Speaker Profiles

Matt BEYER Sports Agent 

Matt, a US citizen, is the Founder / General Manager of ALTIUS. With bases in Hong Kong and Beijing, Matt, the only foreigner who has been allowed to sit for the Chinese Sports Agent Certification Exam, and China’s first non-Chinese government-certified sports agent, has taken a leading position in the Chinese market for CBA players, coaches and support staff.

Matt is a known entity in the field, his work and views are featured regularly in media, including the BBC, ESPN’s Grantland, Men’s Journal and Wall Street Journal, amongst others. 

Matt graduated with honors in Chinese Literature, East Asian Studies and Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison while acting as the personal interpreter for Yi Jianlian, during his first season in the NBA. Matt worked in several management roles within public relations and government relations firms in China, before setting up ALTIUS in 2012. 

Dr Charles BRANTLY General Practitioner

Dr Brantly is a UK trained and qualified GP. He graduated from Imperial College Medical School in 2009 and spent his junior doctor years rotating through several different specialties in central London hospitals. He completed his general practice training at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington and also worked as a GP in a busy west London NHS clinic. Charles had developed an interest in Hong Kong over many years and finally made the move to relocate here with his family in 2014. As a foreign doctor, Charles is one of only a handful of candidates to complete the rigorous "Licentiate" medical process of Hong Kong. He is intimately familiar with local healthcare policies and procedures whilst having the most up to date training available to UK general practice. Charles has an old fashioned approach of offering his patients a “cradle to grave” service as a GP and enjoys the variety of his job. He also has a special interest in primary prevention, cardiovascular disease, diagnostics and musculoskeletal health.

Trista BROHIER Head of Alliance Planning and Asset Management, BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance 

Trista has 22 years Senior Management experience in a diverse range of industries, including mining, automotive and pharmaceutical.

As well as other qualifications, Trista is a Certified Practicing Accountant; she holds a Master of Commercial Law, and an Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Melbourne.

Completing her career at Ford Australia as the Program Controller of Production Development, Trista joined Sigma Pharmaceuticals as Commercial Manager and then Divisional CFO.

In March 2009 she entered the mining industry with Leighton Contractors as Group Commercial Director. Trist moved to the Minerals and Metals Group as Project Director, GM Strategy, and then GM Commercial. In 2014, Trista joined BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance as Head of Alliance Planning and Asset Management. Trista is married, and enjoys traveling and cooking.

Robert CAMPBELL Director, Hastings

Robert is currently based in Singapore and is Director, Asia at Hastings. Hastings is a specialist infrastructure fund manager, founded in Australia in 1994, with a strong track record of delivering returns to institutional investors. Robert joined Hastings in early 2015. In his current role he builds relationships with current and potential investors and partners across the region, with a focus on China and the ASEAN region.  He leads the Hastings Asia office in Singapore.

Robert has deep experience in infrastructure in several Asian markets, having been based in Beijing for over 12 years before joining Hastings. During his 13 years with McKinsey & Co in Sydney and Beijing, he was a leader in the consultancy’s infrastructure and transport practices. His clients were governments, investors and infrastructure operators, working on a range of strategy, finance, planning and performance improvement initiatives, with a focus on ports and airports. He has worked extensively in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, as well as several other markets across the region. He has also served as a Director of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce (AustCham) in Beijing since 2009.

Robert holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, as well as Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Economics (Honours) degrees from the Australian National University.

Jeremy CAO General Manager, BGI Asia Pacific

Mr Jeremy Cao is General Manager BGI Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of the broader BGI group with geographical responsibility for Southeast Asia, South Asia, Middle East and Oceania. 

Mr Cao manages BGI’s sequencing services, clinical testing, and cloud computing business for the Asia-Pacific region. He is also responsible for working with partners across the Asia-Pacific region to establish BGI’s joint research and joint ventures. 

Prior to his appointment, Mr Cao was Vice President and Director of Healthcare for BGI Europe.  In this role, he was responsible for launching clinical testing in the European market for a range of services, including the launch of Non Invasive Prenatal Testing in 24 countries.

Antony DAPIRAN Partner, Davis Polk

Mr. Dapiran is a partner in Davis Polk’s Corporate Department, resident in Hong Kong. His practice focuses on securities offerings and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Dapiran has advised on many of the largest and most complex initial public offerings (IPOs) in the China market, on transactions raising in aggregate more than $70 billion, including the IPOs of Agricultural Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest China IPOs to date.

Kunal DEY Head, Global Subsidiaries Group, Hong Kong, ANZ

Kunal Dey is Head of Global Subsidiaries, a team in Hong Kong that provides financial services to top-tier multi-national clients across ANZ’s regional network.

Kunal’s banking career spans over 15 years, during which he has held various senior leadership roles across transaction banking and relationship coverage at ANZ and previously at CBA and StanChart. A well-travelled professional, Kunal has worked across India, Australia and Hong Kong and holds a degree from the prestigious MIT. 

David L. FRIED CEO, Emerging Markets QBE Insurance Group

David Fried joined the QBE Group in April 2013 as Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific. He was appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Emerging Markets in August 2014, responsible for the strategy and business of the QBE Group in Latin America in addition to Asia Pacific. He is also a member of the QBE Group Executive Committee.

Mr. Fried has more than 30 years of experience in insurance management. He has an outstanding record of achievement and intimate understanding of the insurance sector in both emerging and developed markets. He also has extensive experience in a number of globally focused strategic roles.

Prior to joining the QBE Group, Mr. Fried was the Regional Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Asia Pacific, where he managed life and non-life businesses across 14 countries.

Mr. Fried also spent 27 years with HSBC where he served in various managerial capacities across the Americas, Asia and the United Kingdom in areas including life and non-life insurance and reinsurance, agency, broking and captive management. He was Group General Manager and Group Head of Insurance overseeing the company’s insurance operations in 54 countries with profits in excess of US$3 billion.

Mr. Fried is married with 2 children. He enjoys his time with friends and family and is a lover of the Arts, having served on the Board of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in the USA and the HK Philharmonic Orchestra.

Dr Aron H. HARILELA JP Chairman & CEO, Harilela Hotels Limited

Dr Aron Harilela is the Chairman & CEO of Harilela Hotels Limited, with responsibility for overseeing operations in hotels within S.E. Asia and Europe. He is also in charge of acquisitions for The Harilela Group. Aron joined the group at their London office in 1994 and subsequently joined the Hong Kong headquarters in 1996.

Harilela Hotels Ltd is a privately owned multinational company that has over twenty years of experience in the investment and development of hotels in the United States, Asia, Europe and Canada. The Group’s strategy is to build and develop leading positions in each of their fields of operation. The Group’s Hotel Division encompasses award winning hotels operated by InterContinental Hotels Group and Thompson Hotels.

Aron is the non-executive Chairman for Burson Marsteller in Hong Kong. He served on The Court of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for over 10 years and is now an Honorary Court Member. He served as a member on The Court of The University of Hong Kong from 2006 and is the Honorary Patron of The Hong Kong University Foundation. In September 2015, he was conferred with an Honorary University Fellowship by The University of Hong Kong. Earlier in January 2012, he was conferred with a University Fellowship from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is ranked number 2 amongst the world’s top hotel and tourism schools. He is also an Honorary Life Vice 2 President of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Foundation. 

Carrie HO Principal, HASSELL

Carrie Ho is a leader of the HASSELL retail team for China and Hong Kong.

Carrie worked in SOM New York for several years and has been a qualified interior designer since 2001 under the National Qualification Broad (USA). Since 2008, she has been a LEED Accredited Professional under the US Green Building Council.

Carrie has worked closely with architects on master planning and large scale new buildings as well as renovation projects. She has broad experience in both interior and urban design from city planning and mixed-use projects to interior planning and design.

Carrie has 18 years experience in design and construction, projects located in New York City, Hong Kong, China and Asia.  She has done few collaboration projects with world well-known design architect, eg. Daniel Libeskind for Korea Songdo City Mall. Her extensive experience enables her to deliver professional design service in a different aspect.

Brent HOOLEY Government and Stakeholder Relations Manager, Huawei Technologies

Brent Hooley is an experienced public relations and communications professional with over 20 years experience in the corporate, government and not-for-profit sector.

He has been in his current role as the Government and Stakeholder Relations Manager for Huawei Technologies in Melbourne for five years.

He has worked in some of Australia's most challenging communications environments at the highest levels of the Federal and State governments, Huawei and Telstra. 

He was a senior adviser to a Federal Minister and a Victorian State Premier. We was also a National Spokesperson for Telstra and the Environment Agency in the United Kingdom.

Richard HU Professor, University of Hong Kong

Richard Hu is Professor of Political Science, and Head of Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong. He completed undergraduate education at Peking University and then went to the United States for postgraduate studies. He received an M.A. in International Relations from School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Maryland, College Park. He has a distinguished teaching and research career in both the United States and Hong Kong. He was a John M. Olin Fellow at Harvard University, an IGCC Fellow at University of California, San Diego, and a CNAPS Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. He had academic appointments at University of California, San Diego, Monterey Institute of International Studies and University of Hong Kong, where he has taught since 1997. He has published widely in academic journals on Chinese foreign policy, policymaking in China, Sino-U.S. relations, East Asian international relations, Asian regional integration, and cross-Strait relations issues. He also served as a consultant to different corporate clients.

Lisa JUCCA Editor in Charge, Asia Financial Services

Lisa has been with Reuters for over 18 years, reporting on banks, financial regulation and European politics from London, Brussels, Milan, Zurich and since 2014 Hong Kong; she led the coverage of UBS and Credit Suisse throughout the subprime crisis and Italy’s economic downfall during the euro zone crisis. She is currently the Asia Finance Editor, in charge of Reuters’ financial file across Asia. Beyond this, Lisa has reported from 20 countries and on anything from hurricanes to soccer matches, corruption scandals and the secretive Vatican bank. She holds a MA in Humanities from the Catholic University of Milan, Italy and an MPhil in European Studies from the University of Cambridge, UK. Loves skiing on clear winter days.

Dr Sky H.L. LAU Demonstrator, University of Hong Kong

Dr Sky H.L. LAU received his PhD in Sociology at The University of Hong Kong.  He is now a demonstrator in the Department of Sociology at The University of Hong Kong.  His research interests are gender and sexuality (especially on male homosexuality), medical sociology, drug use, and HIV/AIDS.  He is the author of Gay Specificity in Hong Kong (Roundtable Synergy Books, 2010).

Lawrence LUI Wai-ching Global Communications Director, Yidan Prize Foundation

Mr. Lawrence Lui is the Global Communications Director of Yidan Prize Foundation.

Prior to his current position, he has nearly a decade of experience in consultancy. While he founded the first public relations firm specifically for social enterprises in Hong Kong, he had experience in serving multinational clients when he was a consultant of Weber Shandwick. In 2015, he was instrumental in helping Hong Kong to win the bid for organizing Social Enterprise World Forum.

As an enthusiast in volunteering, he co-founded IDEA Project, building schools in developing countries such as Cambodia. He was also named Clinton Global Initiative University Scholar and Schoenfeld Foundation ECSEL Fellow.

Mr. Lui holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Science in Public Relations and Advertising from Hong Kong Baptist University.

Mary MACLEOD CFO, Institutional Banking, ANZ

Mary MacLeod is a banker with over 20 years of experience in restructuring, building and managing businesses. She joined ANZ in October 2014 as CFO of the International and Institutional Banking Division.

Mary joined ICBC, the world’s largest bank, in January 2011 as deputy Chief Executive Officer of ICBC International, ICBC’s investment banking arm. She was the first and only senior foreign employee of ICBC and one of only a handful of foreigners to work in a senior position in a Chinese SOE. As Deputy CEO and COO, Mary was responsible for building the policies, processes and infrastructure required to operate an International Investment Bank. She played a key role in developing and implementing the strategy of the Company, and was Chairman or a member of all major internal investment, risk and management committees.

An important part of this role was bringing about cultural change, and defining the culture in a manner that would enable the Investment Bank to thrive while sitting comfortably within a large Chinese commercial banking organisation.

Prior to ICBC, Mary spent over 20 years and Deutsche Bank in New Zealand, Australia and Asia in a variety of roles including Risk, structured Finance and M&A. Her last role was COO of Deutsche Bank’s Banking Division for Asia Pacific.

Mary holds a bachelor of Commerce and Administration degree from Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in accountancy.

A New Zealander, Mary is married with two children, aged 9 and 7. 

Hugh MADDEN CTO and Co­founder, ANX International

Hugh is a financial markets and security professional with 17 years of experience and has expertise in developing and managing institutional/retail financial industry technology operations, and architecting low latency trading platforms.

Hugh is also a successful serial entrepreneur, formerly running a Linux security company and an engineering firm delivering risk and trading systems to multiple Investment Banks. Hugh has previously served in HSBC, AXA, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Lloyds, HBOS and State Street.

In December 2015, Madden was invited to be a speaker at FINNOVASIA held in Hong Kong. He spoke on the issue of the scalability of digital assets, establishing his opinion that the concerns about blockchain’s ability to scale are a "red herring".

In March 2016, Madden was invited as a speaker in “The Future of Digital Banking: Asia Pacific” conference in Singapore alongside the heads of major institutions such as HSBC, Google, MasterCard and DBS. His topic was on the blockchain hype cycle. In May 2016, Madden spoke at the Cloud Expo Asia in Hong Kong about blockchain in the cloud, and how to bring software to the market as a service product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no9vbjyDGrs.

Janaline OH Deputy Consul-General, Australian Consulate-General

Janaline Oh assumed her post as Deputy Consul-General for Australia in Hong Kong in January 2014. She is a career foreign service officer with previous postings in Port Moresby, Brussels and Beijing. Her last appointment in Canberra was as Director of G20 projects in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Ms Oh holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (MA Slavonic Languages) and the University of Melbourne (Master of Public and International Law). She speaks Mandarin, French and Russian. She is married with two children.

Simon PARSONS Executive Director, PTW Architects

Simon joined PTW Architects in 1996, and has been involved with several major residential, urban design, commercial and cultural projects. Simon’s role as project leader involves him in a range of projects over all sectors.

Simon has led diverse consultant teams on a series of large scale complex projects, such as the $107m extension to the National Gallery of Australia, the $300m+ Woden Green mixed use project, and the Mobbs Lane Project in Epping. Simon has had a key role on the competition teams of the successful Olympic village and Walsh Bay redevelopment bids. Simon has experience in areas of architecture ranging from master planning through to detailed construction issues.

Elizabeth PEAK Senior Officer,  Australia’s embassy in Beijing, China

Ms Peak is a senior career officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister-Counsellor (Economic) at Australia’s embassy in Beijing, China.

Ms Peak has previously held the role of Assistant Secretary South-East Asia Services and Investment Branch where she led services, investment and e‑commerce in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations and was deputy chief negotiator of the Australia-Indonesia Closer Economic Partnership Agreement and the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement.   From 2010-11 Ms Peak was legal counsel for negotiations towards Australia’s free trade agreements with China, Korea and Japan. 

Ms Peak has represented Australia in the United Nations on climate change extensively, including as deputy head of delegation in 2011 and Director of the inaugural Office of International Climate Law in 2008-09. Ms Peak has served overseas as Counsellor in Ottawa from 2006-08. Prior to joining DFAT, Ms Peak was a lawyer at Freehills and Dwyer Durack.  

She holds an Executive Masters of Business Administration from Kellogg-HKUST, Masters of Law (International Law) from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland.

She is a Director on the Board of the Australian Friends of Asha, which followed her work with Asha in India to establish an internship and mentorship program for children from slum communities in 2011-14.

Ronnie POTEL Investor

Ronnie is a trained barrister in the United Kingdom and is a member of the Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inn. A career investment banker specialising in the Asia Pacific capital markets with senior regional and global roles at Deutsche Bank, Citibank, Standard Chartered and Morgan Stanley. Ronnie has raised over US$25bn for corporates globally across all sectors and stages of business. Following his investment-banking career Ronnie has focused on the private capital markets investing and advising companies as a principal and active board member for both corporates and private equity. The portfolio spans healthcare, tech, food, and environmental opportunities. Ronnie has spent 15 years in Asia-Pacific and has covered the entire region actively during that period transacting from India east through to Australia. A lover of all things technology related Ronnie spends meaningful time on the West Coast.

Carli RENZI Head of Business Execution, International, ANZ

Carli commenced the role as Head of Business Execution, International in late June this year. This role actively supports execution of the Group Executive, International’s agenda. It is a broad generalist role that encompasses strategy, budgeting and risk through to customer and people processes.

Prior to commencing this role, Carli worked within Client Insights & Solutions across both Industry Insights and Solutions Design. Her speciality was Financial Institutions and she has worked closely with FIG over the last 5 years across both Australia and Asia.

Over the last 12 months, Carli has authored several thought leadership papers and spoke publicly on a range of topics including bank regulatory capital developments, Asia Pacific liquidity views and ASEAN banking strategies. She has worked with a number of clients directly on high profile deals and her views have been shared in FIG’s quarterly updates to clients.

Outside of work, Carli lives with husband, Lucas; son, Leo; daughter, Asha; and Jack Russell, Bridey (13yrs). Her 2yr old son and 7 mth old daughter take up most of her spare time, but she is an avid fighter when she gets the chance having represented Australia in Judo (Olympics, 2012), Freestyle Wrestling (Commonwealth Games, 2010) and MMA.

Alexandre TABBAKH Financial Markets Professional, XNotes

Alexandre is a financial markets professional who acquired deep knowledge on both trading and sales side from his experience across Paris, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. He started his career as Trader assistant in the Exotic derivatives divisions at Societe Generale CIB where he worked on the development and management of complex products, and managed the creation of product events management platforms. He also had the opportunity to work as multi-asset Investment Advisor for European high net worth clients at Societe Generale Private Banking. Prior to joining XNotes in March 2016, Alexandre was a Sales assistant on FX & Rates derivatives at JP Morgan.

He is passionate about new technologies and is particularly amazed with the possibilities brought by the Blockchain. This passion has grown into a drive to change many aspects of our global financial and social systems to be more efficient, transparent, and secure.

Alexandre is driving the next generation of XNotes use cases and develop game-changing solutions in close relationship with clients.

Alexandre graduated from ISC Paris Business School and Russian University of Economics in Moscow with degrees in finance and economics.

Peter SAWCZAK Assistant Secretary, Strategic Policy Branch, Australian Department of Defence

Peter Sawczak was appointed Assistant Secretary, Strategic Policy Branch, at the Australian Department of Defence in October 2016.

Before joining Defence, Dr Sawczak was Head of Political Affairs at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.  He spearheaded the OPCW’s diplomatic and communications strategies for the mission to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons and acted as OPCW Spokesperson and the Director-General’s speechwriter, including for the ceremony awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the OPCW in 2013.  More recently, Dr Sawczak was closely engaged in strategic planning for the OPCW’s transition in mission focus from verifying destruction of chemical weapons to addressing emerging threats, such as chemical terrorism.

Prior to the OPCW, Dr Sawczak enjoyed a wide-ranging career at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and in the Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.  Over 2011-12, he served as the Minister’s adviser on international security and strategic policy issues and, from 2012 until 2013, as Director of Levant and Iran Section.  He undertook several visits to the Middle East over this time and was directly engaged in policy formulation on Iran and Syria.

Dr Sawczak served as Political Counsellor in Washington from 2008-2010, where he played an important advisory role on non-proliferation and deterrence-related issues at the time of the US Nuclear Posture Review and the first Nuclear Security Summit.  He also coordinated the Australian Government’s submission to the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States.  Over the course of a posting to Brussels in 2006-2008, Dr Sawczak represented Australia’s interests at NATO, helping to expand Australia’s engagement in decision-shaping related to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan and secure participation by the Australian Prime Minister in the 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest.

Before these postings, Dr Sawczak was Director of Counter-Proliferation at DFAT, where he led several initiatives, including a regional outreach and assistance program as well as the preparation and launch of a major policy paper in late 2005 entitled Weapons of Mass Destruction: Australia’s Role in Fighting Proliferation.  He coordinated Australia’s hosting of the second meeting of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and subsequent efforts to expand participation in the PSI in the Asia-Pacific region.  Other positions he has held include Defence Adviser at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Second Secretary at the Australian Embassy in Moscow.

Dr Sawczak holds a PhD in Slavic Studies from Monash University, where he is an Adjunct Research Fellow.  He had previously undertaken post-graduate research at the Free University of Berlin and Harvard University, the latter as a Frank Know Memorial Fellow.  He is fluent in French, German, Russian and Ukrainian.

Dr Sawczak is married and has three children. 

SHEN Tingting Director, Asia Catalyst

Shen Tingting has been the Director of Advocacy, Research and Policy at Asia Catalyst since 2012. Tingting has been a prominent HIV/AIDS and human rights advocate in Beijing, China, and has been working with marginalized communities since her college days. In 2007, Tingting co-founded the Korekata AIDS Law Center with Li Dan, and until 2012 she was the deputy director of its parent organization, Dongjen Center for Human Rights Education and Action, where she founded and managed an outreach program for sex workers in Beijing. Tingting received her MA in Social Welfare from Renmin University of China in 2009, and served as a visiting researchfellow at Asia Catalyst from March -August 2012. Currently Tingting serves as a member of theUNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights. Her special research interest include; Compensation for the victims of China’s blood disaster, discrimination against people living with HIV in health care settings, arbitrary detention for female sex worker, transgender and health, law enforcement practice, sex work and HIV.

Eric SIN Man-hon & A Hao Advocates, Midnight Blue

Eric Sin Man-hon is an advocate for Midnight Blue, an NGO that works with both male and transgender sex workers. Eric has invited A Hao who is a sex worker from Mainland China. He first engaged sex worker in 2004 in China, and since 2011 he has relocated to Hong Kong to continues sex work. Throughout the years, he has actively involved in Midnight Blue as community member and volunteer.

Leonie VALENTINE Managing Director, Sales & Operations, Google Hong Kong

Leonie Valentine is Managing Director, Sales & Operations of Google Hong Kong. She has over 20 years of experience in marketing and sales, and has served as Director of Customer Experience for Asia Pacific at Google for the past two years. 

Prior to joining Google, Leonie was Executive Vice President, Customer Service & Operations at CSL Limited. Earlier, she held the position of Chief of Staff for Telstra International Group, and was a member of the Executive Leadership Team charged with managing Telstra Corp's business growth and assets outside of Australia and New Zealand.

Leonie holds an Executive Certificate in Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship of Swinburne University, a Master's Degree in Communication Management from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Bachelor of Science from Melbourne University.

Leonie actively supports The Women's Foundation in Hong Kong, and is a member of the Women on Boards Advisory Panel (30% Club) and the Technology Advisory Committee. She was a board member for HandsOn Hong Kong from 2014-16, and is studying Chinese to add depth to her international business experience.

Kasper WAN

Kaspar (aka Siu-Keung) is a trans-man from Hong Kong. The ‘X’ represents his acquired gender X (on his Australian passport). He works for the transgender community and advocates for transgender rights in Hong Kong. He is working on an EOC funded research project and has represented Hong Kong at a few international conferences (WPATH, “Being LGBT in Asia”, ICAAP, Asia Pacific Trans Health Blueprint Meeting) as a trans-man. Kaspar frequently shares his experience as a transgender person at universities (HKU, CUHK, BU, City U, HKIEd, etc.), corporates (like Goldman Sachs), media (newspaper, TV, radio), and at community events (like IDAHOT).

Leonhard WEESE President, Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong

Leonhard is an expert on Bitcoin, Information Security and Online Privacy. He currently serves as president of the Bitcoin Association in Hong Kong and as a mentor at the Fintech Supercharger. He holds a degree in statistics from the University of Hong Kong and economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Adam WORTHINGTON Managing Director, Macquarie Group

Adam is a Managing Director in Macquarie Capital heading up their Private Capital Markets Infrastructure initiatives, focussing on Asian inbound and outbound capital flows. Whilst playing a part of Macquarie Capital's US$44bn in capital flows in 2015, Adam was primarily responsible in driving Macquarie's investment and raising capital for Tigris Water Fund, where they achieved a successful first close and are on track to achieve a final close of US$400m by FY16. Adam is also a director of the platform and an alternate member of the IC.

Previously Adam worked in Macquarie Securities, where Adam lived in Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong and worked in various country and sector head roles, including the Head of Coal, Utilities and Renewables across Asia, and Head of Asean Emerging Leaders. Adam has been particularly successful in primary and secondary transactions incudling Straits Asia Resources, Bayan Resources, Indika, Huaneng Renewables, Datang Renewables, and China Gas.

Prior to Macquarie, Adam worked Morgan Stanley in London, as a senior analyst covering the Tech, Telecoms and business services sectors for 4 years. 

Adam started his career at KPMG, where he was assistant manager, specializing in audit, IT consulting, and transaction services/corporate finance predominantly in the financial services sector.

Adam is a qualified Chartered Accountant (Australia), and has a bachelor of commerce from the University of Queensland.

Jemma XU CEO and cofounder, Tripalocal

Jemma is the CEO and cofounder of Tripalocal which, with its Chinese subsidiary, is a platform connecting Chinese schools, students and parents to short term international educational and tourism experiences. Working directly with Chinese high schools, vocational institutes and universities as well as educational institutes in Australia, New Zealand and US, Tripalocal has a presence across eleven cities in six provinces in China. Founded in late 2014, Tripalocal closed an angel round of A$850,000 in 2015 led by a Chinese VC. Tripalocal was a graduate of the Telstra muru-D startup incubator program in 2015. Tripalocal was a finalist in the TechCrunch China competition 2014. 

As an angel investor, Jemma is active in the cross border venture space. She is an Advisory Board Member to Haymarket HQ in Sydney, the first co-working space in Australia for startups with ambitions for the China market. In April 2016, Jemma was invited by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to launch the Australian startup landing pad in Shanghai and was subsequently interviewed by the Prime Minister.

Prior to her startup life, Jemma was an investment banker at Macquarie Capital in Melbourne with a focus on M&A and capital raising opportunities in the natural resources sector, advising mainly large Chinese state owned entities.

As an Australian – Chinese, Jemma has native fluency in Mandarin Chinese, despite only spending a few years of her childhood in China. During her university years, Jemma was awarded a Chinese government language scholarship to study intensive Chinese in Beijing and received a Universitas 21 Scholarship to complete courses in Dublin Ireland. Jemma represented the University of Melbourne as a National finalist in the UBS Investment Banking Competition and won the inaugural AT Kearney Management Consulting competition. 

Jemma has been actively involved with the Australia – China Young Professionals Initiative since it was founded in 2010 and served as its National Executive – Treasurer until 2015. 

Jemma’s passion for China goes beyond her professional interests. She volunteered in rural Guizhou and Gansu provinces with the Overseas China Education Foundation (OCEF) to experience firsthand poverty and educational issues in rural China.

Jemma completed a double bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering (Honours) / Commerce from the University of Melbourne in 2011. Jemma also holds an Associate Diploma in Music on Clarinet with Distinction. 

James ZHOU Head of Infrastructure, Utilities and Renewables China

• Focusing on Chinese clients in infrastructure/utilities sector
• Experience include merger & acquisition, debt restructuring and project finance advisory
• Prior to Macquarie, James worked at Evercore and PricewaterhouseCoopers
• CFA charter holder and qualified CA

Paul ZIMMERMAN CEO, Designing Hong Kong

Paul Zimmerman made Hong Kong his home in 1984. He is the Pokfulam District Councillor and CEO of Designing Hong Kong, a non-profit organization. Paul promotes interventions wherever he sees bad planning and wherever he sees that policies, processes or institutions are not working the way they should. Paul has a Masters in Social Science (Economics) from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and a Masters of Arts (Transport Policy and Planning) from The University of Hong Kong. Visit www.paulzimmerman.hk and www.designinghongkong.com for more information.