Brand Finance Asia Pacific Forum 2018 - Brand Risk in the 21st Century

With a global career spanning over 20 years across brand, marketing, communications, consulting and financial Industry, Samir has a wealth of experience across global strategy, research, IP management, corporate communication, PR, global brand management, M&A branding, and advertising.Previously, as a global brand controller at Standard Chartered Bank, Samir managed the global brand agenda with strong focus on global brand strategy, global brand tracking research/KPIs, internal communication, brand and business integration and brand architecture & alignment during M&A.In his various roles across marketing communications and advertising, Samir has worked across industry segments including FMCG, retail, hospitality, industrial products, automobiles, electronics, beverages, mobile telephony, pharma & healthcare, NGOs, airlines etc.Samir is an i-advisor with IE Singapore, an external speaker, contributes to teaching and curriculum inputs at Marketing Institute if Singapore and at other reputed management institutes.In the past 12 months, Samir has been driving marketing and business acceleration strategies for B2B and B2C segments alike, across industry and consumer segments like pharma, insurance, banking and finance, education, retail, internet/on-line and advertising communications.

Bhavik is an international award winning brand consultant with a career spanning over 15 years across Asia. With his multi-disciplinary experience, he has helped create and grow some of the most successful corporate brands and their portfolios.

Thriving in diversity, of both the region and industries, Bhavik has worked with brands like DBS Bank and Singapore Management University in Singapore, Maybank and Nestle in Malaysia, Telkomsel and Phillip Morris in Indonesia, Cebu Pacific Airlines and Smart Telecom in the Phillipines, and Reliance Group and the Taj Group of Hotels in India.

In everyday practice Bhavik focuses on three key areas. First: creating value through innovation and compelling experiences. Second: bringing sound design thinking to thorough analytical solutions. And third: making teams possible across strategic, creative and digital capabilities.

Bhavik is currently the Strategy Director at The Bonsey Design Partnership, one of Asia’s most respected brand consultancies. He is also the Honorary 1st Vice President at the Marketing Institute of Singapore, the national body for marketing and sales professionals.

Mr Roger Wang is the current President of the Marketing Institute of Singapore since 2014.  He had previously served as the Honorary Secretary of MIS before being elected as the President. Roger is also the current President of Karate-do Union of Singapore (KUS), Managing Director of Essential Werkz Pte Ltd and President of Pixel Inc. Marketing Pte Ltd.   In June 2016, Roger was appointed as the Chief Representative for The China Council for Promotional of International Trade (CCPIT) Commercial Sub Council for Singapore.

With more than 25 years of industrial, marketing and event management experiences, Roger has a phenomenal reputation as an entrepreneur.  From the development of marketing strategies to market research, his ability to create innovative and breakthrough ideas, products and events enable him to stay abreast of the MICE industry.  The wealth of marketing and event management knowledge and skills Roger has amassed over the last 17 years have proven him to be an invaluable leader in the MICE industry.  

As a firm believer of lifelong growth and upgrading of both academic and practical knowledge, Roger is also a regular guest speaker for the Executive Certificate in Event Management course organised by MIS and University of Technology, Sydney.  

Riaz is the Founder and President of Imagine Group, established in Singapore in 2005, and is Asia’s #1 Reality Show Production house. Riaz has helped transform the media landscape in Asia to create content of a world-class standard. Imagine Group TV shows broadcast in over 40 countries worldwide including Asia, USA, Australia and Europe.

Upon graduation, he entered the Computer Industry in Sydney later moving to Singapore to spearhead the Singapore operations for the largest listed Australian Technology company (“KAZ Group”) in Asia.. A creative at heart with a passion for TV and Film, Riaz spotted a gap in the Asian market for high quality premium original Asian productions.

With this in mind, he left his IT career behind to establish a leading media and entertainment production company in Asia – Imagine Group. He had a singular vision, to change the global image of Asian television, and put South East Asia on map for the highest quality production values.

In a monumental move, Riaz flew to Los Angeles and secured his collaboration with the most iconic man in reality TV, Mark Burnett, to produce an original Asian version of the hit show, The Contender. Through this first successful venture, resulting in global distribution deals and global awareness for Asian production, Riaz has raised the bar for Asian productions; transferring skills, investment and recognition to the region.

His vision became a reality in 2012 when Imagine Group received an International Emmy Award nomination for ‘The Challenger Muaythai’ and in the genre defining ‘The Apartment’ series, which has broken new ground in Asian reality TV, and was made with an almost entirely local crew. These new and inspiring original formats have reached audiences not just in Asia, but across continents from the USA, Australia, UK, Europe, to the Middle East and Africa.

He is also responsible for bringing some of the largest global entertainment franchises (The Biggest Loser Asia, The Contender) to Asia, forming with media giants such as Mark Burnett Productions and Shine International.

Iwan Setiawan is the Chief Operating Officer of MarkPlus, Inc., the leading marketing consulting firm in Indonesia (www.markplusinc.com). Over the past 15 years, Iwan has been helping businesses design their marketing strategies. Past engagements include high-level strategy work focusing on market entry, go-to-market, and growth strategy. On a more tactical level, he consults for clients on brand communications, distribution, sales force management, and customer experience design.

He co-authored, with Philip Kotler and Hermawan Kartajaya, two seminal books Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit (2010) and Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital (2017). Both were first published by John Wiley & Sons in the US and have been translated into 26 and 21 other language editions, respectively.

Iwan holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BEng from the University of Indonesia.

Dennis is presently the Chief Executive Officer of Avatec. Ai, a Fintech firm newly minted in 2018. Here, Dennis drives strategic initiatives and leads a group of cross disciplinary expects to enter new markets within SEA. Dennis is armed with 16 years of experience in Consumer Banking under his belt, and is well positioned to take on this challenge of navigating new waters with his proven track record in building up and directing high performance teams.

During Dennis’ stint as UOB’s Head of Group Retail, Wealth Management productivity, he placed a key focus on constantly redesigning and innovating on current implementations. This is testament to his belief that there are always improvements to be made in any situation. With this mentality, he had revamped sales recognition frameworks and incentives to drive performance. Thus, during his banking career, he had spearheaded constant double digit growth within his segment, consistent employee performance improvements and higher productivity amongst most of his RMs.

Dennis believes in coaching and fueling growth of those around him. He places great emphasis on equipping his employees with the necessary skills to go far in their career. With his self-devised sales management framework, Dennis implemented a sustainable measure to guide with right hiring, efficient on boarding, targeted engagement, target coaching/training and performance recognition. His experience in managing staff strength of more than 2500 across disciplines and geographies makes him well equipped to guide and coach employees for the future.

Ashok Charan has over 27 years of experience in general management, marketing, corporate planning,
business development and market research. Ashok joined the NUS Business School, Marketing
Department as Practice Associate Professor in July 2009 after working at Nielsen for 15 years. At
Nielsen, he assumed a number of roles including Managing Director for Singapore and Regional Area
Client Director – Asia Pacific. Prior to Nielsen, Ashok worked at Hindustan Lever, India in Business
Research.

Ashok is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and a
post-graduate in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Seth Hays manages INTA’s China operations and policy portfolio. Additionally, he is responsible for INTA’s Asia-Pacific policy development and advocacy.

Mr. Hays has a JD from Brooklyn Law School, an MA in Asian Studies from the University of Hawai’i, and a BA from Vassar College. He speaks Mandarin and has lived and worked in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.