Keynote Speaker
Heng Swee Keat
Singapore Deputy Prime Minister
Gala Dinner Keynote Speaker
Speakers
Manik Bhandari
Partner, Asean AI and Data Leader, Ernst & Young Advisory Pte. Ltd., Singapore
Trista Chen
Head of Investment Stewardship Asia (ex Japan), Legal & General Investment Management, Singapore
Cynthia Gabriel
Lawyer, Advocate, Anti-Corruption Consultant; Founder, The Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4), Kuala Lumpur
Shai Ganu
Managing Director, Global Leader – Executive Compensation & Board Advisory, WTW, Singapore
Ken Hokugo
Director, Co-Head of Hedge Fund Investments, Head of Corporate Governance, Pension Fund Association, Tokyo
Felix Lam
Head of Investment Stewardship, Asia ex-Japan, JP Morgan Asset Management, Hong Kong
Christopher Leahy
Specialist Advisor, Southeast Asia, ACGA; Managing Director, Velos Research, Manila and Singapore
Nana Li
Head of Sustainability & Stewardship, Asia-Pacific, Impax Asset Management, Hong Kong
Prof Yuen Teen Mak
Director, Centre for Investor Protection, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Yoo-Kyung Park
Managing Director, Emerging Markets Equities, Fundamental Strategy, APG Asset Management, Hong Kong
Praveen Sangana
Head of Governance & Forensic Research/ Intl. ESG Research, Fidelity Investments, Bangalore
Amit Tandon
Managing Director, Institutional Investor Advisory Services India Limited, Mumbai
Michael Tang
Executive Director; Head of Listing Policy and Product Admission; Head of Sustainable Development Office, Singapore Exchange Regulation, Singapore
Yuelin Yang
Chief Stewardship and Wellbeing Governance Officer, TPC (Tsao Pao Chee), Singapore
ACGA Council Member
Miranda Zhao
Greater China Lead of Responsible Investment and Stewardship, APG Asset Management Asia, Hong Kong
Vivek Kumar
Chief Executive Officer
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Singapore
Singapore
As Chief Executive Officer of WWF-Singapore, Vivek Kumar seeks to drive transformative growth and provide strategic leadership in conservation and sustainability strategies to achieve global impact and local relevance.
With more than 20 years of leadership experience, he has applied his expertise across the nonprofit, media, public sector and retail industries. Under his leadership, WWF-Singapore supports a global network of more than 100 countries, focussing on climate action, biodiversity conservation, market transformation, sustainable finance and community engagement.
Vivek brings governance experience from his prior board positions with Enterprise Singapore, Infocomm Media Development Authority, NTUC Link, and Assurity Trusted Solutions – a wholly owned subsidiary of GovTech Singapore.
He serves as a Steering Committee Member of the Southeast Asia Climate and Nature-based Solutions Coalition and is a lifelong fellow of the Institute of Directors, India.
Kiran Aziz
Head of Responsible Investments
KLP Asset Management
Norway
Kiran Aziz is Head of Responsible Investments at KLP, Norway’s largest pension company, at which she also oversees ownership activities.
Prior to joining KLP, Kiran was a lawyer, lecturer and researcher. She has extensive board experience, including with the Norwegian Refugee Council, which is among the world’s largest humanitarian organisations for displaced people. She also sits on the board of Dagbladet, one of Norway’s largest newspapers.
Kiran contributes a regular column to E24, Norway’s largest online newspaper for finance and business.
She holds a law degree from the University of Oslo and attended an Executive course at Harvard Business School.
Pru Bennett
Partner, Brunswick Group
ACGA Council Member
Sydney
Pru Bennett joined Brunswick Group in April 2019. Previously, she was Managing Director and Head of Investment Stewardship for the APAC region at BlackRock where she led a team that was responsible for engagement and proxy voting for the companies in which the company invests on behalf of clients.
Pru is a member of the Australian Treasury Financial Reporting Council; a member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Corporate Governance Advisory Committee; a council member of the Asian Corporate Governance Association; a Committee Member of the Asian Investor Group on Climate Change; a member of the Deakin University Integrated Reporting Centre Advisory Board; and, a member of the Advisory Board of HKCGI Sustainability Academy.
She is a former member of the Hong Kong FSC’s Public Shareholder Group and a former Director of the UN Global Compact Network Australia.
Pru is an active participant in the public debate on corporate governance, stewardship and responsible investment, and regularly speaks and writes on the importance of these issues for company performance and investment decisions.
In 2013, she was named one of Australia’s top 10 Women of Influence in Corporate Governance, and in 2018 received the Asia Industry Leadership Award from 100 Women in Finance.
She joined the ACGA Council in 2018.
Manik Bhandari
Partner, ASEAN AI and Data Leader
Ernst & Young Advisory Pte. Ltd.
Singapore
Manik Bhandari leads EY’s ASEAN Data and AI business and is responsible for overall strategy and developing new people, process and technology capabilities. His areas of expertise are envisioning and executing transformation journeys enabled by technology and AI.
Manik has advised more than 40 clients across sectors including government, communications, financial services, natural resources and healthcare. He applies analytics and AI to help public and private sector clients drive profitability, productivity and improved customer experiences.
He recently re-joined EY after successfully setting up an Agtech AI company for a former client. Manik was the Chief Executive and founder of Vulcan AI Agritech, a company dedicated to alleviating the world’s food problems by helping growers improve yields sustainably using AI.
Previously, Manik was a Managing Director at a global consulting company, where he was a founding member of the Analytics Leadership team. He established and ran the Analytics Innovation Centre and the Data Science COE in Singapore. He also managed the ASEAN Analytics practice.
Elisa Cencig
Head of Policy Engagement
Norges Bank Investment Management
London
Elisa Cencig is Head of Policy Engagement at Norges Bank Investment Management where she leads a team responsible for the fund’s engagement with international organisations, standard-setters and policymakers on sustainability policy, corporate governance and well-functioning markets.
Prior to joining Norges Bank Elisa worked at the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Association of Financial Markets in Europe.
She is an alumna of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy, and the College of Europe in Belgium. She holds a PhD in political science from the London School of Economics.
Trista Chen
Head of Investment Stewardship Asia (ex-Japan)
Legal and General Investment Management
Singapore
Trista Chen is Head of Investment Stewardship Asia (ex-Japan) at the asset management division of Legal and General (LGIM). She is responsible for driving the firm’s global investment stewardship strategy tailored to clients in the Asia Pacific region.
Trista is a sustainability professional with almost 20 years of experience and an in-depth understanding of the evolving ESG and climate-change landscapes in international markets. She has advised investors and companies at the corporate and project level in more than 30 countries across the Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America and Africa.
Prior to joining LGIM, Trista was a partner with global sustainability consultancy firm ERM, accountable for its financial services industry and M&A service strategy in APAC.
She holds a Master of Environmental Design degree from the University of Calgary in Canada and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo in Canada.
Kathlyn Collins
Head of Responsible Investment and Stewardship
Matthews Asia
San Francisco
Kathlyn Collins is a Vice President and Head of Responsible Investment & Stewardship at Matthews Asia, an independent investment specialist that was founded in 1991.
Prior to joining the company in 2018 Kathlyn worked as Global Strategy and ESG Analyst at Cartica Management, where she developed ESG integration strategies and analysed investments for portfolios. She also conducted company research and engagement and covered macroeconomic research on emerging markets.
She earned a Masters degree in International Relations and International Economics from John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in the US and a Masters in Italian Studies from Middlebury College in Florence, Italy. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism, Italian Language, Literature and Culture from Syracuse University.
Peng Er Foo
Vice President, Group Sustainability
CapitaLand Investment
Singapore
Peng Er is Vice President for Group Sustainability at CapitaLand Investment, a global real estate manager with a strong Asia foothold. CapitaLand Investment’s diversified real estate asset classes cover retail, lodging, business parks, office, industrial, logistics, self-storage and data centres.
Peng Er’s expertise lie in sustainability management, disclosure and assurance, environment, health and safety management, corporate marketing, media and event management as well as policy formulation. Also, she works closely within CapitaLand Investment’s business units and corporate teams to implement its 2030 Sustainability Master Plan, which includes targets validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
Peng Er spearheads the publication of the CapitaLand Investment Global Sustainability Report, providing transparency to the group’s ESG strategy and performance, ensuring that it is benchmarked against international standards and frameworks.
She is a member of the SBTi Expert Advisory Group on Buildings, the REITAS Sustainability Taskforce and Singapore Sustainable Finance Association Transition Finance Workstream. She has also sat on the GRESB Asian Benchmark Committee, was an elected board member of the Singapore Green Building Council between 2010 and 2021, and was a member of the Workplace Safety and Health Council’s Construction and Landscape Committee.
Peng Er has been a panellist and speaker at sustainability-related events, sharing on topics ranging from sustainability business cases, greening existing buildings, climate scenario analysis, gender diversity and parity, as well as social returns on investments and corporate governance.
Cynthia Gabriel
Lawyer, Advocate, Anti-Corruption Consultant
Founder, The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism
Kuala Lumpur
Cynthia Gabriel is the founding Director of the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) and of FORUM Asia, a human rights organisation. She builds on more than two decades of advocating for human rights, anti-corruption measures and good governance in Malaysia and leads regional-level reform initiatives on transnational crime and corruption, political finance, whistleblower protection and corporate accountability.
Cynthia is a corporate accountability consultant to the Center for International Private Enterprise and works with the United Nations on anti-corruption projects. She was recently selected by the Summit for Democracy in South Korea to address complex financial transparency issues and pave a global framework to combat transnational crime and corruption.
In 2019, she took a seat on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils Advisory Body, specialising in good governance, and resumed the role last year.
Cynthia has received a meritorious award from the King of Malaysia for her advocacy of accountability and anti-corruption, and was invited by the president of the UN General Assembly to address its first special gathering on anti-corruption. In 2022 she received a global “anti-corruption champion” award from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Cynthia has degrees in science and law from Universiti Malaysia.
Shai Ganu
Managing Director, Global Leader – Executive Compensation and Board Advisory
Willis Towers Watson
Singapore
Shai Ganu is the global leader of the Executive Compensation and Board Advisory business at Willis Towers Watson, where he leads a team of more than 500 consultants across 45 countries. His team’s advice is sought by clients on issues related to board and executive compensation, performance management and incentives, board effectiveness, organisation design, culture transformation and human-capital governance.
Shai serves as a trusted advisor to the boards and committees of more than 100 companies globally. Also, he is a Senior Accredited Director and Independent Director of several companies and not-for-profit organisations for whose remuneration, nomination and sustainability and risk committees he chairs.
Shai is a Fellow and Governing Council member of the Singapore Institute of Directors and chairs its ESG chapter. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Climate Governance Community of Experts and Global Governing Board member of its Climate Governance Initiative.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Mumbai University and an MBA from the University of Wollongong in Australia.
Amar Gill
Secretary General
Asian Corporate Governance Association
Hong Kong
Amar Gill joined ACGA in 2023 and is the Secretary General of ACGA. He is responsible for directing research, advocacy and educational work in 12 Asia-Pacific markets, as well as for overall management of the association.
Amar has been a passionate advocate of good governance in the region for over 20 years, and was an ACGA council member from 2005 to 2008. From 1995 to 2018, he was with CLSA, a Hong Kong-based regional securities company, where he was responsible for thematic research. Amar was coauthor of the CLSA-ACGA CG Watch reports from 2001 to 2014. He won equity research awards from publications including Asiamoney, Euromoney and Institutional Investor, and rose to become Head of Asia Research. Before joining CLSA, he held positions at Chemical Bank in Singapore as well as Southern Bank and Rashid Hussain Berhad in Malaysia.
Amar joined BlackRock in 2018. He was Head of Investment Stewardship for APAC, leading its regional stewardship team, overseeing engagement and voting in the region. In 2023, Amar led the team that produced a report entitled Board Independence in Asia Pacific: A stewardship perspective, highlighting the significant governance issues in markets characterized by dominant controlled companies. He has been a member of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission’s Public Shareholder Group since 2020.
Amar graduated with a first class degree in philosophy, politics and economics, and completed a master’s thesis in ethics at Oxford University, UK.
Shannon Gong
Principal, ESG
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
Victoria
Shannon Gong joined British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) in 2020 and leads its ESG strategy in emerging markets and APAC equities, including ESG integration, proxy voting, corporate and policy engagements, and oversees ESG integration in private credit.
Shannon represents BCI in ACGA, Asia Research and Engagement and APAC engagements in Climate Action 100+. With more than C$250 billion (about US$230 billion) of gross managed assets as of 31 March 2024, BCI is one of Canada’s largest institutional investors.
Prior to joining the company, Shannon worked as a Product Development Manager at Invesco Canada, helping to launch its first ESG ETFs and managing the ETF product shelf of 31 ETFs with approximately C$3.8 billion in AUM. Before that, Shannon managed distribution and regional operations of the Asia Pacific equities business at UBS in Hong Kong.
Shannon holds a Bachelor of Law degree at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Master of Finance degree from Queen’s University in Canada.
Jessica Ground
Global Head of ESG
Capital Group
London
Jessica Ground is Global Head of ESG at Capital Group, where she is responsible for setting and executing ESG strategy. This encompasses ESG integration in the investment process and product. She also oversees proxy voting and company engagement. She works with regulators, clients and additional third-parties to raise the visibility of Capital Group’s ESG capabilities.
Ms Ground has more than 25 years of experience in the industry. She had a successful career with Schroders as an Equity Analyst and Portfolio Manager before taking up leadership of ESG in 2014.
She holds a number of industry leadership positions including Vice Chair of the UK Takeover Panel. She is a former Board Member of the Investor Forum and Chair of The Investment Association’s Stewardship Committee.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Bristol University and is an associate member of CFA UK.
Jane Ho
Head of Stewardship, APAC
BNP Paribas Asset Management
Singapore
Jane is the Head of Stewardship, APAC, at BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM). Her roles include direct corporate engagement, proxy voting and working with policymakers on key issues relating to sustainable finance and investment. She represents BNPP AM in key investor networks, including as a member of Climate Action 100+’s global Steering Committee. She co-chairs the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC) Forest and Land Use Working Group and is a member of Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s ESG Committee.
She joined BNPP AM from the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC), where she was the Director of Investor Practice. There, she spearheaded and led global initiatives in which AIGCC is a network partner, including the Net-Zero Asset Managers Initiative, the Paris Aligned Investment Initiative and the Investor Agenda. Further, Jane launched and led AIGCC’s Asia Utilities Engagement Program, a collaborative engagement programme that runs in parallel with Climate Action 100+.
Before that, Jane was an equities portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management for more than 10 years.
Jane holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford, St John’s College and an MSc in Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder and possesses a CFA Certificate in Climate and Investing.
Ken Hokugo
Director
Co-Head of Hedge Fund Investments
Head of Corporate Governance
Pension Fund Association
Tokyo
Ken Hokugo is the Co-Head of Hedge Fund Investments at the Pension Fund Association (PFA). He oversees PFA’s hedge fund portfolio, which has around US$7bn of assets under management – approximately 8% of the organisation’s total managed assets of around US$90bn.
Ken is also Head of Corporate Governance at PFA and speaks at conferences and seminars at home and abroad about governance among Japanese companies.
He joined PFA in 2014 from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, where he had worked for 15 years. His most recent position at Sumitomo was in the bank’s Tokyo head office, where he designed and implemented strategy for its global asset management business. That followed a five-year spell as CFO of Sumitomo’s Americas Division, where his responsibilities included overseeing all investment and portfolio management as well as asset liability management.
Among Ken’s other roles at Sumitomo, he was head of the Financial Products and Special Projects Group in the Americas division. There, he looked after the prop investment portfolio and was assigned to negotiate and close special projects ordered by head office, including those sent directly from the chief executive.
Ken received a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Keio University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He has also participated in industry leadership organisations in Japan, including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Fair M&A Guideline Study Group and the Financial Services Agency’s Stewardship Code Revision 2020 Council of Experts.
Felix Lam
Head of Investment Stewardship Asia (ex-Japan)
JP Morgan Asset Management
Hong Kong
Felix Lam leads JP Morgan Asset Management’s Investment Stewardship team in the Asia (ex-Japan) region, where he leverages his expertise in climate and governance matters.
Prior to joining JP Morgan, Felix worked as an equity research analyst for more than 16 years with a primary focus on energy and material industries, including renewable energy, oil and gas, metals and mining, and construction materials.
Christopher Leahy
Specialist Advisor, Southeast Asia, ACGA
Managing Director, Velos Research
Manila and Singapore
Christopher Leahy is Specialist Advisor, Southeast Asia, with ACGA and Managing Director and founder of Velos Research, an independent research and advisory firm that partners with project owners, companies and investors to convert emission-reduction projects into commercial realities. Chris is also an independent non-executive director of Destileria Barako Corporation, an independent distillery and drinks group in the Philippines.
Before founding Velos Research, Chris co-founded and managed Blackpeak, an investigative research and advisory firm. Prior to that, he was a journalist who held positions as Asia Editor for Euromoney and contributing editor for Asiamoney.
Chris began his career as a stockbroker and was later an investment banker, working in the UK and Asia with leading financial institutions such as Warburg Securities (now UBS), BNP Paribas Peregrine and Crosby. For the past 28 years he has been based in Asia.
Chris began writing for ACGA in 2003, specialising on Southeast Asia. He has written the Indonesia and Philippines chapters in ACGA’s CG Watch report since 2007 and has contributed to other markets as well, including Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. He has spoken at numerous ACGA member events over the past decade and has represented the organisation as a speaker at many conferences in the region.
Changhwan Lee
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Align Partners Capital Management
Seoul
Changhwan Lee is the Chief Executive Officer of Align Partners Capital Management, which he founded in 2021 after working in KKR Korea’s private equity team.
Under his stewardship, Align has led a shareholder campaign at SM Entertainment, at which Changhwan is a non-executive director. He also helmed the acquisition of a 1% stake in Woori Financial Group, which is valued at around US$80mm, and the purchase of 14% of JB Financial Group, a holding that is valued at around US$195mm.
At KKR, Changhwan helped manage investments that included Oriental Brewery, which was valued at around US$6bn, and KCF Technologies, which had a US$1bn valuation.
Prior to his time at KKR, Changhwan worked at Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division in Seoul, where he focussed on M&A advisory services for public and private companies in Korea.
Changhwan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Summa Cum Laude) from Seoul National University. He is also a non-executive director of SM Entertainment and a board member of Korea Corporate Governance Forum.
Mira Lee
Board Director, Chair of Nomination & Remuneration Committee
SK Ecoplant
Seoul
Mira Lee is a board director at SK Ecoplant at which she chairs its nomination and remuneration committee. She is also a visiting professor at Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies in Seoul.
Previously, Mira chaired Hankook Tire and Technology’s ESG committee and before that she was the chief human resources officer for GE Korea with responsibility for the company’s power, renewable energy, aviation and healthcare businesses.
Mira’s previous roles include Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Korea at Macquarie Group, which she joined in 2008. Before that, she spent more than seven years with Deutsche Bank at its Frankfurt head office and in London, employed as chief of staff under the corporate COO.
Mira has advised numerous Korean conglomerates, global companies and universities and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences on topics including leadership, culture transformation, D&I, employee experience and the future of work.
Mira holds an MBA from Cambridge University and a Bachelor’s degree in Politics and Diplomacy from Ewha Womans University in Korea.
Nana Li
Head of Sustainability and Stewardship, Asia-Pacific
Impax Asset Management
Hong Kong
Nana joined Impax in 2022 and is responsible for leading the company’s sustainability and ESG research and advocacies in the Asia-Pacific region. Nana oversees ESG engagement with Impax’s investee companies and regulators, manages external sustainability and ESG-related inquiries and assists in the continued development of the company’s proprietary ESG-analyses and methodologies.
Prior to joining Impax, Nana worked as the Research and Project Director at the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA), where she published five significant reports relating to corporate governance research in the region. At ACGA she also presented to the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges and the Shenzhen Asset Management Association. Since 2018, Nana has been the Chair of the association’s China working group, a role she continues to hold while remaining a Specialist Consultant.
Nana has spoken at international conferences hosted by financial institutions and international organisations including ACGA, the Asian Development Bank, the American and British chambers of commerce, Deutsche Bank, the London Stock Exchange Group, Macquarie Bank and Morgan Stanley.
Besides sitting on the Stakeholder Advisory Council of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants, Nana is also a member of the Financial Capital Committee of the International Corporate Governance Network, the ESG Committee of the Women in Finance Asia and the Caixin China ESG30 Forum. Additionally, she is a member of the IFRS Sustainability Reference Group and an instructor of the Association of Stewardship Professionals (StePs).
Nana has an MBA from the University of Chicago, a Master of Finance degree from the University of Hong Kong and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of New South Wales. She is a CFA charterholder and has completed the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants qualification programme.
Ronnie Lim
Senior Engagement Specialist, Robeco
ACGA Council Member
Hong Kong
Ronnie Lim is Engagement Specialist at Robeco Hong Kong where he is responsible for active ownership and sustainable investments. He is also a member of the listing committee at the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
Before joining Robeco in 2014, Ronnie worked in London for Aviva Global Investors as an Analyst and Head of SRI Research. He later moved to Climate Change Capital where he was Portfolio Manager for the Global Environmental Opportunities fund. Before that, Ronnie headed institutional Asian equities sales teams over a 17-year period at Cazenove, CLSA and RBS.
He holds a Master’s degree in environmental science from the University of East Anglia in the UK and joined the ACGA Council in 2019.
Stephanie Lin
Research Head – Korea and Singapore
Asian Corporate Governance Association
Hong Kong
Stephanie Lin is the Research Head for Korea and Singapore at ACGA. In this role, she is responsible for research and advocacy efforts in these two markets, while also supporting ongoing research into corporate governance and ESG development across 12 markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
Previously, Stephanie worked in the consulting and financial industry. As a business consultant, Stephanie advised multinational investment and corporate clients on regulatory, legal and reputational risks.
Stephanie was born in China and grew up in California, US. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Arts in International Relations from New York University.
Yuen Teen Mak
Director, Centre for Investor Protection
National University of Singapore Business School
Singapore
Yuen Teen Mak is a Professor (Practice) of Accounting at the National University of Singapore (NUS). A former NUS vice dean, he served on three of the four corporate governance committees set up to develop and revise Singapore’s code of corporate governance. He is serving a second three-year term on the Corporate Governance Advisory Committee under the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Yuen Teen is an advocate who often calls out poor governance practices among listed companies in Asia and founded the first centre devoted to the topic in Singapore, at NUS. There, he also founded the Centre for Investor Protection and is a founding director of Corporate Monitor Limited, a not-for-profit established to enhance investor protection and education.
He is one of only two individuals to be given the Corporate Governance Excellence Award by the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) in its 25-year history for his contributions to corporate governance in Singapore. He has also been recognised as a CG Pioneer by the Singapore Institute of Directors and by the Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group in Malaysia with a Corporate Governance Excellence Award for his contributions to corporate governance in the region.
Yuen Teen is a member of the Advisory Council of the Vietnam Independent Directors Association and the International Advisory Board of the Hawkamah Institute of Governance in Dubai. He supports training initiatives for directors and regulators in the region and advises for a new government-approved director training programme introduced by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and SAC Capital.
Yuen Teen holds a PhD degree in accounting from the Victoria University of Wellington, and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in accounting and finance from the University of Otago, New Zealand. He is a member of ISCA.
Shireen Muhiudeen
Founder
Corston-Smith Asset Management
Kuala Lumpur
Shireen Muhiudeen founded Southeast Asian responsible asset management firm Corston-Smith in 2004 with the support of a UK-based £58 billion (about US$106.5 billion) pension fund.
In an investment career that has spanned 35 years Shireen became the first female Chair of the Stock Exchange of Malaysia and was an executive committee member of the Economic Action Council for Malaysia, chaired by the prime minister. She was also Chief Executive of AIG Investment Corporation (Malaysia) for 12 years.
Shireen holds the role of Deputy Chair of the Asian International Arbitration Centre, is an independent director of Media Prima and a recipient of the 2024-2025 Hull Fellow of the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute.
She has served on the Federal Land Authority as Chair of Risk and Governance and as Chair of Investment. Also, she held a position on the Labuan Offshore Financial Centre and was Chair of Risk at a commercial bank.
She was named on Forbes Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen in 2014 and was among the 25 Most Influential Women in Asia Pacific’s Asset Management Industry chosen by Asian Investor in 2011. Her Amazon bestselling book We are all Stakeholders was reviewed by US Entrepreneur Magazine as a “must read for entrepreneurs looking to break the mould”.
Christina Ng
Managing Director
Energy Shift Institute
Melbourne
Christina Ng is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Energy Shift Institute, a public interest not-for-profit energy finance think tank. Her work is focussed on aligning Asia’s financial markets with climate goals, leveraging her knowledge of the region’s unique challenges and opportunities.
Christina provides regular critical analyses on the future of sustainable finance in driving Asia’s energy transition and her insights are frequently expressed in Bloomberg, the Financial Times and Reuters. She seeks to contribute to the development of more globally harmonised green finance standards in Asian markets by challenging conventional energy finance practices, raising awareness about greenwashing and advising corporations, financial institutions and policymakers.
She is a member of the SBTi’s Financial Institution Net-Zero Expert Advisory Group and a former member of the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute’s Taxonomy Technical Advisory Group.
With more than 20 years of experience in strategic roles that have spanned research, financial analysis, accounting standard-setting, advisory and risk management, Christina has a strong track record of working with policy influencers, investors, regulators, public and private entities across the Asia Pacific region.
Cheol Woo Park
Investor Relations Executive Officer
Shinhan Financial Group
Seoul
Cheol Woo is the Investor Relations Executive Officer at Shinhan Financial Group, a company he joined in 2002 and in which he has held various roles, including in corporate strategy, international business development and subsidiary management.
Before his current post, Cheol Woo was Head of the Corporate Strategy Management Office at the Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management joint venture, where he oversaw finance, strategy and human resources. He was also responsible for international sales and the development of the asset management business before moving to the corporate management office six year later.
He returned to the holding company in 2018 and, following a reorganisation in January, the investor relations function was strengthened and the position of Investor Relations Officer was elevated to executive level, reflecting the growing importance of shareholder engagement.
Cheol Woo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Master’s degree in Economic Development and Policy Analysis from the University of Nottingham, also in the UK.
Yoo-Kyung Park
Managing Director
Emerging Markets Equities, Fundamental Strategy
APG Asset Management
Hong Kong
Yoo-Kyung Park is Managing Director of the Emerging Markets Equities, Fundamental Strategy Team at APG Asset Management, a Hong Kong-based asset manager for Dutch pension funds.
Yoo-Kyung manages the operations and performance of the team that oversees APG’s investment process. She is also responsible for embedding responsible investment principles into APG’s asset allocation activities as well as formulating the organisation’s overall investment strategy and policies. Earlier, she headed APG’s APAC Responsible Investment and Governance team.
Before she joined APG, Yoo-Kyung worked at international investment banks, including Barings Securities and KEB Salomon Smith Barney, as a securities analyst. Her career has seen her cover energy utilities, consumer and transportation companies as well as heavy industries such as steel and chemicals producers.
Rajeev Peshawaria
CEO, Stewardship Asia Centre Singapore
Founder and President, Leadership Energy Consulting
Washington
Rajeev Peshawaria has been the Chief Executive Officer of Stewardship Asia Centre and the Founder and President of Leadership Energy Consulting since 2020. He was previously the CEO of Malaysia’s Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre, and before that, he was also the Chief Learning Officer at Coca-Cola and Morgan Stanley. He has also held senior roles at American Express, HSBC, and Goldman Sachs. At Goldman Sachs, he played a key role in founding Pine Street, the bank’s leadership academy. In his early career, he was a banker and currency trader.
With over 22 years of experience working with Fortune 100 companies, Rajeev leverages research-based insights to offer practical and unique approaches to personal leadership, ethics, governance, sustainable business growth, and stewardship. Rajeev is a prolific writer, authoring books including the Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestseller Open-Source Leadership (McGraw Hill), as well as Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders (Simon and Schuster) and Sustainable Sustainability (Penguin Random House). He also co-authored Be the Change (McGraw Hill) and is a regular contributor to Forbes. In his work, he has introduced and developed concepts such as Leadership Energy and Emotional Integrity for personal growth, the Brains-Bones-Nerves model for enterprise leadership and the Steward Leadership model for driving sustainable business growth.
Rajeev is a sought-after public speaker who provides coaching, consulting, and advisory services to corporate and public sector clients globally. He is also a guest faculty member at US, European, and Asian business schools. Rajeev has been featured in the media, including CNN, Bloomberg TV and Radio, National Public Radio, Harvard Business Review and The Straits Times.
Seungjoo Ro
Head of Sustain Asia/ESG Research
CLSA
Hong Kong
Seungjoo Ro is Head of ESG Research at CLSA in charge of conducting ESG, sustainability and corporate governance research focussed on Asian markets. He also manages the research-wide ESG integration.
Ronnie joined CLSA as a management trainee associate in 2008 and moved through the ranks as an analyst covering internet, technology, online media and telecoms stocks. Later, he relocated to Hong Kong as head of thematic research.
Prior to CLSA, Seungjoo worked as a Strategy Planner at Samsung Electronics’ Biomedical Research Institute and as an Account Strategist at Google.
Hendrik Rosenthal
Director – Group Sustainability
CLP Holdings Limited
Hong Kong
Hendrik Rosenthal is responsible for the CLP Group’s sustainability-focused strategy, reporting and communications. He supports the senior management in sustainability and climate change-related risk management and advises on a range of sustainability matters of the Group’s power business in the Asia-Pacific region.
With more than 20 years of experience in sustainability and environmental management across the public, private and NGO sectors, Hendrik previously led research and consulting projects in Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.
He sits on several sustainability-linked committees, including as Director of the International Emissions Trading Association, steering committee member of the Climate Governance Initiative Hong Kong Chapter and as an advisory panel member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
He holds a Master of Environmental Studies degree from University of Waterloo in Canada and a Bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from the University of Ottawa.
Praveen Sangana
Head of Governance & Forensic Research/ Intl. ESG Research
Fidelity Investments
Bangalore
Praveen Sangana is Vice President in the Equity Division of Fidelity Investments, where he oversees global governance and forensic accounting team as well as India-based the international ESG and emerging markets sector research teams. He supports portfolio managers in their investment decisions.
A finance industry professional since 2003, Praveen joined Fidelity four years later and has worked in research covering the energy, utilities, industrials and consumer sectors and emerging markets stocks. He has also worked in the United States for the company, supporting international/emerging markets equity and debt portfolio managers.
Prior to joining Fidelity, Praveen was a research analyst with a London-based special-situation hedge fund focussed on distressed debt, LBO and M&A investments as well as financial due diligence. Before that, he was a financial analyst at Hewlett-Packard and an analyst at Deloitte Consulting.
Praveen has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and an MBA. He is a Certified Forensic Accounting Professional and an intermediate-level Cost and Management Accountant.
Mark de Silva
Director, Stewardship and Climate Lead
HSBC Asset Management
Hong Kong
Mark de Silva is a Stewardship Director within HSBC Asset Management in Hong Kong. As HSBC AM’s climate engagement lead he brings insights on transition issues from coverage of companies around the world. Mark is responsible for developing HSBC AM’s Net-Zero Engagement approach, climate voting procedure, and leading engagements with key companies globally.
Previously, as an Associate Director (ESG) for AIA Group, Mark headed the development of the group’s ESG strategy, reporting and engagement initiatives, and led in the creation of the company’s sustainability strategy.
Prior to AIA, Mark worked as an ESG consultant for the Business Environment Council, and was instrumental in the creation of sustainability strategies, policy development, stakeholder engagement and in conducting materiality assessments for Hong Kong-listed companies.
David Smith
Senior Investment Director
abrdn Asia
Singapore
David Smith is a Senior Investment Director at abrdn and is based in Singapore. He leads ESG research and integration across Asia and heads the Asia Responsible Investing pod, which oversees the day-to-day running of the Asian Sustainable Development Equity Fund, and is a member of the GEM Responsible Investing pod. He is also responsible for leading engagement with board members and management of abrdn’s investee companies in Asia.
Before joining the company in 2011, David worked for Institutional Shareholder Services as head of Asia (ex-Japan) research.
David spearheads abrdn’s public advocacy on ESG issues, representing the company at international organisations dedicated to improving corporate best practice. He has appeared frequently at regional conferences and industry roundtables, and has written for various newspapers and professional publications globally.
He has a PhD in Corporate Governance and an MA in Corporate Strategy and Governance from the University of Nottingham in the UK and a BSc in Business Economics from the University of Wales. He is a CFA Charterholder.
Ian Stone
Independent Non-Executive Director
Tencent Holdings
Hong Kong
Ian Stone is an Independent Non-Executive Director at Tencent Holdings, an internet ecosystem applications, services and investment company listed in Hong Kong. He has been in the role since 2004.
Concurrently he is Advisor to the Planet N Group of companies based in London and Karachi, a post he’s held since 2018, and a Director at PCME Hong Kong, an advisory and trading company that links Saudi Arabia with Hong Kong and China. He is also Director of Pontis Partners, a telecom and tech advisory and consulting company, which he joined in 2003.
Ian was an Independent Non-Executive Director at MENA-focused Dubai based pay-TV and streaming media business OSN (Panther Media Group) between 2018 and 2021 and before that held chief executive roles at Hong Kong-based mobile wireless companies, including CSL, Pacific Link, SmarTone, SUNDAY, UK Broadband and PCCW Global, as well as SITC in Saudi Arabia.
Between 1970 and 1997, UK-born Ian worked at Cable and Wireless, a global satellite and cable company.
Amit Tandon
Founder and Managing Director
Institutional Investor Advisory Services
Mumbai
Amit Tandon is the founder of Institutional Investor Advisory Services India (IiAS) and has been its managing director since July 2011. IiAS is a SEBI-registered advisory firm dedicated to providing participants in the Indian market with independent opinion, research and data on corporate governance issues as well as voting recommendations on shareholder resolutions.
Before that, Amit was the managing director and chief executive of Fitch Ratings: India from October 2001 to June 2011. Earlier, he was with the ICICI group for 17 years, at which he rotated through various roles and businesses, including in project finance, leasing and the merchant banking division. His last role at the group was as head of investment banking at ICICI Securities.
Amit is a member of the SEBI Committee to Review Takeover Regulations, SEBI’s Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee and its Expert Committee for facilitating the ease of doing business and harmonising the provisions of the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements and the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements.
He has also been a member of the Kotak Committee on Corporate Governance; the SEBI advisory committee on ESG; the Reserve Bank of India’s Technical Advisory Committee on Money; and the Foreign Exchange and Government Securities Markets. Amit has also sat as a member of one of the working groups convened by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to review comments received on the Companies Act and the disclosure sub-group of the Ministry of Finance’s Task Force on Sustainable Finance. He is a trustee of the Foundation for Audit Quality.
Amit studied economics at St Stephens College, Delhi, from whose Faculty of Management Studies he also earned an MBA. He also has an MPhil degree from the University of Cambridge.
Michael Tang
Head of Listing Policy and Product Admission, Head of Sustainable Development Office
Singapore Exchange Regulation
Singapore
Michael is the head of Listing Policy and Product Admission and the Sustainable Development Office at Singapore Exchange Regulation, a subsidiary of Singapore Exchange that undertakes frontline regulatory functions. Michael oversees listing policy and rules development, the admission of securities products and sustainability-related issues on the regulatory front.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School’s Centre for Governance and Sustainability, a Management Committee member of Global Compact Network Singapore and a member of the Environmental, Social and Governance Committee of the Singapore Institute of Directors.
Michael contributes to international standards-setting efforts, participating as a member of the Sustainability Reference Group of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants and as a member of the Capital Markets Technical Committee of the Global Reporting Initiative.
Michael graduated from the NUS with a Bachelor of Laws degree and is admitted to the Singapore bar.
Dr Leslie Teo
Senior Director for AI Products
AI Singapore
Singapore
Leslie Teo is the Senior Director of AI Products at AI Singapore and a board member of Sofina, IPOS International and Coinbase Singapore.
He previously worked at Grab, Great Eastern Life Insurance, GIC Private, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the International Monetary Fund.
Leslie has a background in economics, finance, and data science and holds degrees from the University of Chicago, the University of Rochester and the University of California at Berkeley.
Allen Wang
Chief Executive Officer
TIH Investment Management Pte. Ltd.
Singapore
Allen Wang is the Chief Executive Officer of TIH Investment Management Pte. Ltd., a post he’s held since June 2014.
Before joining TIH, Allen held managerial positions at Argyle Street Management and Credit Asia Capital, where he was responsible for originating, structuring and executing deals for special situations investments across a variety of industries in Southeast Asia and China.
Prior to that, Allen held analyst and associate positions at The Transportation Group, Seabury Group and at DB Zwirn Asia Partners.
Allen graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Canada and has a Master of Arts degree in Statistics from Columbia University in New York. He is also a CFA charterholder.
Steven Watson
Chair, Asian Corporate Governance Association
Partner, Capital International Investors
Hong Kong
Steven Watson is Chair of the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) and a partner at Capital International Investors where he is a portfolio manager for the International Growth and Income Fund, Capital Income Builder and the New Perspective Fund, among other funds and mandates. He is also Chairman of Capital’s China Group.
Prior to joining Capital in 1990, Steven was a research analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co and a vice president of China Communications, a marketing consulting firm.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in French from the University of Massachusetts, a Master’s degree in French studies from New York University and an MBA from New York University and l’ Université de Paris. Additionally, he studied Chinese at Wuhan University and the Shanghai Foreign Language Institute, China.
Steven joined the ACGA Council in 2007. He was elected Vice Chair in 2018 and Chair in 2022.
Su-Yen Wong
Global Independent Director
Singapore
Su-Yen Wong is a global independent director who has served for more than 15 years on the boards of listed, family controlled, private equity-held, government-linked and not-for-profit organisations in Australia, Asia, and the United States.
She is Chairperson of James Cook University Singapore and an independent director of several listed companies in the city. Also, she serves on the global board of privately held Kemin Industries; is a Director of the Infocomm Media Development Authority, a statutory board in Singapore; and, an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore Business School.
In 2020 Su-Yen became the first female chair of the Singapore Institute of Directors and she assumed the role of Independent chair of SGX mainboard-listed Nera Telecommunications in 2014. She is regularly invited to speak publicly on leadership, transformation, and the future of work.
Su-Yen’s career has seen her occupy roles that include Chief Executive Officer of the Human Capital Leadership Institute; Chair of Marsh & McLennan Companies (Singapore); Senior Partner and Managing Director for Southeast Asia at Mercer; and, Asia Managing Partner for the Communications, Information and Entertainment practice at Oliver Wyman.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Linfield University in the US and an MBA from the University of North Carolina. She is a Fellow and Senior Accredited Director of the Singapore Institute of Directors, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Young Presidents’ Organisation.
Yuelin Yang
Chief Stewardship and Wellbeing Governance Officer, Tsao Pao Chee
Senior Advisor, Pacific Pension & Investment Institute
ACGA Council Member
Singapore
Yuelin has lived in Singapore since 1998 after living and working in the USA (where he was born and raised), Taiwan and Hong Kong. He has served as a trusted advisor to Acer founder Stan Shih, his late uncle Tan Sri Frank Tsao and the Verlinvest founder.
Yuelin has extensive knowledge of institutional investors and family offices through his active involvement as:
• Senior Advisor to Pacific Pension & Investment Institute (whose asset owner and asset manager members manage collective AUM of 25 trillion USD),
• Council member at Asian Corporate Governance Association
• independent director (since 2015 at the time of opening of the Singapore office) at Verlinvest Asia (investment firm for one of the AB InBev Belgian shareholder families)
as well as sustainability serving on the advisory board of NUS Business School’s Centre of Governance & Sustainability. He has built deep relationships with family offices and institutional investors in Asia, Middle East, Australia, Europe and USA. Most recently, he was appointed to the board of The 1990 Institute, a leading US-China think tank.
Yuelin spent the first 9 years of his career practicing intellectual property law at Silicon Valley law firms and as Associate General Counsel at Acer Computers. He moved to Asia in 1995 when he was recruited by his late uncle into IMC.
As the Chief Stewardship and Wellbeing Governance Officer for Tsao Pao Chee, his role integrates his over 35 years’ experience in C-Suite operational and P&L roles, legal, finance, corporate development, managing joint ventures with NYSE and TSE listed partners, corporate governance, family businesses and family offices.
Mr. Yang received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School.
Mr Yang joined the ACGA Council in 2015
Stefanie Yuen Thio
Joint Managing Partner
TSMP Law Corporation
Singapore
Stefanie Yuen Thio is the Joint Managing Partner of TSMP Law Corporation, a boutique Singapore law firm, and heads its corporate practice. Stefanie has more than 30 years of legal experience in mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets, corporate transactions and regulatory advice, resulting in her being regularly cited in legal journals. Her clients range from listed corporates to international companies.
For almost 20 years Stefanie has been a director of listed entities on the SGX-ST and is chair of ESR-Logos Reit . In February 2017 she was appointed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to the Corporate Governance Council to review the Code of Corporate Governance. She was also a member of the Singapore Governance and Transparency Index Advisory Panel between June 2016 and May 2018.
Stefanie has a long history of volunteering for charities that include The Community Foundation of Singapore, Dover Park Hospice, IC2 Prephouse, The Smile Mission and the Singapore Art Museum Development Committee. In 2022 she founded SG Her Empowerment, an Institution of Public Character recognised by the Singapore government that focusses on empowering women and young girls in the city state.
Stefanie holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the National University of Singapore and is an Advocate and Solicitor of The Supreme Court of Singapore.
Dr Ismet Yusoff
Chief Executive Office
Minority Shareholders Watch Group
Kuala Lumpur
Ismet Yusoff is Chief Executive Officer of the Minority Shareholders Watch Group (MSWG). A long-standing advocate of corporate governance, Ismet has dedicated his extensive career to raising the corporate governance and sustainability standards of companies in Malaysia. He works closely with local and international stakeholders, including regulators, standard setters and professional bodies.
Before joining MSWG, Ismet was the Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance and served in the Securities Commission Malaysia.
He has helped formulate Malaysia’s corporate governance and sustainability regulatory framework and aided in establishing codes for best practices and strategic priorities, including development of the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance, Malaysia’s Corporate Governance Strategic Priorities and Bursa Malaysia Listing Requirements.
Ismet helped develop analytics and machine learning systems for the regulatory monitoring of governance disclosures, establishing the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia and other industry-led initiatives on corporate governance and sustainability.
In his role as the Secretariat for ASEAN’s Corporate Governance Initiatives under the organisation’s Capital Market Forum Ismet managed ASEAN’s corporate governance scorecard assessments of six member countries. Also, he organised ASEAN’s inaugural Corporate Governance Awards in the Philippine capital Manila.
Ismet graduated from the International Islamic University Malaysia where his doctoral thesis examined the effect of corporate governance and capital structures on the performance of publicly listed Malaysian companies.
Miranda Zhao
Greater China Lead of Responsible Investment and Stewardship
APG Asset Management Asia
Hong Kong
Miranda Zhao covers ESG research and corporate engagement on China equity and fixed income investment at APG Asset Management. She is responsible for ESG policy advocacy and heads responsible AI research and engagement.
Before joining APG, Miranda served as the Head of ESG Research at China Asset Management, where she initiated the company’s ESG investment committee and research team, and established an internal ESG investment analysis framework.
Miranda has served as an asset management member of Climate Action 100+’s Asia Advisory Committee.
She graduated from Tsinghua University in Beijing with dual-Bachelor’s degrees in business administration and law, and holds a Master’s degree in public administration from Cornell University.