Conveners

In alphabetical order:

Ahmad Fahmi Mohd Saldi (Born April 4, 1985) is an engineer, socialite and an aspiring entrepreneur. Graduated from University of Manchester in Civil Engineering. He recently completed his MBA (Construction Business) from International Islamic University. He was an event coordinator for Malaysian Students Society of Manchester before being elected as Vice Chairman of UKEC (2004/2005). He is currently working in the oil & gas industry. Budding to be a millionaire, he is actively involved in various business ventures and participates as well as organized numerous charity events.

Alia Ishak was born in January 1988. She is an Economics graduate from Queen Mary University of London in which she holds a degree in BSc Economics, Mathematics and Statistics. Previously, she has headed the Queen Mary Malaysian Society as the President before moving on to being an active member in the United Kingdom & Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC) for 3 years whereby she was appointed as the Project Director for the Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit (MSLS), and the National Liaison Officer. Alia is now back in Malaysia and currently pursuing her dream to be a future successful Investment Banker, whereby she has recently started off her career life and is now working in CIMB Investment Bank Berhad.

Chen Chow Yeoh is an alumnus of Cornell University, majoring in Electrical & Computer Engineering, with minors in Industrial System & IT, Information Science and Engineering Management. He is currently Product Manager at JobStreet.com. Prior to this, he was a management consultant with Accenture. He was instrumental in growing ReCom.org (The Worldwide Malaysian Students Network) since 2003. He is currently Secretary of Malaysian Mensa Society and American Universities Alumni Malaysia, Chairman of Cornell Alumni Admission Ambassador Network. His professional CV is at http://pitchyourtalent.com/chenchow.

Christopher Tock completed his SPM at Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar, Mantin in 2001 and obtained straight As for A-levels in 2003 as a KTJ Scholarship award recipient. Before graduating with a B.Sc degree in Joint Mathematics and Computer Science from Imperial College, London, he was previously the Director of Information Systems for the UK and Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC) from 2005 till 2007. He now actively involves himself in social unity and development through RandomAlphabets.com and a potential economical think tank via the Imperial College Alumni while working in ECM Libra Investment Bank as an e-Business developer. Follow him at www.spinzer.us or through his Twitter account where he also publishes YCM-related info, @spinzer.

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Cilia Chong graduated with LLB (Hons) in Law from Oxford Brookes University, UK. She was an active volunteer with K.E.E.N Oxford, as a peer coach to young athletes with special needs. She went to Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman for her pre-university studies on scholarship after completing high school in Ampang Road Girls’ School; and represented KDU College for the LAWASIA Moot Competition (Nationals) 2007. Currently functioning as Secretariat to the Young Corporate Malaysians, she is also pursuing her Legal Practicing Certificate at Brickfields Asia College. She likes to read, swim and travel, and has a passion for volleyball.

Iliyas Jamil, 25, graduated from Lancaster University in International Business (Economics). He was the President of Lancaster University Malaysian Students Society and subsequently elected to be the National Treasurer of UKEC, a coalition of more than 50 Malaysian student societies in the UK. His career started in 2007 with PNB as a Management Trainee. In 2008, he joined Accenture KL as an Analyst. In Accenture, he was involved with a few management consulting projects with Oil & Gas companies including an 8 month stint in Brunei. Currently, Iliyas is working as the Economic Development Analyst to the YAB Dato’ Menteri Besar of Selangor.

Joyce Tagal, educated at St. Teresa’s Secondary School Kuching, INTEC Shah Alam and Yale University in the United States. She is a political scientist by training, a journalist by interest and a researcher by profession. Joyce is the founder of the Northeast Malaysia Forum, an organization aimed at overseas Malaysians and dedicated to promoting civil conversation and action worldwide. She has previously worked with Malaysiakini in Kuala Lumpur and the Financial Times in London.

Khairizul Rizzuan, is currently an Executive in Group Director’s Office, K&N Kenanga Holdings Berhad, functioning as the Secretariat of the Transformation Management Office within the Kenanga Group.He is also the Head of the Working Committee for Leaders for Tomorrow. Khairizul read Law at King’s College London and previously served as the Chairman of the UKEC from October 2007 to October 2008.

Khatijah Rahmat was President of the Edinburgh Malaysian Students’ Association before completing her MA in Philosophy and Politics in 2007. She began her career as a Researcher for the regional stakeholder management consultancy Karim Raslan Associates. In early 2009, she served as an Editorial Executive for Malaysia’s largest listed company, Sime Darby Berhad. Currently she is a Consultant with global public relations firm Weber Shandwick. Khatijah is also a freelance writer, having written for publications such as Off The Edge magazine and The Malay Mail.

Mega Nopija Khalidi, is a relief operations officer with MERCY Malaysia, an NGO focused on providing medical aid and sustainable health-related development. Her interests include post-disaster reconstruction, supranational cooperation, Islam-West relation and the performing arts. Mega studied Global Security, Global Cultures and European Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Arabic language and culture at the International Language Institute, Cairo. Having analyzed the liberal-peacebuilding subject centered on the democratization efforts in Timor-Leste and Afghanistan, she also holds an MA in Management of Conflict and Peace from Universitaet Konstanz, Germany.

Mohd Reza Samsani graduated with an honours degree from the University of London in Economics and Management. Completed his ‘O’ Levels at Sayfol International School where he was the Vice President of the Student Council and Captain of the Sports Team and subsequently, pursued his ‘A’ Levels at Kemayan ATC. He had the privilege of work experience under the security management of the aviation sector and accounts dept. of a multi national corporation. Currently he is a Consultant with Covenant Equity Consulting, where amongst others, he had served the ICT and GLC sector. Being an avid sports lover, he still organizes and participates in sports activities amidst busy work commitments.

Rashdan Harith graduated from Cardiff University with an Honours Degree in LLB (Law). While in Cardiff, he was also the President of the Malaysian Student Society as well as Supreme Council member of the United Kingdom and Eire Council (UKEC). He is now an associate with local management consulting firm Ethos & Co and has served both public and private sector clients the Aviation and Security industries. Before joining Ethos, he worked with KAM Consults Sdn Bhd as a researcher dealing with the regulatory frameworks of the manufacturing industry. In addition, Rashdan is also a singer/songwriter and theatre performer.

Shahril Sufian Hamdan, 24-year old KL-born and bred residing in Damansara. Born to an ethnic Malay father and Chinese mother, and spending his childhood in lower middle class Shah Alam and went to a school in Taman Bukit Maluri, Kepong. Shahril was confronted with the contradictions and demands of class, and especially ethnic, identities very early in his life which, informed the birth of his political consciousness. Shahril left the University of Manchester in 2008 after completing an undergraduate course in Politics and Economics and hopes to return for postgraduate studies in sociology, as he finds that compared to politics (as an academic subject), it demands much more of the student critically and intellectually, and is not “surrounded by the pompousness that seems to go with studying politics”. Shahril currently works as an aide to a Member of Parliament and junior vice-resident of a certain political party.

siti Siti Kamariah Ahmad Subki, recently returned to Malaysia after a 4-year stint with Australian and American consulting firms in Sydney is currently a Senior Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers Kuala Lumpur. A Chartered Accountant by training, she graduated from the University of Sydney, Australia in 2002 with Bachelors of Commerce. A member of the Golden Key International Honor Society, she later obtained Masters of Commerce from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 2003. Actively involved in the Malaysian Students’ Council of Australia National Committee (MASCA) during its early days, she served as Treasurer in 2002 and subsequently re-elected as Secretary in 2003, drawing from her past experience as Secretary for Students Council at Kolej Yayasan UEM in 1999. When she is not busy counting numbers, she reads about issues from economics, politics, philosophy to history and does water colour painting.

Suhana Alia Sidek, is currently working in the Islamic Banking & Takaful department at Bank Negara Malaysia. Alia graduated from City University, London with BSc Actuarial Science in June 2009. She was actively involved in the UKEC (UK and Eire Council for Malaysian Students) from 2006 till 2008 and was the Project Director of the First Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit (MSLS). Alia is also the leading member of the TKC Class of 2003 Alumni (http://tkc9903.com/) and has real passion for baking and cake decorating. Her secret wish is to become a homemaker and monopolise the bakery chain.

Syed Aiman Kifli Syed Jaafar, completed his high school at the British International School of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, prior to coming back to Malaysia to do A-levels at Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar. During his time at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus, he was elected twice into the Student Association, first as Information Technology Officer 2006-2007 and later President of the Student Association 2007-2008. He graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Management Studies. He is currently working as a management consultant in Accenture. His other societal affiliations include MBRAS and MENSA Malaysia. Follow him on Twitter @aimansjaafar where he provides live-tweets of YCM events.

Tengku Iedilzuhrie Putra Alaudin is currently pursuing a degree in Medical Sciences at Management & Science University. He was previously the President of Queen Mary University of London Malaysian Society before being elected as Vice Chairman of UKEC. An avid sports lover, he is also an active theatre practitioner having featured in many theatre productions around Kuala Lumpur and also a budding television and film actor. Apart from that he is a member of KNUKE, an event organizing body that has brought local independent music act such as Hujan, Estrella and Seven Collar T-Shirt to perform in the UK.

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Tengku Nor Azah attended SRK Zainab (1) Kota Bharu of which she is the Alumni’s Founder-President. She then went to Sek. Men. Dato’ Ahmad Maher before later joining MRSM Kuala Terengganu. She is currently in the final stage of completing Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). She served as Vice President of CIMA Students Club Malaysia and also represented Malaysia in Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Asia while in MARA University of Technology. She was attached to Kurnia Asia and CIMB Bank with various portfolios prior to joining Kenanga Investment Bank. Azah challenges herself in extreme sports whenever her schedule permits. Support her project in helping a Cambodian student become a doctor at http://makerolyadoctor.blogspot.com

Thomas Yap, educated at SRK Jalan Batu Tiga (2) Klang and completed his secondary education at SMK Tinggi Klang (Klang High School). He gained his “sociaholic” skills during his secondary term at Klang High School as the President of Interact Club and the rest is history. He graduated from Taylor’s University College (TUC) with a Higher Diploma from University of Toulouse in France. He joined Wah Tung Travel in 2006 and in 2009 he held the position of Business Development Manager. After 5 years in the tourism industry, he now ventures on his own business of student university placement and travel destination management. You can find him blogging at http://yapthomas.com or Twitter @yapthomas.

Wan Mohd Firdaus Wan Mohd Fuaad, born 25^th March 1983. Educated at SRK Sultan Ibrahim Satu Pasir Mas, SRK Sri Subang Jaya and Sek Men Agama Persekutuan Kajang. He read Law at the University of Nottingham and Lincolns Inn London (BPP School of Law). Chairman of UKEC (UK and Eire Council for Malaysian Students) from October 2005 to October 2007, Firdaus was also a national executive member of FOSIS UK and Ireland, president of KPUM in 2004, and co founded the Malaysia Think Tank, an institution promoting libertarian values in Malaysia. In his pastime, he likes to read The Edge and Off The Edge.

Zokhri Idris, born 3^rd May 1983, had his early education at SMKA Kuala Selangor and Kolej Islam Sultan Alam Shah prior to enrolling to the University of Manchester to read Law. Graduated with an LLB (Hons) in 2006, he then spent another year in the UK, doing attachments and travelling before returning to Malaysia. Zokhri began his academia path by joining Taylor’s University College as a Junior Lecturer specializing Legal Studies before resuming his M.A. in International Relations majoring Regional Integration at Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya. Currently, he is attending a course on Environmental Policy held at International University of Japan in Niigata till mid 2010. Follow him at www.asignofthecreator.blogspot.com.