Alastair Newton is a political analyst who was based in the City of London from 2005 to 2015. Prior to his move to the City, Alastair spent 20 years as a career diplomat with the British Diplomatic Service, where he served in Sub-Saharan Africa, Paris (at the OECD) and in the United States.

In addition to his mainstream work, Alastair was Chair of the Supervisory Board of African Development Corporation from 2013 to 2015; President of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies from 2010 to 2012; and a member of the Council of Chatham House from 2010 to 2015.

In July 2015 he moved to Livingstone in Zambia where he is Co-founder and Director of Alavan Business Advisory Ltd (www.alavan.biz) specialising in business development in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and Zambia and its neighbouring countries in particular. He remains a frequent commentator on television and radio and a regular speaker at conferences and other events worldwide.

Alon Chen is co-founder and CEO of TasteWise, an analytics platform, for the world's leading food companies.

Established in 2017, TasteWise provides real-time data for virtual restaurants, New Product Development, and marketing innovation.

He was formerly Google’s executive, where he founded and launched Google Partners in 27 countries.

He also served as Google's Chief Marketing Officer in Israel and Greece.

Additionally, he had successfully fostered a global relationship between Google and the World Economic Forum.

Subsequently, he joined the leadership team at Voyager Labs ($100M backing from Oracle & Horizons Ventures), where he built an AI mar-tech solution for e-commerce.

Amir Haramaty is currently the Chief Commercial Officer at SparkBeyond.

Amir has more than 20 years of experience at leading Enterprise Software companies, and 25 years of entrepreneurship across verticals and continents.

Following his Military Service at the Special Forces (Airborne), he played a major role in the startup movement that specialises in developing Remote Controlled Robots for Bomb Disposal and dealing with Hazardous Materials.

He later ventured into OAO corporation, an aerospace company in which he spearheaded the new Robotics Division and provided Robotics solutions to NASA, US Navy, Nuclear sites and more.

Amir rose to Chief Operations Officer of the North America subsidiary of Nexus Telocation, where he was responsible for the expansion of the Wireless location technology. Following his entrepreneur spirit, Amir moved to Silicon Valley in 2003, joined the founding team of Xora. During his eighth year of tenure, he led the company from 8 to 8,000 Enterprise clients. Xora was eventually merged into ClickSoftware, which was recently acquired by Salesforce.

Amir then joined Amobee, a Digital Advertising Technology Platform where he led their Global sales team. While he was with Amobee, Amir was serving at Onavo’s advisory board that was acquired by Facebook in October 2013.

From Amobee, Amir moved to become the Chief Operations Officer of AdAllom, a SaaS (Software As a Service) Security Pioneer, which was acquired by Microsoft in September 2015.

Since September 2015, Amir has been the Chief Operations Officer of SparkBeyond, building relationships with leading Fortune 500 companies across a broad range of verticals, including Banking, Insurance, Retail, CPG, Pharmaceutical, Life-Sciences, and Media among others.

Arthur is a structural engineer, architect, and circular economy innovator.

He spent over a decade turning post-consumer waste into innovative products for businesses and consumers through his company, MINIWIZ. As the founder and CEO of MINIWIZ, he focused on accelerating the shift to a closed-loop circular economy where all products are made from recycled materials and recyclable at the same time.

Today, MINIWIZ is a global leader in transforming post-consumer products into retail store interiors, architectural structures, and consumer goods.

Under Arthur’s leadership, MINIWIZ has received the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer Award, The Financial Times’ Earth Award, and The Wall Street Journal’s Asian Innovation Award. Arthur has been a National Geographic Explorer since 2016 and the World Economic Forum recognized him as the Runner up for The Circular Leadership Award 2019 Davos.

In February 2019, the World Economic Forum named MINIWIZ as one of the top 11 companies leading the way to a circular economy.

Eli Lee is Head of Investment Strategy at Bank of Singapore and he plays a central role in developing asset allocation and thematic strategies across global asset classes for the Bank.

He is a key member of Bank of Singapore’s investment committee, which determines the Group’s overall investment strategy and direction, and serves as a member of the OCBC Group Wealth Panel. He also previously led the Special Situations Research team at OCBC Investment Research. As an investment thought leader, Eli’s independent perspectives are often sought after by international media, including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and CNBC.

With close to two decades of industry experience, Eli began his investment career at the Wellington Management Company in Boston. He graduated from Harvard University with an MA in statistics.

Firoz Ladak is responsible for the strategy, implementation and financial management of a philanthropic network that spans Europe, the United States, Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. Across all regions, EDRF works to create social empowerment and a more collaborative society, supporting projects and programs in education, the arts, healthcare and social entrepreneurship. Firoz is leading the Foundations’ transition from traditional giving to strategic philanthropy through an innovative mix of impact-driven programs and best practice sharing.

He is also a member of the board of various foundations under the Edmond de Rothschild umbrella, including the Fondation Ophtalmologique Adolphe de Rothschild, a Paris-based teaching hospital specializing in ophthalmology and neurology; Carnegie Hall in New York; and Admical, France’s leading organization for the professionalization of the philanthropic sector.

Prior to this, he spent over a decade in investment banking at Paribas, specializing in project and media finance, privatisation and the creation of public-private partnerships.

Firoz is a graduate of McGill University and the University of Oxford, where he completed an M. Phil in Oriental Studies as an Aga Khan Foundation Scholar. He is a Canadian and French citizen and resides in Geneva, Switzerland.

Gary Brenner is founder of Brenner pharma/food Business Development Ltd., an Israeli-based group that works with mature companies and start-ups, research institutes and multi-national corporations, in all segments of health and wellness. Industry channels cover food and beverage, dietary supplement and cosmeceuticals, animal feed, and aquaculture.

The Brenner pharma/food business model focuses on innovative science, and technologies related to natural bio-active ingredients and proteins for multiple applications. The company works with experts to ensure that clinical protocols, regulatory pathways and intellectual property are all designed for a winning go-to-market strategy.

In June 2019, Aleph Farms appointed Gary as VP Products and Market Development. He is responsible for the food technology aspects of cell grown cultivated meat, and Aleph Farms’ go-to-market business strategy.

Currently, Gary is developing a network of potential partners for Aleph Farms in Asia (China, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and Korea).

Gary was founder and VP of Marketing and Business Development for Solbar Industries Ltd. (1991-2009), an international supplier of soy protein-based ingredients with facilities in Israel, Ningbo (China) and the United States.

As Head of PMRO, Jean Chia is responsible for CIO Views, Investment Strategy, FX, Equity & Fixed Income Research, Discretionary Portfolio Management (DPM) & Advisory Portfolio Management (APM) teams at Bank of Singapore. She has over 20 years of experience in Private Banking and Asset Management.

She was previously Head, Equities Advisory & Sales at BOS, and Head of Client Advisory Services for Equities, Investment Products & Services at UBS Wealth Management, Singapore.

Prior to UBS, she was a Vice President at Allianz Dresdner Asset Management (now known as Allianz Global Investors). Jean graduated with an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from University of Oxford, UK. Jean also serves as a member of the SGX Advisory Committee.

Joel Yarbrough is the Asia Pacific Vice President for Rapyd, a global FinTech-as-a-service platform. He is responsible for leading the company’s value proposition and growth efforts in the region.

Joel has 26 years of extensive cross-disciplinary experience in Payments, Technology, Banking, and Management Consulting across continents. Prior to Rapyd, he was Head of Product at Southeast Asia’s largest tech startup Grab, and spearheaded Business and Corporate Development on behalf of GrabPay, the Financial Services arm of Grab.

He is also a notable PayPal alumnus with Global Product Strategy, APAC Product Management, Large Partner and O2O Solutions Company under his leadership.

Joel was also a founding board member of PayPal’s non-profit and charitable giving fund. Before joining PayPal, Joel held multiple global roles at JP Morgan.

Joel holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and currently lives in Singapore with his wife and two daughters.

Kelvin Ng is a business professional with over two decades of experience in multinational companies and world-renowned think tanks.

A TedEx Singapore speaker, he now leads Green Monday’s efforts in driving positive social change and improving the lives of people through plant-based diets, and is responsible for scaling up the Green Monday movement in ASEAN.

Green Monday is a social startup group that aims to tackle climate change and global food insecurity by making low-carbon and sustainable living simple, viral and actionable. The platform enables corporations, restaurants, schools and the general public to join up in their social and environmental efforts.

Kelvin has held senior management roles in Singapore Airlines Terminal Services (SATS), Hewlett Packard and DHL Logistics.

Kyungsun Chung is the Founder and CEO of the Sylvan Group, HG Initiative and Root Impact. He is also a Board Member of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

The provision of accessible, affordable and quality healthcare is a key objective for the Sylvan Group. As co-founder, Kyungsun set up the Sylvan Group Healthcare Fund focusing on healthcare, while also venturing into other areas to improve sustainability such as climate change, Smart City solutions, food and environment tech.

He oversees HG Initiative (Holistic Growth Initiative, HGI), an impact investment company with investments in over 20 companies in healthcare, childcare, education and sustainability.

He also co-founded Root Impact, a non-profit organization focusing on the building capacity of the social innovation sector in Korea. Its signature initiative, “HeyGround” provides co-working spaces for nonprofits and social enterprises.

Marc is responsible for the product platform on which all wealth management solutions are built. In particular, Marc has responsibility over the Bank’s Investment Strategy, Research, Discretionary Portfolio Management, Trading Advisory, Wealth Planning and Trust Services. Between January 2015 and February 2017, Marc was also in charge of Business Transformation, which spearheaded Bank of Singapore’s digital strategy and led the launch of its first client app.

In February 2013, he was also appointed as OCBC Bank’s Head of Group Wealth Products. In this role, Marc spearheaded the creation of a centralised knowledge hub for wealth management products across the OCBC Group, as well as provided consistent investment views for wealth advisory across various client segments.

Starting his career in retail banking at ING Belgium in 1993, Marc subsequently moved to private banking and became the country’s commercial director. In 2003, Marc was appointed to the Executive Committee of ING Luxembourg, where he was in charge of retail, private banking and asset management. Marc went on to join ING Asia Private Bank (now known as Bank of Singapore) in January 2009.

Marc graduated with an Economics and Business Administration degree from the University of Brussels and holds an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Mark Laudi is a veteran of the traditional and new media, with 25 years' experience in print, radio, television, new and social media. He has also worked as a communications coach to senior business and government leaders in Asia and the Middle East.

Between 1999 and 2006, Mark anchored and produced regional network television business news programs at CNBC Asia Pacific. He anchored Squawk Box, and performed various roles including Australia Editor, and Sydney Bureau Chief.

At 21, Mark became Australia's youngest current affairs show host on ABC Radio.Having spent his formative years in South Africa, Germany and Australia, Mark has called Singapore home for over 20 years.

When he is not coaching top executives, he is a presenter at numerous business conferences and events as conference anchor and moderator.

Nitin Jain has over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry and heads the Global Asset and Wealth Management business which has witnessed significant growth, currently managing around USD 30 billion in assets. The business encompasses the entire range of asset management services including Alternative Funds, Mutual Funds, Asset Reconstruction, as well as Wealth Management.

Nitin joined Edelweiss in its early days and has initiated and driven multiple businesses at Edelweiss. He seeded the wealth and asset management business in 2010 where under his leadership, it has grown to be one of the largest in the country. He has played a key role in guiding Edelweiss's transformation from a boutique investment bank into one of India’s leading diversified financial services company.

Nitin is also actively involved with EdelGive Foundation - the strategic philanthropic arm of the Edelweiss Group and is a part of their investment committee. He has a B.Tech. degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, with Post Graduation in Management from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Pia Cooke is Head of Advisory for Bank of Singapore’s Managed Investment team where she advises clients on the bank’s discretionary portfolio services as well as third party investment solutions. Prior to this role, Pia was Head of Advisory for Bank of Singapore’s Equities team, providing advice on global equities.

Pia is a seasoned industry professional who has in-depth experience in a wide range of investment and private banking roles. Over a span of more than 17 years in the banking industry, she has developed a particularly strong derivatives background across multiple asset classes.

Richard Jerram is Chief Economist for Top Down Macro. where he analyses and forecasts global economic developments. He has been in this role since July 2019 when he stepped down from a similar position at Bank of Singapore. Richard continues to act as a Special Economic Advisor to Bank of Singapore.

Richard has over three decades of experience as a macroeconomist. He was in Tokyo during the late 1980s bubble, followed by a period running Asia-Pacific forecasting for the Economist Intelligence Unit in London and then obtaining his doctorate at the London School of Economics. He returned to Japan in 1996 with ING Securities which was acquired by Macquarie Securities in 2004. In 2009 Richard was appointed Head of Asian Economics and was based in Singapore. He joined Bank of Singapore in 2011, sitting on the investment committee and leading the bank’s economic research.

Richard has a BSc from University College London and a Ph.D. from the LSE. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Sau Sheong runs SP Digital, the digital business subsidiary of SP Group. In the 24 years of his working experience, he managed engineering teams at PayPal, Yahoo and HP to build software products.

He was also the co-founder of a software company, and greatly involved in the startup movement for more than 10 years. He continues to actively contribute in many technology communities in Singapore and Southeast Asia (especially Go and Ruby) and has written 4 programming books.

Sau Sheong has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a Masters in Commercial Law.

Shmuel Chafets is Co-founder of SAM Seamless Network, and General Partner of Target Global.

Prior to joining Target Global, Shmuel was a partner at Berlin based Hasso Plattner Ventures where he invested in companies such as iZettle and Hansoft, and served as a board member in DreamLines and reBuy.

Additionally, Shmuel was a partner at Giza Venture Capital in Tel Aviv where he invested in companies such as Soluto, Vishal.ly, and other early stage internet ventures. Together with Giza, Shmuel founded Giza Polish Ventures, a pioneering Warsaw based venture fund where he lead virus internet and software investment.

Shmuel was also co-founder of LocaLoco, a social gaming start up, targeting emerging markets.

He started his career as strategic consultant to GCS and a consultant for several members of the Israeli parliament and government.

Professor Tommy Koh is Ambassador-at-Large at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Professor of Law at National University of Singapore.

He was Singapore's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1968 to 1971 (concurrently accredited as High Commissioner to Canada) and again from 1974 to 1984 (concurrently accredited as High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Mexico). He was Ambassador to the United States of America from 1984 to 1990.

Prof Koh was the founding Chairman of the National Arts Council (1991 to 1996), Director of the Institute of Policy Studies (1990-1997 and 2000-2004) and founding Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation (1997-2000).

He received a First Class Honours degree in Law from the National University of Singapore, has a Masters degree in Law from Harvard University, and a post-graduate Diploma in Criminology from Cambridge University. He has received awards from Columbia University, Stanford University, Georgetown University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Curtin University. He has taught at various universities in the United States and China.

Prof Koh is the recipient of many awards, prizes, and honours, both for his contributions to environmental diplomacy and his service to the nation. He has also received numerous prestigious awards from the governments of The Netherlands, Chile, Luxembourg, Finland, France, Spain, and the United States.

Dr. Xiang Bing is the Founding Dean and Professor of China Business and Globalization at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Prior to joining CKGSB, Dr. Xiang was a Professor at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, where he pioneered the school’s Executive MBA program.

He served as an independent board member of a number of companies (including two Fortune Global 500) listed in Hong Kong, mainland China and the US. He also served as a member of board of trustees for United Way Worldwide (US), the largest private charitable organization in the world.

Dr. Xiang’s research interests include reform of state-owned enterprises, innovation and the role of the private sector in China. He is a leading authority on China business, innovations in China, China’s development models and global implications of China’s transformation.

Dr. Xiang has served as a keynote speaker at many influential forums and conferences around the world. His recent keynote speaking engagements include the China-Europe Trade and Investment Forum (2017, Brussels), FT Banking Summit (2017, London), and Harvard China Forum (2017, 2018 and 2019).

He was a speaker at the World Economic Forum, Bo’ao Forum for Asia, Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Fortune Global Forum, and the Economist Innovation Summit. He also spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations (2019, New York City), Foreign Policy Association (2018, New York City) and Center for Strategic and International Studies (2018). In 2018, he served as the first Co-Chairman of Ditchley Foundation Annual Forum.

Dr. Xiang received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Alberta in Canada and his bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China.