Theresa Goh has over 20 years’ experience in the Technology Sales, Executive Search and Leadership Development business in Asia. Her career began with IBM Singapore where she managed global client accounts such as Shell and British Petroleum. After IBM, she was the equity partner and Co-chairman of a boutique executive search firm which she established and operated as a global partner of International Technology Partners (ITP World-Wide), Houston.
In 2008, she started another outfit to provide talent advisory services to align talent strategy to missions and also leadership recruitment, assessment and development. Also in 2008, she was selected by Business Week as one of ‘The World’s 100 Most Influential Headhunters’.
Theresa is also an associate coach with The Centre for Creative Leadership, a top 5 leadership development firm based out of the USA. She is currently the Chairman of SATA CommHealth, a social enterprise, and sits on the boards of Agency for Integrated Care (Ministry of Health) and National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre. She was the Chairman/President of The Centre for Non-Profit Leadership from 2010 to 2016.
Besides her work, Theresa has also started a mission in Myanmar that supports a programme to train young ladies to become boarding house caregivers; these ladies, in turn, care for over 1,500 young children across Myanmar. She has also built a pool of volunteers who create livelihood products and transfer skills to Myanmar people to sustain their own income.
Theresa holds a Masters in Science (Organisational Psychology) from City University of New York and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore. She is a Certified Behavioral Analyst with several psychometric tools.
In addition to Datuk Nora Manaf’s role as the Group Chief Human Capital Officer and member of the Group EXCO of Maybank, Datuk Nora chairs several national-level committees and holds several Board memberships. Datuk Nora is an Adjunct Professor appointed by the College of Business, University Utara Malaysia (UUM) since 2015. In July 2019, Datuk Nora was also appointed into the Board of Advisors for UUM’s undergraduate programme for Bachelor of Applied Linguistics and Business Administration with Honours.
Datuk Nora is actively engaged in the country’s Financial Institutions, Employers’ and Education circles via the leadership roles she holds. In 2018, Datuk Nora was appointed to the Malaysian Human Resource Minister’s Advisory Group. She is also Chairman of the Malayan Commercial Banks’ Association, Chairman of the Banking Sector HR Networking Group (HRNG), Council Member of the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF), a member of the National Labour Advisory Committee (NLAC), Advisory Committee for UUM Master of Science (Finance) and an Advisory Council Member of Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera as well as for the University-Industry Advisory Council Universiti Utara Malaysia. Datuk Nora was recognised as a Global Top50 Human Resource Professional and was appointed into Talent Compact 4.0, an Industry Talent Advisory Panel of Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad.
Datuk Nora’s Board memberships include the Board of Etiqa General Insurance Berhad, Etiqa Life Insurance Berhad, MBB Labs Private Limited, Bangalore and the Malaysian American Commission on Educational Exchange (MACEE).
Datuk Nora is also a Member of the Board of Examiners for the Asia Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB), Member of the Asia Pacific Industry Advisory Panel for the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and a Qualified Person for Training (QPRT) for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).
Datuk Nora is active in her quest to make a difference to empower women. She is the Executive Sponsor for Maybank’s Women Mentor Women Council established in 2013, as well as a Mentor for the ICAEW-TalentCorp Women in Leadership Programme. In 2016, Datuk Nora was awarded the “Beacon of Light” award at the National Women in Leadership Summit organised by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (ASLI) in partnership with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. Datuk Nora also spoke at the Women in Leadership seminar at Oxford University in 2016.
Datuk Nora is a qualified Chartered Accountant and is registered with the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). Datuk Nora also holds a post-grad certification in Human Resource Development from Cornell University and is a certified Gallup Strengths finder Coach Level II. She is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School.
Malek is the founder of BFM Media, which runs BFM89.9, independent radio station focused on business news and current affairs. BFM’s purpose is to build a better Malaysia by championing inclusiveness, rational discourse and good governance as the basis of economic and social growth. BFM also applies its discourse-based approach to other programming areas, such as entrepreneurship, health, fashion, the arts, sports and music, as well as to its executive education initiative, The BFM-Edge Business School.
BFM can be heard on frequency 89.9 MHz in Wilayah Persekutuan, Selangor, and parts of Negeri Sembilan and Melaka.
Prior to founding BFM Media, Malek was part of the pioneer team of JobStreet Corporation Bhd, Malaysia’s most successful Internet company. He has also led the development and deployment of new mobile services to Malaysian and regional markets as head of mobile operations for Yahoo! South-East Asia and as head of mobile content for Maxis Communications. In line with the theme of bringing new products to market, Malek had, in his early entrepreneurial career, founded and launched KL Classifieds, Malaysia’s first all classifieds publication.
Malek’s other experience includes management consulting experience with US-based The Boston Consulting Group, a leading international management consulting firm, and legal experience as a solicitor with Allen & Overy, a UK-based international law firm.
Malek is an MBA graduate of Harvard Business School (1995) and a law graduate of Bristol University (1989). He is currently a member of the Asia-Pacific advisory board of Harvard Business School.
Eddie Ahmed is the Chairman, President and CEO of MassMutual International LLC based in Hong Kong. Eddie joined the MassMutual Financial Group (MassMutual) in October 2015 as Chief Human Resources Officer. Eddie brings with him an impressive history of more than 20 years of global financial services and leadership experience, ranging from Operating to HR roles. He joined MassMutual from Citigroup, Inc. in London, where he was Managing Director and Head of Human Resources for Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as the Global Head of Recruitment for the firm. Previously, he led Global Shared Services in the Operations & Technology Division for all of Citigroup employees.
Prior to joining Citigroup in 2010, Eddie began his career at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, rotating through various roles including Corporate Finance, Operations, Credit and Human Resources. He then spent 17 years at Morgan Stanley in New York, Tokyo, Sydney and Hong Kong, during which time he held a range of roles including Chief Administrative Officer, and Head of Human Resources, Asia.
Eddie holds a BSc in Computer Science, a BA in International Relations, and an M.B.A., all from Tulane University.
Callister Koh is the Regional Head of Learning, Talent & Leadership for HSBC Asia Pacific based out of Hong Kong. He was previously the Head of HR for HSBC Malaysia. Callister’s professional background spans a number of Heads of HR roles; operating at Country, Regional and Group level across all the key disciplines within the HR function.
As the Regional Head of Learning, Talent & Leadership for HSBC Asia Pacific, Callister plays an important role in accelerating the organisation’s people agenda through attracting and developing the best talents in the market and building a high performance and engaged culture.
He has a solid track record and expertise in designing and delivering integrated plans, facilitating strategic executions, organisational transformation, merger and acquisition, and a comprehensive suite of HR spectrum through his focus on strategy and tenacious execution.
Through his career, he has worked in the UK, USA, UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Under his leadership, the Bank has been recognized with several talent acquisition awards, best in class in talent management and best employee engagement. He has also been named recently as Chief HR Officer of the Year in 2018.
Outside work, Callister is an extensive traveler having been to 89 countries to-date and he enjoys baking, reading, playing the harp and involve in cultural and arts related activities during his free time.
A respected and well-known corporate figure, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Zamzairani’s vast experience in the telecommunications industry spans more than 30 years, beginning at Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) where he served for 13 years before assuming key positions in several multinationals such as Global One Communications and Lucent Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. He returned to TM in 2005 as Senior Vice President, Group Strategy and Technology, and was promoted to CEO, Malaysia Business, before being appointed as the Group CEO and Managing Director in April 2008 until his retirement in April 2017. Under his leadership, TM launched and successfully rolled out the high speed broadband service in 2010, in a historic collaboration with the Government of Malaysia.
Throughout his storied career, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Zam has garnered many accolades, including Business Person of the Year 2015 at the Asian Academy of Management International Conference, CEO of the Year 2015 at the MSWG’s Annual Corporate Governance Awards, and a special individual award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Industry’ at the 2017 Frost & Sullivan Malaysia Excellence Awards. He was also named the prestigious Telecom CEO of the Year at the 20th Telecom Asia Awards 2017.
Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Zamzairani holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications Engineering and has completed the Corporate Finance, Strategies for Creating Shareholder Value programme at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA. He also attended the Strategic Leadership Programme at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and the IMD CEO Roundtable at Lausanne, Switzerland.
Yvonne Corpuz is an accomplished HR practitioner with more than 30 years of corporate experience in the financial services industry. A lifelong learner, she brings her passion for leadership excellence and talent development to her current role as Global Chief Learning Officer (GCLO) of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
Heading up the Global Learning function, Ms. Corpuz leads the global effort to shape and align the bank’s overall learning strategy to enable business success. This includes the development and delivery of a global learning curriculum that focuses on building the leadership, culture and strategic business capabilities required to drive organisational performance.
Prior to joining MUFG, Ms. Corpuz held regional and global HR leadership roles with Standard Chartered Bank and American Express, while her roots in learning and development go back to her early career with Security Bank & Trust Co. She has been based in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Australia and currently commutes between Singapore and Japan for her work.
Before joining the corporate world, Ms. Corpuz was active in academia and public service. She taught Psychology courses at Saint Louis University in Baguio City, and years later, served in the Executive Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Philippines.
Ms. Corpuz holds a Master’s degree in Education and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology (summa cum laude) from Saint Louis University, Philippines. She has since earned a variety of professional certifications in the areas of facilitation, psychometric assessment and strengths-based leadership coaching.
Formerly the Executive Chairman and Senior Partner of PriceWaterhouseCoopers Malaysia, a position he held for 18 years, Raja Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Arshad has also been the Chairman of the Leadership Team of PwC Asia 7, a member of the PwC Global IFRS Board and the Standards Advisory Council of the International Accounting Standards Board, and Chairman of the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board and Danamodal Nasional Berhad.
In a career that spans over 30 years and encompasses two countries – the United Kingdom and Malaysia – he has accumulated vast experience in auditing, taxation and corporate finance across various industries, including manufacturing, financial services and utilities.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants. He is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and has served on the Council for 24 years, including three years as its President.
Today, he is Chairman of Maxis Berhad, ICON Offshore Berhad and Ekuiti Nasional Berhad, as well as a Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Yayasan Dayadiri. Away from the corporate sphere, Raja Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Arshad is also the Chairman of Yayasan Raja Muda Selangor as well as Yayasan Amir, and is an Adjunct Professor at Universiti Utara Malaysia.
Mohd. Adhari Belal Din was appointed Assistant Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia on 1st May 2015. In addition to his position as the Director of the Strategic Human Capital Department, Adhari is also currently responsible for the Bank’s Strategic Management, Strategic Human Capital, Human Capital Development Centre and IT Services Departments. Prior to this appointment, Adhari served as the Director of Strategic Human Capital, Strategic Management and Risk Management Departments.
Adhari has extensive consulting experience in the areas of talent management, leadership assessment and development, competency modelling, employee value propositions and change management, primarily for client organisations in the Financial Services and Public Sectors.
His consulting career extends as far back as 1998, when he joined PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the area of Strategic Change Management. He was also a management consultant at the Hay Group before joining Bank Negara Malaysia in 2008.
Adhari holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Organisational Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States.
Dr. Jemilah Mahmood began her mandate as Under Secretary General for Partnerships at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cres cent Societies (IFRC) – the world’s largest humanitarian organisation – in 2016.
Before joining the IFRC, she was the Chief of the World Humanitarian Summit secretariat at the United Nations in New York. The founder of MERCY Malaysia, which she led from 1999 – 2009, her previous appointments include Chief of the Humanitarian Response Branch at UNFPA; Senior Fellow at Khazanah Nasional, and Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Humanitarian Futures Programme at Kings College in London. In 2006, she was one of just 16 members appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Advisory Group of the Central Emergency Response Fund.
She has also held many board positions in NGOs, including Teach for Malaysia and Save the Children UK; she is the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Humanitarian Leadership Academy. Dr. Mahmood’s work has garnered her countless accolades, including the inaugural Isa Award for Service to Humanity in 2013 and the prestigious Merdeka Award 2015 most for Outstanding Malaysians in the category of Community and Education.
Dr. Jemilah is a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the National University of Malaysia, has a Masters in Obstetrics & Gynaecology from the same university and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists United Kingdom. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Christopher Tock is the Founder and CEO of SocialGrooves.com, a boutique digital agency with a flair for empowering movements online via socially and commercially driven goals. He also co-founded and currently holds the title of Director of Digital Transformation of EYE Project, an award-winning social enterprise with a purpose to help SMEs undergo digital transformation in IR4.0 while solving youth unemployment at the same time.
Christopher helped founded several grassroot NGOs including Global Shapers Community KL hub under the World Economic Forum and Young Corporate Malaysians. He is also the advisor to ADAPT Ventures, a proptech-focused venture builder focused on developing smart cities in Asia. Additionally, Christopher is a member of the Malaysian Infocomm Foundation and also serves as the Head of Digital PR at Social Media Chambers Malaysia.
Christopher is now often found speaking at local and international conferences on the topic of social entrepreneurship and all things digital, consulting and managing brands ranging from Fortune 500 companies to sports personalities such as World No 1 badminton player Lee Chong Wei. He spends his time working with youths with the mission to unlock their talents, while discussing the 4th Industrial Revolution on social media channels as @spinzer
As a Senior Executive Director, Chin Suit Fang heads PriceWaterhouseCoopers Malaysia’s Business Development Centre. She connects the dots between business development, marketing and communications, business research and branding to drive the firm’s growth. Suit Fang also leads the firm’s Corporate Responsibility and Diversity & Inclusion initiatives.
Throughout a long rewarding career, Suit Fang has worn many hats, including Leader in Markets, Human Capital, on PwC Malaysia’s Executive Board, and on the PwC Global Gender Advisory Council. Today, she encourages the dialogue on trust in business by engaging with youths and also by playing a critical role in defining the firm’s Building Trust Awards.
Suit Fang is a qualified accountant with the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) and a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). Her passion for empowering women and mentoring future leaders has led to many speaking arrangements at various forums.
A proud mother of two daughters, Suit Fang loves good food and stays young at heart by engaging Gen Ys through her Twitter handle @suitfang
Dr. Zeti was the former Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia. She served as the Governor for 16 years and was with the Central Bank since 1985, in a career spanning several senior positions in the Bank in the areas of monetary and financial policies and reserve management.
During the height of the Asian financial crisis, Dr. Zeti was appointed as Acting Governor on 1st September 1998 and led the Central Bank team to successfully implement the selective exchange controls to restore stability and promote economic recovery in Malaysia. Prior to her career in the Bank, Dr. Zeti served in the South East Asian Research and Training Centre (SEACEN) from 1979 – 1984, conducting research in the area of financial policies and reform in the South-East Asian region. She has written extensively in the areas of monetary and financial economics, capital flows, macroeconomic management, financial reform and restructuring. She received her B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Malaya and her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
In 2008, Dr. Zeti was selected as one of the members of a special task force for the United Nations to examine reforms of the global market system. In 2009, Global Finance magazine named her as one of the world’s best central bank chiefs. In 2013, Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz was accorded “Grade A” among the heads of central banks for the tenth time by Global Finance magazine.
Datuk Nicol David is one of the most decorated athletes of a generation and has broken a succession of remarkable records during her career. After turning professional in 2000 at the age of 17, she won the World Open title 8 times and retained the no. 1 ranking for 112 months (109 consecutive months), the longest reigning World no.1 squash player.
Datuk Nicol has also been active in promoting sports as a vehicle to empower children. She is the Ambassador for the StreetSquash New York, a programme under the National Urban Squash and Education Association USA. Her other involvements include a Sport for Good Ambassador for the Laureus Foundation and the National Goodwill Ambassador for UNDP.
Datuk Nicol has been recognised and awarded internationally and locally. A notable award was the Tournament of Champions Women’s Leadership Award 2017 (the only Asian to receive this award). She has been awarded the WSA Player of the Year on seven occasions: 6 consecutive years between 2005 to 2010 and 2012. In Malaysia, she was conferred the Federal title of “Datuk” by HRH the King on 9 September 2017 for all her contributions to the nation’s sports achievements. In June 2019, Datuk Nicol retired from the professional squash arena. Her last tournament, the British Open, was a fitting end to a stellar and illustrious career.
Rajeev’s professional roots are in the industry. He has been Chief Learning Officer of both Coca-Cola and Morgan Stanley, and has formerly held senior positions at American Express and Goldman Sachs. He has provided coaching, consulting and advisory services globally. His clients include Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Mitsubishi, Johnson & Johnson, MetLife, The World Bank, US Treasury, PwC, Nestlé, Prudential, Maybank, Great Eastern, Citibank and many more.
Rajeev is a sought after international speaker and has been widely featured in international media platforms such as Bloomberg TV & radio, National Public Radio (NPR), Harvard Business Review, Mint-Wall Street Journal and the Conference Board.
He has been named one of Top 100 Global Thought Leaders for Trustworthy Business in 2014, and a 2017 Top Thought Leader in Trust by ‘Trust Across America’. Rajeev and his family have lived in fourteen cities in eight countries.
Rosaline Chow Koo founded CXA Group in 2013 to overcome antiquated processes and to address escalating costs from worsening employee health. Taking a major risk, she invested SGD5 million of her own life savings and secured another SGD5 million in a personal loan to build her own company. Currently valued at US$100 million and having raised US$33 million in funding, CXA has grown to serve 400,000 end-users across 20 countries in Asia.
As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CXA, Rosaline has accumulated numerous industry accolades, with the most recent ones being the Woman Leader of the Year Award at the 22nd Asia Insurance Industry Awards 2018 and Asia’s Top CEO Award by Influential Brands® at the 6th CEO Asia Summit 2018.
Prior to starting CXA, she spent eight years as the Asia-Pacific leader of Mercer Marsh Benefits. Rosaline also led start-ups and managed corporate turnarounds for 25 years in the US and Asia.
Fredrik Haren is an author and global keynote speaker on Business Creativity, Change and Global Business. He talks on creativity, innovation and idea generation – and on how to develop a global mindset and build a truly global company. Haren has delivered 2,000 presentations in over 65 different countries on 6 continents. His speeches help the audience understand how valuable it is to think in new ways – and how difficult this is to achieve.
He is also the author of 10 books, including ‘The Idea Book’ which was included in ‘The 100 Best Business Books of All Time’ as well as the author of “One World. One Company” – a book about what it means to be a Truly Global Company.
Sophie Hackford is a futurist, synthesizing explosive and interconnected technology and science breakthroughs from around the world. From satellite swarms to AI demonstrating intuition, we are becoming entangled with machines and will be surprised by the consequences. As part of her research, Hackford advises executive teams and boards of large companies onunderstanding new technologies defining the new economy.
Hackford is also founding CEO of a data and AI company, 1715 Labs, which she is currently working on out of the Astrophysics department at Oxford University. This follows a career building businesses for WIRED magazine, for Singularity University at the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, and prior to California, the interdisciplinary Oxford Martin School at Oxford University, where she raised more than US$120m of research investment.
Stefan Olander is the founder of BrandNew, a company that helps organisations bridge the gap between physical and digital, and delivers solutions that create value for both consumers and businesses by leveraging on a network of innovators.
Olander was also at Nike for 21 years, where he held several key marketing leadership positions. As Vice President of Global Digital Innovation, he led a team of innovators to create Nike’s future platforms for consumer connection, contributing new revenue streams towards Nike’s $50BN target by 2020.
In 2012, he published an Amazon top 10 book along with Ajaz Ahmed, founder and Chairman AKQA, titled ‘Velocity: The Seven New Laws for a World Gone Digital’. The book gives up-to-date examples that illustrate key lessons, together with insights, ideas and inspiration that individuals and businesses should adopt to thrive inthe digital age.
Aron Ralston’s extraordinary story of survival, as told in the New York Times bestseller, ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place’ and the film, ‘127 Hours’, starring James Franco as Ralston, captured headlines around the world in 2003 when he freed himself from being trapped between two boulders in a remote canyon by severing his own arm. After six days without water, means of communication or hope of escape, Ralston, an experienced climber and avid outdoorsman, harnessed his determination to live; using a pocket-knife to sever his arm below the elbow, trekking seven miles to find his would-be rescuers. With an unforgettable story of an ordinary man pushed to extraordinary limits, Ralston captivates us all with his incredible story of survival in the face of insurmountable odds, inspiring others to harness the power of inner strength and one’s relationships to overcome life’s adversities, regardless of how large or daunting their “boulder” may be.
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Professor of Management
Prof. Frese holds appointments at Asia Business School (Malaysia) and Leuphana University of Lueneburg (Germany). Before that, he was Head of Dept. and Provost chair at NUS Business School (now on leave for 2020); Prior appointments: University of Giessen, London Business School (long term visiting professor); also University of Bremen, University of Pennsylvania, Munich and Amsterdam (UvA). In addition, visiting professor in USA, Sweden, Zimbabwe, Brazil, China, Uganda.
