Mr. Joseph Cabuay
OD Consultant

Joseph Cabuay is CEO and President of Omega GBC Ltd. (OGBC), a firm specializing in international training programs, organizational development, and executive coaching. He is a Senior Adviser and Professor for Organizational Development and Training for the Central Officer’s Training Institute (COTI) under the Ministry of Public Administration & Security. In this connection, Professor Cabuay has provided Korea’s top ministries and private corporations with organizational development, coaching and training programs since 2003. Concurrently, he is a Professor of International Business & Global Affairs at Hanyang University, a top-tier academic institution in Korea.

From 2007 to 2009, Professor Cabuay was Executive Director for the Asia Society’s Korea Center. Asia Society is a leading non-profit organization that utilizes art, culture, and business programs to develop closer relations between the North America and the Asia-Pacific region. Its Board Directors and Corporate Members in Seoul include former Korean Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers, the Chairmen of Samsung Group, SK Group, Hyundai Group, and Lotte Group. At Asia Society’s Korea Center, he was responsible for formulating and executing international programs and development initiatives that were approved by both public and private sector organizations in Korea, the Asia-Pacific, and the United States.

From 2003 to 2006, Professor Cabuay served as University Director for International Partnerships at Seoul National University. In addition to this, he designed organizational development and training initiatives for the University’s Office of International Affairs. He played a major role in helping to increase the university’s international outreach and partnership programs. As a result, Seoul National University was transformed into a top-50 university according the Times Higher Education University World Rankings.

From 2003 to 2005, Professor Cabuay was a senior international business consultant for the Apollo Industrial Corporation, Hyundai Motor’s leading auto parts supplier, and a listed company as KOSDAQ Company before being acquired by Hyundai Mobis. In this capacity, Professor Cabuay provided international business training and inter-cultural training for Apollo Industrial’s directors and managers. Additionally, he also provided international business training, executive coaching and organizational development services to numerous senior executives of small and medium Korean United Nations Hyosung Corporation 2 companies planning to establish business presence outside of Korea, as well as foreign business owners looking to establish business in Korea.

Prior to coming to Korea, from 2000-2002, Professor Cabuay was Vice President (NYC Business Ambassador) for International Business Affairs for New York City’s Economic Development Corporation where he initiated and developed business relationships and investment opportunities in between NYC, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. He attracted more than (190) international firms to establish business presence in New York, which resulted in over 120 million US dollars worth of investment for the City. In 2002, he led an investor relations road show to Seoul (Launch NYC) where over 20 Korean technology companies qualified for investments and strategic alliances in NYC.

From 1990-2000, Professor Cabuay served as the Senior UN Officer for Presidential Communications, Global Security Coordination, and Business Liaison Activities for the UN Secretary General. He was responsible for the direct outreach to Heads-of-State and CEOs worldwide and their delegations on UN business, political, and economic affairs. In this capacity, he was also a senior UN Officer for training and development for UN staff members deploying to overseas assignments and missions under UN auspices.

From 1985-1990, Professor Cabuay served in the United States Marine Corps and was assigned to the American Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and the American Embassy in Vienna, Austria. On both duty posts, Professor Cabuay served as the Marine Security Detachment’s Training and Development Officer responsible for designing and executing training programs for the Marine Detachment and Diplomatic Personnel assigned to the Mission. In this regard, Professor Cabuay received several commendations by the US Marine Corps and the US State Department to include the Navy Achievement Medal.

Professor Cabuay is fluent in English, conversant in French, and possesses an excellent working knowledge of Korean and Spanish. He holds a graduate degree from Columbia University specializing in International Security and Science & Technology Policy. Joseph’s undergraduate studies were in media communications and international politics at Hunter College, CUNY. He is married to a Korean national who owns and runs a successful international fashion business in Seoul, Korea.

Mr. Lam Yue Pak
Business Consultant

Yue Pak was the Chief Executive Officer of SGX-listed HLH Group Ltd before joining Asian LifeSkills. He is a Certified Public Accountant and has over 15 years experience holding various senior management positions in diversified groups based in Malaysia and Singapore.

His previous appointments saw him hold the following positions: Senior Corporate Controller at RGM International Pte Ltd, Singapore and Senior General Manager Control & Development, Johan Holdings Berhad, Malaysia. Whilst in Johan Holdings Berhad which is listed on the KLSE he was also Director of AIM-listed William Jacks PLC, UK; William Jacks (Australia) Pty Ltd and Skinner Engineering Pty Ltd, Australia. He was also Secretary to the Audit Committees of Johan Holdings Berhad, George Kent (Malaysia) Berhad and Jacks International Limited, Singapore.

Yue Pak received his early training as an external auditor with Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouse Coopers) and also as an equities research analyst with CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd where he gained useful insights into various industries that included insurance, construction, mining, manufacturing and trading. He has also tutored auditing to students preparing for the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants professional examinations as well as lectured staff of the Malaysian Auditor-General's office and Inland Revenue Board on the same subject.

Mr. Bob Mittelsdorf
Project Management Consultant

Bob Mittelsdorf is a Project Management Consultant, specializing in training and staff development. With over 25 years in the management of large building projects, his background includes experience in project definition, start-up, planning, execution, monitoring and close-out on a variety of multi-million dollar developments throughout the Asian region.

He has extensive experience in organizing and leading multi-discipline and multi-project teams to achieve project success. He works as a consultant on various development and project management, quality assurance and quality control issues, and is involved in presenting adult education courses on various project management topics.

Clients who have benefited from Bob's views on how to deal with the complexities of project management include: Saudi ARAMCO, Petroleum Development of Oman, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, ADGAS (Abu Dhabi), Petrodar (Sudan), Shell, BP, Motorola, NCR/Teradata, HP, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, SAP, Intel, Otis Elevator Company, the United States Air Force, the United States Marine Corp Community Services, Singtel, Delphi, ABB, BASF, and many others.

Bob has worked and lectured in over a dozen countries, including USA, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, South Africa, France, UK, Switzerland, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan.

Initially trained in architecture at Kent State University, Bob holds a BSc from the University of the State of New York, an MBA from the National University of Singapore, and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University.

Mr. Krishna Kurunakaran
HRD Consultant

Krish as he is commonly known is a Human Resource Practitioner with more than 15 years of multi-industry practice and experiences.

He has held a broad range of human resource management and development positions in the Oil & Gas, Aviation & Travel, Telecommunication, Manufacturing, and HRD Consulting industries. He has been involved in HRD/HRM and OD activities over the last 15 years in various capacities. In his tenure with these companies, he has held key responsibilities for employee professional development, selection, recruitment, coaching and mentoring, organization transformation and change management. Krish has worked for several well known MNCs including Sun Microsystems, BP, Motorola (including Motorola University), AT&T, PA Consulting, SIA and SATS.

Krish is a Certified Organizational Development practitioner by Organizational Development International (ODi) and was involved in several regional OD roll outs specifically in SUN Microsystems, BP and Motorola. He has helped managed interventions to support business growth and transformation. These include  building world class leadership, creating a great place to work, recruitment, retention and development of a more diverse employee base, mindset change, ‘stretching them programs to build supportive behaviors,’ assimilation needs programs and rewards program using high touch strategy.

Given his regional exposure in a varied work environment, Krish understands the change imperatives and concerns, and is well equipped to share his experiences with clients on managing individual and organizational issues. As a consultant, Krish strives to offer a pragmatic and adaptive consultative approach to addressing business issues.

Krish holds a Masters Degree in Education (UK) along with several graduate diplomas in Training, Organization Development and an UK Professional Diploma in Administrative Management. Krish is a member of the Singapore Training & Development Association (STADA), American Society of Training & Development (ASTD) and the USA based Conference Board (Asia Chapter). 

Ms. Patricia Ang
Writer/Editor

Patricia has for the last 12 years extensive experience in corporate communications, event management and alumni relations. She has worked in Nanyang Technological University as Director of External Programs, National University of Singapore as Marketing Communications Manager, Raffles Girls’ Secondary as Corporate Communications Manager, St Joseph’s Institution as Alumni & Public Affairs Manager and Nanyang Technological University Alumni as Event Organiser.

Her passion lies in writing. She has written for newsletters, feature writings, interviews, corporate brochures, banners, website contents, yearbooks, annual reports and press releases. A writer who writes from the heart, her articles have been inspiring and well-received.

As an event organiser, she has experience in organising high profile events which involved ministers, alumni and senior management of organisations.

For Corporate Communications, Patricia has handled a full range of corporate communications responsibilities which include corporate branding, media relations and stakeholder relationship. She has developed communication strategies across all platforms and communications channels such as marketing collaterals, advertising, sponsorship, PR events and established collaborative partnerships with the various stakeholders.

Patricia graduated with Masters in Mass Communication in NTU in 2007. Through her work experience, she has picked up valuable analytical as well as excellent interpersonal, networking, event management and communications skills. Being effectively bilingual in English and Chinese, she is a team player, has an eye for detail. She is able to work independently and is driven by challenges and high performances.

Mr. Eric Lee Cheng Hai
Recruitment Consultant

Eric Lee is an entrepreneur and has been managing his own business and enterprises since 1990. During the initial years of his business development, he has established factory and offices around Asia related to engineering design service and industrial equipment.

Eric was the council member of the 16th Term Executive Council 2001/2002 in The Association of the Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME).

He was also the Vice –Chairman/Technology of the Automation Technology Industrial Group 2002/2003 in Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation (SMaF).

His network and business exposure in Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia has benefitted many associates exploring into these countries.

His participation in international exhibitions annually and exposure in diversified industry sector provided an excellent platform and opportunity for SMEs who are exploring the global market.

Since 2004, he has dedicated his time mainly to renew his personal goals and ambition in coaching, training and mentoring in education, healthcare and employment industry.

Today, he is updated with the market trend and enjoy managing a product agency business supporting ‘sub contractor spare parts from Thailand and medical health products from Korea.

Although trained in Industrial Electronics Engineering, he was accredited with the WDA–ACTA (Advanced Certified Trainer and Assessor) under the Workforce Development Authority Singapore.

He is also certified in Teaching of English as A Foreign Language (TEFL) from the London Teacher Training College - UK.

Ms. Gloria Wong
Infant Massage Consultant

Gloria Wong is a mother of one and she loves working with children. Gloria, having been trained in Australia and U.K for the Massage In Schools Program (MISP), is the only MISP trainer in South East Asia. She conducts MISP training courses to adults as well as children.

She is also a certified Infant Massage Instructor and an Aromatherapist. She has conducted many workshops and talks on the benefits of massage for children, some of which include:

• "Bonding With Infants Through Massage" Workshop as part of the Early Childhood Convention organised by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports (MCYS)
• Infant Massage and Massage In Schools Program Workshops at the Civil Service Club
• "Bonding With Infants Through Massage" Workshop at Advent Links-SAUC, Education Centre for Children and Family Studies
• Articles featured in Young Parents, Home Team NS, The Singapore's child and the Singapore Women's Weekly Magazines, My Paper, Berita Herian and Lianhe Zao Bao
• Featured in the Sunday Times in October 2008 regarding implementation of MISP adopted by Qihua Primary School
• Featured in Today's Motherhood on Infant Massage in October 2009
• Featured in Sunday Times Lifestyle on 21 March 2010

Mr. William Laws
PR Consultant

William Laws is British by birth and a Singapore Permanent Resident. 

Over the past 25 years, William has held senior international positions in several of the world’s major Public Relations Consultancies (Burson Marsteller; Fleishman Hillard; Manning, Selvage & Lee) in which he has counseled many leading global corporations.  Most recently he headed the global Corporate Communications function of Tata Technologies.  He has also founded and managed his own businesses, giving him profound insights into the different challenges faced by both small firms and large corporations.

His expertise in Public Relations and Corporate Communications covers all aspects of the communications process, from strategic planning to brand building to events and sponsorships. His practice specializations include media training and crisis communications.  As a media trainer he has prepared C Level executives from such blue chips as Apple, Nissan, GM, BT-Infonet, Disney and Tata – as well as Ministers of the Government of Sri Lanka - to handle challenging and sometimes hostile media interviews.

As a Crisis Communications specialist, William notably handled the communications fall-out of the 9/11 attacks for United Airlines in Beijing, and contributed to the crisis management process following the terrorist attack on the Taj Hotel, Mumbai.  He has also written complete Crisis Preparedness and Management Manuals for several leading global firms.

During William’s career he has lived and worked in the UK, France, USA, Singapore, Japan, China, Sri Lanka and India.  He is fully conversant with the varying approaches of the media in these markets, and his familiarity with multiple cultures enables him to work productively with executives of many different backgrounds.

Whether lecturing to a group on the principles of handling the media, or preparing an individual executive for a specific media encounter, William ensures his clients have a high confidence level and are equipped to present their case convincingly to an often cynical audience.

Similarly, William’s crisis communications approach ensures corporate clients understand how to prepare for a crisis – and the extreme danger of being unprepared.  If a crisis is already under way, William’s counseling skills help client companies take the right steps to maintain their reputation in the court of public opinion.

Ms. Tay Sok Noy, Shirley
Cabin Crew Training Consultant

Have you ever dreamed of becoming a Flight Attendant when you were young? 

In 1987, Shirley Tay had reached for the sky and realized her dream with one of the world’s most prestigious airline.  With her years of global travelling experience as a Flight Attendant, Shirley is a competent "people person" with multi-linguistic skills, open-minded and sensitive to cultural diversity.

As a Cabin Crew, Shirley had received numerous complimentary letters from passengers for being caring and attentive. She had also been nominated for the IAPA Outstanding Service Award, intended for those special individuals who go above and beyond the “call of duty” in giving extra-special service, and who recognize the importance of the busy frequent flyer.  When Singapore played host to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in 2009, Shirley was one of the selected Ambassadors, attending to the delegates in Singapore.

Shirley is a certified TESOL and ACTA Trainer, Assessor and Developer, currently teaching English to speakers of other languages.  She is a diplomatic, sociable and friendly individual that can communicate with enthusiasm on technical specialist and factual subjects which others may find dull. She is extremely impatient with unpunctuality and possesses high level of drive and initiative.

A highly-qualified professional experienced working in environments entailing strong organizational, technical and interpersonal skills, equipped with a background that you will find unique and distinctive.  Having worked at a variety of organizations holding executive positions, the positive qualities it takes to switch jobs have given Shirley the multiple skills needed and aspects of being more flexible and decisive.

Today, Shirley encourages young people to follow their dream, no matter how great!

Mr. Wong Peng Wai
Management Consultant

Wong Peng Wai is a management consultant and has more than 18 years of consulting experience in strategic planning, change management, risk management and information technology.

Working with multinational companies in the Far East, Peng Wai has designed and implemented many solutions from banking applications to human resource development.

Some of his major consulting projects include:

• Designing a treasury system for a Singapore car distributor to manage foreign currency exposure and the hedging of vehicles and duty payable.
• Conducted a strategic consulting assignment on foreign exchange reconciliation for a multinational bank in Tokyo. The assignment included the designing of an automated solution to reduce discrepancies in the reconciliation process.
• Consulted, designed and implemented a strategic network system for an Indonesian bank to send information on foreign exchange deals between its 23 branches and the head office.
• Implemented an integrated front-office trading system for a multinational Swiss bank to support money market, foreign exchange, securities, swaps and options trading and risk management.

Peng Wai is the first person in Asia to be certified by Buzan Centres (UK) to teach Mind Mapping. As a corporate trainer, Peng Wai has conducted more than 1,500 workshops on mind mapping, whole-brain thinking, systems thinking and systematic innovation in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan.

With a M.B.A. and a B.Eng., Peng Wai is also a TRIZ practitioner and a member of the American Society for Training and Development and the Singapore Institute of Management.

Mr. Ling Soon Chua, Henry
HR Consultant

Henry Ling joined the private sector in 1981 launching into a Human Resource career that spanned over 25 years. 1981 to 1984, he worked at Hewlett Packard Singapore with duties covering the in-house newsletter, its recreation programs as well as the compensation function for three years. Currently he is also a Founder Life Member of the HP Alumni.

From 1984-1990, he then became the HR Manager of Allied Signal Aerospace also known at that time as Garrett Aerospace where he founded the Aerospace HR Network. He managed the manufacturing facility, the aircraft engine overhaul facility and the regional office.

Henry went on to TRI-M Technologies, a contract manufacturing outfit where he felt his value system and that of management did not match and left after 9 months. He joined AT&T in 1990 at a time when the company was in rapid expansion within the Asia Pacific Region, as its Regional Compensation and Benefits Director. He reviewed and revamped the compensation and benefits programs in each country. He then became the Regional HR Director for South Asia covering India to Australasia. Subsequently he became its Executive HR Director, focusing on high level succession planning, recruitment and packaging.

In 1996, Henry joined Praxair (formerly part of Union Carbide, headquartered out of Danbury, Connecticut). Praxair is the largest gas company in the US and the world's third largest. He moved the HK office to Shanghai as a wholly owned foreign enterprise. Here he took part in strategic initiatives for penetration into Australia, China and India and was part of the team, doing due diligence for the acquisition of Hindustan Gas (India), retrenchment of 900 out of 1200 employees of the Beijing Oxygen Company JV with Praxair, green field establishment of a filling station in Sydney, Australia, and the opening of the India office from scratch. Henry later became SingTel's Regional HR Director, helping to internal source for talent for placement amongst its subsidiaries and associates around the Asia Pacific region.

Presently, Henry provides consultancy to clients including Dell Computers and Cargill (USA), SITA (Europe), RGMI (Indonesia), Hasee Computers (China), SGX listed Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and ECS Asia (Singapore) amongst others. The projects handled include HR due diligence, compensation and benefits harmonization, stock option and stock purchase plans, leadership coaching, business turnaround, regional sales incentive plans, HR in-sourcing, senior level recruitment and Regional HR Team coaching.

Mr. Johnny Lee
Work-Life Consultant

Johnny Lee is very passionate in inspiring people to develop to their fullest potential.

He has 30 years experience in the corporate world. He has successfully led and managed departments in the area of manufacturing, materials management, quality management and engineering before specializing in Management Consulting, Personal Leadership Coaching and Training.

He regularly conducts training in Work-Life Effectiveness, Organisation Effectiveness and Personal Excellence. He has conducted trainings for Singapore Institute of Materials Management and Singapore Polytechnic. He has championed many successful Six Sigma projects; Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) initiatives and Work-Life Programs.

Johnny is a Certified Work-Life Consultant accredited by the Ministry of Manpower, an Internationally Certified Master Practitioner of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), a Certified Practitioner of Neuro Semantics, a Certified Practitioner of Timelines, a Six Seconds Certified Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Trainer, an ACTA Certified Trainer and T.Harv Eker Certified Trainer and an accredited “The Heart of Success” facilitator.

He graduated from University Of London with an Honours Degree of Science (Economics – Management Studies). He holds the Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance, the Specialist Diploma in Electronic Business Management, the Diploma in Production Engineering and the Diploma in Organisation and Methods.