Ken Sheargold
Ken Sheargold is the CEO of APAC Assistance. Prior to his current appointment, he was the CEO of PM Partners, which helped companies achieve their outcomes through implementing projects, programs and transformations.
Before becoming CEO, he was a Transformation Consultant of PM Partners and an accredited practicing member of the Australian Transformation and Turnaround Association. Ken has been engaged in significant successful transformations across Government and Private Enterprise. His last appointment in government was the Executive Director of the Premiers Implementation Unit in the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Ken is a thought leader on strategy development and execution. His qualifications include Post Graduate Qualifications in Telecommunications Systems Management, Management Studies and Personnel and Resource Management. He is a Fellow of the Customer Institute of Australia. Ken spent almost two decades in the Australian Defence Force including an exchange with the United States Marine Corps. He is a a graduate of the Army Command and Staff College.
After effecting great growth in 10 years with project management partners. Paul selected Ken to run all commercial elements of the company. Ken will expand on Paul’s vision to be the most versatile operational risk management company for the volatile and agile regions of Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
Ken Sheargold is a world class Transformation Executive and a commercially astute CEO that has delivered significant results. He loves golfing and Rugby Union and socializing with friends.
Paul Quaglia
Paul Quaglia is the Founder and Managing Director of Asia Pacific Assistance (APAC Assistance), a bespoke and agile Operational Risk and Information support company. Paul is one of Asia Pacific’s most experienced and versatile security and disaster management professionals. Paul has held various demanding roles in both military and civil positions. He has advanced commercial acumen. APAC Assistance has a decentralized team throughout the Asia Pacific region and a vastly extended network.
Paul has done regional risk consulting since 1996 following his military career as an operations officer in the Australian armed forces. Paul has a well-rounded understanding and appreciation of the region’s unique cultural and socio-political attributes. Paul understands how security and health impact businesses and prudent ways to reduce impacts. Paul graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, he was in Artillery, Arty Intelligence and was on Australia’s Joint Deployable Force Headquarters.
APAC Assistance clients include Caterpillar, Standard Chartered, ConocoPhillips, JP Morgan, Freeport McMoran, UNDP, AIG, INPEX, Signify, and KPMG.
APAC Assistance has an advanced database and information service with specialist teams in East Asia & Pacific and for South Asia. They have a concise and specific information service to support their clients’ risk demands.
APAC Assistance was built on the ethos of “always accessible, pragmatic advice to assist business decisions”.
As managing director, Paul will continue to develop products, run operations, and provide intimate support to clients. Paul’s primary focus will be continuing to provide innovative risk management excellence to our growing client base.
Paul formerly worked with the International SOS and the World Bank in regional roles embedded through Pinkerton. Paul has lived in Papua, Indonesia, and Thailand. He currently lives in Singapore. His hobbies are multifaceted, Rugby, Rugby, and Rugby.
Paul has extensive experience in monitoring, assessing, and managing complex risk and emergency situations confronting businesses, especially those operating in high-risk environments. Paul formerly worked with the International SOS and the World Bank in regional roles embedded through Pinkerton. In Indonesia, Paul has established specialist teams that assist major resource sector clients, such as Freeport and BP, in various aspects of risk management and mitigation. Paul also has extensive experience in Cash-in-Transit (CiT) operations and has served several clients in Myanmar and Timor Leste. Currently, through APAC-A, Paul has established monitoring, database, and assessment outfit that assists clients in identifying and assessing risks, real or potential, as the basis for formulating their corporate contingency plans.
Bhargava Reddy
Bhargav is an Indian national currently based out of Bangalore region in Southern India. He heads our South Asia team acting as Regional Operations Manager. He graduated from the Queen Mary University of London with a master’s in International Business and Politics. He holds an MA in Diplomacy from Jindal School of International Affairs and a BA in Economics from the University of Mysore, India. He also has Diplomas in Human Resource Management and Journalism. His most recent experience was with Pinkerton as an Intelligence Specialist for APAC and EMEA regions where he was trained in strategic and tactical intelligence for corporate risk management services. His areas of specialization include migration, security, military- industrial complex, and geopolitical risk. He has also interned in a refugee resettlement agency in Buffalo, NY. He is proficient in multiple languages including English, Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, Telugu, and French.
Ragyeshri Sudaroli
Ragyeshri Sudaroli is an Indian national who is based out of Bangalore, India. She works as a Manager at APAC Assistance. She has graduated from the University of Warwick with an MA in International Relations. During her course, she focused on studying the Asia-Pacific, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and South Asian security. She has a B. Com Honors degree, specializing in finance and investment from Christ University. She has previously worked as an associate in EY and an assistant manager at Kotak Securities. Her area of specialization pertains to security issues, geopolitical risk, research and analysis, stock markets, and macroeconomic theories. She speaks English, Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam.
Uday Bakhshi
Uday is currently based in Mumbai, India. He has studied in the UAE, Indonesia, and Singapore. He has a degree in economics and political science from Singapore Management University. He has worked in supply-chains and logistics with a ship management company in Singapore. Uday also has extensive experience as a geopolitical risk analyst, with a specific focus on Southeast and South Asia. He was previously employed at Max Security, a security and risk management firm. His interests include violence, conflict, the political-economics nexus, the ocean, and gardening.
Dan Bowman
Dan is an international lawyer with over 30 years of experience working in senior management positions in the resource sector. Dan has counseled companies on legal and tax matters, human rights, corruption avoidance, security, and environmental compliance. Dan has hands-on experience designing administrative systems in all these areas. He has extensive international experience in the Middle East and Asia with three decades in Indonesia.
Dan and his wife Sandra, travel between their two homes in Jakarta and Chicago. They are very keen photographers. Sandra formerly headed two of the big-4 accounting firms in Jakarta.
Robbie Van Kampen
Robbie Van Kampen is a senior advisor and consultant with APAC Assistance. Most recently he was the Director Asian Operations Blacksand International a bespoke security company operating in Hong Kong and has also consulted on a range of security related tasks for Pinkerton and I-Xero. Robbie is a versatile and adaptable senior leader with over 30 years experience in the military, Government, and corporate sector. His military experience has included senior leadership positions in the areas of personnel (Head of Officer Career Management), operations (Commanding Officer of an Army deployable unit), training (Chief Instructor of Army’s Leadership and Training School), and logistics and service delivery (Military Base Commander). Robbie was twice seconded to the United Nations as a Military Observer in the Middle East and as Deputy Force Commander of a multinational peacekeeping and capacity building force in East Timor.
He is a graduate of both the Royal Military College Duntroon, Australia and The United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth. Since retiring from the military as Colonel, Robbie has held several key positions including Global CEO of an acquisition and construction company that specialized in the development of child care centers with an annual turnover of over $300+M, Executive Director Change Management of a Regional Local Government Council post amalgamation, where he undertook a complete organizational development, training needs analysis and cultural effectiveness review and change implementation project, to Global HR/HSE and Security Director of a mining exploration company based in Hong Kong with operations in Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
Robbie was selected for his operational background in fast-paced operational risk environments. Robbie will head up our provisional and intelligence staffing division and operational risk consulting services on a partnership basis. Robbie will be responsible for these revenue sentence. He is a capable strong leader who provides specialist consultancy services across a broad spectrum of specializations including leadership and management, security and safety services, risk management, intelligence gathering, surveillance and protection services, training, and change management. He has worked in Asia since 2012 speaks intermediate level Dutch and basic Bahasa Indonesian. He completed a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and an MBA, loves to travel, is a keen environmentalist, and loves a game of golf.
Kevin O’Rourke
Kevin is the writer and producer of Reformasi Weekly, a subscription service analyzing politics and policy-making for international organizations operating in Indonesia. He has been writing the report since 2003. Subscribers include embassies, journalists, donors, NGOs, banks, fund managers, universities, and resource companies.
He is the author of Reformasi: The Struggle for Power in Post‑Soeharto Indonesia, published in 2002 by Allen & Unwin. His firm, Reformasi Information Services, provides political risk consulting and customized research. Syndicated reports include Who’s Who in Yudyohono’s Indonesia and the 2019 Election Primer.
Kevin started his career in Indonesia in 1994 as an equity research analyst and he has worked in the energy sector on BP’s Tangguh Project. He is a graduate of Harvard University with an honors degree in government.
Kevin, his wife Nikin, and their daughter Naeema enjoy outdoor activities, including soccer (football) and skiing when time permits them to go back to their home in Maine, USA.
Kevin has been in Indonesia for 28 years.
Ramlee Sham
Ramlee was a Malaysian Army Officer with over 30 years of service. Ramlee completed military college at the Officer Cadet School in Portsea, Australia. He is also a graduate of the University of NSW (Masters of Defence and Strategy, Sydney Australia, the Chistien Albright University (Military Strategic Studies), Kiel Germany, and the US Army Staff College, Fort Leavenworth. He served with the United Nations in multi peacekeeping mission roles and led numerous negotiations and crisis management operations for Malaysia. Ramlee’s military career in senior Military Intelligence roles included setting up and restructuring the military intelligence organization. As the Head of Strategic Intelligence, he has extensive networking with the main Intelligence organization regional and global. He demonstrated post-military capacity in the aviation industry and setting up MRO training, procedures, and certification for technicians.
Iain Wilson
Iain was a Canadian national and now is a citizen of Indonesia. He was born and is still a resident in Indonesian Papua. He is fluent in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Melayu-Papua, and Bahasa-Yali (a highland Papuan dialect). Iain has 15 years of experience in community development, capacity-building, indigenous peoples’ rights, health care, and other development work. He has worked with many groups and organizations, among them Clinton Foundation and PT Freeport Indonesia. In addition to his community development and organizing background, Iain has a decade’s experience in air logistics and management in the aviation industry. He is a disciplined and motivating project manager, facilitator, trainer, and evaluator who can work across Indonesian Papuan and Western cultures with ease and fluidity.
Martin Williams
Martin is a British citizen who graduated from the University of Bristol in 1989 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He moved to Singapore in 1990 and has been a resident of the ASEAN region ever since. He is a native English speaker and speaks conversational Bahasa Indonesia.
Martin has worked primarily as a project manager on a wide variety of construction projects, often in remote locations throughout the Asia Pacific region. During this time, he has worked for MEI Project Engineers Pte Ltd, DuPont Company (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Merx Construction Management Pte Ltd and, his own company, Henry Hudson Pte Ltd, which he started in 2010.
Martin has been doing some private consultancy work for APAC Assistance over the past three years, in various capacities, and has been using his areas of expertise to help the company develop new business pipelines.
Bassel Dweik
Bassel is a Lebanese national residing in Istanbul city in western Turkey. He is part of the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) team acting as a Senior Research Analyst. He graduated from the American University of Beirut with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. He has an interest in International Business and Politics especially in the Middle East region. He has previously worked in the Business-Marketing industry. He is proficient in Arabic, and English. He previously participated in the Model Arab League hosted by the Lebanese American University in Beirut. His hobbies include football.
Sitati Wasilwa
Sitati is a Kenyan national currently based in Nairobi, Kenya. He works as a Geopolitical Analyst for the EMEA region at APAC Assistance. He graduated from Egerton University with a double major in Economics and Sociology before enrolling at the University of Nairobi for an MA in Economic Policy and Management. Before joining APAC, he worked as a researcher and consultant on geopolitics, geoeconomics, government relations and public policy. His interests include international political economy, foreign policy, conflict studies, and public policy. He loves reading, playing chess, watching football, listening to music and exercising.
Christine Celis
Christine is a Filipina citizen currently residing in Manila, Philippines. She studied at the University of the East-Manila, taking up a Bachelor of Arts in English, with focus on Linguistics and Literature. She has training in the fields of Teaching English as a Second Language and Creative Writing. Before joining APAC Assistance as a Technical and Admin Support Executive, she worked in various fields such as in the marketing department of an electronics company and as a freelance writer. She is bilingual in English and Tagalog, and is conversational in Japanese. Her hobbies include listening to true crime podcasts, reading books, playing video games, and watching documentaries. She also runs a photo blog on various social media platforms for her daughter.
Jeshil Samuel
Jeshil Samuel is an Indian national based out of Madurai, India. He is a Research Assistant at APAC Assistance. He holds a Master’s degree in International Studies from Christ University, Bangalore and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Madras Christian College, Chennai. In his master’s, he focused on studying South Asian, West Asian, and Latin American politics. He was also a research scholar at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Bangalore. During his tenure at NIAS, he published numerous research articles and commentaries on the MENA region. His areas of interest include West Asian politics, cybersecurity threats, conflict studies, and conflict management. He is fluent in Tamil and English. His hobbies include singing, acting, playing football, watching movies, and taking long walks.
Mithma De Silva
Mithma is a Sri Lankan based in Kandy, Sri Lanka. She is a Research Assistant at APAC Assistance. She graduated from the University of Peradeniya with a degree in Geography. She also possesses an LLB degree from the University of Wolverhampton. Her interest lies in the south and southeast Asian regions. She has previously worked in the conservation sector. She is proficient in both English and Sinhala. Her hobbies include hiking, swimming and reading.
Aprille Pitigala
Aprille is a Sri Lankan based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She is an Executive and Technical assistant at APAC Assistance. She graduated from Coventry University with a degree in Psychology. She has mainly gained experience in administrative work and Organizational behavior. Her interest lies in Human and Industrial development. She has previously worked in the PR sector. She is proficient in English and Sinhala. Her hobbies include reading, stitching, hiking, and watching Netflix.
Fatima Germanwala
Fatima Germanwala is an Indian citizen and currently resides in Manipal, Karnataka. She works as Research Support Executive at APAC Assistance. She has completed a Master’s degree in Geopolitics and International Relations from Manipal University and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature. Before joining APAC, she was associated with Times of India, Jaipur as a correspondent and Janes and Global Data Plc as a research analyst and has experience working in the aerospace and defense domain. Her interests include India-China bilateral relations, China’s foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region. She is fluent in Hindi and English along with elementary proficiency in Gujarati. Her interests include reading, swimming, exploring new cuisines, and watching documentaries.