Board of Advisors

MSc (I/O Psychology), MBA (expected 2019), PGDip (Edu), PGDip (HRM), SDip (Career Counselling), BEng (Civil), IHRP-SP, SHRM-SCP, Chartered MCIPD, CPHR (Australia and Canada), CPLP (ATD), IAF CPF, RMC, PMP & PMI-ACP, GCDF & GCDFi, ACC (ICF), GRP, AWI-CH

A regional HR leader based in Singapore with more than 10 years of combined experience in HR Business Partnering, Learning, Talent and Organisation Development locally and regionally in Asia. He has worked in various HR roles in the Singapore Civil Service, multinational corporations (IT, Medical, Insurance Brokerage & Professional Services), Banking & Finance Institutions and high-growth technology-driven start-ups.

He is active with HR professional bodies in the US (SHRM), UK (CIPD), Singapore (IHRP and SHRI), and Australia (AHRI), contributing to the HR profession in both voluntary and paid roles as a content developer and reviewer, committee member (ethics and continuous professional development), mentor, and trainer. As a certified management consultant (SCMC and RMC), he also provides ad-hoc HR consultancy and advisory services to companies based in Singapore.

He is currently the Group Head, People & Culture of Paktor Group, a fast-growing start-up company leveraging on technology to bring singles together. He is the Representative and Master Facilitator for SHRM in Singapore and the South-East Asia region. He also serves as an HR advisor for two non-profit organisations on a pro bono basis.

Johnathan has a diverse experience with 20 years of business development in various industries ranging from finance, healthcare and education. He holds a Masters in Entrepreneurship and a Bachelor of Commerce from Otago School of Business.

In the last ten years alone, he has helmed several senior management roles – from helping a top government agency put Malaysia on the startup map globally, to creating a healthcare startup, to leading business development for one of Malaysia largest public listed tech companies, to building and fundraising for an early-stage VC firm.

Now, Johnathan spends his time advising companies in the areas of innovation, growth, and investment. He firmly believes that a combination of factors including a strong team, a good business model, proper execution, along with financial support are vital in growing a successful business.

Apart from his commercial acumen, Johnathan is a strong supporter of social innovation to solve the world’s growing environmental and social-economic problems. Preferring to work behind the scenes, he has been volunteering and advising foundations, humanitarian organizations, non-governmental organizations, and social enterprises.

Gwan Choon is a highly regarded finance professional having a successful track record and broad business management experience in banking, stockbroking and investment.

Starting his career at Citibank, Gwan Choon moved into stockbroking at Lim & Tan, becoming CEO of AMS Securities in 1996. By 2003, Gwan Choon was managing high-valued funds for Prima, then a listed company. He also founded Technopreneur AngelVentures and secured numerous fundraising deals for start-ups & SMEs.

More recently, Gwan Choon’s wealth of experience has seen him appointed as advisors and CFO across different industries, such as Life Exchange & Vitamin Research Asia and the Thai Express group.

Notably, in 2009, he was instrumental in securing the successful sale of the Thai Express group.

Bernard Lim is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), a Certified Specialist in Financial Education (CSFE®) and an Accredited Financial Counsellor (AFCouns®).

He is a well-respected figure in the specialized field of estate & legacy planning. With about 30 years of industry experience, he has served hundreds of clients. He is credited for pioneering and delivering top-class estate & legacy planning training to more than 10,000 financial services practitioners around the world.

He also pioneered the Associate Specialist in Estate Planning (ASEP®) certification in collaboration with the Singapore Professional Centre.

Dr Melissa Foo is a global investor and portfolio manager focusing on impact investment, ecosystem development and innovation.

Melissa was based in New York from 2013 – 2016 and worked on multiple early-stage deals in FinTech, Healthcare, Education, B2B, AgriTech, Real Estate Technology and Social Enterprise.

She currently serves as the Vice President for the Malaysian Business Angel Network (MBAN), catalyzing the development of angel investment in Malaysia. Her initiatives have encouraged education, diversity, inclusion, and the involvement of more women and impact in angel investing. Melissa has completed multiple projects with the Malaysian government on Corporate Entrepreneurship (Ministry of Finance), Technopreneurship (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) and Social Innovation (Prime Minister’s Department). She received an MBA from Columbia Business School with a dual-concentration in Family Enterprise Management & Impact Investing.