MEMBERS UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
Raymond Lau Poo Seng,
Alumnus of University of Tasmania, Australia
If you were at our 67th anniversary gala dinner, you would have watched Raymond Lau Poo Seng perform his piece at the AAS Got Talent. Many of us were in awe of his performance, and he won the first prize that night. Little did we know that Raymond suffers from Tourette Syndrome and has stage 3 throat cancer.
We only found out later that Raymond is a cancer patient and decided to seek his permission to share his story.
Raymond graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1995 with an advanced degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts. He is currently an artist at a non-profit organisation, ART:DIS, where he mentors and donates his works. He wished to assist and empower artists with disabilities to confidently express themselves through the arts so that they could make a sustainable living from their abilities.
During his free time, Raymond would cycle or dance to keep fit and stay active. He used to be a martial artist too and was in the lion dance troupe both as a performer and an instructor. He started dancing at the age of 22. He signed up for dance classes because he wanted to build his confidence back then.
We admire his enthusiasm for life (if you stayed for the last segment of the gala, you would have seen Raymond's energetic performance that night). He shared that the reason he has decided to live his life to the fullest is because it is his way of being grateful for the life he has.
In addition to having Tourette Syndrome, Raymond was given a stage 3 throat cancer diagnosis by his doctor in 2021. He was informed that persons with his diagnosis often live for five years. This led Raymond to make the decision to live his life to the fullest, regardless of how many years he had left.
We hope that reading about his tenacity would inspire you in the same way. His message to all of us is that we should stay true to ourselves. We should give our best in everything we do and spread love to others. Be helpful. Be genuine. Be Superman!
Mo Dirani ,
Alumnus of University of Melbourne, Australia
We had the honour of speaking with fellow alumni, Associate Professor Mohamed Dirani, and we'd like to share with you all the amazing stories we learned about him! Fondly known as Mo Dirani, he graduated with a PhD from the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA), University of Melbourne, Department of Ophthalmology at the age of 26 years. Mo is the founding Managing Director of Plano, an Adjunct Associate Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, an honorary principal investigator at Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and CERA. As you can tell by now, Mo is an expert in eye research. He has led notable studies, including Australia's first nationwide study to assess the burden of blindness in Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Mo’s move into entrepreneurship was strongly influenced by his drive to translate his research outputs into real-life solutions. The more we chat with him, the better the stories are! Mo then sets off to start Plano in Singapore, a health technology company that empowers people to achieve their best vision and eye health through education and science-driven technological solutions. Plano echoes and amplifies Mo's effort in tackling myopia. The company launched its ecosystem, which included the world’s first science-based and award winning parental control application, planoApp, with a vision to “Keep all eyes healthy in our digitised world”.
Plano’s ecosystem consists of three main components to assist in myopia management: Bridging the knowledge gap in eye health Innovative technological solutions Predictive and prescriptive analytics After listening to all the great work he is doing, we were very curious as to what drives Mo to be the person he is today. Mo rose from the school of hard knocks. His parents migrated from Lebanon to Australia in the 70s. He is the third youngest of 12 children. Mo credited his work to the education he received coupled with his upbringing and very loving parents. Here are his motivations (which are truly inspiring by the way!): to create an impact on people's lives to do good as a form of being appreciative of the life he is given to be grateful and take advantage of the opportunities at hand, particularly if you are awarded the luxury of being born in an affluent country. Advice to alumni: Don't get caught up too much trying to make sense of everything. As long as you are productive and happy, the pieces to your story will come together in time. We hope you are inspired by Mo's story as much as we did and we are pleased to have met fellow alumni who is doing great work in the community. Thank you, Mo for the great sharing!
How Plano came about Mo decided to start Plano during his training runs for his ten marathons (a series of marathons he had dedicated to his late father). While jogging, he was constantly checking his phone, bordering on some sort of device dependency. Constantly checking his phone was disruptive, uncomfortable and affecting his vision. He then related this back to his PhD studies in myopia and decided to turn the ‘problem’ into the solution.
Lee Haoming ,
Alumnus of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Australia
As the Managing Director of Huggs, Haoming maps out the company’s vision and spearheads its strategy and growth. He is responsible for levelling up the brand value exponentially and building a brand culture that focuses on Flavour, People and Doing Good.
Haoming joined Huggs at the start of COVID-19, in June 2020. Since then, he restructured the company’s business model and direction, completed a full rebranding transformation, secured over 5 million SGD in various capital investments and 12 new outlets across Singapore. Huggs has since grown to become Singapore’s largest homegrown specialty coffee cafe chain to date, with close to 30 outlets (including the upcoming new outlets) found across the island, serving up to 400,000 cups per month.
As a proud local brand, Huggs is the only cafe chain that serves “East meets West” beverages, i.e. local Kopi to western Latte and even fusions like Latte Gula Melaka, making Huggs uniquely Singaporean. Haoming’s introduction to Huggs has fuelled its rapid growth as he looks to launch Huggs Roastery, Bakery and Training Academy at its new headquarters in Jan 2022 to expand its B2B business arm. This is part of his expansion plan into regional markets and beyond. Prior to joining Huggs, Haoming co-founded the wildly popular Artbox Singapore which garnered over 700,000 visitors during the 6-day event. As the Regional Head of Strategy for Invade, he brought Artbox to Kuala Lumpur and brought Taiwan’s Shilin Night Market to Singapore.
Due to the success of Artbox Singapore, Haoming was a recipient of Prestige 40 Under 40 in 2017. Besides his current role as the MD of Huggs, Haoming has a keen passion in youth development. This passion drives him to pledge as a mentor for youths with the Mentoring Alliance of Singapore. He is also the Strategic Advisor for Event Midas which is the organizer of this Esports event - Nexus Your Playground. Haoming is also a partner of a tuition centre. He hopes to create a positive impact for youths and students in what little ways he can. Academically, Haoming has a Bachelor’s degree with triple majors in Banking and Finance, Accounting and Business Management from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Australia. Upon graduation, he was invited to be a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society.
Roland Utama,
Alumnus of University of New South Wales
Roland Utama was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. He moved to Sydney, Australia to attend high school at De La Salle College, Ashfield. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Photovoltaics and Solar Energy from UNSW in 2006 and a PhD in Photovoltaics and Solar Energy from UNSW in 2009.
Afterwards, he came to Singapore to join the Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) Solar, a Norwegian solar panel manufacturer to set up their first solar production line in Tuas. He left REC in 2012 to set up Thirsty, a craft beer retail business. Since then, he has built Thirsty into Singapore’s largest online craft beer store. He also founded The Drinkery, a craft beer import and distribution business as well as TAP, a chain of craft beer bars currently with 5 outlets in Singapore. The businesses work with and regularly import craft beers from a growing number of Australian independent breweries.
Roland also maintain close ties with the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW and its alumni network both in Singapore and overseas.
Shun Jie Neo,
Alumnus of University of Newcastle, President, Singapore Alumni Chapter
A wine and technology enthusiast, Shun Jie Neo works as a Salesforce Developer.
He completed his Diploma in IT from Temasek Polytechnic and joined as an Application Developer in an SME, to convert what he has learned into hands-on experience.
His zeal for technology continues to grow and he pursued his Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology from the University of Newcastle.
It was during this time he got exposed to Salesforce and followed the ever-growing sector of Salesforce as a developer.
Currently, he is working with Aodigy in a team lead position where he gets to code as well as manage the team and teach and train his juniors.
During his free time, you will find Jie Neo at wine tasting events, an indulgence he picked up while studying in Australia. He also spends time sharpening his skills on Trailhead. When required, he sets aside time to go back to college to speak to the graduating students and shares first-hand experience about the working world.
Lynn Wong,
Alumni of Murdoch University, President, Singapore Alumni Chapter
Lynn is currently the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) & Director with Siemens Logistics of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. She has worked for more than 20 years with Multinational Companies (MNCs), headquartered in Germany, Japan, and the United States mostly deal with Business to Business (B2B) models involving the sales and distribution of industrial products/systems, turnkey solutions projects and research & development projects. She has performed functions in the areas of Accounting & Finance, Mergers and acquisitions, Business Administration, Commercial Management, Supply Change Management, Risk Management, and Business Process Transformation among other duties.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Business (BBus) from Monash University, a Master of Business Administration (MBA), and a Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) from Murdoch University.
Passionate about advocating for women’s welfare & development as well as wanting to contribute back to the community, Lynn volunteers in Grassroots Organization and is currently serving as a Chairperson in the Women’s Executive Committee (WEC) of a Community Club (CC) in the Northeast District. She is a Council Member with the Women’s Integration Network (WIN) Council of People's Association, the Honorary Treasurer with the Singapore Business & Professional Women’s Association (SBPWA), and the Business & Professional Women Federation (BPW Singapore).
Having served in the Murdoch University Alumni Singapore Chapter for the past 4 years as the Honorary Secretary, she is extremely excited to be appointed as the President of the Murdoch University Alumni, Singapore Chapter to continue her passion for fostering a sense of community and support among alumni.
She is looking to meet with most of you during her serving term.
Steffie Vanessia,
Alumni of James Cook University
Steffie joined Tribeca Investment Partners in 2022 as an Investor Relations Associate based in the firm's Singapore office. In her role, she is involved in capital raising activities, new fund launches as well as managing relationships with existing and prospective investors. Tribeca is an Asia Pacific-based and Australian headquartered investment and advisory firm which has been partnering with sophisticated clients across asset management, private wealth management and corporate advisory for more than two decades.
Before joining Tribeca, she worked with Endowus, Singapore’s leading digital wealth platform, as Business Development Associate. Steffie was earlier a Dealing Support Specialist in the Singapore office of Western Union Business Solutions, a global leader in foreign exchange and international payment solutions. Steffie holds a Bachelor of Business and Environmental Science from James Cook University. During her undergraduate years, she was part of the Dean’s List for outstanding academic performance and immersed herself in campus involvement as the Secretary of the JCU Orientation Committee and JCU Student Council.
Steffie is the Secretary of the James Cook University Singapore Alumni Association. In her free time, Steffie regularly plays Dungeons and Dragons with friends and hopping around pet-friendly cafes with her husband and Pomeranian, Sylvie (who is also incidentally becoming the JCUSAA mascot). Come join JCUSAA and say hi to Steffie and Sylvie!
Goh Geok Lin, Cliff
Alumni of Curtin University
Before joining AAS as the Honorary Auditor, Cliff has managed a portfolio of clients in diverse industries both locally and internationally in SME
and MNC.
Cliff's professional experience includes reporting accountant, internal auditor and reporting auditor, providing due diligence to companies, providing transaction support services in acquisitions, as well as
providing advisory services to companies, corporate turnaround and recovery, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions.
Cliff joined a well-established local and international CPA firm in 1999 where he obtained his qualification as a certified public accountant. He was the financial controller of a group listed on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange in 2004. He was admitted to the partnership of Assurance Partner (now Assurance Partners LLP) in 2013 as co-founder of the CPA firm, a member firm of PrimeGlobal, the 5 largest associations of independent accounting firms in the world.
Cliff’s professional affiliations include memberships in the Certified Practicing Accountant Australia (CPA Australia.), Chartered Accountant Malaysia (MIA), Practicing Management Consultant Singapore (PMC), Institute of Internal Auditors Singapore and Accredited Tax Practitioner (ATP (income tax). Cliff holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, majoring in accounting and finance from the Curtin University of Technology, WA, Australia.
He is also a member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.
Wiki Lim
Alumni of Murdoch University
Wiki decided to it was time to venture into something with greater responsibility and challenges, he joined Excellence Singapore Pte Ltd as a partner and a co-owner of the company.
“Working as a Director for Excellence Singapore Pte Ltd, I have a strong passion for working with Values based organizations to achieve Pragmatic solutions. Driven by my own value sets around integrity and doing the right thing, i strive to partner with peers and the business to meet business and people related goals.”
He did his MBA from Murdoch University to amplify his skillset in his personality and his overall experience.
Wiki was previously from Price Solutions (S) Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Group which specializes in consumer banking such as consumer personal loans, business loans and both residential and commercial mortgages.
Wiki first joined Price as a telesales doing consumer personal loans. Within 7 months, he was able to secure a position in SME banking and was being transferred from handling personal loan to corporate loan.
Kevin Chow
Alumni of The Queensland University of Technology
Recently shifted from Australia to Singapore with a job in Meta, Kevin is an alumnus from the Queensland University of Technology, with a bachelor's degree in Finance and Economics.
Currently, at Meta (previously Facebook), he is working as the Account Manager for Australia and New Zealand, partnering with businesses across Australia and New Zealand to solve challenges, drive deeper customer connections and scale their organization using Facebook tools.
He is a passionate traveller and likes to network and connect with people to widen his horizon of understanding and cultural exchange.
An experienced and results-driven transaction advisor with over 7 years experience in Technology Sales, Investment Banking, Mergers & Acquisitions,
and Corporate Finance; passionate about helping companies drive growth
and realize value.
Strong focus and deep experience in the Technology Services and Software industry, having previously advised and executed buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions at Equiteq and Telstra. Most recently acted as VISEO's lead transaction advisor on their acquisition of Cludo (a leading Australian
Salesforce consultancy), before joining shortly after to lead Sales and Business Development for VISEO's Salesforce and Digital practices.
Justin Holm
Alumni of Monash University
From the city of Niagara Falls to the City of Merlion, Justin Holm's journey had been a great adventure.
Currently working as the Client Engagement Manager in a renowned company that is a global leading provider of investment management software solutions designed to optimize operational and investment alpha throughout the entire investment process, Justin is in charge of the Client engagement with his great interpersonal skills.
Justin is also involved as a Partner in True Global Ventures, a company engaged in global technology equity Venture Capital firm that invests in Serial Entrepreneurs in over 20 cities. He is engaged to work with budding entrepreneurs in establishing their ground in this world.
Justin took a specialized study on East Asian Economics and International Marketing from Monash University, to cater better to the market he was entering. This study helped him to bring an edge in his expertise.
Justin is a technology enthusiastic. He also cares about children safety and progress and is involved with lending his time in meeting those causes.
He quotes " no one is busy enough to not care about someone or something other than themselves. Go out there and leave a mark in other's life"
Mun Nee Ng
MuleSoft Strategic Sales at Salesforce
MBA in Marketing from The University of Western Australia
Mun Ee Ng graduated with a MBA from The University of Western Australia in 1998. Her MBA was a feather to the hat and a lot helpful in the career development. She is also a double Bachelors degree holder from NUS in Psychology.
With more than 20 years of customer-facing experience in servicing large strategic accounts and selling complex IT solutions to large enterprises including airlines and airports in Asia Pacific through engagements with C-level executives to derive compelling value propositions.
She started working in 1990 and started from small, but always aimed big and wanted to get into the wing of sales and business development. Over the period of time she carved out her career from being a Manager to Strategic Sales in one of the top company of Salesforce.
She is very enthusiastic and actively involved with animal welfare and environmental causes. She is actively involved with different organisation for serving this cause. She also enjoys good food and traveling and likes to explore for more.
In her words "I am the citizen of the World"
Stanley Eu
Director at Parasoft SEA |
Graduate of Murdoch University (Double Major in Computer Science and Mass Communications) &
RMIT University (MBA, International Management)
Stanley Eu graduated from Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia with a double Major in Computer Science and Communication Studies in 1992. He started working in GE Information Services and made his way from the Technical team to Sales Manager in EC1/SCS and then to Progress Software. In 2003, he enrolled for the MBA (International Management) course at SIM-RMIT while working at EC1/SCS. After graduation in 2005, he was headhunted to lead the startup subsidiary of Parasoft Singapore. He has since been the Regional Director for Parasoft South East Asia where the business grew for the last 16 years. He continues to spearhead the growth in South East Asia; working with distributors in the region while speaking and presenting at various events on Cybersecurity, Compliance and Automated Testing.
Since his days in Murdoch University, he has been active in Student Organisations such as the Association of Overseas Students (AOS) and Overseas Students Association of Western Australia (OSAWA). In 2017, he was roped in by Chun Hoy Yuen to help with the planning and organising of events to celebrate and commemorate the 130th Anniversary of RMIT & the 30th Anniversary of SIM-RMIT in Singapore. Together with a group of alumni volunteers, he was able to find a way to pay it forward and enjoyed the camaraderie and teamwork in organising events to celebrate the anniversaries.
Subsequently, when Hoy Yuen stepped down as President of RMITAS in 2018, Stanley then took the helm and has since been leading RMITAS to build on the good work by previous committees to have better engagements with the Alumni. He continues to represent RMIT alumni in Singapore to RMIT in Australia and Vietnam; and works to have more interesting events and activities to enable more graduates to be connected. The 5 pillars he tries to espouse to the community in RMITAS are Career Development, Personal Development, Networking, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility.
In 2021, RMITAS is celebrating its 20th Anniversary since its registration as an association with Registry of Societies (ROS) in Singapore. While COVID-19 has disrupted many face-to-face activities, we were nonetheless able to organise some activities such as the Logo Design competition, Photography competition; and online activities such as Celebrate Australia Day, Virtual Wine Tasting and Talks on Human Resource management and Industry Networking on a new platform called Gather Town. We are hoping that we can end of this year with a small dinner celebration in Dec 2021 to mark a milestone in RMITAS’ young history.
Andrew Wong
Author of An Oily Man | Graduate of University of South Australia in Adelaide (Master in Business Administration
Vivek Anand
President, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY Alumni Association Singapore |
Programme Executive, Selarang Halfway House |
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology
Thomas Ang
Business Owner & Entrepreneur, Stratbiz International Singapore.
Graduate of University of Wollongong (Master of International Business)
Andrew Pang
President University of Queensland Alumni Association Singapore; Regional Brand President University of Queensland Alumni Association Singapore; Regional Brand
Andrew firmly believes in following your passion. In 3 year stints, he worked and travelled with Singapore Airlines and owned and operated a whisky and cocktail bar. As a maverick with boundless imagination and a relentless desire to experiment, reinvent and grow, Andrew marries his unique background in psychology with his extensive expertise in the cocktail scene to create experiences like no other. Andrew now consults bars and restaurants and represents some of Beam Suntory’s biggest brands as their Regional Brand Ambassador. In his role as brand ambassador, Andrew conducts brand training for restaurant and sales staff and hosts dinners for the brands - the few times he can enjoy drinking on the job. Andrew is also a coach with Fleek Image, a personal branding and date coaching agency that helps individuals develop stronger self-confidence, social skills and personal branding.
Andrew balances his time with community work. In 2019, Andrew sat on the Youth Action Plan panel under MCCY and the National Youth Council which was co-chaired by Senior Minister of State Sim Ann and helped visualise their 2025 mission statement. Andrew mentors youth groups focused on solving national social issues. He is the President of the University of Queensland's local alumni chapter (UQAAS) and sits on various committees that work to tackle matters pertaining to the environment, mental health and inclusivity.
UQAAS is focused on 2 main areas; Social and Economy. For the Social track, the association aims to build a strong alumni community here in Singapore through virtual and in-person networking events. UQAAS advocates and will promote the importance of good mental health through programmes and partnerships. We are also exploring collaboration with organisations to provide scholarships and bursaries to low income and vulnerable individuals. Through the Economy track, we want to support graduates in their transition from final year students into the working world. We will be working more closely with UQ’s Alumni to Alumni (A2A) programme that provides international mentorship to all who are seeking mentors. We also want to support local alumni-run businesses and freelancers especially in this uncertain covid landscape.
Join the UQAAS online community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/UQSGgraduates
JOSHUA HO
Senior Executive Campus Activities of James Cook University Singapore campus
Joshua currently works for the Singapore Campus of James Cook University as a staff in the Studdent Affairs, Campus Activities department. Campus Activities looks after clubs and societies as well as other student life aspects on campus. He has worked for JCU Singapore campus for no less than 6 years and counting.
Joshua studied diploma in IT in Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) and after 2 years of working in the industry after National Service (NS), he left as it did not suit his personality. He then pursued his Bachelor of Business degree majoring in Hospitality and Tourism management at Singapore Campus of James Cook University. And right after graduation, he started working for JCU Singapore campus. He has been a mentor, adviser and friend to numerous students who have come and gone at James Cook University Singapore campus.
Outside of his professional career Joshua’s favourite pastimes are watching anime, playing mobile and PC games, as well as playing board games. He plays board games bi-weekly with the JCUSAA executive committee team at each other’s homes before the enhanced COVID-19 safe management measures, and currently Jack Box games on Discord. He is also into Science Fiction tabletop miniature game Warhammer 40000 and its lore. So, if you are interested to chat with him more about the above topics, feel free to hit him up on Facebook.
Joshua is also the current president of JCU Singapore Alumni Association (JCUSAA). The objectives of the association are a) To create and develop opportunities for the alumni members to maintain contact through meaningful events, activities, and social platforms. b) To promote and foster the continuing involvement of the alumni members. c) To promote and enhance the reputation of the alumni members. d) To promote activities that meet the needs of the members of the Alumni.
If you are a James Cook University alumni reading this, please join us at https://jcusaa.sg/#membership!
MATHILDA D'SILVA
Sustainability & Social Media Strategist | Plastic Pyrolysis (Plastic to Fuel) Advocate I Community Management & Advocacy Mentor | Ocean Lover & Paddler
Mathilda, who graduated from Murdoch University is the Chief Purpose Officer at Ocean Purpose Project (OPP), which is a proudly Pasir Ris-based social enterprise driving ocean conservation and plastic pollution prevention via disruptive and creative projects with mass-scale impact.
Mathilda started after a water pollution incident in 2015 left with intense autoimmune conditions. OPP’s unique selling point is to use innovative technology that is yet to enter the Singapore market, such as Plastic to Fuel and Bioplastics.
The organisation also holds frequent offline and online events to educate Singaporeans on its sustainability efforts. When COVID-19 hit last year, OPP was unable to carry out its usual projects as the beaches were closed. This, however, did not deter the organisation from contributing to social causes in Singapore. Its projects that aimed to help the migrant worker community saw it win the silver award in the Marketing Excellence Awards 2020, for the category “Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility”. Its efforts were also recognised in the category of Excellence in Mobile Marketing as a finalist.
Dr Anthony PH Tang
Dr Anthony is a specialist Breast Cancer surgeon, with clinical interests in Breast Conservation Surgery, Breast Reconstruction (Oncoplasty) and Sentinel Node Biopsy (for minimal lymph node removal).
An ASEAN scholar in his pre-university days, Dr Anthony was subsequently awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship for Medicine for his undergraduate medical education in Melbourne, Australia. He went on to complete his postgraduate surgical training and was conferred a joint specialist fellowship with the Singapore and United Kingdom (Edinburgh) boards. Apart from his surgical training, Dr Anthony also attained 2 postgraduate Masters degrees, in Medicine (Surgery) and in Public Health (Clinical Epidemiology) respectively.
As a published scientific author, Dr Anthony is a frequent speaker at many local and international conferences. He also often organizes and speaks at public symposiums in Singapore as he is an avid advocate for breast cancer screening. He has a strong research interest, particularly in the field of medical device innovation. In 2011, he was awarded the inaugural Singapore-Stanford Biodesign Fellowship. He was also the Fellowship Head at Singapore Stanford Biodesign, and the Clinician Consultant to I²R, A*STAR, and has trained over 400 budding medical device entrepreneurs. As the Clinical Principal Investigator, he was working with grants totaling over $4 million. As a result of his research work, Dr Anthony was also conferred an A/Professorship with NUS.
Dr Anthony is accredited with Admission Rights to:
• Mt Alvernia
• Mt Elizabeth Orchard
• Mt Elizabeth Novena
• Farrer Park Hospital
Personally, Dr Anthony enjoys using his professional skills to benefit the underprivileged. He is passionately involved in surgical outreach programs to the underprivileged parts of Asia, and was the co-founder of the surgical volunteer and charity organization within the National University Health Systems (NUHS).