What I have done

Contributing, Educating, Counselling, Living

June 2018 to May 2020

CEO, Pusat Aspirasi Anak Perak

Pusat Aspirasi Anak Perak, or Pasak for short, was the youth agency for the Perak State Government. Our KPI was to bring the net brain drain among Perak youths to zero (Perak is sandwiched between KL and Penang, to where our youths tend to migrate for job opportunities). We have been rather successful and our budget grew at some 40% year-on-year. Recognising our reputation for delivering programs, the Chief Minister of Perak appointed us as the coordinating body for all TVET activities under the Perak State government, reporting directly to the Chief Minister himself.

The assignment has been rather challenging, having taken over a GLC with an alleged corruption issue. Staff was a young lot who needed to be re-motivated and provided with leadership. Proud to say, the team responded well to a diet of listening, respect, participative style of management, reasonable compensation and plenty of learning opportunities in an encouraging environment. Before long, we started gaining a reputation for implementation. This was recognised in our appointment as the TVET coordinating body for the state.

Stablising the financial situation happened at the same time, instituting financial controls within the processes, reviewing procurement methods, teaching the team financial stewardship and enhancing governance through comprehensive reporting to the Board. This led to substantial savings in project costs compared to initial allocations from the state government and ended up with us having more than double the workforce delivering a much higher quality and quantity of programs.

The position sadly ended prematurely with the change of government in Perak state.

December 2013-November 2016

Management Consultant, Business Transformation

At present, I am focussing on helping Malaysian SMEs fulfil the strategic aspirations of the owner-CEO. From such aspirations (often very vaguely stated) a strategic roadmap can be identified within the desired timeframe. The roadmap will consider all aspects of the organisation including required changes to the system, processes and people as well as the existing & planned organisational capabilities and business plans. Implementation takes place using the resources of the company itself to maximise knowledge transfer. Often, diversions may be undertaken to clear critical roadblocks. I usually find the accounts need to be cleared up as well as the corporate structure, as the accounting, tax and legal constraints de-optimises restructuring options.

A Software implementation

My most satisfying assignment and we are still friends

The client is a stand-alone medium-sized supermarket-departmental store, which has been running on a simple UBS accounting system and a manual inventory system since its establishment. With the implementation of GST, the owners are aware of the need to computerise to comply with GST.The remit was to identify business requirements, identify and propose the appropriate IT solution & vendor, ensure implementation to (i) comply with GST, (ii) integrate into the existing POS; (iii) institute appropriate controls; and (iv) prepare the business for expansion.I identified their requirements aligned with the new GST regulations, identified an accounting software to meet those requirements and managed the project to successful implementation, including integration with the front end system and all liaison with the vendor. Based on the capabilities of the owner-managers as well as their hired general manager, a control and a management review system was set up using reports and access controls in the system.Following this project, the client was able to delegate management to the newly-hired general manager and go for holidays for the first time in 10 years

A Strategy reset

My most interesting assignment personality-wise & smost complex

The client is in an IT-related industry unique in Malaysia with few organisations in US having the same business model. As a result, business requirements are complex for its size.I conducted a strategy workshop to identify changes in the future direction and a new product line was proposed and accepted by management. A portfolio of projects was identified that will implement the various critical success factors demanded by the strategy, including the new product line, a new MIS, Organisation & Development initiatives, capital & corporate restructuring, new regulations proposal to governmental authorities.A project management framework was set up to facilitate governance over projects including decision-making, status reviews, business case & other portfolio management best practices.I facilitated the review of business processes, proposed new operations model and documented new requirements beyond existing business & operations practices in the form of Use Cases. An accounting software was identified to meet these use cases and the vendor engaged.The organisational structure was streamlined, critical JDs revised based on new requirements and new staff engaged for those JDs. Resources management and staff appraisal methodologies were proposed and implemented. A new leadership team was organised and a management meeting structure was implemented.A new capital and corporate structure was proposed to transit from an external investor funding model to a management buy out model.I oversaw the reorganisation of the accounting function together with new finance processes. The annual financial statements were revised from annual loss positions to profit positions and previously unclaimable tax expenses of RMxmil were made claimable by changes in accounting practices.All in all, a very satisfying bringing together of all the various frameworks needed to successfully run a business.

March 2011 to April 2013

General Manager, Customer Experience Home Services

I moved the job from an undefined customer experience role in a telco to developing an IT roadmap for front-end staff and organising the company to accept & implement the needed projects within the portfolio. In a challenging environment with a staff force not exposed to organisation wide thinking and programme management practices, I led the programme to implement a new inventory management and point of sale system to replace legacy systems that were over ten years old.

More importantly, I projected the future projects necessary to align them between the various divisions in the company and into a single logical roadmap that can be implemented after I left. This seeks to obviate the environment & culture where different project managers ran their projects separately wtih potential confusion and overlapping/gaps in work/requirements of the front-liners facing the customer.

The project implementation was also novel in that I visitied 27 out of 33 shops to sell the project, motivate the teams on the field and ensured sufficient support during rollout. This contrasts with the standard corporate practice of stationing the leadership in Head Office, irrespective of where the customers were situated.

Chief Internal Auditor, Hong Leong Assurance

November 1999 to April 2006

I was appointed as the Chief Internal Auditor of Hong Leong Assurance with a mandate to re-orientate the internal audit function to a more strategic & value-added role, with practices untried in the local industry. I was involved in the set-up of risk management and corporate, IT & project governance frameworks for the group & the company through provision of research, thought leadership, advice & implementation facilitation.

In doing so, I found myself doing a lot of translation work. My width of experience means that, while I was not the primary subject matter expert in any one field, I was often the second most knowledgeable person in most fields, second only to the subject matter expert themselves. I often said that I may not know IT better than IT but I know IT better than marketing; I may not know marketing better than marketing but I know marketing better than operations, etc, etc. I then found myself being the only person who is able to explain the IT limitations to operations, etc, etc; and, more importantly, the only person who can come up with certain solutions which require a bit of knowledge in all areas. Basically, I realised that my specialism is that I am a generalist.

August 2006 to February 2011

Head of Programme Management Office

I set up the Programme Management Office in Astro, a pay-TV company, with the intention of establishing a project governance framework. I sold the concept by facilitating successful implementation of critical projects, & in the long-term, was aiming to change the culture and environment to one where structured methodologies thrive. We ran projects from an end-to-end perspective, involving the marketing, processes, communications, training, call centre, etc, moving away from the hardware/software-centric perspective of delivery-type projects. Basically, we delivered a product, not just a set-top-box. Maturity planning, scorecards, gap & stakeholder analysis, scenario planning were among the formal tools used, in addition to many informal practices.

The role was also extended to include portfolio management & strategy implementation, where the CTO to whom I report, tells me what his strategy is and I tell him the projects he needs to run to deliver the strategy, including dashboards and staff development programmes within the department needed for the strategy to work in addition to hardware & software. I then track them to completion. Basically, my remit was to deliver the strategy itself, not just the projects within the strategy.

Corporate Finance Manager

January 1994 to October 1999

A spell in PriceWaterhouseCoopers followed basic training in the United Kingdom, where I ended up in the PwC corporate finance team attempting a massive restructuring and facilitated the takeover & remaking of a stock-broker. I was the technical manager in the Financial Services Practice, and also trained & led the securities group in PwC, involved in auditing, advisory, restructuring, & bail-out of stock-broking companies and was eventually, a consultant within the industry.

An interesting & fulfilling end-to-end project, with an objective to launch a new generation Satellite TV box that will be the foundation of the strategy going forward.
I was Head of the PMO, responsible for delivery of corporate projects, reporting to an exceptionally visionary Chief Technology Office, Paul Dale, & supported by a team of excellent & focused programme/portfolio managers.
From the strategic vision developed, we designed the portfolio of projects required to achieve that vision. We set up the budgetary & project framework by which each component of the strategy was to be initiated & controlled until completion.
The B.yond project was proposed in March 2009, obtained Board approval in June 2009 & was eventually launched in December 2009, a 9-months delivery which on hindsight looked incredibly short. The PMO identified all departments in the company that were required to be involved in the entire project & organised them to that end. Each department remained responsible for their own respective delivery but under the coordination and direction of the PMO. They included marketing, sales, sales logistics, call centre, corporate communication, regulatory, community affairs, legal, TV programming, publications, finance, broadcast operations in addition to IT and Broadcast Technology. In short, whoever it was who was required for a successful delivery.
The greatest compliment the CTO gave when reporting to the CEO was that, "Without Jim, I would have delivered a Set-Top-Box, with Jim, I delivered a product". It wasn't all my work though: much of the success was his drive as sponsor of the project & above all, the dedicated work of all project teams throughout the company, especially the project managers leading the teams in each department. If I had to single out anyone, it would be my entire PMO team who work so well as a team in this endeavour, most notably, Gervaise Chuah, whose tireless work on the ground linked the projects together.

Compliment from my boss

"Without Jim, I would have launched a box. With Jim I launched a product"

A Restructuring

My first assignment and a steep learning curve

The client is a very successful SME with 100 engineers plus support staff. It has encountered great growth in the past years but the owner realised that they could not grow any further unless the company is restructured.
I proposed a new corporate structure for the company that leveraged off on the value of the company and reduces the risk of funds locked in during periods of cash flow stress.
After a month of study, I proposed a radically-different organisational structure, with a training programme, a bonus incentive scheme linked to the profits of the projects completed/the company, a recruitment/induction programme and a revised appraisal process. I also identified the need of a project management software, extension to the ERP as well as other ISO processes that require a change.
I worked with the identified GM to implement this strategic roadmap as well as managers of the company to ensure that they will be able to operate the new frameworks after the restructuring programme is completed.
During the course of the engagement, plans for a listing emerged. I identified the appropriate corporate structure that will be suitable for the listing & worked out the manner by which the companies were to be moved into the correct position, in cognizance of the legal and tax positions. The corporate structure also seeks to unlock valuein the group of companies as well as remove any hinderance to access to funds in the group in any period of cash flow stress.
This engagement brings together the width of experiences and knowledge gained in my entire career - corporate finance, governance, accounting & tax, project & portfolio management and organisational & development.