Mr. Kenneth Cheong
Managing Director , PSB Academy
 

Mr. Kenneth Cheong is a Managing Director with Baring Private Equity Asia (“Baring Asia”) in the firm’s Singapore office. Mr Cheong joined Baring Asia in 1998 and has been involved in various investments across Asia in industries such as branded consumer food, consumer services, education and healthcare products. Mr. Cheong leads the firm’s activities in South East Asia and serves as a member on Baring Asia’s investment committee.

He has also been involved with the Firm’s investments in Korea, the U.S. and India. Prior to joining Baring Asia, Mr. Cheong was with BZW Asia for three years where he was involved in merger and acquisition and equity capital market transaction in South East Asia, India and China. Prior to that, Mr. Cheong was a member of the real estate corporate banking team in DBS Bank.

Mr. Cheong graduated with First Class Honors in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the London School of Economics.
 

Mr. Kosmo Kalliarekos
Managing Director , PSB Academy
 

Mr. Kalliarekos is a Managing Director with Baring Private Equity Asia. Mr. Kalliarekos was founding member and Senior Partner of The Parthenon Group, a strategic advisory firm with offices in Boston, London, San Francisco and Mumbai. Mr. Kalliarekos headed the firm’s Education Industry Center of Excellence. For over 20 years he has advised clients on issues related to operational excellence, strategy development and growth.

Parthenon’s client relationships span several industries and range from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. The sectors that his clientele represent include; consumer products, financial services, information publishing, educational publishing, technology and services. Prior to this position, Mr. Kalliarekos was employed as a consultant with Bain & Company.

Mr. Kalliarekos holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and was also a Baker Scholar, with an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
 

Dr. Joshua Kuma
Director , PSB Academy
 

Dr Joshua has served as a Director of Operations, and was one of the founding members to set up a R&D centre dealing with natural resources, supported by the Economic Development Board (EDB). The “Minerals, Metals and Materials Technology Center” (M3TC) sits within the National University of Singapore. In the past 15 years, he assumed several senior managerial positions of increasing responsibility, including his recent employment as an Executive Director of a Singapore main board listed company which deals with natural resources.

He has wide range of experiences in the field of natural resources extraction and has conducted coal, oil, gas and mining work in Indonesia & Philippines. His vast portfolio illustrates his deep involvement in the natural resources-related areas. Dr Kuma has also been invited to give numerous presentations on carbon capture from the coal fire power plants and reutilization. At a recent meeting among ASEAN plus Three (China, Japan, Korea) Countries, Dr Joshua was nominated by EDB to represent Singapore, and presented on the Montage of Singapore’s Geospatial Initiatives.

He has a Doctorate in Engineering and received numerous awards during his studies. He is also a prestigious inventor of the two patented technologies.
 

Mr. Jimmy Mahtani
Director , PSB Academy
 

Mr. Mahtani is a Managing Director with Baring Private Equity Asia and is primarily responsible for Baring Private Equity's investments in South and South East Asia. At Baring, he has led investments across education, financial services, consumer goods and infrastructure sectors. Mr. Mahtani was previously a Vice President with General Atlantic Partners ("GAP") in Mumbai, whose India office he founded. During his tenure at GAP, he was responsible for India investments. Previously, he worked for Bear Stearns & Co., Inc. in New York and Merrill Lynch in Washington D.C.

Mr. Mahtani graduated with honors from Georgetown University, where he received a B.Sc. in Business Administration with a triple major in Finance, International Business and Marketing. Mr. Mahtani was born in Singapore and is fluent in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Hindi.
 

Dr. Steve Lai
Chief Executive Officer, PSB Academy 

Dr Steve Lai is an Industrial Chemist by training and obtained his Ph.D from the Loughborough University of Technology, UK. He also completed post-doctoral research on natural product synthesis at the University of Nottingham and is a chartered chemist and member of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (MRIC). Before joining the former Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research (SISIR) in 1985, he spent over 6 years in research working in the field of drug discovery at G.D. Searle, UK and quality assurance of pharmaceutical manufacturing in Pfizer Central Research, UK.

Dr. Lai was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer of PSB Corporation on 1 April 2001. Prior to this, he was General Manager (Technology & Quality Assurance) of the former Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (PSB) and subsequently, the PSB Corporation.

Currently, Dr Lai is the Chief Executive Officer of the PSB Academy Pte Ltd.