【CEO】

Mr. Thomas Tsoung, Chief Executive Officer of the Merica Institute Group, is also the founder and present Executive Director of the National Supplementary Education Association. Together with his wife Teresa Chen, Mr.Tsoung founded Merica with a goal to assist the increasing number of students from Taiwan studying abroad. Since its founding, Merica has been dedicated to the second language education. More than 400,000 students have studied at Merica, a number that has included many of Taiwan's political, educational and business leaders, including the current mayors of Taipei and Kaohsiung, the News Anchor of CTV, and numerous senators. Mr. Tsoung gradually extended Merica's operations to include educational counseling, travel services, publishing, and high school preparatory education. This growth lead to the establishment of the Merica Chain Group in 1965.

After graduating from the National Maritime University's Department of Management, Mr. Tsoung served for two years in the military as a reserve officer and passed the Taiwan's highest level on the civil service examination. While working as a public official, Mr. Tsoung studied in the evening because he dreamed of studying abroad one day. During this period he met a number of well-known instructors and felt that he could run a more effective school. Investing his lifetime savings of NT$59,000 (US$15,000), he opened the Merica English and Overseas Study Center on Nanyang Street, which was not only close to Taipei Train Station, but also offered the cheapest rents. He invited the well-known instructors he had met during his own English studies to teach and, as a result, his school quickly became the most successful in Taiwan. At the time, Merica was the only tutorial center on Nanyang Street but, under Merica's leadership, it quickly became the mecca for Taiwan's tutorial education industry. Yet even after opening the Merica English and Overseas Study Center, Mr. Tsoung continued his work as a public servant by day and ran Merica in the evenings, often working 19-hour days. Mr. Tsoung says that success is 80% hard work and 20% good fortune. Mr. Tsoung 's hard work and good fortune helped him build the Merica Empire at a time when the number of students studying overseas was increasing exponentially.

In the following years, Mr.Tsoung went on to open branch schools in Chiayi, Tainan, Taichung, Hsinchu, Chungli, and Hualien. In 1983, members of the tutorial industry recommended him as Executive Director of the Taipei City Association of Tutorial Education, in which capacity he served continuously for more than 10 years. His work on behalf of the industry has not only included securing rights for the industry, but also playing an active role in cooperating with the government to advance the cause of adult education. In recognition of his contributions to adult education, Mr.Tsoung was personally commended by Mr.Wu Pohsiung, then mayor of Taipei. In 1992, Mr.Tsoung retired as Executive Director of the Taipei City Association of Supplementary Education. That same year, however, he went on to found the National Supplementary Education Association and was named as the Association's first Executive Director in which capacity he devoted even more of his resources and energy. Under his direction, the association published a newsletter, provided members with research resources in adult education, and played an active role in the Ministry of Education's revision of the Tutorial Education Act. Mr.Tsoung was instrumental in the revision process, attending numerous hearings on behalf of the association and adding many constructive suggestions during the process. As the Association's Executive Director, Mr.Tsoung has actively expanded the Association's activities to their present extent. When Success Tutorial School went bankrupt in 1994, Mr. Tsoung came to the rescue of Success's more than 10,000 students, resolved their difficulties, and restored public faith in the tutorial industry.

Mr.Tsoung, a legendary workaholic, says that while he enjoys swimming and singing, his greatest love is work. His mantra is "Work is a pleasure." He success is due not just to his high, disciplined standards and hard work, but also to his determination never to accept failure.