INVEST FAIR 2010 - INVEST WITH KNOWLEDGE

Vikram Khanna is Associate Editor of The Business Times, where he has worked since 1993. He is also a commentator on economic issues. Prior to joining BT, he was an economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC.

In recent years, he has also served on several government committees, including The Enterprise Challenge (2001-04), which provides seed funding for innovations in public services and the Pro-Enterprise Panel, which helps promote a more business-friendly environment in Singapore.

Vikram has B.A., M.A. and M. Phil degrees in Economics from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Piyush Gupta was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 9 November 2009.

Piyush has broad-based banking experience, spanning frontline and support functions. He has also successfully managed businesses in good and challenging times, and is a seasoned Asia hand. A Singapore citizen, Piyush spent over two-thirds of his 27-year career in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, including eight years in Singapore.

Piyush began his career with Citibank in India in 1982 and over the years, has held various senior management roles across Citi’s corporate and consumer banking businesses, including Chief of Staff for Asia Pacific Corporate Bank, Head of Strategic Planning for Emerging Markets and Regional Director for Global Transaction Services for Asia Pacific. He has also served as Citi’s Country Officer (the country manager) for Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as well as the ASEAN Head of the Institutional Clients Group. Prior to joining DBS, he was Citi’s Chief Executive Officer for South East Asia Pacific, covering Australia, New Zealand, Guam and the ASEAN countries – Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei.

Piyush has served as a member of the Indonesian Government’s Debt Restructuring Committee, Chairman of the Foreign Banks’ Association in Indonesia and on the Board of Kuala Lumpur Business Roundtable, as well as on the Boards of AMCHAM Malaysia and Singapore. He is a past Chairman of the Financial Services Committee of the US-ASEAN Business Council, and currently serves on the Group of Experts to the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum.

Married with two children, Piyush has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Economics from St Stephen's College, Delhi University, India and an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Sunny George Verghese is the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Olam. Sunny holds a post graduate management degree from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad and has also completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the Harvard Business School. Sunny worked for the Unilever Group in India before he joined the Kewalram Chanrai (KC) Group in 1986. In 1989, the KC Group mandated Sunny to start a greenfield agricultural products export business for the Group, Olam.

Sunny is responsible for setting the direction and providing the leadership to steer Olam through its expansion and growth plans. He is responsible for the strategic planning, business development and overall management of the Olam group of companies worldwide. Olam is listed on the main board of the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) and ranks amongst the top 35 companies in Singapore in terms of market capitalization (as of June 2009) and is a component stock in the 30 stock benchmark STI Index, the MSCI Singapore Free Index, the DAX Global Agribusiness Index and the S & P Global Agribusiness Index.

In a short span of 20 years, Sunny and his team have built this business to S$8.6 billion in Sales Revenues for FY 2009. Today, the Company has operations in 60 countries, delivering 20 products to more than 10,600 customers in 60 destination markets. We employ over 10,400 people worldwide.

Olam is today a leading global supply chain manager of agricultural products and food ingredients. The Company offers an end-to-end supply chain solution for various agricultural raw materials to its customers, which includes many of the world’s internationally recognized packaged food brands, offering them reliability, consistency, trust, traceability and other value added services. This unique brand of supply chain management has earned Olam a global reputation as the “Brand behind the Brands”.

Sunny is also involved with many professional and trade bodies. He is currently the Chairman of International Enterprise Singapore (a Statutory Board under the Ministry of Trade & Industry). Sunny is also the Chairman of CitySpring Infrastructure Management Pte Ltd, a Singapore Main Board listed Infrastructure Investment Trust sponsored by Temasek Holdings. He serves as one of the three Singapore representatives appointed by the Minister of Trade & Industry on the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC); Sunny is also a member of the Rabobank Food & Agribusiness Asia Advisory Board. In May 2010 Sunny was appointed as the chairman of the Governing Council of Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI). In April 2009, Sunny was appointed by the Ministry of Education, Singapore to serve as a member of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Board of Trustees. In 2002, Sunny was appointed to the Main Economic Review Committee (ERC) set up by the Singapore Government to develop a long term economic blueprint for Singapore, and served as Co-Chairman of the Logistics and International Trading Working Group of the ERC.

He was voted as the Best Executive in Singapore for 2006 in the AsiaMoney Awards. Sunny was also named ‘Outstanding Chief Executive for 2006’ in the 2007 Singapore Business Awards (SBA) and was named Singapore’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in November 2008.

Mr Alan Chan Heng Loon was first appointed Group President of Singapore Press Holdings Ltd on 1 Jul 2002. He assumed the appointment of Chief Executive Officer on 1 Jan 2003. Mr Chan is responsible for managing the group’s portfolio of business which includes print, broadcasting, internet, outdoor advertising, telephony and properties.

Prior to this, Mr Chan was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, and before that, the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT).

He has worked in the Government for 24 years and some of his previous appointments include Dy Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Principal Private Secretary to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Director Manpower, Ministry of Defence.

Mr Chan is currently on the boards of Singapore Press Holdings Ltd & its associated companies; Singapore Power Ltd; MediaCorp TV Holdings Pte Ltd and MediaCorp Press Ltd. He is also the Chairman of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, PowerAssets Pte Ltd and PowerGas Pte Ltd, subsidiaries of Singapore Power Ltd and SPH Magazines Pte Ltd. He sits on the Board of the Casino Regulatory Authority and is Chairman of Singapore’s Corporate Governance Council.

Mr Chan obtained his Diplome d’Ingenieur from the Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile, France and MBA (with distinction) from INSEAD, France. In 2009, he was named by INSEAD as one of its 50 alumni who changed the World, and was the only Asian to be given the honour.

As StarHub's Chief Operating Officer, Tong Hai oversees the day-to-day operations of the company and has direct responsibility of Sales, Products & Solutions, Marketing, Content, Business Excellence & Systems Technology, Customer Service, Integrated Network Engineering, and Government & Strategic Affairs.

Tong Hai has over 20 years of experience in the regional IT, Internet and e-commerce industries and has had broad experience at top management levels. Tong Hai was previously the President & CEO of Singapore Computer Systems since August 2005, and the President & CEO of Pacific Internet (PacNet) from March 2001. He was instrumental in turning both companies around when he was at their helms.

Before PacNet, Tong Hai was CEO of Asia Pacific Creation, a holding company for e-commerce and Internet-related investments, and from 1999 to 2000, he was the General Manager of StarHub Internet (previously known as CyberWay). He was with IBM from 1988 to 1999, first as a Business and Programmer Analyst and then rising to become the Internet & E-Commerce Regional Manager of IBM Asia Pacific. During this period, he was also the General Manager of International Application Solutions, a subsidiary of IBM Singapore.

An Honours graduate in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Singapore, Tong Hai is 47 years old and is married with two children.

Hsieh Fu Hua, joined Temasek as a Director on February 1, 2010 and was appointed Executive Director and President from August 1, 2010.

Mr Hsieh served as Chief Executive Officer and a non-independent director of the Singapore Exchange Limited (“SGX”) from March 2003 to November 2009. Prior to his role at the SGX, Mr Hsieh co-founded PrimePartners, a corporate advisory firm based in Singapore and served as the Group Managing Director of BNP Prime Peregrine Group, the Asian investment banking arm of BNP (a joint venture with PrimePartners). Before forming PrimePartners in 1993, he headed Morgan Grenfell Asia Holdings Pte Ltd which he joined in 1974.

Mr Hsieh is a member of the board of National University of Singapore Board of Trustees and the National Arts Council. Mr Hsieh graduated from the University of Singapore in Business Administration in 1974.

Dato’ Yusli bin Mohamed Yusoff, a Malaysian aged 51, graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Essex (United Kingdom) in 1981. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, England & Wales, the MIA, the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as an Honorary Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia.

Dato’ Yusli began his career with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co in London and has since held various key positions in a number of public listed and private companies in Malaysia, providing him with experience in property and infrastructure development, telecommunications, engineering and merchant banking. His career in stockbroking commenced in 2000, when he was appointed the CEO of CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd. He also served as the Chairman of the ASCM from 2003 to 2004.

Presently, Dato’ Yusli is the CEO and Executive Director of Bursa Malaysia and a Director of its group of companies. He also sits on the Capital Market Development Fund Board and is an executive committee member of the Financial Reporting Foundation of Malaysia and Malaysian Accounting Standards Board.

Mr Gan is, jointly with the CEO, responsible for steering and growing the businesses of SGX.

In this role, Mr Gan drives the development and management of SGX’s Securities, Derivatives, Commodities and Fixed Income businesses. Consequently, he oversees Sales & Distribution, and Market Data & Access. His responsibilities include the development and improvement of products, services and market participation to support SGX’s Asian Gateway positioning.

Mr Gan is also responsible for the Listings business and attracting companies seeking international capital to list on SGX Mainboard and Catalist. His duties also include establishing and monitoring the achievement of performance targets across various business lines.

Prior to joining SGX on 20 March 2001, Mr Gan held various senior positions in regional capital markets. From 1996 to 2001, he was Managing Director at Merrill Lynch, Singapore, where he oversaw the company’s business activities in its South East Asian offices and managed its exchange seats in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. From 1990 to 1996, he was Managing Director of Crosby Securities, responsible for the equities business in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Mr Gan serves on the boards of several organisations, including the Energy Market Authority, and National Kidney Foundation. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) with Distinction and holds a Master of Business Administration from McMaster University, Canada.

Mr Thomas J. McMahon is Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Mercantile Exchange. Mr. McMahon brings with him over 25 years of industry experience in derivatives and commodities across Asia and USA. Prior to joining SMX, he was President of Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange and former Director of NYMEX Asia.

Mr. McMahon joined NYMEX as director of Asia after acting as an advisor to the Exchange in its agreement to link NYMEX ACCESS® with the Tokyo Commodity Exchange in 2004. In launching NYMEX Asia, Mr. McMahon brought the established Energy and Metals contracts of the exchange to the Asian business community and instituted a development program for Asia region specific contracts. In September 2005 NYMEX launched Singapore 180 fuel oil swap. This was followed by a 380 bunker swap and the East West Swap, tying the European refiners market to Southeast Asia. In the course of launching the new products Mr. McMahon established good working relationships with the various regional regulatory agencies including the SFC, CSRC, MAS, METI, MOF, FMC and DFSA.

From 1993 to 2003, Mr. McMahon was an owner-operator of Gaslink.Com, focusing on the order execution of natural gas futures and options contracts. He began his career as a member of the New York Cotton Exchange and the New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange which is now a part of the IntercontinentalExchange.

He became a member of NYMEX in 1982. In 1984, he served as vice chairman of the petroleum advisory committee, prior to the launch of the gasoline futures contract. Mr. McMahon was elected onto the NYMEX board of directors in 1987 and served as chairman of natural gas advisory and petroleum delivery committee leading up to the launch of the natural gas futures contract.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard University, Khun Charamporn worked in the technology sector in United States for four years. And, prior to his appointment as the President of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Khun Charamporn has over 25 years of banking and capital markets experience in the areas of technology, Treasury and capital markets, credit, risk management, and investment banking. He also has served in various national committees pertaining to IT, Payment, and Capital Markets affairs. His last position in his commercial banking career was Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of the Siam Commercial Bank Plc.

Dato’ Jeffrey Ng Tiong Lip was appointed to the Board of Sunway REIT Management Sdn. Bhd. on 24 March 2010. He has more than 26 years of extensive experience in finance, corporate planning and executive management in the property and hotel industry in both Malaysia and Australia.

He was the former Managing Director of AP Land Berhad, a company listed on Bursa Malaysia. He has held various positions in the past such as the President of Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (REHDA), Past Chairman of REHDA Wilayah Persekutuan (K.L.) Branch, Board Member of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), Vice-President and Secretary-General of the FIABCI Malaysian Chapter (the International Real Estate Federation), Vice-President of the Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners (MAHO), Chapter Chairman of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) Malaysia Chapter, and Vice Chairman of the Malaysia Australia Business Council (MABC).

Currently, he is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Australia. In 1999, he was conferred a fellowship by the Malaysian Institute of Directors and accorded the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ by MABC in 2003. In 2008, he was advanced to fellowship member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Australia. In 2009, he was conferred the patron of REHDA.

Prior to joining the Manager, he was the Executive Director of the Sponsor.

He is a graduate of Monash University, Melbourne with a Bachelor of Economics. He completed his professional articleship in an international accounting firm in Australia before returning to Malaysia.