Professor Adeeba Kamarulzaman, President & Pro Vice-Chancellor of Monash University Malaysia, previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at University Malaya.  

She is also an Honorary Professor at UM and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale University, USA. She is actively involved in HIV prevention, treatment, and care programmes and holds leadership positions as Chairman of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation and Past President of the International AIDS Society. She has contributed significantly to the establishment and activities of the regional HIV research network initiative, TREAT Asia.  

Additionally, she has advised various WHO, UNAIDS, and UNODC committees on HIV/AIDS and served as Co-Chair of WHO’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) for HIV. She is the founding Chair of the ROSE Foundation, an organisation dedicated to eliminating cervical cancer in Malaysia and the region. Professor Adeeba has received numerous national and international awards for her achievements, including the prestigious Merdeka Award.  

In April 2015, Monash University honored her with a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) for her contributions to medicine and role as a health advocate. 

Allen Ng is Group Head and Principal Economist at the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), an international organisation that aims to contribute to the macroeconomic and financial resilience and stability of ASEAN, China, Japan, and Korea. 

He was previously the Chief Economist of Securities Commission Malaysia (SCM), where he was also a member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions’ Committee on Emerging Risks and a board member of the Institute for Capital Market Research Malaysia. Prior to SCM, Allen was Director of Research at Khazanah Research Institute, and before that he spent more than a decade in the Central Bank of Malaysia.  

He has a BA and an MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge. 

Anuthra Sirisena is an accomplished educator and a leading advocate for technology education and innovation. With a strong passion for empowering students and bridging the digital divide, she has dedicated her career to transforming education in rural communities. As the founder of the Tenom Innovation Centre (TIC), Anuthra and her team have established a vibrant hub for creativity and technological exploration. TIC provides students in rural areas with access to cutting-edge resources, mentorship, and hands-on learning experiences in robotics, coding, and other STEM disciplines. Through her leadership, Anuthra has not only bridged the digital gap but has also inspired a generation of young minds to embrace the possibilities of a digital future. 

Arni Laily Anwarrudin is the Head of Merger & Acquisition and PETRONAS Ventures since January 2021. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

With 20 years of experience at PETRONAS, her career has encompassed roles in business planning, business development, treasury, financial services, management reporting and risk management. In her current position, Arni leads corporate M&A, divestment activities and PETRONAS’ corporate venture capital investments in Future of Chemicals, Future of Energy and Future of Facilities. Prior to this role, Arni headed Group Corporate Finance, focusing on capital markets, fund raising and credit rating advisory for PETRONAS.

Edmund Tan co-founded Inside Scoop, a local artisanal ice cream shop, with his wife Shiew Li in 2013 where the market space was predominantly served by international chains. Using a mixture of high quality local and imported ingredients, they made flavours that were inspired by Malaysian flavours alongside classic ice cream flavours. Inside Scoop now has 40 stores across Malaysia and a large portion of the company was recently acquired by Farm Fresh.  

Edmund and Shiew Li continue to run Inside Scoop with plans on rolling out consumer packaged ice cream products. Edmund holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, specialising in accounting and finance. Prior to his entrepreneurial journey, Edmund was an investment banker at Macquarie Bank in Singapore. 

Eric Li is chairman of Chengwei Capital. He is founder and chairman of Guancha.cn, and a trustee of Fudan University’s China Institute and chairman of its advisory council. He also serves on the boards of School of SciTech Business at University of Science and Technology of China, Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, Asia Society Hong Kong, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). He received his B.A. in economics from University of California, Berkeley, MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, and Ph.D. in political science from Fudan University. He is a frequent contributor to leading global publications such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, Financial Times, and The Economist.  

Ethan is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Klook, Asia’s leading platform for experiences and travel services. Founded in 2014, Klook inspires and enables more moments of joy for travelers with over 500,000 curated quality experiences ranging from the biggest attractions to paragliding adventures, iconic museums to rich cultural tours, and other convenient local travel services across 2,300 destinations around the world.

Growing up in the US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China, Ethan developed a lifelong passion for travel that has taken him to explore over 50 countries to date. Prior to founding Klook, Ethan started his career in 2008 at Citi’s Investment Banking division. He played an integral role in deals valued at over US$20 billion across Asian markets, specialising in the hospitality and real estate sectors.

Under Ethan’s leadership, Klook has achieved remarkable growth and has quickly become the market leader across Asia Pacific. This impressive journey has garnered substantial support and investment from an illustrious roster of renowned investors, including Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, Softbank, Aspex, Goldman Sachs, TCV, and more.

Frances Lim joined KKR in 2011 as a Managing Director, Head of Asia Pacific Macro, and a member of the Global Macro, Balance Sheet and Risk team. She also leads portfolio management and asset allocation for KKR’s Strategic Partnership Initiative (KSPI) and is a member of the Asia Risk and Operations team.

Previously, Ms. Lim served as Head of Asia Pacific Macro and Asset Allocation based in Sydney, and Head of Portfolio Management and Asset Allocation for Strategic Partnerships in New York. Prior to joining KKR, she was a vice president at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) and a member of the Global Macro and Asset Allocation team. Ms. Lim focused on macro trends and top-down global analysis and was a co-portfolio manager of the MSIF Absolute Return Currency Fund. She also worked as an equity strategist at Fortress Investment Group and Morgan Stanley Equity Research.

Ms. Lim earned her M.B.A., Beta Gamma Sigma, from the Stern School of Business at NYU and was awarded the Egbert H. Van Delden Scholarship. Ms. Lim earned her B.A. from the University of East Anglia under a Malaysian Public Services Department (JPA) Scholarship.

Jan Nicholas is an Executive Director at Deloitte Consulting, and leads Deloitte’s Technology Sector in Southeast Asia. He also leads the firm’s Semiconductor Industry consulting practice in Southeast Asia as well as the firm’s Asia Pacific Semiconductor Centre of Excellence. He has over 25 years of experience leading projects in industry and consulting across strategy, operations, R&D, new product development, and supply chain management.

Prior to consulting, Jan held various operations and engineering roles in the semiconductor industry, including process development, manufacturing engineering, and supply chain. Jan holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Jasmin is behind the creation of two innovative digital platforms targeting the senior demographic. She spearheads Hire.Seniors, a recruitment platform that facilitates connections between mature professionals, seniors and retirees, to companies in need of experienced and skilled resources. Complementing this, Jasmin is a co-founder of Amazing Seniors, a pioneering digital ecosystem tailored to individuals aged 50 and above, aimed at connecting seniors with each other and embracing the joys of getting older. The Amazing Seniors App helps seniors discover community events, read inspiring stories and access valuable resources tailored for older adults.

She draws from over 25 years of working experience across various industries, with background in business consulting, digital banking, and large-scale transformation programmes.

Dr Jemilah Mahmood is a medical professional with more than two decades of experience managing crises in health, disasters and conflict settings. She is currently Professor and Executive Director of the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health at Sunway University in Malaysia. She holds advisory roles at the Consultative Council for Foreign Policy Malaysia and is currently a member of the Health White Paper Advisory Council at the Ministry of Health Malaysia. She is also the sustainability advisor at Air Asia and the national advisor of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society. Globally, she is a member of the board of Roche in Switzerland and the Norwegian Refugee Council. In 2023, she was appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council of Responsible Resource Use, and one of three Global Champions for the Grand Bargain in Humanitarian Efficiency and Effectiveness. She is a strong advocate of planetary health and sustainability and actively advises on Environment, Social and Governance in the advisory and board roles she holds. 

Datuk Johan is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) and graduated with an Economics Degree from the University of Cambridge. Since 2004, Datuk Johan has served in various roles including Deputy Secretary General (Policy) and National Budget Director at the Ministry of Finance, Deputy Director General (Human Capital) of the Economic Planning Unit and CEO of Talent Corporation Malaysia. On 27 February 2023, he was appointed Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance. Before joining the government in 2004, he worked for 9 years in corporate finance and accounting roles in the private sector. 

Kelvin Teo is the co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies (Modalku). He has been a key member of the Singapore FinTech Association’s Digital Finance Subcomm since 2018 and recently named by the Association as among the Top 12 Fintech Leaders in Singapore in 2020. As one of the Top 200 FinTech Influencers in Asia, Kelvin has spoken at major conferences such as LendIt Shanghai, Boao Hainan and Money20/20. He has also been featured on Bloomberg, BBC and Business Times. Prior to this, Kelvin served as a consulting professional at KKR, McKinsey and Accenture. Kelvin graduated from Harvard Business School and National University of Singapore, and is a certified Chartered Accountant.  

Khailee Ng is a managing partner at 500 Global, a multi-stage venture capital firm with $2.5B in assets under management that invests in founders building fast-growing technology companies. Khailee has led over 300 investments in startups across Southeast Asia. His team is a leading technology investor in the region having invested early in companies valued at over US$1B such as Grab, Carsome, Carousell, Bukalapak, FinAccel, and eFishery. 500 Global is one of the top 3 most active VC firms in Malaysia, with over 62 companies headquartered in Malaysia, and more than 116 companies operating locally. Prior to 500, Khailee was the founder of Groupsmore (acquired by Groupon) and Malaysia’s largest online media company, Says.com (acquired by Media Prima).

Khoo Salma Nasution @ Khoo Su Nin is commissioning editor at Areca Books, a publishing house and bookshop in the George Town World Heritage Site. She has been writing about Malaysian place-histories, from The Streets of George Town (1993) to The Chulia in Penang (2014), awarded International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) book prize, and is now producing cultural heritage maps on Malaysian towns. She is past president of the Penang Heritage Trust and council member of Penang Forum. She is also founding president of Jaringan Ekologi Dan Iklim (JEDI), which promotes awareness of lifestyle-ecology-climate connections. She is currently conducting research on edible plant gardening with a focus on ulam, which she associates with her Nyonya peranakan heritage. 

Mr Lim Chern Yuan is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Yinson Holdings Berhad. As the Group CEO, he oversees Yinson’s overall performance and plays a significant role in conceptualising, communicating and executing its business strategies. Under his leadership, Yinson’s market capitalisation grew by more than 120 times since 2011, establishing the company as one of the largest FPSO contractors globally. Mr Lim is instrumental in driving Yinson’s direction to embrace the energy transition, including its expansion into renewables and green technologies, as well as its positioning as a sustainability leader in the industry. He is an experienced, active and highly respected business leader who is ESG-driven in the energy infrastructure and technology space.

Lim Shiew Li co-founded Inside Scoop, a local artisanal ice cream shop, with her husband Edmund in 2013 where the market space was predominantly served by international chains. Using a mixture of high quality local and imported ingredients, they made flavours that were inspired by Malaysian flavours alongside classic ice cream flavours. Inside Scoop now has 40 stores across Malaysia and a large portion of the company was recently acquired by Farm Fresh.  

Shiew Li and Edmund continue to run Inside Scoop with plans on rolling out consumer packaged ice cream products. Shiew Li holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, specialising in actuarial studies. Prior to her entrepreneurial journey, Shiew Li was a product development manager at Great Eastern Life in Singapore. 

Magnus Grimeland is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Antler (www.antler.co), recognised as the most active seed-stage investor globally, backing the world’s most driven founders from day zero to greatness. He leads a global team across 6 continents and 25 locations that has invested in and helped build over 750 portfolio companies worldwide. 

Prior to Antler, Magnus co-founded ZALORA.com, Asia’s largest fashion e-commerce company. He served as COO and Managing Director of Zalora after it was acquired by Global Fashion Group (GFG) and expanded it across 26 countries. 

Magnus is an alumnus of Harvard University. He was a Junior Partner at McKinsey & Co and worked in North America, Europe, and Asia in the global telecommunications, media, and tech industries. Prior to this, he served as a Navy Seal with the Royal Norwegian Navy Special Operations. 

Matt is a Senior Partner at McKinsey, and the Global Leader of QuantumBlack Labs, the firm’s Tech/Analytics Research & Software Development Group, and Chairs its Global Technology Committee. He also leads the firm’s financial-services digital and technology solutions: a suite of six solutions, 75 assets, and more than 1000+ colleagues globally. These six solutions, FinLab, GCI Analytics, Finalta, PriceMetrix, Performance Lens, and Panorama, enable business transformation with data, analytics, and software tools across banking, wealth and asset management, real estate, and private equity.

Prior to rejoining McKinsey, Matt co-founded multicategory ecommerce retailer Lazada and worked as private-equity investor at 3i Group. Drawing on his extensive experience in software, data, and technology, Matt helps clients transform their businesses with technology tools, new digital-product launches, and analytical use cases, which includes multichannel customer acquisition, customer retention, credit underwriting, credit collections, natural-language processing of contract data, real-estate location selection, fraud, smart operations and robotic-process automation, and people analytics.

Muhamad Umar Swift is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bursa Malaysia Berhad since 2019. He serves as the director of all subsidiary companies within the Bursa Malaysia Group and is the Chairman of Bursa  Malaysia Derivatives and Clearing.  

Umar aspires to play a catalytic role in the economy’s transition to green, and envisions Bursa Malaysia to be “ASEAN’s leading, sustainable and globally-connected marketplace”. His mission involves creating  opportunities and growing value for the stakeholders, while improving investability for issuers and investors.  

Umar brings over 25 years of leadership experience across multiple industries, previously serving as the CEO of MAA Group Berhad. He currently serves on the Boards of Securities Industry Development Corporation, Capital Market Development Fund and Malaysia Forest Fund. Umar is also an advisor for the UN Global Compact Network Malaysia and Brunei and serves as a Councillor of the Overseas Regional  Council of Malaysia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Naina Subberwal Batra is the CEO of AVPN, a regional social investment network that aims to increase the flow of financial, human and intellectual capital for impact. 

Naina’s leadership since 2013 has nurtured the AVPN community, growing the membership base by more than four times and elevating the organisation into a truly regional force for good. Under her direction, AVPN has grown from focusing only on venture philanthropy to supporting the entire ecosystem of social investors, from catalytic philanthropists to impact investors and corporate CSR professionals. 

Naina is Board Member of the Global Resilient Cities Network, Chair at the International Venture Philanthropy Center (IVPC) and Trustee at Bridge Institute.  

In 2021, Naina was featured on the list of Asia’s Most Influential by Tatler Asia and in 2019, she was awarded one of Asia’s Top Sustainability Superwomen by CSRWorks.  

Nurul Izzah Anwar currently co-heads the Secretariat for the Advisory Committee to Finance Minister (ACFIN) that includes overseeing the preparation of the policy recommendations relating to subsidies and social protection, government-owned entities, government revenue and national debt. She served as Member of Parliament in the Malaysian legislature for three terms from 2008-2022, where she was also appointed on the Public Accounts Committee and is a strong advocate for Parliamentary reform. Prior to entering politics, Nurul Izzah earned her Masters’ Degree from the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University studying International Relations (with a specialisation in Southeast Asia Studies). She received her Bachelors’ Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Universiti Tenaga Nasional, graduating in 2004. 

Peter Berezin is BCA Research’s Chief Global Strategist and Research Director. His reports are read by thousands of investment professionals and frequently cited by the media. Prior to joining BCA Research, Peter worked as a Senior Global Economist with Goldman Sachs in New York. Peter began his career at the International Monetary Fund where he served as the desk economist for a number of countries, including Malaysia. He also spent time in the IMF’s research department working on its flagship publication, the World Economic Outlook. Peter has a Master of Science from the London School of Economics and a PhD in Economics from the University of Toronto. 

Sha-Ron Low is the APAC Regional HR Director for ERM, the largest pure play sustainability consulting firm in the world.  Sha-Ron started her career as an IT consultant before transitioning to a HR career.  For the past 25 years, Sha-Ron has experienced many regional HR roles ranging from HR Business Partner, Talent Strategy Lead, Learning & Development Lead to Diversity and Inclusion Lead.

Sha-Ron’s consultancy experience has shaped her approach to HR. She deeply understands business imperatives and layers in HR perspectives to co-create and implement balanced solutions.  Since joining ERM, Sha-Ron is on a mission to make the sustainability industry, a great place for sustainability talent to thrive and make a positive impact to clients, society and nature.

Sophie was appointed Managing Director of 42 in 2018. Under her leadership, the international dimension of 42 has grown exponentially. From an innovative educational model present in six countries, she created a connected international network which, four years later, is present in 29 countries on all continents with 49 campuses. 

She has made 42 more inclusive by removing the age limit and promoting a healthy environment for collectivity and community. Sophie is also committed to combating the systemic stereotypes of the technological world to enable more women to consider a career in IT. Through these actions, 42 is today one of the most sought-after IT training courses for both women and men, and recognised as the number one training course for ethical value in 2023 on the WURI Ranking (source).

Her next challenge? To revolutionise the world of education… by making 42 the world reference in IT and inclusion!

Stefan Dercon is Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Economics Department at Oxford University. He combines an academic career with work as policy advisor in UK, including as Chief Economist of the UK Department of International Development (DFID) between 2011 and 2017, and advisor to successive UK Foreign Secretaries. His research concerns what keeps some people and countries poor: the failures of markets, governments and politics, and how to achieve change. His latest book “Gambling on Development: why some countries win and others lose”, published in 2022, reflects on this, based on his research and on his experience in the world of policy making.

Based in Singapore, Suthen oversees Grab’s technology teams across the company’s Deliveries, Mobility and Financial services businesses. He is responsible for driving Grab’s technology vision, strategy and execution and plays a critical role in optimising Grab’s superapp synergies to drive sustainable growth and create greater value, convenience, and efficiencies for consumers and partners.

Before this, Suthen was the Chief Technology Officer of Mobility, Automation and Platform Excellence, Deliveries, and Experiences. He was also Grab’s first technical lead when the company was founded in 2012. At Grab, he has led the development of many Grab products and platforms, which supported the rapid growth of Grab’s Deliveries and Mobility services. He also held operational leadership roles and founded the Business Operations team.

Suthen has a Bachelor’s degree in computer software engineering from Multimedia University and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Till Vestring is a senior adviser and non-executive director with extensive Asia experience.  He is Lead Independent Director at Keppel Corporation and an Advisory Partner with Bain & Company for Southeast Asia as well as a director at Advanced Micro Foundry and Delaware International.  He is also lead investor in a sustainable tourism business in Cambodia, an active angel investor and on the board of venture philanthropy Leap201.  

He has spent the last 25 years with Bain in Asia serving as Bain Southeast Asia’s managing partner from 2007 to 2013 and head of Bain’s Asia Pacific industrial practice from 2003 to 2007. 

He has a Masters in Economics from the University of Bonn, Germany, an MBA from the Haas School of Business, Berkeley and is a graduate of INSEAD’s International Directors Programme. 

Wilson Beh is a Co-Founder of PolicyStreet, a regional full-stack insurance technology company providing digital insurance solutions to businesses and consumers in Southeast Asia and Australia.  PolicyStreet works directly with over 40 life, general, and takaful providers to offer a comprehensive range of products and services, which includes but not limited to embedded insurance, customised employee benefits, financial advisory and aggregation of insurance, as well as the development of digital solutions to make insurance purposeful and simple. It is licensed as a Reinsurer and General Insurer by the Labuan FSA, an approved Financial Adviser and Islamic Financial Adviser by Bank Negara Malaysia, and a licensee by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Wilson also serves as the President of the Fintech Association of Malaysia and prior venturing into Fintech, he worked in a leading investment bank.