Paul Gopalan is a prominent trainer selected by the Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysia as one of its esteemed panel members to develop, assess and certify training specialists under the PSMB Train the Trainer Certification Programme. With his academic background as a degree graduate from University of Curtin (Australia) in Bachelor of Marketing and E-Commerce, and his Diploma from the American Hotel and Motel Association in Hotel Catering and Management, he has contributed his expertise to various turnkey projects for multinational companies like SPHC Hotel Chain, McDonalds Malaysia, Cathay Pacific Airways, 21st Century Products S/B and AirAsia Berhad to name a few.

With his vast experience in a variety of industries, ranging from global quick-serve restaurants, hotels, airline industry and also pharmaceutical operations management, he is well sought after by companies to develop, design and deliver organisational learning initiatives such as performing training needs analysis & identification, establishing relevant learning interventions and developing learning modules to escalate workforce competency levels. Some of his signature learning initiatives which he had successfully implemented are guided exploratory learning modules for McDonalds, and structured workplace practical hands-on training for Cathay Pacific.

With his competency as a Sales-cum-Operation Manager of a multinational FMCG company dealing in vitamins and herbs, he has also championed the company-wide organisation development, particularly in the organisational learning perspective. He was well-known among the Senior Leadership Team as a competent expert not only in delivering training, but also developing and coaching other fellow trainers to implement learning programmes, such as strategic management & leadership competency, building service culture essentials, workplace continuous improvement toolsets, workforce coaching and mentoring mindset, and motivational factor interventions skill set. During his tenure as Senior Manager, Paul was also placed in charge of offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan; he also established the new office in the Philippines. Another large part of his job scope whilst covering the region was to implement and maintain the Performance Management System to guide and grow the business operations. Besides, some of the core learning programnes successfully implemented by his Organisational Learning Team were Managing Business Strategy, Business Goal Setting, Performance Management, Business Performance Assessment, and Effective Business Operations to name a few.

With his track-record in Organisational Learning and Development, Paul grabbed an opportunity to join AirAsia and he returned to the aviation industry as the head of the soft skills department for AirAsia Berhad’s Academy which conducted training for all of AirAsia’s group of companies, be it AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Vietnam, AirAsia Philippines or wherever AirAsia opened up an affiliate company. He managed the entire soft skills department leading a team of trainers to initiate, create and deliver training programmes; the core programmes being Managerial Leadership and Supervisory Competencies, Assertive Communication Skills, Managing Strategic Teams and Effective Time and Stress Management, Goal Setting, Performance Management, Presentation Skills and Managing Motivation for teams.

Paul made a strategic career move when he accepted the offer to head the human resources department of the newly formed Asian Aviation Centre of Excellence (AACE) which was a joint venture company between AirAsia and their long-standing Canadian business partner CAE Limited. At AACE he set up the entire human resources department from scratch, supporting two of the business entities - Singapore and Malaysia, and their four offices throughout the two countries. As training is an integral part of human resources, this allowed him to further expand his knowledge base into Performance Management, Business Strategy, Conflict Resolution, Key Performance Indexes, Talent and Succession Planning and Employee Engagement.

Paul has since then ventured out as a versatile multi-faceted freelance trainer, with a strong focus on Leadership, Train The Trainer, Personal Development, Talent and Succession Planning, Employee Engagement, and Team and Individual Motivation. He has also ventured into Performance Management and Organization Management Consulting.

Paul continues to develop himself to offer the best possible training and methodologies for his clients. As a freelance trainer he has provided training and consulting services for projects and organizations such as Oracle Malaysia, Daikin, NXP, ON Semiconductor, Hextar Group of Companies, Ambank, Maybank Etiqa DIGI, XOX, UMOBILE, Toyo Tyres, AEON, Taylor’s University, UTAR, Club Med Asia, Silverlake, Cummins Malaysia, Perkeso, and Azbil to name a few.