Dr Lee Khiam Jin （Senior Advisor）

Personal Statement

With over 27 years of international experience across ASEAN intergovernmental
bodies, the United Nations, global industry associations, international NGOs,
academia, and the private sector, I possess a deep understanding of Southeast Asia and
China’s cultures, values, geopolitics, and ASEAN institutions. My expertise includes
stakeholder engagement, government liaison, regional business development, resource optimization and the administration of both international organizations and publicly listed companies. I have hands-on experience in public-private partnership, project management, ESG, and disaster risk reduction. Passionate about research, corporate affairs, regional politics, socioeconomics, and organizational culture development in ASEAN and China. Fluent in English, Chinese Mandarin, Malay, and Bahasa Indonesia.

Education and Professional Memberships

• PhD in Management, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, specialized in Managing emergencies through cross-sector collaboration, 2016-2019 [Recipient of 2015 NZ-ASEAN Scholarship]
• Master of Business Administration, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, specialized in Management of New Ventures, 1996-1997 [Recipient of company’s 1995 Best Employee Award]
• Bachelor of Public Administration (Hons.), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Kedah, Malaysia, 1989-1992
• Certificate in Project Management Professional (PMP), Project Management Institute, Newton Square,
  Pennsylvania, USA, 2007
• Certificate in Incident Command System for Disaster Management, accredited by the US Forest Service, 2013-
  2014
• Certified ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ERAT) member, since 2013.
• Certified Master Assessor of the ASEAN Standards and Certification for Experts in Disaster Management
  (ASCEND) since February, 2024. https://ascend.ahacentre.org/
• Active member of the Integrated Disaster Risk Management Society (IDRiM), Kyoto, Japan https://idrim.org/
  

Key Competencies

• Training and coaching: Passionate about providing tailor-made professional coaching to companies’ founders, CEOs and senior management team members. Areas of coaching including but not limited to strategic thinking, building successful and resilient 

             organisational culture, problem solving skills and motivation. 

• Mentoring and EDI support: A qualified mentor endorsed by Imperial College, UK, in helping Business School postgraduate students to achieve their career goals as part of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusive programme. 
• Research and academic: Experienced in preparing academic papers for thematic conferences and publications. Experienced in teaching postgraduate and undergraduate programmes i.e.: Sustainable Enterprise; Leading and managing decision-making in organisations; and Business, Society and Sustainability, Qualitative Method, and supervising PhD students. Published more than 15 papers in peer-reviewed international journals.  

Training, teaching and coaching experience
Coaching: Co-CEOs of LifesUp Technologies (Software development) and TagOn Technologies Ltd. (AI solution), Hanoi, Viet Nam (2022-2023) https://lifesup.com.vn/about-us/ and https://tagon.ai/. (2022-2023)
Consultancy: Provide strategic advice to founder and CEO of Niagawan Plus Sdn Bhd, Penang, Malaysia
https://niagawan.com/my/
Special sharing: “Business Opportunities and Challenges in ASEAN for Chinese Investors and Entrepreneurs”, organsied by China Imperial College Alumni Association, Guangzhou, China, 23 March 2024.
Training: “Strategic Thinking as a Competency in a Volatile and Complex World”. Participants were entire team of the Board Assembly Integration Division, Penang Intel, Malaysia, 8 Dec 2023.

Special talk: “A Review on Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance and Collaborative Disaster Management in ASEAN”, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, 25 Oct 2023.

Special training: “Disaster Risk Governance: Framework and Model from ASEAN Perspective” Asian Institute of Management, Makati City, Manila, Philippines

Consultancy experience:

1. a)  Lead consultant cum project champion, Buddhist Tzu Chi Merits Society of Malaysia, Malaysia (March 2020- Dec 2022)
   Monitoring, evaluation and strategizing the design and implementation of Tzu Chi’s 5-year Charity Vision Program (2020-2024) comprises workstreams such as life caring or counselling, children education, elderly care, medical-on-demand and community volunteers development. Strengthening Tzu Chi’s capacity in domestic and international disaster relief and humanitarian services delivery by means of Tabletop Exercises, introducing Incident Command System model and revising current SOPs based on the outcomes of After Action Review.
2. b)  Team leader and lead consultant of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) (2021)
   Provided leadership to a team and assess the progress and results of the MRCS COVID-19 National Response Plan between Jan 2020 and Jan 2021. Reviewed the overall operation and deliverables of the operation vis-à-vis the initial operational strategy, operation management, business continuity, quality assurance, areas for improvement and measures for mid-course correction on the strategies and objectives. My recommendations are jointly accepted by the Commissioners of both IFRC Asia-Pacific Regional Office and MRCS.
3. c)  Strategic consultant to Niagawan Plus Sdn Bhd, Malaysia (Since 2021)
   Niagawan is one of the leading cloud-based accounting software companies in Malaysia. I am entrusted to conduct a comprehensive and evidence-based market intelligence research in preparing Niagawan to enter Indonesia market. I produced: Market entry strategies for cloud-based accounting software solutions provider in Indonesia, highlighting present major players and their niche in the market, identifying target market, realign positioning which could be different from what a company is doing in the past decade, setting staggering strategies in marketing, business development, product design, pricing, advertising strategies.
   I teach Research Methodology (Qualitative) and supervise PhD candidates (mainly from China) of diverse backgrounds eg. lecturers, senior administrators from colleges and polytechnics, private sectors. Supervised a wide range of research scopes: performance evaluation, e-commerce, live-streaming marketing, innovativeness and leadership, marketing communication, digital and social media, public affairs, interdisciplinary collaboration, Belt and Road Initiative and intangible cultural heritage.
   Managed and supervised overall administration of the newly established secretariat of the ASEAN intergovernmental body. Amongst the achievements:
   Strengthening donors relationships: Maintained good relationship with donors, i.e., Australia (AusAID and DFAT), European Union (ECHO), Japan (JICA-JAIF), New Zealand (NZMFAT-NZAID) and USA (USAID and OHDACA), and resulted to secure a multi-year humanitarian funding amounting to US$22,464,743.
   Managing multi-year programme and project: Provided leadership to administer the matrix of program in building the country resilience against natural disasters for ASEAN member states.
   Strengthening institutional capabilities: Followed up with Member States and national focal points of disaster management to implement the agreements; organized Governing Board meetings as its Secretary and participated in Ministerial Meetings on disaster risk reduction.
   Enhancing administrative accountability and project management: Drafted the Staff Rules and Procedures, Financial Rules and Regulations, AHA Centre Annual Strategic Work Plan; Project manager of the US$4.92

Employment History

Faculty fellow and PhD Supervisor cum researcher, Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST), Malaysia (since July 2021)

I teach Research Methodology (Qualitative) and supervise PhD candidates (mainly from China) of diverse backgrounds eg. lecturers, senior administrators from colleges and polytechnics, private sectors. Supervised a wide range of research scopes: performance evaluation, e-commerce, live-streaming marketing, innovativeness and leadership, marketing communication, digital and social media, public affairs, interdisciplinary collaboration, Belt and Road Initiative and intangible cultural heritage.

Chief Administrative Officer cum Head of Corporate Affairs and Program Development Division (2012– 2015), ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), Jakarta, Indonesia (www.ahacentre.org )

Managed and supervised overall administration of the newly established secretariat of the ASEAN intergovernmental body. Amongst the achievements:
Strengthening donors relationships: Maintained good relationship with donors, i.e., Australia (AusAID and DFAT), European Union (ECHO), Japan (JICA-JAIF), New Zealand (NZMFAT-NZAID) and USA (USAID and OHDACA), and resulted to secure a multi-year humanitarian funding amounting to US$22,464,743.
Managing multi-year programme and project: Provided leadership to administer the matrix of program in building the country resilience against natural disasters for ASEAN member states.
Strengthening institutional capabilities: Followed up with Member States and national focal points of disaster management to implement the agreements; organized Governing Board meetings as its Secretary and participated in Ministerial Meetings on disaster risk reduction.

Enhancing administrative accountability and project management: Drafted the Staff Rules and Procedures, Financial Rules and Regulations, AHA Centre Annual Strategic Work Plan; Project manager of the US$4.92million ICT Project named ASEAN web-based Emergency Operations Centre (WebEOC) Network with aim to connect seamlessly the AHA Centre EOC and the EOCs of all ASEAN Member States.

Economic Affairs Officer, Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division (Space Application Section, 2009-2010), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Bangkok, Thailand (www.unescap.org).

I joined the ESCAP immediately after the Division completed its restructuring in 2008. I was tasked to building disaster communication capacity as an integral part of the national disaster reduction strategy for Member States through public-private partnerships. Amongst the achievements:

Advocating concept of disaster risk reduction (DRR) into policies: Studied possible legal, programmatic and financial constraints, with an emphasis in building regional cooperation mechanism by means of connecting public, private sector and the civil society. Supporting policymakers towards the realization of a regional disaster communication capacity with utilization of in-situ satellite services and products; I identified gaps and developed roadmap for regional disaster preparedness, early warning mechanism and communication capacity with special emphasis in technical, institutional and financial considerations for reference of policymakers.

Enhancing technical cooperation programs: Studied regional trends in the integration of GIS-referenced technology for DRR, engaged national disaster management authorities, national space agencies and providers of new technologies (e.g., Microsoft and Motorola) and satellite communication service providers (e.g., Compass and Thaicom) that had hitherto not worked with ESCAP to building disaster communication and connectivity capacity as an integral part of the national disaster reduction strategy. I was appointed as one of the key team members to administer the UN Intergovernmental Secretariat for Regional Space Applications Program for Sustainable Development (RESAP).

Secretary-General cum Executive Director (2007-2014), iBurst Association (iBA), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Co-founded iBA in 2007 and administered this international industry association for eight years.

Building a platform to unite service providers: United service providers who used proprietary High Capacity Spatial Division Multiple Access (HC-SDMA) wireless broadband technology patented by Kyocera Corporation useful in deploying city-wide wireless local area network (WLAN). These members were from 15 counties and regions, namely, Azerbaijan, Canada, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Taiwan and USA.

Raising fund and the profile of iBA globally: I sought sponsorship to organize international forums, i.e.: the 5th iBurst Forum (2007, Kuala Lumpur), 6th iBurst Forum (2008, Amsterdam) and 7th iBurst Forum (2009, Jakarta) attended by Ministers, CEOs, telecommunication regulators, vendors, service providers and entrepreneurs.

Adoption of technology by ITU: Successfully mapping the roadmap of the association’s strategic positioning, and presented at ITU conference in Geneva, contributed to the adoption of HC-SDMA by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as the approved coherent radio-frequency spectrum.

Chief Commercial/Operating Officer/ Executive Director (2003-2008), MoBif Berhad, Georgetown and Cyberjaya, Malaysia.

Provided leadership to this internet-surveillance and broadband service provision listed company (Malaysia MESDAQ) in regional business development strategies, operation, legal, corporate affairs, investor relations, government liaison and compliance. Held P&L responsibility and played an important tole to advance the business in a highly regulated environment. Amongst the achievements:

Securing telecommunication licenses and project management: Led a work force and successfully secured the scarce 20 MHz spectrum, Network Facilities Provider and Network Service Provider licenses from Malaysia telecommunication regulator within one year for wireless broadband commercial service deployment in Kuala Lumpur. Provided leadership to oversee the deployment of the first wireless broadband service provision in Kuala Lumpur using proprietary technology from Japan Kyocera Corporation. Managing investors and regulators relations: Built good relationships with Bursa Malaysia, Security Commission, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Malaysia MSC Development Corporation and key investors from domestic and overseas. Developing branding strategies: Planned and managed promotional activities in overseas, e.g.: Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, Germany CeBit (Hanover) and exhibitions in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand; Recipient of Deloitte’s Technology FAST 500 Asia Pacific Award consecutively for four years between 2004 and 2007.

General Manager (2000-2003), Galaxy International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd and Shanghai Howu Co., Ltd, Shanghai, China.

Pioneering and incorporating company in China: Provided overall leadership to set up new companies, managed Malaysia Headquarters’ investments in China comprises of general trading, sales and services of advanced post- printing equipment. Developing dealerships network: Built a network of dealerships in major cities, eg., Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao, Harbin and Xian.

Head of Strategic Planning Division/Director (Oct 1997- April 1998) Yanfull (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China (A Subsidiary of Golden Plus Holdings Berhad)

PA to the CEO and Founder: Oversaw the investment diversification strategies in China upon completion of MBA study sponsored by the employer. Formulated marketing strategies in enhancing branding, value of business, monitoring annual operating budgets and return on investment in real estate, fast food chain and theme park in Shanghai. Managed investor relations, branding strategies, arranged press conference and engaging media. Prior to that, I served the same group as a Branch Manager in Tonghua City, Liaoning Province, for three years.

Publication experience [Published 16 journal papers as of 15 Nov 2024 and numerous conference papers

Lee, K.J., Malinen, S.K. and Nilakant, V. (2023), "The dynamics of cross-sector collaboration in disasters", Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal. 32(2), 337-351. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/DPM-09-2022-0184/full/html

Yang, M & Lee, K (2022). Systematic Reviews of Repurchase Intention in Live Streaming E-Commerce in China and Proposed Strategies. International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research (IJSBAR). 65 (1), 1-11.

Yao, B & Lee, K. J. (2023). A Systematic Review of Factors Affecting Students' Satisfaction with Student Affairs Management System (SAMS) in Private Universities: Insights from Xi'an, China. International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research (IJSBAR). 69 (1), 213-220

Yang, M & Lee, K. J. (2023). Determinants of Repurchase Intention in Live Streaming E-Commerce in China and Suggested Strategies. International Journal of Social Sciences: Current and Future Research Trends, 19(1), 132–143. Retrieved from https://ijsscfrtjournal.isrra.org/index.php/Social_Science_Journal/article/view/1441

Hou, X.C, & Lee K.J. (2023). Literature review on the quality and guarantee mechanism of higher education. Adult and Higher Education, 5(17), 20-24. DOI:10.23977/aduhe.2023.051704 ISSN:2523-5826.

Achievements

2024: Speaker at Nusantara Talk Series organized by New Era University College (September 11th, 2024) 2024: External lecturer at Asian Institute of Management, the Philippines, on Disaster Risk Governance 2023-present: Assistant Secretary-General of Minds Association of Penang
2022-2024: The Vice Chairman of the Setia Pearl Island Resident Association, Penang, Malaysia 2006-2007: The President of the Software Consortium of Penang (SCoPE), Malaysia

2006-2008: Industry advisory panellist to University Science of Malaysia (USM)
2016-2018: Regular speaker at the China-ASEAN Seminar on Science and Technology Innovation for Response to Typhoon, Nanning, China; Regular speaker and moderator in approximately 15 thematic DRR, climate change and sustainable development conferences held in Australia, China, Malaysia, Mauritius and New Zealand.