2025 Highlights

Dr HC Aslam Khan

Academic Director & Vice Chairman; Vice President

ERICAN Education Group, Malaysia; National Association of Private Educational Institutions (NAPEI)

Dr HC Aslam Khan obtained his academic and professional qualifications in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. He had been a Senior Lecturer, Master Trainer and Consultant in the English Studies Department and the Head of International and Corporate Department under the purview of the Institute of Teacher Education Malaysia, Ministry of Education Malaysia. In December 2022, he received The Global CSR Excellence and Leadership Awards for Best Education Sector/Community Award.

He has vast experience in planning, implementing, coordinating and managing national and international Teacher Education and Professional Training Programmes. He was a member of the National Steering Committee for Teacher Training Twinning Programmes between Malaysia and the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. He also conducts consultation and advisory work for governmental and corporate organisations and academic institutions, both at national and international level. He was the Vice-Chair and Coordinator of the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) for 15 years, a Government to Government programme for the training of teachers, lecturers and educators from more than ninety countries. He was the Project Manager of the Malaysia Australia Education Project for Afghanistan (MAEPA), a project to train Master Trainers in Teacher Education from Afghanistan under the Malaysian Government in collaboration with Australia and Afghanistan.

He is frequently invited as a featured speaker at various national and international English Language and Education conferences and also as a reviewer for journal articles. He has contributed quite substantially in seminars, conferences, trainings, journal articles reviewing and programmes development in Indonesia for the past 13 years.

He has also served as an Executive Committee and Vice-President of MELTA (Malaysian English Language Teaching Association) for 23 years. He served the Ministry of Education Malaysia for 39 years prior to his retirement. Currently, he is the Academic Director and Executive Vice Chairman of ERICAN Education Group, Malaysia, Vice President of NAPEI (National Association of Private Education Institutions), Malaysia and also the ELE Consultant and Committee Member of Malaysia Association of Education (MAE).


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Azlina Kamal

Education Specialist and Lead

UNICEF

As the UNICEF Education Specialist and Lead in Malaysia, Azlina provides strategic leadership and expert input into all of UNICEF Malaysia’s education programmes.

Incorrigibly optimistic about people’s capacity to collaborate, Azlina is interested in the development of context-driven, equity-focused, child-centred interventions, embedded in inclusive strategies. She brings deep experience in building durable, impact-focused partnerships and innovative programming in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Latin America and the Caribbean. She graduated with distinction from the University of Kent, and the UCL Institute of Education London, specialising in Education Leadership and Management, and was a recipient of the British Chevening Award. 


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Sungsup Ra

Visiting Professor and Former Chief Sector Officer

KDI School of Public Policy and Management (South Korea) and Stanford University (USA); Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Sungsup Ra is a Visiting Professor of Practice at the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management (KDI School). He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University for the 2025 calendar year. He also advises several institutions, including the International Financing Facility for Education, the Education University of Hong Kong, and the International Centre for Industrial Transformation. Additionally, he is an Industry Fellow at the NTU Entrepreneurship Academy, Singapore.  

Before joining KDI School in April 2024, Sungsup Ra was the Deputy Director General and Deputy Group Chief of the Sectors Group at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In this role, he led ADB-wide strategies, knowledge innovation, and sovereign operations across multiple sectors including agriculture, education, energy, health, finance, transport, urban development, and water. He oversaw key ADB initiatives such as climate financing, energy transition, addressing the learning crisis, food security, the rollout of the new operating model, and the management of 29 trust funds. 

With over 35 years of professional experience, including 23 years at ADB, Sungsup held leadership positions such as Chief Sector Officer for Sustainable Development and Climate Change, Director of the South Asia Human and Social Development Division, and Director of the Pacific Operations Division. He also chaired the Education Sector Group, driving strategic education initiatives across Asia and the Pacific.   

As a strategic and innovative leader, he led high level policy dialogue with developing countries and significantly contributed to ADB’s recent expansion in the education sector. He introduced new financing modalities such as results-based lending and multi-tranche facility at first in the education sector. He pushed the boundaries of traditional education projects to support cross sectoral issues such as food crisis, youth unemployment, digital transformation, clean energy, vulnerable urban population, and road safety. During the COVID-19 pandemic period, he led ADB’s emergence response in health, education, and social protection in South Asia. He is actively involved in global initiatives such as the international financing facility for education, pandemic response and preparedness, and energy transition.  

Prior to ADB, Sungsup worked in both the public and private sectors, including roles at Samsung and the Korean National Pension. He has also taught at leading universities such as International Christian University in Tokyo, Korea University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Monica Joshi

Head of IT

Sat Paul Mittal School, India

Monica Joshi works at Sat Paul Mittal School, India as an IT Head and her role is with Al technical and management skills. She has 25 years of relevant work experience. She is associated with teachers training on IT skills and orienting students about the upcoming technology. She is passionate about integrating technology in education and desires to make projects engaging as well as fun for students as well as teachers.

Monica has spoken at platforms like Microsoft Edu Summits, Future Skills Project Finland 2023, #KEOS2019 Finland, EDUtech Asia in Singapore in 2017 -19 and 2022, on the power of Gamification In Education. She is an MIEE [Microsoft Innovative Expert]from the last 10 years, Minecraft Global Mentor, Adobe Creative Educator and Leader, TeachSDGS + Wakelet+3DBear Ambassador.


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Shariah Nelly Francis

Chief Executive Officer

Yayasan PETRONAS

Nelly has been with PETRONAS for over 28 years before taking the lead in 2020 as the CEO of Yayasan PETRONAS (YP), the social impact arm of PETRONAS to deliver positive and sustainable impact on the wellbeing of societies across Malaysia. She drives the Foundation’s overall activities in three key areas of education, community welbeing and development, as well as environment.  

Her key responsibility includes working together with federal and state government authorities as well as organisations in Malaysia’s philanthropic sector to drive lasting impact in underprivileged communities at hard-to-reach places in Malaysia, whilst also serving white spaces to leave no one behind.   

Prior to helming the PETRONAS Foundation, Nelly was the Head of Human Capital Investment, where she was responsible for driving PETRONAS’ Education Sponsorship Programme to create a sustainable pipeline of qualified and well-rounded talents for the company and nation. She also spearheaded the construction project of Maktab Rendah Sains MARA (MRSM) and Asrama Harian Luar Bandar (AHLB) in Sabah and Sarawak to provide the much-needed access to education for children in rural areas. 


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Animesh Priya

Chief of Partnerships

Global School Leaders

Animesh Priya has worked in the education sector for over 15 years. He has been at Global School Leaders (GSL) since 2020, and looks after their external partnership and policy work. His journey in the development sector started when he joined Teach For India as a Fellow in 2011. He led Teach For India's Chennai city operation after his fellowship. He has also worked with organizations operating in tribal areas in his home state, Jharkhand.

Animesh has a Bachelor's in Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology and a Masters in Public Affairs from the O'Neill School at Indiana University, Bloomington. Animesh started his career with Sungard Higher Education. He also spent a year at O'Neill post his Masters, leading relations with governments in low- and middle-income countries.

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Professor Abhi Veerakumarasivam

Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor

Sunway University

Professor Abhi Veerakumarasivam is a University of Cambridge-trained geneticist, educator and science communicator. Before taking on his current role as the Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Sunway University, he was the Dean of the School of Medical and Life Sciences.  

His research in genetics involves the elucidation of components of the regulatory pathways that drive tumour recurrence and invasion as well as dissecting Asian genetic variations that confer differences in disease- risk and response to therapy. In recognition of his achievements, he has been awarded multiple awards including the National Cancer Council Malaysia Cancer Research Award, the Study UK Alumni Award (Science and Sustainability), and the Merdeka Award Grant as well as listed in the Gen.T Leaders of Tomorrow List. He is the first Asian to be crowned as the Best Science Communicator at the International FameLab Finals at the Cheltenham Science Festival, UK. 

He was the inaugural Chair of the International Network for Government Science Advice Asia that supports the use of scientific evidence in informing policy at all levels of government. As Chair of the Young Scientists Network-Academy of Sciences Malaysia and Co-Chair of the ASEAN Young Scientists Network, he championed various national and regional initiatives to support mid- and early career researchers to drive academic excellence and contribute towards nation-building through STEM promotion and advocacy. He sits on various national and regional science and educational policy committees and has co-authored various policy papers and reports, including the Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint 2025-2035. He co-initiated and led Malaysia’s first nationwide programme on Responsible Conduct of Research to create awareness and educate the Malaysian scientific community on the importance of research integrity and currently is a member of the National Committee on Research Integrity. 

As Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Sunway University, Abhi leads the largest UK-Malaysia transnational education partnership alongside the newly established collaboration with Arizona State University - nurturing thousands of next-generation leaders equipped with knowledge, skills, values, and a global mindset to foster a more harmonious, equitable, and sustainable future. Abhi truly believes that the greatest challenges facing us in the 21st century can only be addressed through interdisciplinary approaches that promote humanity-centric research impact and communication, holistic education programmes that inculcate ethical values and an entrepreneurial mindset, and policies that support the translation of scientific discoveries and sustainability-driven technologies to improve the health of the planet and promote social justice. 


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