Mr. Joshua Tham, Malaysian, Male, aged 45. He is the Principal of LUCA Academy. He holds a Master degree in Divinity from Singapore Baptist Theological Seminary in 2009. He also holds a degree in Bachelor of Finance and Business Administration from University of Oklahoma, United States of America in 1996. In his early working years in various multi-national companies in JB and Singapore, his working experiences were always related to import and export trading businesses. He also ventured into education related businesses for a couple of years before he entered into full time ministry in 2007. After his graduation from the seminary, he pioneered a new church, the Golden Lampstand Baptist Church in 2010. Currently, besides being the church’s senior pastor, he is also actively engaged in teaching ministry overseas. In addition, he is an adjunct professor for NOBTS pastoral ministry certificate, Advance International, USA. LUCA Academy was born because he sees the needs of his own child and the needs in our society. It is time for the church to bless the community by providing a church-based learning environment to help our children know the truth and excel in their learning. The vision is that one day these children will grow up to be the light for this world and make their parents proud.

Ms. Esther Yong, Malaysian, Female, aged 45. She has been appointed to the position of Acting Principal on March 1, 2017. She holds a degree in Bachelor of Accounting and Business Administration from University of Kansas, United States of America in 1996. She started her career with Ernst and Young and KPMG, Singapore from 1996-2001. In 2001, she co-founded UER Educare Sdn Bhd, a learning centre that focuses on before-and-after school services in Johor Bahru until 2012. She has a wide range of experience in auditing, management accounting and business management. Subsequently, she started to pursue her passion in fundamental investment analysis online classes. She has learnt that academic qualifications do not make one a better investor. Investors should follow the philosophies and strategies of the giants in the investing world, and take the time to understand how their analytical minds work. Her knowledge in investment has strengthened and her returns have grown. She is now eager to share her knowledge and experiences to build up our next generation. She is open-minded and able to establish supportive relationships with her students and their families. Ms. Esther loves to explore life values, and believes that “Price Is What You Pay and Value Is What You Get.”

ANGEL FOO

Ms. Angel Foo, Malaysian, Female, aged 40. She has been appointed as the Vice Principal (General Affairs) of LUCA Academy. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Anglia Ruskin University (UK). She also graduated with Diploma Computer Science from Informatics Institute (Malaysia) in the year 2000. In her early years of working experience, she held the position of Operational Manager in JB-City Alloy Industries Sdn. Bhd for eight years. In her role as the Operational Manager in the company, she also acted as QMR to assist the company to launch, commission and accredit with ISO 9000 certification from SIRIM. In the year of 2008, she established her own career by founding two tuition centres: Pusat Tuiysen Uni and Pusat Jagaan Bukit Indah via franchise with UER Educare Centre. Thereafter, she is acting as Principal until current day. Her basic work functions include designing courses framework, work-progress assessment, result-evaluation financial planning, human resource management and training-&-retraining project etc. She believes that education is the key to success for a young student. Through her teaching experiences thus far, she realises that to metamorphose from the identity of an educator to that of a learner is a vitally important process. Education is not only about teaching students what they do not know just to enhance their knowledge, but more importantly to equip them with effective social and communication skills, and to have a positive influence on their thinking that they will be eager to explore new things so as to enrich their living experiences in the future.

ESTEHR HOON

Ms. Esther Hoon, Malaysian, Female, aged 39. She has been appointed as the Vice Principal in Academic Affairs. She is mainly responsible for academic affairs. Ms. Esther has studied in Taiwan and China and has been nurtured by a strong influence of Chinese culture for her many years there. She holds a Degree in Bachelor of Arts (Chinese Literature) from Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University in 2003 and a Degree in Master of Ancient Chinese Literature from Fudan University, Shanghai, China in 2007. In 2008, she was admitted to the Singapore Ministry of Education and was trained in the National Institute of Education in Nanyang Technological University (NTU). In 2010, she became a qualified teacher when she obtained her Postgraduate Diploma in Education from NTU, Singapore. Upon graduation, she started her teaching career at the Victoria Junior College, a prestigious school in Singapore. During her seven years of teaching experience at VJC, she taught Singapore-Cambridge GCE O Level Higher Chinese and A Level H1 Chinese Language. She was also a teacher in charge of the Chinese Society and had many years of experience in organizing Chinese Drama Nights. All these years she has been serving as a mentor teacher for the overseas students from China. She loves to be with her students, accompanying them as they grow up, and enjoys every sad or joyous moment she has with them. She thinks of herself as an “OLD student”, a “NEW student”, and also a “Big Captain” of the young students. She leads her students in exploring and experiencing the bitter-sweet process of learning. She aims to be a true friend of her students, and is perseveringly working towards this goal.