Although Francis C.C. Yip (’90) has travelled the world and is fluent in seven languages, he says his first experience of multicultural living was as an Acadia business student.

“I was 15,000 kilometres from home, lonely and anxious,” he recalls. “Acadia was my home for four years in a picturesque campus that never lacked in hospitality, energy and tranquility. It made me want to learn.”

A native of Singapore, Yip has lived in five Asia-Pacific countries and is now the Managing Director for LivFul Asia Pacific, a biotechnology company in Singapore. Before assuming his current role, he gained more than 30 years’ experience in IT and telecommunications and held senior executive positions with blue-chip technology companies such as Verizon, Dimension Data, Orange and IBM.

Yip’s career is demanding – in addition to his position with LivFul, he sits on the boards of several companies in the Asia-Pacific region – but he is also an avid golfer and points with pride to having achieved his first hole-in-one in January 2017.

He has also worked closely with international groups and government bodies. He co-chaired the European Union Chamber of Commerce IT Working Group in China and was a policy advisor on network security to the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry.

“Acadia gave me the building blocks to a very successful IT career,” he says. “It moulded my confidence and independence in my first truly multicultural environment. The faculty were teachers, mentors and friends.”

As a result of his experience at Acadia, he wanted to give back. He donated to help fund the ambitious renovation in 2015 of Patterson Hall, the new home of the F.C. Manning School of Business. With money Yip gave, a classroom was built and named in honour and memory of one of his professors, Paul Tom.

Living and learning in a multicultural environment was a key life lesson Yip took from Acadia, he says. “Amidst all the activities in our ultra-busy lives, we must seek our own Acadia.”