MBA and Executive Education Advisory Board

Dr Mariyam Shakeela has over 30 years of experience nationally and internationally in serving both private and public sector as an owner, shareholder and leader. Her journey took her through diverse fields ranging from teaching, business and entrepreneurship, hospitality, real estate, medical ventures and even as a respected Cabinet Minister in the Maldivian Government. Her Cabinet portfolios in different stages included Environment and Energy, Gender Family and Human Rights, National Social Security, Climate change, Water and Sanitation, Foreign Affairs and Health. Her last Cabinet portfolio was that of Minister of Health; during which she also served as the Chairperson of the WHO (World Health Organization) Executive Board.

As owner/shareholder and CEO of one of the oldest companies in Maldives, she led SIMDI Group of companies to become one of the most diversified and reputable business institution in Maldives. She was also one of the key people to conceptualise, design and manage a flagship property which later caught the attention of the international 5/6-star market and became the first One&Only hotel as One&Only Kanuhura; and lifting the image of Maldives tourism to the next level. At present while continuing to lead many businesses and NGO’s (Non-governmental Organization) she is also the Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of Belgium in Maldives.

A Harvard alumnus and founder of Verity Consulting, Sandy is an award-winning advisor, educator and active contributor in industry, academia and community. Sandy earned her PhD (2003) specialising in digital commerce and global business communication. With over 15 years of experience leading international growth projects regionally and globally, Sandy is the winner of Asia’s Top Sustainability Women of the Year, 2019 Women Economic Forum’s Exceptional Women of Excellence Award, 2017 USA Stevie Awards for Women in Business, 2016 Singapore Management Consultant of the Year, and 2015 Curtin Alumni Award for Community Service.

An accredited advisor by government agencies that promotes international trade in Singapore, Sandy is a certified Expert Management Consultant by TÜV SÜD, Germany, and Senior Practising Management Consultant by Singapore Business & Consultant Council. Sandy is known to devise sustainable strategies for client’s pursuit of international growth. She trains and advises executives across private & public sectors on international market strategy, leadership branding and strategic alliances. The biggest impact of her work has been successfully achieving stakeholders buy-in, elevating client’s equity and attracting funding for expansion.

A strong advocate for education and economic empowerment, Sandy dedicates her time and expertise in mentoring female entrepreneurs and youth start-ups internationally. Appointed as an advisory board member for a female-led start-up in Silicon Valley, she serves as an International Mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, the AUSTRADE’s Women in Global Business (WIGB), and CRIB incubator for female entrepreneurs in Singapore. Sandy’s passion in connecting businesses with philanthropic activities has seen her raise funds for the UN Women, Special Olympics and Homeward Bound for Women in STEMM.

Sandy also serves in numerous ambassadorial roles for the Australian Harvard Women in Perth, the Inspiring Rare Birds to promote female entrepreneurship globally, the Valuing Children initiatives (VCI), and the GameChanger Award to promote STEMM education.
The first Asian to be appointed to the Board of the WA Indigenous Tourism Council (WAITOC), and the first Asian Woman to be elected as the President of the United Nations Association of Western Australia (UNAAWA), Sandy was most recently awarded by the Governor of WA the 2020 Australian Community Citizen of the Year Award for her contribution in social impact locally and abroad.

Prior to leading the consultancy practice in Singapore, Sandy earned a tenured academic position at Curtin University, heading teaching and research programs locally and internationally in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Germany, and USA. Her passion in bridging learning experience with students of diverse and multicultural backgrounds has won her teaching award at the University for “Promoting Internationalization of the Curriculum & Cross-cultural Understanding”.
As Chief Investigator of government-funded research projects, Sandy has led multidisciplinary teams from the Queensland University of Technology, Vienna University of Economics & Business, and University of Muenster in the areas of innovation adoption, cross-country contracting, public-private procurement, strategic alliances and business process management. As an active participant in industry-linked research projects, Sandy has also served as an Industry Chair of the WA Business Process Management Roundtable for the Community of Practice between 2005 – 2007, won the Best Speaker at the IEEE Conference 2005, and served on review board for Discovery Projects as an Expert of International Standing nominated by the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts, 2007. She has given keynotes at international conferences and organisations such as Harvard Business School, Yahoo, SunMicrosystems, and various industry peak bodies in Singapore and Australia.

Sandy is a member of the Marketing Association of Australia (MAA), Australian Computer Society (ACS), and the IGI-Global Journal Review Board. Her work can be found in more than 40 publications on marketing communication, information systems, supply management, global business management and public policy journals.

Dr Paul Herz is currently Vice President, Technical Strategy & Operations at Cruise, a self-driving car company focused on the development of autonomous vehicles.

Prior to this, he led global operations as COO of Halodi Robotics, a Norwegian-based startup at the forefront of providing capable, safe, and affordable humanoid robots to the world.

Dr Herz was also Director of Product Operations at Facebook’s new hardware divisions leading manufacturing, and quality creating category-defining consumer hardware products, and driving innovation at Facebook Oculus AR/VR in augmented reality systems, artificial intelligence, and connectivity. Dr Herz also held a senior leadership role at Apple for several years focused on Asia Pacific Operations for the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook product lines.

Outside of work Dr Herz is a member of the London-based Design & Art Direction Council, working to promote their mission to stimulate, enable, and award creative excellence in design and advertising.

He holds an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University in the Faculty of Business and Law, providing lectures in entrepreneurship and working with the University on industry engagement and product commercialization.

Dr Herz completed his undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley in Engineering Physics and received his doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Carly has 20 years of experience in Data Science, advising across private and public sectors including a number of international universities, as well as state and federal education agencies. She has a background in location based Data Analytics and her areas of expertise comprise data integrity, automation, machine learning, continuous monitoring, remote analysis, performance improvement, business and process intelligence.

Carly is a Director in the Trust & Risk Analytics practice at PwC, with capabilities in advanced analytics methodologies to discover, quantify and communicate actionable insights for performance, risk, and compliance activities – to help build business confidence through data-driven decisions.

Carly was awarded a Masters of Business Administration from Melbourne Business School and First Class Honors Bachelor of Science Geomatics from RMIT University.

Tan Eng Liang is a President Commissioner of SOHO Global Health (SGH) in Indonesia, founded in 1946 by his father. As owner/ shareholder and President Commissioner of one of the oldest pharmaceutical companies in Indonesia, he led SGH to become one of the most reputable businesses in healthcare industry, create direct employment to 2500+ people, and has grown SOHO Global Health’s turnover more than 20-fold since he took the helm in 1997.

In the late 1980s he and his family migrated to Australia, where in 2010 he went on to found Soho Flordis International (SFI), a company focused on developing and marketing natural medicines backed by clinical evidence including the commercialization of Indonesian indigenous herbal medicines throughout the world. Tan Eng Liang is the Executive Chairman of SFI and has grown SFI into a multinational brand with a global scope, manufacturing facilities in Switzerland, US and UK, and a team of over 400 people.

Tan Eng Liang is an innovator at heart and has deployed substantial resources in an Open-Innovation R&D strategy. He established SOHO Center of Excellence in Herbal Research (SCEHR), a plantation and research facility located in Sukabumi, Indonesia that implements the ABGC Linkage (Academy/Business/Government/Community) framework to standardize and improve the quality of curcuma. In Australia he established and funded SFI Research, the R&D arm of SFI in 2015.

In 2007 Tan Eng Liang brought SOHO Group (currently known as SOHO Global Health) won Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy from Palladium Group Inc. In 2010 he was awarded the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year in the Health Product Innovation Category by Ernst & Young, and was named a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of The Year program in 2018.

His passion in connecting businesses with philanthropic activities has seen him serving on the Eco Camp Foundation as donator, joint community development projects for Indonesian farmers, together with the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and the Nagrak Organic SRI Center (NOSC), and committed to CSR activities both in SGH and SFI.
Tan Eng Liang received Postgraduate Master degree in Management from the University of Bradford, England and German degree as Diplom Physiker (equivalent to MSc) in Physics (specializing in Nuclear Physics) from the University of Bochum, Germany.

Michele is the founder of NexStep consulting. He was a Director at DuPont Sustainable Solutions (DSS) between November 2015 and November 2018 where he was leading the Global Practice Leaders team and the Center for Knowledge Management (CKM) located in India. He was also responsible for DSS operations in Australia and New Zealand and led the global digital services offering. He has 28 years’ experience providing environmental, health & safety and social impact consulting services to the oil & gas, mining, manufacturing and public service sectors across Europe and Australia.

Prior joining DuPont, Michele was a Partner at EY (Ernst & Young) and ERM (Environmental Resource Management). An expert at integrating environmental issues into the long-term financial success of organizations, Michele’s areas of specialization include identifying risk, improving business performance and implementing best practice for future emissions trading, environmental and health and safety management systems, sustainability strategy and reporting and waste management.
Michele was a member of the Italian Environmental Economist Association and developed researches for the Association of Management Studies at Catholic University of Milan. He was guest lecturer on Climate Change, Sustainability Reporting, Environmental Auditing and Waste Management at Curtin University and UWA of Perth Australia, and at Bocconi University and Polytechnic University of Milan.

Professor Nigel de Bussy is Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Business and Law and the Dean of Curtin Business School.

Nigel holds a PhD from Curtin University and an MA from The Queen’s College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of both the Public Relations Institute of Australia and the Australian Marketing Institute, and a Certified Practising Marketer.

Nigel joined CBS as a lecturer in public relations in 1994 and was Head of the School of Marketing from 2012 – 2017. Before joining Curtin, Nigel spent more than a decade as a public relations professional in the UK and Australia. His research has been published in a number of leading journals in the fields of public relations, communication management and marketing communications.

Dr Dorothy Wardale is the MBA Director at Curtin University. She has had a portfolio career working as an academic, consulting to businesses and as chair and member to various boards.

Dorothy has extensive experience designing, delivering and evaluating education and training programs with universities, government, mining and resources sector, healthcare, and the construction industry. These services have included curriculum development, high-level services in executive coaching, facilitation, strategic planning and organisational change management, and reviews. Dorothy delivered nationally accredited programs such as Train the Trainer for many years. She has been responsible for facilitating and mediating high level and complex meetings and significant organisational change projects including people performance, communication and influencing skills, workforce and leadership development and innovation.

She also has a passion for education and development that delivers exceptional results. Dorothy is currently one of the Governor’s appointments to the State Library Board of WA.

Danelle Cross has over 18 years’ experience in strategic marketing, communications and program management.

After studying marketing and public relations at Curtin, Danelle went on to work for News Limited in Perth and Sydney, Heinz Australasia in Melbourne, Marks & Spencer in London before returning back to Perth to continue her career at Curtin in 2008. Danelle currently heads up the newly launched executive education area within Curtin Business School.

Danelle is a Fellow of Leadership WA and was fortunate to participate in the MIT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp in Brisbane, Australia in 2018.

Dr Megan Le Clus is the Manager, External Engagement in the Faculty of Business and Law. In this position she plays a key role in the implementation of strategy in relation to the identification and development of sustainable relationships with regional, national and international corporate, SME, community and government organisations.

Prior to taking up her current role, Megan was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Management. She is committed to authentic and engaged education and dedicated to driving excellence through academic leadership and the delivery of innovative teaching and learning outcomes. She was previously on the Board of Director, Engagement Australia and has published many publications within the Hospitality, Tourism and Management areas.

Megan has extensive experience in the area of university-community engagement, stakeholder management, sociology of work, work based learning and informal learning in the workplace. She holds a PhD from Murdoch University and has a multidisciplinary background in sociology, organisational behaviour, adult & higher education, and university community engagement.

Professor Vanessa Chang commenced as interim Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Business and Law in December 2021. Prior to this, she was the Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty. Professor Chang joined Curtin in 1989 as a Tutor in the School of Information Systems. Her previous leadership roles in the University include Director of Learning Innovations where she led innovation and project teams to develop Massive Open Online Courses as well as leading transformational IT projects at Curtin, Dean of Learning and Teaching, and Head of School of Information Systems. Professor Chang is a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society and an experienced leader in higher education. Her information systems research are focused on leadership, governance, and the use of data and systems in organisations. As an educator, she conducts research in learning pedagogies, immersive and online learning.

Steve is a registered Psychologist with a Masters Degree and PhD in Organisational Psychology. Steve’s current role includes responsibility for the strategic direction of Curtin University Executive Education and the establishment of initiatives that support the strategy and interests of Curtin University.
Steve is responsible for the management of the day to day operations and direction of Executive Education, including working with local, national, and international partners to deliver high quality professional development opportunities to individuals in corporate, government, and NFP organisations.
Steve also specialises in cognitive and behavioural approaches to approaches workplace health and safety, and the psychological well-being of employees of all organisational levels.

Sara Calginari has over 20 years’ experience at a senior leadership level across a range of diverse industries and sectors including healthcare, food, agriculture, franchising, retail, e-commerce and telecommunications. She is currently the Transformation Office Lead for Harvest Road forming part of Andrew Forrest’s Tattarang private investment group. In this role she leads and drives business transformation to generate value through all companies across the business. Previously, Sara spent 9 years with Diabetes WA in a variety of roles including General Manager of Project Development and Delivery leading national and international health projects. Sara was the successful recipient of Curtin’s “Women in MBA” Scholarship Program awarded on academic merit and encouraging gender diversity in leadership by partnering with employers to identify and support their top female employees. She graduated with distinction and was awarded the Top MBA Graduating Student for 2021

Richard is an economist and qualified accountant with more than 25 years’ experience in the Australian resources sector, mainly in CEO and C Suite roles. He has been CEO of The Perth Mint for 7 years and will be stepping down at the end of April 2022. Previously he was Deputy CEO and CFO at the
Mint for 12 years, and prior to that was Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO at AGR Matthey, a precious metals refiner and global trading operation. Richard has extensive experience in international business (USA, Europe, China, SE Asia and Russia) and has spoken and numerous global conferences and precious metals forums. He holds an MBA from Curtin University. He was the Inaugural Chair of the Gold Industry Group (2015 – 2021), Deputy Chair of Councillors at Wesley College (2014 – 2021) and served on various committees of the global regulator London Bullion Markets Association (2015 – 2021). He is currently Deputy Chair of Interchange Inc, and a Director of the Motor Museum of WA Inc. Richard is a Graduate of the AICD, a member of the Governance Institute of Australia and attended the Senior Executive Program at Columbia University in New York (2013).

Justin Scanlan is passionate about driving positive change in our community and society and currently leads Deloitte’s Consulting business here in WA. Justin has over 25 years of management and digital consulting experience across a range of market sectors, including Energy, Utilities, Mining, Government, Health and Financial Services. Justin has previously led PwCs consulting practice, led a technology start-up and worked with global telco player Motorola.

Specialising in formulating growth and transformation strategies and delivering technology enabled organisational transformation, he has previously worked with clients such as JP Morgan, Wesfarmers, Airbus, Google, A2 Milk, BHP, Synergy, Western Power, South32, WA Health, WA Education Department, Department of Treasury WA and others.
Originally from Ireland, Justin and his family moved to Australia in 2007.

Justin also holds a position on the Western Force Future Force Board and is Chairman of leading Disability services provider Ability WA.

Gary McGrath has over 25 years of experience in the Global
Financial Services industry.

He is currently the WA General Manager Commercial Banking & Major Client Group for Commonwealth Bank. Previously, Gary spent 15 years with American Express across Asia in a variety of senior leadership roles including Vice President and Head of Strategy based in Singapore, CFO Asia, CFO India and CFO
Indonesia.

Gary is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Chartered Management Accountant, and holds a MBA from Curtin University. Gary also holds additional roles as a general councillor on the Chamber of Commerce WA and as the Finance Director on the Board of Hockey WA.

Fiona’s background in the community and health sectors has spanned more than 30 years. As CEO of Ngala, Fiona is committed to the best outcomes for children through early intervention and development to change the trajectory of a child’s life by providing the best opportunities for them to be their best through early childhood support and to improve societal outcomes for all West Australians. Her career began as a Registered Nurse in Melbourne working in Neurosurgery, followed by a Post-Graduate in Critical Care where she became the Associate Charge Nurse of Intensive Care at Prince Henry’s Hospital and later Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne.

After 17 years in the nursing field, Fiona chose to work with people at their most vulnerable. Her nursing background of practice, governance and critical thinking influenced and supported her move as Senior Pastor with the Salvation Army.
Her career created pathways in the Community Sector and while at YouthCARE as Chief Operating Officer Fiona completed her MBA at Curtin Graduate School of Business. The MBA complements her on the ground community engagement and her high emotional intelligence, which collectively, she connotes as a working style of structure without rigidity.

Fiona serves on a number of Community Sector Boards including as VP on the WACOSS Board and Secretary on the Australasian Association of Parenting and Child Health
(AAPCH) Board.

Fiona’s professional achievements include:

• Membership on the National Perinatal and Infant Mental Health: Connect and Care.
• A WA first, Ngala’s Intergenerational Model of Care with aged care provider Oryx to provide a unique opportunity for connection between young and old.
• Establishing an Early Childhood Precinct to combine research and service delivery.
• Driving Organisational Research Priorities 2021 – 2024.
• Fiona’s commitment to learning and achieving which extends beyond her own learning to the learning of others. As an alumnus of Curtin University, she has introduced the hosting of MBA Advanced students within the operations of Ngala, improving and assisting Ngala achieve projects with an injection of scholastic knowledge, innovation and contemporary skillset. In addition, she has promoted the Curtin MBA to members of her leadership team including approving the sponsorship of a WiMBA recipient.

Dr Eileen Aitken-Fox is an experienced industrial relations, people and culture, and organisational development professional. Eileen undertook a PhD in small business compliance and industrial relations with the Curtin Graduate School of Business, and is an experienced qualitative researcher. Eileen taught industrial relations, human resource management, and leadership as a sessional academic from 2012, and now teaches full time in the Curtin School of Management. Eileen has co-ordinated and taught Units in the MBA program, including Human Resource Strategies, Leading and Facilitating Teams, and, Legal Issues in HR. Eileen has experience teaching undergraduate and post graduate, both face to face and using extensive online technology.

As an industry professional, Eileen has worked in leadership roles in listed companies, higher education, and the not for profit sector. She has worked extensively in the Asia Pacific region, holding Managing Director accountability for an ASX listed organisation working across multiple countries and locations. Eileen has extensive experience leading diverse and virtual teams as a business professional, and this experience underpins her theoretical skills and knowledge as a teaching academic.

Di Bain is the Deputy Lord Mayor of Perth and the Chair of Tourism Western Australia. She is a marketing and communications professional with more than two decades experience in the sector. Di holds a number of non-executive board roles in both Government and non-profit sectors. Following on from a decade long a career with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Ms Bain moved into the commercial sphere founding media and marketing agency Bain Media. The full service firm focussed on developing creative marketing campaigns and provided strategic media advice for a range of businesses from mining to tourism and cyber-security. Ms Bain is also a Trustee at the Perth Theatre Trust and a Member of the Development WA: Central Lands Redevelopment Committee. As the Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Perth she serves to create a thriving and compassionate City. She sits on the advisory boards of the Telethon Kids Institute and the Black Swan State Theatre Company. In her spare time Ms Bain is a private pilot who enjoys flying helicopters and planes around Western Australia discovering new and old stories.

Victor Mills is Chief Executive, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC) which he has led for over 7 years. He has lived and worked in Singapore for over 37 years.

Prior to joining the Chamber, Mr. Mills had a 30-year career in financial services, 29 of them in Asia-Pacific serving customers in a variety of senior regional business roles. He was a commercial banker for 10 years and an institutional banker for 20 years. In the latter role he covered the southeast Asian, south Asian and south and east African markets.

Mr. Mills is a director of ESSEC Asia Pacific. He is a Member, Total Defence Awards Evaluation Board. He chairs IRAS’s Taxpayer Feedback Panel and is a member of the Data Protection Appeal Panel. He is also a member of both the Singapore Institute of Directors and the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

He holds a Master of Arts degree in Area Studies (Eastern Europe and Russia) from the University of London, United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the New University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

Mr. Mills is a very proud citizen of Singapore.

About SICC

SICC has been helping businesses and Singapore since 1837. That is its purpose. This win-win approach is central to the Chamber’s ethos and to everything it does. The Chamber is Singapore’s most inclusive, independent, voluntary business association. Its over 500 member companies represent more than 20 sectors and 40 nationalities. 50% of member companies are foreign owned and 50% Singaporean owned. Half of member companies are large organizations including multinationals and half are medium, small and start-up companies. The Chamber celebrates 185 years of purposeful service in 2022.