China Seminar | 14 March 2002

Dilemma of the Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia

Allen Zecha

Please come and listen to Allen Zecha on a subject of historic and contemporary importance. In addition to being born and raised in Indonesia, thus enabling him with personal cogency to the topic, Dr. Zecha has had a path of four careers spanning academe and business, science and religion.

After his primary education in Dutch, Allen Zecha came to America to study at a seminary in preparation as a Methodist missionary in Indonesia. Then, he pursued an education in science with degrees from Dickinson College (BS), M.I.T. (MS) and Stanford (PhD). His field is nuclear chemistry. He taught at St. Lawrence University, International Christian University, Tokyo Imperial University and Stanford. He embarked on his third career for thirty-two years first with Union Carbide, and then with Medtronic, a US biomedical company. He retired from Medtronic as President for the Asia-Pacific region and as Vice-President of the corporation. His fourth career is his own consulting firm founded in Hong Kong (1994).

A highly successful businessman, Dr. Zecha does extensive travels in Asia and has resided in Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, USA, Singapore and India.