Who we are

Mark Hansen

Mark is Managing Director of the Asian Leadership Institute (ALI), Asia’s oldest executive coaching firm. At ALI, Mark works as an executive coach to senior corporate executives and Asian business families. He also works part-time on a pro bono basis as a psychotherapist at two Singapore community mental health clinics: Clarity Singapore for adults and Limitless Singapore for adolescents aged 12-17 years old.

Previously, Mark was Managing Director & Head, Asia Governance & Strategic Initiatives at Standard Chartered Bank. There he managed governance for 22 countries in Asia and served on various executive management committees and subsidiary boards. Over the past twenty years, he has held various board directorships including for a Singaporean indoor vertical farm, a global Indian investment research outsourcing company, an Indonesia listed company and Standard Chartered Bank subsidiaries in Korea & Vietnam. Previously, at management consulting firm Booz Allen & Hamilton, Mark was a Partner in charge of Asia Pacific Financial Services & Asian Emerging Markets practices. There, he led numerous strategic transformation assignments for multinational and Asian clients across multiple industries.

Mark is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Singapore Institute of Directors. He is also a full member of the Singapore Psychological Society and a member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Mark has a deep passion about personal transformation. He has been a meditator for over 30 years and a yoga student for 20 years. He has studied meditation in several traditions, including a 10-day vipassana silent retreat. He is a member of the World Community of Christian Meditators (WCCM). He has co-taught, with Fr Laurence Freeman (WCCM’s global leader) and Ng Kok Song (Singapore WCCM founder and leader), a “Meditation & Leadership” course at Singapore Management University’s MBA program. He is a member of the advisory boards of the men's monastic community of New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur California and the women’s monastic community of Transfiguration Monastery in upstate New York.

Mark loves hiking and outdoor sports. He has a PADI scuba diving certification. He hiked part of the Camino St James in France in 2022 and will do the Portuguese Camino this fall. He finds these hikes to be a metaphor for the pilgrimage that is our life. Mark is also passionate about education. He helps raise scholarship funds for his alma mater, Cornell University and UC Berkeley. Cornell awarded him their highest alumni award, the Frank HT Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award in 2022. He has sponsored education for Shan orphans and refugees in Thailand through the Schools of Hope Foundation.

He holds a MA in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and a BA (Honors) in Economics from Cornell University, with a minor in modern foreign languages. He also studied at the Mandarin Training Center at Taiwan National Normal University. In 2019, he completed a MA in Counseling Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara California, where he wrote his thesis on counseling Asian business families. He holds US and Italian citizenships and has been a Singapore Permanent Resident for over 25 years.

Helen Or

Helen has extensive experience in management consulting and executive coaching, having led and conducted projects and programs in Hong Kong, China and throughout Asia. Over the last 25 years, she has led over 50 transformational strategy projects and coached over 300 executives/young professionals and 200 youths, and trained over 3000 executives and managers on leadership, team management, communication, and collaboration.

Helen believes that leadership inspires others to “dream more, do more and become more”. In the journey of becoming a leader, one is often one’s own limit. Through executive coaching, Helen works with individual to identify his/her own potential, focusing on four areas: the individual’s Vision of the Ideal and Alternative Futures, his/her Assumptions about how success can be achieved and the limiting beliefs, a Role Model that he/she aspired to, and his/her current Motivation to become successful.

She has worked with many executives to transition themselves onto new levels of leadership, exhibiting stronger strategic mindset, resilience, executive presence and empathy-generosity as a leader.

Helen is now running her own consulting and coaching practice under Explorer Futures Lab. She started her career as a Systems Engineer at IBM Singapore. After her MBA, she worked as a strategy consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton for 5 years and as an executive search and leadership assessment consultant at Spencer Stuart Associates for 2 years. She holds a B.Sc in Computer Science and Information Systems from National University of Singapore (1990) and an MBA from INSEAD, France (1994).

She is a certified practitioner for Belbin’s Team Roles (2001), Lumina Spark (2006), Lumina Emotions (2008) and PRISM assessment (2010). She is also a certified Foresights Practitioner (IFTF 2020) who focuses on training individuals to apply futures thinking and foresights practices for personal and professional development. She is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Elizabeth Hart

Elizabeth has dedicated her entire career, of over 30 years, to advising private clients and provides holistic advice on wealth preservation, succession planning & family wellness.

Elizabeth is the CEO & Founder of Legacy Wealth Advisors Pte Ltd which provides independent succession planning and investment services to support families to preserve their wealth and ensure a smooth transition of wealth to the next generation. Legacy Wealth Advisors was awarded Independent Wealth Manager, South East Asia at the WealthBriefing Awards 2024.

Elizabeth is also Managing Director of The Life Academy Pte Ltd, which provides bespoke family wellness programs and empowerment coaching to support individuals and families to live with purpose and fulfilment, to ensure harmony through generations and to prepare the next generation for being future wealth owners.

Elizabeth is an independent non-executive director of British & Malayan Holdings Ltd, an SGX listed company established since 1924 and a pioneering member of the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Elizabeth is an inspiring coach who finds joy in sharing her passion for personal development to empower people to reach their full potential. Elizabeth offers a unique holistic approach to her clients, bringing together wealth management, legacy planning and wellness coaching. Her unique background and years of experience across all those domains provides a very solid foundation for seeking and achieving personal and family harmony through tailored succession planning, Family Office advisory, independent investment advice and enhancing family relationships and personal wellness.

Previously, Elizabeth has held senior managerial positions including Managing Director, Head of South East Asia, Rothschild Wealth Management and Director, Rothschild Trust until 2016. During her 12 year tenure, Elizabeth was responsible for establishing Rothschild Wealth Management in South East Asia and was a pioneering director of Rothschild Trust in Singapore.

Elizabeth has been advising families in Asia & Australia for over 20 years and has developed long standing client relationships. The industry awarded Elizabeth Banker of the Year in 2000.

Elizabeth is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors. Elizabeth sits on the judging panel for the WealthBriefingAsia Awards and the Wealthbriefing European Awards and is an Ambassador for WealthiHer in Asia.

Elizabeth, a UK citizen and Singapore permanent resident, is married with three children. She enjoys regular gymnasium workouts, yoga & meditation, nutrition & wellness and cycling.

David Wediger

David Werdiger is about fusion and ideation – his diverse background gives him a powerful mix of skills and he is able to bring all parts of himself together in unique and innovative ways. David is a family enterprise advisor, tech entrepreneur, family office principal, best-selling author on wealth transition, experienced non-exec director, and a dynamic speaker and educator.

Jaidip Khurana

Jaidip is a leadership coach working independently and with the Asian Leadership Institute, Chiang Mai. Jaidip combines his in-depth understanding of the corporate world with a holistic approach to leadership transformation. Over the last twelve years he has coached senior executives, entrepreneurs and teams across India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Russia, UK, France and the US.

He has extensive corporate experience and understands the skills needed to work and excel in stressful, uncertain and ever changing environments across diverse cultures, having spent 20 years successfully in investment banking in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Prior to coaching, Jaidip worked for UBS and HSBC Investment Banking and has cross-product experience in debt and equity capital markets, strategic financing advisory and mergers & acquisitions across a wide range of industries in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He has proven client and project management, analytical, structuring and execution skills. He was a specialist in corporate finance, strategic analysis and debt capital markets.

Jaidip relocated to India 13 years ago after living and working overseas for 21 years. He currently lives in New Delhi. Jaidip is passionate about personal transformation and connection with essence. He has been practicing yoga and meditation since his youth and has attended several retreats from different traditions. Jaidip is a dedicated student of Vedanta practicing living a holistic and whole hearted life. He has a daily practice for over 15 years. He loves the vastness of the mountains, their silence and the magic of the Himalayas. He is married and has two teenagers and three dogs in the family. He loves playing tennis, working out in the gym, listening to music and dancing.

He has an MBA from Insead, France, and he completed his BCom (Hons) from SRCC, Delhi University.

Jason Wagner

Jason is a seasoned talent advisor, executive coach, business builder, and passionate change agent with over 30 years of international experience. Jason brings a rare mix of strategy, capital, technology, and people with particular focus on fast track team building, leadership development and digital enablement. High energy, hands-on and roll up the sleeves by nature. Adept at navigating complex multinational corporates as well as chaotic and ambiguous start-up environments to make impact.

Jason is a Registered Corporate Coach with the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches and has done extensive studies in emotional intelligence and positive psychology in the context of leadership potentiation, grit, resilience, and overall well- being. Jason is certified in Harrison Assessments, a versatile talent management system that measures work-related behaviours and preferences to aid in recruitment, development and team optimization; and EQi2.0/360, a coaching-specific psychometric tool designed to evaluate emotional intelligence by measuring a range of emotional and social skills that influence the way individuals perceive and express themselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an effective and meaningful way.

Jason’s career experience includes twelve years in senior executive search, eight years in banking and private equity, six years in strategy consulting, and three years with Web3.0 start-ups. Over the course of his search career, he has placed over 130 senior professionals, including chief executives, financial & risk officers, operations & technology heads, sales & marketing leaders, consultants, and digital & transformation specialists across industries.

Jason graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Japanese studies from the University of Florida and has a Certificate of Professional Development from Wharton Business School and a Certificate of Specialization in Positive Psychology, both from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jason is passionate about cooking with his wife who is a classically trained French chef, raising their infant son, hitting the occasional golf ball, and traveling the world seeking new adventures and friendships.

Lina Wynn

Lina has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, and has held senior roles in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. She is a strategic thinker and culturally-astute problem solver with a proven track record leading change, teams, projects, and facilitating collaboration across complex stakeholder relationships.

Originally from Indonesia, the seeds of Lina’s journey were planted in her childhood. Witnessing the poverty around her instilled in her a sense of responsibility to use her gifts to help make the world a better place. She started her first social enterprise when she was in university. In addition to her day job, she was a not-for-profit advisory board member, and business mentor for community organisations. She also spent a year in Myanmar as part of Australian Government’s International Volunteering program, where she was an advisor at CARE International helping rural women access safe employment.

Lina has a deep passion for spirituality and has had a regular meditation practice for over 15 years and is also a qualified meditation teacher. Although she has attended retreats or trained in different styles of meditation (including Zen and Vipassana), she is agnostic in her approach and adapts her meditation style to suit the student.

Lina has undergraduate qualifications in Banking & Finance, Psychology and Sociology, post-graduate diplomas in Insurance and Corporate Governance, and a Masters in Business Administration from Australian Graduate School of Management. She has also completed training in mediation & conflict resolution, non-violent communication, counselling and psychotherapy.

Lina is usually based in Melbourne where she lives with her husband, two adult children and their rescue dog Tag. In her spare time, Lina enjoys practising yoga and taking long meandering walks by the river near her home.

Jason Shaplen

Jason Shaplen’s career has spanned many sectors. He has served in senior capacities in business, diplomacy, communications, the not-for-profit sector, and politics. He specializes in leading organizations that are at inflection points or lifecycle moments, transforming them through an enhanced focus on strategy, management and culture.

Mr. Shaplen is currently Co-Founder and President of Hyka, an analytics and patient referral management platform for behavioral health. He further serves as strategic investor in and Advisor to several early-stage healthcare companies, supporting CEOs and their Boards on strategy, management, leadership, and governance.

Prior to founding Hyka, Mr. Shaplen served as Chief Strategy and New Ventures Officer at Moses Weitzman Health System (a diversified organization that includes one of the nation’s largest Federally Qualified Health Centers), Chief Executive Officer (Interim) of Skid Row Housing Trust, and Chief Executive Officer of Inspirica, Inc. (one of New England’s largest providers of housing and services for the homeless). Previously, he was a senior executive at Project Renewal, a leading developer and provider of services to the homeless in New York City.

Prior to the above, Mr. Shaplen worked at senior levels in a variety of capacities including: a management consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton; a “top 25” executive at PCCW (an 18,000-person, $38 billion communications company); a journalist at Newsweek and Dow Jones; and, a speechwriter on Bill Bradley’s presidential campaign. He further helped found two social enterprises (a printing company and café) that doubled as for-profit businesses and training programs for the homeless.

Additionally, from 1995 to 1999, Mr. Shaplen served in an appointed diplomatic role as an international negotiator, working to freeze North Korea’s nuclear program. In this capacity he negotiated international agreements with North Korea and participated in more than 30 rounds of international negotiations in North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and China. He also served as press spokesman for the diplomatic initiative and its liaison to the U.S. Congress.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Mr. Shaplen was born and raised in Asia, and returned there to live/work twice as an adult. He has also lived in Israel.

Mr. Shaplen was a Thomas J. Watson Fellow in Malaysia and Israel and a Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines. His work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Asian Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, and on foreignaffairs.org (partial list). In 2020, he was appointed by the Governor of CT to the Governor’s Task Force on Housing and Supports for Vulnerable Populations. In 2021, he was appointed by the National Association of Community Health Centers to the inaugural Advisory Board of its Center for Community Health Innovation. He has further served on several not-for-profit Boards and Advisory Councils and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is married with two daughters.

Krish Vells

Krish is a British Psychological Society (BPS) registered Honorary Counselling Psychologist and Psychotherapist. He is currently in the cusps of finishing his doctorate in Chartered Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy (DCPsych) from Middlesex University (UK) and The New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling (NSPC), UK.

Krish holds a BA in TV, Media & TV Journalism (UK). A MSc in Psychology, MBPsS (U.K.). He also has a Diploma in Cognitive Hypnotherapy and Coaching, an N.L.P practitioner, and a Neuro Muscular Pain therapist. He is also a Reiki Practitioner qualified in Thai, oil, foot, and herbal treatment from the Chiang Mai Old Medicine School in Thailand.

Krish is currently researching using the combination of the Qualitative, Existential and Phenomenology methods (Western schools of thought) to ascertain if there are links between Addictions and the world of ‘Chemsex’ and Sexuality. Are there correlations between the lived experiences of intersectionality and invisibility in an individual's social dimension and their ways of being in the world? Krish will continue research after his doctorate, focusing on Eastern Traditions and testing the applicability of Western Medicine within Neuroscience through the lenses of Vedic and Chinese medicine.

Currently, Krish is a counsellor at Positive East, London, an organisation providing services to individuals diagnosed with HIV. Krish is also a counsellor at Headstrong, UK, providing affordable general mental health services. Previous experiences include leading many various mental health projects related to Asylum Seekers in the UK, Sexual Abuse Survivors from the Tamil-speaking diaspora, Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) in West London, MIND (UK), Kairaasi (India & UK), and LGBTQI+ Mental health (London and UK).

Krish is working with clients from the USA, UK, Montenegro, Japan, Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Singapore, Germany, Croatia, Bosnia, Uganda, China, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Trinidad, Armenia, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Laos, Italy and Ireland, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

Krish is a member of these Professional bodies: the British Psychological Society (BPS, UK), the Universities Psychotherapy & Counselling Association (UPCA, UK), the Society for Existential Analysis (SEA, UK) and the Psychedelic Health Professionals Network (PHP, UK).

Krish is trained in Eastern therapeutic energy models and practises Vipassana (Goenka) meditation. He also currently practices Inner Engineering and Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya by Sadhguru and many other Hatha Yoga by Isha Centre for Well-being.

Krish Speaks Tamil (Malaysian, Sri Lanka and India), Malay, Indonesian, Cantonese, English and German. Previously, Krish has lived in Munich, Germany; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Cambodia. He currently divides his time between London (UK) and the ASEAN region.

Krish is interested in being a tool for individuals finding solutions for their phenomenology of ‘being me’. He is committed to living his best life given any ‘human thrownness’ (Heidegger) and the application of personal choices in any given context. When not working, Krish is passionate about food and loves cooking. He believes that we are what we eat, which dictates our mental health and is directly linked to our physical bodies' health. A very passionate lover of silence, this includes shared silences and loves the ocean.

__________________________________________________________________ Email: krish.vells@asianleadership.com Mobile: +(60) 126202431 (MY) & +(44)7586624243 (UK)

Scott Wong

As a leadership and executive coach, Scott empowers individuals to discover their purpose, align with their values, strengthen their mental fitness, and achieve their life goals.

Scott’s interest since the start of his career has always been in impact driven activities and industries, which led him to start his professional journey in non-profit education work in China. Since then, he has held various roles in multinational companies, while volunteering and holding board positions in non-profit organizations. He has over two decades of leadership experience across the public and private sectors and enjoys working with individuals from diverse backgrounds; from senior government officials to equally important members of society; students and parents. He has found that at the core of every person is the deep desire to be their best selves and live a life of fulfillment. Inspired to be of service, he is a curious, adventurer of the mind, body and spirit, and is interested to walk his own path less traveled, and guide others to find theirs.

He has lived and worked in various continents, including Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Scott is originally from the Bay Area, California. He holds a M.A. in Int’l Affairs from Columbia University and a B.A. in Economics from UCLA.

Matthew Sinder

Matthew (Matt) is an executive coach at ALI-EC and services both corporate and family business clients, drawing up his extensive experience inn management consulting, family business management and corporate leadership roles. He also works in strategic advisory and executive training, primarily for Indonesia based clients.

Matt has 20+ years experience in Strategy, Business Development, Finance and Operations in Southeast Asia. His corporate work has included leading operational development for a multi-finance company, CFO at a national TV channel, and senior roles in strategy, business development, and corporate finance at two diversified Indonesian business groups. Matt has been the only non-Indonesian in several companies which hopefully has enhanced his learning, development, and contributions along the way.

Previously, Matt worked in consulting for McKinsey & Company and Booz Allen & Hamilton. As a management consultant, he had the opportunity to work with clients in a wide range of industries across Southeast Asia, Korea, and Australia. Matt came first to Indonesia to lead training program on infrastructure investment appraisal for Indonesian government officials.

Over the years, Matt has counseled colleagues and network contacts on a variety of professional challenges and choices. Recently, he completed an executive coaching course with the Australia based Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership and executive coaching training with ALI-EC.

Matt has passions for sports, education, and travel and found a way to connect these when he got involved in youth sports. He started as a baseball coach and went on to run the Jakarta Youth Baseball Association, a baseball league for kids ages 4-15. Matt has also led Jakarta all star baseball and softball teams to tournaments in Singapore, Perth, Manila, and Bangkok and has organized an international baseball and softball tournament in Jakarta.

Matt holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a BA in International Relations from Stanford University. For Haas, he is the Indonesia Regional Representative and also interviews MBA candidates from across the world. And for Stanford, he interviews undergraduates from across Indonesia. Matt grew us in the US, holds US citizenship and a permanent stay permit for Indonesia.

Steven Parker

Steven is a non-executive director, start-up advisor and qualified executive coach. He brings over 30 years’ experience in blue-chip international companies, where he held global and regional strategy, marketing, innovation and general management roles. His career has spanned companies as diverse as Visa, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Experian, IHG and Booz-Allen.

Steven enjoys helping people and teams navigate through change and growth and supports his clients in overcoming the significant human or organisational barriers that they may encounter along the way. As a leader, he has seen, first-hand, the challenges of leading businesses in complex, multi-cultural environments – it can be tough and lonely. As leaders, we not only need to facilitate change, but we may need to re-create ourselves, in order to progress. Steven can source some of his own experiences but, above all, provide support and safe challenge to help clients adapt their behaviours and overcome self-limiting beliefs.

Current Role

Steven coaches many different nationalities and has clients in Hong Kong and Australia. He particularly supports leaders in career transition or stepping up to senior or Board roles. He also works with founders and leaders in growth companies looking to scale. He remains actively involved in business, as the chairman of a data analytics platform company and Supervisory Board member for a Citibank international subsidiary.

Personal Data

Steven has lived and worked around the world and spent 16 years in Asia Pacific, especially Hong Kong. He currently splits his time, with his Hong Kong Chinese wife, between the UK and Asia. He enjoys culture, travel and writing.

Michael Bartura

Michael has been involved in lifestyle education, health & wellness promotion, training and organizational development since the mid-eighties.

Now living in Australia with his family, he runs a Mindfulness-Based Executive Coaching & Training business. Prior to this current chapter, Michael worked, managed, and trained people in 10 different countries (including four in Asia). He brings experience and insight to multi-cultural challenges especially in Middle Eastern and Asian-Australian situations.

With decades of senior managerial experience, Michael is a skillful communicator with finely tuned public presentation and group facilitation skills and delivers insightful and engaging executive coaching journeys and training seminars through interactive and science-based methodologies.

Still early on in his career, Michael worked as a somatic therapist and a trainer in clinics and centers in Australia, UK, the US and Canada. Adding on leadership roles, he was the Managing Director for a global Israeli FMCG brand, leading and developing manufacturing and distribution for a worldwide consortium of partner companies.

Later on, Michael successfully lead and supervised all the administrative, financial, and logistical operations for the Cambodian country program of a large international charity in the Aid & Development sector. The systems he developed were established as the standard training protocol for this worldwide organization in Asia, Africa the Middle East and Europe.

In his last full-time corporate role as a senior manager for the East West Learning Centre in Singapore, he focused on designing platforms to deliver an integrated Mind-Body approach to leadership education. He was also the CEO for an organization focused on stress-management in not for profits.

Back in Australia, Michael established his own training business and is coaching individuals and facilitating groups online and offline, writing and delivering programs with a focus on building resilience, cross-cultural communications, emotional intelligence and mind-fitness for executives and teams. He leads programs for Small Giants Academy, the School of Life, NextTech Education and other vendors.

Michael holds a Master’s degree in Management from Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and completed a Cert. IV in Training & Assessment at the Eastern Training College in Victoria. He is currently undertaking a two years’ Teacher Training program in Mindfulness & Compassion with the Insight Meditation Society. He is on the Board of the Australian Compassion Council, and has been and associate of the Asian leadership Institute for over 20 years.

Karl Schmidt-Degen

Karl Schmidt-Degen is a coach and consultant who helps organisations create effective strategies, drive innovation, and manage change — always viewing challenges through a systemic lens, understanding how people, processes, and goals are interconnected. His coaching approach is “situative systemic” — rooted in the belief that progress starts from the present moment. Rather than overemphasising diagnostics, Karl guides companies to leverage their existing resources and people, embracing an agile process of change that is adaptive and future-focused.

Drawing from concepts like Appreciative Inquiry, solution-focused coaching, and agile change management, Karl helps organisations move forward by recognising their current strengths and shaping strategies tied to future possibilities. His coaching is dynamic and responsive, meeting clients where they are and supporting them in taking meaningful steps forward.

Karl has worked with family businesses and global corporations alike, from agricultural machinery and automotive engineering to mechanical innovation. This firsthand business knowledge allows him to guide leaders and teams with both strategic insight and practical wisdom. He also has a deep understanding of the unique dynamics of family-owned businesses, supporting owners as they balance professional and personal responsibilities.

In recent years, Karl has partnered with IT startups like XMART and BuildingMinds, automotive companies like Webasto and Brose, global trading houses like TVH, SME’ like Kaldewei and government organisations like BMZ and BGRCI. He’s co-founded two startups and successfully launched five spin-off entities in South-East Asia.

Beyond his professional life, Karl is married with three adult children — a role that has reinforced his belief in responsibility, balance, and adaptability. He practices yoga, explores a wide range of books and teas, and loves connecting with people, always curious about their stories and experiences.

Brian Bauerle

The founder of the Asian Leadership Institute, Brian Bauerle, has been working in Asia for over 40 years, helping to shift the consciousness of multinational and family-run companies. He has been instrumental in creating the Asian Leadership Institute’s unique core competence of mindfulness-based leadership transformation.

Brian is a professional psychotherapist who earned a postgraduate fellowship in psychoanalysis from the prestigious Menninger Foundation in the US. He has also held faculty positions at major universities in both the US and Australia.

He spent five years as a monk in Tibet and Thailand where he gained a deep, experiential understanding of the fundamentals and essence of mindfulness training. He uses this unusual experience in a practical yet provocative way, directly applying his key lessons to the world of business. He has worked closely with a wide variety of corporate and governmental institutions to design and implement strategies for organisational and personal change.

Brian specialises in elite, individual, retreat-based coaching. He believes that in order to transform organisations, we must first transform the leaders, focusing on helping people move away from fear-based leadership, towards more expanded states. His success comes largely from his practical awareness, his extensive experience with business, and his aptitude for wise, intuitive counsel.

Brian enjoys a regular meditation and yoga practice, and continues a lifelong tradition of social work, supporting an orphanage on the Thai-Burmese border called the Schools of Hope.

Adil Moloobhoy

Adil Moloobhoy is the chairman of a family-owned firm, A.S. Moloobhoy and Sons Pvt Ltd., based in Mumbai, India. Over the last 40 years, the business interests of the company have grown to include twenty countries, with branches in the UAE and GCC countries. The firm was established in 1905 and provides equipment and services to the marine and offshore industry, specialising in safety and electronics for navigation and communication.

Given that A.S. Moloobhoy and Sons is now entering its fourth generation, Adil is well-versed in understanding the challenges and complexities that arise within family-owned businesses. He uses this knowledge to counsel other organisations and family-run businesses. He also handles the finances, administration, and business side of The Asian Leadership Institute, acting as the founding director and a shareholder of The Asian Leadership Institute Ltd.

Adil frequently escapes Mumbai to practice his mindfulness at the Asian Leadership Institute retreat center in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

SienaDune Buchanan

Rick Vargo

Sam Nam

Samuel Nam is Managing Director, Global Head of M&A Integration for Payments at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Mr. Nam has extensive experience with the global operations of multinational firms and management of reputational, legal, regulatory, and compliance matters across multiple jurisdictions. He focuses on developing and implementing strategic initiatives and building and transforming organizations.

In his current role at JPMorgan in New York City, Mr. Nam leads a dedicated Integration Management Office (IMO) which was established to integrate acquired companies into the firm and realize business values through product, client, technology, operations, HR, and controls integration. He leads cross-functionally to integrate acquired entities and assets efficiently with minimal disruption, and to achieve deal objectives by partnering closely with functional and line of business units across JPMorgan and with acquired companies. Mr. Nam is also responsible for reporting on integration status to senior leadership, including the Operating Committee of JPMorgan, and regulators. Mr. Nam actively works with the boards and senior management of the acquired companies to develop their business strategies and governance. Mr. Nam has served as a board member of JPMorgan entities and other privately-held companies, and currently serves as an independent board member of a Korean investment holding company.

Prior to rejoining JPMorgan, Mr. Nam spent 8 years at the law firm of Kim & Chang in Seoul, Korea as a senior member and led various practice groups, including banking, finance, government investigations and enforcement actions, corporate governance and compliance.

Prior to joining Kim & Chang, Mr. Nam spent 14 years at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and was based in New York City, Tokyo, Seoul and London. As the head of Legal for the firm’s newly created Global Corporate Bank, he helped build its worldwide coverage and operations. He also spent six years in Seoul where he was the company’s Chief Administrative Officer and head of Legal & Compliance for Korea. Mr. Nam oversaw all reputational, corporate governance, legal, regulatory and compliance matters relating to Korea and coordinated implementation of the firm’s policies and development of country strategy.

Mr. Nam also worked at a Silicon Valley law firm, where he acted as an outside general counsel to high tech start-ups, served on boards of several privately held companies and represented emerging technology companies from corporate formation and venture capital financings to initial public offerings. Prior to entering into private practice, Mr. Nam served four years as Captain in the U.S. Army.

Mr. Nam’s co-authored publications include Getting the Deal Through - Anti-Corruption Regulation: Korea Chapter (Law Business Research, 2016-2017) and Practical Law - Financial and Business Crime Global Guide 2015/16: Korea Chapter (Thomson Reuters, 2015).

Mr. Nam received his B.A. in History from Cornell University and J.D. from Cornell Law School. He is a member of the Washington D.C. bar.

Mr. Nam enjoys mentoring professionals and students, and currently volunteers as a member of JPMorgan’s Military Connected Mentoring Circles Community, working with military veterans at JPMorgan. He also serves as a member of the Cornell University Council and Cornell University Committee on Alumni Trustee Nominations.

Felicia Heng

Felicia Heng is Founder and Managing Director of Wise Purpose, a leading Asian consulting firm specializing in family wealth advisory, next generation succession, and leadership strategy coaching. With its unique blend of expertise in psychology, wealth management, and business strategy, Wise Purpose works with Family Office principals, business family owners and board directors of charities and foundations to address key leadership, wealth, and business transitions.

Prior to founding Wise Purpose, Felicia was a senior banker at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, where she worked extensively with asset owners, their families, and their C-suite professionals to protect and invest their wealth, borrow strategically and plan effectively to achieve their family legacy needs and philanthropic goals.

As part of her career, she has been actively involved in the development of family governance systems for effective stewardship across generations. One area of emphasis has been succession planning and legacy transfer to engage and prepare next generation family members for business, family, and community leadership roles they may wish to hold.

Over the last 25 years, Felicia has held senior global, regional, and country roles in blue chip MNCs across banking, logistics, and pharmaceuticals. Focus areas included strategic business planning, leadership transitions and leveraging intellectual and social capital for stewardship.

Felicia holds certifications in Advanced Wealth Management, Family Wealth Advising, Executive Coaching, with postgraduate degrees in Occupational Psychology and Technology Management.

Outside of work, Felicia is a Kaizen Pilates enthusiast and a regular retreater with the Community for Spiritual Formation in Singapore. She is also an active member of the World Community for Christian Meditation, a global spiritual community united in the practice of silence, stillness and simplicity in the Christian tradition.

More information is available on LinkedIn.

Stephen Sheridan