What did your legal training give you?
Victoria Law School in the centre of Melbourne’s legal precinct was a unique and inspiring place to learn.
It's a tight-knit group with engaged students and supportive lecturers. The competitive-yet-supportive learning environment prepared me for the commercial world, and I became the founder of the first VU Law student society (now the Dictum Society).
VU taught me to be responsible for my own success.
How did you get your foot in the door of your career?
While I was in my final year of my combined Business and Law degree, I took the opportunity to work with Holden through the VU Business School’s co-operative learning program.
My timetable was flexible so I was able to get experience at both Holden and BMW, working first for Holden’s Marketing and Finance departments, then at BMW in their Management Graduate Program. I got all of these opportunities before I graduated, giving me the edge over other candidates.
How did you achieve success after uni?
My point of difference once I returned to live in Asia was that I was educated and grew up in Australia, and had gained so much practical legal experience.
After graduation, I worked at PwC Legal then IBM for four years in Vietnam. I received IBM’s Global Corporate Award for my initiatives to sponsor and support IBM’s collaboration with an NGO –‘Bridges Across Borders’ Southeast Asia Clinical Legal Education.
I then became Asia-Pacific lead counsel for Syngenta AG – globally the largest Agri-Chemical and Biotech company – before joining Mundipharma, a pharmaceutical company, to lead teams and design policies.
These roles gave me a strategic view of how business decisions are made and how they operate.
What is the best thing about your current role?
I was headhunted by Baxter Healthcare to head the Asia-Pacific Ethics & Compliance department, based in Singapore.
Recently, I travelled to India to launch one of Baxter’s Corporate Social Responsibility programs: an initiative to provide clean water to local villages around our plant.
Given increasing regulatory scrutiny, it is important to look at business growth from a sustainable perspective. I help the business to make tough decisions using my strong understanding of the law and business environments.