Staff

foundation_header

After three years as APNIC’s Development Director, Duncan was appointed the founding CEO and Executive Director of the APNIC Foundation in April 2017. As CEO, he leads efforts to support and advance the APNIC Development Program and the Internet’s technical development in the Asia Pacific region. The Foundation is focused on supporting professional development in the APNIC community, particularly among the network engineers who are building and running the Internet in Asia Pacific.

Before joining APNIC in 2014, Duncan spent more than 20 years working in development, technology and media in Asia including time in Hong Kong, Thailand and the Philippines. He has developed and established foundations in Singapore and Hong Kong and has extensive experience in innovation and global development and capacity building.

Over the past ten years, he has worked in the areas of strategic relations, technology and resource mobilization as well as investment and philanthropy. From 2007 to 2012, he worked on a campaign that raised USD 145 million including USD 4.7 million from Asian investors. Before that, he spent 15 years as a journalist in Australia, Asia and United Kingdom.

At the APNIC Foundation, Duncan leads efforts to engage and collaborate with development agencies, foundations, philanthropists and the private sector. Before joining APNIC, he founded and led foundations for one of Asia’s leading research organizations (and an APNIC member), the International Rice Research Institute.

After ten years managing the Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF Asia) at APNIC, Sylvia was appointed Head of Programs at the APNIC Foundation in December 2016. As Head of Programs and Partnerships, Sylvia works on the management, design and implementation of collaborative programs and projects to expand APNIC Foundation activities in the region including the ISIF Asia program, one of the region’s most established Internet development programs, as well as the Seed Alliance, which supported innovative Internet development across the global south.

Over her 25 years of experience in Internet Development in Latin America and Asia Pacific, Sylvia’s work has focused on the strategic use of the Internet for development with an emphasis on capacity building and infrastructure deployment. Since her early years as a UN Volunteer, she has worked across the multistakeholder spectrum of organizations with technical, training and advisory roles, mainly about information systems, access provision and innovation coordinating projects and team across the global south.

She has served in many selection committees and working groups focused such as the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group of the Internet Governance appointed by the UN Secretary General, the ICANN CCWG on new gTLD auction proceeds, the APrIGF Multi-stakeholder Steering Group and the Policy Network on Meaningful Access among others.

With over 16 years’ experience in administration, Cathlene joined APNIC and the APNIC Foundation in a Business Services Coordinator role in October 2019. She provides administration and operational support, as well as project management assistance.

Cathlene coordinates training workshops within the Asia Pacific region, liaises with stakeholders to identify requirements for training facilities, provides travel plans, and ensures correct data entry and allocation of costs for donor funding.

Cathlene also handles platform management for the APNIC Foundation and liaises with the external relations team at APNIC to contribute to joint operations between the two organizations.

David joined the APNIC Foundation in February 2021. He has worked in the non-profit sector for over 20 years in complex humanitarian environments in over 25 economies, and three years as a consultant in the humanitarian sector. David is the past owner of Program Management Group Australia, a full-service consulting firm for non-profit organizations and bilateral and multilateral donors.
David previously worked for World Vision International in Australia, Georgia, Jerusalem, the Pacific, and Timor Leste in management and director roles in a humanitarian affairs capacity. He has since worked in Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Afghanistan, Mongolia and Nepal delivering training and evaluating development programs. His work focused on the economic empowerment of women; rural enterprises and producer organizations; agricultural markets and value chains; agricultural policy; program design, management and evaluation; policy analysis and advocacy; research, teaching and training; and coaching and facilitation.

David holds a BA in International Relations from Griffith University, an MBA from the University of New England and a Graduate Diploma in International Development from Murdoch University.

David Dawson joined the APNIC Foundation full time in January 2022, after a part-time secondment from APNIC in 2021. David previously spent a decade in China, most of that time working as a journalist in Beijing with a particular focus on the development of China’s technology sector and nascent startup culture. In addition to freelancing for a range of international publications, he served as Deputy Managing editor of a magazine and authored book chapters for one of the country’s largest publishing houses. He also advised the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on communications outreach.

In Australia, he worked for the strategic insights team at the national science agency, helping craft key reports including the country’s artificial intelligence ethics framework, before joining APNIC early in 2020.

David’s approach to communications is simple: Even the most complex ideas can be made accessible to wider audience, the story just has to be told in a compelling way. At the APNIC Foundation, he puts this into practice through a communications strategy that is always focused on the important work being done to support the people behind the Internet in the Asia Pacific.

Based in Tokyo for more than 25 years, Marcos joined the APNIC Foundation in August 2021. He coordinates and supports (or plays a liaison role) in the SOI Asia (Schools on Internet) and the AI3 (Asian Internet Interconnection Initiatives) projects at Keio University, Japan.

Marcos has been involved with academia in different positions—from research assistant to faculty—since 2010. His experience includes coordinating global citizenship-related research initiatives, design education programs, and collaborative projects with international organizations and educational institutions. In addition, Marcos also has a professional background in graphic design, publishing, and advertising.

Born and raised in São Paulo (Brazil), Marcos holds a BA in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo (FAU-USP), with an emphasis on visual communication. He earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in media design from Keio University

Marcos looks at design beyond the aesthetic, playing an essential role in social impact. His interests are at the intersection of global society, learning technologies, diversity and inclusion, and media design.

Ann joined the APNIC foundation in May 2022. With over 15 years of professional experience in finance across various industries, Ann’s work has focused on financial governance and compliance, financial reporting, business analysis, and improvement. While working as a finance professional, Ann is passionate about applying her financial knowledge and skills to optimize the organization’s operational process and to help organizations to grow and succeed.

Prior to joining the APNIC Foundation, Ann was the financial controller of Rural Aid, one of Australia’s largest and most trusted rural charities. Before that, Ann developed her finance career in the sustainable economic development and environmental research sectors in the international organization Cardno. Ann has also previously worked in Multicultural Australia, a not-for-profit organization that advocates and provides settlement services to refugees and asylum seekers. The experiences in these for-purpose organizations have had a long-lasting impact on Ann’s view of humanitarian spirit, social and economic equality. It also shaped her career path toward finding ways to contribute to these aspects of society.

Indika joined the APNIC Foundation in June 2022. Before joining the APNIC Foundation, Indika worked as an accounts officer at APNIC from 2019. He has worked in the non-profit sector for over 7 years.

Indika is responsible for handling financial transaction processes with a primary focus of administering accounts receivable and payable functions of APNIC Foundation to the standard that meets audit requirements. He is also expected to support task and duties of APNIC Foundation’s financial operation including credit card transaction processing, bank reconciliations, intercompany invoicing, intercompany reconciliations, checking supporting documents to comply with audit requirements, ad-hoc tasks and general administrative support.

Indika has a Bachelor of business accounting graduate from Swinburne University in Melbourne and is currently studying to complete a CPA .