Dimitry AFANASIEV
Raymond Armes
Serguei BELOUSSOV
Manu BHASKARAN
Truong Gia BINH
Magnus BOCKER
Sam Goi
Herman GREF
IGOR Goryanin
Shiv KHEMKA
KO Kheng Hwa
Tarkan MANER
Alexander SHLAEN
SURYO Bambang Sulisto
Simon TAY
Datuk SYED Mohamed Syed Ibrahim
Robert TSAO
TEO Siong Seng
Vladimir TIKHONOV
Alexander TURKOT
Ruben VARDANIAN
Sunny Verghese
Xu Sitao
Dimitry Afanasiev is Chairman of Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, the largest law firm in the CIS with offices in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the UK and the USA.
Mr. Afanasiev’s areas of practice include international business transactions, dispute resolution and public policy issues. Among his clients are the Russian Federation, multinational and Russian corporations, high net worth individuals and charitable organizations. Member of the boards of directors of UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium company, and СTС Media Inc., a US public company.
Born in 1969, Mr. Afanasiev studied law at the University of Leningrad, University of Pennsylvania and St. Petersburg Institute of Law. Member of the St. Petersburg Bar Association, associate member of the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association.
Mr. Afanasiev is recommended as a leading practitioner in Russia by Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 EMEA, Best Lawyers, Who’s Who Legal, and other authoritative legal rankings. He was named by The Lawyer (UK) among the global top 40 lawyers and few times nominated as the European Managing Partner of the Year by authoritative international awards.
Raymond Armes was born on February 17, 1962 in Galle (Germany). He graduated Moscow Technical University of Communications and Information (MTUSI).
Later he worked for Deutsche Telecom. From 1991 he had been working for Siemens and in 1994 he became the head of service department of “Mobile communication and information transferring networks” subdivision in Russia. In 2000 Raymond Armes was appointed the head of “Mobile communication and data transferring networks” department at Siemens Mobile. In 2003 he became the Board member and Vice-President of Siemens in Russia.
In 2004-2006 he was appointed the head of “Telecommunications” department (Siemens Communications). In 2008 he left Nokia-Siemens for the position of President of Shyam Telelink, India.
Raymond Armes is the General Director of CJSC “NEC Neva Communications Systems” since December 1, 2010. His responsibilities include strengthening the company’s market position and developing new businesses in Russia and CIS countries.
Serguei Beloussov is a successful self-made entrepreneur. He has an outstanding nineteen-year track record in both building and leading high-performing multinational IT-companies in Europe, North America and Asia. Today, Serguei is the Chairman of Board of Directors and the Chief Architect of Parallels. Parallels is the worldwide leader in cloud enablement for service-providers and desktop virtualization software.
Mr. Beloussov is also a co-founder, the main investor and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Acronis — a world leader in advanced storage and backup management software. Total turnover of Acronis and Parallels exceeds $300 mln. Mr. Beloussov is a Senior Founding Partner at Runa Capital – an early stage venture investment firm focusing on the software industry in Russia, CIS and Eastern Europe.
Mr Bhaskaran is a Partner of the Centennial Group, a strategic advisory firm based in Washington DC. Based in Singapore, he co-ordinates the Asian business of the group and as Head of its Economic Research Practice, provides in-depth analysis of macro trends in Asia for investment institutions, government agencies and companies with interests in Asia.
Prior to this, Mr Bhaskaran supervised Asian economic and investment strategy analysis for Societe Generale’s Asian investment banking division. He was a member of the Executive Committee, in charge of Asian equity research. In 12 years with the firm, Mr Bhaskaran helped to establish the firm’s business presence in Southeast Asia and in South Asia as well as contributing to the development of the firm’s highly-rated equity research. Prior to that, Mr Bhaskaran supervised a team preparing strategic political and economic assessments of Asia for senior Singapore government officials.
Mr Bhaskaran is also Member of the Competition Appeals Board, Singapore; Member of the Board of Advisors, School of Economics, Singapore Management University; and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies Singapore. In addition, Mr Bhaskaran is also a Council Member, Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA); and Vice-President, Economics Society of Singapore.
In addition, Mr Bhaskaran also serves as a director of several companies including one that is listed on the Singapore stock exchange.
On the historic 13th September 1988, Mr. Truong Gia Binh, together with other twelve Vietnamese scientists, overcame obstacles and difficulties to established FPT Corporation. After the equitization of FPT in 2002, Mr. Truong Gia Binh became the Chairman cum Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FPT Corporation. In 2009, the position of FPT’s CEO was transferred to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, Binh concentrate on the strategic development and the organization of senior human resources of the Corporation.
Under his guidance, FPT has become the leading ICT Company in Vietnam, which is making the best effort to become a global one.
Besides being an enterprise leader, he is also an enthusiastic man towards his nation and influences IT-related policies by the Vietnamese government.
Since 1995, he has been working as the Dean of Business Administration Department of Hanoi School of Business (HBS for short), Hanoi National University. He has been the Chairman of Vietnam Software Association since 2001 and the Chairman of Vietnam Young Enterprises Organization from 1998 to 2005.
If it is true that “Ambition and think big” are mentioned in almost “successology” material as the foremost factors to be successful, they are the most prominent characters of him.
Mr. Binh graduated from Mechanical Mathematics Department of Moscow National General University named Lomonosov of the former Soviet Union, which is now Russian Federation in 1979. He successfully obtained his PhD. in 1982 in this university and was honored as an Associate Professor by the State of Vietnam in 1991.
Mr Magnus Bocker joined SGX as Chief Executive Officer on 1 December 2009. He currently serves as a non-independent director on the SGX Board.
Mr Bocker has over two decades of leadership experience in the exchange industry, including being president of NASDAQ OMX during 2008 and 2009, spearheading the creation of OMX (the Nordic Exchanges Company), and subsequently playing a key role in the merger of OMX and Nasdaq in 2008.
During his tenure with OMX, Mr Bocker served in various capacities, including CFO, COO and President of the OMX Technology division, before he became CEO of OMX AB in 2003. Under his leadership, OMX became the world’s largest provider of technology solutions for exchanges, clearing organisations and securities depositories.
Mr Bocker is currently a member of “The Mount Sinai Hospital Surgery Advisory Board” in New York and a council member of the Institute of Banking and Finance in Singapore
Sam Goi is the Executive Chairman of Tee Yih Jia Group (TYJ), a global food and beverage group with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Europe and China; and Yangzhou Junhe Real Estate Group, a growing property development company based in China.
Apart from these core businesses, Mr Goi also has investments across a range of listed and private entities in numerous industries, such as food and beverage, logistics, healthcare management, renewable energy and water treatment.
Mr Goi serves as the Enterprise 50 Club’s Honorary Past President and is the Vice Chairman of IE Singapore’s “Network China” Steering Committee as well as its regional representative for Fuzhou City and Fujian Province. He is currently the Honorary Chairman for the International Federation of Fuqing Association and is a council member for the Singapore Zhejiang Economic & Trade Council.
Established in 1969, Tee Yih Jia Food Manufacturing Pte Ltd (TYJ) is the world’s leading manufacturer of spring roll pastry and a wide range of Asian frozen convenience foods under its renowned “Spring Home” brand. Its products include roti paratha, dim sum, crepes, mini prawn rolls, glutinous rice balls, spring rolls, samosas, wonton skin, gyoza skin, Peking duck wrapper and Japanese ramen.
With its production facilities in more than 10 countries including China, Europe, Malaysia and USA, TYJ has an extensive distribution network in more than 70 countries around the world.
Whilst TYJ’s primary focus continues to be in food and beverage manufacturing, the Group has expanded its investment portfolio, and has substantial shareholdings in several publicly-listed companies involved in restaurants, property development, logistics management, healthcare management, renewable energy and water treatment.
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Herman Gref was born on 8 February, 1964 at Panfilovo, Pavlodar Region, Kazakhstan.
In 2000-2007, he was Minister for Economic Development and Trade of Russia.
Since November 2007 Mr Gref is Chairman of the Board & CEO of Sberbank.
Mr Gref serves on boards and supervisory boards of several joint stock corporations and companies.
He has a Citation from the Russian President and is a holder of Order for Distinguished Service of Grade IV.
In 2010, Mr Gref was awarded the level of Officer of the Légion d’Honneur, the highest decoration in France, for his contribution in the development of cooperation between Russia and France.
Prof Igor Goryanin is a systems biologist, who holds a Henrik Kacser Chair at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He heads the Biological Systems Unit at Okinawa Institute Science and Technology, Japan. Igor has recently been appointed as an Executive Director of the Skolkovo Biomedical cluster, Russia.
Igor graduated (MSc) in 1985 as an applied mathematician from the Computer Science Department,Moscow Engineering Physical Institute(MEPHI), where he was developing numerical methods and algorithms. Igor Goryanin spent more than twelve years working in the Institute of Biophysics, Russian Academy of Science and obtained his PhD in 1995 at the same Institute. During this time he developed DBSolve, a software for mathematical stimulation and analysis of the cellular metabolism and regulation (Igor is an author for DBSolve). From 1989-1995 he was also CEO and co-founder of Biobank Inc., Russia.
In 1995-1997 Igor worked as a Visiting Computer Scientist at the Mathematics & Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratories, USA
He joined GlaxoSmithKline (formerly known as GlaxoWellcome)in 1997. Igor was working on application of modelling and informatics techniques to the pharmaceutical research and development and drugs manufacturing industry. The whole cell modelling of organisms approach developed by Igor has been successfully used to improve drug R&D and manufacturing processes.
In 2005 Goryanin moved to Edinburgh to take the position of a Henrik Kacser Chair in Computational Systems Biology. In 2006 Igor developed one of the first Masters courses in Computational Systems Biology in the UK, currently taught at the University of Edinburgh. He co-founded Centre for Systems Biology at Edinburgh where he was a co-director (2006-2010), and established Edinburgh Centre for Bioinformatics, where he was a director (2005-2010)
SUN Group
SUN Group is involved in the Natural Resources, Real Estate and Technology businesses in the emerging markets of Russia, Central Asia, Africa and South Asia. The company is now building a significant Gold producer and explorer, SUN Gold, with core assets in Russia, Central Asia and India. SUN has been active in the Former Soviet Union since 1958 and is a member of the Russian Prime Minister’s Foreign Investment Advisory Council (FIAC). SUN is also an active investor in private equity and has sponsored several funds.
Mr. Khemka is Vice Chairman of SUN Group, the main investment vehicle for the Khemka family businesses which were founded in the early 1900s. He was educated at Eton College, Brown University, and the Lauder program at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Khemka was elected a ‘Global Leader for Tomorrow’ (GLT) at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1997, serves on the Board of Overseers of The Wharton School, on the President’s Leadership Council at Brown University, and on the International Advisory Board of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Mr. Khemka also sits on the Founder’s Council of the Moscow School of Management, Skolkovo, is Chairman of the Aikido Aikikai Foundation of India, and is a trustee of the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation and chairman of the Global Education and Leadership Foundation.
Mr Ko is currently the CEO of Singbridge International Singapore Pte Ltd. Singbridge leverages on Singapore’s track record and experience in economic and urban development to invest in and develop sustainable cities and urban solutions internationally, particularly in China. One example is the 123 sq km Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City project. Singbridge is wholly owned by Temasek Holdings. Mr Ko is also a Board Member of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co., Ltd.
Mr Ko was the Managing Director of Singapore Economic Development Board from 2001 to Aug 2008. The EDB drives Singapore’s economic growth by enhancing national competitiveness, developing industries and attracting foreign investments in the manufacturing and services sectors. Concurrently, he was the inaugural Executive Director, Clean Energy Programme Office set up by the Singapore Government to develop the clean energy industry as a strategic growth area for the economy.
Mr Ko’s career history also includes: CEO of JTC Corporation (Singapore’s largest developer and manager of industrial real estate, infrastructure and integrated developments for high tech industries), CEO of National Computer Board (responsible for developing the IT industry, implementing e-Government services and promoting pervasive IT adoption), Deputy Managing Director of EDB based in New York City, Chairman of NASDAQ-listed Pacific Internet Ltd, Chairman of Arcasia (now Ascendas) Land Singapore Pte Ltd and Chairman of Board Executive Committee of Information Technology Park Ltd (India) which developed the Bangalore IT Park.
Mr Ko attended the Advanced Management Programme, Harvard Business School and obtained a Masters in Management from Sloan School, MIT and Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Civil Engineering from Cambridge University. He was a President Scholar.
Tarkan Maner is the president and CEO of Wyse Technology. His leadership in technology innovation, customer and partner advocacy, and operational excellence has been crucial to the company’s growth, profitability, industry leadership and innovation. Mr. Maner joined Wyse in 2005 as chief marketing officer and served as president of worldwide field operations.
Previously, he led marketing, product management, business development and strategic alliance initiatives at Computer Associates (CA) and IBM. Mr. Maner received a bachelor’s degree in engineering management from Istanbul Technical University in Turkey, received an MBA from Midwestern State University, and graduated from the AMP program at Harvard Business School
Alex Shlaen founded Panache Management in 1995. Between 1990 and 2000 he was in Japan, crafting his style of ‘East meets West’ business management.
Following that he based in Hong Kong for four years, before relocating to Singapore in 2003. He also served on the board of directors for Brinks Japan, a joint venture between Nissho Iwai Corporation (at that time the sixth largest company in the world) and Brinks Inc (a Fortune500 US corporation). He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Illinois, USA, and from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, touted as the number one management program in the world by Financial Times and BusinessWeek.
Shlaen’s Panache Management (PM) represents companies that have superb and exquisite products that are outstanding in their niche markets. PM is exclusively representing Aston Martin Interiors, Tonino Lamborghini Casa, Formitalia design lines in Asia.
PM is involved in real estate related investment projects with focus on branded luxury projects, as well as providing luxury interiors & accessories for exclusive Homes, Villas, Hotels, Offices, Private Jets & Super Yachts.
As one of the few market analysts to predict a property boom at a time when global markets were in decline, Shlaen’s expertise is in demand from a select group of companies and HNWI property investors. He has written the Luxury Expert column in Property Report South East Asia magazine for the past three years.
Suryo Sulisto is a self-made businessman and entrepreneur. After earning a degree in Business from an American university, Mr. Suryo returned to Indonesia and started a shipping and marine services company In the early 1970s, fresh from college with a degree in Business from an American University, he started SATMARINDO, a shipping and marine services company, providing oil exploration services to oil companies exploring in the Java Sea.
Satmarindo became one of the largest fleet owners in South East Asia, operating 40 vessels of different types including tankers, supply vessels, derricks/lay barges, crew boats, diving vessels, etc.
In the late 90′s, the oil industry experienced a severe slump and Suryo was forced to sell most of his offshore fleet. Fortunately he had already diversified his business into many other sectors. His companies, now known as The Satmarindo Group, have activities including upstream oil production & exploration, coal mining, marine and air transportation, resort development and retail operations.
Suryo is also very active in various public and civic organizations. Among his many responsibilities, he is chairman of KADIN, the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the past, he was also a Chairman of HIPPI, the Indonesian Indigenous Business Association with two million members and he was also President of the Indonesian Business Association in Singapore (IBAS). Other roles have included: Suryo is an Eisenhower Fellow and served on the Board of Trustees of the Eisenhower Fellowship chaired by President George Bush Senior (1996 to 1998), Special Envoy for the Americas under President Habibie, member of ABAC (APEC Business Advisory Council) from 1998 until 2000, Vice Chairman of the British Chamber from 1998 till 2004, and Chair of the Indonesian National Business Alliance against AIDS/HIV.
Suryo Sulisto is also presently Chairman of the Board of PT. Bumi Resources (Tbk) a Publicly Listed Company active in Energy and Mining. Suryo was also Commissioner of the Board of Jamsostek, the largest Pension Fund and Insurance Company in Indonesia from 2001 till 2007.
Suryo received his Bachelors Degree from University of Wisconsin and Master in Business Administration from Washington University, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. He is also a graduate of Lemhannas Class-27 (The National Defense Institute of Indonesia).
Chairman
Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA)
Associate Professor
NUS Law Faculty and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Simon Tay is a public intellectual focusing on Asia and its international relations, such as US-Asia relations, the global economy and issues of regionalization. He is concurrently the chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs think-tank, professor of international law at the National University of Singapore and Senior Consultant at the WongPartnership, a leading Singaporean law firm with practice in Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East. He is also a noted commentator in international and Asian media, has served as an expert advisor for the ARF, APEC and the WTO, and is a prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction books.
He is often quoted in the international and Asian media including CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters and Channel News Asia and his op-ed columns feature regularly in regional newspapers such as Today (Singapore), the South China Morning Post (HK), The Nation (Thailand) and Jakarta Post (Indonesia).
Simon serves on regional and international bodies, including the ASEAN network of institutes of strategic and international studies (ASEAN-ISIS), an expert and eminent person for the ASEAN Regional Forum on security in the Asia Pacific, a trade expert for APEC and the WTO, and has coordinated a think tank on Liveable Cities for Philips. He also advises corporations and is a board member for Toyota, Hyflux Ltd, and the Far East Organization.
As an academic, he has published internationally and taught at Harvard law school, Yale and the Fletcher school and his 2009 book Asia Alone: the dangerous post crisis divide from America was favorably reviewed in the Economist and Financial Times. He has also written five books of stories and poems, and his 2008 novel City of Small Blessings was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize.
Simon has served as an independent, non-elected Member of the Singapore Parliament (1997-2001) and chaired the National Environment Agency (2002-08). He also initiated and ran the Singapore Volunteers Overseas, the country’s equivalent of the Peace Corps (1991-93) and led major public consultations on Singapore in the 21st century, the National Green Plan and the City Concept Plan. In 2006, he received a National Day Award from the Singapore Government.
He studied law at the National university of Singapore and, as a Fulbright scholar, received his Masters in law at Harvard, where he won the Laylin prize for the best thesis in international law.
Native Johorean and dynamic property development virtuoso Syed Mohamed Syed Ibrahim took over the helm of Iskandar Investment Berhad on 1 November 2010.
A veteran in developing urban communities, Datuk Syed Mohamed’s role as CEO includes both overseeing the strategic planning and development of the catalytic projects in Iskandar Malaysia, as well as collaborative efforts with federal and state agencies, global partners and other key players.
The mandate of Iskandar Investment is to imbed within Iskandar Malaysia, the designated economic growth corridor at the southern tip of the country, strategic projects to propel the 550,000 acre conurbation to an international standard city-region by 2025.
With his innovative approach coupled with extensive real estate development experience, Datuk Syed Mohamed plays a pivotal role as the guiding hand in taking the first wave of catalyst projects operational in 2012.
A charismatic results-oriented leader, Datuk Syed Mohamed served as Group Director of Property & Infrastructure at DRB-Hicom Berhad before taking on his current role with Iskandar Investment. As Chief Operating Officer of Knowledge Economic City Developers, he successfully led the development of the Knowledge Economic City, Madinah in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
During his tenure as CEO of TH Properties Sdn Bhd, Datuk Syed Mohamed conceptualized, repositioned and successfully turned around the smart township @Enstek in Negri Sembilan, Malaysia. Previous to that, he spearheaded the establishment of Sime Darby’s second property arm, Sime Darby Land.
Robert Tsao is currently Chairman Emeritus of United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) and PixArt Imaging Inc. He previously served as Chairman of Faraday Technologies and Unimicron Technology, and as a Deputy Director at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).
When he served as CEO and Chairman of UMC, Mr. Tsao led the company to tremendous success as the first company in Taiwan to list on the New York Stock Exchange. UMC also introduced Taiwan’s first employee stock bonus system, which helped drive the successful development of Taiwan’s electronic industry.
Mr. Tsao holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University, an MS in Management Science from National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), and Honorary Doctorate degrees from Polytechnic University, now part of New York University (NYU), and from his alma mater NCTU.
An avid art collector, Mr. Tsao is featured in the 2007 book “Great Collectors of Our Time” and in a CCTV documentary on national treasures.
President, Singapore Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry;
Managing Director of Pacific International Lines (Pte) Ltd
Teo Siong Seng (S.S.Teo) was born in Singapore in 1954. He graduated from Glasglow University in the United Kingdom in 1979 with a First Class Honours Degree in Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering. He is married with 2 sons.
Mr Teo started his shipping career with his family owned business, Pacific International Lines (Pte) Ltd (PIL) in 1979 and was appointed Managing Director in October 1992.
Mr Teo is also the Chief Executive Officer and President of PIL’s subsidiary company, Singamas Container Holdings Limited, Hong Kong.
Mr Teo’s other appointments in Government and Civic Organisations include:
- President, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Chairman, The Standard Steamship Owners’ Protection & Indemnity Association (Asia) Ltd
- Chairman, Singapore Maritime Institute Board of Directors and Chairman of the Governing Council
- Director, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
- Director, Business China
- Independent Non-Executive Director, China COSCO Holdings Co. Ltd
- Standing Council Member, China Overseas Exchange Association, Beijing
- Board Member, Duke-NUS Graduation Medical School Singapore Governing Board
Vladimir Tikhonov is one of the business founders and general director of OJSC “DIOD” from 1994. Candidate of Technical science. Academician of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS).
He graduated from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University the faculty of Bioengineering and Medical Equipment and Systems. He has several inventions in the field of Life science.
Over twenty years of combined experience in management of investment companies, telecom and it projects on major international markets.
Alexander Turkot was born in 1961 in Tashkent, USSR. He holds MSc in Computers & Electrical Engineering and PhD in Economics.
Alexander Turkot began his career as software engineer in mid 80s in former USSR. In 1990-1998 he worked in various IBM structures as a technical project leader and later as a senior project manager and strategic adviser in many large IT projects for various FORTUNE-500 companies over the world, such as Principal Financial Group (USA), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Japan), AGF Insurance (France), Norwich Union Insurance (UK), TransNet (South Africa), MIGROS (Switzerland), ELVIA Insurance (Switzerland) and others.
In 1998 Mr. Turkot founded his first start-up company, specializing in various aspects of IT-consulting for large banking and insurance institutions. During next 5 years Mr. Turkot founded several Hi-Tech start-up companies, served as Board Member and Director in several IT and Telecom companies on behalf of his clients.
In 2008 he brings to Russia MySpace (at this time world No.1 social network platform) and founded MySpace Russia, joint stock venture company in partnership with News Corporations – world leading media holding. Within next 2 years Mr. Turkot serves as CEO and Managing Partner of the company.
In November 2010, Mr. Turkot joined Skolkovo Foundation, Russia’s Silicon Valley project, on the position of Executive Director for IT Cluster where he is responsible for all IT projects in co-operation with leading universities and industry companies such as MIT, MSU, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, CISCO etc.
Mr.Turkot directly participates in strategic management of investment projects in Media, IT and Telecommunication industries in USA, Israel, UK, Russia and Ukraine.
Ruben Vardanian is Troika Dialog’s Board Chairman and CEO. An employee at Troika Dialog since the company’s founding, Mr. Vardanian became head of the company in 1992. Since that time, Mr. Vardanian has solidified his role as a key figure in Russia’s capital markets.
Mr. Vardanian is a Board member at several more entities: OJSC AvtoVAZ, OJSC KAMAZ, OJSC NOVATEK, CJSC SIBUR Holding, Standard Bank Plc and Joule Unlimited, Inc.
Mr. Vardanian is President of his latest brainchild, the SKOLKOVO Moscow School of Management. In addition, Mr. Vardanian is a member of the following groups: the Expert Council, the Presidential Council for National Priority Projects and Federal Population Policies, the International Presidential Council for creation of the International financial center in the Russian Federation, the State Council for Competitiveness and Entrepreneurial Business under the Government of the Russian Federation.
He is a laureate of many prestigious awards.
Mr. Vardanian is a graduate of Moscow State University, where he earned a degree in economics, graduating with Honors. His post-graduate resume includes training at BANCA CRT in Turin, Italy, Merrill Lynch’s Emerging Markets Training Program in New York City (1992), as well as coursework at INSEAD (France) and the Harvard Business School.
Sunny George Verghese is the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer 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 Stock Exchange (SGX) and ranks amongst the top 40 companies in Singapore in terms of market capitalization (as of July 2010).
In a short span of 21 years, Sunny and his team have built this business to S$15.7 billion in Sales Revenues for FY 2011. Today, Olam operates in 64 countries, delivering 20 products to more than 11,600 customers in 70 destination markets and employs over 14,600 people worldwide.
Sunny is 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). In April 2009, Sunny was appointed as a member of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Board of Trustees. In May 2010, he was appointed by the Ministry of Manpower to serve as the Chairman of the
Governing Council of the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI).
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. 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 (IIM), Ahmedabad and has also completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the Harvard Business School.
Chief Representative, China
The Economist Group
Director of Global Forecasting, China, EIU
Xu Sitao is Chief Representative of the Economist Group in China and Director of Advisory Services for Economist Corporate Network in China since 2004. He recently took up an additional role of Director of Global Forecasting, China, at EIU, with a mandate of serving the increasing needs of the overseas drive by Chinese companies. Xu Sitao was the Economist for Indonesia, Korea, and Thailand in Singapore, working for MMS International of Standard and Poor’s Group in 1995. He then joined Standard Chartered Bank as Regional Treasury Economist in 1996. Following this, he became Societe Generale’s Chief Economist for Asia (ex-Japan) in 2001. Most recently, Xu Sitao worked for ICBC (Asia), the overseas flagship of China’s largest bank (the world’s largest bank based on market capitalization), as the Head of Economics.
Xu Sitao holds a B.A. in Economics from Peking University, an M.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut, and a M.S. in Finance from Boston College. He has been a columnist for Caijing and 21st Century, China’s leading business publications and has contributed frequently to leading regional and international publications, such as YaleGlobal Magazine, the Asian Wall Street Journal and Financial Times. He appears regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg, and other TV shows as a commentator on Asia and an accomplished public speaker and lecturer. Xu Sitao is on the Speaker Retainer Programme for the Virginia-based CFA Institute and speaks regularly on asset allocation strategy in the context of China to institutional investors, central banks, endowment funds, and regulators in Asia, Europe, South Africa, and the US. Xu Sitao is a non-executive director of Hunan Valin, one of major steel companies in China, which is partially owned by ArcelorMittal.