About Asian Australian Professionals Collective
Our Mission
- To activate our communities to improve social cohesion and recognition of Asian Australians.
- To build capacity to deepen Asia literacy and awareness in the broader Australian community.
- To provide a platform for Asian Australians to feel seen and heard.
- To foster the potential of new and emerging Asian Australian leaders.
As a collective, we are champions of Asian Australians to be future leaders in Australia.
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Our Impact
Asian Australian Professionals Collective (AAPC) has been set up with a focus on Asian Australian professional representation in leadership across industries, to act as a peak body representing the demographic aged 30 - 45 years across the public and private sectors.
AAPC's aim is to improve engagement in this demographic across all Australian states and territories, to build a community, create connections and foster a sense of belonging amongst Asian Australians.
AAPC represents a group of energised Asian Australian professionals with a passion to break the bamboo ceiling.
Who we are
Our Story
Our Story
Our Story
Asian Australian Professionals Collective was born out of the ANU's Centre for Asian Australian Leadership’s inaugural William Ah Ket Leadership Program (WAKLP), which brought together 15 emerging leaders aged 30-45 in Australia across different industries and cities from various Chinese diaspora communities.
Our Board
Our Story
Our Story
Our six Board members are all alumni scholars from the inaugural William Ah Ket Leadership Program (WAKLP), with the majority of the 15 alumni cohort involved as working group members to deliver events in Sydney and Melbourne in 2024/25.
Meet Us
Christina Li
Christina Li is a Director and Secretary of AAPC, and currently Head of Governance at Museums of History NSW. She is an award-winning public servant with over 13 years of experience across NSW public service. She has extensive experience in governance, risk management, regulatory compliance, strategic planning, program implementation, and diversity and inclusion.
Christina is a current member of the NSW Public Service Commission’s Inclusion Council, and the former Co-Chair of the Transport Multicultural Network. Christina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, Bachelor of Laws, and Graduate Certificate in Legal Practice from UTS. She is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, an alumni scholar of ANU’s 2023 inaugural William Ah Ket Leadership Program run by the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership, and a fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.
Kenny Cheng
Kenny is a finance professional with 19 years’ expertise in global and Australian Corporates, across Digital, Logistics, Consumer and Energy industries. He is a Director and Treasurer of AAPC, holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting & Finance) from Monash University, is a member of the Chartered Accountants in Australia and an alumni scholar of ANU’s 2023 inaugural William Ah Ket Leadership Program.
As the Investment Portfolio Manager at REA Group – which operates Australia’s leading residential and commercial property websites realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au – he focuses on planning and prioritising whole-of-business investment decisions to maximise the return on REA’s product portfolio.
Prior to REA, he held valuation and commercial finance roles at Australia Post, Victoria Power Networks and KPMG, engaging with senior stakeholders from Government, medium and large businesses. Concurrent with his professional work is his advocacy for Race, Culture and LGBTQIA+ intersectional equity and inclusion in the workplace.
Michelle Lim
Michelle is a Director of AAPC, and is currently an Organisational Culture and Change Lead, and the Deputy Chair of the Race and Cultural Identity ERG at the Reserve Bank Australia (RBA). Prior to the RBA, Michelle was a Management Consultant advising on Risk and Organisational Culture & Transformation and Change Engagements. Michelle focuses on the intersection of individual, environmental, societal, and cultural factors that inevitably shape an organisation's culture.
An inquisitive and purpose-led leader, Michelle has an interest and deep expertise in the Organisational Culture, Intersectional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion & Ethics space. With an academic background in Psychology and Neuroscience, Michelle draws on her psychology background to bring a deep appreciation of human behaviour to her work.
Michelle is a LinkedIn Top Voice, an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world. She has been recognised as a 2022 40 under 40 Most Influential Asian Australian, is a Fellow of the Dr John Yu Fellowship for Leadership and Diversity (University of Sydney Business School) and is a William Ah Ket Leadership Scholar (Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership, Australian National University).
Yazi Ke
Yazi is a Professor and Deputy Director of the Dementia Research Centre at Macquarie University. Yazi has dedicated her career to advancing the realm of medical research with a focus on deciphering the inner workings of disease processes and developing novel strategies to treating devastating disorders such as dementia and motor neuron disease.
Yazi obtained her PhD in Medicine from the University of Sydney, subsequently embarking on an academic career at UNSW, progressing from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer in 2017. Yazi is an internationally acclaimed researcher with her work published in high-impact journals such as Cell, Neuron and Science. She has been honoured with several accolades throughout her career including the University of Sydney’s Young Alumni Award and was featured in the Sunday Telegraph's "Meet the Medicine Women." She was previously the NSW state representative for the Australasian Neuroscience Society and an alumni of the ANU’s 2023 inaugural William Ah Ket Leadership Program.
Yvonne Lam
Yvonne is a Director and Secretary of AAPC, and a Principal and Head of the Corporate Insurance & Insurtech team at Gilchrist Connell, an Australian insurance law firm. With over a decade of experience advising clients on landmark matters such as the Financial Services Royal Commission and the Australian aspects of global mergers of the largest insurance groups in the industry such as ACE / Chubb and AXA / XL, she has been recognised as a finalist for the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards for Partner of the Year (Big Law), Special Counsel of the Year and the Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards for Commercial Law.
As a working mother in the legal industry, Yvonne is passionate about advocating for diversity and inclusion initiatives. She is currently the President of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association NSW Branch and has been recognised as a 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian Australian in 2024.
Yvonne was awarded the Susan Gin Scholarship for the inaugural William Ah Ket Leadership Program run by the ANU Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership in 2023. Yvonne holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales. She was a past Chair of the UNSW Australian School of Business Young Alumni Advisory Panel.
Gloria Yuen
Gloria has almost 20 years international experience in commercial roles leading Governance, Risk Management and Social Impact teams. At NAB, she currently leads the Regulatory Enablement and Delivery team and passionately supports all employee resource groups, having served as the Chair of Cultural Inclusion for 3 years.
Besides AAPC, she also serves Deakin University, Women on Boards, Risky Women and Diversity Council Australia through various advisory board and committee roles in advancing intersectional feminism and inclusion.
Gloria is a 2024 Victorian Multicultural Honour Roll Inductee and 2024 Gender Equity Award Winner at Equality Alliance. She was the 2022 Women’s Agenda Leadership Award Winner in Private Sector and was recognised as 40 under 40 most influential Asian Australians 2021. Gloria remains committed in driving Social, Financial and Economic Inclusion for communities to thrive through governance, financial services and sports. She is a Law graduate from HKU, a graduate member of AICD, a fellow member of International Compliance Association and an alumni scholar of ANU’s 2023 inaugural William Ah Ket Leadership Program.