Ychallenge 2012: Judges

Assoc. Prof. Adel Dimian

Former Vice President, 3M Health Information Systems

Education:

M.B.A., University of Minnesota

Ph.D. Polymer & Coating Chemistry, North Dakota State University

Adel F Dimian is Practice Associate Professor of Management in the Lee Kong Chian School of Business. He recently joined SMU after serving nearly 19 years with 3M in varied and increasing responsibilities in technical and business management for worldwide. 

A talented scientist he was awarded 9 patents for novel chemistry solutions. He is a certified six sigma black belt and master black belt. Adel spent 3 years based in Singapore as a regional business development manager responsible for 3M’s Asia electronics portfolio. Prior to moving back to Singapore and joining SMU, he was appointed vice president and general manager for 3M’s healthcare IT compliance business in New York City. Adel has worked in the healthcare, memory technology, commercial brand identity and graphic design, IT, and electronic market segments. 

He received his formal education in the sciences, liberal arts, and business administration earning a BS, MS and PhD degrees in chemistry, and an MBA with honors from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. His expertise involves strategy, innovation, process improvement and general management.

Mr. Albert Antoine

Education:

M.Sc. in Management Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

M.Sc. in Computer Science, International Institute of Robotic and Artificial Intelligence of Marseille (France)

Mr. Antoine is an international business development and management consultant who currently serves as Associate Director of Antony Consulting, overseeing its Vietnam operation. He also provides strategy and management consulting for many leading US and European MNCs entering Asia Pacific markets. He has had more than 20 years of experience in the ICT (Information – Communications – Technology) industry. He started his career as Technology Advisor on a World Bank project in Madagascar. After moving to Singapore in 1988, he founded his own consulting firm, providing consulting services in the area of Artificial Intelligence, and subsequently, joined ILOG, a global IT solution & consulting company. He previously served on the board of many portfolio companies advising them on management and marketing strategies as part of VinaCapital, a private equity investment and venture capital firm in Vietnam.

Mr. Antoine speaks fluent Vietnamese, French, and English. Mr. Antoine speaks fluent Vietnamese, French, and English. He holds an M.Sc. in Management of Technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as well as an M.Sc. in Computer Science from the International Institute of Robotic and Artificial Intelligence of Marseille, France.

Assoc. Prof. Eric Tachibana

Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Merrill Lynch Singapore 

Education:

M.B.A., National University of Singapore (NUS) and University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)

M.A., Science, Technology and Public Policy, George Washington University

Eric Tachibana has been an entrepreneur focused on the financial services sector for the last twelve years. During that time he has created, built, and eventually exited successful small companies in Silicon Valley, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the U.K. Today, he continues his entrepreneurial endeavors as a regional angel investor, strategic adviser, and mentor for early-stage entrepreneurial ventures, serving as founding non-executive director for seven companies regionally.

As Vice President and a manager at Merrill Lynch in Singapore, Eric Tachibana provides strategic analysis, business development, and program management focused on intrapreneurial initiatives.

An author of eight books on technology development and innovation management, he is also an adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore Business School and continues to focus on cutting-edge theory and implementation.

Mr. Kevin Sproule

Education:

M.B.A., J.L. Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University

B.S. Electrical Engineering and Economics – University of Virginia

Kevin Sproule is the Senior Case Writer for the Case Writing Initiative at Singapore Management University (SMU). Originally from Silicon Valley Kevin recently moved to Singapore to become a founding member of the initiative at SMU. Since joining SMU Kevin has authored cases on topics including innovation & growth, finance and public-private partnerships in geographies ranging from the UAE to Australia to South Korea. Kevin specializes in operations having worked at United States based McMaster-Carr Supply Company with 6 years experience in the area of operations, and 3 years in sales operations management. He earned his MBA in Finance and Marketing at Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg School of Management.

Dr. Lee Gilbert

Education:

Ph.D. (Law, Policy, & Society) Northeastern University, Boston

M.A. (International Studies in Development) Oregon

B.A. Social Sciences (Human Factors Engineering) Denver. 

Lee Gilbert began his international career as a consultant for SRI International, and later served the Institute of Systems Science as Deputy Director, Harvard Business School as Future Information Systems faculty Fellow, the United Nations Secretariat as Regional Adviser for Technology Transfer and Development, and Nanyang Business School as Director of its MBA (International Business) programme.  As an IT practitioner, he assisted private and public sector clients throughout the world to acquire and implement effective computing and telecommunications solutions to business problems.

Dr. Gilbert’s research and publication addresses technology policy and electronic commerce.  He has worked in Bangladesh, China, Hongkong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. While working for the UN in Vietnam, he helped organize its first Investment Forum, attracting more than 300 potential investors to explore the newly opened economy. He later assisted MOSTE to introduce the Internet to Vietnamese public officials, and co-chaired two MBA study missions to the country.

Mr. Olivier Nguyen-Khac

Education:

MBA, INSEAD (France and Singapore)

Master of Electrical Engineering, INPG (France)

Olivier is currently Vice President at UOB Venture Management, a Singapore-based private equity firm investing throughout Asia. Prior to joining UOB in 2010, Olivier worked in Vietnam and Singapore at Deloitte Corporate Finance, acting as lead M&A advisor to companies acquiring or divesting assets in Southeast Asia. Prior to this, he worked in France in management consulting at Accenture and AT Kearney, where he assisted companies on their strategy, organisation and operations & performance improvement.

Prof. Wong Poh Kam

Director, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre

Education:

Ph.D. (Regional Planning), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

E. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Wong Poh Kam is currently a Professor at NUS Business School, as well as the Director of NUS Entrepreneurship Centre. He has published in numerous international refereed journals on innovation policy, industrial and competitiveness policy and technology entrepreneurship, and has also consulted widely for international agencies such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, various government agencies in Singapore such as A*STAR, EDB and IDA, and many high tech firms in Asia.

An entrepreneur who co-founded three companies prior to joining academia, he is now an active angel investor and/or board member of several high tech start-ups in Silicon Valley, Singapore, China and Malaysia. He was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at U.C. Berkeley and a visiting researcher at Stanford University and KTH, Sweden. He received a Public Administration Medal (Bronze) from the Singapore Government in 2005.

Dr. Bui V. Dao

Former Adjunct Professor, Civil Engineering Department, University of Oklahoma

Education:

PhD, Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

BS (Civil Engineering), California State University, Long Beach

Dr. Bui is a respected veteran in the field of civil engineering with over 30 years of experience in engineering and construction of offshore production facilities. He was formerly the president of GustoMSC, an engineering company that designs and fabricates offshore floating and non-floating platforms for oil & gas drilling and production.

In 1997, Dr. Bui formed Ocean Design Associates, providing a full range of engineering service to clients such as Exxon Mobile, Chevron Texaco, Shell, and BP. Along the way he has worked with several organizations and has developed a reputation for his remarkably efficient production process. In 1999, Dr. Bui developed the floating drilling semi submersible in a record time and low cost. The design was so successful that four more semi’s were built over the years.

Dr. Don D. Nguyen

Education:

PhD, School of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

BS (Chemical Engineering), University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

An innovative scientist renowned for his strong expertise in conceptualizing, designing, and implementing processes for drinking water & industrial wastewater purification and recycle, Dr. Don Nguyen is currently the holder of six US patents and one European patent on Papermachine Troubleshooting/ Monitoring Systems and Anti-fouling Membrane Filtration. His inventions have found their applications in several realms, including wastewater treatment and paper making process optimization. Recently he has invented a patent-pending process to purify vinaza wastewater from the tequila production in the State of Jalisco/Mexico.

As a senior engineer, he has successfully managed highly trained and diversified project teams over 30-year span of his career. Don Nguyen is currently a supervising engineer at Compass Water Solution, where he and his team has just innovated an oil-water separation process to reduce the pollution causing by the discharge of bilge water from marine vessels.

Mr. Hien Le

Education:

SEI-certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser

MS in Computer Sciences

BS and MS in Metallurgical Engineering

Mr. Hien Le is a senior manager at Deloitte LLP where he leads the Deloitte Federal Government Service Group’s process improvement program. This program is based on the Software Engineering Institute’s  Software Capability Model Integration (SEI-CMMI).  He has more than 20 years of experience in energy conservation and materials engineering consulting, software engineering, marketing, and process improvement.  Positions he held range from researcher, analyst, developer, QA manager, to program manager. He has established and appraised  process improvement programs at numerous large as well as small organizations. Mr. Le holds BS and MS in Metallurgical Engineering and a MS in Computer Sciences and is currently a SEI-certified SCAMPI Lead Appraiser, a qualification he holds since 2000 when he was the first Vietnamese ever to be authorized by the SEI to be a Software Capability Evaluator for the Software Capability Maturity Model (SW-CMM), which is the precursor to the CMMI.

Mr. Hoang Thong Lap

Former Director of Traffic Engineering & Operations, Florida Department of Transportation

Education:

BSEC (Civil Engineering), University of Florida

Mr. Hoang Thong Lap is currently the president of Lap T. Hoang and Associates, LLC., a consulting company with specialization in Transportation Planning and Operations. He is also a member of the Technical Coordinating Committee on Strategic Highway Research Program, Transportation Research Board, and National Academy of Sciences. In 1996, he was awarded “Transportation Engineer of the Year” by the State of Florida.

With over 40 years of experience in the field of transportation, Mr. Lap has been trusted with public leadership positions in the State of Florida for several years. In 2000, he was elected President of the Florida Section at Institute of Transportation Engineers.

Dr. Le Van Ut

Education:

Ph.D., University of Oulu, Finland

After obtaining a Ph.D. in mathematics with excellent grade (5/5) from the University of Oulu in Finland, Dr. Ut Van Le has been a postdoctoral researcher there. His mathematical interests include differential equations and integral-differential equations. He has published 19 papers in international peer-reviewed journals.

In terms of service to the profession, he is a reviewer for 9 international journals of mathematics. In particular, he has been a reviewer of the Mathematical Reviews of the American Mathematical Society since 2009.

Beside mathematics, Dr  Ut Van Le is particularly interested in Vietnamese education and the territorial sovereignty of Vietnam. His writings on these topics have appeared in many prestigious Vietnamese newspapers and magazines such as TuoiTre, ThanhNien, VietnamNet, Education of Vietnam, and Science and Life.

Prof. Loek Hopstaken

Education:

Bachelor & Master (Public Relations), Van der Hilst PR School, Netherlands

Professor Loek Hopstaken has been teaching International Business Administration topics on bachelor and master levels since 2003. His specializations are Communication, Orgnaizational Design, and Public Relations. Since November 2008 he lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, but returns to The Netherlands to deliver services to his Dutch clients, and to deliver Master Classes at Wittenborg.

In the Netherlands, he has delivered training programs and workshops to Philips, Heineken, Royal Van Zanten, Damen Shipyards and many small and medium sized companies. In Vietnam he is Director of Training at Alliance International Training Corporation, does freelance teaching assignments at RMIT and HCMC Universities of Technology and Industry, and cooperates with several Vietnamese management consultancy and training firms.

Mr. Murli Ravi

Education:

CFA charter (2006)

MSc in Financial Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)

Certificate in Computational Finance, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, USA)

SIA-NOL undergraduate scholarship

Murli Ravi joined JAFCO Asia in 2008. He is currently Associate Director, Deputy Head of South Asia Investments. He is based in the Singapore office and is responsible for investments in South Asia. During his tenure so far, he has served on the board of 12 portfolio companies. Among others, his current board appointments include Consilium, CustomerXPs, Microland, Microqual, Mistral, Mozat and Vriti .

Prior to joining JAFCO Asia, Murli worked in investments, consulting and research at Temasek Holdings, RedPill Solutions and INSEAD, during the course of which he acquired knowledge of industries such as mining, telecom/media, consumer goods, agriculture and alternative fuels. Transactions he has worked on have spanned a wide range of sizes, ranging from early-stage venture deals to significant minority stakes in large-cap public companies.

Mr. Nguyen Son Nam

Education:

M.A., Economics and Finance Mcgill University (Montreal)

C.F.A. ( Certified Financial Analyst Charterholder)

C.A.I.A. (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst)

Mr. Son Nam is currently Director at the International Division of Lombard Odier & Cie the second largest family owned private bank in Switzerland. Previously  he was Associate Director at UBS AG in the Wealth Management division. Selected among a panel of well over 2000 candidates, he joined the first Wealth Management associate program of UBS geared towards young professionals with a minimum of 5 years experience. He worked for UBS in Geneva, Zurich and Singapore for over five years. Previously, He worked as a European equity fund manager at Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) and financial analyst covering the financial and energy sector.

Mr Olivier Nguyen-Khac

Education:

MBA, INSEAD (France and Singapore)

Master of Electrical Engineering, INPG (France)

Olivier is currently Vice President at UOB Venture Management, a Singapore-based private equity firm investing throughout Asia. Prior to joining UOB in 2010, Olivier worked in Vietnam and Singapore at Deloitte Corporate Finance, acting as lead M&A advisor to companies acquiring or divesting assets in Southeast Asia. Prior to this, he worked in France in management consulting at Accenture and AT Kearney, where he assisted companies on their strategy, organisation and operations & performance improvement.

Mr. Pham Phu Khoi

Education:

M.B.A., Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

M.S., Civil Aviation Institute

Completed the International Executive Program, INSEAD

Mr. Pham is currently the Vietnam Country Head for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Khoi joined Merrill Lynch in 2007 from Standard Chartered Bank Singapore where he worked for five years, most recently as a Director and Head of Asia Credit Trading and Head of Fixed Income Vietnam. Khoi previously worked for Barclays Capital Asia in Hong Kong and London in the fixed income trading department. He began his career at Vietnam Airlines in 1989 working in Hong Kong, Taipei, Osaka, Tokyo, Berlin and Hanoi, where he was general manager for northeast Asia between 1994 and 1997.

Dr. Do Quoc Anh

Education:

Ph.D., Economics, Harvard University

M.A., Economics, Harvard University

Economics and Statistics, National School of Statistics and Economics (ENSAE), France

Dr. Do Quoc Anh has been an assistant professor at Singapore Management University (SMU) since 2008. His economic interest ranges from political economics, economics of social networks, development economics, and economic growth to field experiments.

Mr. Nguyen Son Nam

Education:

M.A., Economics and Finance Mcgill University (Montreal)

C.F.A. ( Certified Financial Analyst Charterholder)

C.A.I.A. (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst)

Mr. Son Nam is currently Director at the International Division of Lombard Odier & Cie the second largest family owned private bank in Switzerland. Previously  he was Associate Director at UBS AG in the Wealth Management division. Selected among a panel of well over 2000 candidates, he joined the first Wealth Management associate program of UBS geared towards young professionals with a minimum of 5 years experience. He worked for UBS in Geneva, Zurich and Singapore for over five years. Previously, He worked as a European equity fund manager at Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) and financial analyst covering the financial and energy sector.

Mr. Pham Phu Khoi

Education:

M.B.A., Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

M.S., Civil Aviation Institute

Completed the International Executive Program, INSEAD

Mr. Pham is currently the Vietnam Country Head for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Khoi joined Merrill Lynch in 2007 from Standard Chartered Bank Singapore where he worked for five years, most recently as a Director and Head of Asia Credit Trading and Head of Fixed Income Vietnam. Khoi previously worked for Barclays Capital Asia in Hong Kong and London in the fixed income trading department. He began his career at Vietnam Airlines in 1989 working in Hong Kong, Taipei, Osaka, Tokyo, Berlin and Hanoi, where he was general manager for northeast Asia between 1994 and 1997.