Kim-Kiat Liaw obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) in Geology from University Malaya in 1980. In 1994, he completed a part-time PhD with Karlsruhe University, Germany. He has a very varied geoscience experience background as well as a colorful employment history.

He started as a hydroelectric dam-site geologist with Geological Survey of Malaysia. He then spent 12 years as a pioneer for the Malaysian-German Joint Project exploring for coal in the jungles of Borneo, Sarawak. Subsequently he became Exploration Manager for two key Malaysian Development Projects:

1. Regional Geochemical Survey and
2. Industrial Minerals & Constructional Materials.

At the height of his coal exploration stint, KK led a large integrated team responsible for surface mapping, topographic survey, geophysics, round-the-clock drilling (three shifts) and wireline logging. Highlights included:

1. establishment of a large coal resource base,
2. start-up of 3 coal mining outfits,
3. discovery of world's largest piece of amber,
4. a 1-year German-CDG scholarship at University Hamburg to carry out Ph.D. lab work,
5. recognition by BGR, Germany as a role model project in inter-governmental collaboration.

In 1996, KK joined the oil and gas industry starting with Shell's Sabah Exploration Team, Miri covering onshore, shelf and deepwater domains. He became the Focal Point in Geochemistry and HC Charge Modeling, Volumetric Assessment and Operations Geology. He was involved in Shell's regional courses in Asia-Pacific. An international assignment to Shell Nigeria, Lagos (2005-08) got him involved in deepwater Niger Delta exploration surrounding the giant billion-barrels Bonga oil field, appraisal of the giant 25-TCF Nnwa-Doro gas field, as well as portfolio analysis and management.

Since 2009, he has been in the New Ventures Group (Shell–one year, BHP-Billiton–three years) to screen new opportunities involving regional studies and basin-scale evaluation. KK is currently employed by Saudi Aramco and based in Saudi Arabia.  He works in the Regional Team carrying out play-based exploration to assess yet-to-find HC resources.