Crispian Tan
Head of SAP Next Gen SEA,
SAP
Prior to joining the private sector, Crispian had started his career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore where he learned and advanced Singapore's diplomacy with the Middle East and African countries and then spent 3 years in United Nations New York to develop good relations with all countries in international forums. He then joined Singapore Infocomm Development Authority to help Singapore attract international talents to contribute to Singapore's IT development. After leaving public sector, Crispian joined the private sector where he has over 19 years of experience in the IT and Education sector across Asia Pacific collaborating with Universities and Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) to help faculties and professors prepare students learn Design Thinking and apply technology skills for their careers. After Cisco Systems (Cisco Networking Academy program), Crispian joined SAP in 2006 to establish the SAP University Alliances (UA) program in Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region. Together with a team of 8 people, Crispian has grown the program to nearly 1,000 UA member universities in Asia. Crispian has in the past few years transformed the SAP University Alliances program in APJ to a wider scope to help students and faculties Learn, Apply, Share, be Recruited, and creating Impact. This is to harness the talents and passions of millennials and youths to make a big impact in the communities leveraging on technology to help make the world a better place and innovate with purpose. Last year, Crispian has taken the Program one notch higher by building a purpose-driven SAP Next-Gen community including academics, startups, accelerators, corporations and citizen groups to leverage new technologies to fulfill our commitments to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to uplift education, end poverty, protect the planet, fight diseases, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030. Crispian has also been a Design Thinking coach imparting innovation knowledge and skills of Design Thinking to faculties and students in China, India, Korea, Mongolia, Singapore and Taiwan. In 2015, Crispian attained 2 certifications in two training courses on 'Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment (ACTA)' and 'Implement Design Thinking' administered by the Singapore Government Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and DesignCouncil Singapore.