ICDL Asia Digital Literacy Day 2023

Mr Sim joined SNEF on 1 June 2020 as the Executive Director. He spent 23 years with the Republic of Singapore Navy, where he held various staff and operational appointments, and retired from the Singapore Armed Forces as Chief of Staff – Naval Staff, at the rank of Rear Admiral, in June 2006. He joined the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) in August 2006 as Senior Director (Information and Corporate Management) and was appointed MICA’s Deputy Secretary (Information and Corporate Management) in February 2007, and subsequently, Deputy Secretary (Industry and Information) at the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) from 1 Nov 2012. He took on the role of Chief Executive Officer, National Council of Social Service from 1 Nov 2013 to 31 May 2020. 

Mr Sim holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Oxford, and a Master of Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through its Sloan Fellows Programme and attended the Executive MBA Programme at INSEAD. He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) (Military) in 2006 and the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2014. He was conferred the Public Service Star (Covid-19) Award in 2023.

Sarah McGrath is a career diplomat with over 20 years’ experience in the Irish foreign service currently serving as Ireland’s Ambassador to Singapore. She presented her credentials to President Halimah Yacob on 30 August 2022. Ambassador McGrath is also responsible for Ireland’s relations with Brunei Darussalam. 

Immediately prior to her appointment as Ambassador of Ireland to Singapore, she served as Director for UN and International Financial Institutions in the Development Cooperation and Africa Division of the Department’s headquarters in Dublin. A significant portion of Ambassador McGrath’s career has been spent working on the Northern Ireland peace process, most recently as Political and Reconciliation Director from 2015- 2018. 

She has served overseas at the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations in New York and the Embassy of Ireland to Germany in Berlin and has been the Director of the Department’s Strategy and Performance Unit. 

Ambassador McGrath is from County Clare in the mid-west of Ireland and graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law from University College Cork in 2001. She is an alumnus of the US State Department International Visitor Leadership Programme (2019) and has a strong interest in peacebuilding, gender equality, economic development and the role of small states in shaping the multilateral system.

Mr. Robert Parua is currently the Education Specialist in the UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for East Asia that covers China, South Korea, Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK), Mongolia and Japan. He is based in China since 2016. He is responsible for leading the Education Programme in terms of policy advice and dialogue, enhance capacity development, provision of technical assistance and support in the 5 countries. He provides guidance on SDG4 localization and implementation at country level. Prior to Beijing, Mr. Parua has 29 years’ experience with UNESCO working in the education programme sector at Headquarters in Paris and in the various UNESCO Field Offices in Apia, Samoa (Pacific), Amman, Jordan (Middle East) and Jamaica (Caribbean). Mr. Parua has extensive experience in the design and advice in education policy, planning and strategy, capacity development of the education sector, including TVET and Skills Development, ICT in Education, teacher education, higher education and supported the UNEVOC centres in many regions. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Development Planning.

Professor Wei Kwok Kee is Provost at Singapore Institute of Management (SIM). As Provost, he is responsible for enhancing the intellectual climate, strengthening instruction and curriculum, fostering curricular innovation, recruiting and mentoring faculty at SIM. 

Prior to his current appointment, Prof Wei was the Founding Dean (2016 – 2020) of the School of Continuing and Lifelong Education (SCALE) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He was Dean of the College of Business (2007 – 2012) and Head of the Department of Information Systems (2002 – 2007) at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). He was the Founding Head of the Department of Information Systems (1998 – 2002) at NUS. 

During his tenure as Business School Dean in CityU, its international UTD business school research ranking improved by almost 30 places, from 98 to 63; its success with the Hong Kong Government’s research grant awards doubled; SSCI/SCI publications have increased by 25%; and undergraduate admissions scores have climbed by 5%. 

As Head of two major IS Departments in Asia (NUS and CityU), Prof Wei has developed a strong research culture and initiated major research efforts that resulted in both Departments being placed among the top 15 IS departments worldwide. He has also introduced major curriculum reforms that aligned the degree programmes in both Departments to AIS guidelines, thereby raising the international value of these programmes. 

Professor Wei is a Fellow of the Association of Information Systems (AIS) and was President of that Association in 2003/4. He was awarded the AIS LEO Award for Lifetime Exceptional Achievement in Information Systems in 2015. 

Professor Wei has served as Senior Editor of MIS Quarterly and Associate Editor of Information Systems Research. He has also played major roles in ICIS and PACIS. As an excellent educator, his doctoral students have attained placements in good universities worldwide. Prof Wei has published more than 250 journal and conference papers. He has been listed as the Stanford’s top 2% most highly cited scientists 2022 and ranked top 373 world Business and Management scientists by the 1st edition of Research.com. Based on Google Scholar, his works cited over 26,473 times and his h-index is 61 (as at 14 February 2023). 

Mr. Damien O’Sullivan joined ICDL Foundation as Chief Executive Officer in June 2006.  With a background in education and training, he has been involved with ICDL since its launch in Ireland in 1997, working on a range of projects to develop and deliver ICDL training and certification to the public and private sector. Prior to joining ICDL Foundation he was a teacher and school principal. 
 
ICDL Foundation is an international organisation dedicated to raising digital competence standards in the workforce, education and society. Our certification programmes, delivered through an active network in more than 100 countries, enable individuals and organisations to assess, build and certify their competence in the use of computers and digital tools to the globally recognised ICDL standard.  

Mr. Lai Fook Ming, currently the Director of the Centre for Micro-Credentials at Singapore Institute of Management, leads the programme development, strategic planning, and fostering collaborations to drive innovation in micro-credential education. He strives to provide learners with flexible, market-driven credentials that enhance their employability and
professional growth.

Prior to his role as Director, Fook Ming held the position of Assistant Dean at SIM Global Education, where he led the Curriculum and Learning Development team. He initiated the SIM Student Learning Centre, where he conducts workshops on peer leadership, metacognition, and learning strategies. He is certified to teach English as a Second Language having obtained the Cambridge CELTA certification. Furthermore, Fook Ming is recognized as a Specialist Adult Educator by the Institute of Adult Learning in Singapore, further enhancing his ability to support diverse learners. With over two decades of experience in the education and training sectors, Fook Ming brings a wealth of expertise and insight to his
current position.

Ms. Jullada Meejul has worked at Thailand Professional Qualification Institute (TPQI, Public Organization) since 2013 and she is now Acting Director General. She has played an important role in establishing Professional Qualification System by strengthening collaboration with domestic and international partners, promoting recognition of skills for lifelong learning and inclusive development, supporting competency-based training and contributing to the development of the regional and National Qualifications Frameworks, and adapting best practices from abroad to best fit Thai context so as to continuously improve the professional qualification system.

A few examples of her work include promoting collaboration with international partners to promote digital skills and digital literacy for students, workforce, and government officers, establishing Industry Competency Board (Sector Skills Council) for Digital and ICT sector, as well as developing a big data platform with endorsed training courses, competency credit bank, and job matching features as a digital tool to promote lifelong learning and access to training and job opportunities.
 

Ms. Lorena Ilagan has practiced engineering as professional electronics engineer for more than 20 years specializing in the field of communications engineering, machine learning, engineering education and project management.

She finished her BS in Electronics and Communications Engineering at Mapua Institute of Technology and MS in Electronics Engineering at De La Salle University Manila. She is a candidate for graduation also at De La Salle University Manila taking PhD in Electronics Engineering and currently taking a Post Doctoral Degree on Electrical Engineering at Universiti Technologi Mara in Malaysia specializing in Satellite Engineering.

She is an active advocate of Internet of Things and won Best Paper and Best Presenter awards for the said field at the PSECE ANTS of SEIPI or the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines in 2018 where she is also an active member. She was also granted as Project Leader a P3.2M funding from PCIEERD through the CRADLE Program in 2019 and P4.9 funding for Institutional Development Plan for DOST. She was also awarded International Fellow of the European Alliance for Innovation for the International Conferences which she hosted for the Philippines in the field of science and innovation. She is also one of the Board of Advisers of the Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communications. In her profession as an academician, she was awarded the Most Outstanding Dean by the DALTA Group of Companies and now appointed as the Cluster Director for Technology Programs such as College of Engineering, Computer Studies, Maritime Education, School of Aviation and Technology Programs. She runs various projects for the University like the ALTA I-Hub Project Director and Program Integrator of Digitech Program.

Professor Dr Firdaus Abdullah currently serves as the Dean for the Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), the largest public university in Malaysia. He obtained his DBA from the University of South Australia, MBA and Postgraduate Diploma from Bournemouth University, United Kingdom, Diplôme des Etudes Techniques Superieures as well as Diplôma en Gestion des Entreprises from Université de Poitiers, France. In his combined 27 years of experience in both the private and public sectors including 22 years serving UiTM as an academic specialising in service quality, customer satisfaction & loyalty, entrepreneurship, strategic planning, socio-economic impact and Islamic business, he has served clients from public listed companies, government ministries, agencies to GLCs. Professor Firdaus has completed 30 consultancy and research projects valued at RM10 million, authored 8 books, written more than 100 refereed journal articles and conference proceedings, delivered 8 keynote speeches and presented at international conferences in 10 different countries while holding key leadership positions. He is also a visiting professor to 2 international universities, and an Honorary Board Member of the European Marketing Association (EUMMAS).

Mr. Alvin Tan is the Director for Business Development and Academic Program for Asia Pacific, Mainstream Engineering, Siemens Digital Industries Software. Part of the Asia Pacific team that support the local Siemens teams to develop and grow Mainstream Engineering software business in the Asia Pacific countries like China, India, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia countries.  

He is also responsible for the development and implementation of Solid Edge (part of Mainstream Engineering) software academic program and educational co-operation in Asia Pacific, working closely with the local academic institutions and educational partners to drive adoption of Solid Edge software in areas like Engineering, Creative Design, STEM education and Digitalisation. 

Ms. Tina Wu is General Manager of ICDL Asia, the wholly owned subsidiary of ICDL Foundation managing ICDL Programme in all the Asia Pacific territories. She has been working with ICDL Asia since 2006, started as Business Development Executive and then Partner Relations Manager and then being promoted to General Manager in 2014. Prior to joining ICDL Asia, Tina has been working with MediaCorp News as a news reporter and INSEAD Business School as a research analyst in the InnovAsia Centre. She graduated from National University of Singapore with Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Honours). She is Singaporean, born in China, and perfectly bilingual with English and Mandarin.