Whether it’s moving to a new country, changing jobs, or learning a new language, Steve Parker understands the life of an expatriate. Over the past 16 years, the Australian has lived in six countries, worked in several very different industries, and has attained fluency in two languages.
He said he loved just about every minute of those years, particularly the time he’s spent in his adopted home of Taiwan, but he’s also had his share of challenges. Parker, 42, will likely be drawing on those experiences at his new job as the director of the Community Services Center in Taipei, a post he assumed earlier this month.
“So far it has been fantastic; the reception has been warm,” said Parker in an interview with the Taipei Times last week. “I know I’ve got big shoes to fill, but I feel people are open to someone new as well.”
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
The “shoes” belong to American Mary Chua, who had served as the Center’s director since 2003 and moved from Taipei last month to Manila with her family. The Center, which was formed in 1987 as a non-profit organization for Taipei’s American expatriate community, grew significantly under her tenure by more than doubling the number of its counseling sessions and offering services to adults and children from the international community.
Chua’s stewardship also guided the Center to a strong financial position, while also increasing its visibility by printing the monthly magazine Centered on Taipei, and a set of hiking and travel books.
Learning about the Center’s many activities and the sense of involvement he felt helped prompt Parker to pursue the job. He moved to Taiwan in 2000 with his wife, Catherine Shih (石佩弘) of Taipei, but as a marketing and sales representative for Cambridge University Press he often shuttled back and forth between Taipei and China. He enjoyed the traveling, but missed his wife and felt disconnected with his new home.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
“I’ve often had a new job, combined with moving to a new country, learning a new language, not understanding how things work where I am … I’m very much aware of the stresses and anxieties that the expatriate community faces — I’ve done it five times, [I’ve met] lots of people… and I’ve seen successes and I’ve seen failures,” he said.
Such challenges, and a love of travel, have driven Parker in his professional life. He studied Indonesian throughout high school, which he chose over French because he felt a closer connection to Asia than Europe, and was fluent by the time he took his first overseas job as an English teacher for the Indonesian government in Jakarta.
While working with Indonesian government officials, Parker cultivated a talent for networking, which led to a job as regional manager of sales and marketing for education publisher Prentice Hall in Malaysia, and then Cambridge University Press in the UK, Singapore, and Taiwan.
Although his wife, who works for Cambridge University Press, played a role in the couple’s move to Taiwan, Parker also came to learn Mandarin. He studied at various language schools and with private tutors, but honed his skills to fluency while working at Intertek, a Taiwanese auto parts testing company.
That career switch may sound like a long way from publishing, but Parker said at its core, the job was really not much different: working in management with the goal of quality assurance. “The industries were different, but the concepts were similar,” he said.
Yet Parker still faced an enormous learning curve — he had to learn about engineering processes for automotive components and be able to discuss them competently in Mandarin. Eager to prove his abilities, Parker proposed that the company give him an engineering test, which they did. He passed.
He also passed another important, but informal test — from his Taiwanese colleagues. “All of the employees here felt very comfortable with him,” said Ada Luo (羅素貞), who is the head of human resources at Intertek and worked under Parker. “Steve is a person that always tries to observe people, and find out who would be the best person [for the job].”
These qualities were also a winning combination to Fred Voightmann, who heads the Center’s steering committee, and took part in the Center’s hiring process to replace Chua. Parker “stepped forward” during the board’s interview process, said Voightman. “We needed an administrator … someone who could communicate, who was a team-builder — the things you’d be looking for in a business executive.”
Like many business executives, one of Parker’s favorite past times is golf. Through his time on the links, he forged connections with members of the business community, people “that have contributed a lot to Taiwan.” This was an important network to foster as one of the Center’s major fundraisers is an annual golf tournament held by the European Chamber of Commerce Taipei and ICRT radio station.
Unlike many business executives, perhaps, Parker has a degree in English and media, and cultivated a liking for art house movies while studying at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. He ran track in high school as a member of a team that won Australia’s national relay championships, and today dreams of touring Taiwan on a bicycle.
When asked what he hopes to bring to the Center, Parker said this was difficult to answer because “there is nothing missing from the Center the way [it was run under Chua].” He intends to build on her work, which is to broaden “the scope of people who are aware of [what] the Center does, and how valuable it is.”
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