FHA Seminar speakers

Angela Er

Lecturer & Programmes Facilitator - Asian Culinary Institute

Angela has 13 years of teaching experience and 22 years in hospitality which includes aviation and hotel industry. Her expertise areas are customer service, restaurant operations and beverages both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. She offers insights that bridge the worlds of education with a particular focus on F&B intricacies and food safety practices.

Belinda Lee

Director, Jurong Cold Store

Mrs Lee Belinda is co-founder of Jurong Cold Store Pte Ltd (JCS) in 1996. In 2000, JCS built a fully automated storage and retrieval 2000 pallet space cold store. in 2016, JCS constructed a new building with 15,000 pallet space using swisslog system. JCS is now a fourth-party logistics provider (4PL) managed by her son Mr. Darren Lee. Mrs Lee Belinda is director of JCS Shrimps Pte Ltd. (JCSS), a wholly owned subsidiary of JCS. JCSS has a 400 ha shrimp farm with a fully automated processing factory in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

Chea Weiqiang

Senior Development Partner, Accreditation & Assurance Division - Enterprise Singapore

Weiqiang oversees industry development efforts of the TIC industry at EnterpriseSG, with specific focus on the Food and Agriculture sector.

Chong Nyet Chin

Director, Food Safety & Quality - Fairprice Group

Ms Chong holds a Science degree in Chemistry from National University of Singapore, and an MBA from Leicester University, UK. She has over 20 years’ experience in the areas of quality assurance and food safety, well-versed in GMP, HACCP, ISO 9001 and ISO 22000, Organic Standards, six Sigma and Total Quality Management.

As a technical professional, she is currently the Technical Chair of food processing & distribution under Singapore food standard committee. She has been working with government authorities such as SFA and Enterprise Singapore in areas of Cold Chain Management Standards, Organic certification, FMCG standards and Food Safety Regulations. In 2017, she received the Merit award for Quality and Standards given by ESG, endorsing her contributions to the Singapore standards journey.

In her current position in FairPrice, she is responsible for the overall control of the food safety and quality assurance system as well as regulatory management for the Co-operatives. Due to keen interest in quality management systems and strong belief that a strong foundation in system will build a strong brand, she has helped Fairprice in developing the risk management framework and various control measures in fulfilling the vision of assuring food safety from source to store.

Cindy Soh

Manager - Asian Culinary Institute

Dr Cindy Soh is a Manager with Asian Culinary Institute (Nanyang Polytechnic) overseeing Programs. She is a food scientist by training with a special interest in food chemistry and cereal based food products. Cindy has worked in both the F&B as well as Food Manufacturing industries before joining the teaching profession.

Dickson Yeo

Senior Logistic Consultant - Swisslog Logistics Automation

Eunice Ng

Technical Director - Ugene Laboratories Pte Ltd

Technical Director of Ugene Lab with 30 years of microbio testing experience and expertise in development of new methods and conduct of analytical testing

Eric Chow

Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Faesol Pte Ltd

Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Faesol, overseeing export of its food products across Asia Pacific, Middle-East, China and US.

Flex Tio

Senior Specialist (Teaching & Learning) - Nanyang Polytechnic

Flex Tio is a pragmatic technology evangelist who likes to explore the practical use of technology to improve the way we work. In Nanyang Polytechnic, he promotes the use of Infocomm Technology to enable engaging and effective teaching and learning in the classrooms.

Before this, he was an Applied R&D Engineer with the Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies, bringing content analytics and visual analytics technology to his improve the work of his users.

Karthik Bakthavathsalem

Lecturer, School of Business Management - Nanyang Polytechnic

Mr Karthik Bakthavathsalem has spent over 20 years of his Hotel, Food & Beverage career in various organisations including Radisson Blu Hotels, Next Hotels, Outback Steakhouse - Southeast Asia, Chili’s Bar and Grill - USA and Singapore before switching to education to groom the next generation of talent.

Passionate about restaurant operations, market strategy, training, mixology and establishing restaurants from ground up Karthik has been involved in various restaurants opening, hiring and establishing brand standards in the Asia market. He is a holder of Bachelors in Science, Hotel & Restaurant operations from Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom and Masters in Education from Nanyang Technological University.

Lim Yu Yi

Manager, Corporate and Industry Partnerships - Health Promotion Board

With over six years of experience in fostering partnerships with the industry, Lim Yu Yi, manager of the Corporate and Industry Partnerships Department at Health Promotion Board, plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between industry stakeholders and government. Her expertise lies in understanding and incorporating ground-level feedback into polices and campaigns, ensuring a holistic approach. She is passionate about driving collaborations that create a healthier living ecosystem.

Loh Win Nie

Acting Head, Centre of Applied Nutrition Services - Temasek Polytechnic

Win Nie serves as the Acting Centre Head at Temasek Polytechnic's Centre for Applied Nutrition Services, bringing to the role over a decade of comprehensive experience in the fields of nutrition and dietetics. Her professional journey is marked by deep expertise in specialised areas such as diabetes care, geriatric, and renal nutrition.

Beyond her clinical and nutritional expertise, Win Nie has distinguished herself in academia and project management, particularly within health and nutrition areas. Her dedication to education and nurturing the next generation of nutrition professionals is evidenced by her tenure as a lecturer, where she has been instrumental in managing projects that bridge theoretical knowledge with practical applications in health and nutrition.

As a passionate advocate for the transformative power of nutrition, Win Nie's mission extends beyond the classroom. She aims to influence a wide spectrum of future food industry players, from emerging farmers to aspiring dietitians, underscoring the critical role of proper nutrition in shaping healthier communities and a more sustainable food system.

Mark Richards

Senior Specialist (Marine Biotech) & Senior Lecturer, School of Applied Science - Nanyang Polytechnic

Mark Richards is a stem cell biologist by training. Mark completed his BSc (Hons) and PhD at the National University of Singapore. He currently leads the life sciences research team at Nanyang Polytechnic.

Mark is well-trained in primary cell culture strategies, cell characterization techniques, and animal-free media development. He was responsible for developing the world's first, “Xeno-free” human embryonic stem cell lines for regenerative medicine early in his career at ES Cell International Pte Ltd.

More recently, he has been working in the Cultivated Seafood space, developing solutions to address cost and technical hurdles which affect the cultivated seafood industry.

Richard Khaw

Deputy Director, School of Applied Science - Nanyang Polytechnic

Mr Richard Khaw is a Deputy Director with the School of Applied Science in Nanyang Polytechnic and the Cluster Lead for NY360 initiative in Food Cluster: From Farm to Fork. He is one of the Board Directors for the International Union of Food Science & Technology (IUFoST) and the president of the Singapore Institute of Food Science and Technology (SIFST) since 2017. Richard is also a member and past president of the Federation of Institutes of Food Science & Technology in ASEAN (FIFSTA) as well as a member of the Award and Competition Committee of IUFoST.

At national level, Richard is a member of the National Codex Committee for Food Safety and the Co-Chair of the Food Safety Technical Committee under the Food Standard Committee of Standard Development Organisation. He is also a member of the Chemical & Biological Testing Technical Committee and the Proficiency Testing Technical Committee for ISO17025 under the Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC). In addition, Richard is the lead assessor and technical assessor for ISO17025 accreditation for SAC since 2009.

Richard received his master’s degree in Food Science and Technology from the University of New South Wales specializing in Food Safety and his Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the National University of Singapore.

Song Sin Nee

Deputy Director, School of Applied Science, Republic Polytechnic

Sin Nee is currently the deputy director in School of Applied Science at Republic Polytechnic, overseeing all the continuing and education training. As a certified ACTA (Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment) and DACE (Diploma in Adult and Continuing Education) trainer and lesson designer, Sin Nee works with various industry partners, institute of higher learning, government agencies, associations and universities to curate training programmes for adult learners to upskill and contribute to the workforce. Sin Nee has been passionate about urban sustainability programmes. She had completed a project funded by National Research Foundation (NRF) to process full range of waste grease into renewable energy and also an ignition grant from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) to pursue market-driven research and accelerate innovations towards commercialization. She has worked with academia and industry practitioners and government agencies to roll our training programmes such as the Specialist Diploma in Environmental and Corporate Sustainability, goEco Ambassador programme, masterclass with Japan Plant Factory Association and the Sustainable Agriculture: Clean and Green Standard for Urban Farms, Environmental Control Coordinator course and Zero Waste Manager course.

Tan Sim Bee

Senior Certification Manager, Guardian Independent Certification Group Pte Ltd(GICG)

Senior Certification Manager at GICG who manages the development and implementation of new certification programs

Tan Tsu Soo

Senior Specialist (Computational Analysis) - Nanyang Polytechnic

Tan Tsu Soo is trained in France and is actively involved in research and development in computational analysis at Nanyang Polytechnic. He teaches Healthcare Analytics for the Diploma in Biomedical Engineering at NYP. He has been teaching the use of Excel for introductory data analytics for the past 4 years.

Tay Mia Eng

Assistant Director, Policy & Strategy Development - Health Promotion Board

Mia Eng is an experienced senior with a demonstrated history of working with the industry to collaborate on nutrition-related projects. She is currently an assistant director at Health Promotion Board (HPB), Policy & Strategic Department, in which the division’s mission is formulating public health policies and strategies, as HPB progresses beyond promotional approaches to employ regulatory and policy levers to modify health behaviours.

Her portfolio includes sugar reduction, implementation of Whole-of-Government policies, review of healthier choice symbol requirements, conduct consumer studies on new polices, review of public health findings in the area of diet and nutrition as well as market data from a wide range of sources, and develop evidence-based policies and strategies that address public health gaps in the general and targeted populations.

Prior to joining HPB, she was a Senior Specialist (Human Nutrition) & Senior Lecturer in Nanyang Polytechnic in which she led and managed the Nutrition Science Translational Research Group and was also the course manager for the Specialist Diploma in Nutrition Study. She had completed several public health related projects and conducted nutrition talks for the public as well as to the industry.

Mia Eng has a PhD focused in Public Health Nutrition from Newcastle University.

Terence Chia

General Manager, Institutional Catering Management & Food Manufacturing Division - Fairprice Group

Terence is no stranger in managing a large team and steering them to achieve the goals and objectives set out by the Management.

He’s a “veteran” with more than 17 years of experience working within the Labour Movement. He started out with NTUC First Campus, one of the Social Enterprises under NTUC, in 2006 working in SEED Institute – the training centre to groom educators for the early childcare sector. As the Head of Business & Operations, apart from managing the daily operations of the institute, he was also the main driver to initiate many new initiatives that were groundbreaking for the industry during those days e.g. started the Job Portal to match the teachers to available vacancies, cultivated a close partnership with WDA, partner overseas institutions for Degree and Master programmes, just to name a few. In 2014, he was promoted as the General Manager for Little Skool House International – the premier childcare centre under the NTUC First Campus group. With him helming the portfolio, he was able to ensure profitability while building a strong LSH “family” culture amongst the staff, teachers and the Management.

In January 2019, Terence joined NTUC Foodfare as Assistant General Manager to helm the Contract Catering business. Terence was promoted to General Manager in April, 2021 to manage a larger portfolio – Institutional Catering. Under his leadership & guidance, new inroads were made in the Nursing Homes and Childcare sectors which enable NTUC Foodfare to better serve the residents and children in these two industries. In December, 2022, Terence was tasked to manage another division – Food Manufacturing.

Victoria Cheng

Director - Raffles International Certification Pte Ltd

Director of Raffles International Certification with over 20 years of quality management experience in the areas of medical device, pharma and food and agriculture

Vijey Ananda

Senior Regulatory Advisor, ASEAN - Registrar Corp

Vijey Ananda is Senior Regulatory Advisor at Registrar Corp for ASEAN. Vijey has a background in Banking and Financial Services with 3 major international banks as well as broad industry experience, including regulatory compliance. He manages a team in ASEAN who assist local exporters of food and beverage, cosmetics, medical device and drug products at FHA with compliance with US FDA regulations. Vijey has an MBA from London Business School.

Wong Suat Li

Deputy Director, Population Health Campus - National Healthcare Group

Yeo Jo-Ann

Senior Manager, Policy & Strategy Development - Health Promotion Board

Jo-Ann is currently a Senior Manager at the Policy & Strategy Development Division of the Health Promotion Board, where she drives the strategic planning and roll-out of the sodium reduction strategy for Singapore. Prior to this, she was involved in the conceptualization and development of the Nutri-Grade measures for beverages.

Jo-Ann holds a Bachelor of Arts & Sciences degree in Health & Environment from University College London, and a Master in Public Health degree in Health Policy from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.