People
Our Board of Trustees are experts in their own fields, united by a passion and belief in the Teach For Malaysia mission. They work with our Senior Leadership Team to guide decision-making on strategic issues and to ensure the organisation stays committed to our mission and core values.
YAM Tunku Ali is Tunku Besar Seri Menanti of Negeri Sembilan. Beyond his state role, he divides his time between corporate, non-profit, and educational institutions.
He is Chairman of ASTRO, and Taliworks Corporation Berhad. He sits on the boards of Bangkok Bank Berhad and Sun Life Malaysia Assurance Berhad. He is Senior Advisor to TPG Capital, a global private equity firm, a Partner of Vynn Capital, and is Chairman of Yayasan Munarah and Cancer Research Malaysia. In addition, he is the President of WWF Malaysia, and a Trustee of Amanah Warisan Negara. He is Pro-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia and is Chairman of the Board of Governors of Marlborough College Malaysia, an International Council Member of Marlborough College, United Kingdom.
He holds a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and a BA (Hons) in History and Social & Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge In 2013, he was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and as an Asia 21 Young Leader by the Asia Society. Previously, Tunku Ali was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and Director of Investments at Khazanah Nasional Berhad.
Shahnaz Al-Sadat Abdul Mohsein is an independent promoter of education, talent development and social enterprise reforms for Malaysia. She was the Former Co-Founder of Arise Asia, Former Executive Trustee of Yayasan AMIR, Former Board Member of MINDA and Former Executive Director of Strategic Human Capital Management & CFO, Khazanah Nasional.
Shahnaz is currently the Chairperson of LeapEd Services and the Member of Board of Governors of Kolej Yayasan UEM.
She holds an LLB (Hons) degree from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Internal Auditor.
Chen Li-Kai is a Senior Partner and Managing Partner with McKinsey & Company Malaysia. His recent work is focused on education system transformation and public-private partnerships in education in the Asian region and globally.
Li-Kai is also the Former Global Head of the Education Practice of McKinsey & Company in Asia. McKinsey’s education practice conducts research on school systems worldwide and publishes global education reports such as the recent “How The World’s Most Improved School Systems Keep Getting Better” (December 2011).
Li-Kai holds a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, a Masters in Science degree in Risk in Management from the University of Reading and his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Central England.
Datuk Yvonne Chia is a Fellow Chartered Banker and is a Senior Independent Director of Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad and Silverlake Axis Ltd. She is also an Independent Non-Executive Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia, Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Berhad and is a Trustee for the Merdeka Trust Foundation.
A keen promoter of education, talent, and personal development, Datuk Yvonne sees education and personal development as tools for women empowerment to enable financial literacy and financial independence. She is particularly admired for her agility to move with the changing times, her grounded style of walking the talk, showing the way in the language of the audience of seniors, the young, and millennials, and the local communities she served. She sees her personal career success has set a path for women and girls to realise their full potential and economic worth through advocating opportunities that explore their potential choices be it in finance and other sectors.
Datuk Yvonne was credited by Forbes Asia as one of the top 50 Businesswomen in the Mix in 2013. In August 2014, she was also appointed Honorary Professor by the University of Nottingham.
Dato’ Tharuma Rajah is the Founder and CEO of Garage Analytics. He was formerly the Global Managing Director of Hay Group.
He has extensive experience in driving education transformation in Singapore and Australia. Dato’ Tharuma helps organisations develop and implement talent and leadership transformation interventions. He specialises in human resource management, strategy formulation, compensation, training and development, and industrial relations. He has served as Executive Coach to many CEOs in Asia Pacific, and has advised clients across a wide spectrum of industries ranging from finance, telecommunications, oil and gas, manufacturing, fast moving consumer goods, and the public sector.
Dato’ Tharuma holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London and has been called to the Bar of England and Wales. He is a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, United Kingdom. Dato’ Tharuma is also co-author of the book “The Indian CEO: A Portrait of Excellence”.
YBhg. Datuk Dr. Habibah was the former Director General of Education, having served the Ministry of Education (MOE) Malaysia for more than 34 years before her retirement in April 2021. She is currently a Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and is a member of the National Recovery Council.
YBhg. Datuk Dr. Habibah began her career as a secondary school teacher in Selangor and Kedah. Her positions include the Head of the Delivery Management Office for the Education National Key Economic Area, Executive Director of the Education Performance and Delivery Unit (PADU), Director of the Educational Planning and Research Division, and Deputy Director General of Education (Policy and Curriculum).
YBhg. Datuk Dr. Habibah graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Biology from the University of Salford in 1984. She later earned the degree of Master in Education in 1993 at the University of Bristol, and Master of Art in Sociology in 1999, followed by a Doctorate in Education in 2001 from Stanford University.
Meet The Senior Leadership Team
Soon Seng joined the inaugural Teach For Malaysia Cohort in 2012, and like many other Fellows and Alumni, the experience had a profound impact on his worldview.
He was deeply moved by the challenges faced by students growing up in low-income communities and how it was the lack of opportunities, rather than the lack of ability, that prevented students from realising their desired potential.
He holds a degree in Management and Marketing (Murdoch University) and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (Universiti Utara Malaysia).
He envisions a holistic education system that not only develops students’ academics, but also their social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and leadership skills, in order to thrive in the 21st century.
Zahirah Zulkifly, more fondly known as Zizi, is passionate about solving social issues.
She joined TFM in 2011 as a Recruitment and Selection Associate; the same time TFM’s first cohort began the programme. Having progressed into her current role, Zizi now leads TFM’s public sector partnerships, oversees our Alumni movement and manages TFM’s regional strategies and operations in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor and Sabah. She is responsible for creating collaboration opportunities with key players within the education ecosystem and to drive TFM’s impact as a movement for change.
Zizi enjoys traveling and the journey of discovery of other people and cultures, as well as oneself. She holds a Master of Business in Sustainability and Bachelor of Business & Commerce (International Business & Management) from Monash University Australia.
Ken Ming is a Psychology graduate from the University of South Australia and started off his career in Human Resources at KPMG.
In 2012, he joined the inaugural Cohort of Teach For Malaysia’s leadership development programme and taught English in a high-need school for 2 years.
Passionate about youth development and serving underprivileged communities, he was formerly the head of Talent Acquisition team and recruited Fellows from the 2015 – 2020 Cohorts, as well as co-developed new innovations like Program Duta Guru and various special projects like the Learning Box, Tutoring Programme, and Meta WeThinkDigital.
As Director of Community Mobilisation, the aspiration is to mobilise 30,000 people committed to tackling education inequity by 2030. people.
James joined the Teach For Malaysia Sarawak Cohort in 2015, and like many educators, have great ideas and intiatives for students. Despite having these ideas, James saw that teachers often lack proper support, funding, and guidance to implement them in the classroom. Therefore, he took up the role in training and coaching teachers as an LDO.
He obtained a degree in Marketing (Ohio University) Magna cum laude and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (Universiti Utara Malaysia). His vision of enabling and empowering people in the education system to create sustainable change fuels his leadership and commitment to the Program Duta Guru.
Li Ying started her career with Goldman Sachs in United States after pursuing her studies in Psychology and Business at Stony Brook University.
During her time in Goldman Sachs, she was a committee member of the Women’s Network and actively organised sessions which empowered and enhanced the experience of women professionals in the organisation.
Passionate in building the social sector, she subsequently joined Teach For Malaysia, a non-profit organisation with a mission to improve education by expanding opportunity for all children and led the recruitment team in seeking top graduates and young professionals to teach in high need schools across Malaysia.
She currently leads the Growth team where she cultivates and strengthens partnerships within the corporate sector, public community and also oversee the branding and marketing of the team.
Yi Ling joined Teach For Malaysia in 2013. Having been in multiple roles such as being the Recruitment Associate, Selection Manager and Talent & Operations Manager, she believes that purpose, growth and holistic wellbeing are the key tenets to drive the organisation forward.
She is now the Head of Talent & Operations and plays a crucial role in overseeing all talent related matters in the organisation, including recruiting and developing passionate talent to work towards TFM’s mission and co-creating a culture that allows people to bring their best and whole self to work. She aspires for Teach For Malaysia to be the greatest place to work – to realise the full potential of all talent in TFM, so that they can then translate their skills and passion into impact, which will realise the full potential of all children in Malaysia.
Music is a key part of Yi Ling’s self-care routine, she loves listening to jazz and playing the piano to unwind from the world. She holds a Bachelor of Accounting from Multimedia University Melaka.
Be Part of the Solution
It takes a village to raise a child, our work is brought to life because we are joined by so many like-minded partners, supporters, volunteers, individual donors and fundraisers along the way.
Lead Change In Classrooms
Learn about the Fellowship, our award-winning leadership development programme
Support Our Daily Work
Help us continue to transform education for children who need it the most
Partner With Us
Collaborate with us to be part of the education movement impacting students in Malaysia
Join the Team
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