Our Advisory Board

Jermaine is a Sloan Fellow and has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also an alumnus of the Technical University of Munich, where he received his master’s degree in electrical engineering.

Prior to his current role, Ih-Ming was Director for Industry at the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and held senior leadership roles heading EDB’s Americas International Operations, its Business Environment division for tax, trade and incentive policy, its Consumer division, and its Marketing and Media Relations team with responsibility for global corporate communications and strategic marketing. While based in EDB’s Silicon Valley office in California, he led teams responsible for facilitating business partnerships and investment promotion activities in sectors ranging from Energy, Technology, Biomedical Sciences, Aerospace to Electronics.

He is a Sloan Fellow (2014) from the MIT Sloan School of Management and has biomedical engineering degrees from both Stanford University and Brown University.

She has two decades of experience in public and private sector trade agreements, policymaking, partnership development and industrial strategy in Asia and Europe. She honed her business and commercial acumen in the shipping industry at PSA Corporation, and put that to good use subsequently at the Singapore Economic Development Board attracting the world’s top companies to invest in the country to drive economic growth.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in International Relations from Georgetown University and a Master of Science from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Dawn has presented on the power of design across international platforms such as the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, SXSW, ChangeNow Summit, Intercorp Festival of Innovation, Singapore Design Week, as well as with partners like JLL, Stagwell, Deloitte Centre for the Edge, WGSN. She is a UK Design Ambassador, advisory member to the Seoul Design Award and has been invited as a jury member on a wide range of design platforms.

John brings with him over 20 years of experience at Dyson. He joined as a Graduate Design Engineer in 2001, and has helmed key projects such as the Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer and the second generation of handheld products. Since then, he has played an integral role in the development of over 50 products and technologies spanning different technologies and categories including floorcare, environmental care, professional, and robotics.

In 2012, he relocated to Southeast Asia, assuming the role of Design Director. He was then responsible for scaling Dyson’s technologies and bringing together all elements of the product development process – ranging from manufacturing, New Product Development, New Product Innovation, through to championing new technologies within Dyson teams.

John graduated with a BSc in Industrial Design from Brunel University in 2001. Today, he is hugely passionate about collaboration, and inspiring the next generations of design engineers. As a father of two young children, John enjoys making cardboard models with his two young children and training for triathlons over the weekend. He is proud to call Singapore his home for the last decade.

In 2010, she founded charitable organisation Ibasho, dedicated to co-creating socially integrated, sustainable communities that value their elders, embodying in the Japanese concept of a place where one feels at home being oneself. Her current focus is on creating socially integrated and resilient cities where elders are engaged and able to actively participate in their communities.

She has published journal articles and book chapters in Germany, Japan, Switzerland and the United States; and has done pre-design programming including for senior housing and addiction treatment centres.

Emi holds a PhD. in architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Horticulture Therapy from Kansas State University. She has received fellowships including the Loeb Fellowship at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, the Rockefeller Bellagio Residency Fellowship and the Atlantic Fellowship for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute at University of California, San Francisco.

Emi is currently based in Singapore and incorporating Ibasho into the Health District@Queenstown. The pilot programme aims to design an age-friendly community by creating integrated solutions to enhance the health and well-being of residents across their life stages.

In addition to his design work, Tim is an esteemed speaker and educator who has addressed various conferences and events worldwide. He has lectured at several prestigious design schools, including the National University of Singapore. He is an advisor to the board of DesignSingapore Council and a frequent juror of the President*s Design Award Singapore, and is a trustee at Art Centre College of Design.

Tim also is Founder and CEO of X8 Ventures, an innovation consultancy that helps companies develop new products and services. He divides his time between United States and Asia where he continues to innovate and inspire the design industry. In 2021 he authored the book “Return On Experience,” which delves into his design philosophy and approach to creating compelling experiences for customers.

Debra has a proven track record with businesses of various sizes. She served as President of DKNY JEANS International, overseeing operations in all non-US markets, and was President APAC for Borderlinx, a global e-commerce enabler. Earlier in her career, she co-founded an online health and wellness platform with philanthropist Michael Milken and held a business development role for the Hearst Corporation’s international division.

Debra is a US and New Zealand citizen and a Permanent Resident of Singapore.

He is also a World Cities Summit Young Leader alumnus, a visiting lecturer at the National University of Singapore, and leads Arup Singapore’s Markets & Clients strategy.

As an associate professor, Hans has developed innovative approaches to design pedagogy. The student works developed under his supervision have garnered many international awards. Hans has also received multiple teaching awards – he was placed on the university honour roll in 2018 for being a three-time winner of the NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Award, and the school honour roll for having been awarded the school teaching excellence award five times. In 2019, he received the Outstanding Educator Award, the university’s highest award for teaching.

Melvin is married and father of two teenage daughters and serves as board member of Methodist Girls School and is the Chairperson of his church board.

His myriad of interests including both digital and analogue photography, playing the acoustic guitar and bass in his church worship band. He is a self-professed petrolhead who accepts that the push for sustainability would mean the impending doom of the internal combustion engine.

During her stint in the Ministry of National Development, Zsin Woon oversees efforts to promote housing accessibility and affordability, the rejuvenation and upgrading of public housing estates, delivery of municipal issues and international cooperation.

Zsin Woon has also done previous postings in the Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Manpower, Workforce Development Agency, People’s Association, Ministry of Health and Ministry of National Development.

WOHA projects are living systems that connect to the city as a whole. With every project, the practice aims to create a matrix of interconnected human-scaled environments that foster community, enable stewardship of nature, generate biocentric beauty, activate ecosystem services and build resilience. WOHA apply their systems thinking approach to architecture and urbanism in their building design as well as their regenerative masterplans. WOHA received a number of architectural awards such as the Aga Khan Award for One Moulmein Rise as well as the RIBA Lubetkin Prize and International Highrise Award for The Met in Bangkok. The practice was awarded the CTBUH Urban Habitat and Best Mixed-Use Building and World Architecture Festival World Building of the Year for Kampung Admiralty and CTBUH Best Tall Building Worldwide for the Oasia Hotel Downtown.

Chooake has 20+ years of design experience in institutions such as DBS Bank, where he was the first Chief Design Officer who led the Group Design in elevating the overall banking experience. Prior to that, he led PayPal’s Design team in APAC and was in charge of expanding payments for the Asia-Pacific market and also led the Global PayPal Checkout at their Headquarter. He also worked for Motorola, where he led the multimedia application team that designed the early iTunes App; as well as Morningstar, where he created digital equity reports and early stage of financial applications.

His work experience spanned across locations different markets such as US, Japan and Singapore. In addition to driving the CX strategy across both digital and physical touchpoints, he also shaped employee experience to further enhance external customer experience.

Chooake holds a Master of Fine Art, Visual Communication from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.