Founder & Chief Data Scientist
Dr. Lau Cher Han
Founder & CEO, LEAD · Founder & CEO, AI365
Ph.D in Machine Learning. Over a decade deploying real systems for real organisations. Industrial Advisory Panel member for universities and government agencies — and one of the voices that helped shape Malaysia’s national AI strategy.
He founded LEAD in 2015 to close the gap between academic theory and what industry actually needs. More than a decade and 15,000 trained professionals later, that goal hasn’t changed. When he teaches, the focus never does either: AI agents, agentic workflows, and pushing people from curious to capable.
“Close the gap between academic theory and what industry actually needs.”
Dr. Lau on why LEAD exists — and still does
Life with AI
Build systems. Build the people who run them.
Before
Malaysia’s AI talent gap was structural: universities taught theory, companies needed practitioners who could ship. Dr. Lau had already spent years on both sides — building systems for organisations and watching capable people stall because the training didn’t match the work.
After
LEAD turned that into a practice: courses, coaching, and platforms (including AI365) designed around what teams actually do on Monday. AI agents and agentic workflows aren’t demos in his room — they’re the skill that moves someone from curious to capable.
Flagship case study
From CoronaTracker to a national training backbone.
When COVID hit Malaysia, Dr. Lau built CoronaTracker.com so citizens could follow the outbreak with clear data. Before that, he was already known as a Microsoft Office World Expert World Champion for Excel — and as CTO co-founder of JoinHappen and Heroboyfriend. The through-line isn’t tools. It’s making complex systems usable for real people, under real pressure.
That same instinct scales through LEAD. He has designed and delivered AI training for enterprises including Intel, Dell, Touch ’n Go Digital, OCBC, U Mobile, Shell, PLUS Malaysia, and Hitachi — while advising universities and government agencies on applied AI. The work spans both sides of the equation: building AI systems for organisations, and building the people who run them.
What almost goes wrong in this space is familiar: training that sounds modern but never lands in production. His answer has been consistent since 2015 — teach what industry needs, then hold the bar until people can run it without him in the room.
In the classroom
From theory to agents that hold up at work.
What he teaches
AI agents, agentic workflows, applied machine learning, and the judgment to know when a system is ready for production — not just a demo.
Who he trains
Professionals, enterprise teams, and leaders who need AI that survives contact with real operations — from analysts to C-suites.
What sticks
People leave able to design and run workflows themselves. The goal isn’t dependency on the trainer. It’s capability that stays after class ends.
If you’re stuck where many start
Don’t stop at curious.
Theory without shipping is a comfortable trap. The gap Dr. Lau built LEAD to close is still the one that holds most people back: knowing enough to talk about AI, but not enough to run it. Cross that line — agents, workflows, judgment — and the work changes.
— Dr. Lau
Explore with LEAD