Events / Philanthropy Asia Summit 2021 / Featured Speakers
Alejandro Litovsky
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Earth Security
Amy Bellinger
Head, Programs, The Education Commission
Anderson Tanoto
Manging Director, RGE
Trustee, Tanoto Foundation
August Hatecke
Country Head Singapore, Co-Head Wealth Management Asia Pacific, UBS AG
Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Temasek Holdings
Dr Bruce Gellin
Senior Vice President and Chief, Global Public Health Strategy, The Rockefeller Foundation
Dr David H. Peters
Chair, Department of International Health, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dr Geetha Murali
Chief Executive Officer, Room to Read
Dr Hsien-Hsien Lei
Chief Executive Officer, The American Chamber of Commerce, Singapore Health Advisory Board Member, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dr Jennifer Nuzzo
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dr Natasha Howard
Associate Professor, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore
Dr Piya Hanvoravongchai
Secretary General, Thai National Health Foundation
Dr Rawlance Ndejjo
Research Associate, Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health Makerere University, School of Public Health
Dr Sofonias Tessema
Head, Pathogen Genomics, Africa CDC
Dr Thanat Chookajorn
Head, Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University
Ellen Martin
Director, Impact and Insights, The Circulate Initiative
Fernando Zobel de Ayala
President and Chief Executive Officer, Ayala Corporation
Co-Chair, Board of Trustees, Ayala Foundation
Gordon Brown
United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education
Chair, The Education Commission Former Prime Minister, United Kingdom
Helman Sitohang
Chair, ASEAN Board, Room to Read
Hugh Lim
Executive Director, Centre for Liveable Cities
Jamie Lee
Deputy News Editor, The Business Times
Jennifer Lewis
Head, Philanthropy Advocates, Temasek Foundation
Joel Bacha
Global Project Director, Room to Read
Khaloula del Prado
Global Youth Advocate for Education
Lauren Sorkin
Executive Director, Resilient Cities Network
Li Xin
Vice President, Caixin Media
Managing Director, Caixin Global
Michael R. Bloomberg
Founder, Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies
Ng Boon Heong
Chief Executive Officer, Temasek Foundation
Professor Lee Ju-Ho
Chairperson, Education Commission Asia Commissioner, The Education Commission
Former Minster Education, Science and Technology, Republic of Korea
Stefan Nachuk
Senior Advisor, Health Systems, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Republic of Singapore
Wang Shi
Founder, China Vanke
Chairman, Vanke Foundation
Zuhaila binti Ahmad Zubel
Director, Town Planning Department and Chief Resilience Officer, Melaka Historic City Council

Alejandro Litovsky

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Earth Security

Mr Alejandro Litovsky is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Earth Security, an organisation that is making it possible for global financial institutions to take action on the financing of the Earth’s natural capital. Over the past 20 years, he has partnered with global banks, multinational companies and public financial institutions, driving change in the recognition of nature as an asset and the development of innovative strategies and products.


From 2004 to 2010, he held senior positions at London-based sustainability consultancies AccountAbility and Volans. He was also a senior adviser to The Tällberg Foundation in Stockholm and worked with Shell International’s Future Scenarios Team.


From 1998 to 2003, Mr Litovsky worked for the Swiss-based AVINA Foundation to develop a portfolio of impact investments in Argentina with a focus on sustainable oceans. He supported FARN (Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales), Argentina's leading environmental governance think tank, to develop and facilitate a response to the collapse of the country's commercial fisheries.

Mr Litovsky has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Torcuato Di Tella University in Argentina, where he received the Gold Medal for highest academic achievement (1999).

Amy Bellinger

Head, Programs, The Education Commission

Ms Amy Bellinger is Head of Programs for the Education Commission. She established and leads the Education Workforce Initiative and High Touch High Tech Initiative, and supports Education Commission’s strategy. Previously, Ms Bellinger was Head of International Education at Ark (Absolute Return for Kids) where she developed and implemented Ark’s first international education strategy. She was also Deputy Chief Executive of Future Leaders, a UK-focused school leadership organisation.


Ms Bellinger’s previous career was as a management consultant for Deloitte, IBM, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.


She has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Geography with European Study from the University of Exeter and is based in Bristol, United Kingdom.

Anderson Tanoto

Manging Director, RGE
Trustee, Tanoto Foundation

Mr Anderson Tanoto is actively involved in the Tanoto Foundation which was founded in 1981 by the Tanoto family to improve the lives of communities through education, leadership development, and medical philanthropy.


Mr Tanoto drives programmes focused on forging international partnerships with reputable universities, and developing leaders of the next generation. He directed the Tanoto Foundation’s COVID-19 relief efforts which benefitted communities in Indonesia and China. Championing sustainable development and the localisation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), he co-founded Asia’s first SDG Academy in 2019 with Indonesia’s Ministry of National Development Planning and the UN Development Programme. In the same year, Mr Tanoto was recognised by Forbes as one of “Asia’s 2019 Heroes Of Philanthropy”.


Mr Tanoto is also Managing Director of Royal Golden Eagle – a group of world-class companies in resource-based manufacturing industries operating in Indonesia, China, Brazil, and Canada, with over US$20 billion in assets and a workforce of over 60,000 people.

A young emerging business leader, he serves as Chairman for the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (KADIN) Brazil Committee, and has been KADIN’s representative to Canada since 2018. Mr Tanoto is a Champion for Nature at the World Economic Forum (WEF). He has held memberships in the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020’s Southeast Asia Regional Committee, Wharton’s Executive Board for Asia, and WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Forests (2015 to 2016).

Mr Tanoto was a consultant at Bain & Company and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

August Hatecke

Country Head Singapore, Co-Head Wealth Management Asia Pacific, UBS AG

Mr August Hatecke was appointed Co-Head Wealth Management Asia Pacific at UBS AG with effect from 1 January 2019 and Country Head Singapore on 19 February 2019. He has been Head of UBS Wealth Management South East Asia since April 2016, and Head of UBS Wealth since June 2017. Mr Hatecke previously served as UBS Head of Ultra High Net Worth and Global Family Office Switzerland, based in Zurich, where he was responsible for managing the needs of wealthy clients in Switzerland.


Mr Hatecke started his career with the investment banking arm of SBC O'Connor Warburg Dillon Read in 1992 before moving to private banking where he was working on active advisory, portfolio management, treasury and execution. He was with Credit Suisse from 2001 to 2010, where he headed teams in Private Banking Switzerland, Investment Services and Products, as well as Trading and Sales. Since returning to UBS in 2010, he has been responsible for the ultra high net worth and global family office business for UBS Switzerland.


Mr Hatecke holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Zurich.

Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara

Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Temasek Holdings

Mr Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara joined Temasek in September 2010. He was appointed Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Temasek Holdings on 1 October 2021 and is concurrently the CEO of Temasek International, a position he has held since April 2019.


Mr Sandrasegara has held various leadership roles in Temasek, including Head of the Investment, the Portfolio Management and the Enterprise Development Groups. He has also led the Temasek market teams in Singapore and the Americas.


Mr Sandrasegara serves on the boards of the National Research Foundation in Singapore, Enterprise Singapore and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is also a member of the Future Economy Council, the Financial Centre Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the National Jobs Council.


He graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws and obtained a Master of Law from the University of Cambridge.

Dr Bruce Gellin

Senior Vice President and Chief, Global Public Health Strategy, The Rockefeller Foundation

Dr Bruce Gellin is the Chief of Global Public Health Strategy at The Rockefeller Foundation. In this role, he leads the Global Vaccination Initiative to improve equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. He also serves as a key member of the foundation’s Pandemic Prevention Institute, which aims to avert future pandemics by identifying and responding to the earliest alerts of a disease outbreak.


Dr Gellin has held numerous positions leading and advising on global immunisation, strategic policy development, and pandemic preparedness and response at national, multinational, non-governmental, and institutional organisations and entities. These entities include the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization, the National Network for Immunization Information, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Georgetown University School of Medicine.


Dr Gellin is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Morehead Scholar) Cornell University Medical College, and the Columbia University School of Public Health. He has written extensively about the public health aspects of infectious diseases in medical and non-medical texts and peer-reviewed medical literature. He also served as a medical adviser to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Dr David H. Peters

Chair, Department of International Health, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Dr David H. Peters is Professor and Chair of the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Director of the Johns Hopkins Alliance for a Healthier World. He is a specialist in international health systems, and has worked as a researcher, policy adviser, educator, bureaucrat, manager, and clinician over the last two decades.

Previously, he worked as a senior public health specialist at the World Bank, and as Director of the Health Systems programme at Johns Hopkins. He is the Research Director for the Future Health Systems research consortium. He pioneered the development of sector-wide approaches in health, and created the first national balanced scorecard to assess and manage health services in Afghanistan, while writing seven books and over 100 articles.

His teaching and research focuses on the performance of health systems; implementation research methods; poverty and health systems; innovations in organisation technology, and financing of health systems; the role of the private sector; human resource management; and ways to use donor assistance to strengthen local capacity in low-income countries.

Dr Geetha Murali

Chief Executive Officer, Room to Read

Dr Geetha Murali is the Chief Executive Officer of Room to Read, a leading international education organisation that believes “world change starts with educated children”. Room to Read transforms the lives of millions of children through education, creating a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality. Room to Read’s quality programmes have reached 20 countries and benefitted more than 23 million children to date.

Dr Murali joined Room to Read in 2009 and has over 20 years of diverse experience across the corporate and non-profit sectors. She oversees the resourcing of approximately 60 Room to Read offices and their implementation of high-quality literacy and gender equality programmes. Dr Murali is also responsible for 1,600 employees worldwide, and a global network of boards, investors and volunteer chapters.

Dr Murali is a member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council, a social impact officer and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization. She serves on the board of directors for the Global Press Institute. She is a Founding Circle member and Social Impact Chair of Neythri, a global community of South Asian professional women. She has also been recognised by WIRED magazine as a leader who will shape the next 25 years.

Dr Murali received a Master of Science in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in South Asian Politics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr Hsien-Hsien Lei

Chief Executive Officer, The American Chamber of Commerce, Singapore Health Advisory Board Member, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Dr Hsien-Hsien Lei is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (AmCham) — the largest and the most active international business association in Singapore and Southeast Asia, with over 6,000 members representing nearly 550 companies. Dr Lei is also Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, member of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Advisory Board, member of the Singapore Institute of Directors Multinational Corporations Committee, and a founding member of the Precision Public Health Asia Society.

Prior to AmCham, Dr Lei was Vice President of Medical and Scientific Affairs at Medtronic Asia Pacific, where she was responsible for the Medtronic Innovation Centers in Japan and Korea, training and education, and the company’s health systems transformation strategy in the region. Dr Lei has extensive experience in scientific affairs, corporate and healthcare communications, advertising, public relations, and government affairs.

Dr Lei has lived and worked in the United States, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and is now based in Singapore. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (with honours) in Human Biology from Stanford University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she was the recipient of a United States National Institutes of Health cardiovascular disease epidemiology training grant. Her doctoral thesis explored the genetic epidemiology of end-stage renal disease and type 2 diabetes. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the National Taiwan University Hospital in the Department of Internal Medicine.

Dr Jennifer Nuzzo

Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Dr Jennifer Nuzzo is a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with joint appointments in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is also a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. An epidemiologist by training, her work focuses on global health security, with a focus on pandemic preparedness, outbreak detection and response, health systems as they relate to global health security, biosurveillance, and infectious disease diagnostics. She directs the Outbreak Observatory, which conducts, in partnership with frontline public health practitioners, operational research to improve outbreak preparedness and response.


Dr Nuzzo is also the lead epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Testing Insights Initiative housed within the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Together with colleagues from the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Economist Intelligence Unit, she co-leads the development of the first-ever Global Health Security Index, which benchmarks 195 countries’ public health and healthcare capacities and capabilities, their commitment to international norms and global health security financing, and socioeconomic, political, and environmental risk environments. Previously, she conducted research related to the Affordable Care Act, tuberculosis control, foodborne outbreaks, and water security. Dr Nuzzo is an associate editor of the peer-reviewed journal Health Security.


Dr Nuzzo received a Doctor of Philosophy in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a Master of Science in Environmental Health from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers University.

Dr Natasha Howard

Associate Professor, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore

Dr Natasha Howard holds a dual associate professorship at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She is an interdisciplinary health policy and systems researcher, with over 20 years’ experience in low and middle-income countries. Her research focuses on infectious disease control policy and practice, and strengthening health system responses during protracted adversity (e.g. fragility and conflict, complex emergencies, displacement). Her teaching and engagement has included developing and running postgraduate and training courses; editing and writing textbooks, strategies, and briefs; supervising and mentoring students and professionals; and running participatory stakeholder engagement workshops.

Dr Piya Hanvoravongchai

Secretary General, Thai National Health Foundation

Dr Piya Hanvoravongchai is a public health physician with interests in international health policy and health economics. His work focuses on the areas of health system development, healthcare financing, health workforce management, and health policy. He currently serves as Program Director of The Equity Initiative. He is also the China Medical Board (CMB) Foundation Thailand Representative.


Dr Hanvoravongchai is a lecturer and an assistant director of the Thailand Research Center for Health Services System at Chulalongkorn University. Dr Hanvoravongchai advises the Office of the Civil Service Commission and Ministry of Public Health in Thailand on health workforce planning and management. He serves on a number of committees for the Thailand National Health Security Office, Thailand Social Security Fund, and Thai Health Promotion Foundation. Prior to joining CMB, Dr Hanvoravongchai was a lecturer at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Coordinator of the Asia-Pacific Alliance on Human Resources for Health, and a research fellow at the International Policy Program in Thailand. He received his Doctor of Medicine from Mahidol University in Thailand, his Master of Science in International Health Policy from London School of Economics, and Doctor of Science in Global Health and Population from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr Rawlance Ndejjo

Research Associate, Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health Makerere University, School of Public Health

Dr Rawlance Ndejjo is an academic and researcher at the Makerere University School of Public Health with over eight years of experience in teaching and public health research. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Sciences from the University of Antwerp in Belgium, along with other trainings in environmental health. Dr Ndejjo’s research areas include community health and COVID-19. In 2020, he co-authored a rapid review on community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control. He has also worked with marginalised groups such as rural and slum communities, including using participatory methodologies such as photovoice. Dr Ndejjo is part of a research team evaluating the COVID-19 response in East, Central and West Africa where he leads the work on the unintended consequences of the interventions employed.

Dr Sofonias Tessema

Head, Pathogen Genomics, Africa CDC

Dr Thanat Chookajorn

Head, Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University

Dr Thanat Chookajorn is Head of the Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine Unit at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Medical Sciences from Mahidol University, and Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology from Cornell University, followed by postdoctoral training at Harvard University on malaria genetics. He and his team combine the power of molecular biology and genetics to combat malaria drug resistance in Southeast Asia. He advocates for genomic literacy in science education and public health control in Thailand by organising several academic courses and training opportunities in the region. Dr Chookajorn has launched the COVID-19 Network Investigations Alliance with a team of international scientists to monitor COVID-19 outbreaks in Thailand.

Ellen Martin

Director, Impact and Insights, The Circulate Initiative

Ms Ellen Martin is Director of Impact and Insights at The Circulate Initiative (TCI), a nonprofit organisation whose mission is to solve the ocean plastic pollution challenge by creating more circular, inclusive, and investible waste management and recycling systems in emerging markets. In her role, Ms Martin ensures TCI and its partners connect with the data and learning they need to inform strategies that prevent plastic leakage and advance an inclusive, circular economy. Ms Martin also chairs TCI’s Impact Metrics Working Group and serves as Chief Impact Officer at Circulate Capital.

Fernando Zobel de Ayala

President and Chief Executive Officer, Ayala Corporation
Co-Chair, Board of Trustees, Ayala Foundation

Mr Fernando Zobel de Ayala is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ayala Corporation and is part of the seventh generation in the family overseeing the company.


Mr Zobel de Ayala is Board Chairman of Ayala Land and AC Energy, Vice Chairman of Bank of the Philippine Islands, Co-Vice Chairman of Globe Telecom, and a director of Manila Water and Pilipinas Shell Corporation. In addition to his roles in publicly listed companies, he also serves on the board of INSEAD and Georgetown University, and is a member of the Chief Executives Organization.


Mr Zobel de Ayala is also involved in various international and local non-profit organisations. He chairs the steering committee of Habitat for Humanity International’s Asia Pacific Capital Campaign, serves on the board of the Asia Society, and is a member of the Asia Philanthropy Circle. In the Philippines, he is a board member of Ayala Foundation, Caritas Manila, and the Pilipinas Shell Foundation.


Mr Zobel de Ayala holds a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Harvard College and a Certificate in Global Management from INSEAD, France.

Gordon Brown

United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education
Chair, The Education Commission Former Prime Minister, United Kingdom

Mr Gordon Brown served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010, Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1997 to 2007, and as a Member of Parliament in his home county of Fife, Scotland, from 1983 to 2015.


He is the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and is a passionate advocate for the rights of children. He believes every girl and boy deserves the opportunity of an education, learning and acquiring skills for the future. Since September 2021, he also serves as the World Health Organization’s Ambassador for Global Health Financing.


Mr Brown is Chair of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (also known as the Education Commission). He also serves as Chair of the High-Level Steering Group of Education Cannot Wait, the education in emergencies fund; and Chair of the Inquiry on Protecting Children in Conflict.


Mr Brown is the author of several books including Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalisation; My Life, Our Times; and most recently, Seven Ways to Change the World (Simon & Schuster, June 2021).

Helman Sitohang

Chair, ASEAN Board, Room to Read

Mr Helman Sitohang has been the Chief Executive Officer for Credit Suisse Asia Pacific since 2014. In 2015, he was appointed to the Executive Board of Credit Suisse Group and Credit Suisse.


Mr Sitohang joined Credit Suisse in 1998 from Bankers Trust, where he worked in the derivatives group. Upon joining Credit Suisse, Mr Sitohang was part of the Indonesian coverage team and progressed to become head of the team. He was appointed Co-Head of the Investment Banking Department (the corporate advisory business, covering mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets) for Asia Pacific in 2009. That year, he was also named an inaugural member of FinanceAsia’s "club" of the 50 most influential people in Asia's financial markets.


In 2012, he was appointed Head of the Investment Bank in Asia Pacific. In 2015, FinanceAsia honoured Mr Sitohang with an Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of his stewardship of Credit Suisse in the region. Under his leadership, Credit Suisse has won many of the most prestigious industry awards, including Asia Pacific Bank of the Year in 2019 by IFR Asia and Best Private Bank in Asia Pacific for the fifth time from Asian Private Banker. In 2020, Credit Suisse was awarded Asia’s Best Bank for Wealth Management by Euromoney for the second consecutive year, and won a record four awards from Asia Risk, including Private Bank of the Year, Equity Derivatives House of the Year and Credit Derivatives House of the Year.

Mr Sitohang holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the Bandung Institute of Technology.

Hugh Lim

Executive Director, Centre for Liveable Cities

Mr Hugh Lim is the Executive Director of the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC).


Mr Lim graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1987 with a Bachelor of Engineering (First Class) on a Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship. He earned a Master of Science in Management of Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998.


Mr Lim joined the Singapore Armed Forces in 1984, and attained the rank of Brigadier-General on 1 July 2005. He has served in a variety of command and staff positions, including Chief Engineer Officer, Commander 6 Division, Commander Training and Doctrine Command, and Chief of Staff, General Staff.


Prior to joining CLC, Mr Lim was the Chief Executive Officer of the Building and Construction Authority. Previously, he held the appointments of Deputy Secretary (Community, Youth and Sports) at the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth; and Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Law.


He is married with three children, and has a keen interest in technology, sports, and photography.

Jamie Lee

Deputy News Editor, The Business Times

Ms Jamie Lee is the Deputy News Editor at The Business Times, and manages the coverage of banking and finance, and property. She has more than a decade of experience in covering critical beats in business reporting. These include capital markets, private wealth, fintech, environmental, social and governance and corporate governance. Ms Lee is a scholarship recipient from the Foreign Press Association of New York. She holds a Master of Arts in Business and Economic Reporting from New York University's Stern School of Business and the Arthur L Carter Journalism Institute.

Jennifer Lewis

Head, Philanthropy Advocates, Temasek Foundation

Ms Jennifer Lewis joined Temasek Foundation in April 2020, and heads the Philanthropy Advocates Practice. She is responsible for the strategic management of the foundation’s internal and external communication and engagement activities. Prior to this, she had been with GIC since 2007, also managing strategic communications for the sovereign wealth fund.


She began her corporate communications journey after more than twenty years as a journalist with television, print and online experience. She also advises several artificial intelligence and digital asset start-ups.


Ms Lewis serves on the boards of the Singapore Institute of Management University, Straits Times School Pocket Fund and OnePeople.sg.

Joel Bacha

Global Project Director, Room to Read

Mr Joel Bacha has worked for more than 15 years in the field of educational development. He joined Room to Read in 2010 to develop early grades reading programmes with country teams in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. As the Global Project Director at Room to Read, Mr Bacha works to design and strategically implement custom projects to reach more children in new geographic regions and he also heads Room to Read’s new Project Management Unit. Most recently, Mr Bacha has been coordinating and providing strategic guidance to Room to Read projects in Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Uganda and the United States.


Through past consultancies with UNESCO and UNICEF, Mr Bacha has worked across the education spectrum with more than 30 countries on issues such as teacher education, curriculum development, literacy and life skills development, multilingual education, and water and sanitation in schools.


Mr Bacha received his Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from the University of California San Diego, and a dual Master of Arts in Language Education and Educational Development from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, California.


Mr Bacha has published a curriculum guide for Japanese teachers, taught university courses on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and worked with governments and education partners to combat poverty through quality education.

Khaloula del Prado

Global Youth Advocate for Education

Ms Khaloula del Prado is a grade eight student at an international school in Manila, Philippines. While only 13 years of age, she has earned academic scholarships and won numerous awards, including awards in oratory and music. She is a passionate advocate for education as a basic human right for children like her around the world.

Lauren Sorkin

Executive Director, Resilient Cities Network

As Executive Director of the Resilient Cities Network, Ms Lauren Sorkin oversees global efforts to strengthen cities in the face of complex and interconnected challenges. Leading a team of professionals in London, Mexico City, New York, and Singapore, in collaboration with Chief Resilience Officers in over 40 countries, she drove the co-design process to launch the Resilient Cities Network as an independent city-led network organisation.


Ms Sorkin serves as an adviser and spokesperson on urban resilience, women’s leadership, sustainable finance, climate risk, stakeholder engagement, and urbanisation trends. She is on the advisory boards of several sustainability-focused initiatives including Food Tank, the Singapore Sustainability Symposium, and Natural Capital.


Previously with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Ms Sorkin led the bank’s first-ever climate change investment plan before moving to the ADB’s Vietnam office to mainstream climate risks and opportunities in the country’s US$7-billion portfolio. Before joining the ADB, she worked with the United States Agency for International Development to implement clean energy, climate change, and conservation projects in Asia, Africa, and South America. She has published work on biofuels, climate change, public speaking for social impact, infant mortality, and HIV/AIDS.


Ms Sorkin holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Tufts University, and a Master of Science in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics.

Li Xin

Vice President, Caixin Media
Managing Director, Caixin Global

Ms Li Xin is Vice President of Caixin Media and Managing Director of Caixin Global, leading the company’s global news and intelligence services, as well as Caixin’s international branding and global events.


Before Caixin, she was the Managing Editor of the Chinese Wall Street Journal and Chinese Dow Jones Newswires.

This is her second stint at Caixin, where she was formerly the Managing Editor of Caixin - China Economics & Finance, an English-language magazine, and Caixin Online at Caixin Media.


In 2006, she founded Caijing Magazine’s first bureau in the United States, as a correspondent of politics and economics. Ms Li was a documentary producer at China Central Television between 2001 and 2004.


Ms Li holds a bachelor’s degree in English Language from Tsinghua University, a master’s degree in journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri, and an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.


She is an Aspen China Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, as well as a member of the International Media Council at the World Economic Forum. She is the Co-chair of the China Council for the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils.

Michael R. Bloomberg

Founder, Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies

Mr Michael R. Bloomberg is an entrepreneur and three-term mayor of New York City whose innovations in business, government, and philanthropy have made him a pioneering leader on critical issues facing the United States and the world. He has long been dedicated to the global fight against climate change, serving as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions, and tackling the issue as a key focus area of his foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies. He also serves as the World Health Organization Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries.


In 1981, with a vision for an information technology company that would bring greater transparency and fairness to the financial system, Mr Bloomberg launched a small startup in a one-room office. Bloomberg has grown every year since it was founded and today employs 20,000 people in some 120 countries.


Just weeks after the attacks of 11 September 2001, Mr Bloomberg was elected mayor of New York City and led the city’s recovery and resurgence. He turned around a failing school system, fought poverty with new programmes, increased New Yorkers’ life expectancy by three years, and cut crime by a third while reducing incarceration by nearly 40%. His administration’s groundbreaking sustainability plan reduced carbon emissions by 13%, positioning the city as a model for climate action around the world.


Through Bloomberg Philanthropies, he supports work across five key focus areas: the environment, education, public health, the arts, and government innovation. As part of his environmental efforts, the Beyond Coal campaign has helped to retire more than 65% of all United States coal plants since 2011. In 2017, he expanded the effort to Europe, where Europe Beyond Coal has retired 50% of the continent’s plants. In 2019, he launched Beyond Carbon, the largest-ever coordinated campaign to take on the climate crisis in the United States.


Mr Bloomberg also serves as President of the Board of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and co-chairs the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the America Is All In coalition. He also created the American Cities Climate Challenge to help the largest cities in the United States make more progress in reducing carbon emissions in support of the Paris Agreement goals.

He is the father of two daughters, Emma and Georgina, and has two grandchildren.

Ng Boon Heong

Chief Executive Officer, Temasek Foundation

Mr Ng Boon Heong is the Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Foundation. He is responsible for the overall Temasek Foundation group, and leads Temasek’s six foundations (International, Cares, Connects, Nurtures, Innovates, Ecosperity) towards achieving the vision of One Temasek Foundation. Mr Ng holds a concurrent role as Managing Director, Institutional Relations with the Sustainability & Stewardship Group (SSG) of Temasek International. Prior to assuming his current appointment on 1 April 2020, Mr Ng was Head, Community Stewardship in SSG. He oversaw numerous community development, sustainability and climate change initiatives; working closely with Temasek Trust and Stewardship Asia Centre to deliver its mandates and strategic thrusts of connecting people, uplifting communities, protecting planet, advancing capabilities and rebuilding lives in Singapore and beyond.


Before joining Temasek, Mr Ng served in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and was intimately involved in technology development and management, focusing on advanced sensors, autonomous vehicles and sense-making. He has also worked with different stakeholders to deliver integrated and multi-source information fusion and analysis products, scenario development and contingency planning; including providing support to various SAF Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations. He was also the top Army graduate of the SAF Command and Staff College, graduated from the Indonesian Military's Joint Command and Staff College and was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) (Military).


Mr Ng graduated with a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Honours) from the Nanyang Technological University Singapore, holds a Masters in Business Administration from Singapore Management University and Masters in Systems Integration (Information Systems) from the Naval Postgraduate School in the United States.

Professor Lee Ju-Ho

Chairperson, Education Commission Asia Commissioner, The Education Commission
Former Minster Education, Science and Technology, Republic of Korea

Prof Lee Ju-Ho served as Minister of Education, Science and Technology for the Republic of South Korea from 2010 to 2013. He is currently the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Education Commission Asia and a commissioner of the International Commission on Financing Global Educational Opportunity. He is also Chair of the Education Workforce Initiative and a non-resident senior fellow at Brookings Institution.

 

Before joining the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as Vice Minister in 2009, he was Senior Secretary to the President for Education, Science, and Culture. He has been noted for his education reform endeavours and active lawmaking as a member of the National Assembly (2004-2008). His policy entrepreneurship began when he worked as a research fellow at the Korea Development Institute.

 

After nine-year of service in the Korean parliament and government, Prof Lee returned to academia in 2013 as a professor of the KDI School of Public Policy and Management. Utilising his experience as a high-ranking public servant, he actively resumed his research on human capital and innovation policies, covering a wide range of issues such as 21st century skills, the fourth industrial revolution and learning revolution, education workforce design, innovation ecosystem, and government reform. 

He has written many articles and several books including Human Capital and Development: Lessons and Insights from Korea’s Transformation (2018)and Positive Changes: The Education, Science & Technology Policies of Korea (2012). 

Prof Lee received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Economics from Seoul National University and his Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Cornell University in 1990.

Stefan Nachuk

Senior Advisor, Health Systems, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Mr Stefan Nachuk is currently the Senior Advisor, Health Systems (Asia/India) for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in India. He focuses on developing and implementing a health systems strategy for the foundation’s nascent Asia Strategy, while linking this work to ongoing foundation supported efforts in India and Africa.


Prior to this role, he designed a strategy in support of the Government of India’s policy objectives regarding health system transformation. He has over 20 years of experience in international development programme design and management, strategic planning, and team leadership in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Senegal. His areas of technical expertise include health systems, primary health care, governance, institutional analysis, poverty reduction, microfinance, and capacity building. He was chief architect and leader of the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage, as well as the Center for Health Market Innovations. Mr Nachuk was also a co-architect of HANSHEP (Harnessing non-state actors for better health for the poor), a network of donor agencies that work together to address the private sector in health. He has held staff positions with, among others, the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the University of California, San Francisco.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam

Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Republic of Singapore

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam is Senior Minister in Singapore, having served for several years as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. He is concurrently Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the nation’s central bank and financial regulator. In addition, he is Deputy Chairman of GIC and chairs its Investment Strategies Committee.


Tharman is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, and chairs the National Jobs Council aimed at building skills and jobs in the wake of COVID-19. Tharman co-chairs the Group of Twenty (G20) High Level Independent Panel on financing pandemic security, together with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Lawrence Summers, which recently released its recommendations. He earlier led the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance, which in 2018 proposed reforms in development finance and the international monetary system for a more cooperative international order. Tharman chairs the Group of Thirty, an independent global council of economic and financial leaders from the public and private sectors and academia. He also co-chairs the Global Education Forum, and the advisory board of the United Nations’ Human Development Report. He earlier chaired the International Monetary and Financial Committee for four years as its first Asian chair.


Tharman has spent his working life in public service, in roles principally related to economic and social policies.

Wang Shi

Founder, China Vanke
Chairman, Vanke Foundation

Mr Wang Shi is the Founder and Honorary Chairman of China Vanke. Mr Wang founded Vanke in 1984 and led it to grow into the world’s largest residential home developer and a Fortune 500 company.


Mr Wang is a respected leader in China’s environmental conservation and charitable community. He sits on the board of the World Wildlife Fund (United States) and the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council, focusing on forests, biodiversity, and climate change. From January 2011, Mr Wang started to study in reputed western educational institutions, specialising in business ethics and cross-cultural research. Mr Wang has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.


Mr Wang reached the peak of Mount Everest from the north and south faces in 2003 and 2010 respectively. He is only the 11th person in the world to accomplish “7+2” – reaching the Seven Summits in 2004 and the North and South Poles in 2005. Mr Wang has a great interest in outdoor exercises and is enthusiastic about gliding, paragliding, and rowing. He holds the paragliding altitude record in China. He acted as the Vice Chairman for the Chinese Mountaineering Association and Vice Chairman for the Chinese Rowing Association. In October 2014, Mr Wang was elected Chairman for the Asian Rowing Federation, taking on the responsibility of leading and promoting rowing in Asia. In August 2018, he was named the honorary life president for the Asian Rowing Federation.

Zuhaila binti Ahmad Zubel

Director, Town Planning Department and Chief Resilience Officer, Melaka Historic City Council

Ms Zuhaila binti Ahmad Zubel graduated from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (University of Technology Malaysia) in 2006. She started her professional practice as a town planner at ZMD Planning Consult for three years. In February 2009, she served as a town planner at the Malacca City Council and in 2020 she was appointed as the Director of the Town Planning Department. For her outstanding achievements and excellency in town planning, she was awarded her professional title as Registered Town Planner in early 2021.