Speakers

Ambassador Chan is Chairman of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities in the Singapore University of Technology and Design, Chairman of the National Arts Council, Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights, a Member of the Constitutional Commission 2016 and Deputy Chairman of the Social Science Research Council.

Ambassador Chan is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the National University of Singapore and a Member of the Yale-NUS Governing Board.  She serves as a Member of the Executive Board of the Chinese Cultural Centre.  She is a Member of the Advisory Council of Temasek Foundation Connects.

Ambassador Chan serves as a Trustee of the Asia Society, New York and a Member of the International Advisory Panel, AXA Group, GIE AXA, Paris (France).

She was Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States and Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations with concurrent accreditation as High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Mexico.

Dave is Chairman of Equilibrium, which builds and operates portfolios of sustainably driven real assets for institutional investors. At Equilibrium, he oversees new product development and guides the firm’s strategy and growth. Previously, Dave was a general partner at OVP Venture Partners; Founder/CEO GeoTrust; Corporate Vice President Marketing Mentor Graphics; McKinsey & Company; and Solectron.

At Kellogg, he teaches the impact & sustainable finance class which gives students an exposure to the breadth of investment strategies that deliver both market returns and intentional impact on environment and community. He co-founded the Sustainable Investment Challenge, a global business school sustainability and impact finance competition.

Dave was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Portland Branch, is a current board member of The Freshwater Trust, board member of B Corp/B LAB, advisory board member of Volans, was Governor appointed Chairman of the Oregon Innovation Council (2005-2011) and founding Chairman of ONAMI. Dave is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and previously faculty at Stanford GSB, on the topic of sustainable investing and finance.

Dave has B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.M., Kellogg School of Management from Northwestern University.

Dave is a co-owner of Patton Valley Vineyards, a grower of sustainably farmed Oregon Pinot Noir.

Hendrik du Toit is Chief Executive Officer at Investec Asset Management and an executive director of Investec plc and Investec Limited. Hendrik joined the Investec Group in 1991 as founding member of Investec Asset Management. Under his stewardship, Investec Asset Management grew from a small South African start-up to an international specialist asset management firm entrusted with approximately USD 115 billion* of client assets.

Hendrik has served on the Leadership Council of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a global initiative for the United Nations since 2014. In 2016 he became a Commissioner on the Business and Sustainable Development Commission. In 2016 he was appointed as a non-executive director of Naspers Limited.

Hendrik holds a MPhil in Economics and Politics of Development from Cambridge University, as well as a MCom in Economics and International Finance (Cum Laude), BCom in Economics honours degree (Cum Laude) and a BCom (Law) from Stellenbosch University.

*as at 31 December 2016

Hassan El-Shabrawishi is the Chief Innovation Officer of AXA Group. In 2016, he was selected as one of the top economic young leaders in Africa by “Institut Choiseul”.

Hassan joined AXA in 2010 and was previously the Chief Executive Officer for AXA in Egypt since September 2014.

Before joining AXA, he held several positions in the insurance sector and at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

Hassan holds an honors degree in Finance and Economics from Richmond University. He holds an international MBA from IE Business School in Spain; a top ranked business school.Hassan is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, which is the highest recognition a business graduate anywhere in the world can receive.

Mr. Fu Chengyu is standing member of the 12th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee. He is former Chairman of China Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC Group) and former Chairman of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC Corporation). Before joining SINOPEC in 2011, he was Chairman & CEO of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). He is also a member of the UN Global Compact Board and Chairman of Global Compact Network China Board.

Mr. Fu has 40 years of experience in the petroleum industry and earned quite some recognition in the industry. He was listed among “Most Influential People” by Time magazine in 2005, and awarded “Most Influential Business Leader in China” by Fortune in 2008 and “The Best-Performing CEOs in the World” by Harvard Business Review in 2009. In 2011, he was named “Executive to Watch in 2012” by Wall Street Journal, and “Businessperson of the Year” by Fortune. In 2012, he was elected “Petroleum Executive of Year 2012” by the Energy Intelligence Group. He received the “South-South and Triangular Cooperation Champion 2013” award by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, and the “Legend in Leadership” award by Yale School of Management in 2013.

Mr. Fu graduated from China’s Northeast Petroleum Institute in 1975 and received a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Southern California, USA in 1986.

Helen Hai is the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Goodwill Ambassador for industrialization in Africa. She is the CEO of the Made in Africa Initiative which advises African government for industrialization and investment promotion. Ambassador Hai is Co-Founder of C&H Garments, which is a pioneer Pan-Africa export-oriented garments manufacturer.

Ambassador Hai was trained as an actuary in the United Kingdom with near 20 years of international experience in FTSE100 companies. She has BA in actuarial science and MSc in actuarial management from CASS Business School in London and EMBA from INSEAD and Tsinghua University.

Ambassador Hai was named a 2015 Global Young Leader by World Economic Forum, and she is co-chair of the Global Future Council on the Future of Consumption for World Economics Forum. She received the 2015 African Business Icon Award, and awarded as Officer of the National Order of Lion of Senegal in 2016.

She is on the committee of Global Commission on Business and Sustainable Development.

Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, a social scientist, was an Under-Secretary- General of the United Nations and the highest ranking Singaporean in the UN system during her term.

She was the first woman to serve as the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific since its founding in 1947. Under her leadership (Aug 2007-Jan 2014), the commission focused on regional co-operation for a more resilient Asia-Pacific, founded on shared prosperity, social equity, and sustainable development. She was at the forefront of many innovations including for regional disaster preparedness, inclusive socio-economic policies, sustainable agriculture and urbanization, energy security and regional connectivity.

She was also the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Adviser for Timor-Leste, working to support peace-building, state-building, and sustainable development in fragile states.

As the previous Executive Director of the UN Development Fund for Women, she was widely recognized for the formulation and implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security.

Dr. Heyzer was a founding member of several international women’s networks and has served on numerous boards and advisory committees of international organizations, including the UNDP Human Development Report, the High-level Commonwealth Commission on Respect and Understanding chaired by Nobel Laureate Prof Amartya Sen, appointed a jury member of US, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Innovation Award for Women’s and Girl’s Empowerment 2010, and on the Board of Trustees of the National University of Singapore.

She holds a BA (Upper Hons) and a MSc from Singapore University, a PhD from Cambridge University, and has received numerous international awards for leadership.

Mr. Hu Yee Cheng Robin joined Temasek in December 2016 and is currently Head, Sustainability & Stewardship Group.

Mr. Hu was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the South China Morning Post (“SCMP”) Group in Hong Kong since June 2012. Prior to his appointment at SCMP, Mr. Hu was Senior Executive Vice President, Chinese Newspapers Division and Newspaper Services Division of Singapore Press Holdings (“SPH”) for eight years, where he was responsible for managing the group’s three Chinese dailies, a bilingual free-sheet, events and exhibitions, retail and printing operations and China business relations and development.

Mr. Hu also served as Managing Director (Global Business) of SingTel NCS Ltd. from August 2001 to June 2004. Mr. Hu gained earlier experience in China as the Regional Director (China) for the Singapore Economic Development Board based in Shanghai and Suzhou between 1995 and 1997 and in Beijing in 1998. During this time, Mr. Hu was a Counsellor with the Embassy of Republic of Singapore (Beijing) between March 1998 and December 1999.

Mr. Hu also served as SVP and Country GM of Asiacontent.com Ltd from January 2000 to June 2001.

Mr. Hu holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Mathematics from the University of Kent and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Wales.

Ms. Karadsheh-Haddad has over 17 years of experience in the field of international investing and finance. She is currently Country Manager in Singapore for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where she is heading up IFC’s operations in Singapore, which includes infrastructure investments, infrastructure advisory, agribusiness, TMT/PE/Tech investments, IFC’s Asia Treasury Hub and three of IFC’s Asset Management Funds.

Before taking on the role as Country Manager, she was leading the infrastructure investment team covering Singapore and the Philippines. Prior to this, she was the Europe, Middle East and North Africa Head for the Global Chemicals Group, leading multi-disciplinary teams in executing capital intensive projects and leading IFC’s Global Fertilizer Strategy. Ms. Karadsheh-Haddad’s deals have included debt, equity, quasi-equity transactions in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East for new ventures, expansions, operational turnarounds and acquisitions a range of sectors including infrastructure, fertilizer, chemical and petrochemical sectors. Prior to this, Ms. Karadsheh-Haddad was with the privatization transaction group of the IFC, where she was involved in the sourcing, structuring, execution and closing of major privatization and restructuring transactions in various sectors.

Ms. Karadsheh-Haddad holds an MBA and an MA in International Economics from The George Washington University and a BA in Economics and French from The University of Michigan.

Sir David King was born in Durban, educated at St John’s College Johannesburg and at Witwatersrand University, graduating with an Honours degree in Chemistry and a PhD. He has received 23 Honorary Degrees from universities around the world.

He was the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser from 2000 to 2007. He raised the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the UK’s £1 billion Energy Technologies Institute. He also created an in-depth futures process which advised government on a wide range of long term issues, from flooding to obesity. From 2013 to 2017, he served in the British Foreign Office as the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative on Climate Change, making 96 official country visits over this period. He initiated the Climate Change – A Risk Analysis project with China and India over this period and was the thought leader behind Mission Innovation, the $30bn international thrust in Research funding for missing technologies needed to defossilise the global economy.

He was a Member, the President’s Advisory Council , Rwanda, and Science Advisor to UBS, 2008-12. He served as Founding Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, 2008 – 2012, Head of the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge University, 1993 – 2000, and Master of Downing College Cambridge 1995 – 2000. He has published over 500 papers on surface science and catalysis and on science and policy, for which he has received many awards, medals etc.

Sir David King is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991; Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002; knighted in 2003; made Officier dans l’ordre national de la Légion d’Honeur in 2009.

Dr. Marco Lambertini is Director General of WWF International, having first worked with WWF as a youth volunteer in his native Italy. As the head of one of the largest and most respected nature conservation organizations, he works with world leaders, corporate executives and civil society to forge a future in which people and nature thrive. He sits on the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) – at the invitation of the Chinese Government and on the Board of the International Civil Society Centre. He is also the WWF representative at the World Economic Forum annual event in Davos.

He leads a global Network with over 50 years of environmental conservation successes, nearly 7,000 staff, five million supporters, 25 million followers on social media and activities in over 100 countries.

Prior to joining WWF, he served as Chief Executive of BirdLife International, a global partnership of over 120 civil society organizations in 120 countries. During his career Dr. Marco’s experience spans from field research to international policy, nature reserve management, environmental education, communications and campaigning, NGO development, ecotourism and integrated conservation and development projects in many countries all over the world.
Dr. Marco Lambertini has a degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Pisa, with a thesis on ecotoxicology, and has published books ranging from Safari in Africa (Muzzio) to A Naturalist’s Guide to the Tropics (Chicago University Press).

Follow Dr. Marco Lambertini on Twitter at @WWF_DG.

Thomas Trikasih Lembong, also known as Tom, is the Chairman of Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board. He was a former Minister of Trade of Indonesia from August 2015 to July 2016.

Prior his appointment in the cabinet, he has a long professional record. He was a Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Managing Partner, and Partner at Quvat Management Pte Ltd, a private equity fund which was established in 2006. He also served as President Commissioner at PT Graha Layar Prima Tbk (BlitzMegaplex) since 2012.

Mr Lembong was employed in Principia Management Group. He worked at Equity Division of Morgan Stanley (Singapore) Pte. Ltd from 1995 to 1996. He served as Investment Banker of Deutsche Securities Indonesia from 1999 to 2000. He served as Division Head and Senior Vice President at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) from 2000 to 2002 and served at Farindo Investments from 2002 to 2005.

He received a Bachelor’s degree (Bachelor of Arts) majoring in Architecture and Urban Design from Harvard University in Cambridge, USA in 1994. He also was elected as Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2008.

Mark Malloch-Brown is Co-chair of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission. He served as Deputy Secretary-General and Chief of Staff of the UN under Kofi Annan. For six years before that he was Administrator of the UNDP, leading the UN’s development efforts around the world. He was later Minister of State in the Foreign Office, covering Africa and Asia, and was a member of Gordon Brown’s cabinet. Other positions have included vice-chairman of George Soros’s Investment Funds, as well as his Open Society Institute, a Vice-President at the World Bank and the lead international partner in a political consulting firm. He also has served as Vice-Chairman of the World Economic Forum. He began his career as a journalist at The Economist.

He is currently Chairman of SGO and its elections division Smartmatic, a leading elections technology company. He is on the Boards of a number of UK listed companies and adviser to several others. Mark is a Senior Adviser for the Eurasia Group and he previously led FTI Consulting’s EMEA practice.

He chairs or is on the Board of a number of non-profit boards including the International Crisis Group and the Open Society Foundation.

Mark is also a Distinguished Practitioner of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University and was formerly a visiting distinguished fellow at the Yale Centre for the Study of Globalisation. He has a number of honorary degrees. He was knighted in 2007 for his contribution to international affairs.

He is the author of “The Unfinished Global Revolution” and in 2005 Time Magazine put him on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. He continues to write, broadcast and lecture about international issues.

Cherie Nursalim is Vice Chairman of GITI Group, a diversified group with real estate development, manufacturing and consumer lifestyle presence partnering with world-renowned brands throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Cherie Nursalim earlier worked as a research associate at the Harvard Business School. She published an award-winning book on an American-Chinese Architect, and was among the co-authors of a book ‘Indonesia Matters’ published by the World Economic Forum.

She serves on the International and Asia Advisory Boards for Columbia University and MIT Sloan School of Management respectively. She is Chairman of the United Nations Global Initiative SDSN in Southeast Asia that will be based in Kura Kura Bali Indonesia and serves on the University of Indonesia Research Center for Climate Change and the Singapore Science Center boards. She is the Honorary Chairman of Tsinghua School of Economics Southeast Asia Alumni network and among the founding trustee of the United in Diversity Forum. She is among the co founding members of the Global Philanthropic Circle with Synergos Institute in New York. She initiated initiatives for HIV AIDS awareness in Indonesia for GT organization which won awards from UNAIDS, International Labor Organization and the Indonesian government. Ms Nursalim serves on the Executive Board of International Chamber of Commerce, ICC Research Foundation Board and ICC Academy. She recently joined the Global Commission on Business and Sustainable Development.

She received her Bachelor in Engineering Science and Economics from Oxford University, her Master’s in Business Administration from Columbia Business School and is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader alumni at Harvard Kennedy School.

Paul Polman has been Chief Executive Officer of Unilever since 2009. Under his leadership Unilever has set out an ambitious vision to decouple its growth from overall environmental footprint and increase its positive social impact.

Paul actively seeks cooperation with other companies to implement sustainable business strategies and drive systemic change. He is Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, the B Team and sits on the Board of the UN Global Compact.

Paul has been closely involved in global discussions on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and action to tackle climate change. In 2016, Paul was asked by the UN Secretary-General to be a member of the SDG Advocacy Group, tasked with promoting action on the 2030 Agenda. Prior to this, Paul served on the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, presenting recommendations on behalf of the private sector. Paul is a member of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission. He also served on the International Council of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, under former Mexican President, Felipe Calderon.

In recognition of his contribution to responsible business, Paul has received numerous awards including Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur (2016), UN Foundation’s Champion for Global Change Award (2014), the Oslo Business for Peace Award (2015) and the UN Environment Programme’s Champion of the Earth Award (2015).

Vineet Rai is the Founder of Aavishkaar-Intellecap group (www.aavishkaar.in and www.intellecap.com), and chairs the Group and its Executive Council. Vineet serves as a Commissioner at the Global Commission of Business and Sustainable Development launched at Davos 2016 and as advisor to The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Board.

Aavishkaar is a pioneer Impact Investment fund with more than US$ 200 million under management and invests in India, South Asia and South East Asia.

Intellecap provides thought leadership to the idea of using Business as an approach for development and works with Corporate, Enterprises, Investors and Governments to build economic engagement with the low income population. The group subsidiaries include Arohan, a Microfinance company, Intellegrow, a Venture Debt Company, Intellecash, a Microfinance incubation company. Intellecap’s other pioneering initiatives include I ‘Cube” N – India’s first Impact Angel Network and SANKALP Forum, one of the foremost Global platform for Inclusive engagement. Intellecap operate across Asia and Africa with offices in India, East Africa and Indonesia.

Vineet has received numerous awards including the G 20 – SME Innovation in Finance Award 2010 in Seoul, South Korea, UNDP-IBLF –ICC World Business Award 2005 in New York and Lemelson Award for Social Venture Investing from A. P. J Abdul kalam, Honorable Ex-President of India.

He has also received the Ashoka Fellowship and Honorary Membership of XLRI Alumni Association and serves on the advisory board of Tibetan Development Board. Driving on Indian roads is one of his passions and he tries to cover 50,000 KM every year.

Manish is the Chairman and Co-Founder of TeamLease Services, India’s largest staffing and human capital firm. Teamlease also operates India’s first vocational university national PPP apprenticeship program. Manish is a member of the National Skill Mission, Central Advisory Board of Education, and various state and central government committees on education, employment and employability. He also serves as an Independent Director on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India. He got his MBA from The Wharton School and is an alumnus of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, and Mayo College, Ajmer.

Sulian joined Temasek in 2012 where she is a Managing Director in the Investment Group based in Singapore and covering the energy and resources sector.

Prior to joining Temasek, Sulian was with Goldman Sachs as a Managing Director in Investment Banking (corporate finance and M&A). She joined Goldman in New York in 1999 and later spent time in Chicago, San Francisco and Hong Kong as well.

Sulian earned a BA in Mathematics and an MS in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Mr Teo Chee Hean was appointed Deputy Prime Minister on 1 April 2009. He also serves, since 21 May 2011, as Coordinating Minister for National Security. He is also Minister in charge of the Civil Service, oversees the Prime Minister’s Office Strategy Group, including the National Population and Talent Division and the National Climate Change Secretariat, and is Chairman of the National Research Foundation.

In the first phase of his career, he served in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) where he held various command and staff appointments in the Republic of Singapore Navy and the Joint Staff. In 1991, he was appointed Chief of Navy, and was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.

In December 1992, he left the SAF to seek elected public office and was elected as a Member of Parliament in a by-election in the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC). He was re-elected to Parliament five times in the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

He has served as the Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Defence, Minister for Education, and Minister for the Environment. He has also served as Minister of State in the Ministries of Finance, Communications and Defence.

He was awarded the President’s Scholarship and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Scholarship in 1973. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) in Electrical Engineering and Management Science from the University of Manchester in 1976. He subsequently attained a Masters of Science degree (with distinction) in Computing Science in 1977 at the Imperial College in London, and a Masters in Public Administration at the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University in 1986, where he was named a Littauer Fellow.

Teo Chee Hean was born on 27 December 1954.

He is married to Chew Poh Yim. They have a son and a daughter.

Dennis has 30 years of international business development and marketing experience, having managed and overseen companies and strategic alliances across Western Europe, the Middle East, Japan, the United States, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Dennis has been with TN2/True North Partners since 1997, and was one of the founders of Fluidic Energy, and is still one the partners in the controlling shareholder.

Dennis relocated to Indonesia in 2011 and spend four years in the country, establishing the Fluidic factory and has been the driving force behind the initial telecom push, and since then the expansion into micro grids and now utility scale grid firming in both Southeast Asia and Africa. Dennis also currently serves as the Chairman of P.T. Fluidic Indonesia, the Indonesian operating entity from where the push into the rest of Southeast Asia is taking place.

Prior to joining Fluidic, Dennis held executive positions in two major global technology companies, and has also held postings with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs at its embassies in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Dennis holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electro-mechanical engineering from the University of Southern Denmark.

Sunny George Verghese is the Co-Founder and Group CEO of Olam International Limited and is responsible for strategic planning, business development and overall management of the Olam group of companies worldwide. Olam is listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and ranks amongst the top 30 companies in Singapore in terms of market capitalization.

In 27 years, Sunny and his team have built this business to S$20.6 billion in Sales Revenues for 2016. Today, Olam operates in 70 countries, delivering 47 products (organised into 16 platforms) to more than 16,200 customers in 70 destination markets and employs around 69,800 people worldwide.

Sunny is presently the Chairman of the Board of the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI), Singapore. Sunny was appointed Director on the Board of International Enterprise Singapore in 2002, and served as its Chairman from 2008 to 2013. Sunny also served on the Board of Trustees of the National University of Singapore (NUS) from 2009 to 2013. He was also the first Chairman of CitySpring Infrastructure Management Pte Ltd, a Singapore Main Board listed Infrastructure Investment Trust from 2006 to 2010. Sunny also served on the Main Economic Review Committee (ERC) set up by the Singapore Government to develop a long term economic blueprint for Singapore in Dec 2001.

Sunny was awarded the Best Chief Executive for large cap companies in the Singapore Corporate Awards (SCA) in July 2011. He was also voted Best Executive in Singapore for 2006 and 2010 in the AsiaMoney Awards. Sunny was named ‘Outstanding Chief Executive for 2006’ in the 2007 Singapore Business Awards (SBA) and Singapore’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in November 2008 and a member of the World Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Judging Panel in 2009. Sunny was conferred The Public Service Medal by the Government of Singapore in August 2010.

Sunny holds a post graduate management degree from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) and has also completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the Harvard Business School. Sunny was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni by IIMA in its Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 2011.