Team - Spire Research and Consulting

Our Team

Our dedicated Spire teams across the globe will go above and beyond to deliver responsible, high quality work that makes a difference to your organisation. With strongly integrated operations all around Asia and beyond, your cross-market and regional projects are managed seamlessly and effectively. At Spire Research and Consulting, we’re invested in you and your business, so you know we’re always here to make a positive impact for you.

Rio is the Chief Executive Officer of Spire Group. He is also the Executive Officer of Yamada Consulting Group, heading the Global Business Department. He has over 15 years’ experience in many areas, ranging from strategy development, organizational reform, market expansion to cross-border M&A transactions and post-merger integration.

Leon Perera is the Chairman of Spire Group. He founded Spire in 2000 and served as its Chief Executive Officer from 2000 to 2021. During his tenure as Spire’s CEO, he oversaw the delivery of over 2,000 projects to over 50 Global Fortune 1000 clients. Having accumulated over 20 years of experience in emerging market research and consulting, Leon is a regular speaker at international conferences and seminars. He is frequently featured as a business commentator in regional print and television media

Jeffrey Bahar is the Chief Operating Officer of Spire Group, overseeing the Spire offices in Indonesia and Malaysia. He brings to Spire an invaluable technical background in engineering and the information technology (IT) industry. He has served with Spire for 21 years.

Japnit Singh is Spire’s Chief Operating Officer overseeing the firm’s Singapore and India offices. He has served with the Spire group for 17 years, having joined as a Consultant in its Singapore office. He brings to Spire his substantial experience in market eco-system analysis, and in particular multi-country market sizing, market entry studies and tracking studies.

Go Sakano is the Chief Financial Officer of Spire Group and Managing Director of the Singapore Branch of YAMADA Consulting Group. He brings with him more than a decade of experience in management consulting. Go is experienced in business development and skilled in strategic planning and corporate finance.

Dr Justin Hanse Lee is the Managing Director of Spire Korea. Dr Lee brings to Spire his experience in leading agro-chemicals, government and market research operations in Korea, and an outstanding academic background in agricultural science.

Adeline joined Spire as Head of Operations in 2022. She has more than 15 years of experience in delivering strategic, market, and competitive intelligence projects to various strategic and financial investors, including Japanese conglomerates, to support their growth across Southeast Asia.

Rajiv Seth is Spire’s Senior Director for Go-To-Market Practices. He brings to Spire the ability to deliver high-quality solutions in the area of Go-To-Market Practice to enable businesses to grow revenue and profitability.

Adnan Kaddoura heads the board of SPIRE MENA and is responsible for the company’s strategic growth in the region. He brings five decades of experience in opportunity assessment, business facilitation, strategic planning, corporate restructuring, mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures (JVs) and risk management.

Aditya is the Chief Executive Officer of the newest addition to Spire Group, the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region. Aditya brings more than two decades of business advisory and strategy execution expertise. He helps organizations articulate strategic growth opportunities and develops enabling frameworks that drive long term shareholder value creation.

Saurabh is the Country Director for Spire India and manages Spire India’s operations. He has spent over 12 years in market research and consulting and has extensive experience in industries such as ICT, speciality chemicals, logistics, industrial products, life-sciences, commercial insurance, and pharma sector.

Based in Hanoi, Chi is the Chief Representative of Spire Vietnam. She brings with her over 20 years of experience spanning various industries, such as retail, consumer products, automotive and telecommunication, in Vietnam. Her experience in sales and marketing across all regions of Vietnam enables her to help clients better understand the country’s market landscape.

Benjamin Foo is Director of Growth Advisory with Spire Singapore. With 33 years in various regional business roles, he brings to Spire his broad and deep multi-industry, geographical and functional experience in helping enterprises in their growth initiatives, both organic and non-organic.

Rio is the Chief Executive officer of Spire Group. He is also the Executive Officer of Yamada Consulting Group, heading the Global Business Department. He has over 15 years’ experience in many areas, ranging from strategy development, organizational reform, market expansion to cross-border M&A transactions and post-merger integration.

Leon Perera is the co-founder of the Spire Group and is currently serving as its Chief Executive Officer. In this capacity, he has overseen the delivery of over 2,000 projects to over 50 Global Fortune 1000 clients. Having accumulated 20 years of experience in emerging market research and consulting, Leon is a regular speaker at international conferences and seminars. He is frequently featured as a business commentator in regional print and television media.

Jeffrey Bahar is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Spire Group, overseeing the Spire offices in Indonesia and Malaysia. He brings to Spire an invaluable technical background in engineering and the information technology (IT) industry. He has served with Spire for 21 years.

Japnit Singh is Spire’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer overseeing the firm’s Singapore and India offices. He has served with the Spire group for 17 years, having joined as a Consultant in its Singapore office. He brings to Spire his substantial experience in market eco-system analysis, and in particular multi-country market sizing, market entry studies and tracking studies.

Tarek Elhousseiny drives Spire MENA’s new business development, strategic planning and thought leadership. He brings with him more than three decades of senior management expertise in financial services and payments, having worked with blue chip corporates like American Express and Visa Inc. At Spire MENA, Tarek.

Alec Lee

Advisor

Alec Lee has held senior positions in Hewlett-Packard, Getronics, AT&T and Gartner Consulting. Alec shares with Spire his immense experience in information technology (IT) and telecommunications consulting, as well as general business strategy.

Alvin Lee

Advisor

Alvin is the Deputy Head for Strategy & Planning at Fuji Xerox Innovation Office. He is responsible for delivering strategic plans and new business proposals.

Anthony Koh

Advisor

Anthony Koh has over ten years of experience in the strategic market research and consulting field.

Bambang Tobing

Advisor

Bambang Tobing has over 26 years of experience in marketing research, especially for business-to-consumer in market segmentation, consumer world, brand research, 4Ps and loyalty solutions.

Frances Hamdani

Advisor

Frances Hamdani has over 25 years of combined experience in qualitative and quantitative consumer research agencies, and a 5-year experience as a Senior Planner in the advertising industry.

Gary Wong

Founder and Director of G&S Entertainment Agency

Gary Wong is the founder and director of G&S Entertainment Agency, a Hong Kong-based service provider to the marketing and public relations industry, offering video production, artwork design, web-design, creative consultancy, event management, press conferences, as well as seminar and production services.

Dr. Herbert Siagian

Advisor

Dr. Siagian is currently the Head of the Planning and Budgeting Division in the Directorate General for Regional Autonomy of the Ministry of Home Affairs in Indonesia. He brings to Spire 11 years of experience in quantitative marketing research and econometric techniques, developmental public sector econometrics as well as agricultural economics.

Ikang Fadhli

Advisor

Ikang has more than 16 years of experience in marketing and sales research, data analytics, statistical consulting, and computational science.

Mahwida Nur Fitriasani

Advisor

Starting her professional career with Spire, Mahwida has worked with the public, private, and development sectors on various research and consulting projects. She has extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative approaches focusing on commercial, social, and political studies.

Dr Norintan Zainal

Advisor

Dr Norintan Zainal provides expert advice to Spire on healthcare and life sciences projects, deepening our understanding of clinical prescription behaviour.

Rio Imanoto Hadi

Advisor

Rio Imanoto Hadi is currently based in Jakarta and advises Spire on projects requiring his expertise in telecommunications, including business strategy, regulatory environment and competitive landscape.

Rista Amallia

Advisor

Rista is a professional economic and policy analyst with more than 10 years of experience. Her areas of work are macroeconomic diagnostics, Islamic economic research, public policy, and industry analysis.

Samuel Chiang

Managing Director of Aegis Intelligent Chemicals

Samuel Chiang has worked with the Dow Corning Corporation in Asia for 25 years. He is currently Managing Director of Aegis Intelligent Chemicals, which supplies speciality chemical solutions for biomedical applications.

Yogi Priyantoro

Advisor

Yogi Priyantoro has over 25 years of experience in a variety of fields, including trading, engineering consulting, marketing and research consulting, brand management and distribution, as well as creative industry management.

Yogi Theodorus

Advisor

Yogi Theodorus Giovanni is a highly experienced professional with over 15 years of experience in managing commercial and development programs for major donor clients. This involves complex multi-sector and cross-cutting topics.

Dr You-il Lee

Director of the Master of International Business Program (MIB)

Dr You-il Lee is the Director of the Master of International Business Program (MIB) at the International Graduate School of Business, University of South Australia.

Spire has developed a network of over 1,000 research associates located in 18 countries] throughout Asia-Pacific as well as emerging market regions of Russia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

This infrastructure supplements the work done by employees of Spire. Our associates give us access to a broader pool of potential interviewees by utilizing relationships gained from their industry backgrounds. They also enable us to conduct more senior-level and technically involved interviews with business respondents, enabling us to reach respondents not ordinarily accessible to our consultants.

Spire project managers carefully select a panel of associates to work on each individual project; matching the industry backgrounds of individual associates to the requirements of each task. Thus, field research is usually handled by a team of Spire employees and associates working in concert for most of our projects. The Spire employees are responsible for methodology design, project management, quality control and report writing. The responsibility for executing interviews is shared between Spire employees and associates.

Our extensive network of research associates allows us to offer you the best of both worlds: the benefits of in-depth local knowledge and industry-specific expertise, together with the quality, timeliness, intellectual rigor and strategic understanding for which Spire is renowned.

Our Team

Ryosuke (Rio) Funayama

Leon Perera

Jeffrey Bahar

Japnit Singh

Go Sakano

Dr Justin Hanse Lee

Adeline Lim

Rajiv Seth

Adnan M Kaddoura

Tarek Elhousseiny

Aditya Sapru

Saurabh Sharma

Chi Nguyen

Benjamin Foo

Ryosuke (Rio) Funayama

Leon Perera

Jeffrey Bahar

Japnit Singh

Go Sakano

Dr Justin Hanse Lee

Adeline Lim

Rajiv Seth

Adnan M Kaddoura

Tarek Elhousseiny

Aditya Sapru

Saurabh Sharma

Chi Nguyen

Benjamin Foo

The Knowledge to Decide