Mr Paul P Peeters

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Philips Electronics Singapore,
Senior Vice President, Philips Lighting APR &
General Manager, Philips Lighting ASEAN/Pacific

Mr Paul Peeters began his career at Philips Lighting in 1990 in the supply chain function. From 1996 to 2003, Paul worked in the commercial organisation in the Netherlands in various sales and marketing management functions. In 2000, he became the Managing Director of Philips Lighting in the Netherlands. In 2002, his area of responsibility was extended to include the Belgium commercial organisation. In 2003, Mr Peeters moved to the Lighting organisation in Asia Pacific. In summer of 2004, he moved to Singapore to his current position in the Lighting Division. He was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Philips Electronics Singapore on 1 January 2007. Mr Peeters holds an engineering degree from the University of Technology in Delft and an MBA from the University of Rochester, New York as well as the Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

Mr Ignatius Low

Money Editor
The Straits Times

Mr Ignatius Low joined Singapore Press Holdings in 1999 as a Correspondent with The Straits Times Money Desk. He became Deputy Money Editor in 2004. He left SPH in August 2004 for SingHealth as Head of Organizational Planning. He rejoined SPH in December 2004 as Associate Money Editor and went on to head the Money section as the Editor since January 2006 till now.

Mr Inderjit Singh

CEO
Infiniti Solutions Ltd

Mr Inderjit Singh is the founder and CEO of Infiniti Solutions Ltd, a global semiconductor company headquartered in Singapore. Prior to starting Infiniti in 2001, he also founded and was the President and CEO of United Test and Assembly Center (UTAC), one of the world’s largest semiconductor assembly and test companies. He had earlier worked in Texas Instruments (TI) for 13 years and was the Director of Operations for the global Assembly and Test Operations for the Memory Division of TI. Mr Singh is also a Member of Parliament in Singapore, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for MTI and MOF, the Audit committee chairman and board member of Urban Redevelopment Authority, and board member of SPRING Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. As Deputy Chairman of Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), he has been actively driving the transformation of the financing landscape for start-ups and SMEs in Singapore. He authored the popular book, “The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship” which captures his entrepreneurial experiences.

Mr Chris Chia

Managing Partner
Kendall Court Capital Partners

Mr Chia is the Managing Partner of Kendall Court Capital Partners, an investment partnership focused on alternative financing primarily in Southeast Asia and across Asia-Pacific. Its inaugural fund, Kendall Court Mezzanine (Asia) Fund I is a US$75m mezzanine fund focused on mezzanine financing in mid-market buyout transactions and development capital across Southeast Asia. It is currently managing close to US$50m and has invested into four transactions spanning across Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. Mr Chia was formerly VP at Citigroup Global Markets (Southeast Asia Investment Banking Division). At Citigroup, he had coverage responsibility for key Southeast Asian clients, focusing on Singapore and Malaysia and financial buyers / private equity funds. He has dealt with all aspects of deal origination and management and execution of general corporate finance transactions, and has deal experience across Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and Malaysia.

Mr Mohan Mulani

CEO and Director
Harry’s International Pte Ltd

Mr Mulani is responsible for the overall management, strategic planning and business development for the Harry’s Group. He graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts, majoring in political science, before completing an executive program for small companies at the Stamford University Graduate School of Business, and subsequently the Owner-Manager Program by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Mr Mulani was the recipient of the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry — DBS Indian Entrepreneur Award in 2005.

Mr Vivian Singh

CEO and Director
Strontium Technology Pte Ltd

Mr Vivian Singh is the co-founder and CEO of Strontium Technology Pte Ltd, an independent computer and flash memory manufacturer with its head quarters in Singapore. He graduated from Pune University, India with a Bacholer’s degree in Electronics engineering followed by Masters in International Business (MIB) from Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University. He started Strontium Technology in the year 2002 as a distribution company which has diversified into manufacturing with operations across Australia, India, South East Asia and US. Strontium has grown over the years to be one of the largest manufacturer of PC memory in Singapore with 2007 revenues over S$400mil.

Ms Serene Soh

Senior Vice President & Head of SME
HSBC Ltd

Serene joined HSBC Singapore in July 2007 to head the SME division of Commercial Banking. Backed by 15 years of corporate and commercial banking experience, Serene is accomplished in both credit and marketing functions garnered over her time in both local and foreign banks. Within her career, Serene has dedicated her last 10 years serving the SME customers and understanding their needs. Before she joined HSBC, she was instrumental in driving a very successful customer-focused strategy while at the helm of a business unit within OCBC's Small Business Department. With her passion to help SMEs grow, she has taken up the challenge to bring HSBC's SME business segment to greater heights.

Mr Tan Soon Liang

Head, Business Advisory
BDO Raffles Advisory Pte Ltd

As Head of Business Advisory at BDO Raffles, Mr Tan is responsible for corporate finance and corporate advisory work for Asian family businesses and corporates. He has over 10 years of experience in Banking and Finance, particularly in Corporate Finance, entrepreneurial ventures, private equity and SME strategic consulting. Formerly the Associate Director of Sirius Venture Consulting and Director of Sirius Management Services, he has full experience in deal origination, evaluation, due diligence and industry/corporate research, deal structuring, IPO execution and project management. Examples of notable corporate advisory projects which he was involved in include Ajisen (China) Holdings Ltd, Jackspeed Corporation Ltd and Asiatravel.com Holdings Ltd. Mr Tan was previously an investment banker in DBS and has worked in the Swaps and Derivatives Risk Management unit of JP Morgan & Co. He has also lectured at CFA Singapore, NTU and ACCA Singapore.

Assoc Prof Annie Koh

Associate Professor of Finance
Dean, Office of Executive and Professional Education
Associate Dean, Lee Kong Chian School of Business
Academic Director, International Trading Institute @ SMU
Singapore Management University

Annie Koh has extensive experience in consulting and executive teaching, having worked with organisations such as ABN AMRO, Allianz, Citibank, Credit Suisse, DBS, Intercontinental Hotels Group, IBM, and Johnson & Johnson and many others. Her current research interests are in alternate investments and corporate risk management. She sits on the boards of committees such as the Financial Industry Competency Standards Committee, Asian Bond Fund 2 Supervisory Committee, Global Finance Forum Advisory Board (Swiss Foundation) as well as FWA Singapore Advisory Board.

Mr Joseph Baladi

CEO
BrandAsian Pte Ltd

Mr Baladi has over 20 years of experience in business communications and has worked in multiple geographies such as New York, Tokyo, Melbourne and Mexico City, and for the past 8 years, in Singapore covering all of Asia. He is the former CEO of Carlyle Brand Consultants and has been directly responsible for shaping or repositioning major MNC and SME brands such as Millenium Hotels, Eu Yan Seng, HTL International and many others. As the CEO of BrandAsian, Mr Baladi divides his time providing one-on-one business and branding advice & counsel to CEOs of some of Asia’s largest companies. He is also a frequent speaker on the conference circuit, a regular guest on business television programmes and regularly contributes to business magazines and newspapers.

Mr Low Cheaw Hwei

Senior Account/Creative Director
Philips Design

Mr Low Cheaw Hwei has been a Senior Creative Director for Philips Consumer Electronics (CE) global design activities in Asia Pacific since November 2002. He is currently the Design Officer for three major Philips Consumer Lifestyle portfolios and responsibilities include overall creative direction, design business strategy and direction management. He leads a team of over 60 designers in the region and globally, winning for Philips numerous international design awards and commercial achievements. Mr Low has also served on many design platforms and design competition judging panels, and is currently a member of Temasek Polytechnic’s (TP) Board of Governors, the Chairman of TP’s design school’s advisory committee and a board member of the Design Singapore Council. An accomplished public speaker, he has addressed various forums and seminars, particularly on the topics of branding and innovation, and chaired numerous discussion platforms including the Singapore International Design Forum 2005.

Mr Por Khay Ti

Deputy Group MD
HTL International Holdings Ltd

Mr Por is the Deputy Group MD and Chief Operating Officer of HTL International Holdings Ltd, a leather tanning and sofa manufacturing company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. He is also the Honorary Secretary of the Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation and serves on the Executive Committee of the Singapore Furniture Industries Council. Mr Por holds a BSc (Hons) from the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and a postgraduate diploma in Business Administration from the University of Singapore.

Ms Ritu Kapoor

Manager, Branding & Strategy
Food Empire Holdings Ltd

Ms Ritu Kapoor has been with Food Empire Holdings since 2002 and has been key in the brand proposition development for core brands and corporate vision and strategy development. In 2007, she was involved in the development of the brand strategy for MacCoffee, a leading brand of coffee mix in Russia and CIS region, valued at S$167mn by Brand Finance, an international valuation agency.

Mr Soh Kar Liang

Director
Ella Cheong Spruson & Ferguson (Singapore) Pte Ltd

Mr Soh is a Singapore-registered Patent Agent and is appointed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation as a domain name panelist to adjudicate disputes under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy. He is also a domain name panelist of the Regional Arbitration Centre of Kuala Lumpur and has qualified for registration as a Patent Agent in Malaysia. He is also an accredited mediator of the Singapore Mediation Centre. An NUS graduate, he specializes in intellectual property and information technology law. He has worked as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in these areas, representing and guiding key client accounts in diverse fields such as F&B and high-tech microprocessing along the IP value chain. Mr Soh actively participates in various local and foreign professional and business organizations and contributes regularly in professional publications and conferences locally and regionally on intellectual property and information technology subjects.

Dr Lily Chan

CEO, NUS Enterprise
National University of Singapore

As the CEO of NUS Enterprise, Dr Chan spearheads strategies and initiatives to promote industry collaboration and business ventures for the university. She also oversees the functions of the Enterprise Cluster (comprising NUS Technology Holdings, NUS Overseas Colleges, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, NUS Industry Liason Office, NUS Extension and NUS Publishing), which complements the academic cluster of the University to nurture talents with an entrepreneurial and global mindset. Prior to joining NUS in 2006, Dr Chan held the position of Managing Director, Investments, of Bio*One Capital Pte Ltd, an investment arm of the Singapore EDB with focus on growing the local biomedical science industry. Dr Chan brings with her more than 20 years of biomedical industry experiences, from initiating start-ups, venture investments and active Board involvements in many biotech companies.

Mr Chan Wai Yin

Chairman
Silicon Application Pte Ltd

Mr Chan is Chairman of the Sieamp Group of Companies, as well as one of its subsidiaries, the Silicon Application Pte Ltd. Silicon Application is a joint venture between WPG Holding (listed on TSC main board) and Sieamp Technologies Pte Ltd, with its main business in electronics components distribution. Ranked 14th in Enterprise 50 last year, Silicon Application has offices across Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Mr Chan also holds key leadership positions in other subsidiaries of Sieamp Group such as BC2L Pte Ltd, Olas Pte Ltd, Wyphi Pte Ltd, Geniesys Technologies Pte Ltd, Invertron Pte Ltd and American IT International Pte Ltd.

Mr Joseph Vijayandran

General Manager
Super Continential Pte Ltd

Mr Joseph Vijayandran has been in various roles in Super Coffeemix since 1995. With a Bachelors Degree in Science and an MBA in Marketing, his experience encompasses project and general business management in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) operations, strategic sales & marketing - planning & implementation, product development, channel/vendor management & negotiation. Armed with years of experience in these areas, he has been in the negotiating seat for effective sales and purchasing and hence has a fair understanding of the manufacturing processes as well as the front line approach to the companies and countries he has visited thus far. He has travelled extensively to over 40 countries and participated in over 15 overseas trade shows and trade missions which give him a good understanding of these markets. Mr Vijayandran has also delivered some talks on diverse topics such as branding of private labels and business opportunitie’s in Russia.

Mr Shyam Prasad

Chief Operating Officer
SAP South East Asia

Mr Prasad has over 14 years of experience in implementing, developing and selling enterprise solutions. He has worked in Unilever and Ramco Systems before joining SAP 8 years ago. His experience in SAP includes leading the solution management team for SAP Singapore and developing solutions for customers across various industries in CRM and extended supply chain management. He is currently responsible for Sales Operations, Strategy and Business Development in South East Asia, He also oversees the channel business focusing on the SME market segment which is a growth area for SAP.

Dr Ting Choon Meng

Chairman & CEO
HealthSTATS International Pte Ltd

Dr Ting is a medical doctor, a serial inventor of medical devices and an author. His notable inventions include the FDA-approved and awards-winning BPro — a wrist-worn device which takes 24hr BP readings and pulse waveform analysis simultaneously, a non-invasive blood glucose monitor, a needle for intra-articular injection and a mobile ER vehicle for mass casualty. Dr.Ting has also pioneered the technique of Visco-supplementation for the treatment of OA knees since 1991. He founded HealthSTATS in 2000 together with his two partners, Mr. T K Hau and Mr. N H Chua. The company was recently conferred the status of Technology Pioneer 2007 by the World Economic Forum, which further reinforces the global recognition of its breakthrough technology and thought leadership in the medical frontier.

Mr Walter Lee

Head, Technology Transfer Network (TTN) Secretariat
Senior Vice President & Fellow, Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd, A*STAR

Mr Lee is Head of the Technology Transfer Network Secretariat, an alliance of Technology Transfer Offices committed to accelerating the transfer of technologies to the industry. He is also the Senior Vice President and Fellow at Exploit Technologies, the marketing and commercialisation arm of A*Star. Mr Lee has more than 20 years of experience in high-tech industries, holding positions such as member of the IDC Worldwide Consulting Management Board, VP and Head of IDC Consulting Group in Asia-Pacific, VP and Head of E-Commerce Centre at Singapore Airlines, and Asia-South Regional Manager for Storage Systems Division and Country Manager for the Government & Education Industries Solution Units at IBM.

Mr Willie Cheng

Member, Management Policy Advisory Committee
SPRING Singapore

Mr Willie Cheng is a Board Member of SPRING Singapore. He was formerly Country Managing Director for Accenture, a global management and technology consulting. He is actively involved in the business and nonprofit community. He is Chairman of the Singapore Science Centre and the Jurong Country Club. He is also an advisor to Food From The Heart, World Toilet Organization, Singapore Mediation Council and the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation. He also sits on several commercial and government statutory boards, including Singapore Press Holdings, NTUC Fairprice, Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise. Mr Cheng holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (First Class Honours) from the University of Singapore. He is a CPA. He is also a fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors and the Singapore Computer Society.

Mr Neo Sia Meng

Executive Director
Four Star Industries Pte Ltd

Mr Neo is the Executive Director of Four Star Industries Pte Ltd. Joining the family business in 1993, he has since taken over the helm to further develop and execute the strategic growth and business development of the company. To-date, Four Star is one of Singapore's leading manufacturers and wholesalers specialising in spring mattresses. Mr Neo is also a Vice President of Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC), the official representative body of Singapore's furniture industry.

Mr Richard Eu

Group CEO
Eu Yan Seng International Ltd

Mr Eu is the Group CEO of Eu Yan Seng International Ltd and is in the business of providing consumer healthcare products and services based on traditional Chinese and integrative medicine. Formerly working as a VC consultant, Mr Eu joined Eu Yan Sang in 1989 and successfully built the company’s traditional Chinese medicine business into one of the leaders in this field in Asia. The company is now publicly listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. In 2003, Mr Eu was a finalist in the coveted Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award in Singapore under the Master Category. Apart from his business interests, he is involved in other non-profit and community organizations.

Ms Miranda Lee

Partner
Ernst & Young Associates Pte Ltd

With over 15 years of experience, Ms Miranda Lee has an impressive track record of consulting on strategic planning, corporatisation, outsourcing, organizational design and development, and providing business advisory on an entire suite of HRM and HRD functions. She is also experienced in managing the Human Capital transition for large M&A transactions and is skilled in developing programmes such as stocks and options schemes to facilitate senior management retention and engagement. Miranda is currently leading the development of the HR Capability Package for SMEs spearheaded by SPRING Singapore and is also managing the Human Resource Transformation for a large telecommunication company in Brunei. Her completed projects include a manpower modelling exercise for a large Statutory Board, a teacher reward and recognition study for the Ministry of Education, the internationalization exercise for Expressions International and the Singapore Cruise Centre as part of IE Singapore's International Roadmapping Programme, and the corporatisation of Housing Development Board and National University of Singapore.

Ms Wong Su-Yen

Worldwide Partner and Managing Director
Mercer, ASEAN

Ms Wong is Worldwide Partner and Managing Director of Mercer, ASEAN. She has over 15 years of experience helping companies develop business and organizational strategies, improve operations, manage risk and implement change. She was formerly a Director at Mercer Management Consulting where she worked with leading North American and Asian companies in high-tech, financial services, oil and gas, retail and consumer goods industries. She had also held product management responsibilities at Microsoft Corporation and at Hallmark Cards and served as Head of Marketing for a technology solutions provider in the US. Ms Wong is a frequent speaker at conferences across Asia, and is co-author of the Asian edition of “How Digital is Your Business?”. She has published articles and is often quoted in journals and called upon to commentate on news media such as Bloomberg and CNBC.