Permanent Advisors

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With over 38 years of dedicated service in the financial industry, I have had the privilege of witnessing and actively participating in the evolution of Taiwan’s banking sector. My career journey, spanning from the Taichung Eighth Credit Cooperative to Makoto Bank (now Shin Kong Bank), is defined by a progression from frontline operations to high-level executive leadership.

Core Expertise & Qualifications:

* Branch Operations & Leadership: Proven track record as Branch Manager and Assistant Vice President, specializing in cross-regional business development and performance management.

* Comprehensive Financial Services: Deeply experienced in credit lending, foreign exchange, deposits, and securities settlement.

The most significant milestone was navigating the 1998 transition from a credit cooperative to a commercial bank. This was a dual challenge of systems and culture:

1. Process Optimization: I had to lead my team to rapidly adopt the more rigorous credit underwriting and international operational standards of a commercial bank.

2. Client Retention: We successfully migrated traditional, local credit cooperative clients into a modern banking ecosystem while maintaining their deep-rooted trust.

3. Leadership Stability: As a manager, I ensured my staff felt secure and motivated amidst the uncertainty of the merger.

This experience taught me that true transformation is not just about upgrading software, but about upgrading mindsets and professional culture. It instilled in me the agility to lead diverse branches through any market change.

As a founding director of Contreras Earl Architecture trained in the fields of Architecture and Urban Design. Rafael was born in Lima and also gained his professional architecture certification in Peru from the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (UPC) and co-founded his first architecture firm in 2004.  He is a registered Architect in Peru. 

He later received a Masters of Architecture and Urbanism (Design Research Laboratory) at the Architectural Association in London, where his thesis project received Distinction and was widely published.  

Rafael’s years of experience and unique design skills saw him leading international teams working in Zaha Hadid Architect’s (ZHA) exclusive ‘design cluster’ in London where he worked directly under Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher (current ZHA Principal).

For 7 years Rafael was design leader at ZHA on major commissions and competition winning bids such as the Grand Theatre in Rabat Morocco, the Tokyo National Stadium and the New Beijing Daxing Airport (world’s largest airport terminal). 

Moreover during his time at ZHA Rafael was Lead Designer and Project Architect of large-scale luxury residential and mixed-use projects in Australia such as Mayfair St. Kilda, Melbourne, Grace on Coronation Toowong, Brisbane and Mariners Cove Gold Coast. 

After Zaha Hadid Architects Rafael co-founded Contreras Earl Architecture together with Monica Earl in 2016.  Currently the practice is based in Sydney, Australia and is delivering a number of large scale mixed-use and landmark projects on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

 With practical, community‑based expertise from his leadership of Community Canteen in Queensland, Australia, to advise economic programs in developing countries. He specializes in designing low‑cost, scalable social safety nets that link food provision, volunteer networks, and housing support. Andreotti’s strengths include modular program design (kitchen hubs, mobile distribution, community dining), volunteer mobilisation and governance, mixed funding strategies combining local fundraising, corporate partnerships and grants, and communications that connect relief to economic outcomes. He recommends integrating meal services with temporary housing and referral pathways, prioritising local procurement to stimulate microenterprises, and developing volunteer‑led social enterprises (training kitchens, pay‑what‑you‑can cafes) to generate earned income. Key performance indicators should measure dignity and outcomes as well as outputs: referrals to housing services, local procurement share, earned income as a share of costs, and six‑month housing retention. He cautions against overreliance on unpaid volunteers and donor fatigue; mitigation includes creating small paid coordinator roles funded by earned income and diversifying revenue streams. For implementation he proposes a three‑month pilot in a target community to adapt the model, define KPIs, secure seed funding, and partner with local NGOs or municipal authorities. Andreotti’s community‑first approach emphasizes local ownership, low capital intensity, and measurable economic co‑benefits, offering a resilient bridge between humanitarian relief and sustainable development in small island and low‑income settings. He would prioritise stakeholder engagement, capacity building for local leaders, and simple monitoring systems to ensure transparency, adaptability, and long‑term sustainability while aligning programs with national development plans, measurable reporting mechanisms, and donor requirements.