GSIS has a Board of Directors who bring a wealth of experience to their role to offer support and advice and also shape the future strategy of the school whilst bringing scrutiny to all the aspects of running the school. It comprises a group of people, mostly current parents, who voluntarily contribute a varied and differing range of skills and experiences to achieve a balanced and diverse Board. Their specialist knowledge provides invaluable support to the Principal, Managing Director and Senior Management Team through the various sub committees.
GSIS is a company limited by guarantee and granted charitable status by the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department. It is bound to comply with Hong Kong Company Law and the requirements set out in the Hong Kong Education Ordinance.
The Board elects from its Directors the Chair who convenes and presides over all meetings and who acts for and on behalf of the Association. Members of the Association and persons nominated by the School Board can become members of a number of sub-committees, which all parents are welcome to join.
I was born and raised in Linz – Austria. After having studied Education and Psychology in Vienna, I started to work as a primary teacher, but kept on doing a postgraduate degree in “Learning and Teaching New Media”. I worked in different areas of education and child care at various locations, which is due to my passion for travelling and different cultures.
In 2009 we decided to move to Hong Kong and we have been living here ever since. In 2010 my daughter was born and whilst raising her I did another degree in Education Management at Bristol University -UK. Effective learning and following the principles of lifelong education, which only can be achieved, if they come with passion and intrinsic perseverance, have always been major goals in my life.
I have had three children attend GSIS – Alexander (Alumni), Maximilian (Y11) and Emilia (K04) – and all three of them love the school and can also be considered ambitious and successful students. They make me very proud, but doing all this with a smile on their faces makes me really happy.
I have always believed in education being not only an enrichment and gift in life, but also an ongoing challenge regarding the fast changes in society and its demands. It would be an outstanding opportunity to bring in my experience with the German as well as with the Anglo Saxon system and help developing ideas and strategies to maintain the outstanding success of GSIS and its status as a visionary and progressive school of the 21st century.
I was born and raised in Hong Kong in a family of German, Chinese and Korean heritage and attended GSIS from K1 until U6, first in the German stream and subsequently in the English stream, graduating in 2006. Since graduating from GSIS, I attended Yale University where I studied Fine Art, then joined the wine industry in the US and then Hong Kong and in 2017 became the world’s youngest Master of Wine, a title representing the pinnacle of achievement within the international wine industry.
I run my own business through which I have several product ranges (including an Austrian wine brand) and advisory services. I am also deeply involved in wine education (I am on the faculty of the Vinitaly International Academy), am the chairman of two major international wine competitions, am the host of a wine television series and am wine editor for Tatler in Asia. I am also a practicing artist. Additionally, I serve on the Committee of the Hong Kong Wine Society and interview candidates for the Yale Alumni Association.
Since returning to Hong Kong, I have become increasingly involved with GSIS, working with chairman Muksch and Director of Advancement Suzannah Denness to increase engagement within the alumni community through social gatherings and the GSIS Engage platform. One key area I would hope to add value were I elected to the Board would be to continue to drive engagement within the community, which many agree has been underserved to date. As somebody with continuing links to both the International and German streams, I believe I could help foster an inclusive environment. Given my professional background, I would be happy to facilitate wine events for the community, as I have done for GSIS parents in the past.
Another area that is of interest for many within the broader GSIS community is language education and I am very engaged in that area as somebody who uses Mandarin, German, Italian and French professionally (I also speak some Spanish and Korean) because of my extensive work both in those countries and representing producer associations from Italy, Austria, Germany and France around Asia. My children (currently 8 months and 2 ½) have been receiving a bilingual education in English and Mandarin so far, with some German spoken at home, and I am deeply committed to ensuring that they would be able to receive a strong education in Mandarin and German at GSIS.
A final area that I believe I could add value is as a beneficiary of the world-class art education program at GSIS. I believe that excellence in traditional academic subjects and STEM need to be complemented by an equally robust program in the arts, which GSIS has historically had. Through my own experience in higher art education and in the international art world I would hope to be able to help provide opportunities for budding student artists to find success in this sphere.
Since my oldest child first joined GSIS in 2002, I have been deeply engaged in the GSIS community. Over the past 17 years, I have served in various roles such as KPR (Klassenpflegschaftsvertreter) and Deputy KPR Secretary (across numerous primary & secondary school year groups), as a member of the Development Committee when it was first established, and most recently on the Transport Committee. I have also served on the Foundation Board since 2016. I joined the Foundation Board at that time because I was motivated to understand the governance of the school better: I had noticed the obscure opening of a GSIS German kindergarten in Sai Kung in 2014 and sought to understand and partake in such decisions. I originally wanted to join the Association Board but was restricted by the language barrier as stated in its Articles of Association. I am very glad that this barrier has been removed to align GSIS with the expectations of today’s society and allow a greater range of voices on the Association Board.
I care deeply about student welfare, focusing on student well-being and university counselling and guidance. I believe in working with faculty to motivate staff and continued teacher welfare to develop an energised faculty body that can inspire our children. To attain a standard of excellence across teaching and administrative staff, with hiring, development and retention policies that are in line with global standards and best practices amongst the best schools in the world. Last but not least, the framework of good corporate governance must be intact to ensure that the interests of ALL stakeholders of the school are protected and not at risk of abuse.
Over the years, I have seen the highs and lows of this wonderful community and how it has suffered fractures and healed. I see more commonalities than differences. Parents in both streams care about a robust and positive teaching environment, more language opportunities, for school buses ‘to work’, to have better security at the school, shorter queues at lunch, to name a few. I believe in understanding where the gaps are and trying to address those specific issues.
As a family, we have been in Hong Kong for 26 years and are an international family. All of my children started in primary school with my two oldest having graduated from GSIS and my two youngest in Y13 and Y10 respectively.
I advocate for girls’ education issues and was an ambassador for the W.I.N. network in my previous company, promoting the recruitment, development, advancement, and retention of women. I continue to support women’s issues with involvement in the Women @ Euromoney initiative. My interest in education is further underscored by enrolling into a program at the University of Hong Kong where I graduated with a Masters of Education degree in 2016. I hope to be able to contribute and serve in the GSIS community and will seek to promote the best interests for the betterment of GSIS.
Professional background:
My name is Eliza FOK HO Yi Wah. I am married with four children, all of them graduated from GSIS. I joined GSIS’s Mothers’ Committee in 2009. I had served in the Committee for 11 years, the last 2 years as the Chairman. When I was with the Mothers’ Committee, I had had the chance to see more closely what kind of school my children were attending and make friends with teachers and fellow Mothers’ Committee members. I soon realized that my children would enjoy and benefit tremendously from studying here.
In 2010, I became a GSIS Foundation Board Member and Chairman of the Campus Development Committee, a position I held for four years. I have had the privilege to witness the transformation of GSIS with a newer and more modernized campus.
I have also been involved in volunteer works and fundraising activities for other causes. Currently, I am the Chairman of The Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation, a position I have held since 2010.
I graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree in 1977. I started my career in accounting and had gained solid experience in finance as well as the development and operations of accounting systems. I was awarded Master of Buddhist Studies by the University of Hong Kong in 2013.
GSIS has nurtured well all four of my children into fine young man and women. I hope more students will continue to benefit from the fine education and friendly learning environment that GSIS offer.
I am committed to support the School in upkeeping its excellent academic standard and unique culture and make contributions to its continuous development.
I was born and raised in a small town in Germany called Soest. Nobody could have foreseen that I would embark on a journey which has brought me to Asia – for close to 20 years now. Following my studies at Tuebingen University in Economics and Japanese Studies I moved to Japan and basically never left – staying there for 11 years after receiving my masters from Waseda University in Tokyo. It was also in Tokyo where I met my wife Miki and where our son Leo (K12) was born. We lived for 3 years in Frankfurt where Mona (K07) was born before work brought our family back to Asia – this time HK. We have called HK home for over 10 years now with no end in sight.
GSIS has been very important for the family to make HK our home. As a trilingual family there was no question that German will be the main language for formal education rather than Japanese or English, which are cultivated at home as well. As such I have rather strong feelings towards the importance of a German school in HK.
We have been with GSIS for 10 years and look forward to 5 more years, and therefore hope to become more active in the school. My focus will be on what’s best for our children. This means a good and strong school. Self development and language are areas which need further push. Mandarin is not taught until Abitur thus severely limiting the German students when selecting courses. While there are some excellent programs in the afternoon we should strive to offer more and better organised cross stream sports, science and other development programs. This would also serve as a tool to further cross stream integration and collaboration.
As parents we need to understand that we can have a real impact on running this school – to a much larger extent than what we are used to from Germany. We can and should ask for more transparency on financial as well as management matters to improve the school for our children.
Professionally I have worked for Goldman Sachs, Nomura and currently COWEN in Tokyo, Frankfurt and Hong Kong leading Equity Sales and Equity Syndicate teams.
I am an Australian-Chinese born in Hong Kong. I received my Bachelor and Master’s degrees from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and had held operation and strategic managerial positions with multinational corporations in different continents. My ties to Germany and Switzerland can be dated back to my university days. Out of interest and admiration of the German culture, I studied German for 2 years in university, and went for an intensive study tour of Germany in the summer. During my professional career life, I had worked at the Headquarters of Nestle in Switzerland for 3 years, where I had numerous fond memories both from work and my personal life. These experiences and background were the main reasons that I sent both our children to study at GSIS.
I started my own business in manufacturing in the early 2000s, which was subsequently listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. I exited after the listing, and have since become an active investor in start-up technology companies that could help change the world.
Our son and daughter are studying at GSIS, at Y13 and Y11 respectively. I was a KPR for 4 years, and a member of the Parents Committee for 3 years, taking part in running the Christmas Bazaar and manning the school shop 2-3 times a week. I have a good understanding of the operation of the school, and the challenges it faces.
I have a profound personal interest in education. I have been a member of the management committee (aka the board) of a local school for 4 years, and am well acquainted with the issues faced by the education field in Hong Kong. I hope to strengthen GSIS as one school and to enhance transparency to all stakeholders concerned, while continue to build on the success as a school that is excellent in academic, embraces multi-culture, and most of all, upholds the German and Swiss values and traditions. I look forward to contributing my knowledge and experience to help make the school a better place for our students of today and the future.
I have a child who entered in Y01 at GSIS, and now she is in Y05. Throughout her years at GSIS I have been deeply involved through various volunteer work in the classroom. One particular joy has been bringing the EPD classes of Y03 in the past two years to tour building designs I completed in Hong Kong.
Since 2019 I have been advising the school under the Building Committee and it has been a challenging involvement. For example, we have been focusing on dealing with post‐campus development matters, establishing a new Facility Management structure, and enhancing our school’s security for the future. We are able to effectively tackle issues and it brings great satisfaction to work with fellow committed parents and the Board with the common goal of providing the best for our students.
The works we process in the Building Committee also lies in my area of expertise. I am a Chartered Architect and currently working at Henderson Land Development as a property developer. I read architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) in the United Kingdom, followed by working as an architect with Lord Norman Foster for 14 years prior to joining Henderson.
I hope my expertise and professional experience will continue to help GSIS at Board level to become an even better learning environment for our students and a wonderful workplace for our staff.
Vitaly Umansky has served on the Boards of the GSIS Association and Foundation since September 2020. He also serves as Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance Committee. Vitaly was born In Kiev, Ukraine, and lived there until immigrating to the United States as a child with his parents, growing up in a bilingual household. After living in New York City, in 2008 Vitaly and his wife and daughter moved to Hong Kong and have been living here since. Vitaly is married with two children and his eldest daughter is in the GSIS secondary international stream and has been a student here since K1.
Vitaly is the Senior Research Analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein covering the global gaming industry. Earlier in his career, Vitaly was with accounting firms PriceWaterhouse and Ernst & Young and investment bank Merrill Lynch. He then served as the Chief Financial Officer of a casino development company and a Managing Director in a private equity firm focused on Asia investment. Vitaly holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a BA in Economics from Trinity College.
Vitaly’s wife, Dagmar Baeuerle, had a long involvement with GSIS serving on the board from 2013 to 2019. She was born in Frankfurt, Germany and grew up as an expatriate child. Dagmar’s family comes from the city of Ulm, Germany.
Having lived in Hong Kong for 20 years, I am a German national from Hamburg, married to an English husband and we have a 12 year old son.
In March 2017 I have joined the Board of the GSIS Association Ltd. and chaired the Parents’ Committee for 2 years. Since March 2019 I am working on the Board in various roles.
I am dedicated to making a positive impact on our children’s education in the international environment of our school community while strengthening every child’s individuality. Our children and their well-rounded cutting-edge education at GSIS should always be the center of our attention and work efforts. This means constant reviewing and establishing strategic direction of the School into the future. I am a passionate advocate for a strong and balanced governance structure enabling all stakeholders to equally participate in the decision-making process.
I am standing for a strong School Community where we welcome the many opportunities the cultural diversity of GSIS entails and encourage support from parents of all racial, cultural and religious backgrounds.
Born and raised in Hamburg, I attended the Universities of Oxford, Heidelberg, Taipei and Hamburg where I gained both a Bachelors and a Master’s degree in Law and Sinology. I then worked in the field of Waste Management and Recycling before moving to Hong Kong in 1999 and setting up my own company. I owned a Business Development Company advising clients on Sustainability and setting up their businesses in Hong Kong. I am an avid environmentalist.
I have taken up roles in a number of charitable organizations and foundations in the past such as at Mother’s Choice in Hong Kong, as a member of the board of The German-Chinese Association of Jurists in Hamburg, as a Public Relation Officer for The Federal Republic of Germany, Inter Nationes in Bonn, and as an English teacher at Hsin-Chuang Kindergarten in Taipei.
Being immersed into the Chinese and Hong Kong culture in my professional role I enjoy being a skilled mediator between different party interests and constructively looking for win-win solutions.
Getting involved by strengthening the school community and providing positive impulses to the further development of GSIS is not only a privilege but also a responsibility which I take very seriously.
Mrs Wong is a barrister educated in Hong Kong and in England. Her son studied at GSIS from Kindergarten all the way through to Year 13. She has served as a Foundation Board member of GSIS since 2009 and has contributed much time and effort on matters important to the school.
Mrs Wong is active in public service and her present duties include being the Chairman of the Minimum Wage Commission and of the HKSAR Employees Compensation Assistance Fund Board, Member of Court and Council of the University of Hong Kong, the Board of The Hospital Authority, Trustee of The Hospital Authority Charitable Foundation, Member of the Governing Board of Kowloon Hospital and of the Governing Board of the Hong Kong Hong Eye Hospital, the HKSAR Financial Reporting Review Panel and HKSAR Joint Committee on Student Finance.
The Management Committee consists of up to five elected Members of the GSIS Association Board, including the Chair, Deputy Chair, Treasurer, Principal and the Managing Director. They have responsibility for ensuring that GSIS operates within the school policies, the Hong Kong Education Ordinance and other relevant government regulations. It also oversees the management of GSIS and handles complaints and staff grievances. The Chair of the Boards is the official contact person for the Hong Kong Education Bureau and will chair the Management Committee Meetings.
The Building Committee takes responsibility for maintenance, renovation and rectification works undertaken on all school buildings.
The Finance Committee outlines and proposes annual capital and operating budgets, sets school fees and supervises income and expenditures of the school.
The Parents’ Committee plays a key role in bringing our community together and organises a number of social events to raise funds for the school, as well as specific projects within the school. The Chair and Deputy Chair are appointed by the Board of Directors.
The Personnel Matters Committee establishes and reviews guidelines relating to working conditions and packages for teachers and administration staff, and determines policies and guidelines regarding codes of conduct and appropriate sanctions. The Chair of the PMC is nominated by the Board of Directors.
As a member of The German Swiss International School Association Ltd, you can contribute to the operations of the school and be instrumental in introducing improvements to make our school even better. As a member of The German Swiss International School Association Ltd, you have the right to vote at the general meetings, and participate in the affairs of The German Swiss International School Association Ltd.
According to Article 5 of the Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&AA) of The German Swiss International School Association Ltd, membership shall be open to all natural persons over the age of 21 years, but not (i) firms or corporations (ii) the Headmaster or (iii) any teachers or employees of the School.
Natural persons are human beings, as opposed to artificial persons or entities such as companies which are recognized as legal persons under the law.
According to Article 4 of the M&AA of The German Swiss International School Association Ltd, applications for membership will be considered and approved by the Board, which retains the right to refuse any application, at its regular meetings.
With effect from June 2017, membership is $100/year.
Members may nominate any “natural person” over the age of twenty-one as a proxy, but not a corporation or other legal entity. A proxy form needs to be submitted by mail or by hand not less than 48 hours in advance of the General Meetings.
Please contact our Financial Controller Raymond Keung via email and he will let you know.
No. Holders of registered debentures are not automatically members of The German Swiss International School Association Ltd.
