The Chief Executive Officer
Dr Victor Nian
Dr Victor Nian’s vision for CSER is to foster the development of clean energy ecosystems for empowering and accelerating the global energy transition effort in an equitable manner across countries and regions in the world. Dr Nian brings onboard a suite of expertise in energy transition and sustainable development, especially in energy policy and strategy, modelling analysis and scenario planning, technology assessment and roadmapping, and net-zero emission pathways, along with his consultancy and advisory experiences to public and private organisations. He is recognised as one of the go-to-persons on energy and sustainability related issues in Southeast Asia.
Dr Nian firmly believes in the ecosystem approach in tackling the most difficult challenges in energy transition. In the spirit of “research and innovation without borders”, he established a virtual laboratory, entitled UNiLAB on Integrated Systems Analysis Tools, hosting an international network of experts from more than 15 countries and organisations. He is a Founding Member and elected Council Member of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies, a non-profit organisation with more than 300 members from over 40 countries.
Prior to establishing CSER, Dr Nian, as an aspiring entrepreneurial individual, has served in various capacities including setting up and leading virtual centres of excellence, energy and carbon consulting businesses, and expert networks. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and a BEng (Hons) in Electrical Engineering with a Minor in Management of Technology, all from the National University of Singapore. Dr Nian was the first scholar from the National University of Singapore to publish independent studies in academic journals on nuclear energy related topics.
Laura Ashton
Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Alliances
Laura Ashton is CSER’s Senior Vice President of Partnerships & Alliances, focused on creating value for CSER members and collaborators.
She is also co-founding CEO of Low Carbon Advisors which is a global firm that helps businesses, investors and governments decarbonise and navigate the path to net-zero emissions by accessing the advice of leading industry experts. She founded Xunama, an international consultancy for professional services firms. Her executive career has included global and regional roles with Shell, Electrolux and Philips. Her Board Directorship career has focused on governance and leading Committees, Sustainability/ESG/Energy Transition, Asia experience, Strategy, Digital Transformation, Growth and Customer focus.
Laura is Canadian and a graduate of McGill University. She and her husband have lived in Singapore for nearly 20 years.
Masayuki Kurihara
Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Alliances
CSER Japan Representative
Masayuki has over 20 years of international business experience in the Utility and Infrastructure industry, with a focus on renewable energy. He spent 31 years at Marubeni Corporation, a leading Japanese Trading House, where he held various roles and worked on power and infrastructure projects in nearly 100 countries worldwide. Masayuki also contributed to afterFIT, a Japanese renewable startup, as a Senior Executive Vice President, overseeing solar power business development. He joined Envision Digital, a global AIoT (artificial intelligence of things) company providing end-to-end net-zero solutions via software as a service (SaaS), where he played a key role in renewable energy companies' alliance and served as the Managing Director for Envision Digital Japan. In April 2022, Masayuki joined the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo as a Project academic specialist in Technology Management and Innovation.
He holds an MBA from Henley Management College, UK, and a BA in Economics from Keio University, Japan.
Su Yin Teoh
Office of Legal Affairs
Su Yin joined CSER as in-house counsel after a stint as General Counsel to Singapore National Research Foundation’s CREATE entity Singapore-ETH Centre. She obtained her Bachelor and Master of Law degrees from the National University of Singapore and was called to the Singapore Bar in 1995. She practised in the private sector for more than twenty years, most recently as a partner of Big Four Singapore law firm Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP.
Su Yin also conducts facilitative teaching and process facilitation. She obtained her pedagogical qualification from, and co-taught in, Finland. She draws from Finnish educational practices, legal method and research-based programmes to help people create positive change for themselves and their communities. She is currently pursuing a Master of Education (Developmental Psychology) at Singapore’s National Institute of Education. Her research interests are twice-exceptionality and transfer of learning.
Anandan Rajagopalan
Office of Financial Services
Anandan is a result oriented cross-functional "process driven" Finance professional with over 20 years of experience drawn from leading listed companies from Europe & USA, larger global players. He handled country, area, regional and corporate levels with significant domiciled experience in ASEAN, Middle East, UK & West Africa. He has experience in leading, directing, and proven track records in controlling the financial resources to improve the financial health of the businesses.
Anandan holds Master's degree in Finance from University of Madras, Certified Management Accountant of Australia & New Zealand, Management Degree from Henley Business School, UK and Chartered International Mergers & Acquisitions Expert, Austria.