Dr.Sumitra Nair

Sumitra is Vice-President at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), in charge of the digital talent development. Her mandate is to work with like-minded ecosystem partners to build a sustainable and quality talent pool for digital technology sectors. In this capacity, Sumitra spearheads digital technology and data talent development strategies for the entire talent life-cycle aimed as nurturing a strong talent pipeline as well as securing continue career relevance for the existing workforce. Todate her work has impacted more than a million Malaysians

In her prior role at MDEC, Sumitra also initiated and led a national initiative to empower small and youth businesses with digital marketing skills, benefitting more than 300,000 small businesses in Malaysia.

Prior to joining MDEC, Sumitra held leadership and advisory roles in corporate responsibility and sustainability portfolios at DiGi Telecommunications and Telenor ASA (Norway). Sumitra holds a PhD in Business & Economics from Monash University Malaysia. Her most important role is being a mother to two digital natives.

Stuart Patton

Stuart Patton is the co-founder of Polkuni HK, a Hong Kong and Helsinki brand that’s both an investment and a market activation company, linking the best Finnish education products to the Asian markets. He consults for education-based entities in Finland looking to enter the Asian markets as well as entities adopting the Finnish approach, namely from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Stuart is the co-creator of KOKOA, the first company in the world to carry out evaluation of Edtech products to determine their educational quality. To date, KOKOA has evaluated products from 18 countries’ worldwide. Stuart is the Chairman of the FinnCham education committee in Hong Kong, whose goal is to raise awareness of the Finnish education system.

Stuart’s previous corporate involvement in Europe and Asia covered the manufacturing, medical, mobile, digital, and now Edtech, where he works closely with Finland and Finnish Edtech and the startup scene. His focus is strategic development of business and markets and has been operating from Asia mainly Hong Kong, for the last 16 years. He currently advises the Ace Edventure Group Malaysia as its Global CEO overseeing international expansion and partnerships.

Prof. Dr. David Asirvatham

Prof. Dr. David Asirvatham is currently the Executive Dean for the Faculty of Innovation and Technology, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. He held numerous other posts such as Director of the Centre of Information Technology (University Malaya and Multimedia University) Associate Dean, Project Manager for the Multimedia University Campus Development and many more. He has more than 30 experience in teaching and managing ICT projects.

At the national level, he was the Chairman for the ICT Human Capital Development for 11th Malaysia Plan 2016-2020 (Prime Minister’s Office), Secretary for the Artificial Intelligence Society Malaysia, Deputy President of Data Science Association (Malaysia), Country Representative for the Asia E-learning Network (AEN) based in Japan, Steering Committee Member for the Implementation of E-Learning for Malaysian Public Sector, and Member of the Malaysian Grid for Learning's (MyGfL) Standards Expert Group (SEG), 2003-2004.

At the International level, he worked on various ICT Projects in South Africa, Sudan, Iran, Ghana, Kenya, Vietnam, Maldives, Bangladesh (World Bank Project), UAE, India, and Brunei.

Bobby Varanasi

Bobby Varanasi is one of the acknowledged Top 25 Globalization Leaders in the global sourcing space and the Founder of Matryzel Consulting – an independent advisory firm that has been acknowledged as the Best of the World’s Best Outsourcing Advisory Firms in 2019, and as among the Top 20 World’s Best Outsourcing Advisory Firms (three years in a row - 2013, 2014 & 2015). He brings with him over two decades of experience in consulting and management across Technology, Business Services and building global businesses across sectors like Banking, Financial Services, Broking, Investment Management etc. He advises federal governments across the world on ICT sector development with particular emphasis on policy transformation, and industry-government partnerships aimed at creat ing domestic resilience through increasing productive (and inclusive) faculties of technology entrepreneurs. Some of the nations he has advised are the USA, Colombia, Brazil, Jamaica, Jordan, UAE, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, Malaysia and Australia. Bobby also advises Fortune 500 customer organizations and emerging market entrepreneurs on strategy, growth, sourcing, expansions, mergers & acquisitions.

He holds fiduciary responsibilities as a Board Member for IAOP (a New York hq’d Standards setting organization for the sourcing industry), and the Global Sourcing Council (a New York hq’d entity focused on the UN SDGs and sustainable sourcing). He is an Exco Member of Malaysia-Australia Business Council (a KL-hq’d entity focused on cross-border collaboration and enabling trade). Further, he is Co-Founder of a new-age blockchain based technology company called ThynkBlynk (a US hq’d IT firm). He is an Executive Director for Sigmax-e (a Malaysia hq’d firm focused on analytics and pattern recognition systems), and an External Advisor for Angstrohm Technologies (a Malaysia hq’d firm focused on healthcare technologies). He is also a Mentor for various tech startups appointed by the Federal Gov. of Malaysia.

Bobby is closely involved in developing and enhancing two global business standards for adoption and deployment by corporations worldwide: (a) Outsourcing Professional Standards (OPS) owned and evangelized by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (www.IAOP.org); and (b) Impact Sourcing Standards owned and evangelized by the Global Impact Sourcing Coalition (www.GISC.bsr.org).

He is an avid author of var ious knowledge papers in both print and electronic media across global publications. Further, he has authored a book titled “Humanomics – Making Sense of Socio-economic Impacts of Global Sourcing”, published by Penguin Random House. Bobby is also frequently quoted in global media – Economist, fDI, Outsourcing Gazette, CIO Asia, CIO Africa, ZD Net, ICT Media BV, Silicon India, The Outsource, Professional Outsourcing, Pulse, MABC Byline, APAC CIO et al. He is a recipient of many awards: Top 25 Globalization Powerhouse Leaders (by Globalization Today, US); Excellence in Leadership & Outsourcing (2016, 2015 and 2014, by Asia Outsourcing Congress, India); Golden Globe Tiger Awards for Leadership & Outsourcing (2015, by World CSR Day, APAC); Member of the Year (2012, by IAOP, USA).

Bobby holds a Diploma in Sustainable Development from Columbia University, USA; and two Masters Degrees (one each in Solid State Physics and Management) from Berhampur University, India. He is one of the world’s first Certified Outsourcing Professionals (COP), a certified Core Banking Professional (HSBC) and an ISO 9000 and CMMi Quality Systems Auditor . Bobby has lived and worked in India, UK, USA, Brazil, UAE and Malaysia. In his spare time he actively pursues his passion – scuba diving. He has gone on to attain a number of diving related qualifications across the recreational and technical diving spectrum, and is currently an open-circuit trimix deep exploration diver. He splits his time between Newark, DE, USA and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with his wife and two sons.

Anne Tham

In 1995, Anne set off to change the learning paradigm for school students by incorporating methods that engage the many facets of learning into her very own curriculum called the ACE Ed-Venture programme. This 21st century approach has gone on to develop confident, creative, innovative, collaborative and entrepreneurial future-ready students.

What had started out as private tutoring in her own home has since flourished into a multitude of learning centres and 2 international schools: Sri Emas International School and Dwi Emas International School, both which have been listed under Cambridge Strategies’ Innovation 800 as “Best Practise Pioneers” for 4 years in a row. Dwi Emas International School is also home to Malaysia’s first ever entrepreneurial school which teaches students from the age of 7 how to run profitable, sustainable businesses. To date, the ACE EdVenture programme has impacted over 15,000 students with international expansion plans underway.

In 2016, Anne and team released ChemCaper, the world’s first (and award-winning) Chemistry Role- playing Game so students can actually have fun learning the subject on a platform they love. Anne continues to share her love for education on local and world stages which included TEDxKL and SLUSH- XcitED Finland. In the same year, she was named Woman of the Year by Her World Magazine. In 2017, she clinched the Female Entrepreneur of the Year and Platinum Award for Best Employer at the STAR Outstanding Business Awards, and was also inducted as a member of Endeavor Global. After 35 years in education, Anne continues bringing real world skills and experiences into the classrooms and pushing beyond that boundary.

Maik (Mike) Fuellmann

He lectures in the fields of knowledge management, innovation and entrepreneurship and works on environmental education for the Sustainable Development Goals in projects with UNEP, UNESCO and is passionate about intersectoral cooperation and the triple helix innovation concept.

Maik holds a degree as Master of Business Administration (MBA) of the University of Liverpool and several degrees in insurance industry (FCII, FDVA) where he used to work for more than 20 Years in leading management positions, e.g. as a board member or a German-Chinese life insurance joint venture.

Assoc. Prof Elajsolan Mohan

ASSOC. PROFESSOR ELAJSOLAN MOHAN is one of the founder members of the National Association of Private Educational Institutions (NAPEI) in 1987 and is currently the President for the seventh term.

In his capacity as the President of NAPEI he sits in various committees in the Ministry of Higher Education and has contributed every year during the Malaysian Budget Consultation Forums of the Ministry of Finance. He has also been appointed to the Sectorial Training Committee of the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) of the Ministry of Human Resources. He is also a panel member of the Universities upgrading committee of the Ministry of Higher Education. He has also recently been appointed as member of the Education Malaysia Policy Consultative Committee and the Education Malaysia Marketing Consultative Committee. He is also a member of the QAS Certification Committee of SIRIM.

One of his contributions is in the development of the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) under the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister’s Department. Presently contributing to the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025) and the Shared Prosperity Vision (SPV 2030). He also sits on various technical committees at the Ministry of Higher Education and Ministry of Human Resources. He is also a member of the Malaysian Service Development Council (MSDC) under MITI. He has been in the teaching career since 1977 and till today after more than 40 years is still in the field of education. His expertise includes lecturing in the field of engineering and also experience owning and operating his own college. He has also helped in establishing the engineering faculties in two universities, Asia Pacific University and MAHSA University. Apart from his undergraduate degree he also has a Master’s Degree in Educational Management from University of Malaya. He is also a member of the Technical Association of Malaysia.

Of lately he is involved in consultancy work in the university quality assurance process, benchmarking with international universities in both academic and TVET sectors. He is also advisor to the Malaysian Institute of Retirement Management (MIRM).

Felix Lee

Felix Lee is in the business of setting up, design and transfer/operate Pre-Schools, Private National Schools & International Schools

He has re-branded and strategized successfully the “Beaconhouse School System” in Malaysia. Beacohouse is an international school chain with branches in UK, Belgium, UAE, Thailand, Phillippines, Oman, Pakistan and Malaysia with over 300,000 students

He also,turned around and increased enrolment of Sri Suria and Sri Cahaya of the REAL Education Group He set up and managed the REAL International Schools in Shah Alam, Hulu Langat and JB, Malaysia

He also set up and successfully handed over the management of Austin Heights Private & International Schools Johor Bahru with a ‘waiting list’ of students

Felix Lee designed, set up and managed Matrix International School & Matrix Private School and led it to win multiple awards including HR Asia Best Companies to work for in Asia 2015 & 2016, Fastest Moving Company in 2014 and various Education Leadership Awards. It achieved more than 750 students in 3 years, record breaking in Seremban ( outskirts of KL ) . He was also interviewed by Bernama TV ( National TV ) and BFM ( Business Radio ) for having set up a unique school He secured partnerships with China which guarantees 200 students per year

Awards: -The Asia Pacific Entrepreneurial Award 2015
-The Brandlaurette: Brandleadership Award 2015-2016
-The 7th Asia’s Education Excellence Awards 2016 by CMO Asia:Education Leadership Award
-World Leader Businessperson by The Bizz 2017:for being a Successful Leader

He was Keynote Speaker at: IPSEF ( International Private Schools Educational Forums ) Digital Education Fair Middle East 2015 Digital Education Fair Asia 2016 EduCon Asia – K-12 International Schools Asia 2016 EduTech Asia 2018 & 2019 Singapore Betts Asia Leadership Conference 2019

Aslam Khan Bin Samahs Khan (Dr. HC)

Aslam Khan Bin Samahs Khan (Dr. HC) obtained his academic and professional qualifications in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. He has also obtained his Doctor of Excellence (Dr. Honoris Causa) in English Language Education and 21st Century Education. He started his teaching career as an English language teacher in a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur. In 1992 he was awarded the National Excellent Teacher on Teachers’ Day.

Since 1994 he had been a Senior Lecturer, Master Trainer and Consultant in the English Studies Department and Head of the International and Corporate Department at the Institute of Teacher Education, Specialist Campus (IPGKIK) and International Languages Campus (IPGKBA), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with the position of Excellent Lecturer DG54.

He has received four National Excellent Service Awards and one International Excellent Service Award from the Ministry of Education Malaysia. He has vast experience in planning, implementing, coordinating and managing national and international Teacher Education and Professional Training programmes.

He also conducts consultation and advisory work for governmental and corporate organisations and academic institutions, both at national and international level. He was the Vice-Chair and Coordinator of the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) for 15 years, a Government to Government programme for the training of teachers, lecturers and educators from more than ninety countries. He was the Project Manager of the Malaysia Australia Education Project for Afghanistan (MAEPA), a project to train Master Trainers in Teacher Education from Afghanistan from 2008 till 2013 under the Malaysian Government in collaboration with Australia and Afghanistan.

He has served as an Executive Committee and Vice-President of MELTA (Malaysian English Language Teaching Association for 23 years. He is frequently invited as a featured speaker at various national and international ELT and education conferences. Currently, he is the Executive Vice Chairman of ERICAN Education Group and he speaks 12 languages and dialects.

Coco Wong

Born and raised in England, and now residing in Kuala Lumpur, Coco Wong is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in the industries of education, training, entrepreneurship, events organisation, public speaking, mentoring and media. She graduated from King’s College London and later on, went to Japan to further her studies. She is known for her ability to balance work and family effortlessly.

Coco started her special events company, Codiki Special Events, in 1995 organising events for corporates such as Housing Authority, The Law Society, Hong Kong University, HSBC. In 1996, she founded Coco Weddings, the first wedding planner in Hong Kong, specialising in weddings and her customers included many celebrity couples in Hong Kong as well as members of the Hang Seng Bank family, the Maxims Group family, and China’s government officials families.

She was the art director and designer for Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel’s weddings and events and later, helped Maxims Chinese rebrand their venues and event services.

In 2007, Little Academy was born, offering unique early childhood education and had over 400 students in less than a year. She pioneered kids cookery classes for children as young as 2 years old and later helped Towngas Cooking Centre set up their kid-chen. The learning centres were sold and Coco began to help different education businesses as their business consultants. She also began coaching parents on parenting and green parenting.

She is a frequent speaker for Education Expos and also co-hosted parenting and education shows on RTHK, Metro Radio as well as ATV. She was a featured writer for local magazines sharing parenting tips.

In 2016, she began helping Consulate General of Finland to promote education in Finland. She led tours for principals and educators to Finland for exchange programs as well as organised talks and events for Finnish educators in Hong Kong. She also began exploring Malaysia as an education location for Hong Kong students and has been invited by many Malaysian developers to share Malaysian education to parents in HK.

Coco is the recipient of the “Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs in China in 2009”, “Best Parent Award” by the HK government, Circle Care Award from JCI, and various other awards.

GURPARDEEP SINGH

Mr. Gurpardeep Singh graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 1988, and a Master of Science Degree in Technology Management from Staffordshire University, UK. He has had more than 30 years’ experience in both the ICT and Higher Education industries, as a developer, project manager, technology manager and educator.

Starting his career as an IT Project Manager with Malaysia’s leading Banking Group, Gurpardeep continued his career in technology deployment and operations management as well as technology programme design, development and delivery at APIIT (Asia Pacific Institute of IT) and APU (Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation).

He presently holds the position of Chief Operating Officer of the APIIT Education Group, and apart from his primarily responsibility for overall institutional development and operations, he leads the development and execution of Digital Transformation strategies in support of the Institution.

NARESH

Naresh is a Principal with XRND Consulting who assists corporate clients with solutions in corporate strategy, revenue optimization, process improvement, cost control, systems implementation, project management and deal negotiations.

His experience in the education sector started with varying management roles in Finance and Business with the University of Sydney, Australia, and more recently was the previous Group CEO of Minda Global Berhad which is a listed investment holding company in Malaysia, comprising of the University of Cyberjaya, Asia Metropolitan University, Asia Metropolitan Colleges in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, AMETIS International School and Oxbridge language academy.

Previous to this he was CEO and Executive Director of Air Asia Global Shared Services (AGSS) which provides financial, people, IT operations, refund and procurement support to the Air Asia Group companies, affiliates and some Tune companies across 6 countries supporting 23 operating entities including 7 airline companies with some 350 staff. He has also held previous roles with the Air Asia Group as a Senior Consultant reporting to the GCEO/GCFO and assisting country CEOs on growth and performance strategies.

Other leading corporates Naresh has worked with in Malaysia include Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) Advisory in Strategy and Sustainability and Usaha Tegas/Maxis Communications Berhad. Naresh has also worked with PwC Sydney, US listed Commercial Metals Company and Raidnet in Australia.

His experience over 27 years includes corporate strategy, business planning, business management, performance improvement, change and transformation, project management, financial restructuring, treasury operations and merger integration. 

He has proven expertise in building sustainable revenue growth, identifying profitable opportunities, developing strategic focus and applying consultative techniques to deliver winning business solutions. He is a clear communicator with strong negotiation, problem solving and customer oriented focus.

Naresh is a qualified accountant being a member of CPA Australia and completed the professional program to be a registered public practitioner. He is also admitted as a Solicitor to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Australia.

KELVIN LOH

Kelvin Loh has over 25 years of experience in design and development of eLearning and consulting. He was the eLearning Director of CellNetwork, Centre of Excellence. Kelvin also has experience working with an established IT firm called Singapore Computer System Ltd. in Singapore. He has implemented various technology-based learning projects for major local and foreign-based companies.

Kelvin is the founder of eLearningMinds Group (Malaysia), that was established in 2010. Currently, he has several establishments in China, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Today, eLearningMinds Group focuses on activities to enable anyone with DIY eLearning development through various eLearning solutions.

Kelvin was appointed as a Member of the Industrial Advisory Panel at the Faculty of Language Studies and Communication Studies of UNIMAS. He was also appointed as a Task Force Member of Malaysia Centre for eLearning (MYCEL) and recently, he was appointed as a Review Panel for Code of Practice: Open and Distance Learning (ODL) by Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).

He is also a certified trainer for conducting Articulate Programmes in this region. Besides that, he also conducts training to customers for products of iStudio, UbiCast, Camtasia Studio, Raptivity and Lecture Maker.