2020 Congress Speaker Program (As of 11 Nov 2020)
| Speaker Name (Alphabetical Order) |
Title | Organisation | Industry | Session Title |
| Mr. Tony Wong, JP [Guest of Honor] | Deputy Chief Information Officer | OGCIO | Government | “How Innovation and Technology Turn Crisis into Opportunity” |
| Mr. Scott Ambler | Vice President & Chief Scientist (Disciplined Agile) | Project Management Institute | Project Management | “Preparing for Next Time : A Disciplined Agile Strategy” |
| Mr. Eric Cheung | Group Transformation Director | Tricor Group | Business Services | “Managing Digital Transformation Through Covid-19” |
| Mr. David Daoud | Managing Director | e-learn2grow | Education | “Leveraging EdTech innovations to achieve your organizational growth amidst the crisis” |
| Mr. Samuel Fung | Director (Marketing, Digital Customer Experience & Retail Lobby, Asia Pacific) | Starbucks Coffee Asia Pacific | Food & Beverage | “Elevating Customer Experience and Building Resilience for the future” |
| Dr. Natalie Loong | Clinical Psychologist | Central Minds Ltd. | Medical & Health | “The Way Forward Starting from Within : Mental Health and Resilience” |
| Mr. Frankie Lui | Principal & Founder | Atelier Global | Architecture | “Design in Between Public & Private” |
| Mr. Alessio Quaglini | CEO | Hex Trust | Financial Services | “How Banks are adopting digital assets and moving into DeFi” |
| Dr. Paul Sin | Partner, Consulting (Fintech , Blockchain) | Deloitte Consulting | FinTech | “Blue Ocean Amid COVID-19 : SME Financing Across Greater Bay Area” |
| Dr. Ted Suen, MH | Chief Information Officer | MTR Corporation Ltd | Transport | “Enjoy the Digital Lifestyle” |
| Mr. Gert Verdonck | Interim Director MSF Operations Support Unit, Emergency Co-ordinator COVID-19 | Medecins Sans Frontieres | Non-for-Profit (Humanitarian) | “Scale up the global emergency response in an adaptive and flexible approach” |
| Mr. Andy Wong | Head of Innovation & Technology | InvestHK | Government / Foreign Direct Investment | “Road to Recovery – by leveraging Hong Kong’s unique advantages in innovation & technology development” |
Speaker Profiles
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| Guest of Honor | Mr. Tony WONG, JP |
| Job Title, Company | Deputy Government Chief Information Officer, Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, Government of the HKSAR |
| Speaker Profile | As the Deputy Government Chief Information Officer, Mr WONG assists and deputises the Government Chief Information Officer in formulating and overseeing strategies and initiatives to facilitate the development of ICT and smart city in Hong Kong, and the development of local IT industry including support for startups and SMEs and collaboration with the Mainland and overseas, as well as to foster IT infrastructure development (such as Internet, public Wi-Fi and data centre services) in Hong Kong and draw up programmes and initiatives on digital inclusion and wider public adoption of ICT. On digital government development, he is in charge of developing and providing centralised government IT services and common systems; formulating and executing government-wide IT strategies and advising government bureaux and departments in their IT strategy and application; developing and maintaining the management frameworks, standards, processes and guidelines to assure security, interoperability and effective use of IT across the Government; and assisting bureaus and departments to plan and execute their IT and data-centric initiatives in an agile, cost-effective and joined-up manner. Mr WONG also provides advice on government IT investments and oversees the processing of funding applications related to computerisation; facilitates the procurement of IT-related products, services and technologies; and develops a long range human resource plan for the government IT profession. |
| Session Title | How Innovation and Technology Turn Crisis into Opportunity |
| Session Abstract | Innovation and technology plays an important role on Hong Kong’s road of recovery from COVID-19 epidemic. Mr Wong will share his views on how the application of innovation and technology has assisted the Government of the HKSAR to tackle the challenges posed by the COVID-19 epidemic and the opportunities that lie ahead for IT industry to embrace the “new normal”. |
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| Guest Speaker | Mr. Scott Ambler |
| Job Title, Company | Vice President & Chief Scientist (Disciplined Agile) |
| Speaker Profile | Scott is the Vice President, Chief Scientist of Disciplined Agile at Project Management Institute. Scott leads the evolution of the Disciplined Agile (DA) tool kit and is an international keynote speaker. Scott is the (co)-creator of the Disciplined Agile (DA) tool kit as well as the Agile Modeling (AM) and Agile Data (AD) methodologies. He is the (co-)author of several books, including Choose Your WoW!, An Executive’s Guide to the Disciplined Agile Framework, and The Object Primer 3rd Edition. Scott blogs regularly at ProjectManagement.com and he can be contacted via pmi.org. |
| Session Title | Preparing for Next Time: A Disciplined Agile Strategy |
| Session Abstract | For years we’ve been told that we live in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world, and this is clearly true. Yet with years of warning about the need to become more resilient, many organizations were caught flat-footed in their response to COVID-19. For many organizations that have survived this upheaval it has been harder, slower, and more expensive than it needed in their scramble to identify how to respond to their new situation. Will you be so lucky next time? This session explores how you can learn respond effectively at the individual, team, and organizational levels when the context of your situation changes. The Disciplined Agile (DA) tool kit provides contextualized and easy-to-navigate guidance for evolving your way of working (WoW) to address you evolving environment. DA describes a robust, pragmatic, and comprehensive approach to business agility, showing how to respond swiftly and effectively to changing conditions. Discover how you can avoid being caught flat-footed the next time you’re disrupted, and there will be a next time. |
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| Guest Speaker | Mr. Eric Cheung |
| Job Title, Company | Group Transformation Director, Tricor Group |
| Speaker Profile | Eric Cheung is the Group Transformation Director at Tricor Group, a private – equity backed global provider of business services. He is responsible for driving the transformation with a focus on Hong Kong to deliver transformational change and improvements throughout the customer journey. With a track record in digital transformation, strategy execution, and operations design, he works closely with the PE investors and business leadership to define and deliver transformational change. He has 15 years of experience in transforming organizations in Asia and North America, with various strategic roles in HSBC & Deloitte Consulting. |
| Session Title | Managing Digital Transformation Through Covid-19 |
| Session Abstract | TBA |
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| Guest Speaker | Mr. David Daoud |
| Job Title, Company | Founder & CEO eLearn2grow, Digital Learning Agency – Founder EdTech Club, Where Education meets Technology |
| Speaker Profile | David has 20+ years of international experience, of which 17+ years in the financial industry, David has worked on various international organizational and IT projects across Europe and Asia. In 2016, he founded eLearn2grow, a Digital Learning Agency supporting Corporates and SME in their digital learning transformation and EdTech initiatives. He also founder the EdTech Club, a membership community that empowers and upskill professionals on EdTech and Learning & Development with digital learning knowledge and skills! David has a consulting and entrepreneur background, across several industries, with a deep experience in the financial industry especially in CIB Payments and Cash Management Banking value chain. He has led numerous continuous improvement and digital transformation initiatives. In addition, David is an active volunteer in 2 charities (Tabitha Hong Kong and LIFE), Ambassador of La French Tech in Hong Kong and Founder of the EdTech Community of Hong Kong. David holds a Masters degree in Management, Major in Project Management and Business Engineering; undergraduate degrees in Banking Relationship Management as well as being a Certifications holder as : Scrum Product Owner, Serious Gaming, Design Thinking, Internal Quality Auditor, Lean 6 Sigma Green Belt. |
| Session Title | Leveraging EdTech innovations to achieve your organizational growth amidst the crisis. |
| Session Abstract | Digital Transformation is about Talent, Not Technology. Contrary to what most of the people believe, digital transformation not just about digitizing some processes or implementing technologies. This is mostly about transformation. The transformation component is the major one as it impacts the People. People’s habits, culture, and confidence in their work. An expert can become a beginner after a process got digitalized. You can imagine the human impacts of such situation and the reticence in adopting a new way of working. With COVID-19, most of the companies, schools and government offices jumped into the digital to maintain as much as possible their business as unfortunately this could mean implementing quickly patches and workaround rather thinking in depth about the needs and digital solutions without missing the change management and training. COVID-19 brought chaos and at the same time it played the role of one powerful enabler for most of the companies and countries to embrace faster and deeper their Digital (Learning) Transformation. Re-imagine the workplace of tomorrow cannot go without re-imagining the workplace-learning of tomorrow. In this session David Daoud will cover the several facets of EdTech, Digital Transformation and the Digital Learning Experience. |
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| Guest Speaker | Mr. Samuel Fung |
| Job Title, Company | Director, marketing, retail lobby and digital customer experience, Starbucks Coffee Asia Pacific |
| Speaker Profile | Samuel is a seasoned professional in strategy planning, digital marketing and innovation, category management, supply chain excellence and business process re-engineering. As the current director of marketing, retail lobby and digital customer experience for Starbucks, Samuel is the regional lead for developing and executing regional marketing campaigns, reimagining the digital touchpoints and integration with retail, and leveraging data analytics capability to drive incremental transactions and tickets to the business. Samuel has been recognized as Asia-Pacific’s 50 most influential and purposeful marketers on Power List 2020. |
| Session Title | Elevating Customer Experience and Building Resilience for the future |
| Session Abstract | It is a moment in history when the world is united in a collective effort to contain and mitigate a global pandemic. As we navigate this dynamic situation and business recovery continues, how do we lay the foundation for a more transformational phase “restore and build resilience” and enable us to accelerate the transformation of our business in ways that elevate the customer and partner experience and drive long-term growth? This crisis is an opportunity to accelerate how we’ll adapt to the paradigm shifts already unfolding in retail and technology and re-imagine the next normal. It’s time to boldly chart or path to renewal and growth. |
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| Guest Speaker | Dr. Natalie Loong |
| Job Title, Company | Clinical Psychologist |
| Speaker Profile | Dr. Natalie Loong is a California licenced Clinical Psychologist with extensive experiences in working with children, adolescents, and adults from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds in community mental health, outpatient, residential, and private practice settings in Hong Kong and the United States. She is passionate about contributing to peoples’ lives with her knowledge and expertise in mental health. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Natalie teaches at a doctoral clinical psychology program as well as a master’s psychology program. She also partners with organizations to conduct regular mental health trainings in corporate settings. As an advocate for mental health, Dr. Natalie currently serves as advisor to two non-profit organizations in Hong Kong. |
| Session Title | The Way Forward Starting from Within: Mental Health and Resilience |
| Session Abstract | The global outbreak of COVID-19 has shaken humanity to its core, exposing vulnerabilities overlooked before. Our interconnectedness and mutual dependence as individuals, teams, organizations, industries, communities, and countries have become all the more apparent. Beyond a public health crisis and a global economic crisis, the pandemic is evolving into a crisis of mental health with social distancing measures, school closures, job losses, and other socioeconomic stressors posing significant psychological strain and plunging mental well-being to a new low. Research has shown that while financial crises impact mental well-being, issues with mental health also have serious economic consequences through the loss of productivity. The year 2020 has been described as a wake-up call or even a dress rehearsal for future challenges. Whatever it may be, it is clear that the road to recovery must include a focus on mental health. To weather the storm and return more robust than before, not only should businesses consider how employees’ mental health impacts work performances but also how employees’ resilience translates to organizational resilience. In this session, Dr. Loong will discuss workplace mental health and share strategies on managing stress and developing resilience. |
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| Guest Speaker | Mr. Frankie Lui |
| Job Title, Company | Principal and Founder, Atelier Global Limited |
| Speaker Profile | Frankie Lui is the founder of Atelier Global Limited. A registered Architect who has attained Master degree of both Architecture and Urban Design in Columbia University in the city of New York and Architecture in University of Hong Kong. Atelier Global was founded since 2007, a multi-disciplinary design practice that provides urban planning, architectural and interior design. Frankie has successfully led the growing firms both in Hong Kong and Shenzhen to a new era. With his innovative design and inspiration, Frankie has led renowned projects that received variety of prestigious awards – including iF Design Award in Germany, ICONIC Awards in Germany, International Design Award in the USA, A’ Design Award in Italy, and HKIA Award in Hong Kong. Frankie is invited to attend numerous domestic and international exhibitions, which include 2018 Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition, Good Design Award of Japan, Common Room & Co. Joint Exhibition, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism: Ten Chapters of Architecture, etc. |
| Session Title | Design in Between Public & Private |
| Session Abstract | To achieve high quality project design and execution, effective collaboration of different professionals is critical. On the other hand, architecture in different cities needs to comply with different regulations, functional programs and construction administration. Hence to become a good professional in Asia Pacific region, integration of innovative design, smart management and creative problem solving becomes special challenges and opportunities for us. This session will share some special projects in the Great Bay Area that pose interesting conditions among public, private and urban interfaces. These projects offer some insights and experiences on how to achieve creative results and overcome different aspects of management and design problems. |
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| Guest Speaker | Mr. Alessio Quaglini |
| Job Title, Company | CEO & Co-founder, Hex Trust |
| Speaker Profile | Alessio Quaglini has over 15 years of professional experience, developed in banking, regulatory body and management consulting. Prior to joining Hex Trust, Alessio was the Head of Strategy Asia for BBVA, overseeing the overall business development and geographical footprint in Asia. Among the responsibilities, Alessio helped the Bank set up branches and obtain regulatory approvals in Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, and Japan. Alessio was subsequently Director of Financial Institutions at First Abu Dhabi Bank, where he was responsible for developing the bank’s business with Financial Institutions and Non-Bank Financial Institutions in North Asia. Alessio also worked at the Italian Financial Services Authority (Consob) in Rome, where he was responsible for the supervision of public equity and derivatives markets in the market abuse department. Alessio earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Telecommunication Engineering from La Sapienza University in Rome and his MBA from IE Business School |
| Session Title | How banks are adopting digital assets and moving into DeFi |
| Session Abstract | Banks and Financial Institutions are quickly moving into the DeFi and digital assets world, which has been accelerated by Central Bank Digital Currencies and increased regulatory clarity. In this session, I’ll explain how banks are adopting digital assets and their plans to provide digital assets services to their institutional, corporate, and retail clients. |
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| Guest Speaker | Dr. Paul Sin |
| Job Title, Company | Partner & FinTech Leader, Deloitte Consulting |
| Speaker Profile | Dr. Paul Sin has over 20 years of IT management and consulting experience focusing in financial services sector, currently leading the FinTech practice and Asia Pacific Blockchain Lab in Deloitte. Prior to Deloitte, Paul served as CEO of Fintech, CIO for bank, brokerage firm, and global conglomerate, as well as practice leader for other global consulting firms, specialized in emerging technologies. |
| Session Title | Blue Ocean Amid COVID-19: SME Financing Across Greater Bay Area |
| Session Profile | The pandemic has different impact in different business , but the most severely on SMEs, which are badly in need of financing. When cash flow of SMEs is diminishing and frauds are rising, how financial institutes can leverage AI, Blockchain, and Open API to help these SMEs while creating a profitable loan portfolio becomes the billion-dollar question. |
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| Guest Speaker | Mr. Gert Verdonck |
| Job Title, Company | Interim Director of Operations Support Unit, MSF Hong Kong |
| Speaker Profile | Gert Verdonck joined Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in 2010. He was deployed as Nursing Director of the MSF surgical trauma units in Kunduz, Afghanistan and Tabarre, Haiti. Since 2013, he has been part of the MSF Emergency Team, and has managed a number of medical projects combating disease outbreaks, including the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-16, the yellow fever outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016, the diphtheria outbreak in Bangladesh, and the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018. He has also led MSF’s medical programmes in other emergencies including the war in Syria, the MSF migration rescue vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, the malnutrition crisis in Nigeria in 2017, as well as cyclone relief assistance in Haiti, Mozambique and India. Gert is currently the Regional Emergency Coordinator for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and the interim Director of Operations Support Unit of MSF Hong Kong. He is from Belgium and specialised in paediatric nursing and tropical medicine. |
| Session Title | Scale up the global emergency response in an adaptive and flexible approach |
| Session Abstract | The first few months of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic required MSF teams around the world to rapidly mobilize and deploy complex outbreak preparedness and response measures. Despite unprecedented supply shortages and travel restrictions, MSF projects in many low resource and humanitarian crisis settings succeeded to remain with existing target populations, implemented essential infection prevention and control measures, and maintained continuity of essential care. In this sharing session, Gert Verdonck will share the approach and initiatives that MSF teams adopted to overcome many of the major challenges of this global public health Emergency and what the lessons we must take away from the crisis. |
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| Guest Speaker | Mr. Andy Wong |
| Job Title, Company | Head of Innovation & Technology |
| Speaker Profile | Mr. Andy Wong is the Head of Innovation and Technology at InvestHK. He leads a team of technology specialists with major focus on attracting and facilitating overseas investments in Hong Kong for setting up and expanding their operations in the form of sales & marketing, regional headquarters, R&D and/or innovation center. Key focused technology clusters include biotech/biomedical, medical devices, healthcare services, AI and robotics, microelectronics and smart manufacturing. Mr. Wong has wealth strategy consulting and business development experience in the technology sector. Prior to InvestHK, Mr. Wong was a consulting director at a leading consulting firm where he led the technology consulting team to provide a broad spectrum of multi-industry consulting services. His expertise spans across business strategy, market analysis, due diligence, financial and business plan. He was a strategy director at a Global 500 where he led the Greater China consulting team to help MNC undertake business transformation through applications of advanced technologies. Mr. Wong graduated from the University of Birmingham, the UK with First Class Honor Degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and has a Master Degree in Business and Accounting from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Mr. Wong is a Chartered Engineer (CEng) from The Institution of Engineering and Technology, the UK; and is a Member of the Certified Practicing Accounting, (CPA) Australia. |
| Session Title | Road to recovery – by leveraging Hong Kong’s unique advantages in innovation & technology development. |
| Session Abstract | The outbreak of covid-19 pandemic causes unprecedented impact to global economy. Startups, mid-size scaling up as well as large conglomerates are looking for opportunities to recover and transform their businesses. The use of innovative technologies such as AI and robotics, 5G, IoT and biotech is crucial to expand business opportunities and to enhance market competitiveness. In this session, Mr. Wong will introduce the facilities and funding support available in Hong Kong for companies carrying out R&D activities as well as the resources and advantages for companies to leverage Hong Kong as a gateway to enter China and to grow their business worldwide. |