APCDA Leadership
Officers
Past President: Momoko Asaka, CEO of Veriteworks, graduated in Arts in Library and Information Science from Keio University, Japan. JCDA Certified Career Development Adviser, JPA Certified Psychologist, Mental Health Legal Advisor, Health and Productivity Management Advisor. Started an independent business after working as a medical corporation staff, HR staff of a large company, an HR director of a private IT company. She has participated in all the conferences since 2013 and held many leadsership roles. She hopes to contribute to the welcoming community spirit of APCDA. Contact Ms. Askaka at PPresident@AsiaPacificCDA.org.
Allan Gatenby, FRIM CMF, President-Elect, is a thought leader in career and talent development. He started career in career development as a school-based career adviser in 1978. After a very successful career as an educational leader, Mr. Gatenby opened a private practice in career & talent development. Since then, he has held leadership positions in CDAA, APCDA, ACPi and currently the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Institute of Career Certification International, Chair of the APCDA Committee Council & By-Laws & Procedures Committee and member of APCDA Board. Recipient of APCDA Presidents Award 2020. Contact Mr. Gatenby at PElect@AsiaPacificCDA.org..
Treasuarer: Ma. Leonila “Nila” Urrea, PhD.is currently theguidance director of the University of the East. She is a licensed teacher, guidance counselor, and psychometrician in the Philippines. Besides being a practicing school counselor and career coach, she is a mental health psychosocial support volunteer counselor to survivors of natural calamities. This led to her research interest and publication on human resilience and to her volunteer work as mental health psychosocial facilitator of PAP (Psychological Association of the Philippines) Katatagan online. At present, she is the corresponding secretary of the Association of Placement Practitioners of Colleges and Universities (APPCU). Contact Ms. Urrea at Treasurer@AsiaPacificCDA.org..
Board of Directors
Officers and Staff serve on the Board, plus:
Dr. Natalie Kauffman, Committee Council Chair
Mr. Yoshinobu Ooi, Area Council Chair
Dr. Lorraine Godden, Area Council Representative
Dr. Brian Schwartz, Area Council Representative
Mr. Baktiar Hasnan, Area Council Representative
Ms. Gaini Yessembekova, Committee Council Representative
Journal Editor
Committee Chairs
Awards & Scholarships Committee Co-Chair for Awards: Prof. (Dr.) Narender K Chadha is an emeritus Professor at Manav Rachna International University, Past President of APCDA, former Head, Department of Psychology, University of Delhi; and former Director, Department of Adult, Continuing Education and Extension; and Chairman, Board of Research Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Delhi, India. Dr. Chadha was awarded the National Career Development Association, USA presidential award, June, 2017 and Global Practitioner of the Year Award in 2015. Dr. Chadha received the Lifetime Achievement Award from APCDA in 2019. Contact Dr. Chadha at Awards@AsiaPacificCDA.or
Awards & Scholarships Committee Co-Chair for Scholarships: Tuan Anh Le, is one of the first-generation career professionals in Vietnam. He is the author of 5 bestselling books on career and personal development topics. His strength is to use social media to interact and convey career messages to clients. He has a career blog with 4 million views, a career podcast with 250K listeners and a career TikTok channel with 150K followers. He is the career manager at AV Careers – a company that provides online career services. He is also a guest lecturer at many prominent universities in Vietnam. Contact Mr. Le at
Scholarship@AsiaPacificCDA.org
Bylaws & Policies Committee Chair: Allan Gatenby (also President-Elect) is a thought leader in career and talent development. He started career in career development as a school-based career adviser in 1978. After a very successful career as an educational leader, Mr. Gatenby opened a private practice in career & talent development. Since then, he has held leadership positions in CDAA, APCDA, ACPi and currently the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Institute of Career Certification International, Chair of the APCDA Committee Council & By-Laws & Procedures Committee and member of APCDA Board. Recipient of APCDA Presidents Award 2020. Contact Mr. Gatenby at Bylaws@AsiaPacificCDA.org
Membership Committee Co-Chair: Natalie Kauffman, M.S., NCDA Certified Career Counselor™, FCD-I, NCC, NCCC, GCDF-I, has been providing comprehensive career counseling, education & transition solutions to the global community for more than 35 years. Her digitally fluent and face-to-face experiences continually infuse the eight domains of wellness as well as aequanimitas. Her career development work has traversed business, government, education & NPO settings. She is also an active member of the National Career Development Association Global Connections Committee. Ms. Kauffman’s M.S. in Applied Behavioral Counseling with a Career Counseling concentration is from The Johns Hopkins University. Contact Natalie at Membership@AsiaPacificCDA.org
Program Committee Co-Chair: Elisabeth Montgomery, PhD, is Nanshan Education Bureau’s first foreign Senior Advisor on Internationalization for public schools 1-12. For over ten years she has innovated education groups in Shenzhen’s central Special Economic Zone. Specializing in school-based curricula design training, Green STEAM programs and implementation of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. She serves as Foreign Deputy Vice Principal for South China University of Science and Technology (SUSTECH Education Group). She is the founder of several model international programs in Shenzhen’s premier high schools. Specializations include career supervision and training of education providers; International college preparedness and placement; Job search, job shadows and internships; and Social Entrepreneurship. Contact Dr. Montgomery at Program@AsiaPacificCDA.org
Research Committee Co-Chair: Poh Li Lau, PhD, is also our Journal Editor. is a senior lecturer in Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling at University of Malaya. She received her BA and PhD in Counseling from the University of Malaya, Malaysia. Her research interests include career counseling, positive psychology, resilience and well-being, special needs programs, cross-cultural and psychological testing. She is responsible for in teaching and learning, evaluation activities in undergrad and postgrad counseling program, and consultation projects. She is also a registered counselor in Malaysia. Contact Dr. Lau at Research@AsiaPacificCDA.org
Research Committee Co-Chair: Hsiu-Lan (Shelley) Tien, PhD, Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling at the National Taiwan Normal University, earned her doctorate at the University of Iowa and was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Maryland. She has served as Director of the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, Director of the Counseling Center, and Vice director of Student Personnel Services at the National Taiwan Normal University. She has served as president of Taiwan Career Development and Consultation Association, the Taipei Counseling Psychologist Association, and the Asia Pacific Career Development Association. From the National Career Development Association she has earned the awards of International Career Practitioner and Fellow. Contact Dr. Tien at Research@AsiaPacificCDA.org
Area Representatives
Azerbaijan Representative: Toghrul Alakbarov is an experienced personal development trainer, coach and mentor. Mr. Alakbarov is currently Head of Career Guidance Sector at State Employment Service of Azerbaijan. As a Fulbright scholar, he did his master’s degree in the field of Workforce Education and Development at Bowling Green State University. Moreover, he got a professional ICF certified coaching education from Adler International Learning. Mr. Alakbarov is passionate about human capacity development and for the last 10 years he has been engaged in plenty of educational, social and community building initiatives throughout Azerbaijan. You can contact Mr. Alakbarov at Azerbaijan@AsiaPacificCDA.org.
China
East China Representative: Ivy Liao is the lead of PAC International Education Group. She combines the NCDA curriculum and training systems and PAC. She has nearly 30 years of professional psychological assessment scale development experience, and Chinese career education practice experience to create a Chinese career development consultant training certification system (CD Program); in various provinces with the joint support of the Municipal Education Commission, Bureau of Education, Education College, school leaders and other educational leaders. Contact Ms. Liao at EastChina@AsiaPacificCDA.org.
Hong Kong Representative: Fred Wu is a certified career facilitator and registered corporate and personal coach, specializing in career coaching, personal development and mindfulness. He has over 15 years of experience in talent development and coaching. He has coached over 1000 clients, from Junior Grade to Senior Directors, to unleash their potential and to facilitate mindset transformation. Currently, he is working as a Careers and Employability Consultant with a local University. Prior to his consultancy, he served as the team lead for Staff Career Development in a thriving local enterprise boasting approximately 1500 employees. Fred holds a Master’s Degree in Professional Accounting and a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering. Contact Mr. Wu at HongKong@AsiaPacificCDA.org
Taiwan Representative: Chao-Mei Chiang, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University, is a licensed and registered counseling psychologist in Taiwan and has over ten years of clinical practice and supervision. Dr. Chiang’s research interests include: (a) multicultural, social justice, and counseling psychology training, (b) violence and trauma issues, and (c) intersections between gender and socio-cultural contexts. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Chiang provides supervision and consultation for guidance counselors, who work at elementary and junior high schools, and counseling psychologists. Contact Ms. Chiang at Taiwan@AsiaPacificCDA.org.
India
USA Representative: Jenn Leard, MEd, NCC, is a certified Counselor and Coach with 16+ years of combined consulting industry, career development and higher education experience. She currently serves as Director, Coaching & Education in the Career Development Office at Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. Previously, Jenn served as the Associate Director of Career Advising & Student Engagement at Goucher College, Manager of Career Counseling in the College of Business at Colorado State University, Team Lead with The Corporate Executive Board (now Gartner), and Consultant with Rich Feller & Associates. She earned her Masters of Education from Colorado State University in Education and Human Resource Studies, Counseling and Career Development specialization. Jenn is inspired to empower people across all stages of career development and transition to strategically navigate and thrive in the changing, global world of work. Contact Mrs. Leard at USA@AsiaPacificCDA.org.
Vietnam Representative: Phoenix Ho, Founder and CEO of Song An Career Development Social Enterprise, was raised by traditional Vietnamese parents and influenced by educator mentors in the Bay Area of California, USA. She completed a Bachelor of International Business in the US, Master of Educational Leadership and Management in Australia, and Master of Career Development Counseling in the US. Ms Ho has trained herself to become bilingual and bicultural in Vietnamese and American cultures. Her career development journey took 12 years to discover her current career. As a result, her passion is to enable young Vietnamese discover their motivated skills and find a suitable career. Ms Ho’s current projects include creating a career assessment tool for Vietnamese youth and building a Dictionary of Occupational Titles in Vietnam. She wishes to achieve those goals by working closely with local community associations, business entities, and government offices. Contact Ms. Ho at Vietnam@AsiaPacificCDA.org
Staff
Marilyn Maze, PhD, Executive Director, has organized the annual APCDA Conference since its inception, conducted numerous research projects on hot labor market and career counseling issues, and presented at international conferences. Dr. Maze received NCDA’s Eminent Career Award in 2022, became an NCDA Fellow in 2017, NCDA’s President’s Award in 2016, and the NCDA Credentialing Commission Service Award in 2016. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Maryland Career Development Association in 2010. Dr. Maze formerly developed the ACT Profile (previously called DISCOVER). Contact Dr. Maze at Info@AsiaPacificCDA.org
Emily Rose L. Lizada, Administrator, is a Career Advisor in the Office of Placement and Career Services at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines since 2011. She is a licensed Psychometrician. Emily is a recipient of Excellence Award for Professionals in Ateneo de Manila University for school year 2017-2018. She is an active professional and formator in Ateneo serving as Retreat Guide in the Office of Campus Ministry and core team member/Homeroom Adviser for Introduction to Ateneo Culture and Tradition (InTACT) – formation subject for first year students. Emily worked as Guidance Counselor and Student Activity Coordinator at John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University from 2001 to 2011. She finished her Bachelor of Science in Psychology and MA Ed Psychology and Guidance (completed academic requirements) at the University of San Agustin. Contact Ms. Lizada at Info@AsiaPacificCDA.org.