People Extraordinaire - Anand Raghavan

I had the privilege of being seconded to the Apple-ISS Research Centre (AIRC) in 1991 to assist the Centre Director on administrative, financial and human resource matters. The 4-year period was very memorable as I was exposed to Apple's less formal work culture where staff were highly valued and frequently acknowledged. I assisted the Centre Director in regularly organizing team-building sessions that included island-wide treasure hunts, barbeques and wine and cheese sessions that involved all our families. What fun we had in weekly Mandarin classes for non-Chinese staff in preparation of supporting researchers who were going to collect speech and handwriting samples in China! Morale was high and it did not surprise us the small team developed two first-in-the world products. Today, over 25 years later, we are spread all over the world but still keep in touch.

About Anand - he was among a team that helped set up the predecessor institutes that have culminated to what is today the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R). He survived three mergers and 34.5 years of service to A*STAR. He retired in June 2020