With almost 30 years experience living in Asia, Chris has a varied background, having initially studied engineering at Auckland University, and then trained as a pilot, before making the move to Asia and finding he had a talent for English teaching.
Along with developing a passion for living in Asian cultures, Chris made a life-long commitment to serving others, leading him to engage in voluntary work of various descriptions, including Christian service, volunteer handyman work and arranging musical performances for needy groups both young and old. When his older teenage sons, volunteered with Chris's colleague who had worked with Habitat, he saw firsthand the great benefits of young people's volunteering, and thereafter combined his talents to create a program to provide the same opportunities to other young people.
After running the program under the Go Beyond banner for 5 years, Chris, along with 4 co-directors, founded Go Beyond as a tax-exempt charity in Hong Kong in 2012.
With a background in business administration, education, public relations, fund-raising, and Christian counseling, Joany’s passion and zeal in volunteering are a driving force in developing Go Beyond’s programs.
Joany has worked as a volunteer in Hong Kong, arranging musical performances for the elderly and for children in hospital, coordinating volunteer English teaching and seeking sponsorship for projects.
After graduating in Business Administration at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Joany worked both in Hong Kong and abroad, in business administration and later education, teaching grade school as well as working with children with special needs. A dynamic and creative teacher committed to education, she specializes in early intervention for children with learning disabilities.
Joy brings a wealth of volunteer experience to Go Beyond, in Hong Kong, China and other countries, in the area of organizing and managing volunteer activities.
Since graduating in Tourism and Hospitality, Joy’s passion has always been meeting people, traveling and volunteering abroad. Joy’s overseas experience extends to Russia which she visited for several months, working with local volunteer groups running educational camps and youth seminars. In 2008, she assisted volunteer efforts in Sichuan after the May 12 earthquake and was instrumental in beginning the “Rainbows After Rain” project that year.
In Thailand, Joy gained extensive volunteer experience working with like-minded expats, and assisting various NGOs. During the floods she devoted countless hours working and assisting flood relief efforts, being responsible for organizing fund raising events. While in Thailand, Joy also organized educational seminars for teachers working with underprivileged children, recruiting sponsors and donors for needy schools. More recently, Joy has been volunteering in Guangzhou, organizing visitation and children’s activities as well as fund-raising initiatives for the Guangzhou Rehab Home.
Angela Lam was president of the Victoria Junior Chamber in Hong Kong in 1998, and has a passion for education and developing leadership skills in young people. During her tenure as president of the Victoria Junior Chamber, she oversaw a host of activities such as an event for the elderly held in Shatin Shopping Centre as well as a range of other volunteer activities.
With her knowledge of charity and NGO day-to-day operations, Angela is an essential member of the Go Beyond team.
Erica Chen graduated from the University of London with a Master’s Degree in 2009. While working on her thesis, covering the subject of education of the children of migrant workers in China, she realized how much more needed to be done and could be done to help disadvantaged children.
Erica is currently a market director for an accounting professional body, based in Hong Kong.
After being introduced to Go Beyond in 2011, Erica became interested in the Go Beyond library project, and this interest propelled her to get involved. In 2015, Erica became a director of Go Beyond, having a passion to help further develop Go Beyond’s education project.
Emmett Lynch had the unique experience of growing up in Macau. In addition to being a native English and Portuguese speaker, over the years he developed a keen interest in Chinese language and culture. He later became a naturally gifted teacher, gaining considerable experience teaching children, as well as teaching Business English to adults.
Emmett later moved to Guangzhou to attend Jinan University, from which he graduated with a degree in Business Chinese. Emmett joined Go Beyond as a volunteer in 2014, and quickly displayed a passion for making a difference through providing water to those who struggle to obtain this essential ingredient of life.
In 2015, Emmett became one of Go Beyond’s youngest directors, and is currently helping to develop hands-on school activities related to studying the water scarcity problem and applying available solutions.
Tony Medina has a passion for involving young people in educational travel and volunteering. He has previously volunteered in a number of countries including several European countries, focusing on young people’s training programs. Later, in China, on a volunteer basis, Tony arranged several cultural activities and trips around China, for young people from western countries, who were new to life in the East.
During the formative stage of Go Beyond, Tony’s input advice and support was invaluable, and he participated in several trips, including the initial Go Beyond trip to Nepal in 2010.
Tony's working background is in education, and most recently he has worked as an IELTS examiner.
Alan brings to Go Beyond a wealth of experience in a number of fields. He has a background in physics and maths, years of experience in IT, and is a keen photographer.
Alan is also multi-lingual with a grasp of Arabic, French, German, Dutch and some Somali, Swahili and Tamacheq. But most importantly, he has a passion to travel to developing areas to help improve access to water, in particular on the African continent, which he has visited numerous times.