Mike Yang is the Founder and Managing Director of Modun Group, a residential and commercial developer in Australia and China, with recent investments including the $80 million Alba Thermal Springs, Winner of 2022 and 2023 Best Spa in Australia.

A modern-day renaissance man, Mike has demonstrated success in areas beyond real estate, including in:

• Major Events – Argentina, Australia, and China officially list Modun as one of three Top Official Partners and the sports agency for the historic match between Leo Messi-led Argentina versus Australia on June 15, 2023, in Beijing, China, which has been broadcasted in 65 countries, with 200 million audience in Chinese mainland alone.

• Politics – Mike is a former President at one of Australia’s peak advocacy organizations – Chinese Community Council of Australia (Victorian Chapter) and sits on its Council of Advisors. Mike have been appointed by two Victorian Premier and Cabinets on three Ministerial Advisory Councils, advised three Cabinet Ministers with his global business perspectives on Trade, Jobs, Innovation, Tourism, Sport, Digital Economy, and Visitor Economy.

• Television Production and Hosting – Mike is the Co-Executive Producer of a six episode documentary – Beyond the Headlines, aired on Sky News in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and on Chinese media in China in 2019. He was a TEDx speaker in Melbourne in 2022, and the Keynote Speaker at the 162nd Anniversary of the Eureka Stockade in Victoria – the cradle of Australian democracy.

• Other Hobbies – Mike is also a certified songwriter / singer and voice-over artist on leading global music platforms including QQ Music, a PADI-Certified Advanced Open Water diver, and a simultaneous interpreter and translator between English and Mandarin / Chinese.

Mike Yang

We re-connected with Mike in late 2024 as he reflected on his experience in the Advanced Management Development Program in Real Estate (AMDP), of which he is a member of Class 24.

When we interviewed you in July 2024 (in the above video) during your final AMDP term, you spoke about the AMDP helping to connect the different parts of your professional and personal life (real estate, major events, politics). How do you plan to use the knowledge and network you’ve gained in the AMDP in your career and work at Modun Group?

I believe all of us in the cohorts started using the network we’ve gained in the AMDP in our daily job and business ventures almost right away. Since the First Term, I have visited a number of cities and countries I had never been to, either because some of us travelled together as a group, or we knew someone there from our year or the alumni community with whom we could catch up. These short trips further opened my horizon as I saw what others are doing at other parts of the world. I also plan to revise the knowledge from time to time, apply immediately in my work, and use the network to see where new opportunities take me. 

In your graduation speech, you spoke about your father being “grateful his son could bathe in the sunlight of Harvard Yard” – that you becoming a Harvard alum has fulfilled a family dream. What has it meant to you to learn at Harvard this last year?

My father said Harvard for the “Mecca” for him during his student and teacher years, and “a life fantasy”. To me, it was a privilege to be able to study on campus again, at the age of 41, at what many would rank as the world’s most prestigious university. It is surreal to have walked the same walks at Harvard Yard, sat in the same library chairs, or had a meal in the same dining rooms as some of the brightest minds and leaders in human history had. The experience still gives me goosebumps. 

In the aftermath of the Argentinian national team’s early 2024 tour of Asia, you gave several interviews that shared your experience in brokering the June 2023 soccer match between the national teams of Australia and Argentina in Beijing, China. Can you summarize those interviews, and your insights on what leads to these ambitious events being successful?

Essentially, mega events like the one we did in June 2023 are cross-cultural, cross-continental, and cross-language business deals. They require tons of patience, perseverance, real experience in large international transactions, openness and tolerance to each other’s culture, business norm, and ability to compromise at times.    

You stole the show at the Class 25 graduation dinner with your rendition of Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, which he wrote for The Lion King. Can you share a little more about your background as a singer?

Interestingly, The Lion King was one of the first Hollywood blockbusters imported to China in the early 1990s. Since then, the theme song and Elton John’s voice kinda stuck with me. Since primary school, I have won local singing contests in China, later on in Singapore where I studied for a few years, then in Australia at university. As a hobby, I started writing my own music and releasing online since 2012, wrote more during Covid: Pop, R&B, Rap and World Music, in either Mandarin or English. You can find songs I wrote and sang, as well as my cover of classics on some of the largest music platforms in Asia including QQ Music where I am a Certified Songwriter and Singer. To me, writing and singing is my way of self-expression and ultimate relaxation, where I find a lot of joy in creating a piece of music alone, or collaborating with professional musicians.