BEARING ACADEMY - Key Persons
Andrea Ng is one of the youngest solicitors to have obtained dual qualification in Hong Kong and England & Wales. She studied in Hong Kong, Toronto and London, three uniquely different cities that allowed her to immerse in and benefit from different education approaches and cultures. Andrea graduated high school with the bilingual International Baccalaureate Diploma and the Ontario High School Diploma (High Honours) simultaneously. She then pursued her Bachelors of Law (L.L.B) at the London School of Economics and Policital Sciences, followed by Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL). Andrea currently works in Allen & Overy's London headquarters as a Senior Associate in the firm's leveraged finance practice.
Biography
At an early age, Andrea recognised the importance of having a global mindset in a world that is becoming ever more hyper-connected. She moved from Hong Kong to Toronto at the age of 15 to pursue the International Baccalaureate diploma in a boarding school. While still finding her feet in a new city, Andrea's enthusiasm and strong academic performance was instantly recognised and she was awarded the 'Most Outstanding New Girl' in her first year abroad. In her senior year, she was further elected to become one of twelve School Prefects and the Chairperson of the Residence Council.
Andrea pursued her law degree at the LSE and enjoyed everything that the European city had to offer. She was awarded the Sweet & Maxwell Law Prize for obtaining the highest aggregate across subjects in her final year.
While completing her training contract in Hong Kong, a pivatol secondment opportunity led Andrea back to London. The sophisticated legal work and the immensely diverse environment eventually convinced Andrea to take up an offer from the London team to join them as a newly qualified.
Andrea committed becoming English qualifid through the Qualified Transfer Lawyers Scheme (QLTS). She is now a Senior Associate in Allen & Overy's leveraged finance practice, advising top tier sponsors, corporates and financial institutions on complex financing structures in the context of mergers and acquisitions. She has also taken on the responsibility as a trainee ‘trainer', and is involved in the firm's diversity and pioneering legal tech initiatives.
On weekends, Andrea enjoys cooking and hosting. Her three favourite things are healthy ice cream, a glass of mellow red wine, and lastly, an intense HIIT workout to burn off the first two things.
Andrew Carpenter attended an independent school in the North of England and then went up to Cambridge University for his Bachelor degree. After Cambridge he undertook the commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and then served as a British army officer for a total of six years in various locations. On leaving the army he attended the College of Law (now the ‘University of Law') in England before joining an international law firm in London. He is a qualified lawyer in England & Wales and Hong Kong.
Qualifications
Andrew Chan studied law and was awarded LLB at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in 1991. He continued to obtain a Diploma in Legal Practice at the same university the following year which is a required qualification to be a solicitor in Scotland. He subsequently undertook his two-year traineeship and became a solicitor in 1993. He was then admitted as a Hong Kong solicitor in 1994. Also studied at Hong Kong Baptist University, Andrew was awarded distinction in a master's degree in Corporate Governance in 2015. Throughout his years as a lawyer, Andrew has acquired other certifications and diplomas ranging from Enterprise Risk Management (2010), Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing (2017), and Big Data, Governance and Compliance (2018) from HKU SPACE.
Biography
Born and brought up in Hong Kong, Andrew spent his early education at La Salle Primary School, and his first two years at La Salle College, a complementary secondary school. These institutions were established by The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a Catholic religious teaching congregation founded in France by a priest named Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (1651-1719). In his early teens, Andrew set off for the United Kingdom in 1982 to pursue what his parents firmly believed to be benefits to children of an "all-round" education, which he would later discover to be true. He settled at a boarding school called Queen's College, Taunton, England, where he spent five years to graduate from the secondary school. Compared with his life back home nestled in the arms of a doting mother, the five years did not pass without challenges: diet, language, weather, culture, school rules, social etiquette and so on. Thereafter, he moved to Scotland to study law at the University of Aberdeen where he would find his father's friend running a business in the same city. After spending the first joyful year on campus mingling with students from the same country and from others afar, Andrew had to move out of the campus (because of university regulations) to a ‘dig' - a rented room of the home of a Scottish family. There were new-found responsibilities for Andrew, but not that he could not manage after the acclimatization in England.
Upon return to Hong Kong after graduation in the United Kingdom, Andrew spent two years at an international law firm of White & Case before joining a list of reputable insurance companies based in Hong Kong, serving mostly as head of legal and compliance or deputy for a total of 22 years. Andrew holds regular trainings to staff, colleagues and board of directors to make sure that they are kept up-to-date with what rules they need to know while they attend to their jobs. A majority of Andrew's training spans across business ethics, and anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing. Andrew typically addresses his audience with real life cautionary tales in order to make things interesting for them.
To reach a goal, Andrew believes that bearing the right sense of responsibility is key.
In his spare time, Andrew enjoys traveling with his family, and playing with his dogs (Aiden and Fafa). He is also an avid speaker for the rights of domestic helpers in Hong Kong.
Cindy Tong - Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- General Counsel
- Head of Compliance
Biography
Cindy Tong is currently the General Counsel and Head of Compliance for a global insurance company. She looks after legal and compliance matters for Asia, covering 7 countries, and has a team of over 100 lawyers and compliance officers.
Cindy received her early education in Hong Kong. She graduated Form 5 (equivalent to IGCSE level) from a local girls' school in Hong Kong. She then went on to study philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Canada. Before completing her philosophy studies she was accepted into Osgood Hall Law School, York University, in Toronto, and received her Bachelor of Law degree from Osgoode.
Upon graduating from law school Cindy decided she would return to Hong Kong to pursue her career in law. She was called to the bar of Hong Kong in 2001, and subsequently practiced cross border and China investment work with the China Corporate Practice of Baker & McKenzie, Hong Kong. She moved on to work at Linklaters, Hong Kong, again in the China Commercial Group, focusing on cross-border mergers & acquisitions work. A short stint as in-house counsel at Walt Disney Company brought her closer to the corporate world, and eventually in 2009, after spending more time at the Corporate Practice Group of Baker & McKenzie, Cindy decided to go in-house with AXA.
Cindy specializes in mergers and acquisitions, but currently spends more time managing and developing the legal and compliance teams of AXA in Asia. She is part of the senior leadership team at AXA Asia and is committed to and believes fully in people development, and understands that a strong team is often comprised of a combination of different capabilities and expertise, and that everyone, if given the right opportunity, will excel in their own special area.
Daniel has an extensive background in Business with specific experience in Corporate Finance, Business Analytics, Data Visualization and Financial Modelling. He has chiefly worked in Academia with various stints in consulting and advisory in Emerging Markets in Asia and Africa for consulting firms based in Europe and the UK. He has also participated in funded research visits on Climate and Sustainable Finance in Germany and Romania. He is currently researching Financial Modelling, Financial Econometrics and Financial Modelling.
Daniel holds a Ph.D. in Financial Economics from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He also holds a Masters of Science in Financial Economics. And a Bachelor in the same field. He is currently a lecturer in Economics and Econometrics at the London School of Economics and University of London (UK). He has also been an associate researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is also a Charted Accountant and Chartered Secretary.
Besides research work and financial analysis, Daniel is a cycling enthusiast, an avid mountain hiker and a green environment promoter. He is loves exploring ways in which firms can balance between their goals and protecting our fragile environment. He lives by the mantra that discomfort and challenges bring out our potential and capabilities. His favorite quote is; "ships are safe in harbors, but that's not what they are made for".
David Ng is a young professional starting out in the legal world and currently training to be a solicitor. He completed his Bachelor of Laws (LL. B.) from the University of Buckingham, Masters of Law specializing in criminal litigation (LL. M.) and Legal Practice Course (LPC) in City, University of London. He is currently an in-house trainee solicitor with BC Technology (Hong Kong) Limited.
Biography
Born in Hong Kong, David was educated locally at La Salle Primary School and later went on to study abroad in Oundle School, UK at the age of 14. The opportunity to study both locally and abroad provided David with invaluable experiences, allowing him great exposures to different cultures, opportunities to practise his language skills and a real taste of independency. During his studies in the UK, David also spent two years teaching and guiding junior students at a local school once a week.
During the third year of his secondary education, David undertook summer work experiences at both a dental clinic and a barristers' chambers, and continued to undertake summer and winter internships at law firms and Barristers' Chambers respectively from 2009 to 2017. He also spent one of his summers as a court marshal shadowing a presiding judge in the District Court of Hong Kong. He followed up his interest to pursue a career in the legal field by taking up Pre-Law as an A levels elective prior to reading law at the University of Buckingham. David then went on to complete his legal studies by studying a Masters of Law and Legal Practice Course in London.
During his studies, David had the great opportunity to visit a whole hosts of boarding schools and universities weekly for rugby, hockey and fencing competitions. Having lived in the UK for over ten years, David is also familiar with the challenges prospective students might face and is well positioned to provide hands on advice required or answer queries you might have.
Outside of work, David is a keen fencer and enjoys a game of squash or tennis from time to time. David Ng is a young professional starting out in the legal world and currently training to be a solicitor. He completed his Bachelor of Laws (LL. B.) from the University of Buckingham, Masters of Law specializing in criminal litigation (LL. M.) and Legal Practice Course (LPC) in City, University of London. He is currently an in-house trainee solicitor with BC Technology (Hong Kong) Limited.
Qualifications
Professor David Wong studied biochemistry and received his BSc(Hons)at The University of Toronto in Canada. He proceeded to study medicine at the University of Toronto and obtained a MD degree. He then pursued his residency in Family Medicine and he has been certified by the College of Family Physician of Canada. He has also been certified as a Fellow in Family Medicine. He also pursued a master's degree in medical education. He is actively involved in teaching undergraduate medical students at the University of Toronto since 2002 and has won many teaching awards, including the Clinical Teacher Award as well as the Master Teacher Award.
Biography
David was born in Hong Kong and spent his primary education in Hong Kong. His family immigrated to Canada when he was 11 years old. He attended high school in Ottawa and went onto studying biochemistry at the University of Toronto after graduating high school. While in University, David lived in the residence and learned a lot about life on campus. The years that he lived in the residence were perhaps the most memorable time of his life. He also made some life long friends from his residence days. After his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, David was going to attend graduate school. However, he felt that working in a lab was not for him as he really enjoyed working with people. Hence, he decided to pursue a career in medicine and attended medical school in Toronto. After completing medical school and residency in Family Medicine, David worked as a family physician with special interest in geriatrics in Toronto since 1994.
David also has a passion for teaching since he was a child. He had done a lot of tutoring for other students when he was in high school. At one point, he had considered to become a teacher. Even though he pursued a career in medicine, he never gave up his passion for teaching. Fortunately, a teaching opportunity came up at the University of Toronto medical school and David took on this position in 2002. He has been teaching first and second year medical students clinical and communication skills ever since. He teaches students how to conduct histories and perform physical examinations. He also does clinical teaching at his medical office to senior medical students. Students learn how to manage and treat patients in a family medicine clinic setting as well as learning how to become a compassionate and responsible physician. He also coordinated the clinical skills courses and involved in curriculum and faculty development. In addition to teaching, David is also an examiner for the MCCQE exams as well as the Family Medicine licensing exams in Canada.
In his spare time, David enjoys traveling, reading (to keep up with current events), and playing with computers. He enjoys fixing and putting computers together and has helped many of his friends to troubleshoot their computers. In the future, David hopes to travel to see more places, but he also hopes to help more people to get closer to their life long goals.
Dr Dalibor Slavik was born in the former Czechoslovakia in 1961. At age eight he emigrated to South Africa with his parents and brother. He received his MBChB degree from the University of Pretoria in 1984, and did his internship in Pretoria. Two years of military service followed, during which he worked as a medical officer in the department of surgery at the military hospital in Pretoria. In 1986 he joined a family practice in the town of Nylstroom, where he worked as a general practitioner, also sharing the duties of District Surgeon. He held the position of Superintendent at the local hospital for 3 years.
In 1994, Dr Slavik accepted a post as a family physician and Senior Medical Officer at the Dr Hugh Twomey Healthcare Centre in Botwood, Newfoundland, Canada. During this time he passed the MCCEE, MCCQE 1, MCCQE 2 and CCFP examinations. In 1997, he moved to Saskatoon to join Saskatoon East Family Physicians. In 2009 he received the Fellowship in Family Medicine from the CFPC.
Outside of family practice, Dr Slavik serves on the Tarriff and Finance committees of the SMA. He was elected as a representative to the Representative Assembly of the SMA for the Saskatoon Regional Medical Association (SRMA) and subsequently to the Board of Directors of the SMA. He joined the executive of the Board in 2012 and SMA President in 2014/2015. He also serves as a board member of the Saskatchewan chapter of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), and is the Saskatchewan representative to the National Committee on Continuing Professional Development (NCCPD) of the CFPC. For the past 16 years he has been an examiner for the Medical Council of Canada's MCCQE 2 exam, as well as the CCFP exam of the CFPC.
He currently works as a full-time family physician in Saskatoon. An aspect of his work he particularly enjoys at present is minor surgery and cardiovascular surgical assists.
Dr Slavik's interests include scuba diving, downhill skiing, skydiving, sailing, cycling, and fishing. He is also an avid follower of Formula One motor racing. He and his wife of 34 years have a daughter, who lives and studie
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Physician and Clinical Instructor at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital
Qualifications
Dr. George Sheppard works as an Emergency Physician and Clinical Instructor at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. He received his B.Sc.(Hons) in Pharmacology in 1992, and MD from the University of Alberta, in Edmonton in 1996. He did a residency in Rural Family Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and subsequently obtained Special Competence in Emergency Medicine in 2006. He also holds Fellowship in Family Medicine with the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
Biography
Dr. Sheppard was born in Edmonton and spent the most of his undergraduate education there, apart from one years each in Freiburg, Germany, and Paris, France. He became very adjusted to coastal living while studying on the East Coast of Canada, and has since settled in the modest climate of Canada's West Coast.
He has worked as a community family physician, emergency physician, surgical assistant, medical director for occupational rehabilitation and diabetes education. He takes particular pleasure in being able to explain medical issues to patients and patient groups in a manner that is relatable and easy to understand.
For years he has been very involved in medical training, particularly with exam preparation for learners for both Family Practice and Emergency Medicine.
He enjoys working with and programming computers in his spare time, and also likes to think that he can play guitar.
Dr. Vahid Assadi obtained his PhD in Business Administration from DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University in Canada. Focusing on the areas of Management Science and Information Systems, he continued his tenure at McMaster as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Digital Transformation Research Center where he worked as an expert on issues related to the use of Information Technology by organizations and individuals. He also holds a Bachelor's in Software Engineering and a Master's in Information Technology and Systems. With an extensive world-class training and diverse work experience, he has established himself as someone with niche mastery in bridging a gap between technology, people, and organizations. As such, he has built strong foundations in software engineering, organizational, management, and decision making issues, as well as individual psychology of IT use. He has held various positions across academia and a number of industries including software, information technology and services, automotive, healthcare, government, IT litigation, retail, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and higher education. Notable results of his work include development of a fully integrated Management Information System currently implemented in 50 production plants, publications/presentations at top tier information systems journals and conferences, teaching 2000+ students in various countries, a successful track record of consulting projects, and advising various Fintech startup initiatives.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Italian Strategy Consultant and Manager
Enrico is an Italian strategy consultant and manager. He studied in Italy and France. As a seasoned consultant he worked across different industries, including energy, government services and high tech. He is now an investor and advisor to SMEs and startups.
Enrico was born in Italy - he studied Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano and graduated with distinction. After serving in the Italian Army, he decided to pursue a career in management consulting, a field that would have allowed him to broaden and diversify his experience. He joined McKinsey & C. in Milan and worked across a number of regions -including Europe, Middle East, Russia - and sectors, among which energy, basic materials, automotive and oil & gas. During his time at McKinsey, Enrico took INSEAD's MBA in Fontainebleu, France.
After 10 years at McKinsey, looking for new challenges and driven by his interest in international environments, Enrico moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, where he took a position in Mubadala, one of the key players developing the economy of the Emirate. He remained in the UAE for 6 years, working on economic development themes, with a particular focus on technology and support to startups.
Enrico then moved back to Italy, where he is now dividing his time between his two young children and advising startups and SMEs on growth and transformation.
Enrico is passionate about military history and builds models of warships as a hobby. He is also a good skier and tennis player.
Federico is a dual qualified Hong Kong and Italian lawyer. He studied in Italy, Singapore and Shanghai before settling in Hong Kong. As a seasoned corporate and commercial lawyer, he worked across different industries within the legal services, including energy and project finance, insurance, and construction. He is now a Senior Legal Counsel at Bouygues Construction Group headquartered in Hong Kong.
Federico was born and raised in Italy and spent most of his early life in the motherland. Upon graduation, he felt it was the right time to take a break and leave his ordinary life path in order to pursue a different and more challenging route far from home, which would have expanded his views and internationalized his experience as never before, to the extent that both his life and career could heavily benefit from this move.
To this end, he decided to move to Singapore and enroll at NUS in a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in International Business Law. The master was partly taught in Singapore and partly in Shanghai giving him the chance to dive into two new and very different worlds, one already developed and overly sophisticated and the other in its rising and fast-paced stage of development and chaos.
That year well represented a turning point in his life disruptively changing him deep down and utterly inside out but it also shed lights on his next moves. After obtaining the LLM and working in Shanghai for some time, he went back to Italy to complete his traineeship and qualify as an Italian lawyer. In the meantime, he joined the British law firm, Watson Farley & Williams (WFW), as a junior associate working in the energy and project finance department in Milan.
After three years of experience, he requested to move to the WFW Hong Kong office and set up an international desk to assist clients in inbound investments into China and outbound investments flowing to Southern Europe. At that point, he envisioned the opportunity of further studying and qualifying as a Hong Kong solicitor and become one of the few Italians to hold a dual qualification in Hong Kong.
He therefore attended and passed the OLQE conversion exam in Hong Kong before leaving private practice and moving in-house as a Regional Legal Counsel at Generali Insurance Group in Hong Kong. Finally, after another three years of hard work and success, he accepted the challenge to flip industry again and moved to Bouygues Construction Group, where he is now a Senior Legal Counsel for the Asia desk.
Being a sporty person, Federico is keen to maintain a healthy life style through intense sport training and a balanced diet. He loves playing beach volley, football and crossfit training. He is also passionate about Hong Kong and Chinese collectibles and antiques.
Helen has an extensive background in business with experience in Investment Banking, Private Equity, Fund Accounting, Executive Compensation, Commercial Banking, Consulting, and Strategy. Currently, Helen works in the Insurance Industry in the strategic business arm.
Having worked in different areas of the financial world, Helen developed a deep understanding as to what it takes to break into those careers. Since 2012 Helen has been helping students obtain internships and full-time offers at investment banks and other corporates companies. Helen also specializes in MBA applications, helping students receive that coveted acceptance, and then ultimately make the right choice for one of their big life decisions, attending graduate school. It is important that the applicant's life aspirations, intended future geographical location, career goals, scholarship opportunities, and school fit are considered along with other very personal and unique circumstances. "As we prepare you for this important step in your life, we will plan for the whole you."
Helen is passionate about getting to know her applicants and helping them craft their individual story in order to stand out in front of MBA application committees, internships, and full-time job recruiters. "It is so important to highlight the deep and meaningful experiences in a way that will resonate with admission counselors and job recruiters to move you forward in the process. With that in mind, we will work to present you as a whole with your unique story."
Helen received her MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BBA in finance from Baruch College. She also attended Columbia University for graduate studies in financial accounting.
Helen Lee was born in Hong Kong and was educated in Hong Kong and Australia. She graduated with a L.L B. (Hons) and P.C.LL. from the University of Hong Kong. She also received a Postgraduate Certificate in Australian Constitutional Law from the University of Adelaide. Furthermore, she completed and passed with Distinction the International Advanced Certificate of Compliance from the International Compliance Association in conjunction with the University of Manchester. She qualified as a barrister in Hong Kong and is also qualified to practise law in Australia.
Bio
Helen had wanted to be a lawyer ever since she was very young and she attained her goal when she was called to the Bar in Hong Kong. Subsequently, she was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in South Australia, then as a solicitor in New South Wales and then as a legal practitioner in the High Court of Australia in Canberra.
On a business trip to Hong Kong, Helen decided on a whim to apply for a position with the Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC"), namely, as counsel in their Legal Services Division. She was surprised when she was asked to attend an interview and even more surprised when she was offered the job. This was her first experience in an in-house role. The initial contract offered to her was for 30 months and so she reassured her sceptical parents in Australia that she would stay in Hong Kong for that period of time only. Little did she know that she would be offered a permanent contract after only one year and that she would be working in Hong Kong for twenty years plus thereafter!
After a few years with the SFC, Helen went on to various legal and compliance roles with two investment banks, a retail bank and three corporate wholesale banks. In between, she also worked for two years for the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority in its early days when the MPF Scheme was first established. Throughout her career thus far, Helen has gained considerable experience not only with facing and handling local regulators but also with other regulators in the Asia Pacific region, including MAS in Singapore, JFSA in Japan, CBRC in the PRC and APRA in Australia.
Helen enjoys being active in the Australian community in Hong Kong. Having served on the Executive Committee of the Australian Chinese Association of Hong Kong ("ACAHK") for more than ten years, she was elected to become President of the ACAHK from 2014 to 2018. She is currently the Immediate Past President and a Committee member of the ACAHK. She also sits as a Governor of the Board of the Australian International School of Hong Kong. She is also one of the founding members of the South Australia Club, Hong Kong Chapter.
Helen is a full member of the Hong Kong Bar Association and a member of the Hong Kong Corporate Counsel Association, as well as a full member of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute. She retains her membership of the Law Society of South Australia as an overseas member.
Helen is comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, as she has worked mainly for international firms and can speak Cantonese and English fluently and German, Italian and Spanish less fluently. She is a passionate lover of the arts and takes great pleasure in classical music, opera, films and books. Her other interests cover, but are not limited to, gemmology and wine. In that connection, she has completed the course for the Fellowship of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain ("FGA") and has attained Level 3 of the Wine and Spirits Education Trust ("WSET") of the UK. She believes in the importance of lifelong learning and the constant broadening pf one's perspectives and in sharing her experiences and views with anyone who feel the same.
Jacob Brickman is a recent graduate of Western University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology. While learning at Western, Jacob served in several volunteer roles with organizations including Hillel, Western's Spoken Word Society, and the Global Health Equity Collective, a student group dedicated to the promotion of health equity, that actively collaborates with other student and international organizations including the Western Indigenous Students' Association and the United Nations. He is a musician, a writer, and an amateur cook in his spare time and enjoys traveling. He is well-versed in the application processes to undergraduate and graduate programs, especially in Ontario, but across all of Canada, and currently works for a non-profit serving undergraduate and grad students at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Johnny Cheung, co-founder of BEARING attended a local school in Hong Kong and boarding schools in England and Canada. He received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Toronto, B.A. in Law from University of Oxford, LL.B from Dalhousie University, Master of Laws from the London School of Economics and an MBA from INSEAD in France. He is a qualified lawyer in England & Wales, Canada, and Hong Kong.
Biography
Johnny spent his formative years growing up and educated in Hong Kong, England and Canada.
After graduated with a degree in Economics, he continue to pursue his interest in the law and enrolled at Oxford. Upon graduation, Johnny returned to Canada to gain practice qualification. With a strong interest in the subject and profession, he then pursue a LL.M specializing in international business law at the London School of Economics and graduated with merits. While pursuing his legal graduate studies in London, he also worked part time at the Court of Appeal of England & Wales, becoming the judicial pupil to Court of Appeal judges, Lord Justice Sir Martin Nourse and Lord Justice Sir Ralph Gibson. He was the first judicial pupil in the English Court of Appeal and turned a new page of the English judicial history. He is also qualified as a lawyer in England & Wales at the same time.
He then pursue a legal career working as a banking lawyer at international law firms, Clifford Chance and as a corporate lawyer at Linklaters gaining both debt & equity financing legal experience. Then he became an in-house legal counsel at ExxonMobil working on the biggest merger & acquisition deal in the world at the time. While working as an in-house counsel he developed a strong interest and connection in business and he became a management consultant at the strategy consulting firm, the Boston Consulting Group ("BCG"). Working at BCG gave him a strong urge to go deeper into the workings of business so he pursued further business studies for his MBA at one of the most prestigious business schools in the world. Johnny has since taken on legal and business leadership roles working at prominent multinational companies and been on the management committee, including heading up the regional legal departments at AXA Insurance and the Bank of Montreal in Asia and as the Counselor to the American International Group, China Chairman.
More recently, Johnny has become an advisor to Loyal Venture Capital, a global early stage fund partnered with INSEAD, and give advice on their deals.
Throughout these years, Johnny has been involved in various alumni activities for Oxford and INSEAD (he was previously Publication Director of the INSEAD Alumni HK Branch and Secretary of Oxford Society, Hong Kong Branch) and have been assisting INSEAD to interview and recruit students. He has also been heavily involved in giving career and development advice to the young lawyers in his legal team. From these meaningful experiences, he has developed a strong interest in education, career and life advisory.
Johnny has also been academically-active. He has published many articles on popular legal academic journals. He is an invited speaker in numerous professional conferences. He was appointed as Honorary fellow by the Center of International Legal studies in Austria in 1995. He was awarded Leading Professionals of the World in 2010. He was named in the Dictionary of International Biog raphy in 2013 and in the 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21 st Century in 2014 by the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, England.
Johnny is also an avid traveler who is very much into exploring the different cultures and peoples of the world. He believes that this would broaden his prospective and thinking which in turn would help him to see things and advise people with a broad and international angle. He has visited all seven continents of the world, including his journey to Antarctica with the National Geographic and so far he has visited more than a hundred countries and keen to explore more!
Qualifications
Luigi is a Doctor that specialized in Cognitive, Behavioral, and Clinical Neuroscience. He studied and was trained as a Rehabilitation Medicine Researcher and as a Translational Neuroscientist in New York at Stony Brook University. He was an international student that applied and went through the same international student process with an advisor. He accomplished 5 academic degrees in 9 years since he arrived in the US in 2010, right after studying for 2 years of Medical School in his home country, Venezuela. In the US, he earned double Bachelor of Science degrees in Psychology & Biology, both with honors and Summa Cum Laude, as well as Graduate degrees in Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Medicine, and finally, he completed his Doctoral degree in Neuro-rehabilitation research working with Neurologists, Physical Therapists, Neuroscientists, and Biomedical Engineers.
Luigi speaks fluently 5 languages (Spanish, Italian, English, French, and Portuguese) and among the main qualities that make him a successful Consultant for Graduate, Undergraduate, Law School, Post-Doctoral, Pre-Med, and Medical School Students across multiple areas of study, as well as his determination to succeed, professionalism, discipline, adaptability, person-tailored approach and high work ethic. He uses a hybrid problem-solver approach and personalized as well as a multidimensional point of view with every client. Luigi uses his method because of his interdisciplinary education and diversified professional experience. He is unique in many aspects, one of those is that is his entrepreneurial spirit that comes along simultaneously with his very energetic and self-motivation to work on a multi-dimensional role starting on a top and innovative company such as Bearing Academy. Luigi specializes in the LATAM and EU regions, helping students for Undergraduate, Graduate, and Medical Studies.
He is the CEO of The Ibarra Exchange, the first bilingual, international, scientific-clinical platform focus on Interviews, Psychoeducation, and Podcasts on OCD and mental health awareness. Moreover, he works as a Private Consultant with multiple clients in the EU as a Translational Neuroscientist, and for both an Environmental Organization and a Neurologist Private Practice in Traumatic Brain Injury. Furthermore, he is also a Clinical Electrophysiologist; he is an expert in EEG, EKG, and EMG. Finally, he has worked ever since in Pharmaceutical, Biotechnological, and Med-Tech companies using approaches such as Immuno-Oncology such as Monoclonal Antibodies and Oncolytic Virus Therapy, as well as working for an NYC based Consulting company that directly re-organized and re-structure the finance team of Johnson & Johnson.
Biography
He is the son and grandson of Medical Doctors and Physicians, he left his seat at the only Medical School in 2010, in the entire west of the country to study in the US. However, he completed 2 Bachelors of Science in Psychology and Biology, 2 Masters degrees; an MS in Neurobiology & Neuropsychology and an MA in Rehabilitation Medicine. All of this, before finishing his Doctoral degree in Health, Movement, and Rehabilitation Sciences specializing in Concussion as a Cognitive-Motor Neuroscientist, working with patients. Just as he did throughout his 5 years of professional graduate studies, Luigi worked in simultaneous clinical trials at the Med-Tech Rehabilitation Research and Movement Performance (RRAMP) as a graduate research assistant. He gained more autonomy and independence and worked as a Project Manager and Research Director of his Doctoral Thesis studies. As well as being more involved in the multiple trials he was selected to work in. Remarkably, he was the youngest and the only Hispanic student in both his Master's and Ph.D. graduate programs. The latter is the only interdisciplinary and translational program of the US focused on Clinical Health. Remarkably, Luigi completed his Doctoral Studies while working in multiple Clinical Trials of Spinal Cord Injury, in record time (less than 4 years).
In addition to graduating on record time, Luigi worked as an Adjunct University Professor for multiple graduate courses in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program with 350 students in the class, Biology labs, Statistical Courses, and Psychology classes for Undergraduate Students, and has extensive experience in advising and mentoring individual students as well as working with focus groups. Regarding his multiple University Extra-Curricular Activities during Graduate School, Luigi worked as Graduate Student Government (GSG) for 3 years as a Communications & Policy Director. In this role, he oversaw and conducted the interviews recruiting of the entire staff, organizing visits to DC and Albany, Senate Meeting, Executive Meetings, for the GSG of Stony Brook University (SBU). Finally, throughout his undergraduate students, he worked for 3 years as an Academic Peer Advisor, 2 years as a Resident Assistant and Tutor, and 3 years as a Supplemental Instructor Leader/Teaching Assistant.
He has worked continuously after graduating as a Doctor in August 2019, first by translating neuroscience and psychological principles to marketing and business development in different firms in NYC. Right after and ever since May 2020, he continues to advance in the science field by working in Research & Development in Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Non-profit organizations, and for Medical Doctors in their respective Private Practices treating patients. As well as his Doctoral research, he used psychometrics, cognitive-behavioral-based methods, and electrophysiological devices as a Ph.D. researcher, he is passionate about multitasking (shift tasking), searches for a role where can add value to the company in multiple ways. He has a high work ethic, and his solving problem approach is an interdisciplinary and hybrid method consisting of understanding the "how" and "why" of every problem, and both the need of the student and the parents. He uses his research method to satisfy the needs of any client he is working with. Luigi puts a strong emphasis on matching at best the diverse personality and culture of the client. He has seen both positivity chemistry helps to build a strong relationship and success. Luigi is far beyond determined and passionate about continue building credibility with a successful corporate track record and helping others thrive in the US, by being the advisor he received help from.
Luigi is always driven to earn the respect of his supervisors, match the corporate culture, share his positive mentality and skills with his colleagues, and grow professionally within different industries that the firm works with. His academic training and professional R&D experience have focused on multiple medical fields such as Genetic Engineering, Molecular Neurobiology, Endocrinology, Dermatology, Immuno-Oncology, obesity, infectious diseases. He uses his spare time to continue to learn to become a better scientist, so he does research, grow as a consultant, and mastering multiple medical fields such as Neurology, Psychiatry, Physical Medical & Rehabilitation. As well as reading current literature on different pathologies such as neurodegeneration, as well as multiple diseases of the brain including different forms of dementia, addictions, and cancer. However, for fun, Sports and Music always helps as entertainment too.
Qualifications
Michael Smith is a graduate of Concordia University (B.Comm,
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Academic Consultant
Professor Paige Davis is an Academic Consultant serving both corporate and collegiate partners. She has worked in the education sector for twenty years, primarily in higher education where she accepted her first faculty assignment at age 26. Throughout her tenure in higher education, Paige has taught thousands of undergraduate students taking courses in public speaking, interpersonal communication, business communication, and teacher preparation. She has taken on roles including department chair, district-level curriculum committees, regional accreditation teams and traveled to Jakarta to assist in the establishment of an Indonesian partner campus.
Paige graduated with a BA in Communication from Concordia University as an undergraduate. She went on to attend the University of Texas at Tyler where she received a MA in Teaching, graduating with honors. Paige completed doctoral work at Northeastern University and is currently ABD status at the College of Professional Studies, Doctor of Education, Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership.
Aside from spending time with family, Paige truly enjoys mentoring students of all ages. She also serves on the Board of Directors for PFLAG San Antonio and advocates for human rights.
Peter is a UK-qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a MA in Finance from Dublin City University, Ireland.
His career followed a classic accounting and finance career advancement profile predominantly working in multi-national companies.
He has served as the Chief Financial Officer of a number of privately held national and multi-national companies as well as publicly listed multi-national companies, quoted on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in the United Kingdom and on the Nasdaq Stock Market in the USA.
As his career developed, he traversed the globe, living and working in Asia, Europe, and North America leading multi-cultural workforces within national and multi-national companies in his capacity as a ‘C' level executive.
He now serves as a financial, operational, and strategic consultant to national and international businesses advising both founders starting out on their business journey and entrepreneurs focused on the development and growth of their businesses in both national and international settings.
Latterly, he has become involved, in an international setting, in the formal tutoring and mentoring of final-year high school, undergraduate, graduate, and mature students in the business-related fields of accounting, economics, finance and management.
Peter provides not only the academic understanding required by students in line with their course syllabus, where applicable but also an experience perspective of the application of technical knowledge as pertaining to the real world of business.
In his spare time, Peter has a keen interest in history and political economy and keeps himself active as a daily runner and martial arts practitioner of one of the founding Karate styles.
Richard was born and raised in the UK, and studied medicine at the Royal London Hospital. He graduated with honours, and then went on to study Internal Medicine and cardiology, before switching to Family Practice. Being a bit of a humanitarian, humorist and people lover, this change suited his more patient centred approach to Medicine.
He then moved to Newfoundland to pursue an interest in extreme rural medicine, and worked on the south coast of the island for over 10 years, often being the only doctor around for hundreds of miles. He forged close links with Memorial University, made some lifelong friends and began teaching students and residents.
After sitting the Canadian board exams and College of Family Physicians exams . Richard moved to Penticton in British Columbia. He works as a Hospitalist and family doctor, with an interest in care of the elderly and palliative care. He is a champion of a more empathetic, patient centred approach to medicine , as well as the use of humour and sympathy in the workplace.
Since 2007, Richard has worked on, acted in, and written questions for the "office simulation" part of the College of Family Physicians of Canada exam, the CCFP.
One day he hopes to grow up and to drive a train, preferably a steam locomotive. He also likes some peculiar rock bands and considers himself, in his own mind, to be a movie expert.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Co - Founder and Member of the Advisory Board of the LOT Network
Biography
Rodger Sadler is a senior Technology, Business, and Intellectual Property lawyer, admitted to the bar in both the U.S. (New York) and Canada (Ontario).
Rodger studied law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Canada (with an exchange semester at Northwestern Law School in Chicago). Rodger has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Physics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a graduate degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.
Rodger honed his legal expertise during thirteen years at the Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe law firm in New York, where he was a partner.
Rodger also has extensive and international in-house legal experience at technology and financial services companies like Canon, BMO Financial Group (Bank of Montreal), and Mastercard.
In addition, Rodger is a co-founder and member of the Advisory Board of the LOT Network, an innovation-focused startup he co-founded with colleagues from Google. The LOT Network is growing globally and currently has more than 1000 members, ranging from:
from fast-growing startups like Lyft, Pandora, Slack, and Square;
to global technology, e-commerce, financial services, and AI giants like Amazon, Alibaba, American Express, Facebook, JD.com, Microsoft, Shopify, TD Bank, Tencent, Tesla, Twitter, Uber, and Visa.
Salman brings over 28 years of experience in the academia, public and private sector organizations in North America, Middle East, South Asia, and Europe. He specializes in coaching and mentoring aspiring students and professionals in Business, Engineering and Computer Science and has credentials from top tier B-Schools in MBA, Management and International Business. He is also a certified Project Management Professional and a Management Consultant. He has worked as a career educator and co-op specialist at a top tier Canadian University and specializes in preparing International candidates for co-op and career work placements. Able to support candidates for admission to business, engineering and computer science programs at top tier university in undergraduate and graduate masters and PhD programs.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Management Accountant
- Consultant
Sheena is a Chartered Management Accountant and Chartered Institute of Personnel Development member with 15 years experience across Human Resource Management and Change Management Advisory. Sheena has had the opportunity to build her experience across different business models including, listed FTSE 100 companies, partnership model in private practice and a Y Combinator backed startup, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge from her career and personal experiences.
Sheena studied for her A Levels in London UK, after which she went on to study Accounting and Finance at LSE, completing her summer internship at a large FTSE 100 Bank in London. She went on to her final year at LSE, pursuing milk round interviews, after which she went on to gain her accounting qualification from the big four. After several years of international experience, working in London and Dubai, Sheena decided to pursue a career change, completing her Chartered Institute of Personnel Development at FTSE 100 bank. Sheena continues to live as an expat in Dubai with her family and continues to pursue excellence in the Human Resources space in a Fintech.
Her professional experience includes designing and delivering performance management and Learning and Development programmes. This is something Sheena is keen to leverage and support Bearing Academy clients with; identifying their academic and career choices, navigating a path to achieve these goals, continuing to learn and grow as they do this. Sheena's significant academic and professional experience put her in good stead to support individuals. Sheena looks forward to working with you.
Professor William Swadling, MA (Oxon), LLM (Lond) is Reader in the Law of Property at the University of Oxford and the Senior Law Fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford. He chairs the faculty's teaching groups in Restitution and Personal Property.
Before coming to Oxford, he held posts at a number of other universities, including University College London and Trinity College, Cambridge.
He is the editor of a number of books, including The Quistclose Trust: Critical Essays. He is particularly interested in the intersection between trusts/property and restitution, and a number of his articles on this topic have been cited in the English courts, including the House of Lords and UK Supreme Court.
He is a founding editor of the Restitution Law Review and has held visiting professorships at the University of Hamburg, Seoul National University, the National University of Singapore, University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), and the University of Hong Kong.
He is an academic associate at One Essex Court (chambers of Lord Grabiner QC), a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne, an elected member of the American Law Institute, and an academic member of the Chancery Bar Association.
He was for many years the Tutor for Admissions at Brasenose College, co-ordinating the admission of students in all undergraduate subjects. He was also the law faculty's Tutor for Graduates, where he was in charge of admissions for the faculty's prestigious postgraduate degrees of BCL and MJur. He is a frequent visitor to Hong Kong, where he continues to teach at HKU.
Zaheed attended Haileybury College in Melbourne Australia. He holds a B.Com majoring in Accounting and Strategic Management and an LL.B (Honours) from Monash University and a Masters of Commercial Law (Honours) from the University of Melbourne. He is a qualified and practicing senior lawyer in Australia.
Zaheed is a purposeful, values based, emotionally aware leader that enables, empowers and aims to inspire people to live their purpose and deliver excellence. He has over 10 years people leadership experience with recognized capabilities in instilling trust, courage, collaboration, customer focus and delivering results. He has over 18 years international and national legal experience in major projects, mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance and advisory, general commercial law, commercial dispute resolution, financial services, intellectual property, information technology, privacy and employment law.
After graduating with a double degree in Commerce & Law, Zaheed undertook his articles of clerkship legal training with Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson Waldron), one of the top law firms in Australia. After several years working in their corporate M&A practice, he joined a leading 150-year-old Melbourne law firm Abbott Stillman Wilson where he specialized in providing general corporate & commercial advice. With a strong interest in international business law, he then pursued an LL.M specialising in international commercial law with a focus on Asia at the University of Melbourne, graduating with honours. Having undertaken a previous secondment at ExxonMobil, Zaheed decided to pursue his career as an in-house lawyer. Zaheed has gone on to work as a senior lawyer for some of Australia's leading organisations including top 20 ASX listed companies AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd (AXA), AMP Ltd (AMP), AustralianSuper and more recently Insurance Australia Group Ltd (IAG). He has also held the position of Board Director for subsidiary companies within AXA and AMP.
Zaheed has a strong interest in leadership, people leadership management training. He has had the privilege of attending numerous leadership and management training programs with the University of Melbourne Business School, The European Institute of Purchasing Management in Paris, Scotwork's Global Negotiation Programme, Axialent's Global Leadership Programme and Duke University.
Zaheed has been both a mentee and mentor for over 20 years. He believes strongly in learning, education, career, life advisory and giving back to the institutions that supported him and the legal profession. He has been a mentor for the Haileybury College Mentoring Program, the Monash University Mentoring Program, the CGU Women's Mentoring Program and the Australian Corporate Lawyer Association/Association Corporate Counsel Mentoring Programs. He has recently been invited to be a mentor at the University of Melbourne Law School.
Outside of work, Zaheed loves spending time with his wife Natalie and his three children, getting into the kitchen to a cook an amazing meal (he is a big fan of Jamie Oliver), reading, keeping fit and supporting his AFL team, the Hawthorn Football Club.