Professionals

David Ahlstrom

David Ahlstrom is that rare individual who is able to regularly transition successfully between the academic and business communities as well as between Asia and the USA. David has the unique distinction of winning outstanding teaching awards from New York University (NYU) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong for courses on both the undergraduate and graduate levels while teaching business courses in either English or Chinese! His marketing strategies have changed the way many advertisements are positioned in Hong Kong.

David is a Professor, Department of Management in the Faculty of Business Administration at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the former Director of the Georgetown Summer Program in China and teaches for Georgetown University during the summer break. Before assuming his position at The Chinese University in 1996, he was an instructor at New York University's Stern School of Business from 1993-1996.

David's professional interests include international management, managing in Greater China, venture capital and entrepreneurship in emerging economies. He has authored over one hundred peer-reviewed papers, about fifty of which have appeared in academic journals or as book chapters. His research has appeared in a number of journals including the Academy of Management Review (AMR), Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Business Venturing, Academy of Management Executive (now Academy of Management Perspectives), Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Business Horizons, and Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice.

David has participated in consulting and training projects with numerous organizations including DBS Bank (Hong Kong), J.P. Morgan (New York), VTech (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank (Hong Kong), Parkway Hospital Group (Singapore), Sakura (Tokyo), the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIMA), India, the Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong Technology Centre (Hong Kong Government), the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, and a number of East Asian, European, and North American universities. David received his PhD from New York University's Stern School of Business and other graduate degrees from New York University and the University of Hawaii in international business. Upon witnessing David teach, Dr. Robert Cialdini, creator of the Principles of Persuasion workshop has said: "David Alhstrom provides the perfect picture of the credible communicator--a combination of knowledge and trustworthiness that audiences respond to fully and deeply."

Edward T. Brown

Edd Brown is the founder of VeritasRISING International and the creator of  Mindful Leadership^® and Mindful Selling^®. He has spent over 20 years consulting with Fortune 500 executives, government officials, academics, and law firm partners to uncover their organizational needs. Edd has advised managers on process creation, change management, and process management. He designed and conducted executive and knowledge worker seminars to help implement new strategies.

Edd started his business career at Mead Data Central where he was a consistent member of the President's Club, the company's top revenue achievers in the world. Prior to business, Edd worked in the social service domain where he learned the skills and the importance of effective persuasion. Edd is experienced in working with diverse groups, identifying common interests, building rapport and finding and/or creating successful solutions. He continues to study and learn in the areas of influence, persuasion, strategic planning, personal branding, team building, leadership development, process creation, process implementation, change navigation, conflict resolution, and general communication.

Edd completed graduate studies at Harvard University where he worked with Dr. Ellen Langer, considered to be one of the world's leading experts on mindfulness. Edd's graduate thesis was on the relationship between mindfulness and leadership. As a mediator for the Massachusetts State Courts, Edd implemented the mindful techniques he learned to help parties solve their legal, business and personal problems.

Edd is currently a Principal Consultant for Emergenetics Asia and a visiting Business Area Practice Professor at the Global Talent Development Center in Shanghai, China. Edd offers a wide perspective as he has worked with customers to address their business challenges in the USA, Asia, Canada, and Europe. Edd is one of twenty people in the world certified by Dr. Robert Cialdini to consult on and deliver the Principles of Persuasion Workshop. This is the only course based on the scientific research outlined in Dr. Cialdini's best selling book: Influence: Science & Practice.

Dr. Robert Cialdini has this to say about Edd, "I know why Edd Brown is a sought-after program leader. His natural intelligence shines through as he delivers course material, and his friendly personal style assures that participants will be receptive to it."

Dana Chan

Dana is the managing director of Global Talent Development Center (GTDC) in Shanghai. The GTDC offers the Principles of Persuasion Workshop as well as other outstanding courses for people interested in high performance.

Dana has 21 years of international management and consulting experience. She has worked in Hong Kong, Connecticut, Jakarta, Singapore, and Shanghai. Her experience in both IT and HR equipped her with understanding and insights of managing across cultures.
Since moving to Shanghai in 2002, Dana led the team to manage change and integrate business processes for three post M&A projects in various parts of China involving 9,000 employees. Dana was named one of China's top 50 CIOs by China National Informatization Evaluation Center (NiEC) for two consecutive years.

In 2006 and 2007, Dana conducted extensive interviews with senior Western and Chinese managers working in Multinational companies on the effectiveness of foreign executives managing in China and Chinese executives going global. She then developed courses of 'Leading and managing in China' and 'Chinese executives going Global' based on the input of these 100 business executives. In 2007, more than 2000 participants, including 350 foreign executives, attended Dana's seminars, presentations, and MBA courses. Dana is adjunct professor in Shanghai Jiaotong University's International MBA, Euromed Marseille Global and Finance MBA, and Shanghai University's Global Local MBA. She is also certified trainer for Motorola University. Subjects covered by Dana include Change Management, People Management Skills, Organizational Behavior, Career Management, and Strategic Management of Information Technology.

Dana is a mentor for career management and personal growth to many MBA students and executives. She is a certified worldwide trainer for DISC, Emergenetics, and Harrison Assessment. She is also certified to explain Caliper and Harvard University's Career Leader assessment service.

Prior to her work in China, Dana was executive director for Corporate IT and HR for a Singapore business group with diversified investment in the Asia Pacific Region. Before that she worked In the USA as an IT consultant for then Andersen Consulting USA and Howard Systems International USA. Dana started her career in Hong Kong as a systems engineer with IBM China/HK Corporation.

Dana received her Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from Jinan University in Guangzhou, China; and MBA degree in International Business (IBEAR) from University of Southern California, USA. She is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Dana currently lives in Shanghai with her family.

Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett has been a business executive and consultant in the online legal research field for over 25 years.
After serving in the Peace Corps in South Korea, Jim earned a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from the State University of New York at Albany. He worked for several years as Law Librarian at the Wall Street law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed before moving to Seattle to open the first sales office in the Northwest for Lexis Nexis (then Mead Data Central).

After 13 years of successive leadership roles at Lexis, Jim moved to the position of Director of Research at a Northwest-focused Investment Banking firms in Seattle. After four years and successfully completing the sale of several signature Northwest companies, Jim moved back to the online legal research realm and spent the next 12 years helping a number of start-up companies get their bearings in that industry.

Along the way (in 1996), Jim established the Mr. Golf etiquette web site (www.mrgolf.com) which to this day is the only web site exclusively devoted to promoting good golf etiquette, both on the course and off.

Joey Dwee

Managing Director, VeritasRISING Asia Pacific

Joey's unusual mix of visionary thinking, attention to detail, and multi-linguistic skills provide VeritasRISING with an ideal Managing Director. Joey aligns those capabilities with expertise in sales management, customer service, team building, as well as neuro-scientific communication profiling and training.

Her major strengths are in inter-personal engagement skills, strategic marketing and planning, conceptualization of ideas from inception to execution.

Her positive, mindful and unconventional approach provides a perspective that draws out the hidden potentials in people and their organizations, while at the same time being practical and precise in translating ideas into organized actions.

Joey has over 19 years of working experience in project management, marketing/public relations and outdoor media sales covering Asia Pacific region.  She has worked for blue chip companies such as IBM and Lotus Consulting. 

She has trained sales teams to specialize in large account management.  She has also successfully built and lead new sales teams to complete the sales management process, including pipeline management, identifying unique value propositions and solutions targeting at different industry verticals.

Joey's entrepreneurial side led her to set-up her own online retail business and a Marketing/PR company which she later sold to a multi-national agency.  

She is fluent in both written and oral English, Chinese in traditional as well as simplified versions for Hong Kong, Taiwan and China markets.  She has a Specialist Diploma in English-Chinese/Chinese-English Translation with Nanjing University.  She is a certified associate of Emergenetics, a brain-based thinking and behavioral profiling tool.

As Managing Director, Joey currently oversees Asian operations.  She enjoys musicals, modern jazz and ballroom dancing as well as baking and ice-cream making.  She is married with three children and lives in Singapore.

George Kong

George's passion is in developing people to their full potential and beyond.  His belief is that everyone has the gifts to excel and that many just need a nudge in the right direction. 

George has a varied and wide working experience gained in UK and Asia for over 25 years.  Starting as an Electronic Design Engineer with IBM, Hursley, England, he is a former Vice-President of ASEAN for APC-MGE (a Schneider Electric Company) where he was responsible for over 300 people covering six country operations.  George also held leadership positions with IBM Singapore, Digital Equipment Corp and was the CEO of Tech Pacific Singapore.   

Coming from an entrepreneur family, George co-founded an IT and Technical Training company that grew to cover 5 country operations in Asia and was one of the biggest Technical Training and Certification centers in South Asia with a staff strength of over 200 people.  George sold this company in 2002.

George focuses on communication, teambuilding and leadership facilitation programs for corporations He also provides executive coaching and Mentorship support for senior executives.  Clients appreciate George's background as an entrepreneur for both large and small companies as well as his corporate CEO experience.

George is a certified Emergenetics Associate and has facilitated programs for many companies including A*STAR, APC-MGE, CISCO, Singapore Polytechnic, AWWA etc.

George is a graduate from Teesside University, England, holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Technology. He currently lives in Singapore with his wife and 3 children. George enjoys playing competitive soccer and is a qualified referee and junior soccer coach.

Terryl A. Moreland

Terryl helps companies concerned with developing smart, persuasive, and sustainable energy related policies and programs. He is the newest member of our consulting team. The results of his influence and persuasion strategies in the energy field attracted our attention.

Prior to joining VeritasRISING International, Terryl served as the Vice President of Operations for an internationally known real estate company heading up the energy conservation division. He and his staff developed a 13 point program to identify energy saving opportunities. Terryl negotiated agreements with engineering and other service companies. He presented proposals to executive boards, and supervised the implementation of projects utilizing the latest conservation technologies.  These projects resulted in 10% to 35% savings in energy consumption.

Terryl also served as Director of Operations for company which implemented energy conservation programs for utilities and governmental agencies.  These programs trained contractors to view rehabilitation and renovation jobs through the prism of conservation. In other words, not just remodel a facility but do so in way that makes the facility more energy efficient. He also headed a technical staff which executed plans which have lowered energy consumption by a much as 30% per housing unit.  His teams consistently met and/or surpassed corporate goals.

Earlier in his career he managed two highly successful economic development programs for the State of New York.  One program purchased electricity through a competitive bid process then resold the power to businesses which committed to increase or maintain existing job levels.  In the other program, he headed a project which assisted schools statewide to identify energy saving opportunities, saving participating schools millions of dollars.

Terryl has International Swaps and Derivatives Association training in: Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents; and, Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements. He was also trained via The Association of Energy Service Professionals in The Principles of Demand Side Management.  He also served as Treasurer of the Association of Energy Service Professionals.

He holds Bachelor Degree in Political Science and minor in Accounting from Indiana University; a Juris Doctorate from the University of Dayton where was a John Hook scholar, and Masters in Governmental Administration from the Fel Center of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. Terryl's success in developing ethical, people centered, cost effective environmental programs in both the public and private sectors make him a unique addition to our company.

He lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.

K. Seshadri

Sesh has wide and varied experience in the world business market as a leader, manager, and trainer. He is a former Vice President of Philips Lighting for Asia Pacific and former General Manager for Singapore & Vietnam in Sales and Marketing.

Sesh currently runs Gritti Consulting in Sinapore where he continues to consult for Philips Lighting. Sesh is a certified Mindful Selling^® trainer. He is also cerified to analyze, train, and consult on the Emergenetics, MBTI, and Motivational profiling instruments.  Sesh is also licensed to teach Dr. Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Sesh is that rare individual who combines leadership, operations, and human resource experience. His vast experience enables him to quickly separate the chaff from the wheat, and empower clients to out the best theories into actual practice. Sesh's intellect, personal warmth, and service orientation make him a popular, sought after instructor. He consistently receives high ratings and praise for the depth, style, and content of his training and consulting engagements.

Sesh has been in-charge of successful business operations for many years and is currently a Member of the Electrical & Electronic Products and Services Committee of Singapore Standards and Chairman of the Technical Committee for Lamps and related equipment.

Sesh earned an Engineering degree (Honours) from Sheffield University-UK as well as a Master of Education (Training & Development). He was the Director of Philips Learning and Development Centre and helped to formulate and implement professional/leadership training for commercial and technical executives.

Joshua Teo Seng Giap

Joshua's entrepreneurial actions have helped to create hundreds of jobs all across Southeast Asia as well as in India, Australia, and China.
He founded or co-founded 5 companies including Emergenetics Asia.

Joshua's knowledge of neuroscience as it relates to communication has earned him certification as one of 5 Emergenetics Master Trainers in the world.

Joshua's regional business management experience coupled with his understanding of the Southeast Asian market allows him to provide relevant and pertinent advice for organizations wanting to explore, expand and evolve in Asia.

Joshua won numerous awards from Junior Chamber Singapore and was also awarded a merit award in the prestigious E-Global Award for Emerging Young Entrepreneur in 2004 and an Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award in 2008. Having worked with CEOs and senior management in a diverse range of industries, his speaking and consulting engagements have seen him traverse many parts of Asia. Joshua graduated with a MBA (Marketing) from Leicester University and a BA (Hons) Business Studies (2nd upper) from the University of Bolton.