Wednesday, April 13, 2011

刘威海 Bill Liu Wei Hai

William Liu completed his secondary 4 in 1963 at Catholic High School.

He retired as Chief Executive Officer of IT and e-commerce business Green Dot Capital in 20007. But, barely after six months into his retirement, he started with his former business associates Stream Global, an IT venture catalyst firm. The firm, which operates out of a 1,000 sq ft office in Genting Lane, focuses on companies in the infocomm, digital media and mobile technologies sector.

He is the Chairman and Managing Partner of the company. Unlike a venture capital company, a venture catalyst - a term coined by him - not only invests in start-ups but also mentors its young entrepreneurs.

He is currently also the the Chairman of W3 Infocomm Group Pte Ltd, a boutique VC.

Bill, as he is more commonly known, started his career in the I.T. industry in 1970.after graduating with a B.Sc Hons in Mechanical Engineering from University of Manchester and an M.Sc in OR & Management Studies from Imperial College.


From 2001 to 2006 he was President of Green Dot Capital Pte Ltd, which invested in start-up and early stage companies, globally. It was also the holding company of Singapore Computer Systems Ltd and SNP Corporation Ltd, both were listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.


Prior to joining Green Dot Capital, he was the President & CEO of ABACUS International, Asia’s premier Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and Computer Reservations Systems (CRS) company and a joint venture company with Sabre, Inc of USA. Bill was responsible for its operations and profitable growth that spanned 20 countries in the Asia Pacific.


Prior to joining ABACUS, he was International Computers Ltd’s (ICL) Regional Vice President for Asia and concurrently the non-executive Chairman of the Singapore operations. He also served as General Manager of ICL Taiwan for a year in 1992.


He is currently a Board member of SISTIC.com Pte Ltd, the National Library Board and Monte Jade Singapore. He was the co-chairman of the Singapore British Business Council IT/Software Sub-Committee and Board member of Singapore Computer Systems. Mr Liu was actively involved in IDA’s 2015 “Intelligent Nation, A Global City powered by Infocomm” Master Plan, sitting on 3 sub-committees, viz. Infocomm Competency Council, Financial Services and Enterprise Development.


He was a past Chairman of the Singapore Federation of the Computer Industry (SFCI) from 1995 to 1998 and a Board member of the Singapore National Computer Board and the Institute of Systems Science. He is also a past President of the Operational Research Society of Singapore.


He says that starting Stream Global was a case of better late than never. 'If I were to start all over again, I would do it earlier as it is good to try things when you are young. Then, I would have had a longer time to decide if owning a business is really what I want to do,' he says.


These days, he reckons he drinks more coffee than ever before, thanks to daily meetings with potential and existing mentees to review their business strategies.


But he still has time to pursue his interests such as qigong. He has stopped playing golf due to a frozen shoulder.


While his wife supports his decision to work, she feels that he should not stress himself too much either. 'She knows that I tend to exert myself too much,' he says.


'But working keeps me mentally and physically fit, especially now that I enjoy what I am doing. It gives me satisfaction to be able to offer my experience and contribute to the creative and innovative eco- system,' he says.
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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Passing of Marist Brother Noel Wang Shuang Hui 公教中学前教务主任王双会修士逝世

Our ex-teacher Brother Noel Wang has passed away on the afternoon of 8th April.  Brother Joseph, our ex-Principal shares his thoughts and memories of Brother Noel. 

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On the demise of Bro. Noel Wang, Friday afternoon, 8th April , when I heard the news from Bro. Thomas Chin, my immediate superior, I was about to have my interview with an important personage none other than Rev. Bro. John Klein, an American, the General Councillor from Marist Brothers Generalate, Rome, My personal feeling is that of perplexity, very difficult to describe.

I know Bro. Noel Wang (Wang Shouan Hui) since our childhood days: He was born in Baxian, near Beijing on 25th Dec. 1927 Christmas Day-- Noel in French, and I was born in Beijing 21 Nov. the same year. So I was more than a month his senior. But in real life, I was his senor all the time: In secondary school juniorate and novitiate, Chala, Beijing he was a year behind me, I left China in 1949, he came out of China in 1950 after the Liberation, and when I finished my B.A. at Marist College Poughkeepsie N. Y. and came to teach at Catholic High School, Queen St. Singapore, he managed to come to Bukit Mertajam and teach in a Primary School. When I was appointed Principal at Catholic High 1960 , he managed to work under me as Senior Teacher Primary Morning Session till I left CHS in 1974, he then was shifted to Maris Stella High School to teach.

Somewhere between 1964 and 1968 he had his study leave to obtain his B.A. Chinese Lit. at JouHai University, Hong Kong before re-joining the Catholic High staff.

I spent 14 years at St. Francis Xavier's College, Hong Kong, Kowloon and 6 years Rome, Italy then finally I settled in Singapore 1994 at Flower Road , Upper Serangoon to live in the same Community with Bro. Noel Wang after his having worked in Singapore , Ipoh, Taiwan Kaohsiung in ongoing formation in Rome at Fratelli Maristi EUR Roma where we could meet for more than half a year.

Well, you see I could very well say Bro. Noel has been my life companion even during his long, long sickness in the last few years of his earthly abode. I could very well confirm that the late Bro. Noel was up-right in his conduct, sincere to his belief and an outstanding educator ...

Bro. J. D. Chang (Chang She-Dien)