SEA Junction has been established with the contributions of the founder and so-called Founding Partners. These Partners are individuals who share a passion for Southeast Asia cultures and societies and believe that it deserves greater attention by the global community, and some of them represent institutions that have a compatible mission with SEA Junction. They are willing to contribute their ideas, advice, and contacts to establish SEA Junction and to support it financially in this initial phase with a donation of minimum US$2,500 or US$900 a year for 3 years. As of today, Founding Partners are:
Anonymous (Development expert from the Philippines)
Phinyada (Pam) Atchatavivan and Piya Hanvoravongchai
Piya is a lecturer at Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and a co-director of the Equity Initiative, a new program on transformative leadership for health and social equity in Southeast Asia. He also cofounded an online platform for health policy research and development in Asia, HealthSpace Asia. After more than 8 years of working in the development sector, particularly on sustainable alternative livelihood development and community forestry, Phinyada is currently embracing the role of stay-at-home mom for their twin boys, Phoomi and Phana. To celebrate the boys’ one year old birthday, Piya and Phinyada marked the occasion by making philanthropic contributions to various causes across the region including supporting SEA Junction with hopes to help build a secure and sustainable future for generations to come. Phoomi and Phana share a family heritage from several Southeast Asian countries so SEA Junction’s mission resonates very closely to them.
Pimpawun Boonmongkon and Southeast Asian Consortium on Gender Sexuality and Health
Pimpawun Boonmongkon is Associate Professor and the Director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at Mahidol University, Salaya Campus. Her research interests include sexuality, gender, and sexual and reproductive health. In addition, she is an executive committee member of the Southeast Asian Consortium on Gender, Sexuality, and Health. Together with academics from six other institutions in Southeast Asia, she co-founded the Consortium in 2003 to develop a body of knowledge on gender, sexuality, and health in the region. She is also the main lecturer in the short leadership courses on gender,sexuality, and health that the Consortium arranges–including both international courses (in English) and bilingual programs conducted in Thai and Lao. She received her Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from the University of California, San Francisco-Berkeley.
Therese Coauette and Chris Elias
Therese Caouette and Chris Elias have been living and working in Southeast Asia since 1982 when they first worked in the refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border. Therese has continued working with refugees, displaced persons and migrant populations with an emphasis on community development in the Mekong Region. She is currently the Southeast Asia Regional Advisor for Partners Asia, on faculty at Thammasat University’s School of Global Studies and University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies as well as member of several non-profit boards. Chris Elias, MD,MPH, works on a broad range of global health and development issues. Chris is currently the President of Global Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and previously served as the President & CEO of PATH, as well as Thailand Country Director for the Population Council.
Linette Collins
Linette Collins has lived and worked in Indonesia since 2006. Her work in Asia included 4 years as the HIV Adviser for AusAID in Indonesia and consultancies for a number of UN agencies, the WHO , the Australian and Indonesian governments , in HIV and sexual health fields in Indonesia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Southern China, Timor Leste and Afghanistan. Before moving to Jakarta, Linette had more than 20 years experience in Australia working in mental health, public health, research, drug and alcohol and drug law enforcement fields. She is a graduate in Social Work from the University of Melbourne and Masters of Public Health (Hons) from University of Sydney. Linette now works voluntarily at two NGOs in Indonesia providing HIV services primarily to gay men. She lives in Jakarta, enjoys watching wayang orang, wearing batik and travelling in Indonesia.
Cavelle and Peter Dove
Cavelle and Peter Dove have lived and worked in Southeast Asia since 2002, when they founded Imagine Thailand, a platform for Thai students to serve marginalized communities. Cavelle studied as a social worker and community development specialist, and worked for ten years as the manager of a regional grants program for the Embassy of Canada in Bangkok, as well as consulting for a number of development organizations. After their move to Myanmar, Cavelle co-founded the Yangon Bakehouse, a Livelihood’s Training Café for marginalized women and she is now the Country Project Manager Myanmar for MEDA. Until 2011, Peter was an International Visiting Professor at Chulalongkorn University and a Co-Team leader of the Chula Leadership Project where he taught basic leadership principles in class and facilitated Outdoor Education Camps on campus for over 5,000 students. Currently, he is Director of Studies at Yangon Institute of University Studies as well as the Country Director of the DeBoer Fellowship. Their free time is spent with their three young children enjoying sports, music, and travel.
Alan Feinstein
Alan Feinstein is the Executive Director of the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF) since 2014, which manages the Fulbright program and other educational exchange programs in Indonesia. He has a long career in philanthropy, education, culture, and development in Southeast Asia having served as program officer at the Ford Foundation, Jakarta (1987-1995); Japan Foundation, Tokyo (1995-2000); Toyota Foundation, Tokyo (2000-2003); and Rockefeller Foundation, Bangkok (2003-2008, the last two years of which as Managing Director of its Asia office). After leaving the Rockefeller Foundation, he worked as a book editor, and translator based in Bangkok, Thailand and did consultancies for UNESCO, and the World Bank. In 2009-10, he was a Nippon Foundation Asian Public Intellectuals Senior Fellow carrying out research in Indonesia and the Philippines for a book on trends in international philanthropy. He received a BA from the College of Letters at Wesleyan University, and did graduate work toward MA and PhD (candidacy achieved) in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Fred Frumberg
Fred Frumberg joined in December 2016 the Center of the Art of Performance at UCLA as Deputy to Artistic and Executive Director Kristy Edmunds and Program Manager after serving as Director of Production for the Singapore International Festival of Arts. Before Singapore, he lived for 16 years in Cambodia where he founded and directed Amrita Performing Arts; a nonprofit arts organization committed to the development of contemporary Cambodian dance and theater. Prior to Cambodia, Fred spent fifteen years working in opera houses and theaters throughout the USA and Europe, assisting stage directors such as Peter Sellers, Francesca Zambello and Deborah Warner. He was Head of the stage directing department at the Paris Opera from 1994-1997, a staff stage director for the Netherlands Opera in the late 1980’s and production manager for two World Festivals of Sacred Music in Los Angeles in 1999 and 2002.
Nilay Gami
Nilay Gami, a Professional Engineer with a MBA in Finance, brings over 25 years of international business experience in R&D, engineering, consulting, and the manufacturing arena in a multitude of countries across North America, Europe and Asia. Nilay’s employment journey crosses different sectors – petrochemicals, food and beverages, tires, engineering, and Corporate Social Responsibility CSR). Presently, he works as Technical Director (Asia) after having been Technical Director (North America) at Michelin. Nilay is the founder of Millionjobs.Org, an organization with a dream and vision for a thriving eco-system that inspires, recognizes, nurtures and transforms aspiration, hard work and innovation into careers and enterprises, with the goal to create a million jobs. Nilay is an occasional speaker at universities and business communities, helping individuals understand and bridge the cultural and business nuances of various countries, and helping develop their entrepreneurial spirit.
Catharina Maria Go and Fokupers (East Timorese Women’s Communication Forum)
Catharina Maria brings in 17 years of experiences in the areas of peacebuilding, gender and NGO capacity strengthening utilizing her Masters in International Development from Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, the Netherlands majoring in Governance and Democracy. Before moving to Bangkok 5 years ago, she worked in not-profit organizations in D.R. Congo, the Philippines, Myanmar and Cambodia, but for the most part she worked for the Catholic Relief Services and lived in Timor-Leste since 1998. Catha has been engaged in various roles with Fokupers since 2005. Set up in 1997, Fokupers supported women victims of (military) violence during the Indonesian time and female prisoners of conscience until Timor-Leste got its independence. Since then Fokupers has been advocating for gender equality and women’s rights in the country, and supporting gender-based violence survivors through an integrated psychosocial service approach.
Jingjai Hanchanlash
Jingjai Hanchanlash received his Ph. D. in Public Law from France. His post-doctorate training included “Project Analysis” at University of Connecticut, USA and “Mid Career Management” at University of Western Ontario, Canada. He started his career working with the Thai Government for 9 years coordinating technical and economic cooperation program between Thailand and major European countries. He then joined the International Development Research Center (IDRC) for 23 years serving mainly as Asia Regional Director overseeing development research grants from the Singapore regional office. Currently he is serving as Honorary Chairman of the Greater Mekong Sub-region Business Forum and concurrently, Board member of Loxley Public Co., Ltd., Muang Thai Insurance Public Co., Ltd., Laguna Resorts and Hotels Public Co., Ltd., Thai Wah Food Products Public Co., Ltd., Spie Oil & Gas Services (Thailand) Ltd., Hamilcar Co., Ltd. He is also serving in many public sector board such as the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and the Thai Research Fund (TRF). Through his position as Secretary General of the Development Cooperation Foundation he actively interacts and support civil society.
Kus Hardjanti
Kus Hardjanti is a medical doctor, specialized in pathology with 35 years of diverse work experience. In 1992-1994, she was Executive Director of the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association and Vice Chair to the Indonesian-Canadian Forum of NGOs. In 1994-1995 she was the Coordinator of Special Projects at the International Council on Management for Population Program, Kuala Lumpur. During the same period until 1996 she also acted as advisor for various government ministries and institutions and was a consultant to the World Bank, Hellen Keller International, Marie Stoppes Foundation and other international organizations in Indonesia and regionally. From 1996 to 2011, Kus Hardjanti joined the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, covering Asia and the Pacific. She started as Health Specialist (1996-2001) at the Agriculture and Social Sectors Department, then in 2001-2002, as NGO Specialist, she co-established ADB’s NGO Center. From 2002 to 2011 she became Principal Evaluation Specialist in ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department. From 2011 until now, she is a consultant for evaluation and social sector development.
Terence H. Hull and Valerie J. Hull
Terry and Val Hull built careers on the foundations of undergraduate and Masters in Economics and Anthropology, respectively. In 1975 they earned their PhDs in Demography at the Australian National University, writing theses on a village study carried out in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Terry worked on the value of children at the start of Indonesia’s fertility transition, while Val explored the roles of women in different economic classes of village families. Over the next five years, they were employed by ANU, but carried out secondments in Gadjah Mada University, helping to establish the Population Institute founded by their mentor, Masri Singarimbun. Val also worked as country representative for the Population Council during 1993-1996. After returning to Canberra, Terry managed the International Population Dynamics program at the ANU where he developed research training projects for UNFPA, Australian Aid (AIDAB later AusAID), and other donors. Meanwhile, Val joined AusAID to work on health and gender across Asia and the Pacific. Together they have written numerous studies of Indonesian family planning, demographic change, and development administration. Both are active members of the Asian Population Association, Australian Population Association, Population Association of America, and the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population.
David Hulse
David Hulse was the Ford Foundation’s representative in Indonesia between 2009-2017 and for the two preceding years he served as representative for Vietnam and Thailand. Earlier, David worked at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where he was responsible for conservation grant making in the Lower Mekong, Eastern Himalaya, and the South Pacific. In the 1990s, David served as the country representative for the World Wildlife Fund in Vietnam and the South Pacific. He also taught economics at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and worked in Thailand at the Population and Community Development Association. David has a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in earth science and environmental studies from Iowa State University.
Mingsarn Santikarn Kaosa-ard:
Mingsarn Santikarn Kaosa-ard is Emeritus Professor of Economics, Chiang Mai University and President of the Public Policy Studies Institute Foundation. She started her career with Chiang Mai University’s Department of Economics and became the head of the Economics Department in 1990 and a full professor in 2003. During her career, she won several national research awards including the National Best Researcher Awards in 2005 and the prestigious Dushdi Mala Medal in 2007. Mingsarn has undertaken research and writings in a number of areas including environmental planning and environmental sector priority setting in Thailand, water policy, and development and tourism issues in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. She served in a number of international and national committees. These include the Regional Committee for Asia and Pacific of the International Council for Science (2005-2010), Member of the Board of Trustees of ICRAF (1998-2004), Member of Advisory Committee, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) (1998-2003 and 2006 -2008) and is currently a member of the Advisory Committee of the Thai-Chinese Strategic Research Center, NRCT.
Kyoko Kusakabe
Kyoko Kusakabe is currently a professor at Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Pathumthani, Thailand. Originally from Japan, she has been studying and working in Southeast Asia for over two decades. Prior to joining AIT, she worked in Japan and for a NGO in Cambodia. Her research focuses on women’s work and mobility in the Mekong region. She studies on labor migration, forced relocation, cross-border investment and trade in the region from a gender lens. She co-authored Thailand’s hidden workforce: Burmese migrant women factory workers (Zed Books) with Ruth Pearson, and Gender, mobilities, and livelihood transformation: comparing indigenous people in China, India, and Laos (Routledge) with Ragnhild Lund, Smita Mishra and Yunxian Wang.
Daniel Lindgren and Rapid Asia Co., Ltd.
Daniel Lindgren is the founder of Rapid Asia, a social development consulting firm based in Bangkok. Since being founded in 2010, Rapid Asia has carried out multi country and large scale national studies across Asia and beyond, working with a number of high profile donors, UN agencies and international NGOs. To date, Rapid Asia has carried out projects in over 20 countries, spanning all developing continents around the globe including Asia, Africa and South/Central America. Rapid Asia has in depth expertise in several thematic areas such as health, migration, disaster relief, education, human trafficking, climate change, micro finance and food security. Daniel is originally from Sweden and has lived, worked and studied on four continents including Europe, US, Australia and Asia. He came to Thailand in early 2008 following a 5 year posting in Indonesia. As a member or several regional networks, Daniel is an active member of the social development community with a passion for public speaking and writing blogs. He is also a Board Member of the Thai Swedish Chamber of Commerce.
Timothy (Tim) Mackay
Tim Mackay started as an actor and drama teacher working with children and adolescents in Canberra. In the mid 1980s he helped establish the AIDS Action Council of the ACT and worked there in 1989-1991. Thereafter, he became the founding Coordinator of the HIV and Development Program of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) and the then Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA) and helped establish the HIV/AIDS and International Network of Australia (HIDNA). In 1994-96 he worked on the first USAID funded HIV prevention programming in Indonesia, before becoming an independent consultant for HIV programs in South Asia with the British Government and UNDP. In 2001-2011 he served as the Team Leader for the Australia-Indonesia Partnership on AIDS funded by AusAID (now DFAT) and he is now back in Australia.
Patrick McCormick
Patrick McCormick has been living and working in Southeast Asia since 2006, largely in Yangon, Burma. He currently represents the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO, “French School of Asian Studies”) in Yangon, where he has been working on a book project related to minority histories in Burma. He is also affiliated with the Department of Comparative Linguistics at the University of Zürich, where he is part of a research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation analyzing language contact in Burma and nearby areas. Past work has been with the World Bank, IOM, Asia Foundation, and with the Local Resource Center in Yangon. He has worked extensively as an editor, most recently for Aséanie, a French-English bilingual research journal published through the EFEO office in Bangkok. He received his PhD in history from the University of Washington (Seattle, USA).
Lulu Sri Morisonya Mauludianna
Lulu Sri Morisonya Mauludianna is a Human Resources professional with almost 20 years of experience. She held managerial positions in human resources and corporate communication in multinational companies in the geothermal and mining industry in Indonesia. After moving to Bangkok in early 2016, she continues to work in HR/IR area while volunteering with SEA Junction. She found the volunteer experience and the effort of promoting the geostrategic and strategic role of Southeast Asia worthwhile and has decided to commit more to SEA Junction. Previously she had also volunteered with Canada World Youth (CWY) through the Youth Leaders Program. Lulu attained a BA in management from Gadjah Mada University and in 2000 won an Australia Awards Scholarship from AusAID to complete her master degree from the Monash University of Australia in HR/IR and graduate diploma from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Michael Morrissey
Michael Morrissey has nearly 50 years’ experience as an educationalist, more than 20 of these in South East Asia. He is an Honorary Professor of the University of the West Indies, where he was tenured until 1997. His support to governments in South East Asia in education began in Cambodia in 1994, and has over the years included work with the Ministries of Education of Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Myanmar and Indonesia. Since 2013, he has acted as senior education adviser to the Qatar-based Educate a Child program for its Asia and Africa partnerships. Over his career, Michael has been a teacher and lectures, served in public service and a consultant with international organizations and donors, governments, publishing companies and research institutes. He is the author of textbooks for Caribbean schools and tertiary institutions, and is a citizen of Jamaica, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Jakarta has been his home since 2006.
Alessio Panza
Alessio Panza is a medical doctor specialized in pediatrics and tropical medicine with a Master in Community Health from Liverpool University. After working in Africa for almost a decade, in the 1990s Alessio moved to Southeast Asia where he served as Public Health Adviser to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health in a bilateral program with SIDA; Medical Officer of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Thailand and other countries in the region; and Director of the European Union (EU) HIV/AIDS and Adolescent Reproductive Health Programmes in mainland Southeast Asia. From 2008 to date, he joined the College of Public Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand and his main duties are coordinator for the Health System Development Course and for the Seminar on Critical Reading of Public Health Peer Reviewed Papers.
Ervianti and Puji Pujiono
The late Ervie Pujono was a pilates instructor in Bangkok and until her death in May 2017 she was in-charge of the United Nations Women’s Club of Thailand (UNWC). Prior to moving to Bangkok, she worked as an Administrative Manager of the UN Mission for East Timor and various other civil society services in Indonesia. In the past, Ervie also taught Indonesian language and culture at Keisen University in Japan. Puji, her husband, has recently retired from serving as a regional adviser on disaster risk reduction in UN ESCAP in Bangkok. An Indonesian with doctoral degree on social work from the University of the Philippines, he played a key role in the establishment of the regional agreement and platform for disaster management in ASEAN and continue to work along these lines in different parts of the world.
Giuseppe Sciortino
Giuseppe Sciortino is Professor of Sociology of Development and International Migration at the University of Trento, Italy. Starting 1999, he has been involved in several researches and action programs in Cambodia. He contributed with New Humanity to the establishment of graduate and postgraduate programs in social sciences and tourism at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
Teresa Sciortino
Teresa Sciortino is a lawyer specialized in labor law. Based in Palermo has defended abused migrant workers from Africa and Asia. She has a social worker master degree with specialization in health sociology and a degree in law, and she likes painting and ceramics. Teresa has a keen interest in Southeast Asia and admires its arts and culture.
Nuntavarn and Vivatvong Vichit-Vadakan
Vivatvong Vichit-Vadakan is the founder and CEO of Bangkok-based Sky Visual Imaging Venture Co. Ltd., a company specialized in the acquisition of imagery from drones to be used in scientific applications such as precision agriculture and mapping. A former senior member of technical staff at the NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of technology, he returned to his home country to start the very first Internet Service Provider in Thailand under the brand LoxInfo. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Chulalongkorn University and a Master Degree in Computer Science from Santa Clara University, California. His wife, Nuntavarn Vichit-Vadakan (Toi) , is the founder of both the School of Public Health and the School of Global Studies at Thammasat University. Her research focuses on health effects from air pollution and her work has had significant policy impacts. She was Thailand representative at the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and is a member of the expert panels. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology, and a Master and Doctorate degree in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Galuh Wandita and Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) Indonesia
Galuh Wandita is Director of AJAR, an NGO promoting accountability, gender justice and human rights in the Asia region. From 2006-2012, she was a Senior Associate at the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ). She was Deputy Director/ Program Manager of Timor-Leste’s Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) between 2002-2005, and was a member of its editorial team. Prior to this, she worked with civil society organisations (Oxfam, Pikul, Fokupers) working in conflict situations in Indonesia and East Timor. She also sits on the board of human rights NGOs in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. In 2007, she completed her Masters in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University.