Instructional Team 2023

Marina Chan
Head of Education, MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node | Senior Director & Instructor, MEFTI
Marina Chan began her career in banking at Merrill Lynch for the Asian equity business before earning her master’s degree in education from Harvard University. She has worked with students from K-16 and young professionals across Asia and the US through her experiences in teaching, advising student startups, and leading professional development workshops. With a grant awarded by the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fund, Marina founded Alpha Commons in 2015, an educational program cultivating creativity in children through engagement with technology.
She is a board member of the Hong Kong Red Cross Hospital Schools and is a CFA Charterholder.

Charlotte Lam
Education Program Manager, MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node

Nick Tsang
Program Manager, MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node
Nick graduated with a Bachelor’s degree of Art in International Affairs and Political Science from Northeastern University. Unconventionally passionate in technology, creative ideas and problem solving, Nick has been working within the entrepreneurship ecosystem throughout his career. Prior to joining the MIT Node, Nick was a member of the Inno Space team of Hong Kong Productivity Council, and had worked with startups, local schools and students to push forward the progress of the STEM education network in Hong Kong. During those 2 years, Nick had coordinated various STEM and startups events, including co-organized MIT Node events, which helped build a strong relationship between him and MIT Node.
Team Coaches

Jesse
Associate Technology Risk Consultant, Ernst & Young

Athena Chan
Final year student, HKUST
Athena is a final-year student at HKUST, majoring in Finance and Information Systems. With a strong academic foundation and practical experience, she has developed a deep understanding of the financial services industry and the field of IT audit. Her curiosity and drive for knowledge fuel her passion for learning and exploring new ideas. Athena aspires to connect with individuals from diverse backgrounds and make a positive impact on society. In her free time, she indulges in her love for baking and runs her own food blog on Instagram.

Christina Chan
Bachelor’s, Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics, HKUST

Kelvin Chau
Software Developer, Information Technology Department, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited
With an unyielding passion for the latest tech. trends in an era defined by supreme innovation, Kelvin’s goal as a financial software engineer is to harvest all kinds of cutting edge technologies to improve human mankind. Having spent tireless efforts in MIT node as coach to blend theoretical concepts with real-world applications, his holistic approach to bridge the gap between business specialists and software developers will continuously shape the future of the industry through emerging technologies. In MEFTI, he invites you to delve into the complex convergence of technology and finance, with the aspiration of creating the optimal solution possible.

Rioma Kam
Co-founder, Flexp3rt
Rio is a startup founder with a passion for innovation and design thinking. He has over 15 years of experience in the insurance industry, where he managed various actuarial projects in the US and later self-funded and launched an insurtech startup in Singapore. Rio is currently co-founding another startup in Hong Kong and applying for funding. He is an active mentor and participant in hackathons and Meetups and particularly enjoys being in the thicke of seeing chaos turning into order. Rio enjoys sleeping when he could dream about playful dogs and learning salsa.

Tuan Phan
Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Hong Kong Business School
Dr. Tuan Q. Phan is an Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Business School, in the Marketing Area and in Innovation & Information Management (IIM) Area. His research uses large and population-size datasets and spans multiple disciplines including economics, marketing, consumer behavior, computer science, and statistics. His expertise covers various industries including FinTech, retail and e-commerce, logistics and transportation, social media, news and video media, technology and consumer products, and education. His research has been published in leading scientific and management journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP), Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), and Information Systems Research (ISR).
He received his doctorate from Harvard Business School, and an undergraduate from MIT. Dr. Phan is also an entrepreneur, expert witness, sits on the boards of several companies, and frequently consults industry leaders.

Ivory Tang
Recent graduate from MIT
Ivory is a recent graduate from MIT where she studied Computer Science, Mathematics, and Business Management. During college, she interned at two of MIT’s research labs, a climate tech Series A startup, HubSpot, and BCG in various roles ranging from engineering to business consulting. Throughout college, she has persistently held an interest in startups, having joined a year-long startup accelerator, a week-long startup program guaranteeing a $10k check, and gathered a team of 4 students to build out an MVP for an idea in the email management space. Last January, she was also involved in a similar Hong Kong program, MEMSI, where she came up with a business plan and pitched a carbon-offsetting startup idea to the Hong Kong airport leadership team.