Dr Nikhil Agarwal, Founder
Dr Agarwal has founded businesses and advised firms on strategic matters in last 18 years of his career. He has worked with global multinationals like Cadbury's, FIC and Zensar (RPG Group). He has lectured at leading universities like Virginia Tech, University of Bradford, University of Edinburgh and University of Cambridge in visiting capacity. In India, earlier he was Professor with SPJIMR and IMT-Ghaziabad. His interviews and work has been extensively covered in international media including HBR, Forbes, CNN Money, BBC Radio, The New York Times to name a few.
He has served on many international think-tanks and hold leadership positions in global organizations. He is serving as high-level-advisor to United Nations Global Alliance on ICT & Development (UNGAID); board member at World-Entrepreneurship-Forum (WEF) and Open Mind Trust. He was the first Asian to be elected as Co-Chair of prestigious Internet Society Advisory Council (ISOC-AC) for 2008-10. Professor Agarwal has traveled extensively around the world and worked with global institutions, corporations and multinationals. He has published over 40 research papers, conference publications and articles in leading journals. He is co-author of the best seller "Planet Entrepreneur" published by Wiley (2013). He is regularly invited to speak at seminars and conferences around the world. He writes his column "Snake Charmer" in Times of India (TOI) and Economic Times (ET). TOI is the largest English newspaper in the world by circulation.
He spends significant time in academic research at University of Edinburgh. Dr Nikhil Agarwal is alumnus of University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Ms. Joan Reilly, Vice President
Joan Reilly has 25 years' experience working in international higher education. As a former Head of International Offices at two UK universities Joan has been associated with the development of international partnerships with a range of educational institutions and organisations notably in China, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Australia, the Middle East, Europe and the USA. A key strength is the development of collaborative relationships through dedicated discussion and negotiation resulting in partnerships of mutual benefit.
During her tenure in higher education Joan has been involved in a range of international initiatives including those operated under the auspices of the British Council. These initiatives included advising on international higher education developments, research and other collaborative programmes, and study abroad/exchange links.
A graduate in Law from Nottingham Trent University, Joan has also worked in Human Resource Management in industry, and is a qualified Trainer with recent involvement in the development of soft skills.
Dr L C Seet, Chief Academic Advisor
Dr Seet was the Chief Medical Officer of the Singapore Armed Forces Medical Corps before joining the pharmaceutical industry in 1984 where he was Regional Director (Asia) for Medical and Regulatory Affairs and, for a time, concurrently Regional Director for Corporate Affairs for Ciba-Geigy (now part of Novartis). He subsequently was appointed a Vice-President, SmithKline Beecham International and General Manager of Tianjin SmithKline & French Labs based in Tianjin. He was, prior to joining Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 1999, Managing Director (Greater China) of GlaxoWellcome China based in Shanghai.
While in NTU, he was an Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management in the Nanyang Business School and concurrently Deputy Director of The Nanyang Technopreneurship Center (NTC) and Managing Director of NTU Ventures Pte Ltd, the wholly-owned investment holding company of NTU. In NTC, he established the Minor in Entrepreneurship program. He also established and was the Founding Director of the highly successful Executive MBA program conducted by NTU at Shanghai Jiaotong University.
Dr Seet has consulted for various institutional investors in evaluating investment opportunities especially in China in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and education and training. He is also personally and actively involved in various bio-technology and educational start-up ventures. Dr Seet also speaks regularly at industry and policy forums.
Dr Seet was an Executive Director of Longlife Group Holdings Ltd, a company listed on the GEM board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (8037.HK).He was formerly Non-executive Chairman, Rockeby biomed Ltd, a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (RBY.AX) and an Independent Non-Executive Director of Jiwa bio-pharm Holdings Ltd, a company listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (2327.HK).
Dr Seet is currently a Director at DM Capital and a Director in Harmony Master/Feeder Funds.
Professor Nahum Goldmann, Chief Learning Officer
Professor Nahum Goldmann is a leading expert on building and securing eCommerce and eGovernance solutions. He has extensive knowledge of ebanking and eCommerce environments for transactional delivery of financial and administrative services, as well as business transformation and process re-engineering services for financial institutions and government organizations.
Professor Goldmann is considered to be a pioneer in the area of conceptualizing Extranet Business and Payment Communities and developing business vision, transactional costing, security environment, teaming/outsourcing agreements and functional specifications for such communities. He has widely consulted corporations, banks and public agencies on how to reposition the organization's service and knowledge delivery infrastructure, conduct corporate restructuring around the use of ebusiness tools and avoid frustrating and costly mistakes that are common in the fast-paced online business and technology platforms.
Professor Goldmann has worked and consulted with industry giants like Nortel, Bell Canada, IBM and Bank of Canada. He has published over 20 books, book chapters, articles and more than 40 reports on ecommerce, egovernance, efinance, internet security and the role of SMEs in the new global economy. He holds Nortel patents in dozen leading countries. He has been Professor of School of Management at University of Ottawa. He has lectured in top universities in north America, Europe and Asia.
Dr Goldmann is the publisher of the world-acclaimed Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce (JIBC). He is corporate board member of several US, UK and Canadian companies and financial institutions.