MENTORS

A/Prof. Hoang Van Xiem is the Head and a founding member of the Department of Robotics Engineering at Vietnam National University – University of Engineering and Technology (VNU-UET). He previously served as the Director of the Center for Quality Assurance at VNU-UET (2021–2022).

He is a senior consultant for several EdTech and Hi-Tech companies, including Sotatek JSC, Sotatek Education, xTechAcademy, and DataStreams Asia.

A/Prof. Xiem earned his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Lisbon University, Portugal, in 2015 and an M.Sc. from Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea, in 2011.

He has published over 100 papers in image/video processing and AI robotics and serves as an editor for the Frontiers in Signal Processing Journal and the VNU-Journal of Science. He is also a reviewer for several top IEEE, Elsevier, and Springer journals.

His work has garnered multiple prestigious awards, including five Best Paper Awards (ATC 2024, IEEE RIVF 2023, REV-ECIT 2022, IWAIT 2018, and PCS 2015). His contributions to distributed video coding earned him the REV-AWARD 2021, the Innova Patent Silver Award 2020, and the Fraunhofer Portugal Challenge Award 2015.

In 2019, he was recognized as one of ten young research scientists to receive the Golden Globe in Science and Technology.

Myleeta AgaWilliams is spearheading upGrad’s expansion plans across APAC, EMEA, and North America. She brings over two decades of experience in global and digital businesses and is a proven change-maker with a passion for lifelong learning. As CEO International for upGrad, Myleeta leads the end-to-end international operations for creating region-specific product pipelines to drive growth and revenue. Her background in scaling businesses through strategic interventions across content and global distribution for broadcast and streaming media is a key accelerant for upGrad’s global expansion plans.

Previously, Myleeta has managed diverse product portfolios and led marketing and sales teams across geographies at Netflix, BBC Studios, Discovery, and UTV amongst others. In her role at Netflix as the Director of Content for Southeast Asia and Australia, she led teams while commissioning originals and programming content across Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Australia.

Before joining Netflix, Myleeta spent over a decade in senior roles at BBC Studios, where she was briefly charged with the P&L of the company’s operations across Asia following her leadership of South and Southeast Asia – including channels, TV and digital sales, production, consumer products and Global News distribution, as well as BBC Player – an authenticated SVOD service. She also supervised the production of several BBC formats in the region including “Dancing with the Stars”, “The Office” and “Criminal Justice”. Prior to joining BBC Studios, Myleeta helped Co-found TV guide channel, ‘What’s On India’. She has also worked as an Executive Producer at Discovery based out of Washington DC for eight years, overseeing multiple factual and entertainment series from conception to execution. During this time, she earned two Emmy nominations for her work as executive producer on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Myleeta has an MBA from Georgetown University, Washington D.C.

Myleeta started her new role as CEO – International at upGrad in August 2022 and is presently based out of Singapore. upGrad is an integrated LifeLongLearning tech company with 3M+ total registered learners from 100+ countries. It offers online higher education programs to everyone within the age bracket of 18 to 60+ years and boasts a program completion record of 85% through its high engagement curriculum, also backed by a further 80%+ career outcomes-guaranteed performance.

As Google’s Head of Large Customer Marketing and Events in Asia Pacific, I help businesses understand consumer behaviour and trends that are driving our world so that they can be more effective and efficient by utilizing digital marketing’s full potential.

Driving thought leadership at the cross-section of consumer behaviour and technology, my team focuses on enabling brands to understand their impact on the world.

As a future-focused marketing leader with more than 20 years of experience, I have expertise in product, marketing, and strategy across financial services and technology. I am passionate about the power of digital marketing and how we future-proof the marketing profession in order to keep pace with consumers.

I thrive at the intersection of ideas, strategy, and process. These three elements can often be at odds with each other, but drawing from my 9+ years of experience in education, management consulting, and entrepreneurship and innovation, I create value for organizations and teams through being able to deftly navigate these competing elements and distill clarity from (potential) chaos. I am a big-picture thinker who is not afraid to grapple with the details, and a lifelong learner who relishes challenge and ambiguity. As an educator and an entrepreneur evangelist, I am also passionate about Education + Entrepreneurship as touchstones for creating resilient global communities, cities, and countries, and as the most enduring pathway to economic opportunity and freedom.

At 500 Startups, I work in a transversal role spanning business development, market development, implementation, and product. Since joining, I have secured 2.5M+ in project revenue and built an additional 8M+ pipeline in North America; directly manage projects valued at over 500K+; and lead the development and design of our startup and corporate training programs comprising 75%+ of revenue.

Previously, at Deloitte, I led projects with international organizations and government agencies such as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the US Department of State and US Agency for International Development, and the US Department of Agriculture; and with the social sector and institutions of higher learning including the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, the Irvine Foundation, and the University of Pittsburgh. These projects spanned strategic planning, impact evaluation, program design, growth strategy, and digital transformation.

I am also deeply passionate about leadership coaching and talent development, and have built and executed C-level training and Leadership Labs for my clients at Deloitte and 500 Startups; and served as a leadership advisor to CXOs at startups globally in India, Guatemala, and Kenya.

I obtained my Masters of Public Policy from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, with a focus on International and Global Affairs, and my Bachelor of Science (International Politics) from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

A high impact digital media platforms specialist and proven business and revenue driver with 20+ years experience advising and collaborating with C-suite executives in Fortune 500 media technology companies

Skilled in account and vendor relationship management, business development and digital product launch management, marketing, communications and content acquisition and creator programs management

Core Competencies:
• An innovative and creative thinker capable of high-level strategic planning and problem-solving
• Results-oriented, organised and passionately committed to every task undertaken or assigned
• Proven sales and marketing leadership, entrepreneurial and customer relationship focused, and highly attentive to stakeholder needs
• Skilled communicator, researcher, copywriter, presenter, motivator and educator.

Strategy and investment professional with 12 years of experience (local and regional) in transforming organizations. Proven reliability in leading projects that create meaningful change for the companies, which led to revenue/pipeline growth, significant efficiencies in operations, and better stakeholder engagement.

Fu Kuo Chang, Michael is the Founder and Managing Director of Vital Wellspring. He specializes in integrating academic research with business innovation to solve many of today’s modern challenges.

Michael grew up in Taiwan and majored in Engineering and Management in university – a combination that allows him to utilize technology and business modeling to solve numerous practical problems.  He has worked with many Asian professors to provide education services and industrial consultations.  He is also an important resource to many senior managers in providing industrial innovation and talent cultivation.

Michael moved to Singapore to pursue the PhD GM program offered by SMU.  At the same time, he took the opportunity to expand his family’s publishing business.  Using Singapore as a springboard, he developed partnerships with many publishers to successfully enter the European, American and Chinese markets.

Michael is also passionate about sustainability and climate change and wants to improve the World for his fellow mankind.  With his connections and experience in academia and the industry, he set up The International Association for Agricultural Sustainability (Singapore) which works through a multi-disciplinary platform to gather the professional wisdom of scholars and uses technology to achieve agriculture sustainability.

He also set up Agrigada Biotech Company (Singapore) which is dedicated to the research of utilizing herbal remedies and providing natural solutions to modern lifestyle diseases in the hope of contributing to public health.