Michelle Lim has over ten years of managerial experience working in MNC, SME as well as governmental environments. She was a project manager with Citibank where she managed high customer-impact projects in a highly complex cross-functional and multicultural environment. She also worked as a vendor where she managed established client accounts such as SingTel, DBS, NEC, Sony and Zone Telecom.

In the government sector, she used to be in the Ministry of Manpower, where she was one of the pioneer managers of strategic manpower planning and was involved in setting up the relationship platforms and processes of the department in relation to other statutory boards and ministries.

Michelle Lim was also a lecturer in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, where she conducted workshops in communications and lifeskills. She was also manager and coach of the Talent Development Program, where she coached top scholars in interview and resume writing skills, motivation and leadership. Under her management and coaching, the program has produced PSC scholars, Lee Kong Chian scholars, NUS & SMU scholars.

Michelle Lim specialises in conducting training programs in communications skills, professional and personal image, business etiquette and interview skills. Her training focuses on the human transformation through experiential learning, coaching and facilitation. She is also trained as an image consultant by London Image Institute and Imageworks Asia, accredited by AICI (Association of Image Consultants International) based in United States and has impacted on corporate executives from Accenture, Singapore Tourism Board, Standard Chartered etc.

Elaine is a qualified image consultant specializing in personal and corporate image management courses, like personal grooming, corporate grooming, dress sense, deportment, social, business and dining etiquette.

Having worked in both government agency and private sector, she garnished extensive working experiences in marketing communications, public relations, event management and business development.  It also gave her valuable insights into various business cultures and settings, complementing her consultation in helping corporations build their corporate image by advising corporate professionals on their appearances and mannerisms.

Elaine is highly recognised in the image consultancy arena and was invited to be a guest judge on MediaCorp Channel U’s Wardrobe SOS shows, Channel 8’s “She is the one” show and a guest speaker with Asian Business Forum, Thailand.  She was also a speaker for "Look Good, Feel Great, Talk Well" seminar organized by MediaCorp's Singapore Media Academy.  She was also interviewed in "Her Sense", a Channel 8's variety show.  Chosen by Singapore Tourism Board to be the personal shopper for overseas media delegates during the "Uniquely Sg weekend" media hosting, she brought the group through a colour analysis session, followed by a shopping trip to one of the shopping malls in Singapore.  She was also invited to be the deportment trainer and judge for NUS Science Faculty Pageant 2007.  For Miss Singapore Universe 2008 pageant, she was appointed as the official grooming stylist, deportment trainer for the contestants and the choreographer for the catwalk segments.  With her experience in the pageantry circle, she was crowned Ms Singapore International World 2008.

She was also featured in Elle magazine for her entrepreneurial spirit, Newman magazine, Female magazine, Mypaper, GeThat magazine and interviewed by Simply Her magazine, GeThat magazine and Mediacorp 93.3FM and 95.8FM for her expertise in image consultancy.  She has conducted a large scale seminar for the readers of Mypaper, a Chinese tabloid by SPH and contributed to articles in Straits Times Recruit sections.  U weekly magazine also approached her to do a series of makeovers for their readers, coming up with three different looks for each issue.  Being named as a 'Stylemeister' by Her World magazine March 2007 proves her credentials and experience in image consultancy.

Armed with a 2nd upper honours degree from National University of Singapore, she continued to pursue her studies and while working, she obtained three beauty diplomas with Confederation of International Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology (CIBTAC), Independent Professional Therapists International (IPTI) and Cosmoprof. In 2003, she went on to obtain an Advanced Certificate in Marketing with Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).  This mix of education complemented her good understanding of human behaviour and expectations with sound knowledge and experience in image consultation.

Even before graduation, Elaine was modelling with one of Singapore's top modelling agency, Diva Models Singapore. She appeared in numerous magazines and newspaper ads for clients like HSBC, Singtel, Cold Storage, CHIJMES and Funan IT Mall.

Lakhvinder Kaur has been in the field of training and development for the past 15 years and is an enthusiastic and creative educator, speaker and training consultant .

Her areas of focus in training include: Coaching, EQ in the workplace, Networking, Leadership, Problem Solving and Decision Making, Creative thinking Skills (including mind mapping), Innovation, Conflict Management, Stress and Time Management.

Her background and experience in psychology, and accelerated learning equips her with a broad wealth and depth of skills. Her work encompasses interpersonal skills as well as workplace related issues such as dealing with change, conflict, stress, teambuilding and creative thinking. Her commitment to her own personal and professional development has led her to train intensively in a number of psychology, people management, and communications technologies, including a certification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Lakh also develops training and workshops to suit individual organisation’s requirements. She is also an associate trainer with 6seconds on Emotional Intelligence.
Lakh’s main aim is to facilitate the development of people’s confidence and assist them with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today’s dynamic environments, both professionally and personally to enjoy an  ever expanding and enriching life.

Lakh contributes to community development through her volunteer work with a variety of organizations. At Family Life Center, she counsels adults in crisis and also conducts courses on emotional intelligence for the family. She has also coached and mentored youths from theSikh Sewak Group and has conducted various training workshops with them.

In the USA and Malaysia, she has conducted life - skill programmes for young people. In Nigeria, she worked hand-in-hand with numerous social organizations and establishments to help teenaged mothers and adults in crisis including children from the streets. She is an active volunteer with United Sikhs, UK, helping in Tsunami stricken areas and the South Asia 's earth quake of 2005 in Pakistan. She also regularly counsels teenagers in local schools.

She holds of a Masters Degree in Social Science, Counseling, Her work has benefited not only people in Singapore, but also those in Malaysia, USA, India and Nigeria.

Kenneth Leow's career spans over 2 decades. The first half of his career is in a corporate world focused on ensuring the successful development and implementation of Direct Sales, Partner and HR strategies for success. He has worked with many major corporations, the last being the Vice President of a US based, global HR software giant called Peoplesoft. The experiences he gained in consulting across Asia gives him the insight and understanding of what makes large internationally focused organisations successful in this region.

After leaving the corporate world, Kenneth is the co-owner of a global networked Human Capital Consulting firm that focuses on high level executive search, talent assessment and channels consulting. It is this unique blend of sales, channels, marketing, HR and finance background that Kenneth used to evolve the current sales & HR development framework. Kenneth has been a Sales Coach and a Public speaker on topics like Sales & Marketing, HR Strategy, Talent management and Channels management concepts. He is also certified in various profiling tools and has conducted Talent Assessment programs for various MNCs across the region. He has also placed hundreds of senior executives in various roles across the region and has pioneered new concepts and written books on models for motivation such as the 4Q model. He is the preferred recruiter for various blue chip clients such as SAP, BEA and General Motors. In 2006 he was the only Asian consultant chosen by Daimler to go to Stuttgart to learn about their latest HR and management development tools.

With a career that spans over 25 years, Corina is a dynamic corporate professional who specialised in building and leading integrated sales & marketing, business development and operational management in IT (hardware & software), Telco and Financial Services industries. Positions that Corina held in various multinational companies include consultant for Cisco Systems, head of the Asia Pacific marcoms team in Lenovo, Director of Business Development in Sigma Delphi and regional marketing management roles in Agilent and Racal Data Group.

In her regional roles with these companies, Corina travelled extensively to United States and Asia Pacific countries, including China, India, Korea and Japan, often spending weeks and sometimes months in these countries. She is adept working with different geographical market landscape across their cultural and language differences. A clear affirmation of her in-depth understanding of these culturally diversified markets is her ingenuity to continuously develop and direct successful sales and marketing strategies in these countries, resulting in significant increased in company’s revenues, branding and market awareness.

Corina’s key strengths lie in her top-notched communications and negotiation skills. Together with her astute interpersonal perceptions and strong understanding of the Asia Pacific markets and industry players, Corina has negotiated distributorships and channels partnership with multi-billion corporations. She has also negotiated, signed and sealed multi-million business alliances with top financial institutions in China and India. These attributes are instrumental to her outstanding track records in forging strategic business alliances and partnerships in Asia Pacific.

Fuelled by dedication and earnest desire to share and impart her years of corporate experience, Corina is a consummate leader with effective management skills in motivating and inspiring people to discover their potential and achieve their optimum performance, be it in their working environment or personal lives. Her charming and vivacious ways make her an interesting speaker. Her passion to transfer her skills paired with unadulterated sincerity makes her a well sought after mentor and coach.

Corina is fluent in spoken and written English and Chinese and various Chinese dialects.

Ian Berry is an international business speaker with unique expertise in why doing good is great for business.

The author of three books and a contributing author to three more, Ian holds the CSP (Certified Professional Speaker) designation, the highest level available to professional speakers internationally. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

Ian speaks about

The significance of a simple yet profound strategy - why strategic planning is an oxy-moron, what has replaced it, and how to guarantee strategy gets executed.

What real leaders do and fake ones don’t - why self leadership and management pre-cede successful leading and managing for others, how to lead and manage both self and for others at the same time.

No more people problems - why appraisals don’t work and what to do instead, how to performance lead and manage on the go, how to create simple systems that fully support people in performing at their best on a consistent basis.

Tomorrow today, the future for business - why corporate social responsibility is not a fad or just philanthropy, and how to achieve profitable sustainability.

The remarkable rewards of resilience - drawing on his experience of recovering from life threatening illness, Ian explores the least most talked about talent of the modern leadermanager, resilience, and how to be resilient in all facets of life.

Ian Berry’s career as a strategic advisor and professional speaker began in 1990 and fol-lowed a highly successful career in financial services. His unique presentation packages and strategic advice challenge the mind, stir the heart, and inspire you to feel, think, be, and do like you never have before. Ian is regarded by many as Australia most engaging and inspiring business speaker.

Ian has been a practicing leadermanager™ for 35 years. He is currently the Non Execu-tive Chairman of Townsend Building Services, a company that has experienced 570% growth in the past 5 years.

Ian has held several board positions in the past including President and Chairman of The National Speakers Association of Australia Ltd, and Non Executive Chairman of Horwath Brisbane.

A sampling of what clients say

“We spoke about your presentation afterwards and the overwhelming view is that it was the best presentation, in terms of style and content, that we have ever had for our group.”
Craig Walden, CEO, Australian Public Service Benevolent Society Ltd and Member The CEO Institute

“Ian Berry is a First Class speaker. I would highly recommend him. He speaks about ap-praisals, job descriptions and how to dispense with them, and other things that really moti-vate people.”
Brian Churnett, Founder and Chairman, Academy for Chief Executives, United Kingdom

“We have had some great presentations at our breakfasts, and your presentation was one of the very best ever.”
Malcolm White, Managing Director, Communicat

“Ian gave an excellent talk to MD2MD - a group of challenging Managing Directors. He challenged them, he gave them food for thought and he gave them useful practical take away tools that they could use the next day. I'd recommend him strongly.”
Bob Bradley, Chairman, MD2MD, United Kingdom

“I first met Ian when he was a keynote speaker at an Institute of Directors meeting in UK. His delivery on the subject matter he presented on was passionate, sincere and his wis-dom quite simply compelling. It was clear to me from first hearing him speak, that Ian is indeed a unique and influential individual, who has a great gift for sharing experiences and stopping people in their tracks and encouraging them to ask questions that affect all of us in our daily lives, but often we are too busy at work for example to either care or notice what is going on around us. Life afterall , is not a dress rehersal. Since then I have been able to actively benefit from Ian's guidance and advice, which have helped my focus and leadership skills from both a personal and business level and I trust in consequence be-come better balanced in how I strive to conduct myself and contribute more to what I perceive to be my social responsibilities. I count Ian as a good mentor and value his input, support and guidance.”
Michael Hoddy, IBM Alliance Director EMEA-LAM, Schneider Electric, Europe

“Ian is a great motivator and inspirational leadermanager. His business experience is inva-luable during his seminars and workshops. I would most definitely recommend Ian as a learning asset to any organisation.”
Paul Cowell, Regional Business Manager Asia, DyStar

“I met Ian during an event organized by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce earlier this year. We were both speaking at the event. I was blown away at how articulate and forceful Ian's 20 minute talk was. Ian's dynamic speaking style held my attention for the entire time, and I thoroughly enjoyed his speech. Ian is a wonderful and thoughtful speaker.”
Jonathon Wong, Technology Evangelist and Social Media Advocate, Microsoft Singapore

“At the 2006 Convention of the German Speakers Association Ian Berry contributed a fan-tastic closing keynote "The Responsibility of Speaking Professionally" and fascinated the audience in many ways: With great content and experience, with excellent presentation skills, with tremendous motivation and outstanding skills keeping the audience's attention at the highest level. It was awesome!!! ”
Sigi Haider, President, German Speakers Association

"I wanted to write to say thank you again, for such an inspiring lecture you gave to the TEC 19 group, up in the Blue Mountains over a week ago. You have had a significant impact on my thinking for the future and life in general. I know I will have contact with you again."
Jacqueline Doon, Managing Director, Ormco Pty Ltd, Australia

"The best speaker I have experienced via The CEO Institute."
Tony McManus, Allpoints Real Estate, Geelong, Australia

Rainer, a German and Liechtenstein national, has acquired more than 20 years experience in senior management positions throughout the world. After completing his MBA in Mannheim University/Germany and a scholarship from York University/Canada, Rainer’s first work experience was as a financial analyst in a telecommunications organization in San Diego.

For the next 8 years Rainer had varied experiences working for a mid-size manufacturing company close to Paris, France. This job provided him with the opportunity to work with top management. He also gained valuable exposure in Europe and Asia as export manager, internal auditor for ISO 9001 and director of quality & production. Rainer’s last work experience was with CATERPILLAR Logistics which he commenced in Brussels, Belgium. He was posted to KL and Singapore as a result of his knowledge of Asia and its culture.

During the 12 years with Caterpillar Logistics, his roles included embedded certified Black Belt, account manager for the top account for the company, implementation manager, business development manager for APAC, supply chain solution manager APAC and general manager APAC.

Rainer’s corporate experience has given him a wealth of experience in ISO9001, Six Sigma, training, team building, developing of supply chain networks, business development, start-ups, project management, general management as well as strategy development (vision, mission, critical success factors, monitored strategy execution). Rainer has gained extensive management responsibility in 4 continents (California, France, Germany, and Scandinavian countries, Belgium, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, China, South Korea, Dubai, Taiwan and Papa New Guinea).

Rainer’s determination and positive attitude enabled him to complete the 2006 Langkawi Ironman successfully. He has a strong passion to contribute towards the growth and the learning experience of individuals. Rainer’s strong belief in team work and his contagious self-motivation rub off on those that he engages with. As such he is able to garner support from others easily.

Rainer’s specific area of interest is to work with organizations and individuals to help them grow in applying some basic principles learnt during his work- and private life. Keeping in mind that each company and person is different but most of us have similar areas where we can improve (80/20-rule).

Key success factors for any company, career or personal “project” are: understanding of needs, honest situation assessment, prioritization, “80/20”-rule, fact based decisions, communication and monitored plan execution.

Rainer retired from the corporate world at the age of 47. Some of his life guidelines are:

- Where there is a will there is a way
- All decisions are right based on the information and facts
at any given time. It maybe time for another decision.
- Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it (Colin Powell)
- Change starts with yourself
- Think positive as Negative emotions are wasted energy

Alvin Yapp is the Associate Director of Training Edge International and his past experience includes 9 years in a middle management position with Singapore Airlines (SIA). During this period, Alvin was responsible for the smooth operations and high level of airport customer service in North Asia and South East Asia. In total, Alvin managed 23 Stations under his charge. During his term as Regional Station Manager SIA, Alvin spearheaded the company wide initiative concept Transformation of Customer Service (TCS) that focused primarily on staff’s ‘Empowerment’ and ‘Ownership’.

Alvin has also held the position of department head in the training department and has played an active role as a trainer and consultant throughout his tenure in SIA. Some of the programs that Alvin has designed and delivered include Team Building, Delegation and Empowerment, Emotional Intelligence - an Essential Tool to Excellent Customer Service, Recognizing Personal Space, Problem Solving and Decision Making, Ultimate Customer Experience, Speech Articulation, Presentation Skills, Communication and Body Language. Alvin’s creativity and passion for innovation also saw him spearheading a company wide initiative that aimed to motivate and inspire participants to innovate and develop breakthrough ideas.

Alvin has an enthusiastic and highly committed approach to delivering training and his constantly excellent feedback reflects his own passion and commitment.

Alvin has an Honors Degree in Business Administration from the University of Singapore.

Kevin Ryan is an experienced conference speaker, workshop leader and facilitator. He has twenty-five years experience as a corporate trainer and fifteen years experience as a professional speaker.

He speaks at conferences and seminars across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and in the UK specialising in the areas of sales, service, employee engagement, humour in business and communication skills. His clients include some of Australia’s largest organisations, politicians, members of the judiciary, Olympic athletes and elite sports people. 

In this presentation, Kevin will draw on his experience over thirty years in management – so he has experienced tough cycles twice before.  He will look at what is required to assist staff to manage the downturn and to thrive when the recovery starts.

Kevin has worked with international, national and small businesses for the last twenty years on the skills of persuasion and communication skills for leaders and salespeople.  He has worked with CEOs, community leaders, politicians, Olympic athletes and top-line salespeople.  His nine books are used throughout education and business in Australia, Asia, New Zealand and South Africa.

He has also worked with some of the largest recruitment firms based in Australia and for the last five years has specialised in what keeps - engaged and motivated. 

Other relevant projects Kevin has been involved in lately include:

• He was engaged to roll-out Australia’s first successful humour in the workplace programs in the hospitality, gaming and liquor retailing industries with the dual aims of improving employee retention and increasing brand awareness. 
• He has recently been asked to design an employee attraction and retention program for a department in the Australian Government.
• He has just completed a two year program with a large firm to improve the leadership skills of middle management and instil systems and practices that will result in greater performance from the top performers and improved employee engagement across the organisation.
• He spent 10 years on the Board of a large charitable organisation with 350 paid staff and 600 volunteers where his primary responsibility was the engagement of the staff mix.
• He recently designed the management, employee induction and staff training program for a retail chain that resulted in greatly improved employee engagement and improved retention – even in traditionally tough retail markets.

He is a successful author of business and educational books and writes regular columns on communication skills, sales & customer service and humour in business for a number of industry magazines.

Kevin is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) which is the highest possible level in professional speaking and the only one recognised internationally.  He is the current National President of the National Speakers Association of Australia.  The fact that all of his business is referral is testament to how well he ‘walks his talk’ of exceeding clients’ expectations.

Carina Tien has over 20 years of corporate experiences in various multinational companies. Her experience and exposure include customer relations, human resources, training & development, sales administration, secretarial, advertising and business development.

In her previous appointment as the Membership Manager of a US renowned financial association, Carina travelled to many parts of Asia to expand her membership base. Some of her clients include Agricultural Bank of China, AmInvestment Bank Bhd, Axis Bank Ltd, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China CITIC Bank, China Development Financial Holdings, Commercial International Merchant Bank Bhd, Bank of China, Korea Development Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, just to name a few. In addition, she had also worked closely with various financial regulators in Asia such as People’s Bank of China and Reserve Bank of India, organizing financial seminars for the association to these institutions.

Carina has excellent interpersonal and communication skills and is able to establish rapport with participants in her workshops instantly.  Her workshops are highly experiential with games, role-plays and hands-on activities that make the learning for her participants fun and enriching.

Carina takes keen interest in research and development of workshops, keeping in mind various organizational behavior and work habits of participants. Her conviction with regard to potential in every human being to excel beyond his imagination is very strong and forms the basis of her training. The key to success is the belief in themselves. She evokes a positive self-response within individuals, so that they start believing in their own capabilities. It gives her immense pleasure to witness her audience’s paradigm shift during and after the workshops.

Her mission in life is to assist individuals flourish and progress even during extreme stress and adverse circumstances and also be a source of positivity and inspiration for the community and colleagues around them.  She established her own lifestyle consultancy firm, The Voice Room Lifestyle Consultancy in 2003.

Besides training and facilitation, Carina is also an extremely versatile music practitioner with more than 10 years of teaching experience as well as more than 20 years of immense knowledge on the art of singing and performing and has been a regular performer for The Esplanade since 2003.  With her experiences and passion in performing arts, she is willing to share her skills and knowledge with her students.  She has students from different nations, such as France, Philippines, Thailand, United Kingdom, China as well as neighborhood country, Malaysia.

Claire Cavanagh has deep experience across the Human Resources field, focusing largely on coaching and training individuals and teams to reach their maximum potential. To date she has trained hundreds of employees on a wide range of soft skills from communication to performance management to effective presentations skills. In addition she regularly gives talks and presentations at HR conferences and network gatherings.

Her love of travel has seen her work across many countries including Ireland, America, Australia, China and Singapore She previously worked in the HR department of MTV Networks at both their global headquarters in New York as well as their Asia headquarters in Singapore. As HR Manager based in Singapore she worked closely with the Global Head of HR to ensure that HQ policies and procedures were tailored to suit the needs of the local business and the Asia market. 

Claire believes that people are at the core of every business and therefore the quality of the people decisions being made on a daily basis will have tremendous impacts on the results of the business. She is passionate about ensuring the people strategies in place support and drives the needs of the business as well as the needs of its people. That’s where coaching and training comes in. She is dedicated to empowering people to become leaders in all aspects of their life and invites you to become a leader in yours.

Claire holds a Masters in Human Resources Management and a Bachelor Degree in Business Studies. She is also a practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) as well as a cert holder in training and public speaking. She is a member with the International Coach Federation (ICF), the largest professional coach network with over 15,000 members in 90 nations.