Professional experience:
Chief, Research and Innovation, Institute of Systems Science, NUS
Executive Advisor, NUS Entrepreneurship Center
Chairperson, RAVE China Investments Holdings Pte. Ltd.
Dr. Cha is an active educator and mentor in Singapore’s entrepreneur education and incubation communities after 30 years of executive management in technology companies, with previous roles as founder, CEO of venture-funded, hi-tech companies in Singapore and China. She is a sought after lecturer for entrepreneurship education and teaches at multiple institutions in Singapore: “Technopreneur”, an executive programme at the Institute of Systems Science under the National Infocomm Competency Framework (NICF); "New Venture Creation” course at Fudan University, as part of the NUS Overseas College programme; “Power Entrepreneur” course at the Singapore Management University; “Technology Venturing Practicum” MBA course at INSEAD. In addition to her extensive teaching programs, she also serves as an Executive Advisor to the NUS Entrepreneurship Center and an entrepreneur-in-residence at INSEAD and at SMU to advise early stage startups, with focus in technology ventures. She is also the chairperson of her own investment holding company with science park investments in China.
Dr. Cha earned her Ph.D. in Innovation from the National University of Singapore and her B.S. in Information Computer Science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Virginia’s research interests are in entrepreneur decision-making and shanzhai innovation models, and have written multiple teaching cases on these subjects. She has lived and worked in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and multiple cities in the U.S.