It is very rare indeed to meet a person who has not only hands-on shop-floor experience, but also management expertise and entrepreneurial skills, all bound up with a clear vision for the industry he works in. IA News was very lucky to meet up with such a person recently, in the form of a humble, simply dressed character named Thomas Woo.

Born and bred in Penang, Thomas Woo is aged 42, and is married with three children. His mother, a Singaporean national, was a housewife, whilst his father was a technical specialist with Malayan Smelting Corporation. The family of three boys and one girl had a middle-class upbringing, and all of Thomas’ siblings are professionals in their own right. Their father, however, had a very difficult childhood, having had to fend for himself right from a tender age, when he worked as a caretaker at the neighboring school in which he was a student! He, however, built himself up to become a senior employee at Malayan Smelting.

Thomas attended Assumption Primary Boys School, and whilst there, he was the teacher’s pet, enjoying privileges which the other boys did not enjoy. He was always in the top three, academically, and enjoyed extracurricular activities such as singing. He also played football for his house and competed in athletics as a triple jumper.

From Form One to Form Three, Thomas studied at the Assumption Lower Secondary School. Besides just focusing on school’s lessons, he was also active in other co-curriculum activities. Thomas also took up music at this time, excelling in the organ (Grade 5), but also playing other musical instruments such as the piano, recorder, harmonica and the guitar.

Upper Secondary School education for Thomas was at the co-educational St. Mark’s Secondary School in Butterworth. He was put into the Science stream and, again, he was not only made a prefect, but was appointed as the head of the Disciplinary Board. He did not describe his feelings for girls at this stage, although he did mention his attractive Biology teacher! His favorite teacher was Ms Koay, who taught him Additional Mathematics. A member of many societies, Thomas also played hockey for St. Mark’s Secondary School.

School for Thomas was rounded off at Bukit Mertajam High School because this was the nearest school offering the “Double Mathematics” option at STPM level. He did not do well in this examination, scoring Grades “A” and “C” in Mathematics, and Grade “C” in Physics and Chemistry. Unfortunately he failed in his General Paper, and this disqualified him from pursuing a University education immediately.

This did not stop Thomas, however, as he went to TAR College, where he was the top student in his class in one of the semesters, and obtained a Higher Diploma in Electronics Engineering. Thomas feels that this was when he matured as a student, as he showed, when he went on to do his Masters in Manufacturing Engineering, at the prestigious Queen’s University in Belfast, United Kingdom. He ended his studies at this University in 1991, by occupying third place in his class, a very creditable position, taking into consideration the high-level that institution occupied in the British educational establishment of that era.

His tertiary education was full of extracurricular activities, and he was a member of many societies, even becoming Acting President of the Malaysian Students Society in Northern Ireland. But that was not all. Thomas also worked to sustain himself whilst studying. At TAR College, he ran a part-time printing business, and whilst at Queen’s, he worked in a warehouse during the day, and in a Chinese take-away at night ! In fact, he even managed to save enough to take his parents on an extended holiday in Europe after completing his Masters’ degree at Belfast. Thomas has continued with his education, even after leaving University. To date, he has acquired qualifications in Corporate Governance, Financial Management and Total Quality Management, to name just three.

Within six years of starting with a French multinational as an Equipment Engineer, Thomas had reached the position of Engineering Manager, responsible for the Company’s entire engineering activities, including automation, metrology, laboratory, workshop and facilities. He attributes his rapid rise at this Company to a mentor based at the Company.

In 1998, he got bored working with machines, and wanted a move to production, thereby working with people instead. Although his boss was not in favour of this move, Thomas ended up in production anyway, where shortly after, in 1999, he was headhunted by a listed Malaysian entity, to run the factory of one of its’ subsidiaries as the Operations Manager. He was now 33 years of age, a very young age at which to be given such a big responsibility. Two years later, he was asked to handle three subsidiaries as the Group Operations Manager and, in 2003, he became the Group General Manager. One year later, he was promoted again, to become the Vice President in charge of Technical & Business Development, and also a Member of the Board of Management. Whilst with this Company, Thomas helped in increasing its’ revenue by five fold.

Despite all this early success, Thomas struck out on his own in 2007, and is today an independent business consultant for several engineering-based Companies, mainly focusing on international business development, total operations management, technology enhancements and corporate strategic planning, which includes merger and acquisition activities. He also serves as an Executive Director with a few Companies.

Following on from his involvement in extracurricular activities at school and University, Thomas is an Executive-Member of the Northern FMM (Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers) branch, and is also the Pro-tem Chairman for the Automation Technology Industrial Group (ATIG) of the Northern FMM branch. He speaks at many public seminars, and provides business matching and technical advice to Government-related investment bodies and independent business organizations.

Thomas’ motto is to “Live Right”, and he believes that we live only once, so it is good to enjoy life, whilst at the same time leaving a legacy for the benefit of others. He also believes that it is better to go on a roller-coaster ride, than on a merry-go-round, when it comes to living your life. He encourages the giving of motivation, but is himself a self-motivated person. He ended the interview by giving credit for his successes to the good group of people around him.

IA News would sincerely like to wish Thomas Woo all the best in his visionary ventures, and would like to say “Thank You” for being generous with his time.

Courtesy of IA-Community