The Team

Dato’ Seri Dr. Anwar Fazal

Board of Directors
Chairman of the Board

Dato’ Seri Dr. Anwar Fazal is a leading civil society activist in multiverse issues including consumer, health, environment, urban governance, heritage and peace. In 1982, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for “fighting for the rights of consumers and helping them to do the same.”

Ar. Laurence Loh

Board of Directors
Board Director

Laurence is a self-taught architectural conservation pioneer who has dedicated a large portion of his professional life and time to putting Penang and Malaysia on the World Heritage map through his high-profile architectural conservation projects, both theoretical and physical.

Dato’ Shahira Ahmed Bazari

Board of Directors
Board Director

Dato’ Shahira Ahmed Bazari is Managing Director of Yayasan Hasanah, the Corporate Responsibility foundation of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund for Malaysia. As Managing Director, Datuk Shahira works together with a network of civil society partner organisations to create long-term impact and changes within Malaysia’s social and community landscape.

Suryani Senja Alias

Board of Directors
Board Director

Suryani Senja Alias is Managing Director of CULT, providing advisory work on art and the development of creative strategies, policy and spaces. She also founded a start-up social enterprise to develop a heritage-inspired brand “Senijari” and is on the Board of Think City, a heritage fund for the rejuvenation of George Town in Penang, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Hamdan Abdul Majeed

Managing Director's Office
Managing Director

Hamdan Abdul Majeed is the Managing Director of Think City Sdn Bhd. He has actively been involved in shaping urban policy and plans in Malaysia including more recently, Penang 2030, a state government initiative with the vision of a family-oriented, green, and smart Penang.

Dr. Matt Benson

Managing Director's Office
Senior Director - Think City International

Dr. Matt Benson is an Australian geographer specialising in complex systems and human settlements.

Izan Satrina

Managing Director's Office
Senior Director - Partnerships & Creative Sector

Izan Satrina Mohd Sallehuddin was the founder and former CEO of Cendana, Malaysia’s Cultural Economy Development Agency dedicated to building a sustainable cultural economy. In her time as CEO, Cendana delivered RM37 million in economic impact within two years of its inception.

Driven by an enduring love for the arts, Izan leverages her flair for communication and building relationships to unite the government, private sector and the arts community towards beneficial goals. An accountant by training, Izan has dedicated most of her career in the arts scene from managing Enfiniti Vision Media to establishing the My Performing Arts Agency (MyPAA). Guided by her unwavering belief that the arts and cultural sector can do more to contribute to the country’s economy with a proper ecosystem, Izan now heads Think City’s Partnerships and Creative Sector division. 

Ar. Ahila Ganesan

Managing Director's Office
Senior Director

Ahila has over 20 years of corporate experience including helming the regional Profit & Loss for prominent property developers in Malaysia. A Professional Architect by training, her vast expertise includes strategic planning, business strategy and development, project management and marketing strategy for multi-billion-dollar projects.

Subashini Krishnan

Managing Director's Office
Director - Strategy & Planning

Subashini (or Suba) joins as a Director of Strategy and Planning based in Kuala Lumpur. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Forestry Science and MBA majoring in International Business from University Putra Malaysia. She has 19 years experience working in various organisations such as the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA), Bursa Malaysia Berhad, Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA). Her expertise and skillsets are in the area of Strategic planning, business case / project evaluation, project management, enterprise transformation and strategic communications.

Kartina Bt Mohamed

Managing Director's Office
Special Officer

Kartina has over 20 years’ experience in the fields of Administration and Human Resources. Having spent over a decade at Think City, she is passionate about and skilled in Stakeholder/Community Engagements and Event Coordination.

Izan Satrina

Managing Director's Office
Senior Director - Partnerships & Creative Sector

Izan Satrina Mohd Sallehuddin was the founder and former CEO of Cendana, Malaysia’s Cultural Economy Development Agency dedicated to building a sustainable cultural economy. In her time as CEO, Cendana delivered RM37 million in economic impact within two years of its inception.

Driven by an enduring love for the arts, Izan leverages her flair for communication and building relationships to unite the government, private sector and the arts community towards beneficial goals. An accountant by training, Izan has dedicated most of her career in the arts scene from managing Enfiniti Vision Media to establishing the My Performing Arts Agency (MyPAA). Guided by her unwavering belief that the arts and cultural sector can do more to contribute to the country’s economy with a proper ecosystem, Izan now heads Think City’s Partnerships and Creative Sector division. 

Joan Tan

Partnerships & Creative Sector
Lead

Joan is a programme lead with local and international experience working at the intersection of culture, collaboration, and community.

Her diverse portfolio of work and background has comprised of working with partners and stakeholders to build meaningful collaborations, supporting sector developmental efforts for the community, and delivering initiatives that fuel the city with creativity and culture.

Ar. Ahila Ganesan

Managing Director's Office
Senior Director

Ahila has over 20 years of corporate experience including helming the regional Profit & Loss for prominent property developers in Malaysia. A Professional Architect by training, her vast expertise includes strategic planning, business strategy and development, project management and marketing strategy for multi-billion-dollar projects.

Hana Zulkifli

Social Resilience
Manager

As the Manager with Social Resilience and Urban Mechanics, Hana specialises in project planning and project management. She is key in governmental liaising and policies, helping the organisation to advocate change. 

Hana spent more than a decade managing and implementing projects related to planning and environment in Iskandar Malaysia through various international and local platform. Her work mainly focus on coordination and facilitation of various stakeholders from federal, state and local government agencies to youth and village communities; exploring solutions and finding common grounds.

As a marine scientist, She is  passionate with urban biodiversity and currently traversing the fascinating realms of social resilience and culture-based urban rejuvenation, and constantly reminding colleagues about environmental awareness. She is also a member of Placemaking Malaysia. 

Yoong Shin

Environmental Resilience
Manager

For almost a decade, Yoong Shin has worked in the field of urban planning and development in Singapore under the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Her expertise includes land use planning, urban design, transit-oriented development, stakeholder engagement and project management.

With a background in Environmental Engineering, Yoong Shin is determined to play a positive and integral role in improving our built environment and fostering sustainability.

Melissa Sivaraj

Climate & Environmental Resilience
Associate

Melissa is a detail-oriented early-career professional committed to developing harmonious relationships between humans and nature through the intersection of science, society, and policy.

Tam Xueh Wei

Social Resilience
Associate

Rose Afrina Mansor

Climate & Environmental Resilience
Associate

With early career years as a graduate architect and planner, her experience prompted her to tackle urban issues and exploring ideas for improving the conditions of the urban environment to create resilient and safer communities in the face of climate change.

Siti Nasiha

Climate & Environmental Resilience
Associate

Nasiha is a programme executive with architectural background and passionate in sustainable architecture, urban heritage and art.

Afaf Ismail

Climate & Environmental Resilience
Associate

Afaf Ismail is an architectural researcher from Malaysia and has received grants from the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Norman Foster Foundation, and the Malaysian Institute of Architects to conduct research on community-based architecture after natural hazards or crises in Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Her research outcomes have been exhibited in the UK, Shanghai and Malaysia.

Dr. Ceelia Leong

Culture-Based Economic Development
Director

Dr Ceelia Leong leads the Culture based Economic Development flagship at Think City. She is passionate about creating vibrant places using culture and heritage. She has a wealth of experience in developing master plans, baseline studies, and advocacy documents related to culture and heritage. Ceelia holds a PhD from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan on sustainable development, heritage management and Geographical Information System (GIS).

Francesco Siravo

Culture-Based Economic Development
Technical Director

Francesco Siravo is an Italian architect specialised in historic preservation and town planning. He received his professional degrees from the University of Rome, ‘La Sapienza’, and studied historic preservation at the College of Europe, Bruges and Columbia University, New York. Since I991, he has worked for the Historic Cities Programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) with responsibility for planning and building projects in various Islamic cities, including Cairo, Lahore, Mopti, Mostar, Penang, Samarkand and Zanzibar.

Before joining AKTC, he consulted for local municipalities, governmental and international organizations, including UNESCO, UNDP and ICCROM, and in projects financed by the World Bank. Previous work included the preparation of conservation plans for Rome, Lucca, Urbino and Anagni in Italy, and for the old town of Lamu in Kenya. He has been visiting lecturer at ICCROM, the University of Rome and Cassino, and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as written books, articles and papers on various architectural conservation and town planning subjects, including Zanzibar: A Plan for the Historic Stone Town (1996) and Planning Lamu: Conservation of an East African Seaport (1986). His latest publication, Issues in Urban Conservation, was awarded the 2021 Antoinette Forrester Downing Book Award by the Society of Architectural Historians.

Sazlin Sabri

Culture-Based Economic Development
Manager

An architect by training, a heritage conservationist in the making, I explore the synergy and sustainability of the two on a daily basis.

Giovanni Santo

Culture-Based Economic Development
Technical Manager-Master Mason and Conservation Specialist

Giovanni is a sculptor, mosaicist, technical restorer, and consultant conservation of the full range of architecture constructions. His activities including the re-assembling and re-integration of complex architecture stonework and brickwork, as well as plaster and floor.

Hafiz Ahmad

Culture-Based Economic Development
Senior Associate

Hafiz is a building material specialist with over 5 years of experience on building conservation and public realm upgrading projects

Alisa Azlan

Culture-Based Economic Development
Senior Associate

A bubbly heritage enthusiast formally trained in architecture, looking to make the world a better place to be in, one dusty brick and ice cold cham peng at a time.

A’ishah Anam

Culture-Based Economic Development
Associate

Aishah has a heritage conservation background with experience in architecture, conservation management, and research.

Nur Mushawwir Hrsikesa Thaitchana Muruthi

Culture-Based Economic Development
Associate

Mushawwir graduated from Universiti Sains Malaysia with a Bachelor of Science (Housing, Building, and Planning) (Hons) in Urban and Regional Planning and a Master of Science in Planning. He is keen about understanding policies that will have an impact on the quality of life in cities.

Mohd Fauzan Hanif Mohd Fauzi

Culture-Based Economic Development
Associate

Fauzan is an architect with a range of experience in building design and physical project implementation

Hanani Rahman

Culture-Based Economic Development
Associate

Hanani read law at the University of Malaya and is deeply passionate in the arts and culture. After a year of practice in criminal defence, she left practice and joined Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA) focusing on grants and later policy and research. With her main aim to contribute more to the development of the arts and culture in Malaysia, Hanani joins Think City under the Culture-Based Economy Development Flagship.

Daniel Lim

Urban Mechanics
Director

As the director of Urban Mechanics, Daniel Lim leads the placemaking practice in Think City. He has spent more than a decade pioneering projects to activate spaces through placemaking in Penang, Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur. Aside from placemaking, he advocates for social inclusion and community participation in culture-based urban regeneration efforts. 

Slightly zealous, Daniel oversees the Urban Mechanics flagship and drives innovative, experimental solutions to complex urban challenges through multi-disciplinary, people-oriented, and occasionally unconventional approaches. Urban Mechanics ensure that city engines are optimised to achieve resilience and improve quality of life.

As an associate member of Malaysia Institute of Planners, Daniel is also the founding committee member of Placemaking Malaysia. 

Nicole Thum

Urban Mechanics and Special Projects
Manager

As the Manager in Urban Mechanics, Nicole specialises in grants management and space activation in Think City. Her work revolves around conceptualising and operationalising grants programmes, community and stakeholder engagement, business strategies and local economic development. 

With her experience and skillsets, she also oversees asset management and activation of buildings such as the UAB building in George Town, Penang, which is a catalyst to the new Creative Digital District. Nicole is often seen at festivals where she uses as a tool to activate spaces. 

In 2017, Nicole was selected to participate in the highly competitive Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative’s Economic Development programme in the United States of America and a follow-up alumni programme in the year after. Nicole is also a member of Placemaking Malaysia and Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industries. 

Mohd Shahril Abd Manan

Urban Mechanics
Manager

As the senior associate in Urban Mechanics, Shahril speciliases in Placemaking Strategy, community engagements and cultural mapping. He drives space activation of public spaces and buildings through participatory process using arts and culture. 

He is responsible for operationalising the Johor Bahru Transformation programme together with the local authorities and communities through community-centric and evidence-based approach. His work experience ranges from the ideation and development of new business opportunities to the successful implementation of the projects on the ground with various clients. 

Shahril has been with Think CIty since 2019, and prior to joining Think City, Shahril was a project engineer on energy related industry and has 10 years of experience in managing local and international projects. He has been energising his placemaking projects ever since. Shahril is also a member of Placemaking Malaysia. 

Gan Yi Reng

Urban Mechanics
Manager

As the Senior Associate of Think City’s Urban Mechanics, Gan specialise in stakeholder management and public realm improvement, working with various stakeholders from community to the authorities. 

He led the Coronation Avenue project, a streetscape improvement in Downtown Johor Bahru which promotes the human centric experience within the state capital’s city center. The project covers community participation, content creation and activation beyond the nature-based solution physical works.  

Trained as an electronic engineer, Gan often trying to rewire and connect the urban circuits that contributes to community focused urban rejuvenation organisation He is also a member of Placemaking Malaysia. 

Zuliana Zulkiflee Abbas

Urban Mechanics
Senior Associate

Zuliana is a Senior Associate in Think City’s Urban Mechanics team. Her work at entails public realm improvement, stakeholder engagement and cultural mapping.

Prior to joining Think City, Zuliana was a sustainable design consultant cum project manager at an Environmental Design & Engineering firm, where she provided solutions to design better buildings with features that benefit the environment, the occupants and building owners. She was also responsible for overseeing the planning, design and implementation of green building projects. Prior to that, she was a management consultant at a Big 4 consulting firm focusing on sustainability reporting, sustainability strategy and management frameworks for clients in various industries including telecommunications and property development.

Zuliana is an Interior Architecture & Design graduate with a Master of Environment specialising in Sustainable Cities.

Elisa Hanim

Urban Mechanics
Associate

As an Associate of Think City’s Urban Mechanics team, Elisa works on public realm programmes,  and stakeholder engagement. 

She specialise in community engagement for public realm improvement projects, and often seen onsite bickering with contractors. She is currently overseeing the laneway improvement programme in downtown KL and improvement works at several PPR sites. 

Elisa is an urban planning graduate with a keen interest in urban design and transportation planning. She is passionate in living sustainably and she is active in advocating low-waste lifestyle in social media. Alongside this, she is a Graduate Member of the Malaysian Institute of Planners and member of Placemaking Malaysia.

Tan Yi Jing

Associate

At Think City, Yi Jing mainly works on grants management, space activation strategies, and public realm improvement projects, working with various stakeholders from the community to local authorities. She currently oversees the Halaman Kampung Attap project, an area improvement in Downtown KL to enhance its vibrancy, visibility and visitor experience. She went from built environment architecture to community architecture, stitching various forms of creative realm works – interior architecture and digital marketing, urban design, grants management, sometimes sustenance designs

Joel Goh

Strategy & Analytics
Director

Joel heads Think City’s Strategy & Analytics practice. He is focused on building a team of diverse leaders who aim to develop better cities through an evidence-based approach. His work revolves around strategy and innovation to address challenges facing our cities, and to inform the development of urban policy and strategy at the international, national, state, local, and project levels.

He is an aspiring expert generalist, an omnivorous learner, and insatiably curious. At Think City, he has contributed to UN-Habitat’s Penang Cities Prosperity Initiative pilot, the Penang2030 Vision for the Penang state government, and various strategic reports, socioeconomic studies, and market assessments.

He was formerly a strategy consultant at a global management consultancy, focusing on business case development, business and operating model development, and customer experience strategy across various industries including telecommunications, utilities, airports, consumer goods, and banking. Prior to that, he had a stint at a Malaysian investment bank. He has also participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program.

Melissa Chin

Strategy & Analytics
Manager

Melissa is an urban sociologist with experience in stakeholder management, strategic communications, and project management in diverse fields ranging from education, to healthcare, to urban sustainability. At Think City, she brings her multi-disciplinary background to interface between the organisation’s four flagships, nurturing synergies towards inclusive, liveable cities. 

As a Strategy & Analytics manager, Melissa drives cross-collaborative teams and has managed projects involving strategic value capture for transit-oriented development, sustainable development strategies, and organisational alignment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Trained in the liberal arts, she often seeks to build compelling narratives and connect disparate threads of various issues towards addressing multidimensional city challenges and transforming urban outcomes.

Dr. Kang Chuen Siang

Strategy & Analytics
Manager

Dr Kang is an expert on remote sensing and GIS applications on climate change and sustainable development. He received his PhD in Remote Sensing from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in 2017 and awarded as postdoctoral researcher in the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He worked on remote sensing soil moisture retrieval and analysis from local (Malaysia) and global scales. He spent another 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Geoinformation, UTM, managing a project on the impact of land use land cover change (LULCC) to river morphology changes and ecosystem services evaluation.

He was with the Low Carbon Society (LCS) Research Group in UTM on the mapping of green and blue infrastructure of Iskandar Malaysia and DBKL to support the LCS reporting and implementation in the cities. His main interests are on environmental sustainability, ecosystem services, climate change and carbon financing.

Ooi Zhong Kai

Strategy & Analytics
Senior Associate

Kai is a Strategy & Analytics Associate at Think City. His work at Think City revolves around industry and market analysis, socio-economic assessments, policy and strategy developments. Trained in Applied Economics, Kai aspires to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of Malaysians through urban lens and actionable interventions. He has been involved in urban redevelopment for a TOD, revitalisation of Dataran Merdeka heritage assets, and city assessments and studies across Malaysia for public and private clients. 

Kai was previously a research consultant in a S&P 500 real estate consultancy where he delivered economic analysis, market assessment and industry insights to helped local and international clients to devise business and property development strategies. His cross-disciplinary portfolios included residential and commercial real estate, logistics, healthcare, banking, national budget proposal, affordable housing and other contemporary issues. ​

Believing that everyone can serve greater value to the society, Kai dedicated 3 years of his undergraduate examining the livelihood of drought-hit Australian farmers. Through his Honours research on Australia’s agriculture economics, Kai received the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) Undergraduate Award in 2016 and was invited to present his thesis at the 60th AARES Annual Conference. ​

Gs. Maslah Suhaili

Strategy & Analytics
Associate

As a Strategy & Analytics’ Spatial Analyst, she is responsible for the collection, management and maintenance of geographical and spatial data and its analysis and presentation. She has 5 years of experience in GIS and Remote Sensing fields and her role includes analysing data, offering professional opinion on geographic trends and findings and serving as a technical resource for the organisation. She also supports and occasionally plays a lead role in the delivery and co-ordination of major projects. 

She has led the Safety Assessment of Greater Johor Bahru and Downtown Kuala Lumpur projects and is one of the contributors to UN-Habitat’s Cities Prosperity Initiative (CPI) pilot in Malaysia. Her other major involvements include Think City’s Covid-19 Community Vulnerability Mapping, Georgetown Population and Land Use Census 2019 and Merdeka 118 Community Engagement and Resilience Plan. 

Maslah is a Professional Member (Geospatialist, Gs.) of Institute of Geospatial and Remote Sensing Malaysia (IGRSM).

Suhaila Yunus

Strategy & Analytics
Associate

Suhaila is a new addition to the Strategy & Analytics team where her work revolves around strategy and policy analysis. Her main interests are research and data analytics in designing policies through evidence-based approach.

Suhaila studied political economy and development where she focused on economics from a political lens. She aspires to build her expertise in the field of sustainable development.

Lee Yi Sean

Strategy & Analytics
Associate

Yi Sean’s work at Think City revolves around assisting local and international clients generate insights into the current and future industry megatrends spanning across the latest technologies, demographic shifts, and economic developments.

Trained in strategy and policy work within the healthcare and life sciences sector, Yi Sean has a keen interest in leveraging his experiences to advance Think City’s sustainability-centric solutions in addressing complex urban issues both locally and internationally.on.

Illana Aqilah

Strategy & Analytics
Associate

Ilana is a recent Earth Science graduate with a concentration in geology. For her final year, she had undergone fieldwork in Mitchell, Oregon, to utilise her skills in geological mapping on topographic maps and aerial photographs. ​Ilana had previously interned at Willamette Toxicology Laboratory, USA, as a data analyst where she analyzed and monitor covid toxicology reports for the city of Corvallis, Oregon.

Starting as an intern at Think City for the first quarter of 2022, she was able to further explore her interest in GIS and sustainable city development by applying technology and data befitting to Think City’s mission.

Zairin Adam Abdul Aziz

Strategy & Analytics
Associate

Zairin Adam is a Strategy & Analytics Associate at Think City. His work at Think City City revolves around socioeconomic & market research, urban policymaking, strategic planning, data analytics and financial feasibility assessments.

He was formerly a former Research Analyst at the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Malaysia with experience in investments research, impact investments, public markets, sustainability, and stakeholder engagement.

Trained as a Mechanical Engineer with a passion for Sustainable Development Goals and Social Impact, he aspires to leverage his multidisciplinary background, data analytics and systems thinking approach in making cities more resilient, liveable and sustainable.

Duncan Cave

Manager

Duncan joined Think City in 2013 after seeing the works the organisation had done in George Town. He recognised the role that cultural heritage, conservation, and good public realm design played in making the lives better for city dwellers.

Donny Ewe Teik Chye

TCI
Manager

Donny has spent most of his career in advertising but decided to embark on a new journey in rechanneling his skill sets to deliver impact driven work.

Tan Sian Hoo

Branding and Communication
Manager

Tan Sian Hoo is a public relations practitioner specialising in media relations, strategic communications, and public outreach, with 13 years of diverse background in non-profit, manufacturing, customer service, and government ministries. Prior to joining Think City, he served as press secretary to the Foreign Minister of Malaysia. With a passion for the role of culture, history, and geography in shaping the identity and prospects of cities, Sian Hoo hopes to bring his wealth of experience in communications to support Think City’s mission of creating sustainable and inclusive cities. He is also a member of the Malaysia Youth Council’s Committee for International Affairs.

Nisshanthan Dhanapalan

Branding and Communication
Senior Associate

Nisshanthan is a social media specialist with a background in content creation, writing, public relations, communications and marketing.

Bharathi Nandakumaran

Finance, HR and Admin
Manager

Bharathi is a seasoned accounting professional with 16 years of experience in accounting, auditing and finance.

Noor Ariza Mohd Ali

Finance, HR and Admin
Senior Associate

Johari Hasan

Finance, HR and Admin
Associate

Alisah Alias

Finance, HR and Admin
Associate