Nelson Chen

Pivotal leadership position responsible for overseeing the organization's comprehensive operations, ensuring strategic alignment, and driving operational excellence across the region. Daily tasks entails the management of various functions including strategic planning, operational efficiency, financial oversight, client relationship management, compliance, digital transformation, and M&A activities. Key Responsibilities: Strategic Management: Formulate and implement strategic business plans that align with the company's long-term vision and objectives, ensuring integration across all departments and functions. Operational Efficiency: Enhance organizational processes and infrastructure to maximize operational efficiency and effectiveness, implementing best practices and adapting to changing market conditions. Financial Oversight: Oversee financial strategies and activities, including budgeting, forecasting, and reporting, to ensure the organization's financial health and compliance with all financial regulations. Client Commercial Management: Direct client engagement and commercial strategy to ensure robust client relationships, high satisfaction levels, and revenue growth, aligning with the company's strategic goals. Government Relations and Compliance: Manage interactions with government bodies, ensuring compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements, and maintaining high standards of corporate governance and ethical conduct. Digital Transformation: Lead digital transformation initiatives, identifying and leveraging technological advancements to improve operational processes and client services. M&A Activities: Oversee merger and acquisition strategies, identifying and evaluating opportunities to enhance the organization's market position and strategic growth. Digital Innovation: Championing digital transformation efforts to enhance operational efficiency and service delivery, positioning Publicis Groupe as an industry leader in innovation.

Generation First is Shanghai’s premier enrichment space for children, renowned for creative and innovative classes, summer camps, cultural celebrations, and special events! The program originated from New York City in 2005. Our unique and original curricula provide children the opportunity to build confidence and express their individuality through participation in physically challenging, artistically enriching, and intellectually stimulating programs. Generation First offers innovative programs curated for kids and parents. From group classes and private instruction to summer camps and birthday parties, we are committed to improving your children's skills, confidence, and social fluency - both in and out of the center! Additionally, our affiliated programs around the world are the leading extra-curricula choice for the years leading up to high school. The founders set out to build an educational, friendly, honest, and well-managed organization with extremely high standards for instructors and for the curriculum they teach. Generation First continually seeks to inspire exemplary customer service and to discover new ways of offering stimulating, consistently enriching kids classes dedicated to progressing the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual growth of your child.

Strategy, Vision, and Leadership Advise the key members of senior management on financial planning, budgeting, cash flow, investment priorities, and policy matters. Serve as the management liaison to the board and audit committee; effectively communicate and present critical financial matters at select board of directors and committee meetings. Contribute to the development of LePIN International strategic goals and objectives as well as the overall management of the organization. Maintain continuous lines of communication, keeping the key members informed of all critical issues. Represent the organization externally, as necessary, particularly in banking and supply chain negotiations. Team Development/Leadership Organize, oversee, and direct the work of the finance and operations teams. Promote a culture of high performance, continuous learning and improvement, and commitment to quality. Mentor staff members and guide their development using a supportive, collaborative approach. Establish and monitor staff performance metrics and development goals; assign accountabilities; set objectives; establish priorities; conduct annual performance appraisals, and administer salary adjustments based on results. Operations Analyze existing protocols and optimize them through the implementation of an appropriate system of policies, internal controls, accounting standards, and procedures. Plan, coordinate, execute and monitor the annual budget. Provide analytical support to LePIN International's internal management team including development of internal management reporting capabilities.

Appointed to drive improvement and continued success of 3 school locations. Lead 14 direct and 32 indirect reports. Support and advise senior leadership of each site on various business and administrative matters. Supervise financial planning and budgeting efforts to attain fiscal goals. Partner with executive staff to identify and plan school-level projects. Collaborate with IT on strategic planning and development of mission-critical administrative systems. Enhanced organization-wide security and external communications by leading launch of a phone-based school closure notification system, per mandate by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in wake of Hurricane Sandy. Project benefited all 1800 of city’s schools by offering a more efficient, reliable alternative to antiquated radio and TV notification channels. Led special task force to visit various schools and select best vendor for development of custom system. Delivered regular presentations to Mayor’s office on progress. Finalized multimillion-dollar contract with vendor to serve 13M children over the next 5 years. Substantially improved bottom line by establishing a formal security system for laptop computers. Selected Canadian vendor for embedding of microchips in every laptop; measure enabled worldwide IP tracking and recovery of units. Remedied widespread computer theft in school system, raising recovery rate from <5% to 72% and returning $110K worth of equipment in first year alone. Staged rapid (2-3 week) improvement of troubled locations by observing personnel, documenting activities, and presenting new best practices. Efforts optimized resource allocation, cost-effectiveness, instructional quality, and other success metrics. Managed HR functions for each site; oversaw tactful measures related to hiring, training, discipline, personnel changes, and labor relations.

Conduct graduate level course on Entrepreneurship. Implement curriculum and assessment tool for new students, geared toward academic fluency on par with university standards. Generate diversity-focused curriculum where students actively discover new business strategies based on hands-on experience.