FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & LEISURE MANAGEMENT
DATO' VINCENT LIM
President, Asian Federation of Exhibition & Convention Associations (AFECA)
Adjunct Professor
Dato’ Vincent found his passion to operate his current line of business garnered from over 20 years of experience. His experience, beliefs and visions had honed him to become a successful entrepreneur who is passionate as an organiser in organising trade and lifestyle exhibitions. He has a keen mission to continuously contribute to the industry and economy within and beyond Malaysia that simultaneously will cater to the needs of various emerging markets through its renowned exhibitions. Under his leadership, C.I.S continues to gain a fast-growing reputation as a forward-thinking award-winning Trade and Lifestyle Exhibition Organiser in Malaysia. His dedication and his team of staff had created some of the country’s and the region’s most desired names and award-winning exhibitions such as ARCHIDEX (International Architecture, Interior Design & Building Exhibition, Malaysia) and HOMEDEC (Home Design & Interior Exhibition) that is nothing short of excellence. Dato’ Vincent expanded its business venture to Jakarta, Indonesia under the roof of PT Citra Inovasi Strategi Exhibition where HOMEDEC continues to chart new milestones by entering the vibrant Indonesian market – Jakarta to mart the start of a new regional footprint. Dato’ Vincent was conferred the Dato-ship title in the year 2013 in recognition of his accomplishment and dedication towards the business event industry. Besides that, Dato’ Vincent is the Founding President of MIIP (Malaysian Interior Industry Partners Association). He was holding the position of President and Immediate Past President from 2011-2015 and 2015-2017 respectively.
YBHG DATUK ZULKEFLI HAJI SHARIF
Former CEO, Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB)
Adjunct Professor
YBhg. Datuk Zulkefli led and oversaw the formation of the bureau and responsible to further strengthening the country’s business tourism brand for the international business events market. In 2011, under the directive of Ministry of Tourism & Culture Malaysia, YBhg. Datuk Zulkefli also spearheaded the establishment of a new division under MyCEB named International Events Unit as a dedicated unit to present Malaysia as an attractive destination for staging entertainment, international sports, arts and lifestyle events to enhance Malaysia’s international profile worldwide. YBhg. Datuk Zulkefli has extensively held various positions with Tourism Malaysia in international marketing, promotional support, research, including over 10 years with the Conventions Division and a 4-year stint as Director of Tourism Malaysia in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the Director, International Marketing (South Asia/West Asia/Africa) before transferred to MyCEB for a bigger role as Chief Executive Officer. He has been instrumental to Malaysia’s success in securing new business and staging of international and regional events. Some of these include the largest conventions held in Kuala Lumpur to date, the 18th FIGO World Congress of Gynecology & Obstetrics 2006 (8,300 delegates), the Perfect Travel China Incentive Conference 2007 (8,500 delegates), the World Congress of Accountants 2010 (6,300 delegates), and the Perfect China International Convention 2016 (12,000 delegates). In 2012, YBhg. Datuk Zulkefli won the ‘Global Leadership Awards (GLA 2012)’. GLA is jointly organized by The American Leadership Development Association (ALDA) and The Leaders International magazine. Under his leadership, MyCEB won the BrandLaurette SME BestBrands Awards in ‘Corporate Branding-Best Brands in Services - Convention & Exhibition’ in 2013 and 2016, MyCEB won the BrandLaurette ‘President Award for Services - MICE’, which was held on 2 June 2016.
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DR. ROBERT JAMES HARRIS
Principal, Event Training Australia
Adjunct Professor
Dr Harris has an international reputation as an event management educator having developed and delivered programmes through to Masters level in locations around the world including the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, China and New Zealand, as well as throughout Australia. He is also the co-author of the texts Festival and Special Event Management, Event Management and the Regional Event Management Handbook. Dr Harris serves as a judge for the Australian Event Awards and as an assessor for regional event grants for several Australian state governments. Additionally, he is a member of the editorial boards of several key international academic journals in the field of event management. He has also published 16 books, 8 book chapters, 2 monographs, 22 journal articles and numerous conference proceedings. He has also lead several research and consultancy projects amounting over $300,000. Dr Harris has vast experience in managing event projects, research and teaching and learning. With this appointment, the school will be able to benefit from his sharing sessions in managing different events in different countries. In addition, there will be potential collaboration in research as well as event projects and this will help to profile the school in the events management field.
MR. CHAN WENG FATT
Deputy President, OXFORD Centre for Leadership Asia-Pacific (OXCEL)
Adjunct Senior Lecturer
Mr John Chan has been involved in the Tourism, Travel and Hospitality industry in both the local, regional and overseas markets in the past 40 years. His working tenure has seen him serving Malaysia’s professionally run tourism and travel organizations, namely Reliance Pacific Berhad, Mayflower Acme Tours and Travel, Asia Experience Travel and Tours, SMAS Travels, AOS Conventions and Events. Currently, as a Business Advisor, Consultant, Lecturer, he sits on the Industry Advisory Boards of various esteemed Universities viz. Taylor’s University, HELP University, Federation University (formerly the University of Ballarat/Monash Gippsland campus) as well as serving as an Industry Expert Consultative Committee Member with the Sentral Group of Colleges, Penang. John Chan is also a Certified HRDF Trainer in Tourism and Travel Management, Certified Coach in OXCEL’s 9 Qualities of Leadership (The Oxford Centre for Leadership UK). He is also a certified Life Coach in the 8 ELQ Self-Development program. He is a Principal Trainer with MOTAC and conducts the Best Practices in Outbound and Inbound Travel Management for the TTMC (Travel and Tours Management Course) for newly licenced Tour and Travel Agents as well as the TTEC (Tours and Travel Enhancement Course for existing Tours and Travel Agents. His experience and background in leading and managing companies has led him to be appointed as the Deputy President of the OXFORD Centre for Leadership Asia-Pacific (OXCEL). He has held the position of Vice-President of ATTIM – The Association of Tourism Training Institutes of Malaysia. He is also an Executive Member of TEAM – The Tourism Educators Association of Malaysia. He is currently pursuing his Professional Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) with the European-American University.
MR. KAVIN MARTINUS
General Manager, ABDA Aviation Co. Ltd (Thailand)
Adjunct Senior Lecturer
Mr Kavin Martinus career took off with Emirates airline in Malaysia where he served for a total of 15 years from 1996 to 2005. He started as a sales representative and once again from 2009 to 2015 as country manager for the airline in Malaysia. During his time with Emirates, he worked closely with travel agencies to promote outbound travel from Malaysia, where the office grew from 3 flights a week to 4 flights a day serving between Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. In between 2005 and 2009, he left Emirates to work for Jet Airways (India) Ltd as the airline commenced new services into Malaysia and needed an experienced country manager to grow its business. As the airline expanded, he took up the role of Regional Manager overlooking Malaysia and Thailand, based in Bangkok, until he returned to Malaysia in late 2009 to re-join Emirates as Country Manager. When he left Emirates in 2015, he took up the role with Oman Air to work with their General Sales Agent as General Manager where within 2 years the airline grew from 3 flights a week to 2 flights a day between Kuala Lumpur and Muscat. He was subsequently designated as Country Manager for Oman Air in China when the airline commenced services into Guangzhou from Muscat. He is currently General Manager of ABDA Aviation Co. Ltd in Thailand, one of the few pioneer air cargo companies in Malaysia that have made it to the global scene. In Thailand, ABDA manages the airfreight division of a string of international airlines where Kavin will be leveraging on his airline experience to develop business opportunities in the airfreight business and at the same time crafting new airline partnerships within the region. Throughout his career, he has acquired considerable knowledge of the travel & tourism industry, working in different countries and dealing with different nationalities and different cultures. He believes that the travel industry is consistently evolving and that's what spurred him to move out to enable him to move up in his career progression.
MS. ESTEE NG SAW TIN
Country Manager, Air France – KLM (Malaysia & Brunei)
Adjunct Senior Lecturer
A hands-on versatile Manager with a proven track record in driving positive sales focus and team unity. Ms Estee Ng works as Country Manager at Air France-KLM, Malaysia & Brunei She manages the local Malaysia Sales Establishment, Responsible for the management in the performance of the offline market of Brunei including the General Sales Agent and appointed travel agencies. Ms Estee has worked as Commercial Manager at Air France-KLM, Malaysia & Brunei as well as Sales Manager at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Malaysia.
MR. KENNETH FONG LOONG WEI
Sales Director, Messe Worldwide Sdn Bhd
Adjunct Lecturer
Mr Kenneth Fong joined the Business Events industry in 2003 and he is currently the Sales Director for Messe Worldwide Sdn Bhd and the Vice President, Exhibitions in MACEOS. During his time at the company, he was responsible for the growth of Malaysian participants in various international exhibitions around the world, most notably Ambiente, Paperworld, Intersec and Automechanika. In Malaysia, he was responsible for organizing/managing Hairlah, MySkills Exhibition, MTC Global Woodmart, and Automechanika Kuala Lumpur since 2007. He is now focusing on activities related to Messe Frankfurt and Hamburg Messe within the company. During his tenure with MACEOS since 2014, he and his team introduced and developed the Exhibition Management Program (EMP), Certified Congress Program (CCP), Future Leaders Day (FLD), establishing networks with the higher learning institutes to develop a sustainable talent development program and was the chair for BE Forum 2019.
MR. MERVIN WONG
Event Specialist
Adjunct Lecturer
Mr. Mervin Wong prides himself as a complete event professional. He has worked on some of the biggest music festivals and concerts around Asia. From Clockenflap in Hong Kong to Good Vibes Festival in Genting Highlands; his shows featured global artists such as Guns & Roses, Khalid, G-Dragon and David Guetta. Conservatively, more than 500,000 ticketed attendees passed through his doors. When he has his technical director hat on, he oversees the design and build of the festival stages, weaving together audio-visual elements with lasers and pyrotechnics to create live entertainment magic. When he is managing festival operations, his responsibilities include scheduling, space planning, safety and security, power and utilities distribution, waste management and environmental efforts. He has also cut his teeth in agency work, having worked his way up from Event Executive to Account Director. He has handled product launches and marketing events for automobile, telco, mobile phones, tobacco, fashion, luxury goods and electronic brands. Mr. Mervin Wong graduated as a Mechanical Engineer and had a few years under his belt in engineering project management. He hopes to impart his knowledge on events, as events gets bigger and more sophisticated, with the university students and hopes to inspire the next generation of event professionals.
EMERITUS PROFESSOR DR. JAFAR JAFARI
Emeritus Professor, University of Wisconsin-Stout (USA)
Visiting Professor
Emeritus Professor Dr Jafar Jafari is Founding Editor, Annals of Tourism Research; Chief Editor, Tourism Social Science Series; Co-editor, Bridging Tourism Theory and Practice; Co-editor, Encyclopedia of Tourism; Co-Founding Editor, Information Technology & Tourism; Co-Founder, TRINET; Founding President, International Academy for the Stuly of Tourism; and Founding President, Tourism Intelligence Forum. A cultural anthropologist (PhD, University of Minnesota, USA), with BA (English, University of Isfahan, Iran) and BS and MS (hotel and tourism management, Cornell University, USA), he is the recipient of the 2005 UNWTO Ulysses Prize and of Honorary Doctorate (Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain), Visiting Professor of the latter institution, as well as Sun Yat-sen University (China), Universitat do Algarve (Portugal), University of Isfahan (Iran), Lifetime Honorary Professorship of Bundelkhand University (India), and professor emeritus of University of Wisconsin-Stout (USA).
PROFESSOR (DR.) PARIKSHAT SINGH MANHAS
Professor, University of Jammu
Visiting Professor
Prof. (Dr.) Parikshat Singh Manhas is Professor, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management & Professor, The Business School, University of Jammu. He is also the Coordinator, Global Understanding Course at University of Jammu being run in collaboration with East Carolina University, USA; Coordinator, UGC - Innovative Programme; Promoter Director, University of Jammu Special Purpose Vehicle Foundation - A Section 8 Company, Director, Business Incubation and Innovation Centre, University of Jammu; President, Institution Innovation Council, University of Jammu - A Innovation Cell, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India Initiative. Prof. Parikshat was the Director, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management from 1st August 2013 to 11th February 2020. On the other hand, he is also Regional Director, Asia and Eastern Europe for CED – World Centre of Excellence for Destinations (UNWTO – Affiliate Member); President, Commerce Management Association of India (CMAI) and Advisor, Total Synergy Consulting Private Limited (TSCPL); Fellow of the Australia India Institute, New Delhi. He was also Member of the Tourism Advisory Board of the State of Jammu & Kashmir which was headed by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of State of Jammu & Kashmir. Prof. Parikshat has been awarded Major Project’s as the Project leader under the UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) Thematic Partnerships Scheme during the year 2015 and 2017. He was a Commonwealth Fellow for the year 2014, Hungarian Faculty Research Fellow in 2013 under the Indo Hungarian Educational Exchange Program for the year 2012-13, Shastri Indo-Canadian fellow in 2009 and won Career Award for Best Young Teacher (CAYT) awarded by All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE) – Government of India, 2009. He has been awarded Major Research Projects by University Grants Commission (UGC) and Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India; Member Advisory Council, Centre for Research and Innovation (CRiT), Taylors University, Malaysia (2016 -2018). Dr Parikshat is a board member of the Asia Pacific Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (APacCHRIE) and also a member - Research Committee and Education Committee of International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE). He has been a member of Board of Studies of Various Universities around the world. He has authored 10 books and more than 100 research papers which have been published in Journals, Edited Books, and in the Conference Proceedings.
PROFESSOR SRIDAR RAMACHANDRAN
Head of Laboratory, Institute of Agricultural and Food Policy Studies
Visiting Professor
Professor Sridar Ramachandran is a professor specialising in sustainability with an emphasis in the areas of responsible tourism and marketing with Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Faculty of Economics and Management. He is currently Head of Laboratory at the Institute of Agricultural and Food Policy Studies. Prior to joining Universiti Putra Malaysia in 1999, he has gained valuable leadership experience in non-profit and corporate organisations. In his consulting career, he specialised in marketing research, sustainable tourism planning, learning and development and strategic management. Professor Sridar is a certified arborist and a professional member of the International Society of Arboriculture. He also holds a professional certification as an Action Learning coach conferred by the World Institute of Action Learning. As a learning and development consultant Sridar is certified locally by the Human Resources Ministry along with his professional certification as a personality trait assessor conferred by the Aston Business Assessment. Professor Sridar Ramachandran’s research contributions include publications of articles in cited and indexed international journals as well as international conferences. Leadership in sustainability, Tourism marketing, collaborative management in responsible tourism, corporate social responsibility in tourism and research philosophy are his areas of research interest, publication, and supervision. He has secured research grants from UPM as well as other government agencies and has participated and won awards in research exhibitions. Professor Sridar has vast experience supervising and teaching in the areas of tourism, hospitality, recreation, marketing, and management both at undergraduate and post-graduate levels.
PROFESSOR DR. JOHAN RICHARD EDELHEIM
Professor, University of Hokkaido, Sapporo (Japan)
Visiting Professor
Originally from Finland, Professor Dr. Johan R. Edelheim worked in the hotel industry in the Northern Hemisphere for ten years before taking up a career in education in the late 1990s. He is currently a Professor in the University of Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan. Professor Johan has postgraduate qualifications from the fields of business administration, education, philosophy, tourism management and cultural studies, and has lectured in VET, Polytechnic and higher education institutions in Finland, Malaysia, Norway, China, Thailand, Japan, Singapore and Australia. Professor Johan’s research interests are divided between critical investigations of tourism enlightened by philosophy and cultural studies methodologies on the one hand, and practical tourism and hospitality education issues on the other. He has published and presented his work extensively at international conferences, as well as in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and in the popular media. Johan is also a frequently invited speaker at academic and non-academic conferences and seminars on topics related to tourism, hospitality, and education. Professor Johan is an expert member of UNWTO's international board compiling the global tourism barometer. He is also on the editorial board of Journal of Vacation Marketing, Academica Turistica, Matkailututkimus (The Finnish Journal of Tourism Research), and the Tourism & Heritage Journal. Johan peer reviews frequently also for Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, Annals of Leisure Research, Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, and Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education, amongst other. His extensive experience on research, publications and grant applications would enable knowledge exchange and guidance for young researchers.
PROFESSOR DR. MARCO VALERI
Senior Lecturer, Niccolò Cusano University, Rome (Italy)
Visiting Professor
Professor Dr. Marco Valeri is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Organizational Behavior (Master Degree and Doctoral Course), Faculty of Economics, Niccolò Cusano University, Rome (Italy). He’s teaching and consultancy areas include strategic management, leadership development, hotel/lodging management, cross-cultural management, international hospitality management. His research areas include competitive advantage, sustainability and green practices, strategy implementation, knowledge management, hotel/lodging management, crisis management, destination marketing, information technology and developing countries, network analysis. He has chaired/co-chaired and served on numerous PhD dissertation and master thesis committees. He is also member of several editorial board of international tourism journals, reviewer and co-editor of several handbooks on entrepreneurship, tourism and hospitality management (Emerald Publishing). Professor Marco Valeri has established himself as a reference point in Tourism and Hospitality Management amongst peers and colleagues within Europe as well as the international front. From a research angle this is evident through the work that he has produced through collaborative publications.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR. FREDERIC A.L BOUCHON
Director of Education Quality, Institut Paul Bocuse (France)
Visiting Associate Professor
Assoc Prof Dr Frederic Bouchon joined Institut Paul Bocuse (IPB), France in 2018. He is the director of education quality and oversees the quality assurance, academic standards, affiliation and accreditation of the institution at national and international levels. Before that, Dr Frederic worked for more than 15 years in higher education management in Asia and developed intercultural management expertise. He was a founding member of the ASEAN Tourism Research Association (ATRA), a network committed to the development of Tourism research in the region. His research focuses on issues of sustainable destination management and the future of tourism. The convergence of technological changes, Governance and Stakeholders Management, and accelerated disruptions feed the need for research-oriented on Smart Sustainability for Destinations. Dr Frederic has been involved in several consultancy projects in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe.