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Kay Kuok
Chairman,
Shangri-La Hotel Singapore
Kay Kuok is a barrister-at-law from Gray's Inn, London and works full-time in her family business, the Kuok group of companies.
Kay is now executive chairman of Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, managing director of Shangri-La
Hotels (M) Berhad and director of Allgreen Properties Limited. She is also the chairman of the Board of National Healthcare Group, president of the Singapore Hotel Association, director of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund and sits on the National Youth Achievement Award Council.
She has served on several community service and statutory boards including the Singapore Tourism Board, South West CDC, National Arts Council, Singapore Environment Council, and National Environment Agency. Kay has been a member of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Board of Trustees since 1 April 2008 and is Chair, Yale-NUS College Governing Board.
Despite her many business commitments, Kay is still a devoted mother, grandmother and serves in the community.
Life statement:
"There are two special gifts that we should give to our children - ROOTS to keep them safe and make them confident and WINGS for them to embark on their own quests in life"
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder,
Web in Travel
Yeoh Siew Hoon has always believed that travel builds character for it is when you are on the road that you get out of yourself and learn about life.
Thus, from an early age, she left her home island of Penang to seek fame and fortune in the big cities of Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and now Singapore where she's spent the last decade.
She now runs her own travel conference and website, Web In Travel, which she founded in 2005.
She is also passionate about inspiring young minds - which WIT does through its WITNext vehicle - and entrepreneurship and innovation through its WIT Bootcamp.
She's also a published author, having written titles including “Truth, Lies & Other Stuff”, “Around Asia in 1 Hr: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries” and “Losing My Innocence, Finding My Groove”. In 2009, she published a children's book “The Adventures of Habibi, The Wise Turtle”, for Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa, Oman. In August 2102, she published children's book that she co-wrote called “The Story of Baitong & Boon”.
She now realises that fame and fortune is relative but character is absolute.
Patricia Koh
CEO,
G8 Education
Patricia Koh was the former Head of the National Institute of Education, Early Childhood Department in Singapore for 10 years before she started Pat's Schoolhouse in 1988.
Patricia was also President of the Preschool Teachers' Association for 16 years to 1993.
Patricia was also the Senior Research Fellow at the Curriculum and Innovation and Research Centre of Knowledge Universe Global while managing Pat's Schoolhouse till October 2012.
Prior to joining Knowledge Universe, Patricia served on the committees of many research projects including the Bernard Van Leer Foundation in Hague. Her own research in the area of Bilingualism led her to pioneer a Mandarin Immersion Program for 2 to 5 year olds which now impacts the lives of many children in the United States.
Patricia is currently appointed by G8 Education Singapore as their Chief Executive and she is set on providing quality early education to thousands of preschoolers in 60 over centres under her care.
Patricia holds a MA in Child Development with Early Childhood Education from the University of London, Institute of Education. She is currently pursuing her PhD studies and researching on the area of Teacher Education and the Effectiveness of Teaching Training Programs.
Patricia is married and a devoted mother to three daughters and doting grandmother to two grandsons.
Life statement:
" Do not try to change the whole world but begin to change yourself and the people around you and soon you will see the world changing!"
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Carmee Lim,
Mentor Principal,
MindChamps Holdings
Carmee Lim is a visionary educator who is committed to making a positive and significant difference in the way we learn. She is a pioneer in applied brain research and a champion advocate for music, movement and gymnastics in early childhood. She founded Jumpstart Kidsports, which offers a multi-sensory KidzGym programme for pre-school children. Carmee is also the founder and President of Aoede Music™ Enterprise.
Carmee's background includes serving as a science and mathematics teacher, a principal as well as a Senior Inspector of Schools, Ministry of Education, Singapore. She was the Principal of Raffles Girls' School for 12 years before being drawn to the field of mind/body research and breakthroughs in learning and performance enhancement.
Carmee has also published several books including Bright Brains - fun activities to unlock your child's potential, KidzGym - A fresh approach to gymnastic play for pre-school children, Learning with Get Active Songs for Pre-schoolers, and Magic Moments - Small Beginnings.
Life statement:
Cherish forever what makes you unique.
Tan Sok Eng
HOD Pupil Development,
Fajar Secondary School
Sok Eng is the head of pupil development at Fajar Secondary School – a school that has won awards for its co-curricular activities.
Fajar prides itself as being an oasis of learning for the students, staff and parents. The school programmes provide abundant opportunities for the holistic development of each student. The staff is deployed in areas of work that harness their individual strengths and passion. The school involves parents through regular meetings and seminars.
The school is strongly driven to nurture students of sound character. It has a values-based Character Education (CE) Curriculum designed to develop in students a passion for learning, confidence in the pursuit of success and the humility to lead and to serve.
Sok Eng sees her role in school as one to educate, encourage and empower.
Douglas Foo
Founder & CEO,
Sakae Holdings Ltd
Douglas Foo, 43, is the chairman, CEO and founder Sakae Holdings Ltd (formerly known as Apex-Pal International Ltd), a public listed food and beverage company which owns and operates Sakae Sushi.
Foo was awarded the Rotary-ASME Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002.
Upon completion of his university education, Foo worked as a marketing executive with the real estate arm of Tokyu Group. While there, he was approached to start a business to manufacture garments in India for sale in Japan. With $100,000 of personal savings, Foo begun Apex-Pal. The business turned in profits in the first year.
Foo began to explore various ways to diversify his business, resulting in the establishment of Sakae Sushi. The first outlet opened at the OUB Centre at Raffles Place in the midst of the Asian financial crisis in September 1997. Today, there are Sakae Sushi outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and China, and Apex-Pal has added ten other brands to its portfolio.
Foo is married and has four children.
Ira Joseph
Owner,
Quilts & Calicoes
Ira Joseph, owner of Quilts & Calicoes, begun her education at a convent school in Mumbai where she “drove the nuns as crazy as they did” her. She went on to university at age 16 and was married by 18 to a man 17 years her senior. She moved to Singapore and had three sons and along the way began teaching at schools. Difficult circumstances in her life led her to a different path - to start a quilting business.
A few years later, she was recognised as a Honouree of Spirit of Enterprise and a luminary among Promising Top 500 SMEs. She has also made quilts for several local and international schools and count several well known personalities and a former Head of State as customers and owners of her quilts.
“Quilting and teaching anything quilt related has been my passion and obsession for many years. It has also been my saving grace through pain, loss and sorrow.
Mojgan Tosif
Master Facilitator,
The Virtues Project International
Mojgan Tosif is a Master Facilitator for The Virtues Project International. Through her services, she inspires individuals to live more meaningful, joyful lives and assists families to bring up responsible children who lead lives of integrity. Beyond this, she accompanies educators to create caring and high performing learning communities and helps leaders to inspire excellence in the workplace.
She has been conducting workshops for parents, teachers and schools for more than 19 years locally and internationally. Since 2009, as one of the coordinators of the Values Education Program at SJI International Elementary, she was responsible for the implementation of the Virtues Project in every aspect of the school curriculum.
As a classroom teacher, Mojgan has taught in Australia and a number of International Schools for the past 20 years. Having worked with children of all ages, she understands education needs to be more than teaching subjects and students need to be equipped with the qualities needed to have more joyful and meaningful lives. She is married with three kind and responsible grown up children.
Life statement:
Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value.
Kerry Tremblay
Master Facilitator,
Virtues Project in SJI International School
Kerry Tremblay is a master facilitator for the Virtues Project and a full time teacher at SJI International School. She holds a Master's degree in Education and has worked as an educator in both schools and universities in Australia, Canada and Singapore.
Kerry is passionate about teaching both children and adults. She believes teachers and parents are mentors who can guide children to recognize and reflect upon the teachable moments in their lives and to choose to make morally responsible choices based on virtues such as kindness, honest and responsibility.
Kerry was born in Australia but has lived in Singapore for 15 years with her husband and two daughters. She enjoys reading and storytelling. Kerry also loves spending time with friends, walking in nature and practicing yoga.
Life statement:
"The path of a spiritual being is one of impeccable integrity and unfailing tenderness, for ourselves and the world." - Linda Kavelin Popov
Dr. Kumaran Rasappan
Medical Doctor,
Tan Tock Seng Hospital
Dr. Kumaran Rasappan is a medical doctor with a heart to serve others. He spends his free time giving talks to the inmates in Singapore Prison and is active in other community projects. Dr Kumaran took a year off to pursue his dreams in climbing six mountains and ending off his year-long expedition at the Mount Everest. His “No Mountain Too High” mission was to raise funds for bed-ridden patients who were not able to afford medical treatment and aftercare costs.
This past year, Kumaran's missions have taken him to a remote Himalayan village that has no doctor and only minimal medical facilities, and to Gorkha in Nepal carrying computers to a school. He is also in the midst of raising funds for Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
His life describes a man who “takes a life beyond dreaming and into doing”.
Life statement:
"To be the best, the best that you can be".
“Be the change that you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Ghandi.
Professor Adrian David Cheok
Professor, Keio University, Graduate School of Media Design
Founder & Director, Mixed Reality Lab Singapore
Professor Adrian David Cheok is a full professor at Keio University, Graduate School of Media Design. He is founder and director of the Mixed Reality Lab, Singapore and was formerly associate professor in the National University of Singapore.
Australian-born Adrian has been working on research covering mixed reality, human-computer interfaces, wearable computers and ubiquitous computing, fuzzy systems, embedded systems, power electronics. His research has been recognized by high quality academic journal papers, awards, keynote speeches, international exhibitions, numerous government demonstrations including to president and prime ministers, television such as CNN, CNBC, ABC, Discovery and National Geographic etc., and yielded hundreds of international press media articles.
He was awarded the Hitachi Fellowship, the A-STAR Young Scientist of the Year Award, and the SCS Singapore Young Professional of the Year Award. He was invited to be the Singapore representative of the United Nations body IFIP SG 16 on Entertainment Computing and the is founding chairman of the Singapore Computer Society. He was also awarded Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. This honor is bestowed each year by the World Economic Forum to recognize and acknowledge the top young leaders from around the world for the professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.
Life statement:
"Be creative. Always move forward. Be very persistent as success often requires a lot of hard work, failure, and dead ends. Simplify and focus on the most important things in life, as if you try to do everything you will achieve nothing. Your family will be the only ones there at the worst of times, so treasure them. Be totally honest, the truth always is better even if inconvenient."
All proceeds from this event go towards
The SJIIES Global Initiative Programme.