James Crown
Chief Executive Officer

James Crown is the Chief Executive Officer of Knowledge Group Consulting Sdn Bhd, specialising in corporate development with special emphasis on strategic (corporate), business and operations planning including performance improvement and measurement, as well as strategic and operational risk management, scenario planning, disaster and business recovery, project management, program and performance evaluation and related topics. He is also Executive Director of the Knowledge Group of Companies

He comes to Knowledge Group after serving as Chief Executive Officer of BDO Governance Advisory in Malaysia. Prior to that he was managing director of Strategic Planning Group Pty Ltd, based in Sydney, Australia with clients throughout Australia and Southeast Asia. His experience in planning and policy development is particularly sought after in the emerging trend of strategic and operational risk management within the public and private sectors.  His experience at all three levels of government, and within the private sector, suits the uncertainties faced with the demands for more management expertise in practical planning, measuring performance and monitoring, and management of strategic and operational risk.

He believes in planning flexibility, contingency planning, and a solid recognition that the planning imperative is operational flexibility.  He stresses that without implementation planning and execution, everything that has gone before is an academic exercise.

James lectures frequently, in Australia and overseas. He was a visiting professor at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.  He was a course director and principal consultant for the National Management Education Centre in Australia on the topics of Strategic Planning, Performance Measurement, Risk Management, Disaster and Business Recovery, Contract Management, Internal Audit, and Project Management.  He has also presented internationally for IQPC, as well as the Kuala Lumpur based Knowledge Group.  He is a speaker and workshop leader for the Asia Business Forum, and for various other management and industry groups.

He has serviced a long list of Australian federal government departments including education, employment, defence and finance.  His state government clients include education, emergency services, industry, justice, finance and human services. In Australia, he has worked with more than a dozen city councils including multiple contracts with the City of Melbourne.  His private sector work includes multi-nationals; some of Australia's top 100 companies, and a mixed collection of significant product and service delivery organisations.  He has advised KLSE on risk management and has worked with a number of listed Malaysian corporations.

James is a former executive with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and Murdoch Magazines.  He is the author of five books, including Effective Computer User Documentation, published in New York by Van Nostrand Reinhold, and now a standard textbook in many American universities and technical colleges.  Strategic Planning Group published online his Integrated Corporate and Business Planning, and Enterprise-wide Risk Management.

James is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants.