Directors & Management
Board of Directors
Amen Lee
Chairperson of the Board & Non-executive Director
Amen is one of the founders of the Group and joined the Group as a director since 2001.
He has over 30 years of experience in management. Currently Amen is the chairman of Transways Group Pty Ltd, a company founded by him primarily engaged in the provision of logistics services. He was a managing director of Transways Group Pty Ltd, responsible for business and strategic development and business management from 1983 to June 2017.
Amen has a Diploma of Competence in Freight Forwarding in Montreal, Canada, certified by the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association and a Doctorate degree in Business and Administration by Westcliff University. He is an associate fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division in Australia.
Rongning (Cathy) Xu
Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer
Being one of our longest serving employees, Cathy knows the business and the higher education industry inside out through her career with us across several senior roles over a decade. As Chief Executive Officer, she is primarily responsible for the overall management, education and business development, and strategic planning of the Group.
Cathy has a Bachelor of Financial Administration degree and a Master of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) degree from the University of New England in Australia, as well as a postgraduate certificate of higher education in learning and teaching from Macquarie University. She is a member of CPA Australia.
Xing Shi (Stella) Huang
Executive Director & Deputy Chairperson of the Board
Stella has extensive experience in recruiting students within the international education industry in Australia and maintaining relationships with the frontline operations team. She was one of the first employees in the Group’s business when it was established in 2001. Stella is primarily responsible for supervising the administrative functions of the Group.
Before joining the Group, Stella had over 10 years of experience in production and administrative management.
Qingquan Yang
Non-executive Director
Qingquan is one of the founders of the Group. He is primarily responsible for promoting and maintaining the collaboration opportunities and relationships in the Greater China region. Qingquan was a director at the Company between 2001 and 2009, and again from 2012 to 2017. Since 2017, he has acted as chairman of Billion Glory Group Holdings Limited (“Billion Glory”), focusing on private asset management and driving investments in a number of listed start-up companies. Before then, Qingquan gained about 20 years of extensive management and investment experience in the real estate sector.
Qingquan has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology in China, and a Master of Business Administration from the Macau University of Science and Technology in 2004.
Yi (Ivan) Dai
Non-executive Director
Ivan has 10 years’ experience on finance and investment areas. He is serving as the managing director of Xinjiang Guoli Minsheng Equity Investment Co., Ltd, an investment holding company and a substantial Shareholder, and is responsible for overseeing its equity and security investment activities since 2017. Before that, Ivan has worked at UOB Investment (China) Limited and is responsible for overseeing its equity and security investment activities.
Ivan has a Bachelor of Science from University of California in San Diego, United States in June 2008, and a Master of Business Administration from California State Polytechnic University. He is a member of the investment committee of Unicom Innovation Capital.
Edward Chiang
Non-executive Director
Edward has held senior executive roles with several listed companies in Hong Kong where he developed competencies in corporate finance and investor relations. He is currently the director of investor relations at Minsheng Education Group Company Limited, a company listed in Hong Kong (stock code: 1569) and is responsible for developing and executing investor relations strategy, merger and acquisitions and corporate finance function.
Edward has a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in business law) from Macquarie University.
Emeritus Professor Steven Schwartz
Independent Non-executive Director
Professor Steven Schwartz is also a member of the Council of IMC.
Professor Schwartz has over two decades of experience in higher education. He served as vice chancellor of Murdoch University, Brunel University, and Macquarie University, where he was responsible for academic growth and development. Professor Schwartz was also the chief executive officer of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and the chairman of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, as well as the consultant for Australian Government Department of Health.
Professor Schwartz is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. He is currently an honorary senior fellow of the LH Martin Institute of the University of Melbourne He was awarded the Order of Australia in January 2013.
Professor Schwartz has a Bachelor of Arts from the Brooklyn College of the City University in New York. He also obtained Master of Psychology and his PhD from Syracuse University in New York.
Tianye Wang
Independent Non-executive Director
Tianye Wang has over 20 years of experience in management and financial services. He began his professional career at the Beijing Branch of Bank of China and served as manager of the foreign currency loan department of the said Branch. Tianye held various positions in companies listed in Hong Kong: He was formerly an executive director and chief executive officer of Central China Real Estate Limited (stock code: 0832), an executive director of Top Spring International Holdings Limited (stock code: 3688), an independent non-executive director of China Logistics Property Holdings Company Limited (stock code: 1589). Tianye was also former independent non-executive director of Henan Pinggao Electric Company Limited (stock code: 600312), a company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Tianye has a diploma in international finance from the Renmin University School of Finance in China, and a Master of Applied Finance from the Macquarie University in Australia. He was also admitted as a Senior Associate of the Australian Institute of Banking and Finance in 1996.
The Hon Jonathan O’Dea
Independent Non-executive Director
Jonathan has held a number of senior leadership roles across private and public sectors in Australia. From 2007 to 2023, Mr. O’Dea was a member of the New South Wales (NSW) Parliament, serving local constituents and contributing to policy and reform initiatives. While a Member of Parliament, Mr. O’Dea also served as Speaker of the NSW Parliament from 2019 to 2023. As Speaker, Jonathan chaired the NSW Legislative Assembly and the NSW Parliament Presiding Officer and Executive Group, and served as an international representative with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Prior to joining the NSW Parliament, he had executive and non-executive director roles in the insurance sector. Jonathan has a Bachelor of Arts and Laws from the University of Sydney, a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the NSW College of Law, a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney, a Master of Business Administration from Deakin University, and an Advanced Diploma with Order of Merit from the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Emeritus Professor Dominic Verity
Independent Non-executive Director
Professor Dominic Verity is currently an external member and Chair of the Academic Board of the Company’s Australian National Institute of Management and Commerce. He is also currently a Professor at the Mathematical Sciences Institute of the Australian National University, and an Emeritus Professor of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences of Macquarie University.
Professor Verity has extensive experience and knowledge in the field of mathematics and computer science since the early 1980s. He then returned to academia and served 20 years as an educator, mathematics researcher, and professor, as well as in various executive positions with Macquarie University, and has acquired in-depth experience and understanding of the governance and administration of universities and higher education systems.
Professor Verity also holds a number of awards, and his contributions to the academic field of mathematics and computer science have been well recognised, including the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence issued by Macquarie University, the National Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning “for a decade of inspirational and innovative educational leadership in the field of information technology” issued by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, and was the winner of the Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE) Award in the Mathematics and Statistics category issued by the Association of American Publishers for the book “The Elements of ∞-Category Theory”.
Professor Verity is an alumnus of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Mathematics with double first-class honours in 1987, was awarded the Part III Mathematics (equivalent to a Masters degree) with distinction in 1988, and completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics in 1992.
Company Secretary
Min (Michelle) Ying
Michelle has been serving as the company secretary of the Group since 2017. She first joined the Group in 2013 as a tutor, and re-joined in 2014 as an accountant of the Group. In 2016, Michelle was appointed as the IPO project manager and was responsible for IPO project coordination, evaluation of the Group’s compliance in Australia and Hong Kong, analysis of the education sector in various equity markets, and various administrative affairs to support the executives and the directors.
Michelle has a Bachelor of Engineering in Financial Technology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Master of Accounting (CPA Extension) from Macquarie University in Australia.
Michelle is currently a member of both the Governance Institute of Australia and the Chartered Governance Institute, formally known as Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. She also holds a full membership of CPA Australia.