Your family business is ready for its next chapter.
Clarify roles, strengthen systems and prepare for succession while preserving the founder’s values.
Boardrooms. Businesses. Life.
Experience is useful only when it is shared.
Board advisor · Governance practitioner · Mentor · Writer
I help business owners, boards and leaders think through finance, governance, risk and growth—with lessons from three decades inside and outside the boardroom.
Three decades of perspectiveAudit, corporate finance and governance
Former CFO, Rio Tinto IndonesiaExperience with complex business decisions
Boards, founders & emerging leadersIndependent oversight and practical mentoring
For boards & business owners
A thoughtful voice
for consequential decisions.
I help owners, boards and CEOs bring financial discipline and independent judgement to growth, governance and change—including family-owned and non-listed businesses.
When to bring me into the conversation.
Your board needs a clearer view.
Connect financial performance, cash flow and investment choices with the risks your board needs to oversee.
You want an independent view before a major decision.
Test assumptions, challenge the numbers and weigh the trade-offs before committing to growth or a new direction.
Governance & risk oversight · Strategic finance · Leadership sounding board
Board and committee appointments, ongoing advisory relationships, or focused mentoring.
Selected experience
Board, committee & advisory experience.
Current appointments
Board
PT FKS Food Sejahtera Tbk
PT Goodyear Indonesia Tbk
Yayasan Plan International Indonesia
Audit Committee
PT Samudera Indonesia Tbk
PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk
Advisory
PT Agrinesia Raya
Past appointments
Board
PT Asuransi Bina Dana Arta Tbk
PT Aruna Jaya Nuswantara
PT Hewlett Packard Finance Indonesia
Audit Committee
PT Aviasi Pariwisata Indonesia (Persero)
PT Vale Indonesia Tbk
Advisory
PT ERM Indonesia
Building together
Verum Consulting Indonesia.
Co-founder
In 2024, I co-founded Verum Consulting Indonesia with four fellow former C-suite executives. We brought together different backgrounds in finance, governance, strategy and transformation, drawing on years of working inside businesses and navigating their challenges.
Verum is a shared chapter in that journey: a boutique consulting firm where our combined experience supports organisations, business leaders and the next generation of professionals and entrepreneurs.
Explore Verum Consulting ↗Meet the team and explore our services on Verum’s website.
Recommendations
From colleagues across my career.
A few words from people I have worked with, drawn from their LinkedIn recommendations.
Reliable financial reporting
“As a colleague, he was extremely helpful, approachable, proactive, responsive, technically competent, and all of the financial information he and his team was responsible for, was always reliable, accurate and timely.”
Strategy & integrity
“He has a unique ability to strike a good balance between demanding approach and positive outlook. I praise his organizational skills, strategic thinking and high ethical standards.”
Mentoring & leadership
“When I was in preparation for my secondment, Herwan helped me a lot. I found him a very good mentor/coach even now when we both are no longer in PricewaterhouseCoopers.”
About Herwan
From checking the numbers
to asking better questions.
My career has taken me from audit to finance leadership, advisory work and independent oversight. Each chapter has shaped how I think about business—and the people behind its decisions.
- 1995–2005
Learning the discipline
Audit & assurance · Coopers & Lybrand / PwC
I began as an auditor, learning to look beyond the figures, examine the evidence and ask the questions that matter.
- 2005–2019
Connecting numbers to decisions
CFO · Rio Tinto Indonesia
Fourteen years in finance leadership taught me to connect financial discipline with business realities and the human judgement behind every decision.
- 2019–2020
Bringing an advisory perspective
Managing Director · AWR Lloyd
Leading a boutique strategy consulting and M&A advisory firm broadened my perspective on the choices businesses face as they grow and change.
- 2020 onwardA portfolio career
Putting experience to work
Governance · Advisory · Mentoring
Today, I apply those lessons through independent oversight, advisory work and mentoring—with an emphasis on practical governance and thoughtful leadership.
A career is a journey. Mine is still unfolding.
Outside the boardroom, I write about careers, reinvention, family and life. Running has taught me something useful too: progress is not always fast, and occasionally walking is part of getting to the finish line.
I share what I have learned—including the mistakes. They tend to make the better stories.
Connect with me on LinkedIn ↗
Ideas worth sharing
Boardroom & beyond.
Reflections on governance, leadership and the less tidy parts of working life. Written from my experience, with room for curiosity and a little humour.
AI & reputation · English
What does AI know about you?
How I use AI to check my digital footprint, spot inconsistencies and reflect on the professional identity I am building.
Read article →Family business & governance · Bahasa Indonesia
From founder-led to institution-led.
Why the transition to stronger systems and governance matters—and how family businesses can grow while preserving their founding values.
Read article →Careers & reinvention · English
Every interview is preparation.
Building a portfolio career has taught me to live with uncertainty. Even an interview that ends early can help me prepare for the next opportunity.
Read article →MentorWithHerwan
A place where I share experience, explore ideas and keep learning through conversations with others.
For curious readers
Some lessons need
a little more room.
Stories about the journeys that have shaped me: work, reinvention, family, and the things I have discovered along the way.
Misi: Lima Puluh!
Fifty reflections from my first half-century of life, work, travel and learning. First published to mark my fiftieth birthday in 2022.
Setelah: Lima Puluh!
The journey continues after fifty—with new questions about purpose, work, change and sharing what I have learned.
Dari Yushui ke Billiton
A family memoir tracing my grandfather Kung-Kung’s journey from his Hakka village in China to a new life in Belitung—and the memories passed down through my family.
Speaking & mentoring
Experience shared.
Conversations opened.
I speak with boards, finance teams and professionals about the choices behind leadership, governance and career reinvention. I also mentor founders and emerging leaders who benefit from a candid, experienced sounding board.
- Governance beyond compliance
- Strategic finance and business judgement
- AI, risk and accountable leadership
- Career reinvention and portfolio careers
- Leadership lessons from inside the boardroom
Endeavor Indonesia mentor since 2022.
Endeavor Mentor of the Year, 2024.
Selected speaking engagements
