Great leaders don’t appear overnight. They grow through small decisions and habits that begin in school. Explore the leadership principles you can start cultivating now to gain an edge in both career and life.
Start today and set yourself up for success tomorrow!
Speaker
Dr. GAO, Shang
Founder and CEO Navia Education
Dr. Gao is the Founder and CEO of Navia Education, a future-focused education and investment company empowering individuals, institutions, and organizations to navigate the evolving landscape of learning, technology, and work. With over 15 years of experience across education, technology, and policy, Dr. Gao brings a rare combination of development expertise, corporate leadership, and entrepreneurial vision.
Before founding Navia Education, Dr. Gao served as Global Lead and Asia-Pacific Regional Director for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Global Education, where she led AWS global partnership strategy and Asia Pacific regional business development and partnerships across 14 countries. Her team worked with governments, universities, research institutions, and corporations to drive large-scale digital transformation, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, generative AI, and cloud-enabled skilling. Under her leadership, AWS advanced initiatives that designed and implemented national-level programs for reskilling, upskilling, and workforce development, closing critical digital skills gaps across the region.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Gao was an Education Economist at both the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank Group (WBG). In these roles, she led education system reforms, policy design, and research projects across Asia Pacific region and Sub-Saharan Africa, spanning primary, secondary, technical and vocational education (TVET), and higher education. Her work focused on improving governance, financing, curriculum relevance, and professional development, building the foundations for equitable and future-ready education systems.
Dr. Gao’s cross-sector journey, from multilateral institutions to global technology and entrepreneurship, reflects her lifelong commitment to making education more inclusive, adaptive, and impactful. Through Navia Education, she continues to advance her mission of connecting learning with employability, and innovation with human potential.