About the Management
Our Leadership
ESC’s organisational structure is built upon our strong culture of integrated teamwork and collaboration, and this is reflected in our “1-Enterprise” approach in leading and managing our business.
Our Executive Leadership is responsible for setting and implementing the overall strategy of the enterprise and works jointly with our Senior Management Team to deliver our clients’ projects seamlessly across our practice areas and our geographies.
Leadership Team Members
Executive Leadership
Andrew Young
Group Director, Country Manager – Singapore
About Andrew:
Founder and Managing Director of ESC, Andrew has worked within the Asian environmental industry since 1994.
He has gained extensive experience as an environmental specialist within the industry, government and consulting organisations. Andrew’s broad expertise covers solid waste management, planning and impact assessments, air quality management, due diligence and compliance assessments, where Andrew has advised on EHS risks for the acquisition and divestiture of global businesses.
With experience from project inception, development and planning through operations, Andrew brings a wealth of knowledge and practical insights to all his consulting projects.
Geographically, Andrew has advised on EHS risks, liabilities and compliance for government and private sector clients in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, India, China, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Germany.
Frank Ganendran
About Frank:
Frank has 36 years of experience working in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region within the environmental and engineering consulting and professional services industry. He has been in senior executive leadership roles for the past 23 years mainly for large international firms.
In 2007, he established and grew a successful Australian-based environmental consulting and advisory practice (E3 Consulting Australia) which was eventually acquired by CDM Smith Inc. in 2011.
His recent role was as the Group Manager and Managing Director of CDM Smith Inc.’s Asia-Pacific region, in charge of approximately 960 staff looking after design, construction, engineering and environmental projects across private and public sector markets as well as for the multilateral lending agencies. He has a proven record of strong leadership, strategy development and implementation, training and developing executive managers, and delivering results. His valuable understanding of the intricacies of combined Asian and Western modalities of business allows him to lead, communicate and be trusted across cultural boundaries effectively and successfully.
Frank has assisted and mentored CEOs, boards and senior executives in strategic development, effective change and leadership, delivering strategic goals and business development. He joined the ESC Group as our Group Chief Executive in April 2019.
Senior Management Team
Arjen van Schaijk
Country Manager – Indonesia, Managing Principal – Site Investigation & Remediation
About Arjen:
Arjen has 25 years of professional experience working as a consultant in the environmental industry. He has held Senior Management positions with technical, operational, and financial accountability since 2005 and has on-the-ground project management experience in most Asia/Pacific countries, in Africa and Europe.
Arjen’s broad expertise covers site investigation, human health risk assessment and remediation, due diligence and compliance assessments, solid waste management, impact assessments and planning and air quality management. With his brought experience from project inception, development and planning through to operations working across countries and cultures, Arjen brings a wealth of knowledge and practical insights to all his consulting projects.
Over the past 10 years, Arjen has been focused on directing projects and growing and mentoring teams for large-scale upstream and downstream oil & gas (O&G) investigation and remediation programs and chemical and manufacturing sector projects in China, South Africa, and Indonesia. Besides, he has been an account manager responsible for client management, business development and operational management with P&L responsibilities.
Arjen has led several multi–year site investigation and remediation programs and numerous complex scientific, technical, and environmental due diligence programmes, including site characterization, remediation options and costing analysis and remediation action plans.
Geographically Arjen has advised on EHS risks, liabilities, and compliance mainly for multinationals in Singapore, Indonesia, South Africa, China, Taiwan, The Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Japan and The Netherlands.
Khoo Boon Keat
Country Manager – Malaysia
About Boon Keat:
Boon Keat has over 30 years of experience in environmental management in the construction of large infrastructure projects, including soil erosion control, river/water pollution control, noise level control, waste management, social and stakeholder planning and engagements.
He is a certified Sustainable INFRASTAR facilitator and has helped large infrastructure projects earn a 5-star rating. He has worked on Environmental Impact Assessments, Environmental Audits, and Feasibility Studies for projects all over Malaysia, including the railway, major roads and highways, dam, reclamation, coastal rehabilitation, bridge, marine, drainage, water and sewage treatment plant, township, and tunnel. He was involved in important projects like the KVMRT Putrajaya Line, KLIA 2, the Second Penang Bridge, the East Coast Rail Link, Teluk Chempedak, and the Pulau Tioman Beach Rehabilitation.
His training as a Civil Engineer gives him superior insights into construction site management and he can formulate practical, cost-effective solutions to address a wide range of environmental challenges.
Alexi Bhanja
Managing Director – Hong Kong
About Alexi:
Alexi is a Registered Professional Engineer (Environment), a Chartered Environmentalist, a Chartered Water and Environmental Manager, a Chartered Resource and Waste Manager, an Accredited Monitoring Professional and a Qualified Environmental Professional with 30+ years of consultancy experience. He has been based in Hong Kong since 1992 and has worked on projects in North Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Middle East and Europe.
Alexi specialises in environmental assessment; sustainable development; tourism developments; waste management; and environmental monitoring and audit – he has been involved in more than 450 such projects to date. Alexi has managed and coordinated inputs from technical teams to develop robust environmental and sustainable solutions for clients, particularly at the early stages of project planning, and has worked with international master planners and major developers to bring sustainable solutions to numerous projects in the region.
In 2023, Alexi joined ESC as the Country Manager and Managing Director for Hong Kong, to develop new business opportunities and strengthen ESC’s presence in Hong Kong; to lead ESC’s local team and support the Group’s regional business as it strives to deliver purpose-fit solutions for clients; and to lead and support the development of ESC’s strategic growth agenda for its key business lines.
Nigel Landon
Managing Principal, International Development Aid, Waste Management
About Mahrizal:
Mahrizal is currently an Operations Manager (Projects) for Malaysia and Indonesia operations at EnviroSolutions & Consulting Sdn Bhd & PT.
Previously, he was a Social Consultant with more than 10 years experiences in stakeholder mapping and engagement, social and land mapping, facilitation and participatory mapping, resettlement and economic displacement, livelihood restoration plan, indigenous people assessment (including its development plan, community development, and grievance mechanism), IFC Performance Standards, ESIA and EIA/Amdal (mainly for social section, baseline social survey, socio economic analysis) and in the field agroforestry and social forestry.
Before joining ESC, Mahrizal worked for several research institutions and NGOs (ICRAF – the World Agroforestry Centre, University of Arkansas, Irish Red Cross, Care International, International Catholic Migration Commission). He led and established dynamic links with local governments, NGOs, communities and other relevant stakeholders to support the project’s activities, designed and implemented communication strategies to share success stories and lessons learnt from development and improvement of community agroforestry and nursery systems.
Mahrizal was also involved in advocacy, psychosocial, community development and agricultural development programs. He also conducted an extensive research on cocoa and smallholder farmers, published several articles on reputable peer reviewed journals, and presented at international conferences.
Sabine Ramaker
About Sabine:
Sabine is a Managing Principal specializing in Industrial Safety and EHS Management, being responsible for the development of the Safety, Health and Risk business area in Singapore and Southeast Asia. In this role, she provides high level technical and scientific support regarding complex environmental, health, safety and risk projects and studies throughout Asia. She is also responsible for ESC’s digital solutions.
Sabine has 20 years of experience in the field of Industrial Safety, Environment, Health and Risk, which includes Safety Case Studies for Major Hazardous Installation. As part of the Safety Case Studies, she has set up numerous of Safety Management Systems and provided support to companies EHS teams with regards to behavioral or cultural change. She was also part of the SCIC WG to review SS506: Part 3 and align to the new ISO45001.
Furthermore, as the Managing Principal, Sabine leads the teams who are executing the technical aspects of the EHS and risk work. She has extensive experiences with specific computer modelling software to perform a variety of risk studies including DNV’s Phast/ Safeti and TNO’s Effects/ RiskCurves and air quality studies using CERC’s ADM software.
She recently completed the training for the Major Hazards Department (formerly SRMC) in Singapore, to train the graduate officers in the field of QRAs.
During her working career in The Netherlands, she also performed environmental due diligence and research studies in the field of transportation of hazardous substances via road/rail and waterway for the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. Her technical expertise and professional experience is complemented with a B.Sc (Hons.) in Environmental Engineering (With Distinction), and several post-graduate studies in the safety field.
Geographically, Sabine has advised on EHS, risk and safety studies for government and private sector clients in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, China, and The Netherlands.
Amit Kakde
Associate Managing Principal, Planning & Assessment
About Amit:
Amit has over 20 years of experience in the energy and environment sector. He specializes in managing large-scale and multi-disciplinary offshore/coastal development and renewable energy projects. Over the years he has led a multi-disciplinary team for conducting environmental assessments for infrastructure projects around ecologically sensitive sites in the middle east, south and southeast Asia. He has vast experience in environmental disciplines such as waste management, environmental impact assessment, environmental management planning, and environmental monitoring programs. Amit has managed the environmental assessment and planning studies for large and complex infrastructure projects, including ports and harbors, jetties, real estate development and O&G, requiring multi-disciplinary team and stakeholder management.
Before relocating to Singapore, Amit was working as an Associate Business Director for COWI A/S and was responsible for business development as well as managing international assignments for offshore wind projects. He led leading many multilateral funded and owners/developers driven renewable projects with a focus on screening/market assessment, technical due diligence, and owner’s engineering aspects. Amit has a clear understanding of co-creating partnerships and has played a significant role in developing the business for his organisation(s), as well as played a key role in developing India based team for executing challenging and complex projects worldwide.
Geographically Amit had led the execution of environmental and renewables consulting assignments in Oman, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Singapore, and India.
Prashant Karkare
Principal Consultant, International Development Aid
About Prashant:
Prashant Karkare is an urban planner with over 20 years of diverse experience. He works in the urban space cover project formulations and appraisal, urban governance, institutional development, project development, municipal finance and capital investment planning. Specifically, he has been mainly involved in all aspects of project management covering urban water supply and sanitation investments in Asia region funded by several International Financial Institutions.
Eeda Wallbank
Principal Consultant, Transaction Services
About Eeda:
Eeda has 14 years of professional experience. She has diverse industry experiences supporting a wide range of commercial clients in Project Management, Environmental Due Diligence, ASTM International Standard Environmental Site Assessment Phase I and II, Remedial Investigation and Response, and Environmental Health & SafetyCompliance in Singapore, the United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, India and Bangladesh.
She has led or supported numerous due diligence and environmental investigation/response activities in accordance with ASTM International standards, Country-specific regulatory requirements, and globally accepted best management practices for a wide range of built assets including commercial manufacturing facilities, wastewater treatment plants, underground storage tank farms, landfills, railroad/railyards, shipping yards, active construction sites, U.S. military munitions response sites, and U.S. CERCLA Superfund sites.
Her experience spans sectors including waste management, major integrated oil and gas companies, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, manufacturing, construction, automotive, freight rail, utilities, telecoms, and government, including the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Jessie Nguyen
Operations Manager (Projects) – Singapore, Vietnam
About Jessie:
Jessie is a Project Management Professional (PMP) registered with PMI and has more than 17 years’ experience in carrying out environmental impact assessment, environmental engineering & management and civil engineering, including road and infrastructure or utilities projects.
Her experience varies from broad level studies and master planning to detailed engineering and construction; including environmental impact assessment (EIA), environmental monitoring & management plan (EMMP), strategic environmental assessment (SEA), wastewater treatment, solid and hazardous waste engineering and management, waste recycling, Occupational Environmental, Health & Safety (OEHS), landfill design, air and noise pollution control, risk assessment, environmental planning and management, water resources studies, eco/green and sustainability features for industrial parks and resorts, and sustainable development.
She has successfully delivered several gold-plated EIA and EMMP for floating solar panel PVs projects in Singapore and in the region, as well as ADB and WB’s donor projects in the region to comply with Equator Principles, IFC Performance Standards and ADB Safeguard Policy Statement.
Jessie also has hands-on experience in project management for infrastructure detailed design and construction projects include roads development, water pipelines, drains, sewers, general civil engineering, as well as landfill etc in Singapore. Geographically, she is familiar with the environmental laws and regulations in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Oman, Qatar, India, China, South America and more.
Mahrizal Paru
Operations Manager – Indonesia
About Mahrizal:
Mahrizal is currently an Operations Manager (Projects) for Malaysia and Indonesia operations at EnviroSolutions & Consulting Sdn Bhd & PT.
Previously, he was a Social Consultant with more than 10 years experiences in stakeholder mapping and engagement, social and land mapping, facilitation and participatory mapping, resettlement and economic displacement, livelihood restoration plan, indigenous people assessment (including its development plan, community development, and grievance mechanism), IFC Performance Standards, ESIA and EIA/Amdal (mainly for social section, baseline social survey, socio economic analysis) and in the field agroforestry and social forestry.
Before joining ESC, Mahrizal worked for several research institutions and NGOs (ICRAF – the World Agroforestry Centre, University of Arkansas, Irish Red Cross, Care International, International Catholic Migration Commission). He led and established dynamic links with local governments, NGOs, communities and other relevant stakeholders to support the project’s activities, designed and implemented communication strategies to share success stories and lessons learnt from development and improvement of community agroforestry and nursery systems.
Mahrizal was also involved in advocacy, psychosocial, community development and agricultural development programs. He also conducted an extensive research on cocoa and smallholder farmers, published several articles on reputable peer reviewed journals, and presented at international conferences.