Executive Office
The Executive Office (EO) supports the Executive Director and the Deputy Executive Director. Management decisions based on the policy guidelines set out by the ASEF Board of Governors are implemented through the Executive Office. It is responsible for the determination of ASEF’s strategic objectives as well as the enhancement of its performance. The Executive Office also ensures a smooth & efficient co-ordination between ASEF’s Departments and Taskforces, and between ASEF and its stakeholders.
Executive Office Team
- Ambassador Michel FilholExecutive Director
- Ambassador Nguyen Quoc KhanhDeputy Executive Director
- Ms Leonie NagarajanChief of Staff to Executive Director
- Ms Wendy LeePersonal Assistant to Executive Director
- Ms Amelia IndradjajaExecutive Assistant to Deputy Executive Director
- Ms Linyan XueExecutive Assistant to Executive Director
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Ambassador Michel Filhol
Executive Director
Education: BA Degree in Economics; BA in Political Sciences; Master Degree in Public Law; Graduated from National School of Public Administration (ENA) in 1977.
Career: 1977 – 1979 Ministry of Economy and Finance;1979–1982: Secretary then Counsellor for Economic Affairs, French Embassy in Rome; 1982 – 1985 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Asia Directorate; 1985 – 1994: Deputy Head of Mission, French Embassy in Prague (S.C.R);Deputy Head of Mission, French Embassy in Tripoli (Libya);Deputy Head of Mission, French Embassy in The Hague (Netherlands); 1994 – 1999: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Economics and Finance Affairs Directorate, Head of the Financial Affairs Department, then Deputy First Assistant Secretary for Economic and Financial Affairs; 1999 – 2003: Ambassador to Singapore; 2003 – 2006: Seconded to the Ministry of Interior; 2006 -- 2008 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, First Assistant Secretary for Asia/Oceania; 2008 – 2011: Ambassador to Australia; Since 2011 Executive Director of Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).
Distinctions: Knight in the Order of the Legion of Honour; Knight in the National Order of Mérite; Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau (NL).
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Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Khanh
Deputy Executive Director
Ambassador Khanh, a Vietnamese career diplomat, joined the ASEF as Deputy Executive Director in August 2008. Before this, he was Director-General of Department for South Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Pacific Affairs at Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He graduated from Hanoi’s Institute of International Relations in 1974 and joined the Vietnamese Foreign Service soon after. He also holds a postgraduate degree in International Relations and Development from the Institute for Social Studies, the Netherlands.
Ambassador Khanh has served on several Vietnamese diplomatic missions abroad -- his most recent involvement was as Vietnamese Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand and Permanent Representative to the UNESCAP from 2002-2006.
He has long been promoting Asia-Europe co-operation, and was previously an ASEF Governor for Vietnam.
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Ms Leonie Nagarajan
Chief of Staff to Executive Director
Leonie Nagarajan joined the ASEF in 2006 as a team member in our Public Affairs Department. In 2009, she moved to the Executive Office as Chief of Staff to support the Executive Director in implementing the ASEF’s long-range strategic plans. She is also Editorial Assistant for the Asia Europe Journal, the ASEF’s quarterly research-based publication.
Prior to joining the ASEF, Leonie worked in the communication and press department of the House of World Cultures, a centre for contemporary arts in Berlin, Germany, and wrote for the newspaper Berliner Zeitung. She is a founding member of the NGO AfricAvenir International. The Berlin-based organisation engages in political education and information dissemination in both Africa and Europe.
Leonie has a strong interest in language and media policy and the interdependencies between media and politics. Having studied in Reykjavik, Iceland and Berlin, Germany, she received her Master's degree in Communication Sciences with minors in cultural and political sciences from the Free University and Humboldt University of Berlin.
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Ms Wendy Lee
Personal Assistant to Executive Director
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Ms Amelia Indradjaja
Executive Assistant to Deputy Executive Director
Amelia assists our Deputy Executive Director in all administrative matters such as correspondence, travel arrangements, appointments, accounts, and documentation. She also assists in compiling our key documents, namely the Calendar of Events, the annual reports for our Board of Governors, and the Staff Manual.
Amelia joined the ASEF's Finance and Administration Department in 2007 as a part-time Administrative Assistant, and moved to the Executive Office a year later.
Prior to her work here, Amelia was Product Manager in Citibank Jakarta, Indonesia. She pursued her studies at Humber College, Toronto, Canada, and majored in Marketing.
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Ms Linyan Xue
Executive Assistant to Executive DirectorLinyan Xue, a Chinese national, firstly joined ASEF as an Intern for the Executive Office in September 2010. In July 2011, after completing her second Master’s degree, she re-joined ASEF as the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director. Prior to joining ASEF, she worked briefly in media industry with China Radio International and China Central Television (CCTV) News Channel. She also worked in as a researcher for the Swedish environmental NGO GlobalFOCUS and interned at the Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), an inter-governmental organization based in Stockholm. Linyan obtained her Bachelor of Law degree in International Political Economy and Master of Law in Comparative Politics from Peking University, and her Master of Social Science degree in International Relations from Uppsala Universitet. Linyan has a strong interest in linguistics and language studies, likes practicing yoga, and is an avid writer in her native Chinese as well as in English.
