the Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research and Practice.
Mr. Alfred Chan has been in management consulting for the past 20 years, with Arthur D. Little, Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), Arthur Andersen and KPMG, in the last two firms as a Partner and a Director respectively. Prior to management consulting, he was in investment banking for five years, with Morgan Guaranty (JP Morgan) and DBS Bank.
Mr. Albert Kong (Accounting, Finance, Strategy)
Mr. Albert Kong is the CEO of a franchising consulting company. The company has been established for 17 years. He is also the Executive council member of Singapore's Franchising and Licensing Association, Executive Council Member of the Institute of Management Consultants. Albert has spoken and trained in Franchising in more than 30 countries. He holds the China Chain store & Franchise Association award contributing to the growth of franchising in China for the last 10 years. He is also the co-author of the book "Developing and Managing a Franchise".
Three other trainers will include Christopher Tay, a specialist in the field of computerized inventory control and management system and Operations, Clarence Nah, a specialist in workflow and Corporate Services Management and Christine Cheung, specialising in finance, operations, marketing and systems implementation.
Koh Toh Guan is an accounting and finance professional who has more than 20 years experience in industry, professional firms and banks. The positions he occupied included financial controller, chief financial officer, director of financial and bank consulting, vice president and director in banks. Being a certified teacher and qualified accountant, Toh Guan’s higher degree is in finance.
Roger Tolbert is a partner in the Intellectual Property Group of Fenwick & West LLP, a law firm specializing in technology and life sciences matters. His practice focuses on technology licensing, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital and strategic investments, predominantly in the life sciences, cleantech and related industries. His representative transactions include: domestic and international collaborations for developers of gene therapies, cell therapies, therapeutic proteins, pharmaceutical products, medical devices, agricultural biotech, solar power projects, semiconductors and software; mergers, acquisitions, spin-outs and asset divestitures in a wide range of industries; technology transfers from universities and other nonprofit research institutions; manufacturing and distribution agreements, technical assistance agreements, clinical trial agreements and rights clearances.
Mr. Tolbert has been recognized multiple times as a Super Lawyer by Washington Law & Politics magazine and as a Top Lawyer by Seattle magazine. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for over ten years. He served as Program Chair and Speaker at five Biotechnology Conferences
Mr. Laurence Chan has been involved in the private equity and venture capital industry in Singapore since 1990. He has extensive experience in private equity and venture capital investments, fund management, corporate finance and IPOs, financial management, and working with technology start-ups.
Laurence started his career as an engineer in the Ministry of the Environment. Following that, he moved on to various managerial positions in corporate finance, commercial banking, and investment banking in several international banks. Laurence also started two technology venture capital firms and was active in private equity investments in Asia. He was the General Manager of a distribution company in Hong Kong which was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under his marketing and operational expertise.
Laurence is a Charted Financial Analyst Charterholder (USA) and holds a Diploma in Marketing from Chartered Institute of Marketing (U.K.). He obtained his MBA from
Mr. Felix Cheong (M.A., Philosophy in Creative Writing) was the recipient of the National Arts Council's Young Artist of the Year for Literature Award in 2000. His three books of poetry are Temptation and Other Poems (1998), I Watch the Stars Go Out (1999) and Broken by the Rain (2003). His work has been published in newspapers, poetry websites, foreign journals and 6 anthologies of Singaporean poetry. In 2001, he was the only foreign writer to be invited to both the Brisbane Writers' Festival and the Queensland Poetry Festival. He also read at the 2002 Queensland Poetry Festival.
As an editor, Felix helped put together Reshma Aquil's first collection of poetry Sleeping Wind (2001). He was also the guest-editor for a special feature on Singaporean poets on Slope poetry website and Papertiger (a CDROM anthology published in Australia). A mentor under the NAC's Mentor Access Programme, Felix has conducted a number of creative writing workshops in schools in Brisbane and Singapore. A literary activist, he has been actively involved in promoting Singaporean literature abroad. He was also instrumental in organising and leading a Singapore contingent on 3 successful reading tours - The Philippines (January 2001), Australia (July 2001) and the US (April 2002).
Ms. Cho Jin Hee is a native Korean language teacher who delivers Korean Language classes with communicative style. She had been teaching Korean language to international students mainly from Japan, China, and North America for three years at Korean Education Culture Center in Seoul, Korea. She had also conducted corporate training to Chinese managers from LG group in Korea for two months in 2004.
Jin Hee obtained her Master degree in Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language from Sangmyung University in 2005 and her Bachelor degree in Korean Language and Literature from Yonsei University in 1999.
Adrian has been a Headhunter since 2004 and currently heads the Professional Services Practice in Boyden Global Executive Search, one of the largest and oldest Executive Search Firms in the world. He graduated from the Business School at the National University of Singapore with a high Honours and joined Shell Eastern Petroleum under their Management Development Programme. He was fast-tracked and exposed to numerous functions of the business and in 2000, he left to start his own Consulting business.
In his current role as an Executive Search Professional, he has placed CFOs, MDs, VPs and other Senior Leaders with his MNC clients. With each successful placement, he plays an integral role as a “Career Coach” to these Business Leaders, many of whom have benefited greatly from his expertise. With a deep understanding and appreciation of the job-market and talent landscape, he is a much sought-after Headhunter and Career Counselor.
Dr. Chin Kwee Nyet (Ph.D., Modern Chinese Literature, University of Hong Kong) joined NUS as a Senior Lecturer in 2001, and was later appointed as the Convenor for the Chinese Language Programme at Centre for Language Studies (CLS). Through a collaboration with CLS, Kwee Nyet is appointed the Programme Director (Academic) of NUS Extension Intensive Mandarin Programme to ensure quality delivery of the contents by the instructors.
Kwee Nyet has been teaching Chinese language and literature courses since 1997 at NUS and the Open University (UniSIM) as a part-time lecturer. Before taking up the teaching appointment in NUS, she was a TV anchorwoman for a Mandarin news station for 18 years. Kwee Nyet had also initiated training programmes for TV presenters and reporters at MediaCorp Media. Currently, she is teaching the following courses: "Chinese for Business and Social Sciences" and "Chinese for Science and Technology" for the Chinese Language Programme.
Alvin is a Director of A.S. Louken Group Pte Ltd, a leading retail and F&B consultancy in Singapore. He heads the franchise division in the A.S. Louken, and has helped numerous A.S. Louken clients to franchise their business both within Singapore and overseas.
Alvin’s work in A.S. Louken centers around assisting clients by strategizing their expansion plans, protecting their intellectual property, developing their franchise systems, marketing their franchise offerings, and constructing their financial projections. He also counsels clients on managing their franchisees, and advises on overcoming various legal and regulatory issues related to franchising in the region.
His franchise project clients include Breadtalk, Polar Puffs & Cakes, Donut Factory, Kenko Foot Reflexology, Food Republic, Air Division, 1A Crispy Puffs, La Bloomingchic, Manchester United F&B, The Soup Spoon, Ministry Of Food, Original Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow, Olio Café And Restaurant and Sonata Rainbow Dancewear.
He is also currently working on franchise and business expansion projects for Columbia (Indonesia), FX1 Academy, Marmalade Pantry, Mind Language Centre, Mothers En Vogue, Muthu’s Curry, Prints, Love & Co, Cherie Hearts, Heatwave, and Orange Tee.
Alvin also advises clients on planning and developing IT (Information Technology) infrastructure, as well as strengthening their brand, so as to complement with their franchise and business expansion needs.
Alvin regularly speaks on franchise and business expansion topics, with various key Singaporean business organizations, such as Franchising and Licensing Association (Singapore), Singapore Business Federation, as well as various government related bodies.
Mr. Stefen Chow, born in 1980, describes his approach as ‘photography from the front line’ – the front line here is far from the edge of the studio lights; it is up in the heights of Everest and the cold depths of the Himalayas and Karakorams. He finds joy and satisfaction in juggling the risks of mountaineering and capturing the moment. <
One of the Singapore's outstanding mountaineers, Stefen has made significant ascents in Nepal, Tibet and Pakistan. Stefen's work has since been featured in publications and closed exhibitions. They have also been marketed overseas. Besides being a photographer, Stefen is also a motivational speaker for corporations and educational organisations. Having spoken at more than 50 talks, his favourite topic is passion, where he is able to relate classroom skills onto life and death decisions on the mountain.
Choy Kar Wai, Abel, BSc (Hons), MSc UK , MSHRI, is currently director of Precepts Systems International Pte Ltd and corporate Trainer of NUS Extension and SIM.
Abel has more than fifteen years of teaching and management consultancy experience. He is active in corporate training and has since trained hundreds of Executives in business strategy management and IT courses. He is the Director of a management training and consultancy firm that specialises in providing effective strategy development and performance management solutions to companies.
Abel has previously held academic and corporate positions as a Lecturer, Chief Information Officer and General Manager, responsible for strategic management and deployment of information technology. Combining his broad practical experience in IT systems and business management, he has been contributing effective business performance solutions to MNCs, local SME and public-listed companies.
Chris Gawan-Taylor is the Managing Director of Spinnaker Run, based in Singapore.
Spinnaker Run is an innovative strategy consultancy focussed on enabling profitable market
entry, business growth and select client representation. Chris advises and supports
companies to achieve their desired position when launching new business and fueling future
company growth in Asia and the Middle East.
His key industries cover funds management,
investment, property, hospitality / leisure, professional services and technology. Chris is
experienced in initiating, value add structuring, negotiating and closing deals.
Clients include Cougar a global provider of real estate solutions (financial software) for
investors with over US $1 billion under management for which Chris has spearheaded a solid
Asia platform in the last 18 months, growing business from 2 to 18 clients including ING,
Allco, CapitaLand, Frasers Centrepoint, UBS, Macquarie (most US$ multi billion assets
owned / under management).
Communicating and advising CEO, CFO, CIO, fund, asset
and IT managers of REITS / funds across Asia. Awarded finalist in the Austcham Business
Gateway Award 2006 for strong regional growth and service delivery.
In 2007 Chris advised a US denominated property fund on its direct investment strategy for
India, and ongoing is providing options for establishment of an Indochina property fund
including capital raisings in Asia and UK.
Currently guiding a regional property consultancy
on M&A options with a global property group. Previously Chris provided the strategy,
business network and substantial pipeline of committed business to launch a niche facility
management group regionally in Asia, and represented a development software company.
Chris is involved with APREA (Asian Public Real Estate Association) on several committees,
including leading the Portfolio Performance Reporting Best Practice Guidelines for Asian
REITS, contributing to the Singapore Monitory Authority Licensing for REIT managers, the
Environmental Committee and the APREA professional education initiative. As a member of
the education committee Chris recommended the formation of the APREA Institute which is
launching property finance certificate courses in Singapore and HK, for REIT and fund
managers.
Chris sits on the Australian Chamber of Commerce Board, the Australian
Graduate School of Management Alumni Board and is President of the AGSM Alumni in
Singapore. Chris chairs, speaks and delivers masterclasses at industry conferences.
Chris previously had regional property roles based in Hong Kong for most of the 1990s,
returning to the region in 2005, now residing in Singapore. Chris has an MBA from the
AGSM (1999) and advised at top tier global strategy firm, AT Kearney.
Chris has the ability
to evaluate and articulate key strategic success factors, risks and sustainable competitive
advantage. He contributes strong team leadership and has developed diverse and influential
global relationships.
Mrs. Chutima Chutatape graduated from the University of Queensland, Australia under the Colombo Plan Scholarship. She was also awarded the Graduate Scholarship to study at Mahidol University in Bangkok. Chutima lectured at Anatomy Department, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand before she started teaching Thai language to businesspeople, military personnel and expatriates in Singapore.
Mr. Codinach Antonio, a native Spanish from Barcelona is the Founder, Director and Teacher of Las LiLas School. With a background as a computer technician and graphic designer, Mr Codinach lectures part-time at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. With posterior education in the field of teaching Spanish as a foreign language, Antonio is well-equipped to take students on an invaluable Spanish learning journey. With a unique teaching style in which he fuses practical knowledge and incisive observations in his teaching, students can look forward to a lively and interactive experience in his classes.
Antonio holds a diploma in teaching E/LE from one of Spain's top language and Teacher Training schools, International House Barcelona.
Christina Dewi is a native speaker of Indonesian, graduated first class honors from Faculty of Letters, Petra Christian University Indonesia. She was a former lecturer of Tourism Department Petra Christian University, as well as private institutions in Indonesia. She has participated in language training and development courses and seminars and was featured in Indonesian newspapers for her academic achievements and teaching experience. Christina attended a professional training in the principles and practice of TEFL. She taught Indonesian level 1 and level 4 at the Centre for Language Studies, National University of Singapore from 2003-2008. Christina actively teaches at private companies, government agencies/ ministries and prominent financial institutions in Singapore and is actively involved in material development, cultural projects and examinations. She has assisted various institutions in organising custom-designed Indonesian courses for special projects and for proficiency assessments.
Dr. Er Jwee Ping, Programme Director of Asian Risk Management Institute, is also an adjunct faculty with the NUS Business School and Singapore Management University. He has many years of experiences in teaching and consulting. He holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (1st Class Honours) from the National University of Singapore, an MA (Applied Economics) and PhD (Risk Management and Insurance) from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Er has many years of risk management consulting experience alongside with his academic career. He has project managed numerous risk operational reviews, process and system design improvement projects. Organisations that he has worked with include the US EPA, the United Nations, the Singapore National Co-operatives Federation and the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Dr. Er has invaluable exposure in dealing with a wide spectrum of working environments and cultures in this region. Throughout his multi-industry consulting experience, Dr. Er has designed and conducted numerous programmes, seminars and workshops.
Mr. Eu Lee Koon is the Founder and Executive Director of Capital Plus Pte Ltd. Since 2000, Capital Plus has been providing investment-related services such as Funding, Due Diligence and Valuation as well as advisory services for Mergers and Acquisitions. Some of his clients are Singapore’s governmental agencies like Media Development Authority, Economic Development Board, Maritime and Port Authority and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Others are private sector listed companies such as Arianecorp Ltd, Inno Pacific Holdings Ltd and Eastern Holdings Ltd and many other unlisted companies.
From 1993 to 2000, prior to starting Capital Plus, he was a VC professional with various VC firms such as Walden International and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (Special Investments). He was involved in the evaluation, funding and valuation of business ventures at various stage of their developmental cycle.
Lee Koon holds a BE (hons) degree and an MBA from NUS.
Ms. Mihoko Eto Hobberstad graduated from Keio University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Journalism, and has acquired teaching licenses from Keio University. She has also studied in UK and Egypt while working as a journalist. Eto has her own firm which specialises in interpretation and translation services. She is also an editor and an award-winning writer (reporter and CM copy-writer) in Japan. Eto has also taught extensively in several institutions in Singapore and conducted Japanese Language training for the staff of numerous 5-star hotels here.
Mr. Bob Feldman is a trainer, consultant and coach for communication and presentation skills. Born and raised in Chicago, he also has lived and worked for lengthy periods on two other continents, primarily in Germany, and Singapore, where he now makes his home. Bob's areas of expertise are in the areas of interpersonal communication, stress management, creative expression, effective presentation, teambuilding, body language, self-image and personal development.
His workshops are highly participatory and motivating. Since coming to Southeast Asia, Bob has been conducting training extensively at Singapore Civil Service College's Institute for Public Administration and Management (IPAM), providing in-house and general training for the Ministry of Health, Singapore Immigration and Registration, National Environment Agency, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Manpower, among others. His private clients for seminars, talks and courses include Singapore Power Supply, Proctor and Gamble, Fraser and Neave Limited, G2000 Apparel, Credit Suisse First Boston, Trans-Link Logistics and Great Eastern Life.
Bob holds a Bachelor's degree (B.A.) in Movement, Psychology and Education and a Masters Degree (M.Ed.) in Adult and Continuing Education from the University of Illinois. He is also a certified massage therapist who is certified to practice the Feldenkrais Method of "Awareness through Movement" and has worked in conjunction with healthcare and medical professionals.
Professor Feng Pao Hsii is currently an Adjunct Professor with Faculty of Medicine, NUS and a consultant physician and rheumatologist. He studied medicine in the University of Hong Kong and Malaya (Singapore branch) and did postgraduate work in the USA, UK and Israel. Having practised medicine in institutions for the past 40 years, he recently retired from the Ministry of Health to pursue other interests including public education and medical informatics. In addition to his own private practice in rheumatology and internal medicine, he is a visiting consultant physician to two restructured hospitals. He is also active in charity work as Chairman of the National Arthritis Foundation.
Prof. Feng is a member of a number of prestigious medical societies both locally and overseas. He is a Fellow of six overseas Colleges of Medicine and has spoken at numerous medical meetings internationally, regionally and locally. He has authored over 120 research papers in peer-reviewed journals, and contributed and edited a number of medical books, medical journals and newsletters.
For services rendered to the area of Medicine, he received the Public Administration Medal (gold) from the Government of Singapore in 1997.
Since 1989, Dr. Tay lectures at NUS, currently holding the rank of Associate Professor. He also held a concurrent appointment at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands (TU/e) from 2002 to 2007. He was the Programme Manager of Embedded System Design at the Design Technology Institute (DTI). DTI is a Singapore registered corporation, jointly owned by NUS and Technische Universiteit Eindhoven.
Teng Tiow is a director of SMB United Ltd. SMB United Ltd is a profitable and successful medium-size public company listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange. SMB United Ltd deals with electric switchgear design and intelligent power system monitoring and control. He is also a founding member of Outreach Edusys Pte Ltd, a company that develops state-of-the-art education technology solutions and computer aided embedded software development platform.
Since 1989, Teng Tiow has received cumulative research funding of about S$1.1mil from the NUS Research Grants, Motorola Electronics, Singapore Telecoms, Texas Instruments and A*STAR. He has authored more than 70 technical papers, and a book “High Performance Control”, Birkhauser, series of Systems and Control: Foundations and Applications, 1999.
Mr. Michael Fong has consulted, trained and facilitated for multi-national corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for over 15 years. Areas of hard skills training he has provided include process auditing and quality assurance, project management, and software engineering. Soft skills workshops that Michael has facilitated comprise areas such as actuation (self-discovery), bonding and team work communications, creative/proactive thinking, leadership managing change, personal profiling and team leading. Michael also conducts outdoor adventure learning programmes (high and low rope elements) and assists clients with organisational development. His workshops are instructional and/or action-based, depending on the nature of the subject.<
Michael holds a B.Sc from RMIT University, a PG.Dip from University of Wollongong and an Associate's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. He is also a Certified Quality Analyst (CQI) and a Lead Auditor (IRCA).
Dr. Bob Foo
Dr. Bob Foo, (Ph.D., FCIM), has been a Corporate Consultant and Trainer since 1990. His areas of expertise and specialisation are in strategic selling, negotiation, marketing and strategic management. Since 1990, he has worked with various companies and organisations to help formulate and develop effective sales and marketing strategies. He has designed and conducted training for British Airways, Kerry Ingredients, Hermes-Epitek, Computer Associates, Galderma, Lesaffre, Lee Hwa Jewelry, Pico Art, Trans Island Bus Services, Singapore Technologies Group, Sheraton Towers Hotel, Associated Springs, Firmenich, Hunter Douglas, SMC Pneumatics, MK Electric, Malaya British Assurance, Malayawata Steel, Pernas Trading, Fisher Scientific SEA, Asian Overland Tours, and many others. Prior to venturing out on his own, Bob had worked for over ten years in senior management positions with multi-national corporations dealing in diverse products and services in commerce and industry. In his corporate career, he had travelled to the U.S., Europe and the Asia Pacific region and participated in the many facets of strategic selling, marketing and management at a senior level.
Bob has a Ph.D. from University of Nottingham, a M.Sc. in International Marketing from University of Strathclyde as well as several other professional qualifications. He is also a Chartered Marketer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
Ms. Elisabetta Franzoso is a charismatic Corporate Trainer, Speaker, Health and Wellness Coach, and Personal and Executive Coach. She has a multi-dimensional background in Somatic Psychology, Image Consultancy and Emotional Management, as well as Creative Movement and Fitness. She also extensively trained in the U.S. with successful motivational coaches such as Anthony Robbins. She founded InsideOutYou Coaching and Training in 2001, with a deep passion for motivating workshops participants to enhance their physical, intellectual, emotional and relational well-being, supporting them in becoming more effective, successful and balanced in their interpersonal and professional lives. Elisabetta is regarded as an enthusiastic, energetic trainer, speaker and coach, with a warm capacity for developing trust and rapport in individuals in the working environment, as well as in life. Elisabetta's message to the corporate world and her clients is: "Building 'WellBeing' from the inside enhances personal effectiveness outside, resulting in high standards of performance at work and in life".
Elisabetta holds a Bachelor Degree in Education from University of Milan, Italy, as well as a Master Degree in Psychological Counselling from University of South Australia.
Madam Fu Wei graduated with a BA in Language Education from Shanghai Teachers' University and a MA in Applied Linguistics from NUS. She is a member of Singapore Association of Applied Linguistics.
Mrs. Rosa Gelpke is a Peruvian Professor holding an Instructor's Degree in teaching Spanish. Her interest in teaching led her to continue her studies at San Marcos to become a Teacher of Arts. When she moved to Switzerland, Rosa attended Migros Schuela where she took a specialisation course in Teaching Adults and became an accredited examiner of the Diploma of Spanish. Rosa has been teaching Spanish at NUS for several years.
Christopher Goh holds a Bachelor of Business Degree from La Trobe University, Australia. He is also well trained in Security Management, Bomb Incident Management, Key Point & Strategic Site Security, Investigation Techniques and Management, Office Security Management, Access Control and Intrusion Detection Technologies, Security Procedure Development and Enforcement.
He specialises in Risk Assessments, Security Audits and Reviews, Security Solutions Design, and Security Project Implementations. As a pioneer in STET Homeland Security, he is also responsible for new business development both locally and overseas, focusing in Middle East Market. Prior to joining STET, Christopher was an Associate Security Consultant and a Solutions Executive in the Security Consultancy Department of the Commercial & Industrial Security Corporation (CISCO).
Christopher is also an ex-police officer who had served in the Police Coast Guard. During the stint of his Coast Guard tour, his duties included enforcing law and order in Singapore Territorial Waters, and protection of the off shore key installations.
Mr. David Goldwich has a BA degree in political science with a focus on political communication, organisational theory and psychology. He also has an MBA with a specialization in Business Mgt and Organisation and a JD degree. In the United States, David practiced law for more than 10 years and is also trined as a mediator.
As a trainer, Davids’s specialisation is in communications and presentation, negotiations, creativity and innovation.
Mr. Alvin Ho, (M.Sc, Industrial Engineering; Certified Six Sigma Black Belt), was responsible for leading Six Sigma teams while at Agilent Technologies. He achieved combined savings of USD1.5 million for Six Sigma Projects in year 2005. He is now with International Enterprise Singapore and is responsible for crafting and implementing nation-wide policies to grow the Automotive Component Manufacturing Industry of Singapore. Alvin develops in-depth research studies and market trend analysis and works closely with senior management of small and medium-sized enterprises to put together strategic business plans and business and technology roadmaps for globalisation.
Mr. Januar Sugeng has spent more than 18 years in managerial positions of various aspects of IT, from training needs analysis to systems evaluation, including administration and staff development. He has a proven record of successful design and impementation of IT systems for large multi-national corporations as he is aware of the expectations and requirements of personnel at all levels of responsibility.
Januar specialises in delivering curriculum in Linux, Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server among the many products that he could train. He holds various industrial certifications, such as LPIC 1, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) and Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) which are supported by many years of training experience and IT field work. He has become a total solution provider, proficient in network and hardware configuration and support. Januar holds a degree in electronics technology from the U.S.
A qualified and experienced teacher, Ms. Julie Khoo has conducted workshops on The Power of Body Language in Networking and Interviews at the NUS Business School. She has also taught career planning, including resume-writing and interview skills, at Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University. She taught at Singapore Polytechnic for 8 years, specialising in Effective Interpersonal Communication Skills (EIC). Her main task was to help equip her final-year students with the necessary soft skills for work.
Julie has also done training in a cross-cultural context for both students and working professionals. At NUS, she taught language and communication skills to PRC scholars for five years. She has trained foreign working professionals such as PRC engineers from Sembcorp and Vietnamese technical teachers from the Vietnam-Singapore Technical Training Centre. She also imparted language and communication skills to adult trainees from South Korea, India, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia at Far Eastern Bible College for three years.
Julie enjoys being able to connect with her trainees and draw out the best in them. Participants of her workshops and classes have consistently described her sessions as highly interactive, interesting, engaging and practical in their feedback.
Ms. Kim Ji Min worked as a trainer at Amore Pacific Corporation which is the biggest cosmetic company in Korea since December 2004 where she was involved in planning, conducting courses and training. She also volunteered during the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup tournament as an interpreter. Currently, she assists NUS Extension in its Korean Language Program (KLP) as a Coordinator. She leads the classes with "Communicative style".
Ji Min graduated from Kyung Hee University with a B.A. in Business Administration. She received training in teaching Korean as a foreign language at Kyung Hee University in 2006.
Ms. Kim Kwang Ok is a native Korean who started teaching Korean as a foreign language with then NUS Extramural Studies from 1991 to 1993 and she rejoined NUS Extension in August 2007 with new communicative teaching methodologies. Living more than 20 years in Singapore has made Kwang Ok understand her Singaporean students well. She is approachable and patient to all her students.
Kwang Ok graduated from Seong Shin Women's University in Seoul in 1986, majoring in English literature and Japanese Language.
Before join NUS Extension, Ms. Kim Se Hwa has been working as a Korean language instructor cum programme coordinator in the Institute of International Education, Kyung Hee University of Korea. From year 2005 to 2006, Ms. Kim was selected to lecture to PRC undergraduates at the Korean Language Department, Qingdao University of China.
Se Hwa holds a MA in Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language and a BA in Korean Language and Literature from Kyung Hee University, Korea. She has received and successfully completed an intensive training programme of Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language at the Yon Sei University, Korea.
Kris Childress has practical global experience helping businesses to create and increase sales in both familiar and new markets. The way he often puts it is that he find companies with "better mousetraps" and helps them convince consumers that they have "mice" and need a "mousetrap".
He has worked in marketing cutting edge hardware, software and services (understanding the common and distinct sales issues of all three marketing domains). He is a mentor with the National University of Singapore’s Enterprise Incubator.
Ms. Sasiwimol is a Thai lecturer at the Centre for Language Studies of NUS where she has been teaching Thai as a foreign language to students of various proficiency levels since 1999. Her research interests are in the development of teaching materials, strategy use in foreign language learning, and foreign language teaching methodology.
Sasiwimol receives her MA degree in English Studies from NUS in 2000.
Cindy Hales was trained in The London College of Fashion & Clothing Technology. For more than 25 years, she’s been a design consultant/lecturer in the fashion industry. She is the VP & resident costume designer of Players Theatre- a non profit children’s theatre company supported by National Arts Council.
Cindy Hales Collections have been exhibited both locally at various local designers’ exhibitions & internationally at The Osaka Designers’ Exhibition; a trade mission exhibition supported by The Trade Development Board Singapore.
She dresses professional & diplomat ladies and was costume designer for these productions; Luna-Id’s The lover and The Dumb Waiter, The Physicists which played at The Durrenmatt Festival; it won Production of the Year at the 2005 Life! Theatre Awards, Escape Theatre’s Shirley Valentine and numerous others sold out productions with Players Theatre www.theplayerstheatre.org.
Cindy was fashion columnist with The Straits times, and was a lecturer with Lasalle College of The Arts, Lasalle International, and the previous NUS Extra Mural Studies Department.
Associate Professor Lau Geok Theng
The research interests of Associate Professor Lau Geok Theng are in the areas of business-to-business marketing, relationship marketing, purchasing and supply chain management and Asia-Pacific Marketing. He had conducted market studies and advised business firms in Singapore on effective marketing strategies. Some of these companies include Kintetsu World Express (S) Pte Ltd, Tong Gardens Food Products (S) Pte Ltd, Singapore Telecommunications Limited, Delifrance Singapore and Asia-Pacific Breweries. He has also conducted seminars for L’Oreal Singapore, MINDEF and Jurong Town Corporation.
Geok Theng has co-authored five books on marketing, starting a small business, the Growth Triangle and improving productivity through human resource development and franchising. His articles have appeared in various regional and international journals as well as conference proceedings. He is a governing council member of the Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management.
Geok Theng obtained his BBA (Hons) from NUS and his PhD. in Business Administration from Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario in Canada.
Ms. Brenda Lee (B.A. (Hons), Dip. Ed., M.A.) has been training for the past 11 years, specialising in business communication programmes. Her clients include organisations from the public and the private sectors. Among her accomplishments are six training manuals and a book entitled FAQs about the English Language for the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM).
Ms. Lee Yumiko has lectured at Department of Japanese Studies, NUS from 1983 - 1991. She has also taught Japanese Language in various institutions in Singapore such as Singapore Poly and Singapore American School as well as at in-service training in multi-national corporations and statutory boards. Currently, she teaches at Center for Language Studies, NUS. Yumiko is also MD of J. Highways Pte Ltd, which organises Japan Immersion Programmes for learners of Japanese Language to experience Japan’s culture and communicate with local Japanese there. She is also a trained professional simulational interpreter in Japanese/English.
Yumiko holds a B.A. from Seinan Gakuin University and MA. from San Diego Sate University.
Associate Professor Frederic Levy
Frederic currently holds the position of Scientific Evaluator at Debiopharm SA where he is responsible for evaluating oncology in-licensing opportunities. Frederic is also the Vice- President of the Swiss Society for Biochemistry, a Board member of “Platform Biology”, Swiss Academy of Sciences and Associate Professor at the University of Lausanne.
Previously he was the Group Leader, at the Ludwig Insititute for Cancer Research, focusing on oncology therapeutics and the development of cancer vaccines where he managed a technicians). Additionally, Frederic was involved in scientific consulting where he helped with the search and management of research funds as well as oral and written presentations of scientific results.
Mr. Leonardo Talpo is an experienced Personal Coach, Psychological Relationship Counselor and Trainer. He has over 25 years of work experience in the international and multi-cultural corporate environment. His strength is empowering people to be effective from the inside out in their businesses, personal lives and relationships. Leonardo brings to his clients his openness, honesty, creativity and sense of humor combined with the wisdom gained through his own life challenges, his studies and practical experiences in the area of human development.
Leonardo holds a Master in Social Science majoring in Counseling and a Certification in NLP Master Practitioner.
Upon graduation, Madam Li Haiyu is in the teaching profession. In her 24 years of teaching career, she has won many national teaching excellence awards, and was also one of the few teachers appointed as qualified supervisors of the National Literary Committee.
Haiyu descends from a lineage of native Koreans, and started learning and speaking Korean language from a very young age. As a professional linguist with an in-depth knowledge of both Chinese and Korean Languages, she brings the best to the teaching of the Korean language to local adults. She is able to teach the rigours of the Korean language with the combination of immaculate Chinese language, leaving no ambiguity in the student’s mind.
Mr. Lian Eng Huat is an accomplished IT/IS auditor for more than 10 years. He has audited major banking applications including front-office and back-office as well as infrastructure such as networks, firewalls and remote access systems. He has experience in global audits and has managed IT audit teams to undertake regional branch office audits.
Eng Huat holds two Masters degrees, one in Communications Software Management from University of Essex (U.K.) and another in Finance from RMIT (Australia). In addition, he is also a Certified Information Systems Security professional, and a Certified Ethical Hacker.
Mr. Lim How is a psychologist-researcher by training (M.S., Yale University), and a corporate trainer-consultant by profession. In the past 10 years, he has conducted more than 1000 seminars and workshops, and provided consulting services to major corporations in several parts of the world including Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Broadly, his professional passions include teaching/training, consulting, research, and writing.
How has also written the following books, Seeds of Winning (1999), Stronger Heart, Wiser Mind. (2001), Reality Management: Four big ideas (working project). His professional specialty can be broadly categorised into the following areas, Human Relations and Customer Relations, Communication, Influence and Persuasion, Thinking, and Leadership and Coaching.
Mr. Lim Liat started BVOTECH in Feb 2004 to provide training and consulting on helping businesses to be more successful through Business Value Driven Management and Information Technology. His expertise includes Analysis, Design and Execution of Strategies, Value and Performance management using Kaplan and Norton’s Strategy Driven Balanced Scorecard, Innovation and Creative Problem Solving (Triz, BVITS), Innovation Strategies like Blue Ocean, Technology Forecasting, Information Technology Governance and Portfolio Management, Agile Development Methodology and Technology and due-diligence. His clients include governmental ministries, statutory boards, government-linked corporations, multi-national corporations and start-ups. He has sat on the advisory boards of institutes of higher learning. He has more than 30 years of IT and Management experience.
A pioneer of Singapore Computer Systems in 1980, Liat contributed to the its listing on Singapore Exchange, with a revenue of $500million operating in over 9 countries. He left as Deputy CEO in 2003 to start BVOTECH.
Liat was a Public Service Commission Merit and Commonwealth Scholar. He obtained his B. Industrial and System Engineering (1st Class Honour with Gold Metal) from University of Singapore in 1974 and M. Industrial Engineering from University of Alberta, Canada, 1976. He is a joint author of 5 U.S. Registered Patents in End User Query and Data Modeling.
Mr Lim is a graduate of the Singapore Teachers’ Training College. Registered with the MOE, he taught in government and private schools for more than 10 years.
He became the Director and Trainer of the Speedreading Centre in 1972 when it was established. He has conducted the Speedreading Course for thousands of individuals from the public as well as numerous companies and schools such as ESSO, HDB, MINDEF, DBS, HSBC, Citibank, HP, Singapore Power, ST Group, SIA, RI, RGS, ACS etc.
Mr Lim has had a life-long passion for teaching and promoting education. With his background as an educator, trainer and entrepreneur, he had taken about upon himself the challenging task of teaching the intricate skills and techniques of Speedreading to those who need or want to improve their reading comprehension efficiency inorder to cope with the demand of their job, career or study in today’s highly-sophisticated and fast-changing knowledge economy.
Mr. Lim Thou Liang has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, which includes 10 years of training experience in system courses, specialising in the complete range of Microsoft BackOffice products. As one of the pioneer MCTs and MCSE in Asia, Thou Liang has been an early starter in Microsoft technology. He is one of the leading IT Trainer/Consultant and has trained numerous IT professionals, both locally and around the S.E. Asia region. He also had experience in Novell NetWare, Microsoft LAN Manager, LanTastic, Path Work and Banyan Vines. Thou Liang's other areas of expertise include NT, Windows 2000, SQL, Visual Basic, various versions of C language, Security and many more.
Thou Liang holds a computer engineering degree from University of Newcastle, Australia.
Dr Lim Thou Tin’s work experience includes working in large Singapore companies to MNCs in senior corporate, IT and project management positions. As a management consultant and practitioner at Decision Modelling Systems, he has facilitated organizational initiatives/projects over a span of more than 15 years in the region, including Australia, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, India, Indonesia and Thailand. He has also served in positions such as corporate advisor, chief information officer and chief operating officer in start-up companies in Singapore. His area of involvement includes helping organizations to plan their corporate IT to building and management of their financial decision support systems, corporate knowledge and ecommerce portals. His consulting work includes working with both the financial and services industries to help them to develop corporate, financial and knowledge models to address their decision-making needs.
Dr. Lim graduated with a bachelor of business administration degree from the National University of Singapore and holds masters in information systems and knowledge management with further postgraduate qualifications in systems analysis, intelligent systems, marketing, management consulting and training. Dr. Lim earned his doctorate in business administration from the Southern Cross University, Australia with current research interests in information systems and business modeling. He is also a fellow member of American Academy of Financial Management and a certified business intelligence professional in analytics.
Graduated from East China Normal University located in Shanghai with BA English Language and Literature, Di Qin started his career as a Translator / Interpreter in Polaroid Shanghai Office after leaving his first post as an English teacher. The service with various business companies thereafter enriched his bilingual skills, as well as the experience in bridging the linguistic and cultural gap. During the period Di Qin also passed the enrolment exam to be eligible for Certificate of Simultaneous Interpretation (higher level).
Madam Lou Yan (MA in Economics, Fudan University) started her teaching career at Fudan University in 1988. Her expertise is in teaching Chinese Language and Business Conversation. Since 1991, Madam Lou Yan has been teaching subjects such as "Speak Mandarin", "Short Essays/Stories" and "Business Conversation" at NUS. One of her research interests involves the analysis on the relationship between language and economic development.
Madam Lou Yan has a number of publications to her credit. For instance, she has published "Before implementation of the leasing system" and "The reconstruction of Lukou town" in Some Thoughts of Administrators in 1989. Another publication is "Leasing: A new prospect for the economics reform", published in 1988.
Trained as an accountant, Mr Michael Lum is a Master Trainer with HardKnocksCollege.com, associate trainer in NUS Extension and an associate faculty in SIM University. He is a licensed trainer for American Board of NLP, Time Line Therapy Association, American Board of Hypnotherapy, American Management Association International and American Institute of Small Business. He is also a Louis Allen Program Leader, Advanced Toastmaster (Gold), Laughter Yoga Instructor, Stress Management Instructor with International Association of Counsellors and Therapists and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with Project Management Institute (PMI).
In 2003, in recognition for his work amongst retrenched workers, he was awarded ABC True Hero. Mr Lum has authored 3 bestselling books – I Once Wore Diapers, Who Broke My Rice Bowl? and From Beggars to Millionaires.
Mr. Lum holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from NUS, a Master of Commerce from University of New South Wales and a Graduate Diploma (Training and Development) from Singapore Civil Service College. For the last 15 years, Mr Lum has conducted various management programs for thousands of executives in the region.
Madam. May Than Nwe, (B.Sc (Hons), M.Sc., Dip. Ed., MBA) is a native Myanmar born in Yangon. Effectively bilingual in English and Myanmar, she has extensive lecturing, conducting and translating experience in the Myanmar language. She has been an Associate Trainer with NUS Extension for over a decade. In addition, Than Nwe has been teaching and supervising students from the Ministry of Defense and Home Affairs. One of her publications includes "Conversational Myanmar" in 1997.
Mr. Mike McDannell had more than 25 years of experience in studying, practicing, and consulting on leadership. His military background consists of assignments alternating between hands-on leadership and the study and teaching of leadership. He has translated his military experiences into successful leadership application in senior positions in the business world.
Mike served as Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff at the U.S. Army Headquarters for Southwest Asia. He also directed the leader development for the U.S. Corps of Cadets at West Point, U.S.A. He was once an advisor to the government of Sri Lanka and the Republic of the Maldives and a consultant to the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons on effective leadership and administration of the federal penal system. He also designed, implemented, and supervised leader development system using 360° feedback. Mike was also the Senior Editor of “Leadership In Organisations,” a text for leadership course for cadets at West Point and the co-author of “Army Field Manual 22-100”, “Leadership”, and “Army Concept for Leadership In the 21st Century”.
He taught 'Marketing and Managing The Volunteer Army' as a graduate course at Yale University and Fundamentals of Leadership, Work Design, Motivation, Personnel Management, Quantitative Decision Making, and Advanced Principles of Management at the United States Military Academy, West Point, U.S.A. as well as 'Leadership and Ethics for the Leaders of the 21st Century" at the Marshall Center, NATO, Germany.
Mike holds a BS from the United States Military Academy in 1972 and MBA from Yale School of Management in 1980.
Dr. John Miksic is an Associate Professor of Southeast Asian Studies Programme in NUS. His teaching interests include Art and History of Pre-modern S.E. Asia, Classical civilizations of S.E. Asia and Archaeology of S.E. Asia. Some of his publications include The Legacy of Majapahit, National Heritage Board (Singapore) 1995, The Java Sea Wreck Archaeological Report, Annapolis: Pacific Sea Resources, 1997 and Sculpture in Sumatra: classical in The Dictionary of Art, London: Macmillan, 1997. Besides his teaching services in NUS, John also offers consultation services at National Parks Board (Singapore). He acts as an advisor for the Fort Canning History Centre Project, conducts archaeological excavations and supervises constructions of designs for displays for Fort Canning Hill. John is a member of Asian Civilizations Museum Board and Knowledge Net Advisory Board in cooperation with Singapore National Archives.
Mr. Bob Mittelsdorf has over 20 years of experience as a practicing project manager. Over the years, he has helped many multi-national corporations and large organisations with leading and managing projects. His experience covers all aspects of development and project management, including feasibility studies, sales forecasting and marketing, estimating and budgeting, configuration management, change control, and quality assurance. Initially trained in Architecture at Kent State University, Bob holds a BSc from the University of the State of New York, an MBA from the National University of Singapore, and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with the Project Management Institute (PMI), USA.
Marcel Mongeon
Marcel Mongeon is the President of Mongeon Consulting Inc. Mongeon IP Coaching, a division of Mongeon Consulting Inc., provides a variety of services to companies and institutions focused on the protection, transfer and commercialisation of new technologies, ideas and intellectual property (IP). They provide strategic assessments and audits of intellectual property management practices and facilitate the development of intellectual asset management strategies. They have also been involved in setting up technology transfer programmes and assisting technology transfer staff to negotiate licenses and industry sponsored research agreements with private companies and government institutions.
Marcel, being an INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY COACH, has assisted many institutions and companies with the development and implementation of strategies to profit from their intangible assets through the protection, transfer and commercialisation of new technologies, ideas and intellectual property (IP).He is well versed in the applicable national and international legal environments that affect intellectual assets. He is also a regular speaker at national and international conferences and seminars and has served on many boards including the Canadian Council of Better Business Bureaus and the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). Marcel’s experience includes having been in charge of the technology transfer office at McMaster University overseeing all sponsored research, patenting and commercialisation activities of this comprehensive university from 1997 to 2006.
He is a member of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada and a Canadian Registered Patent and Trade-mark Agent. In 2006, Marcel was recognised for his services to the Canadian technology transfer community by being awarded the Order of the Beaver by the Association for the Commercialisation of Canadian Technology (ACCT).
Ms. Shubha Narayanan is the Managing Partner of HR Strategies, in Asia. She has over 17 years of consulting and industry experience. Till recently, she was Senior Consultant and Practice leader with Towers Perrin, Singapore, in the Change Management and Human Resource Management practice. She began her consulting career with KPMG Peat Marwick in India and continued with them in Dubai, in their Management Consultancy Division. While in Dubai, she also worked as the Head of Human Resources for a trading conglomerate representing Nissan.
Shubha specialises in HRM systems and Change Management. Typical project areas include Organisation Structure Design, Performance Management, Talent Management, Balanced Scorecard, Culture Change Strategy, Change Readiness Assessment, etc. She has worked with clients in the government and private sector. Her clients include local companies and multi-national corporations. In this region, she has completed projects in Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan, Bangkok, India and Brunei. A partial list of her clients in this region include Hewlett Packard Asia Pacific, IBM, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defence, NETS, Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore Police Force, Ministry of Manpower, Shell - Malaysia and Brunei, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank and Axcelis Corporation. Apart from consulting, Shubha enjoys teaching and has taught courses for a University of Leicester distance learning programme. She has also given guest lectures at the NUS Business School and is a frequent speaker at local conferences.
Shubha holds a Bachelor's degree in Science (BSc), a Bachelor of Law and a MBA.
Neo Kok Beng is Founder of NeoCapital Group, an innovation-development catalyst and accelerator that incubates high-growth technology-based companies for the global markets. He was Vice-President at Singapore Technologies Electronics, specializing in new business development. He had set up new businesses divisions and spin-offs in mobile payment, information security and telematics.
Kok Beng teaches technology entrepreneurship in NUS (both NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and NUS Business School). He is also researching technology management and technological innovation strategies at the Division of Engineering & Technology Management, Faculty of Engineering. Kok Beng graduated with an MBA (NTU) on Hewlett-Packard Scholarship, and PostGrad Diploma (ICIS) on Singapore Computer Systems Scholarship, and B.Eng (Hons) from NUS. He attended the Program on Science, Technology & Innovation Policy at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; and the China Management Programme at Tsinghua University.
Mr. Andrew Ng is a Fellow at the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and the Chief Executive Officer of Greater China Consult, a leading consultancy group that specialises in strategic business development consultancy in the China market as well as assisting China-based companies in their global business development ventures. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Minot State University, USA and an Adjunct Senior.
Andrew has over 20 years of international marketing and business development experience working with various FORTUNE 500 multi-national corporations in the high technology and fast moving consumer goods industries. He was the Area Vice President (Asia Pacific) of Schwan Stabilo before he started his own consulting practice. Prior to working with Schwan Stabilo from 1991 to 1998, he had spent 10 years in the high technology industry as Managing Director, Asia Pacific for Control Data Corporation (CDC) and Seagate Technology.
Being a veteran in the China market, Andrew has spent the last 20 years in various business development appointments. He was solely responsible for setting up the distribution network in 28 cities and building up the businesses profitably for Control Data, Seagate and Schwan Stabilo in China. He has vast experience in spearheading high-tech start-ups, joint venture negotiations and management of various china ventures. He consults actively for multi-national companies; government linked companies, small and medium sized enterprises, as well as leading public listed Chinese companies in International Business Development, International Marketing, Market Entry Strategies, Key Accounts and Distribution Management.
Andrew’s fortes are strategic business development, international marketing, nurturing technopreneurial start-ups and E-Business, and speaks at a variety of International and regional conferences and specialises in conducting customised in house training programs for various multi-national corporations all over Asia.
He holds a Master in Business Administration degree from National University of Singapore and is also a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing. He was also a recipient of the "Spirit of Enterprise" award in 2003.
Mr. Steve K. Ngo (LLM, FHKIArb, MCIArb, FRSA, BSc, IEng.) is the Managing Director and Lead Course Developer of Adler Consulting Group and Adler Centre for Dispute Resolution. He specialises in international commercial arbitration and foreign and comparative law. Apart from teaching and research, he acts as consultant on arbitration laws as well as represents clients as arbitration attorney in the region. Between 1998 and 2000, he handled a combined 100 cases involving construction claims mediation and dispute resolution.
Steve is appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Shenzhen University, Research Centre for Special Economics Zone and Foreign Trade University, Hanoi. He also lectures extensively in the region such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, China and Hong Kong. Once, Steve serves as Arbitrator at the prestigious Willem C. Vis Moot arbitration competition held in Vienna and participated by top law schools from all over the world each year. In addition, he was also appointed as an expert consultant (from 2002 to 2004) for a $65million eUniversity project established by the UK government, where he was responsible for business development and collaboration with governments and public universities in South East Asia.
Steve is an advisory board member of the Western Australian Institute of Dispute Management (WAIDM) based at Murdoch University School of Law. Among others, he is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators, Senior Fellow of the Australian Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law, member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, International Bar Association and London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA). In addition, he is a member of key young arbitration practitioner groups in London, Austria, Switzerland and America. In 2005, he was main speaker at the Sir Edward Youde Distinguished Memorial Lecture 2005/2006.
PHAM Nhu Quynh is a native of Hanoi. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the National University of Hanoi, where she majored in linguistics. After graduation in 1992 she worked full-time with the Centre for Vietnamese and Intercultural Studies, National University of Hanoi as a Vietnamese language teacher from April 1993 to October 2001. The Centre received foreign students, in particular post-graduate and more recently undergraduates, into Vietnam to conduct field research, joint projects, and Vietnamese language studies. She thus has extensive experience in teaching the Vietnamese language to foreign students. She has co-authored, together with other Vietnamese language teachers of the Centre, a Vietnamese language course book for foreigners, titled Vietnamese Language in practice for Advanced Learners and A Concise Vietnamese Grammar.
Mr. Johnson Ong is a senior consultant and manager at the Office of Quality Management, NUS. He provides consultancy and training in innovation, service excellence, balanced scorecard, business process re-engineering and ISO 9001 QMS. He is also the administrator of Innovation and Quality Teams at NUS. Johnson has more than 20 years of industry experience in quality management and human resource management and development. He is a frequent speaker at the Singapore Productivity Association and a passionate writer. Many of his works were published in Productivity Digest, QC Focus, Today's Manager, Human Capital and Human Capital Plus.
Johnson holds a MBA from the University of Leicester and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Economics and Management Studies from the University of London.
Mr. Ong Tun-Cheng is a certified Life Skills Coach. He conducts training programmes for managers and executives focusing on critical areas such as people-management, team building and emotional intelligence. Tun-Cheng has held several managerial positions within multi-national corporations as well as local companies. Tun-Cheng was involved in consulting, sales and marketing and business development projects, and has conducted management, sales and marketing training in information technology, e-commerce, e-services and high-tech automation for clients and staff in the Asia-Pacific region.
Tun-Cheng holds a Bachelor of Science from NUS.
Dr. Park So Jeong is a native Korean language teacher. As a dedicated teacher, she hopes to share her experience and understanding with those who are unfledged yet enthusiastic in Korean language.
She graduated from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, where she got B.A and M.A degree in Art & Liberal Arts, and Ph.D in Philosophy. She got Teaching Certificate of Junior College at Yonsei University (1991) and Certificate of Korean Language Training Program for Foreigners at Seoul National University (2008). In Korea, she taught Korean art, culture, and thought in Yonsei University, Korean National University of Arts, and Seoul National University of Education etc. Currently, she works as a part-time tutor at Centre for Language Studies in NUS.
Paul is the Regional Director for the Asian risk consulting operations of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (JLT). JLT is amongst the largest global insurance and risk advisors and has a long and successful track record of working in Asia.
Based in Singapore for over 12 years, Paul has advised numerous Asian organizations on their strategic risk financing programmes, captive insurance, strategic risk management and business continuity planning. His project portfolio has involved work for organizations drawn from all major industries. He has also served as the Asia-Pacific Regional Client Manager to a number of very large multinationals, managing and coordinating their regional insurance and risk management programmes. Further, he has also managed the underwriting portfolio of a number of Singapore domiciled captive insurers. Over the years, Paul has been a frequent conference speaker on captives and other risk management topics.
Paul holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (Hons), Trinity College Dublin (Awarded 1st Class Honours for his dissertation on Captive Insurance) and is a member of the Institute of Risk Management (UK)
Dr. Danny Poo graduated with a BSc (Hons), MSc and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), England. He is currently a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Information Systems, National University of Singapore. He has taught courses in Systems Analysis and Design, Enterprise Systems Development, Object-Oriented Software Engineering, and Information Technology Project Management. He is a Steering Committee Member of the Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference. He is the founder and director of Cicada Cube Pte Ltd, an NUS spin-off company specializing in Enterprise-level Search and Retrieval Solutions. A well-known speaker in seminars, he has conducted numerous in-house training and consultancy for organizations both locally and regionally. Dr. Poo is the author of 5 books: “Object-Oriented Programming and Java”, 2nd edition, Springer-Verlag, 2007; “Developing Systems Using J2EE”, Prentice-Hall, 2004, “Learn To Program Java”, 4th edition, Cengage Learning, 2009; “Learn To Program Java User Interface”, Thomson Learning, 2006; and “Learn To Program Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0”, 3rd edition, Cengage Learning, 2009.
Mr. Adisorn graduated with a B.A. in Political Sciences from Ramkhamhaeng University, Thailand, and currently pursuing his M.A. in Thai Language Teaching at the same university. He teaches Thai at NUS. He has extensive experiences in teaching Thai as a foreign language to foreigners and developing teaching materials. Besides teaching and research interest, his community and public services involve being an assessor for Multiple Language Proficiency Test for Singapore Tourism Board.
After graduating with B.A. in English Studies from Chiang Mai University, Thailand in 1998, she pursued her M.A. in English Language and Literature at National University of Singapore. During her post-graduate study, she worked as a Thai part-time tutor for Southeast Asian Studies Program for one and a half years. In 2001, she joined NUS as a full-time instructor. Presently, she is a Thai Lecturer at the Centre for Language Studies.
She has directed the students joining the Thai Study Abroad Program to Thailand since 2000. Besides the intensive language study, the students gained exposure to Thai culture knowledge as well as visited various cultural and historical sites
Rauzi Bin Burherm holds a Diploma in Human Resource Development. Prior to joining STET Homeland Security, he was the Security Manager in Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited Singapore office.
As a Security Manager in HSBC since 2006, Rauzi was instrumental in upgrading the in-house security department SIRD grading from a Grade D to Grade B and conducted the in-service training to all the security officers and relevant bank staff on all security related matters such as armed hold-up courses, identification of IED, bomb threat call and many others.
Prior to joining HSBC, Rauzi was with CISCO as a Senior Officer from 1997 to 2006 and was put in charge of a Sector for Operational experience and was subsequently posted to CISCO Police Training as their trainer. With his operational and training background and years of experience, Rauzi was seconded to Singapore Police Force in 2001 for a 01 year period as a Senior Project Officer to assist in the planning and development of the new Home Team Academy. Rauzi was awarded the Commissioner of Police Commendation award for the said project.
Rauzi was also involved in the Home Team Learning Committee that developed and delivered numerous Home Team training programmes such as Home Team Effectiveness Learning Programme and Learning Organisation and many others.
Mr. Marc Ronez, Managing Director, Asian Risk Management Institute, is a recognised expert in crisis management, corporate change, enterprise risk management systems and decision-making processes. Through a variety of senior positions in Asia for major worldwide corporations, he has accumulated over 15 years of considerable experience as a practitioner, coach and trainer through his research, training and consulting work in the risk management, insurance and financial services industries.
Marc is the Managing Director of the Asian Risk Management Institute (ARIMI), a prominent research and professional development institute in Risk and Crisis Management in Asia and a strategic partner of NUS Extension. Throughout his career he has helped many companies and organisations to optimise the manner they manage their risks and to prepare or respond to various types of crisis and business interruptions. His clients include those from insurance and financial services, government/public organisations, telecom and IT infrastructure, media and communication, as well as oil and gas
An accomplished coach and trainer with comprehensive blend of hands-on professional and academic experience, Marc gains satisfaction from organising and delivering corporate training programmes and solutions, sharing knowledge and training international management audiences. An innovative expert, he has designed and authored comprehensive methodologies and programmes on risk decision-making and crisis management. He is a very sought after speaker at international risk management conferences and a regular contributor to the trade press.
Marc has an MBA from the University of Chicago GSB, an MSc in Insurance and a LLM from the University of La Sorbonne. He is also a Fellow in Applied Risk Management (FARM) from the CARM Institute. Marc is the Chairman of the Asian Risk Management Society (ARMS).
Ms. Sandra Sandu has 19 years corporate training experience spanning across Asia Pacific, training leading corporations, ministries and statutory boards. Her client list include Compaq, Du Pont, AMD, National Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, Micron, 3M, Levi Strauss, American Express, DHL, Hewlett Packard, Matsushita Technology, Sony International, Hitachi Electronic Devices, TEC Electronics, Citibank, BNP-Paribas, Standard Chartered, Singapore Telecom, Singapore Technologies, Keppel Corporation, Sembawang Corporation, Pan United Corporation, Malaysian Shipbuilding and Engineering, Petronas, Caltex, Singapore Refining Company, Economic Development Board, Housing Development Board, Trade Development Board, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Central Provident Fund Board, Jurong Town Corporation and dozens more.
A Certified Management Consultant, CMC since 1993, Sandra uses the full consulting process to assess client needs before offering learning solutions. Her sessions have always been rated as practical, interactive and learner-led.
Mr. Robert Schilling began his career in training and development in 1985. With his first job in the industry, he started to learn the basic elements of accelerated learning and experiential education. Soon, Rob learned more advanced techniques and skills that garnered his interest in the design, development and delivery of trainings.
In 1991, Rob moved to Hong Kong where he was part of a development team for a training service provider known as ARC International. This was the beginning of his journey in Asia. For the past 11 years, he has delivered training solutions over three continents and in 12 countries. Rob is a Master Trainer for American Management Association and is skilled at delivering training solutions of any gradient. He has experience at designing customised learning solutions, delivery at all levels and training trainers at any stage of development.
Rob is a recognised coach and has utilised his skills in this arena to coach individuals and teams. He is also competent at developing and coaching people who wish to be effective coaches. He has applied these abilities with individuals, teams, volunteers and paying clients.
Rob graduated from the University of New Hampshire (USA) with a B.A. in Psychology. He studied the path of human development, organisational behavior/development and other related topics. His continuous learning process explores how people perceive, learn and grow throughout their lives.
Seah Tzi-Yan has worked in the visual arts market since 1988, when she joined the then Art Base Gallery. In 1991, she and her partner began a small gallery supporting Singapore and Southeast Asian art at the Substation. A few years later she was involved in the incorporation of the Art Galleries Association (Singapore), and then in 2000 with ARTSIngapore, now an international Asian art fair, for which she is currently an advisor. She also lectures part-time on arts management at Nanyang Academy.
Mr. John Seen (M.A. in Education, Training and Development, University of Hull) has a wide teaching experience. Some of his educational and training qualifications include Cambridge Certificate in Teaching of English Language to Adults, TESOL, Phonetics and Training in Neuro-Linguistics and Nero-Semantics. He has also specialised training in Rehabilitation for the Blind and Visual-Impaired Persons. His experience includes corporate training, business presentations and speech assessments.
Ms. Seo Ji Yun is a native Korean. She had years of experience in teaching Korean and Japanese to foreigners in Japan and Singapore. Ji Yun has a Master’s degree in Educational Informatics and a Bachelor degree in Art and Letters (Japanese Education) at Tohoku University. Her research interests include diagnostic language testing and second language learning, and especially in the development of language learning materials using multimedia. Ji Yun used to work as a Korean/Japanese interpreter and translator in both Korea and Japan.
Ms. Seow Bee Leng is the director of Continuum Learning Pte Ltd and part of the teaching faculty of the Nanyang Technological University. She has more than ten years of extensive and rich experience in the field of learning and performance. She is well known for her innovative and results-oriented approach to training. It is filled with ideas and skills that are customised to provide a catalyst to dramatic improvement in human performance.
Bee Leng has effectively delivered training programmes to organisations from both private and public sectors in diverse industries, facilitating key knowledge transfer and delivering leading edge training methodologies to support the business objectives. She has trained in many countries, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, working with multi-cultural groups and championing knowledge transfer programmes to meet the clients' strategic objectives
In her appointment with Singapore Airlines (SIA), Bee Leng was responsible for developing a team of 200 trainers committed to SIA Cabin Crew Training Vision of developing service professionals of distinction within a learning culture. She was involved in the full spectrum of training and development initiatives such as developing the programme into learning units, selecting the most effective methods for delivery and conducting the programmes geared towards SIA's business needs. She implemented a systematic and objective approach to measure training impact, conducted training evaluation of SIA internal and external instructors, with the aim of providing high quality training for cabin crew to maintain SIA's highest standard of indisputable service leadership.
Bee Leng graduated with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with Dean's Honor List for Outstanding Achievements, Nanyang Business School - Nanyang Technological University. Her MBA dissertation was presented as a conference paper at the Annual Conference of American Marketing Association in Chicago, August 2000. It was also published in the Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 11 No. 3, 2002.
Andrew T. Serafini, Ph.D., is a partner in the Intellectual Property Group of Fenwick & West LLP, a law firm specializing in technology and life sciences. His practice focuses on strategic and comprehensive intellectual property counseling and management to biotechnology, biopharmaceutical and other life sciences clients, to help them obtain, protect and enforce their intellectual property rights, especially in the areas of immunology, molecular biology, molecular genetics, genomics, proteomics and protein chemistry, pharmaceuticals, medical therapeutics, nanotechnology, cleantech, and medical diagnostics. Dr. Serafini’s practice involves preparing and prosecuting U.S. and international patents; performing due diligence and freedom to operate analyses associated with mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and other private and public financings; drafting opinions on patentability, non-infringement and patent validity; product development counseling; contesting interferences, oppositions and arbitrations; and supporting technology litigation.
Dr. Serafini works closely with the venture capital community to help build life sciences start-up companies into industry market leaders. He also partners with public and private universities and research institutions to help safeguard, leverage and bring to market their technology assets and innovations as well as facilitate the technology transfer of these assets and innovations to foster further developments to benefit the public.
Mr Seraj is the Convenor for the Arabic Language Programme at the Centre for Language Studies (CLS); he joined CLS in March 2009. He is a native speaker of Arabic and speaks English, French, and some German. Apart from teaching linguistics, he has been teaching English (ESL, EFL) and Arabic (AFL) in a variety of teaching settings for over seven years now. As an AFL lecturer, he last taught at the University of California San Diego.
Mr. John A Spears had more than 30 years of experience in the leadership business. His military career consisted of assignments alternating between studying and teaching leadership and hands-on leadership in organisations with staff numbering from 30 to as many as 3,000 people. He has translated his military experiences into successful application in senior positions in the business world.
John has conducted leadership workshops for executive teams for over 50 companies internationally (Europe, Asia, North America). While serving as Director of the U.S. Army's Center for Leadership, he was selected as one of six officers to plan, coordinate, and implement the U.S. Army's Character Development Program for the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College.
John taught “Marketing and Managing The Volunteer Army” at Yale University, “Fundamentals of Leadership” at the United States Military Academy, West Point and "Leadership and Ethics for the Leaders of the 21st Century" at the Marshall Center, NATO. He has also taught several leadership-related topics at the U.S. Army's Combined Arms Staff Officer course and the Command and General Staff course.
John has also co-authored "Striking A Balance In Leader Development: A Case For Conceptual Competence', Harvard National Security Program Discussion Paper Series. He designed and directed the writing of the U.S. Army's current edition of Leadership Doctrine (Field Manual 22-100), established and implemented a leader development programme for several corporations of over 1000 people, delivered the keynote presentation and facilitated the annual training session for the Association of Productivity Specialists, and assisted in developing the performance appraisal form for the U.S. Army.
John holds a BS from United States Military Academy, a MBA from Yale School of Management and is a National Security Fellow of Harvard University.
Dr. SP. Thinnappan, (M.A., M.Lit., Ph.D), is a Tamil scholar with 45 years of experience in teaching of Tamil Language, Linguistics, Literature, Grammar and Culture at various universities in India, Malaysia and Singapore. He has published many books and articles and presented research papers at the National and International conferences and seminars.
Subramaniam s/o Thirumeni, Advocate & Solicitor, is an experience law instructor.
Over the recent years, he has been teaching the LL.B external programme covering topics on jurisprudence & legal theory, company law, law of evidence and public law. In addition he also taught business law to business students.
He has been active giving public talks on legal matters at various venues and for various events including but not limited to talks at the Asia Business Forum, Community Centres, charity events organized by charities such as National Cancer Centre and National Kidney Foundation amongst others.
Mr. Syu Wei Bing (MA. in Sciences, Dept of Journalism and Mass Communications, Iowa State University) was an experienced media professional in Taiwan before he joined NUS as a language lecturer in 1996. Mr. Syu's teaching areas include news reading broadcasting materials and editorial works. In addition, some of his research interests include applications of oral and body language to teaching.
Dr. Victor Tai is a qualified Industrial Psychologist and a Managing Director of Psyscan Consulting International, a specialist agency in Management Psychology for the past 24 years. He is also a senior consultant psychologist with the Adam Road Hospital for the past 10 years. Victor had more than 20 years of teaching and consulting experiences in Singapore, ASEAN and the United States. He has lectured and trained several thousands of executives, managers and professionals from numerous organisations. He had previously held positions as Chief Psychologist, Head of Personnel Research Department and Head of Education Department at Ministry of Defence.
Victor had served as a resource person for National University of Singapore, Singapore Institute of Management, National Productivity Board, Singapore Institute of Personnel Management and Ministry of Education. He had delivered many in-house training programmes on topics ranging from Communication to Interpersonal Relations, from Supervisory to Management Development, and from Leadership to Organisation Development. He was also a Behavior-Based Safety consultant for the Ministry of Manpower for the last 2 decades. ExxonMobil Chemical, Shell, Seagate, Sembawang and Keppel Shipyards and China Light Power have consulted Victor on BBS issues.
Victor had also won a number of scholarships and was a past President of the Singapore Psychological Society and a founding member of Singapore Society for Executive Health and Singapore Society of Counselling. He was previously the First Deputy Chairman of the Singapore Professional Centre. He is also a member of the American Psychological Association. He has written 1 book on drug abuse and 2 on child-care and development.
Augustine Tan holds a Masters Degree and BSc (Hons) from Columbia International University, USA. He is a certified practitioner of TJTA (Taylor Johnson Temperament Analysis) and a US certified Behavioural Consultant. He is also trained in administering the Structure of Intellect (SOI) Learning Abilities and Career Report Assessment Programme.
Augustine had worked for 22 years in an international organisation and was responsible for strategic planning, financial management, staff recruitment, supervision and development. He has conducted workshops for senior management staff and staff of various levels of different organisations. His specialities include topics related to leadership development, personal management, inter-personal relationship, effective communication, emotional intelligence, and team building.
Augustine Tan is a Resident Consultant from Life Skills Centre, a company that provides training programmes, HR-consulting and development services.
Mr. Jeffrey Tan has been a trainer and lecturer in management and information technology for more than 10 years. In addition, he has many years of experience in the corporate world. Some of the subjects he has covered are effectiveness skills, presentation skills, project management, thinking skills, organisational learning, knowledge management, electronic commerce, IT security, administrative management and human resource development. He successfully employs a variety of methods to ensure that participants find the seminar interesting and insightful.
Jeffrey holds a Master of Business (IT) from RMIT University and a Bachelor of Arts from NUS.
Associate Professor Tan Kay Chuan
Tan Kay Chuan is an Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Acting Director of the Office of Quality Management in NUS. He teaches and does research in the areas of quality and service management, and human factors engineering. With over 10 years of experience, he regularly conducts short courses and consults on the use of quality tools.
Mr. Tan Lye Huat is a member of the Institute of Directors (IOD, UK), the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN, UK), the International Policy Governance® Association (IPGA, USA), the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), and the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID). Mr. Tan is a founding member of the Policy Governance® Association of the UK (UKPGA) and contributes to the corporate governance initiatives of a number of other prominent bodies.
Lye Huat is active in representing the interests of shareowners, consulting with boards, conducting governance seminars and workshops, delivering certified governance programmes, speaking at numerous conferences, participating actively at forums, and contributing articles on governance both in the region and internationally.
Besides senior professional and management experience, Lye Huat sits on the boards of a number of public/listed companies as well as non-profit organisations in Singapore and the region. As an independent non-executive director, he contributes significantly in his roles as Chairman or Member of various committees of these boards.
Lye Huat obtained his qualifications as an accountant from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA, UK) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA, UK) as well as that of a professional director from the Institute of Directors (IOD, UK. He is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore (ICPAS) as well as a Chartered Director (C Dir., UK).
Stephen Tan is a consultant who has trained executives at all levels in the areas of leadership, creativity, communications and service excellence and also undertaken coaching and mentoring of senior executives.
Over the past decade, he has conducted training for executives locally and regionally covering the ASEAN region, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. The organizations that he has consulted with and trained for cover a diverse range of industries including banking and finance, supply chain management, hospitality, health care, telecommunications, marketing & distribution, logistics, advertising and education.
Stephen’s management expertise, honed through years of senior corporate experience, has helped executives and business leaders improve their personal and organizational effectiveness through awareness and change management. His particular interest lies in the research of emotional intelligence and peak
performance techniques as well as management of change to achieve individual and organizational success.
Stephen holds an MBA from the University of South Australia. Prior to practicing as a consultant, Stephen was a Vice-President of a major bank as well as Marketing Director and then General Manager of two financial brokerage companies. His understanding of leadership and leadership development was cultivated during his corporate career when he was responsible for the setting up of four prominent financial brokering firms, three locally and one in Tokyo, all of which he had led into market leadership positions.
Shalu is the founder and director at Life Ahoy Pte Ltd, a Singapore based training company. An MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Shalu has spent more than 9 years in the corporate fast lane across 6 countries, 4 industries and 2 multinational companies where he let loose his out-of-the-box ideas and spearheaded many a business breakthrough. His work experience covers the entire gamut of product management, marketing, sales, business development, distribution management, advertising and PR.
Shalu conceptualised and ran successful joint promotional campaigns with some of the biggest brands in the world including Microsoft, Coca Cola, Reebok, Intel and Samsung. Some of these campaigns grew into wide-spread social phenomena attracting participation by Prime Ministers of India and Sri Lanka, several union ministers and chief ministers apart from corporate heads, celebrities and millions of people from different walks of life, generating unparalleled publicity for the company.
Jacob Sim’s career spans the world of public relations, direct marketing, healthcare, executive search, telecommunications and human capital development. He has trained professionals from various industries in
Singapore, Hong Kong, China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan as well as those from the US, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, South Africa and the Middle East.
He was formerly the Regional HR Director of an American MNC with responsibilities over the APAC region. He rose from a Regional Organization Development (OD) Manager role, where he was driver for OD initiatives
across 12 countries. This encompassed such interventions as Change Management, Employee Communications, Engagement Surveys, 360-Degree Feedback and Career Development.
Jacob started his career with then the world’s largest public relations firm where he undertook marketing/corporate communications and training projects across diverse market sectors with clients as American Express, Citibank, Coca Cola, GATX, the Singapore Bus Service and the Public Utilities Board.
Jacob holds an NUS BA degree (top 10%); a Post-Graduate Dip. in T&D Management (Commendation Award, T&D Association, UK-SIM); and a Certificate in Direct Marketing (Top in Class, DM Association of
Singapore).
Dr SNG Bee Bee is currently an Associate Lecturer in “Developing Effective Communicative Skills in Occupational English” with NUS Extension, Singapore. In the past, she has also taught Communication Skills in the Language and Communication Centre, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore for nine years. She graduated with an E.D.D. specializing in Education Management from the University of Leicester, UK and Master of Arts (English Studies) from the National University of Singapore. She has spent almost ten years teaching professionals and employees in the industries which include nurses, engineers, laboratory workers and office executives. Her research interests are educational change, English for Specific Purposes, English as a Foreign Language and more recently, e-learning.
Mr. Tan Thian Seng, MBA (Cranfield), GDip. in Personnel Management., has more than 19 years working experience in Senior Management positions. During these management stints, he was involved in many of the personnel functions - recruitment, training and supervising. He has since become a full-time trainer and consultant. To date, he has been a trainer to several major companies as well as Professional Training and Trade Institutions.
Mr. Tay Jun Dong has been working as a Certified Management Consultant, specialising in SCM Logistics, International Trade and Shipping Management. His consultancy services range from organising and integrating SCM activities, operational improvements and process restructuring to global trade houses, oil companies, ship-owners, air freight terminals and container terminals, in Singapore, Shanghai and Indonesia. Presently he also teaches SCM as a part-time lecturer for Temasek Polytechnics and Singapore Polytechnics, and International Commerce under an Australian MBA programme.
Jun Dong holds a MBA from the University of Warick, MSc from University of Leicester, and MEd from Australia, B.Com (Hons) from Nanyang University and a post-graduate Diploma in Transport Economics from University of Westminister.
Associate Professor
Catherine Tay Swee Kian
Assoc Prof. Catherine Tay lectures law at NUS Business School in the Department of Business Policy and medical ethics at the Faculty of Dentistry. She is a Barrister-at-Law, of Lincoln's Inn, U.K. and an Advocate and Solicitor in Singapore. She is an author of several law books including 'Contract Law' ; 'Directors' Duties and Liabilities' and 'Medical Negligence'. She has published several legal articles in prestigious international and local law journals. Catherine is also a member of the Institutional Review Board of SingHealth Polyclinics and a member of the National Healthcare Group Domain Specific Review Board tasked to review the scientific and ethical aspects of research protocols.
Catherine holds a Master of Laws degree and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from Queen Mary College, University of London.
Dr. Teoh Boon Seong (Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, (Linguistics) has been teaching English Language and Bahasa Malaysia since 1976. He had taught Bahasa Malaysia in the Department of Malay Studies in NUS as a senior lecturer for the period 1993-2000. Besides teaching Basic Malay at various levels, he also taught History and Modernisation of the Malay Language and Malay Phonology. Apart from teaching, he also did consultations for Basic Malay 1 MINDEF; he had taught Basic Malay 1 at the Tuas Naval Base in 2000. Some papers and presentations Boon Seong had done were "Understanding the Customs and Practices of the Malays in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei" presented to Liasion Officers, Ministry of Information and the Arts in 1999, and "The teaching / learning of Malay to non-Malay Singaporeans" presented at the forum "Malaysia-Singapore in the 21st Century: Achievable Agenda" in 1998.
Terence Teo graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He is presently the President of The Society of Chinese Artists in Singapore. Spontaneous brushstrokes, adventurous colours and sensitive ink techniques distinguish Teo’s paintings.
Teo’s newest series of artworks, Romance in Shangri-la, was painted during an extensive trip in Shangri-la, the north of Yunnan, China in 2007.
The unique artworks reflect his elated responses to the magical landscape of Shangri-la, capturing visual delights such as the stunning raw beauty of rainforest, the atmospheric mist, autumn’s falling leaves, the passing cold breeze, the colourful flora.Mr. Chow Yen-Lu is the founder and Managing Director of WholeTree Technologies, a voice technology solutions company. He is also the Executive Director of BAF Spectrum, a business angel fund with government’s support focused on early stage investments in technology and digital media, Director of Business Angel Network SEA, and Director of Expara, an entrepreneurship consulting and training practice. A successful entrepreneur, Yen-Lu had also founded AsiaWorks, a technology start-up and was involved in a turnaround situation with WholeTree.com, a Nasdaq-listed digital globalisation company.
As an active angel investor and company builder, he sits on the board of several start-ups in the region. He was a venture partner of Venture TDF, a Singapore-based venture capital firm with a global footprint, and venture advisor to S.AI.L Port Asia Pacific, regional incubation centre for speech and language technologies. He was an adjunct professor at NUS Entrepreneurship Center, and consults for governmental organisations including Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Economic Development Board and Media Development Authority. He is also a resident Mentor to NUS Enterprise Incubators.
A technologist and an internationally recognised leader in interactive language technologies, Yen-Lu holds 6 international patents. He was appointed as Distinguished Technologist at Apple where he was responsible for developing PlainTalk, Apple’s voice user interface system and the first speaker-independent speech product to be shipped on a mainstream personal computer platform; the Chinese Dictation Kit, Apple’s ground-breaking Chinese dictation product that won the Best-of-Best Product Award in Comdex Asia. He invented the unified Chinese language computing architecture, and led the development of multi-modal user interfaces for Asian language computing that received the prestigious Singapore’s NSTB Technology Innovation of the Year award.
Yen-Lu received his MS and BS degrees in electrical engineering from MIT, and successfully completed Apple’s MBA and Mentoring programmes for senior managers.
Associate Professor (Adjunct) Simon Poh
Assoc Prof (Adjunct) Simon Poh, (FCPA Singapore, MBA (NUS), B Acc (NUS)) is currently the Tax Director of a tax consultancy firm. Simon has about 22 years of experience in tax compliance and tax advisory work in the areas of corporate tax, individual income tax and goods and services tax. This includes 9 years of experience with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, 3 years with reputable regional multi-national corporations and 10 years with top international accounting firms. Prior to joining Asia Pacific Business Consultants Pte Ltd, he was heading Singapore tax practice in the world’s fifth largest international accounting firm.
His extensive experience includes international tax planning, transfer pricing, corporate restructuring, business acquisitions and mergers, expatriate tax planning, and advising clients on the tax implications of both inbound and outbound investments. Besides speaking at numerous external tax seminars and conducting tax workshops for professional bodies, Simon is also a regular contributor to newsletters, publications and professional journals on current taxation issues. He recently wrote a book, “Taxation in Singapore”. Simon is also active in academia. He is currently the Examiner for the Advanced Tax module of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore (ICPAS) Professional Examination and Associate Professor (Adjunct) at NUS teaching taxation courses.
Mr. Paul Toh, BSc, BSC Part I, has been employed in a variety of roles ranging from development and customisation of accounting softwares to in-company training covering various software packages. He has been a local tutor for modules on 'Project Management' and 'Accounting Information Systems' for external university programmes.
Ms. Wang Ai Kim (MA. in Chinese Language and Literature, Nanjing University) has been teaching in NUS Chinese Language and Research Centre as a part-time lecturer since 1989. At the same time, she was also conducting Mandarin classes for Civil Service College, now known as Institute of Public Administration and Management. Before teaching, she was a Mandarin announcer with the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation for about 7 years.
Ai Kim was appointed a full-time lecturer of Chinese Language Proficiency Centre, now known as Centre for Language Studies, since 1998. She teaches subjects such as "Speak Mandarin" and "Chinese Characters". Her research interests include Chinese literature and editorial works.
Professor Wong Poh Kam is currently a Professor at the School of Business, as well as Director for NUS Entrepreneurship Centre. He has published numerous refereed journals on innovation policy, industrial and competitiveness policy and technology entrepreneurship, and has consulted widely for international agencies such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank, various government agencies in Singapore such as A*Star, EDB and IDA and many high tech firms in Singapore. An entrepreneur who co-founded three companies prior to joining academia, he is now an active angel investor and/or board member of high-tech start-ups in Silicon Valley, Singapore, China and Malaysia. He was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley and a visiting researcher at Stanford University.
Mrs. Wong Soo Leong has more than 25 years of experience in the audit area. She spent many years in one of the “Big Four” accounting firms as an auditing manager before moving to be the Group Auditing Director of a large public company in Singapore prior to her retirement. She is now a freelance accounting consultant and lecturer in Australia.
Soo Leong holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from NUS and is also a fellow of the ACCA.
Dr. Donald Yeo is a Neuropsychologist working in a hospital conducting clinical cognitive assessments for patients with neurological disorders, such as dementia, stroke, head injury and epilepsy. He works collaboratively with Neurologists, Neurosurgeons, Psychiatrists, Geriatricians, Rehabilitation Physicians and Therapists. His main research interest is in the development of Neuropsychological test instruments for measuring cognitive change in the elderly. He has facilitated several workshops with Healthy Ageing Association and RSVP Singapore. He enjoys teaching and learning about healthy brain ageing and how to empower our active minds in our golden years.