Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, 65, studied Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS) after being awarded the President's Scholarship in 1980. He was elected President of the NUS Students' Union from 1981 to 1983 and Chairman from 1984 to 1985.
After graduation, Dr Balakrishnan specialised in Ophthalmology. He was appointed Associate Professor of NUS and Deputy Director of Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) in 1997. In 1999, he became Medical Director of SNEC. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Singapore General Hospital in 2000.
Dr Balakrishnan has been a Member of Parliament since 2001.
Currently the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Balakrishnan previously served as the Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative; Minister for the Environment and Water Resources; Minister for Community Develoment, Youth and Sports; Second Minister for Trade and Industry; Minister-in-charge of Entrepreneurship; Second Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts and Minister of State for National Development.
Bob McCooey is Vice Chairman and the Head of International Listings at Nasdaq. In this role, Bob leads business development for new listings in Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East as well as overseeing relationship management with companies throughout these regions. In his role as the Head of Nasdaq’s Financial Sponsor Coverage Group, he works closely with premier financial sponsors globally to optimize and integrate interactions, ensuring long-term partnerships and relationships.
During his 19-year tenure at Nasdaq, Bob has held several leadership roles across Nasdaq’s domestic New Listings business and the Capital Markets Group, as well as building what is Nasdaq’s highly successful listings franchises in both APAC and Latin America.
Prior to joining Nasdaq, Bob founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Griswold Company, a brokerage firm, from 1988 until 2006. He was a member of the New York Stock Exchange Board of Executives from 2003-2006.
Bob has an AB in Political Science from the College of the Holy Cross.
Ms Gillian Tan is the Assistant Managing Director (AMD) of the Development and International Group, overseeing the development of Singapore as an international financial centre and the MAS’ international relations.
Ms Tan previously served as MAS’ Chief Sustainability Officer, a post she held concurrently with her AMD role, from October 2022 to October 2025. She was also tasked with setting up MAS’ Enforcement Department, which is responsible for investigating breaches of anti-money laundering regulations, market misconduct offences and other laws administered by MAS, and served as its Executive Director from 2016-2019.
Before joining the MAS, Ms Tan was a Deputy Public Prosecutor and Deputy Senior State Counsel in the Attorney-General’s Chambers. She also worked in the Supreme Court of Singapore as a Justices’ Law Clerk, Assistant Registrar and Magistrate, and served as a District Judge of the State Courts of Singapore.
Ms Tan co-chairs the Private Banking Industry Group, the Singapore Funds Industry Group and the Human Resources Industry Group. Ms Tan also serves on the Boards of the Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P), which brings together public, private and philanthropic capital to support Asia’s green transition through blended finance, and Infrastructure Asia, which supports Asia’s social and economic growth through infrastructure development. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Monetary Fund’s Singapore Regional Training Institute.
Ms Tan graduated from Cambridge University with a First Class Honours in Law. She also holds a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. She was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2018 in recognition of her contributions to public service.
Mr Ng Yao Loong is Head of Equities at Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) and leads the development and strategic direction of the cash equities franchise. He also oversees the index business.
Mr Ng joined SGX Group in April 2020 as Deputy Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and took on the role of CFO in October that year. As CFO, he was responsible for finance related, corporate development, workplace services and index business functions. Mr Ng transitioned to his current role in December 2024.
He was previously with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) where he spent more than seven years in senior positions, including Assistant Managing Director of the Development and International Group. Before joining MAS, he was an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in Singapore and Citigroup in Hong Kong and London.
Mr Ng holds a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cambridge.
Xie Chao is the Head of Data Science and Innovations in GIC's Investment Insights Group, having joined GIC in 2021. He holds a PhD in Bioinformatics from the National University of Singapore and has extensive experience leading data science teams in various industries. Prior to joining GIC, Xie Chao led data teams at Grab, AirAsia, and Lucence Diagnostics, where he was responsible for developing data‑driven solutions for business growth. Prior to his industry career, he made significant contributions to the academia community, with scientific publications attracting more than 15,000 citations. Xie Chao has won multiple international data science competitions, such as the million‑dollar DTRA Algorithm Challenge and TopCoder Data Marathon Match.
Pauline Ng, managing director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, is a country specialist for ASEAN equities and head of the ASEAN team within the Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific (EMAP) Equities team based in Singapore. She also has shared responsibilities for the Asia Core Strategy.
Pauline joined the Firm in 2005 from AllianzDresdner Asset Management where she was first an Asia ex-Japan telecommunications analyst and latterly a fund manager responsible for Malaysia and emerging Asia.
Pauline obtained a Bachelors degree in Accounting from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She is a CFA Charterholder and a Certified Public Accountant.
Avril Hong is a Singapore-based reporter for Bloomberg TV. Avril provides roundups and analysis on markets and the economy into Bloomberg Markets Asia, Daybreak Middle East and Africa, and Daybreak Europe.
She previously anchored business news on CNA’s flagship morning show, covering key events such as the historic 2018 meeting of the leaders of the US and North Korea, Hong Kong protests, 2020 US presidential election, as well as the economic and financial market fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic; Myanmar coup; and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
She has interviewed business leaders, central bankers, and top economists including DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, former RBI governor Y.V. Reddy, and more.
Andy Budden is the Head of Solutions for Europe and Asia at Capital Group. He has 33 years of investment industry experience and has been with Capital Group for 22 years. Earlier in his career at Capital, he was an investment specialist. Prior to joining Capital, he worked at Watson Wyatt Investment Consulting. He holds both a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Cambridge. He is an associate member of the Institute of Actuaries. Andy is based in Singapore.
As a consultant within Ortec Finance’s Investment Performance team, Anh advises Australian superannuation funds asset on how to measure, analyze, and report on allocation decisions across multi-asset portfolios, currency hedges, and overlay strategies. Leveraging insights from PEARL, she helps clients assess the added value of each investment decision through decision, currency, multi-asset, equity, fixed income, and factor attribution models.
Since joining Ortec Finance in 2024, Anh has supported a number of leading Australian superannuation funds and sovereign wealth funds across the APAC region. She has overseen a major upgrade and implementation of PEARL for several Australian clients and contributed to broader initiatives to expand Ortec Finance’s presence in Asia.
Anh holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Accounting, a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in Accounting, and a Bachelor of Business in Banking and Finance and Accounting from Monash University.
Brian Lim is the CEO of Wisma AI and Mosaic Insights, a Singapore-based AI consultancy advising senior leaders in government and global financial institutions. He is also a Senior Fellow and ARIEC Committee Member at SUTD, Adjunct Faculty for AI in Finance at SMU, and AI Advisor for Aglaia Capital.
Brian brings deep expertise from previous roles as Managing Director and APAC GM at Primer AI (a San Francisco-based AI company), as Senior Vice President and Head of GIC Labs, and earlier positions at Citi, Standard Chartered, and the Singapore Ministry of Finance.
He holds a Master’s in Computational Engineering from NUS and a Master’s in Computation for Design and Optimization from MIT.
Christina Woon joined Eastspring Investments in January 2024. Christina is a Portfolio Manager and head of the Asia Equity Income focus team. She is also the Lead Portfolio Manager for the Asian Equity Income strategy.
Christina has a proven track record in Asian Equities, joining us from abrdn where she spent 11 years, most recently as Investment Director. She was responsible for the management of various strategies, including as lead portfolio manager for abrdn's Asia Pacific Style Agnostic strategy, and as a co-manager for abrdn’s flagship Asia Pacific Equity and Asia Income strategies.
Christina holds a Bachelor of Accountant from Singapore Management University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charter holder.
Darius Foo is Senior Director, Head of Distribution Business at Lion Global Investors, responsible for distribution business development and relationship management among segments that include banks, insurance companies and digital enterprises. He has over 20 years of financial industry experience.
Prior to joining Lion Global Investors, Darius was with Nikko Asset Management as Head of Intermediary Business Development. Before that, he accumulated extensive experience at Aberdeen Asset Management, Eastspring Investments, Prudential Assurance and AXA Wealth Management.
Darius holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Merit) degree from the National University of Singapore.
Mr Felix Momsen grew up in Germany and Canada and has worked for GIC for 20 years across different functions (research, trading, portfolio management), asset classes (rates, credit, FX, equities), and geographies (developed, emerging and frontier markets). Currently, he is attached to the CIO Office/ Equities, where he develops investment ideas, coordinates and carries out research and manages a tactical macro-equity portfolio that invests in global equity indices. In 2017, he helped set up a boutique asset allocation firm, ClearMacro, in London. In addition to his role at GIC, Felix worked as an adjunct lecturer at Yale-NUS College between 2019 and 2023, where he taught an undergraduate course in investment analysis and economics.
Mr Momsen studied economics at Oxford University (MPhil), Harvard University and Bamberg University (Germany). He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Singapore citizen.
Mr. Howie is the Market Strategist at Singapore Exchange (SGX), bringing with him 28 years of experience in financial markets and macroeconomic analysis.
As SGX’s principal market communicator to the investing public, he is the architect of the widely followed SGX My Gateway Report and a regular contributor to weekly Inside Insights column in The Business Times. He also frequently appears in financial media including CNBC, CNA, BFM and Money FM 89.3. In recognition of his influence, Mr. Howie was named a LinkedIn Power Profile in 2018.
Beyond SGX, Mr. Howie serves as Chair of the Singapore Alumni Ambassador Council for the University of Queensland School of Business, Economic Law.
Before joining SGX, Mr. Howie held senior roles in broking and market strategy across Asia Pacific with the world’s largest Futures and Options broker. His career also includes time in public policy, where he served as the economic adviser to the leader of the Liberal Party in Queensland Parliament.
Mr Howie holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Queensland. His postgraduate thesis received the highest distinction for pioneering research on Shanghai’s industrial reforms in the early 1990s. He has also received two annual outstanding achiever awards from the Hong Kong Securities Institute.
John Tsai joined Eastspring Investments (Singapore) in October 2016. John has nearly three decades of investment experience.
John leads Eastspring Investments’ Growth Equities team in Singapore and across Eastspring's local business units (LBUs). He has held this position since June 2020. John is also the Portfolio Manager for the Asia Growth Equity strategies.
John initially joined Eastspring Investments in as the Team Leader of the Greater China Equity team and Portfolio Manager for the China, Greater China, and Hong Kong Equity strategies.
Prior to joining Eastspring, John spent 15 years at MFS Investment Management as a Portfolio Manager and Equity Research Analyst in the firm's Boston, Tokyo, and Singapore offices. He has also worked at Indosuez WI Carr Securities in Taiwan.
John holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University and is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Lauder Institute with a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School and a Master of Arts degree from the School of Arts and Sciences.
Mr Koh Jin Hoe is Executive Director and Head of Capital Markets in Global Sales and Origination at SGX Group. He is responsible for capital market deals origination as well as business and relationship management with senior clients.
Jin Hoe joined SGX Group in June 2022. Prior to that, he spent 24 years in various senior roles in the Singapore Public Service. He was last Senior Vice President and Head, Asia Pacific and Greater China at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). In that role, he was responsible for formulating policies, developing strategies and executing the operational plans to attract Asian conglomerates and Asian enterprises to Singapore.
Jin Hoe joined EDB in June 1998 and has held various portfolios within EDB, ranging from manpower capabilities and industry development to global operations with overseas stints in Stockholm and Shanghai. He was also Director of Contact Singapore from 2011 to 2016, where he was responsible for the investor permanent resident (PR) scheme - Global Investor Programme (GIP).
Jin Hoe graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with a Bachelor of Engineering degree.
He was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in August 2017 and the Long Service Medal in August 2021.
Dr. Luke Soon is a pioneering Computer Scientist; one of the field’s earliest practitioners who has spent three decades engineering Artificial Narrow Intelligence to tangibly elevate the human experience. With the race to AGI/ASI now the defining challenge of our era, Luke has pivoted with urgency to AI Safety & Governance; navigating Short-term Turbulence for Long-term Abundance. He channels his deep engineering roots into designing safe, responsible Agentic AI systems that are trustworthy, explainable, and firmly aligned with human values. As an AI Leader at PwC, he architects pragmatic, high-impact AI, GenAI & Agentic AI strategies that empower organisations to reinvent themselves; translating frontier innovation into concrete business outcomes and non-negotiable ethical guardrails.
Luke is the author of two influential books:
1_ Genesis: Human Experience in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (2022)
As Head of Australia, Michelle leads a team of investment performance professionals to advise asset owners on how to measure, analyze, and report on allocation decisions across multi-asset portfolios, currency hedges, and overlay strategies. Leveraging insights from PEARL, her team helps clients assess the added value of each investment decision through decision, currency, multi-asset, equity, fixed income, and factor attribution models.
Michelle joined Ortec Finance in 2021, bringing over 10 years of investment performance experience across leading Australian superannuation funds and sovereign wealth funds across the APAC region, including Aware Super and CBUS. She leverages her extensive leadership experience to ensure the continued delivery of exceptional service to PEARL’s growing APAC client base.
Michelle holds an MSc in Finance from London School of Economics and Political Science, a Bachelor of Accounting and Finance and a Bachelor of Electronic and Information Engineering from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and holds a Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM).
Nicholas Tay is Senior Director of Distribution Business at Lion Global Investors. He joined the financial industry in 2008.
Prior to joining Lion Global Investors on 1 April 2014, he was with Citywire and iFAST.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Language from National University of Singapore.
Ogar Widjaja is a seasoned professional with 21 years of experience in investment bank and asset management, and currently leads Xtrackers coverage for South East Asia, across Institutional and Intermediary clients.
Ogar began his career as Quantitative Analyst at ABN AMRO Australia and Derivatives Structurer at BNP Paribas Fortis in Hong Kong, and he has been in the ETF industry over the past 15 years, including his previous roles at BlackRock (iShares) in ETF Product Development, ETF Sales Specialist, and Asian Fixed Income Product Strategist.
Ogar holds degrees in Computer Science & Applied Mathematics, Actuarial Science, and Risk Management, and he is also a CFA Charterholder and Certified FRM.
Petr joined Schroders Singapore as a Multi-Asset Fund Manager in January 2024. As a member of the Multi-Asset investment team in Singapore, he jointly manages the target return, benchmark-relative, income-oriented, and other mandates. He is also a member of the Equity risk premia research team of the Strategic Investment Group Multi-Asset (SIGMA).
Petr brings with him more than 28 years of experience as a senior Multi-Asset portfolio manager blending a fundamental approach and analytical skills with a strong quantitative background to manage risk-controlled global Multi-Asset portfolios.
Petr was previously with Wellington Management and First State Investments in Singapore since 2011, helping to build businesses within Southeast Asia with Multi-Asset solutions. Prior to that, he co-founded an investment boutique called WorldView Investment Management and Consulting in the Netherlands in 2009 after working at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in Amsterdam for 12 years.
Petr studied computational physics at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
He founded Smartkarma on a clear thesis: technology can address structural inefficiencies in financial research and reshape how investment decisions are made, with a focus on transparency, scalability, and intelligence.
Prior to Smartkarma, Raghav was Managing Director at Religare Capital Markets, following the successful exit of Aviate Global (Asia), where he was a Founding Partner. Earlier in his career, he served as Vice President, Regional Equities Sales at Citigroup.
Raghav was ranked Asia’s #1 investment idea generator from 2011 to 2013, based on a performance analysis of over one million investment ideas.
He holds a First Class Honours degree in Computer Science from University of Cambridge and a Master’s in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University.
As Chief Economist, Ray conducts research and provides macroeconomic views for Prudential. At Eastspring, he also provides in-dept macroeconomic data, trends and insights to guide investment and asset allocation decisions.
Ray’s career spans over 30 years, leading research in economics, markets and policy across three continents. He spent 22 years at Credit Suisse in various leadership roles, most recently as Global Chief Economist and Chief Investment Officer for South Asia, and Head of Asia Economics and Fixed Income Strategy. Ray started his career in Hong Kong in 1991 as Head of Economics and Equity Strategy at Crosby Securities.
Ray holds a Master of Science in Finance from London Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of North Carolina.
Robert is the Head of Investment Strategy at Fullerton Fund Management and reports directly to the Chief Investment Officer. He works closely with the CIO to formulate and drive our global investment strategy across asset classes. In his role, he is responsible for communicating our house views to clients, consultants and the media.
Robert joined Fullerton in 2020 from BP, where he was a Macro-Econometrician in the integrated Supply & Trading Group. Prior to that, he was with GIC for 10 years as a Macroeconomist/Strategist in their Economics and Fixed Income department. He was also with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Reserve Bank of New Zealand in the earlier years of his career.
Robert graduated from the Victoria University of Wellington with a Master’s Degree in Commerce and Administration (Economics)
Shawn is a Portfolio Manager in the Equities team at Fullerton Fund Management. He is the Co-Portfolio Manager for Singapore equities and Portfolio Manager for Fullerton’s SREITS strategy. He is also responsible for research coverage for the industrial and real estate sectors.
Shawn joined Fullerton in 2018 from NTUC Income, where he last held the position of Assistant Manager, Investment. At Income, Shawn was responsible for the REITS, Telecommunications and Consumer sectors in Singapore. In addition to that, he also covered the Thai market and assisted in the running of the equity portfolios.
Shawn holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Singapore Management University, and he is a CFA charterholder.
Jonathan Shyong is a seasoned professional with over 13 years of experience in Asset Management and Investment Banking.
Jonathan joined DWS in 2023, covering institutions, private banks, asset managers, family offices, platforms and brokers within Southeast Asia on ETFs and passive mandate solutions. Prior to joining DWS, Jonathan was working at Nikko Asset Management as a Product Development Director focusing on the development and launch of ETFs and mutual funds for the Singapore and Hong Kong market. Earlier in his career, Jonathan was an investment banker executing equity capital market deals and M&A transactions for Southeast Asian clients at CLSA and CIMB.
Jonathan holds a double bachelors degree in Accountancy and Business Management (major in Finance) from the Singapore Management University.
Sundeep Bihani joined Eastspring Investments in April 2008. Sundeep is a part of the Equity team and the Team Leader of the Regional Asia Value focus team. He is the Lead Portfolio Manager for the Regional Asia Equity and the Asian Dynamic Equity strategies.
Prior to joining Eastspring Investments, Sundeep was an Equity Research Analyst for 5 years covering regional telecom stocks at Lehman Brothers. Sundeep has over two decades of investment experience.
Sundeep holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) (Director’s Merit list) from India Institute of Management, Bangalore and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Calcutta University. Sundeep is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Zijian Yang is an investment director at Capital Group. He has 17 years of investment industry experience and joined Capital Group in 2025. Prior to joining Capital, Zijian held various roles focused on multi-asset investing and solution development at Allianz Global Investors, Schroders and AllianceBernstein. He holds a PhD in computational finance from the University of Essex. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. Zijian is based in Singapore.
Jenny Sofian is the Chairman of IMAS Executive Committee and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Fullerton Fund Management. As CEO, she is responsible for the strategic development and management of the firm.
With over two decades of experience in the asset management industry, Jenny has held various leadership roles, including her previous position as CEO and Head of South Asia at Amundi Singapore. There, she oversaw the company's Southeast Asian and Australian operations and served as the Regional Director of Southeast Asia at the Group Level Executive Committee. Jenny’s career started in managing insurance funds for the Insurance Corporation of Singapore.
Her active involvement in industry bodies has positively influenced and shaped the asset management industry. As a member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Financial Centre Advisory Panel, she is dedicated to advancing the industry. Jenny also serves as a director of The Institute of Banking and Finance and was conferred the IBF Fellow award in 2020. In addition, she sits on the advisory board of the Singapore Green Finance Centre, reflecting her commitment to sustainability and the environment.
Jenny's achievements have been recognised with numerous awards and accolades, including the Lifetime Achievement Award by Asia Asset Management and IBF Distinguished Fellow by The Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore.
She earned her BS in Business Administration with a major in Finance from San Diego University, graduating Summa Cum Laude.
Mandy Chew is the Head of Marketing and Communications, Southeast Asia at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. She has nearly two decades of experience in marketing and communications across global financial institutions. She began her career in public relations at HSBC in 2007, before moving into senior marketing roles in banking and capital markets. She entered the asset management industry, joining Amundi in 2015, and has been with J.P. Morgan Asset Management since 2017.
At J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Mandy plays a central role in shaping the firm’s brand and marketing strategy and communications across Singapore and seven Southeast Asian markets. She drives initiatives that reinforce the firm’s regional presence and position it as a trusted partner with different client groups, spanning intermediaries, institutional and platforms.
Mandy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from Oklahoma City University.
Find out more about our Past Conference Speakers here:
Click here for full 2025 speaker list.
Click here for full 2024 speaker list.