Opening Speech

Professor Sir Andrew Likierman is Dean of the London Business School. He is also non-executive Chairman of the National Audit Office and a non-executive Director of Barclays Bank plc.

Andrew was Founding Director of the Executive MBA programme and has been a Professor at the School for many years, lecturing on all the major executive and degree programmes. His research interests have been in the field of the measurement of performance.

In the course of his career, Andrew has run a textile plant in Germany, been Head of the Government Accountancy Service and was a Managing Director of the UK Treasury. His previous non-executive posts have included being Chairman of the Economists' Bookshop Group and of the market research firm MORI. He has also been a non-executive Director of the Bank of England and he is a Past President of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Back to top

Asia Economic Outlook Panel

A citizen of Thailand, Ashvin Ahuja has spent his professional life in Bangkok, Thailand, and is now working in Washington, D.C. After obtaining his Ph.D in economics at the University of Minnesota, he worked as research economist at the Bank of Thailand. He also taught at Thammasat University during 2002-2009, and worked as a research fellow at the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) in 2005. He became a manager at the Bank of Thailand’s monetary policy department, where his focus was on developing monetary policy strategy as well as modelling and forecasting for the Monetary Policy Committee. He is currently on leave from the central bank as economist at the Asia and Pacific Department of the International Monetary Fund. His focus is on macroeconomic surveillance and policy challenges for the Asian region.

He is a macroeconomist, who has worked on a broad set of issues, from the role of monetary policy and fiscal policy in economic stabilization to structural issues that matter for long-term economic growth such as economic arrangements that foster human and physical capital accumulation.

Back to top

Prof. Richard Portes is a Professor of Economics at London Business School. He is President of the Centre for Economic Policy Research which he founded in 1983. CEPR is a network network of over 700 Research Fellows and Affiliates who contribute to economic research and policy debates in Europe. Richard Portes is Directeur d'Etudes at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (since 1978). He was a Rhodes Scholar and a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He has also taught at Princeton University, Harvard University(as a Guggenheim Fellow), and Birkbeck College (University of London). In 1999-2000, he was the Distinguished Global Visiting Professor at the Haas Business School, University of California, Berkeley, and in 2003-04 he was Joel Stern Visiting Professor of International Finance at Columbia Business School.

Professor Portes is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and a Fellow of the British Academy. He has been the longest serving Secretary-General of the Royal Economic Society (1992-2008) since John Meynard Keynes. He is Co-Chairman of the Board of Economic Policy. He is a member of the Group of Economic Policy Advisers to the President of the European Commission. He has written extensively on sovereign debt, European monetary and financial issues, international capital flows, centrally planned economies and transition, macroeconomic disequilibrium, and European integration. His work on collective action clauses in sovereign bond contracts, on the international role of the euro, on international financial stability and on European bond markets has been directed towards policy as well as academic publications.

Richard Portes was created CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List 2003.

Back to top

George Magnus is the Senior Economic Adviser to UBS Investment Bank, based in London. He has served in this role since 2004, after being the bank's Chief Economist from 1997 onward.

Prior to this, Mr. Magnus had been the Chief Economist at SG Warburg from 1987 to 1995, and then became the Chief International Economist at UBS. Previously, he had worked at other major U.K. and U.S. banks.

Mr. Magnus received an MSc in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies and taught economics at both Central London Polytechnic (now University of Westminster) and the University of Illinois.

Back to top

Guy de Jonquières is a senior fellow at European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), where he writes and speaks regularly on Asian economic and trade issues.

Prior to joining ECIPE, he worked for The Financial Times for 39 years, reporting and commenting on global economic and business issues. He spent extensive periods living in and travelling to North America, continental Europe and East and South Asia. As the newspaper’s world trade editor, he followed in detail the spread of globalization and its impact on governments, economies, and societies.

His recent publications include papers on the future of the world trade system, and China and the global economic crisis. He was educated at Lancing College and Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied modern languages.

Back to top

Heang Chhor is a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, and currently the head of McKinsey Japan. Prior to moving to Japan, he worked in Paris.

Heang has served top management at several large international companies in a range of industries, including electronics, industrial equipment, consumer goods and retail. His experience covers topics such as growth, acquisitions and alliances, globalization, marketing and sales, organization, operational restructuring, and macroeconomics.

He has supported clients in different parts of the world, including Europe - particularly France - Asia and Americas.

Heang was born in Cambodia. He joined McKinsey in 1989, after six years as a senior manager at various companies.

Back to top

Luxury Goods Panel

Professor Nirmalya Kumar is one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy and marketing, who has taught at Harvard Business School, IMD (Switzerland), London Business School and Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management).

As an author, Nirmalya has written five books, four of which have been published by Harvard Business Press: Marketing as Strategy (2004), Private Label Strategy (2007), Value Merchants (2007), and India’s Global Powerhouses (2009).

Dr. Kumar is an outlier among marketing professors, having accomplished the rare feat of publishing six articles each in both the Journal of Marketing Research (the premier journal for marketing academics) and the Harvard Business Review (the premier journal for business practitioners). These, and other articles, have attracted more than 4,500 and 1,500 citations on Google Scholar and Social Science Citation Index respectively.

As a consultant, coach, and conference speaker, Nirmalya has worked with more than 50 Fortune 500 companies in 60 different countries. He has served on several boards of directors, including two billion dollar plus companies and companies included in India’s stock indices.

Professor Kumar received his B.Com. from Calcutta University, his MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his PhD in marketing from Kellogg Graduate School of Management (winning the Marketing Science Institute's Alden G. Clayton Award for his PhD dissertation).

All of the above has led to more than 300 press appearances, five European case (ECCH) adoption awards, as well as several teaching, research, and lifetime achievement honors.

Back to top

Radha Chadha is one of Asia’s leading marketing and consumer insights experts. After working with leading advertising agencies JWT, Ogilvy & Mather, Grey Worldwide, and Bates Asia, Radha established her own brand consultancy in 2000 in Hong Kong.

During her advertising career Radha has held senior strategic planning positions, and led the thinking on brands such as HSBC, American Express, British Airways, Glaxo SmithKline, and Mandarin Oriental.

She has, over the years, worked across a variety of Asian markets: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

Radha is a popular speaker at seminars and conferences. Her engagements include Tiffany New York, Nike China, LVMH Hong Kong, American Express New Delhi, Stanford University USA, JP Morgan Luxury Goods CEO Conference Paris, International Council of Shoppers Las Vegas, World Luxury Congress London, and Japan Luxury Forum, Tokyo.

Radha is a faculty member of the prestigious Tsinghua Ogilvy Branding States Program, a collaborative effort between Beijing’s Tsinghua University and Ogilvy & Mather.

She has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, with a specialization in Marketing, and a BA in Math from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi

Back to top

Ruchita Sharma is former Head of practice for Luxury and Lifestyle-Fashion and Design,a nascent luxury goods platform at FICCI created keeping her expertise in view, at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry based in New Delhi. She continues to advise the chamber on all aspects of luxury lifestyle goods industry to expose India’s Luxury and Lifestyle manufacturing platform. She now advises global Brands, Private Equity & Investment firms entering the Indian market from Design to Manufacturing, from Retail to eTailing, from Marketing to Investment strategies.

Ruchita works closely with Walpole (British Luxury Industry),Altagamma in Italy and Comité Colbert in France to evolve and adapt a unique luxury platform for India. In addition Ruchita is a business analyst and writer on luxury and lifestyle and international speaker on emerging consumer trends in India.

Ruchita recently concluded research on a book project titled ‘India by Design, the Pursuit of Luxury and Fashion with first time authors Michael Boroian and Alix de Poix. Her book Ultimate Luxury in association with American Express was released in November, 2008. Ruchita currently writes cover stories on luxury market in India’s leading magazines 'India Today' and 'Business World'.

Recently Ruchita established a Luxury Retail division for 'The Bird Group' in India to setup and launched Porsche Design, men’s accessories brand in India in February, 2010. She has also worked with India’s leading luxury hospitality companies- the Taj Group of Hotels, The Oberoi Group in India as well as global brands like Hyatt International in Hong Kong and Amadeus Global Distribution systems, Madrid.

Back to top

Imran Amed is a fashion business adviser, writer and entrepreneur, and is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion.

Bringing a unique understanding of the creative and commercial sides of fashion, Imran has emerged as one of the fashion industry’s leading thinkers on digital media. In his consulting work for international luxury brands, private equity firms and independent investors, he acts as a bridge between the industry’s most gifted creative and business talent and shapes strategies for the new digital reality.

Imran enjoys discovering new fashion talent. He is an Associate Lecturer at Central St Martin’s College of Art & Design and leads a bespoke mentoring program for promising young designers at Fashion East, London’s premier fashion incubator. He has been invited to sit on juries at international fashion competitions and art colleges including The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and the Austrian Fashion Awards in Vienna.

Imran’s expertise is regularly called upon by the international fashion and business media, including the BBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Luxury Briefing, Dow Jones, The South China Morning Post, and Women’s Wear Daily. His writing has been published in the Financial Times, Vogue India and JC Report.

In 2009, London’s Independent newspaper named Imran amongst the most "inspirational, interesting, and influential people" in the UK’s online fashion industry.

Previously, Imran was a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.Com from McGill University.

Back to top

Carmine Rotondaro is the Worldwide Real Estate Director of the Gucci Group, for which he has been serving for the last nine years. In such a capacity, he coordinates the retail expansion effort and the real estate needs and projects of all the Gucci Group brands and divisions which include, beside Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Sergio Rossi, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Boucheron etc.

He is author of several articles and keynote speaker at various congresses and conferences including the Financial Times 2006 Commercial Property Conference held in London, the 2007 edition of the Asia Luxury Property Conference held in Hong Kong, the 2007 edition of the World Knowledge Forum held in Seoul, the 2008 and 2009 editions of Leaders in Luxury Middle East held in Dubai, the 2008 edition of the China Luxury Summit held in Shanghai. He served as a Member of the Grand Jury of the 2008 edition of the Mapic Retail Awards, as a Member of the Jury of the 2008 CEE Retail Awards and as a Member of the Jury of the 2009 edition of the Global Retail & Leisure International Awards.

Back to top

Private Equity Panel

Anubha Shrivastava is a Managing Director at CDC Group plc a fund of funds business owned by the British Government that invests in the developing economies of Asia and Africa. She is responsible for the Asian investment portfolio spanning across South, South-East Asia and China. Anubha started her career in Arthur Anderson - Delhi and went on to work with Hambrecht & Quist, in the US.

In 1999, Anubha joined General Motors Asset Management’s Private Equity Group in New York, USA.

She was involved in the global private equity fund-of-funds portfolio as well as the global co-investment program. Thereafter she worked at Performance Equity Management, LLC, where she was responsible for managing the European fund-of-funds and co-investment portfolios.

Anubha holds a Masters in Finance from the London Business School and a Bachelors Economics (Hons) from Lady Sriram College - Delhi.

Back to top

Mounir Guen founded MVision in 2001. He is a veteran fundraising specialist, advisor and manager with 22 years of experience in the industry, during which he has worked on over 200 General Partnership funds. He has led the development of MVision to the point where it is now the world’s leading independent international private equity placement agent.

The firm’s industry-leading team of 50 professionals, with offices in London, New York and an associated consultancy office in Hong Kong, cover established and new private equity clients in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and other markets. MVision has advised regularly on landmark fundraisings for leading GP’s globally, and is dedicated to working with current and future market leaders in the world’s major economies and emerging markets on a long term basis.

Mounir has been selected as one of the top 50 most influential personalities in Private Equity in Europe, and currently chairs the EVCA Placement Task Force as well as serving on the EVCA Investor Relations Committee and on the EVCJ Editorial Board. He also served on the EVCA European Valuation Committee to establish policy currently in use. In addition to speaking frequently at leading industry conferences, he lectures for the MBA Masterclass in Private Equity at the London Business School.

Mounir has an ABD Postgraduate Degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and History from Georgetown University, and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Back to top

Koji Fusa, Chief Investment Officer, Sandringham Capital Partners Limited., UK

Koji Fusa founded Sandringham Capital Partners in 2004, and started the PIPE investment in 2005 via its Hedge Fund.

Koji was responsible for the UBS predecessor companies to become the number one investment bank in Japan in 1997 when Japanese financial system melted down for the first time. He also restructured Credit Suisse’s investment banking operation in Japan between 2000 and 2003 after Credit Suisse has the biggest scandal in Japan in 1999.

The Sandringham Group focuses an alternative asset investment in Japan and it has a reputation for its unique sourcing skill and network. Its private equity operation in Japan has been centre of focus by certain Japanese press due to its potential role to restore the corporate governance of one of the largest Japanese companies.

Koji received the Dark Blue Ribbon Medal from the Japanese prime minister in March 2003, and is a graduate from Waseda University.

Back to top

Ms Kathleen Ng joined the Asian private equity/venture capital industry in 1989. She is a founder of the Centre for Asia Private Equity Research, which publishes the ASIA PRIVATE EQUITY REVIEW, the leading monthly publication on private equity investment in Asia.

Since then, the Centre has also launched APER - Greater China Edition, the first private equity journal that covers the Greater China market.Most recently, the Centre launched the APER Index, the first and only private equity return benchmark for Asia.

Ms Ng is the industry’s longest serving analyst and is regarded as an authority on the Asia private equity/venture capital industry.

Back to top

Entrepreneurship & Innovation Panel

Professor Jacobides is the Sir Donald Gordon Chair for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at London Business School, where he also an Associate Professor of Strategic and International Management. He is involved in the Advanced Institute for Management Research as Sumantra Ghoshal Fellow. Previously he was on the faculties of Harvard Business School and Wharton. At LBS he is responsible for teaching the subject of Turnarounds to MBAs, strategy and innovation to executive audiences and he also taught at the joint Columbia Business School / LBS Global Executive MBA.

His research examines how industries, business models, and organizational boundaries change over time: the new strategic dynamics of changing "industry architectures". Prof Jacobides investigates how technology, competition and deregulation can reshape sectors, changing "who does what" (roles) and, as a result, "who takes what" (profits or sector dominance). He aims to help firms write new "playscripts", reshaping their strategies and rethinking their sector. Through his research, he helps executives navigate a changing environment by helping them craft their strategy.

His research was recognized by the Sloan Foundations' Inaugural Prize for Industry Studies and published in the most prominent management practitioner and academic journals such as Harvard Business Review, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Academy of Management Review, and Academy of Management Journal. He has written for the Financial Times and his work is used by analysts and regulators and reported by publications such as "The Banker" and "Strategy & Business".

He has delivered keynote addresses for firms such as Winterthur / Credit Suisse, PwC, ISP and McKinsey& Co; industry associations such as the British Bankers Association and the Institute of Turnarounds; and NGOs such as the UN/UNCTAD.

Prof Jacobides began his career by studying economics, strategy and organization at the Universities of Athens, Cambridge, Stanford, and at the Wharton School where he received his MA and PhD.

Back to top

Mohit is the global head of sales for the Banking and Capital Markets Group at Infosys. Mohit has 14 years of experience across corporate banking and consulting, with 9 years at Infosys.

Prior to his current role, Mohit was responsible for setting up the operations of Infosys Technologies S. de R.L. de C.V, a subsidiary of Infosys in Monterrey, Mexico. His interests include corporate and personal technology. Mohit is currently based in London and works out of Infosys’ Canary Wharf office.

Back to top

Simon Galpin is the Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), the Government Department responsible for attracting and facilitating foreign direct investment into Hong Kong.

Mr. Galpin joined InvestHK as Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion in 2001, soon after the establishment of the Department. His contribution in shaping the strategy and business planning process has helped establish InvestHK as one of the world's leading investment promotion agencies.

Having accumulated solid management experience across the Department’s main investment promotion sectors, Mr Galpin was also heavily involved in the development of its global network, establishing overseas representation in the Americas, South East Asia and Japan, India, and the Middle East.

With senior management experience in both the private and public sectors, Mr Galpin’s work experience combines international marketing, economic development and investment promotion. Prior to joining InvestHK, Mr Galpin spent ten years as the Head of Asia Pacific with Scottish Enterprise at that time Europe’s largest economic development agency. He was initially posted to Hong Kong in 1992 but also worked in Glasgow, Taipei, Sydney and London.

Mr Galpin holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Sheffield University Management School, a Master of Science degree from the University of Glasgow and a Master of Law (International Business Law) degree from the University of London.

Back to top

Cheu Leong CHAN is the CEO and Managing Director of Wah Seong Corporation Limited, Malaysia. He founded the company in 1994 and has grown it from being a mid-sized Malaysian enterprise to a major Asian oil and gas services group today. Wah Seong Corporation is listed in Malaysia Stock Exchange. The company operates across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas. It offers products and services in more than 20 countries worldwide. It aspires to be a global oil and gas services group by 2012.

Mr. Chan attained a Bachelor of Science (Hon) degree in Engineering Production in 1974 from the University of Birmingham under a Colombo Plan Award and began his career by joining the Singapore Administrative Service. He left the Ministry of Finance, Singapore in 1976 to pursue his Master in Business Administration from the London Business School. Upon successful completion of the same, he joined ESSO Production Malaysia Incorporated as their Senior Financial Analyst before joining Tractor Malaysia Limited as their Group Treasurer in 1981. Thereafter, he left to become the Group Executive Director for General Corporation Limited from 1984 to 1990 before assuming the position of Managing Director of Tan & Tan Developments Berhad from 1990 to 1995. In 1994, he established Wah Seong Industrial Holdings Private Limited and subsequently formed Wah Seong Corporation Limited, which assumed the listing status of Perdana Industri Holdings Limited on 9 July 2002. He has extensive experience in the property, manufacturing and financial fields. Currently, he is a Trustee of Yayasan Wah Seong and sits on the Board of several other private limited companies as well.

Back to top

A Chartered Chemical Engineer with an MBA, Vince has delivered factories in the UK, North America and South-East Asia. In 2002-2006 Vince led projects to deliver unique UK technology, which could make commercial grade chipboard from waste materials, into several Chinese Provinces.

His business operations in China have taken Vince from Shanghai to Wuhan, from Guangzhou to Harbin. He has worked extensively with Chinese suppliers, ensuring compliance with international standards.

Vince joined CBBC in mid 2006 as "China Business Adviser". He is CBBC sector lead for Manufacturing, Engineering and Environmental issues and has worked with many UK companies and provided many seminars and briefings on business culture and developing the relationships that deliver success in China.

Back to top