Guest Speakers

YBhg Tan Sri Dato' Seri (Dr.) Jeffrey Cheah

YBhg Tan Sri Dato' Seri (Dr.) Jeffrey Cheah
Chairman, Sunway Group of Companies
Patron and Keynote Speaker
SME-Entrepreneurship Global Conference 2006

YBhg Tan Sri Dato' Seri Dr. Jeffrey Cheah pursued his tertiary education at the prestigious Footscray Institute of Technology (now known as Victoria University of Technology) in Australia. 

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to education, he was appointed by the Minister of education to the Higher Education Council, a body responsible for formulating higher education policies in Malaysia. Tan Sri Dato' Seri Dr. Jeffrey Cheah' s philosophy of giving back to society had always been one of the reasons that drives him to be successful. His deeds could be seen in transforming Sunway University College into a Trust Fund, his generous contributions to Gunung Hijau primary school in Pusing, Perak; Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Sunway; National Kidney Foundation; Malaysian Liver Foundation; BALKIS; Yayasan Budi Penyayang; Kiwanis; Hospis Malaysia and Scholarships to deserving students, just to name a few. 

He has been conferred eight honorary Doctorates by leading universities worldwide. He was voted the Property Man of the Year (Malaysia) in 1993 and the CEO of the Year (Malaysia) in 1996. 

Professor Naresh K. Malhotra

Professor Naresh K. Malhotra
Regents' Professor 
College of Management
Georgia Institute of Technology. 
United States of America

Professor Naresh K. Malhotra is Regents' Professor (Highest Academic Rank in the University System of Georgia), College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology. He is listed in Marquis Who's Who in America continuously since 51st Edition 1997, and in Who's Who in the World since 2000.In an article by Wheatley and Wilson (1987 AMA Educators' Proceedings), Professor Malhotra was ranked number one in the country based on articles published in the Journal of Marketing Research during 1980-1985. He also holds the all-time record for the maximum number of publications in the Journal of Health Care Marketing. 

He is ranked number one based on publications in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) since its inception through Volume 23, 1995. He is also number one based on publications in JAMS during the ten-year period 1986-1995. In an Editorial by Schlegelmilch (JIM, 11(1), 2003), Malhotra was ranked number one based on publications in the International Marketing Review from 1992 to 2002. 

He was President, Academy of Marketing Science, 1994-1996. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Academy and Fellow, Decision Sciences Institute. His book entitled Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, Fourth Edition, was published by Prentice-Hall, Inc in 2004. This book has been translated into Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Hungarian, and French. He has also published Basic Marketing Research, second edition.

Professor Omprakash K. Gupta

Professor Omprakash K. Gupta
Professor of Management
Prairie View A & M University
United States of America

Professor Omprakash K. Gupta is a professor of management in the College of Business at Prairie View A&M University. He has previously worked at Purdue University, Ball State University, Washington State University, IIM Ahmedabad, CMC Ltd, and Nirma Institute of Management. He earned his B. Sc. and M.Sc. in Mathematics from Gujarat University and Ph. D. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. 

His areas of interest are in operations research, operations management, business strategy, etc. Dr. Gupta has published about fifty research papers in refereed journals such as Management Science, European J. of Operations Research, J. of OR Society, I nt. J. of Operations and Production Management, Asia Pacific Management Review, J. of Business Ethics, etc. He is the founder editor of Int. J. of Operations and Quantitative Management. He is also the founder of AIMS International.

Dato' Dr. Abu Talib Bin Bachik

Dato' Dr. Abu Talib Bin Bachik
Senior Vice President
Technopreneur Development Division
Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC)

Dato' Dr. Abu Talib holds BSc/MSc degrees from the Louisiana State University, USA and a Doctorate in Agriculture Science from University of Gent. Belgium. He was a researcher by training specializing in Agronomy (Soil Chemistry) and has authored about 50 Scientific Research Papers. He was a well-known researcher in the rubber industry. He had held numerous positions in the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia including serving as the Deputy Director General (Development) in the Malaysian Rubber Board, before he joint MSC Malaysia's Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) in 1999 as the Vice President for Corporate Affairs Department. He is currently the Senior Vice President of the Technopreneur Development Division in MDeC. 

Prior to holding office in this capacity, Dato' Dr. Abu Talib was the Senior Vice President of the Marketing and Branding Division, as well as the Client Services Division in MDEC. He was the President of Streetmarkets.com Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary company of MDEC from 2000-2001. While serving as the Vice President of the Client Services Division in 2003, he was also the Vice President in-charge of the Technopreneur Development Flagship, where he initiated the JAVA Technopreneur Development Centre and a programme with MARA, through the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development to promote technopreneurship amongst Bumiputra in the various states. During this period, he also formalized the formation of the National Incubator Network. Dato' Dr. Abu Talib initiated a few collaborative Programmes with other developing countries, such as Myanmar, Lao PDR and Syria, under the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP). He is also involved in other collaborative efforts with Pakistan, Indonesia, Korea, Saudi Arabia and others, with the objective of “opening the markets” for MSC companies. He is the founder member of the MSC - Asia Pacific ICT Awards or MSC-APICTA 1999, which led to the formation of the International APICTA event with currently 14 member countries participating. Over the years in MDEC, Dato' Dr. Abu Talib has been invited to represent MDEC to speak at various Local and International Forums.

Professor Julian Teicher

Professor Julian Teicher
Department of Management
Monash University Australia

Professor Julian Teicher is Head of the Department of Management and the Director of the Graduate School of Business at Monash University. He has degrees in Economics (B.Ec.Hons ; M.Ec.) and law. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Melbourne. 

Prior to entering academia Julian worked in industrial relations gaining extensive experience in the health, maritime, and power industries. Professor Teicher has expertise across a range of areas, primarily in industrial and workplace relations and public sector management. Recent research has been in the areas of e-government, workplace privacy; privatisation and contracting out; skill formation / training; equity and diversity, worker Representation and participation and Australian industrial relations and law. He has been the recipient of two Australian Research Council Discovery grants; one on Privatisation and the other on New Public Management. 

In 2006 he was invited to deliver the prestigious Independence Day Commemoration Lecture in Sri Lanka. Also in 2006, he co-edited / authored the book Workchoices : The New Industrial Relations Agenda, published by Pearson Education Australia. He is frequently invited to provide media commentary on Workplace and IR issues to address business and community organizations.

Mr. Voon Seng Chuan

Mr. Voon Seng Chuan
Managing Director
IBM Malaysia

Voon Seng Chuan has been part of the local IT industry for over two decades. He is currently the Managing Director of IBM Malaysia, having been appointed to the position on 1 January 2000. 

Prior to his present role, he has held several key local and regional positions in IBM. These included Channels Manager and Customer Center Manager for IBM Malaysia (1987-1990), Manager for General Business, IBM Asia Pacific (1991-1992), Country Brand Manager for IBM Malaysia (1993-1994), General Manager for Channels Management, IBM ASEAN/South Asia (1995-1996) and General Manager for Business Partners, IBM Asia Pacific (1996-1999). His last posting prior to returning to helm the operations in Malaysia was Vice President for Business Partners, Sales and Marketing, IBM Asia Pacific (March 1999 - December 1999). 

His exposure to both the local and regional business environments, and his experience in the IT industry have rendered him as a prolific speaker on business-technology related topics. Over the years, he has spoken at several conferences, cutting across various fields including financial services, real estate, government, education, and manufacturing.

Voon holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.