Deborah Kay
Discovery enthusiast who believes in mastery of all things data, digital and design!
EXPERIENCE
Digital Discovery
Founder and CEO, Ongoing
Digital Strategy: Digital diligence and full potential strategy for PE funds and corporates
Startup / Market Entry Advisory: Localisation of value proposition, market entry strategy, review of competitive landscape, digital marketing strategy, account prioritisation, lead generation, introductions. Corporate structuring and financial advice: government procurement procedure, startup grants global tech startups looking to enter into the Asian market. Examples include Fishtree (adaptive LMS), Webydo (Israeli code-free website builder for designers), another AI driven website builder, Israeli start-up specialising in Gifted test prep materials.
International Consultant for GiftedandTalented.com adaptive, accelerative and personalised digital curriculum developed by Stanford University. Previously known as EPGY. Backed by 25 years of Stanford research, and 10 years of data collection, their adaptive technology is proven to accelerate the performance of both high and low ability students.
Digital Strategy: Digital audit, digital analytics
Next Gen Digital Intelligence: Machine learning and statistical analysis, Predictive analytics and trend forecasting, competitive benchmarking, Digital marketing and Social Media advisory
The Learning Lab
Advent International
Consultant Dec 2014 – May 2015
Portfolio company strategy for Advent International's acquisition of premium tutoring provider The Learning Lab. Scope of project included developing a Growth Strategy based on rigorous and advanced data analytics, customer segmentation & loyalty (Customer Lifetime Value, Net Promoter Score), developing an inbound marketing strategy (Content Generation, Lead Generation, Conversion Rate Optimization), website redesign implementing an email marketing and marketing automation strategy (14K email subscribers), creating a social media strategy and advising on digital (optimising on Google Adwords spend and setting up Google Analytics).
Please see here for recommendations
Broadway Beng Pte Ltd
Consultant / Executive Producer Aug 2014 – Nov 2014
Film financing: Developed business plan and budget, Oversaw the crowdfunding process, drafted grant application, liaised with film distributors across different release media, Also managed sponsorship programme - creating overall sponsorship strategy, creating tactical plans for each individual sponsor before approaching them, developing follow through strategy, executing on plans.
The Omar Khan Collective
Finance & Business Development Director Jan 2014 – Aug 2014
The Omar Khan Collective is a young but formidable interior design and creative consultancy, pushing the boundaries of design, creating spectacular outcomes in residences, malls even weddings. The new product line, Omar Khan Home, identifies gaps in today's home furnishings market and develops statement products that can only be described as aspirational luxury. Launched Omar Khan Home (Pret a Rever- Ready to Dream) Carpet range at Design Hub in March 2014. Developed business plan, investor pitch deck, retailer proposals. Developed growth strategy to scale business using large residential and hospitality projects as a platform in target markets (Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia).
Bain & Company
Manager Apr 2011 – Dec 2013
8+ years in strategy consulting and private equity
Market Entry Strategy for in Indonesia, Vietnam, India and China
Growth Strategy for FMCG companies in Indonesia
Family Succession Workshops for Indonesian conglomerates
JV-partner assessment for FMCG Company in Indonesia
$50M cost reduction for a leading F&B manufacturer
Due diligence for Indonesian mining assets for a Middle Eastern SWF
Due diligence for Japanese skincare and cosmetics manufacturer
Global Growth Strategy pitch for a top credit hedge fund based in LondonTraining: Top ranked Global Trainer invited to train at Global Associate Consultant Training (fresh graduates), Senior Associate Consultant Training and New Consultant Training (post-MBA)
Recruiting: Responsible for interviewing all candidates from UK universities while I was working at the London office and the US MBA candidates while at Penn / Bain New York
2011: Bain London Marketing Manager in charge of organising sector specific Events, Newsletter / Mailing List, Bain's Proprietary CRM system, Client Communications, assigning priority levels for different client contacts, alumni relations, competitor monitoring.
2013: Organised Bain Southeast Asia's 20th Gala Anniversary
Produced 4 commemorative videos - see herePartners Capital LLP
Principal Jan 2008 – Jan 2011
Partners Capital is a leading private investment office ($6.5B of assets under management in 2008, now $15B) based in London and Boston which serves ultra-high net worth (min $20M), highly sophisticated investment professionals (such as Blackstone and Bain Capital partners), endowments, foundations and high-net-worth families globally by providing wholly independent advice on asset allocation and access to best-of-breed asset managers across all asset classes and geographic markets (many of which are closed to new or individual investors). Partners Capital believed that relationship management and investment roles could not be separated and 5 Principals played both buy and sell-side roles.
Clients: Was personally responsible for managing 42 client portfolios across 8 asset classes. Clients included PE partners, Bain partners, Nobel Foundation (Sweden), Royal Academy of Arts (UK), Jesus College and Newnham College (Cambridge). Recommended asset allocation to achieve client's target returns, quarterly portfolio rebalancing, performance attribution, currency hedging and recommending Manager upgrades.
Real Estate: Responsible for all real estate investments (long equity, long/short equity, private equity real estate). Launched Partners Capital's third private equity real estate fund-of-funds (vintage 2008). Incorporated Cayman company and Delaware LP, prepared legal and marketing documents. Maintained fundraising pipeline and ran manager screens. Recommended managers to the investment committee.GIC Special Investments
Assistant Vice President Oct 2006 – Dec 2007
Private Equity fund of funds Investments in European with primary responsibility for Pan-European, German, Swiss, Scandinavian and Middle eastern private equity buyout funds
Co-investments: Budapest Airport in a consortium led by German Hochtief, Valentino (Italy) / Hugo Boss (Germany) with Permira
Bain & Company
Consultant 1999 – 2006
Market Entry and Full Potential Strategy for CPG companies in Indonesia
Customer Segmentation: largest department stores in the UK. Conducted 10,000 interviews to create six needs-based customer segments, 300 focus groups to better understand needs; developed >50+ initiatives
Private Equity: 2+ years of commercial due diligence in the Private Equity Group in London (2003), New York (2006). Deals include a public-to-private acquisition of a FTSE100 F&B company; a US bottled water manufacturer, a US luxury hotel supplies (linen and toiletries) manufacturer and West Coast white goods retailer; $10B media conglomerate consortium of PE firms
Post LBO turnaround strategy: Developed 100-day plan and ran PMO for $2B telecommunications buyout in Japan
Venture Capital - Global Strategy for rollout of eVolution (JV between Bain, Texas Pacific Group and Kleiner Perkins)
Ministry of Transport
Assistant Director (Air Transport) Oct 1998 – Aug 1999
Administrative Service
Oversaw Singapore's air space (given our small geographical space, Singapore controls air space technically belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia)
Worked closely with Statutory Board Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Singapore Airlines (SIA) to ensure that Singapore is a major aviation hub and Changi Airport is the number one airport in the world
Drove our open skies policy - represented Singapore in negotiating Air Service Agreements (ASA) between Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Air France (this agreement began the daily service between Singapore and Paris) as well as the ASA with South African Airways
Accompanied Minister Mah Bow Tan to London to lobby the Shadow Transport Minister, John Reid, for Singapore Airlines to have 5th freedom air rights, i.e. the right to carry air passenger traffic between London and New York, a highly profitable and hence protected route
Recommendations
Wai Ling Chua
CFO
Debbie delivers results and thinks out of the box. She is highly motivated and competent, with an eye for details. She has strong work ethics, believes in sharing facts and the truths for optimal organisational performance. She is hard working, committed, and able to get along well with people at all levels of the organization. She builds working relationships with the key stakeholders and gained their confidence and trust.
Debbie is extremely knowledgeable, tech savvy and possesses strong business acumen. These skills allow her to execute any project with the highest quality and excellence. She truly inspires me with her wealth of knowledge, passion for learning and continuance pursuit for perfection.
It has been a true pleasure working with Debbie!Ling Cheah
Head - Marketing and Enrolment
Deborah Kay was with The Learning Lab as a Consultant from Dec 14 to Apr 15.
As a highly driven individual with a passion for what she does, working with Debbie was an exceptional experience. Her strong analytical reasoning and immense dedication brought forth various refreshing perspectives that led to novel suggestions and great discussions. As such, multiple value-adding ideas that could help our organization improve were raised and implemented.
Debbie was also a highly resourceful consultant, bearing a wealth of connections and knowledge that were very valuable. Being an effective communicator with a charismatic personality, Debbie was highly engaging and built amiable working relationships with her partners.
With her fiery passion and mental acuity, Debbie is a promising consultant that is a true pleasure to work with. I would like to endorse her and believe that she will contribute greatly to any company in her future endeavours.Mark Twain
"I have never let my schooling
interfere with my education."EDUCATION
The Wharton School - University of Pennsylvania
MBA Finance 2003 – 2005
Fully sponsored by Bain & Company
Activities: Wharton MBA Program Advisory Board, Wharton Publicity Corp (Singapore Head), Wharton Consulting Club, Sales & Trading Club, and Wine Club
University of Cambridge
BA, MA Economics 1995 – 1998, First Class Honours (2nd in class)
Full scholarship awarded by the Singapore Government under the Public Service Commission Overseas Merit Scholarship
Awards: Creighton Memorial Book Prize for Best Dissertation on the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis
Activities: Newnham College JCR - Overseas Officer, Newnham College Dance Club - Founder and President
Raffles Junior College
Humanities Scholar 1993 – 1994
Raffles Dance Club
Raffles Girls' Primary and Secondary School
Gifted Education Programme 1986-1992
Filiae Melioris Aevi
Inbound Certified
Inbound Marketing 2015
Certified by the Hubspot Academy in July 2015
MEDIUM
My writing on Medium
SKILLS
CORPORATE STRATEGY
Market Entry, Growth Strategy, Portfolio Strategy, Start-Up Strategy
CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Customer Segmentation, Customer Lifetime Value, Net Promoter System, Customer Loyalty Economics
DATA / DIGITAL ANALYTICS
Google Adwords, Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, ROI
CPC, CPM, SEO, Conversion Rate Optimisation, Data Crawling, Web scraping, Competitive Digital Intelligence
DIGITAL MARKETING
Inbound marketing, digital paid marketing, search marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, marketing automation, conversion rate optimisation
FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS
Private Equity Due Diligence, LBO, Investment Management, Portfolio Optimisation, Fund Raising
EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Digital, Adaptive, Advanced & Accelerated Learning, Personalised Learning, Gifted and Talented Education Systems, Learning Management Systems
MY TOOLBOX AND PRODUCTIVITY APPS I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT
Note: Recommended apps contain referral links, but I only use them if I actually use them and if we both get benefits
Evernote
Go paperless with Evernote. Keep a swipe file of web clippings. Scan important documents for reference (great scanner app). This is one app I cannot life without. The Feedly to Pocket to Evernote trick from Lifehacker is also pretty awesome (search for interview with Evernote ambassador Todd Rubin)
Sidekick (by Hubspot)
Track when your emails are opened, and which links are clicked. Learn how to disable it so no one can track your emails. Sidekick is free. As you compose your emails, see all the relevant information about your recipient (past contact history, social media content, mutual connections, and more) in a sidebar in Gmail
Use Zapier to automate your every day tasks. From email marketing to social media, Zapier can automate and integrate anything that has an API. Use Zapier to automate your social media management, manage your MailChimp to Trello to GoogleSheets. This is one app that can 10x your productivity.
I buy all my domains from Namecheap (cheaper, more choice, WHOIS only costs $2.88 whereas on Bluehost it's $9.99). Currently, all university students from UK, US, Canada and Australia get a free .me domain (Check that your university is listed on www.nc.me). All .xyz domains are $1.99. Follow instructions on my Github site to build your own website that can be hosted free on Github
I host more than 20 domains on Bluehost. Unlimited for $3.95 a month. This includes email hosting with 250 emails for each individual domains. The customer support is excellent and 24/7 live chat is critical. I repeat. CRITICAL especially for non-US customers and amateur website developers. I also have a Dreamhost account (2 free domains if you use DEBBIEDISCOVERS promo-code ) but Bluehost has a superior c-panel and a far simplier interface for FTP, creating SQL databases and so on.
Strikingly was by far the easiest to use one page website builder, with a one-click LinkedIn and Facebook page integration. (This online resume is built on Strikingly as is my personal website Debbie Discovers). Be sure to use this link with DAVIDLIKESYOU promo code that gives you an 11% discount on all upgrades to premium plans. Special plans are available for students and non-profits upon enquiry.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ME
Contact
Leave a message if you have any enquiries
2015-2016 © All Rights Reserved, Deborah Kay