(Inspiration of the Month)

Google for Education’s mission is to: “Expand what, where and how students learn so that everyone has access to the quality education they deserve”

Colin Marson is based in Singapore and leads the Google for Education efforts in the Asia Pacific region. He has worked across both public and private sectors in the region for the past 20 years. Colin holds masters degrees in public policy from UC San Diego and business administration from INSEAD.

Prior to Google, Colin’s career has spanned high impact strategy consulting to launching and successfully exiting a startup.

(Guest Judge)

Dan is the Managing Director of The Harbour School, an award-winning progressive international school in Hong Kong. Prior to joining the school, Dan worked in start-up and corporate settings specializing in research, strategy and systems design. As a consultant, Dan helped to set up the knowledge management platform for the Army Corps of Engineers. In investment banking, Dan worked on the Global Sales and Marketing team of Brown Brothers Harriman, the largest privately owned investment bank in the United States. After returning to Hong Kong, Dan spent 7 years working at a small children’s mental health practice and was a Founding Member of Variety – The Children’s Charity Hong Kong, an organization that raises local funds for local children’s causes. He holds a MA degree in Psychology and Economics from the University of Edinburgh.

(Judge)

Diana Wu David is the author of Future Proof: Reinventing Work in the Age of Acceleration, a book about how to adopt more agile mindsets and practices to prepare yourself for success in a fast-changing world, across a 100-year life. Diana is an adjunct professor of leadership at Columbia Business School's EMBA Global Asia and for the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Diploma. A former Financial Times executive, Diana now works with CEOs and board directors to enhance their leadership agility, influence, collaboration and resilience. Her clients have included the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, the World Bank, Expedia, Asia Development Bank and Credit Suisse. She began her career and leadership education as an assistant to Dr. Henry Kissinger.

Read the first two chapters of Future Proof: Reinventing Work in the Age of Acceleration for free at www.dianawudavid.com/futureproof

(Guest Judge)

Founded in 1920, Scholastic is the world’s largest children book publisher and distributor and a leader in comprehensive education solutions to help children read and learn.
It is a publicly listed company (NASDAQ:SCHL) with annual revenue of about US$ 1.6 billion.

Scholastic Asia operates in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and India with 3,000+ employees. It develops a wide variety of children books and educational material, and distributes them through book fairs and book clubs in the schools; as well as through retailers (online and offline) and a direct-to-home network. It also operates an extensive franchise system in Asia to teach young children English; and a reading assessment and improvement program in local schools.

Before joining Scholastic, Mr. Wong was President of PepsiCo Foods in China from 1999 to 2003, where he built dominant market position for Lay’s potato chips brand and led PepsiCo’s first acquisition in China. Prior to PepsiCo, he spent 5 years with Nabisco, where he began as International Marketing Director in New York and later became the President of Nabisco China, successfully building brands like Oreo, Chips Ahoy and Ritz in China. Before his Asia assignments, he held a series of senior brand management positions with Colgate Palmolive in New York.

Mr. Wong received a BA degree from George Washington University and a Master degree from Columbia University. He is the founding Chair of Teach for Hong Kong, a Vice Chair of AFS Intercultural Exchanges, board member of the think tank Path of Democracy, board advisor to a few PE and VC funds, and a former Governor of Amcham Hong Kong.

(Guest Judge)

Jacky Fung is the head and researcher of the Centre for Education Research and Development, Hong Kong Policy Research Institute. He endeavors to study global education reform, values education, equity in education, and business-school partnership and actively participate in policy advocacy, teachers’ professional development, and school development. He has coordinated school support programs and teacher professional development for over 100 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. He is also a founding member of the Hong Kong Educator's Club and advisor to the Hong Kong Private Education Institutions Chamber.

Apart from his research duty, Jacky also a media host, including NowTV and Commercial Radio Hong Kong on current affairs. With his professional knowledge and social network, he would also coordinate professional meetings, handle government relations, and public engagement projects.

Research Interest
• Global Education Reform
• Civic and Values Education
• Equity in Education
• Business-school Partnership

(Guest Judge)

Dr. Sean O. Ferguson is currently an Associate Dean at the Asia School of Business (ASB) in Malaysia. ASB is a partnership collaboration between the MIT Sloan School of Management and Bank Negara Malaysia (the Central Bank of Malaysia). Ferguson is responsible for growing the student body, accreditation, career development, and employer relations.
Ferguson received his doctorate in Global Education from the University of Southern California. His area of expertise focuses on employability and career management in Asia-Pacific. He also has an MBA from Rice University and a BS in Engineering from the University

(Speaker)

Gregory has been successfully leading multiple categories at Logitech since 2013, such as desktop speakers and Enterprise Headsets. He drove turnaround for these categories through product innovations, P&L management, and Go-To-Market Strategies. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director of a Marine Electronics Equipments Manufacturer in Sweden where he had full P&L responsibility, which he successfully turned around leading to a sale to market leader brand Garmin Ltd.

(Speaker)

Jen Flowers is currently the global head of strategy and business management for partnership development and innovation for HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management. She is an expert in design thinking helping companies think outside the box to innovative. Jen has over 15 years experience across marketing, business development, innovation and change. As co-­chair of the TEDx TinHau committee, Jen oversees all facets of the planning and running of multiple non-­profit TEDx conferences and events in her free time. Jen has a masters degree in Chinese Literature, speaks Mandarin and spent over 10 years living across Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Jen currently serves as the Innovation & Technology Committee Co-Chair at AmCham Hong Kong.

(Speaker)

As a strategy and Board advisor, Todd Bryan helps companies transform through new business models and digital strategies. His experience spans Software, Digital Media, Networking Hardware, Consumer Electronics and Durables, Industrial Goods, and Telecommunications.
Previously, Todd has held leadership positions on corporate strategy teams at Philips Lighting, Adobe Systems, and Cisco Systems. Todd was also a strategy consultant with BCG in San Francisco, and an equity analyst with Morgan Stanley in Singapore.
Todd earned a BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MS from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MBA from the Kellogg (Northwestern University).

(Featured Speaker)

Based in Hong Kong, Ming Lai Cheung works as Manager for Illicit Trade Prevention – Asia at Philip Morris International. Among her many responsibilities, she is tasked to devise and execute strategies against illicit trade in selected markets in Asia Pacific which include engaging relevant stakeholders in business and the wider community to bring about legislative and regulatory changes in governments and law enforcement. She has a research interest in terrorism, organized crimes, and human trafficking.

Ming Lai established and chairs the Shadow Economy Sub-Committee (SESC) within the Trade and Investment Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (AmCham), leading a team of experts in three areas: Financial Crimes and Anti-Money Laundering, Trade Technology, and Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Enforcement to address illicit trade issues in the region.

Ming Lai volunteers as a Charities Reporter for the American Women’s Association (AWA) magazine AWAre and researches, interviews and writes about community projects in Hong Kong. Further, she serves as a Director and Company Secretary for C3 Church Hong Kong providing strategic direction and governance, and overseeing its external relations and charity programs.

Ming Lai was formerly a Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs at AmCham. She is a qualified lawyer of the New South Wales Supreme Court, Australia. She holds a Master of International Law from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Government & Public Administration from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.