SINGAPORE FINTECH ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE MEMBER NOMINATION BIOS Below are the bios we ve received from our nominees (not all have done so!) ANNA HAOTANTO CEO, THE NEW SAVVY Anna Haotanto is the CEO of The New Savvy and Director at Tera Capital, a private investment firm. Anna is the President of the Singapore Management University Women Alumni. She is part of the founding committee of the Singapore FinTech Association and heads the Women In FinTech and Partnership committee. She is passionate about finance, education, women empowerment and children s issues. Anna has been featured on CNBC, Forbes, The Straits Times, Reuters Money, Business Insider, The Peak Magazine, INC, The New Paper, Singapore Computer Society, Vulcan Post, e27, Asian Entrepreneur and Singapore Management University. She headlines the infocommercial for Lifetime Asia: What does a boss look like? with over 1.7 Million views. She was awarded Her Times Youth Award at the Rising50 Women Empowerment Gala, organised by the Indonesian Embassy of Singapore. The award was presented by His Excellency Ngurah Swajaya. She was nominated and selected for FORTUNE Most Powerful Women conference in 2016 (Asia) and 2015 (San Francisco, Next Gen). She headlines the infocommercial for Lifetime Asia: What does a boss look like? with over 1 Million views. ANSON ZEAL CHAIRMAN, ACCESS Anson Zeall is the Chairman of ACCESS, Committee Member of Singapore Fintech Association and CEO/Co-founder of CoinPip, blockchain startup backed by 500 Startups and Startx, prominent startup accelerators in Silicon Valley. BRANSON LEE SR. DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BLOCKCHAIN FOUNDRY Branson Lee has spent over 12 years in tech. Having served in companies like LinkedIn, Sun Microsystems, Fintech Startups Ezypay and now Blockchain Foundry, Branson also helps out with entire education sector in Singapore for Gartner Advisory Services. Branson has extensive experience working with Institutes of Higher Learning, both from technology implementation as well as the administrative services. Since its inception, Branson have also helped out in serving as a volunteer with Singapore Fintech Association, conducting blockchain 101 bootcamp at Singapore Polytechnic, NTUC Ustartup as well as upcoming series of blockchain bootcamp. He has also been invited to speak at Republic Polytechnic at their Tech Day. With his extensive experience and network, he is well placed to serve the community in this capacity. Finally, Branson works with a can-do spirit and leads from the front. He works with the mantra of working hand-in-hand alongside colleagues. Branson knows that by participating in SFA, he is ready to serve to create a more vibrant fintech ecosphere, he is not working for his company but for the larger good of the fintech community. DAPHNE NG FOUNDER & CEO, JEDTRADE Daphne notably spent close to 10 years in the corporate banking sector, starting from SME lending in the early years and then for most part of her banking career specializing in supply chain finance, receivables finance and trade credit insurance for large corporates and global MNCs. Moving out of her banking career in early 2016, Daphne was a project advisor for a leading supply chain lender before embarking on her fintech venture JEDTrade a digital trade platform that connects suppliers, buyers and lenders with the aim of making trade and working capital flow more efficiently for businesses. It is built on a combination of smart data architecture and an early-stage blockchain proof-of-concept. With her passion in helping businesses thrive, Daphne s mission is to create an inclusive trade and finance ecosystem to benefit all enterprises. With her domain expertise in trade, Daphne lends her knowledge passionately as a regular trainer and industry speaker on topics relating to supply chain finance, and applications of blockchain and new technologies in trade. She is a regular trainer and industry speaker for ITI@SMU and was recently appointed as Fellow by SUSS to provide advice on Fintech teaching and research activities. Daphne is also a Mentor of PolyFinTech100 Program as she strongly believes in nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs and inspiring them to follow their dreams. In the supply chain and logistics domain, Daphne is currently Exco-Member of Supply Chain Asia s Procurement Council and SME Exco, where the latter s focus is on supporting the SME community relating to supply chain and logistics. She is also a regular
contributor for SCA s print and online publications on supply chain topics as she hopes to bring a new phase of technological thought leadership in the logistics sector with the use of blockchain and DLT applications. Industry Accreditations - Exco Member, Procurement Council and SME Exco, Supply Chain Asia - Knowledge partner and trainer, International Trading Institute @ SMU - Fellow (Fintech), Singapore University of Social Sciences - Mentor, PolyFinTech100 EDDIE LEE GROUP CEO, NEW UNION Eddie is a self-made businessman who, through his own SME's growth journey, rose from humble beginnings (http://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/this-ceo-is-a-fighter) to the successful entrepreneur he is today. He is proof of how hard work and perseverance can lead to social mobility in Singapore. Eddie believes in the concept of paying it forward. Since 2005, he makes time to address the young and aspiring start-up audiences that include but are not limited to the Ngee Ann Polytechnic, the Singapore Polytechnic, the Temasek Polytechnic and the National University of Singapore. Particularly in the 2016 Singapore Polytechnic Start-up Pitching Competition, he also participated in providing seed funding with Singapore Polytechnic for the winning start-ups. He was also invited to speak by the National Institute of Education and the Ministry of Education, addressing professional educators in the ministry level on how schools can inculcate the start-up mindset and help millennials assimilate into the workforce smoothly. Through his contributions to the larger entrepreneurial community, Eddie was appointed as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the Temasek Polytechnic, School of Entrepreneurship in early 2017. Since 2014, as a co-founder of New Union, he has been actively raising Fintech awareness to the Singapore SME community. His contributions span from dealing with eminent bodies such as the Federation of Merchants Association Singapore, supporting government initiatives like the ACE LaunchPad Party, to promoting Fintech in the speaking events such as SME Innovation Summit, Echelon Singapore, Fintech Global Submit and recently over the national radio station, 95.8fm Capital. Within the Singapore Fintech Association, he worked with the Singapore Business Federation in representing the SFA's goal to build awareness for its mission. During the 2017 Singapore India Business Dialogue, a high level inter-nation event for the Singapore Business Federation and International Enterprise Singapore, Eddie represented the Singapore Fintech Association to introduce the local crowdfunding scene in one segment. The audience included key Singapore government officials, the High Commissioner of India and high level representatives from esteemed enterprises such as the Tata Group. He is also responsible for building the content for the Singapore Fintech Association in the form of crowdfunding know-how, SME Fintech integration and others that will be transformed into guides and ebooks to further the Association's agenda. Having been an SME for the past 19 years (since 1998), he understood the difficulty to secure financing. With the birth of New Union, his mission is to be the SME stronghold to empower the local SMEs to be able to seek competitive financing more easily and more efficiently. New Union being the pioneer in the crowdfunding sector and even before it was coined as Fintech industry, Eddie been through the unregulated phase of the industry to the current regulated stage and believes that he could contribute on a larger scale with the brethren of the local fintech companies, SMEs and together with the Singapore Fintech Association. Eddie is not afraid of taking on new and unfamiliar roles and relishes the challenges brought forward by the role of Vice President to be well met by his passion and commitment for the Association. GERBEN VISSER CO-FOUNDER, FINTECH CONSORTIUM Gerben is a Partner of InQvest Partners and Co-Founder of The FinTech Consortium, a FinTech incubator. The FinTech Consortium provides Corporate Incubation, Research and Venture Acceleration and incubated BlockCon, InsurByte and RegPac (Ecosystem platforms). He is a committee member of Singapore FinTech Association ( SFA ). SFA is a cross-industry non-profit initiative, intended to be a platform designed to facilitate collaboration between all market participants and stakeholders in the FinTech ecosystem. He is also a Co-Founder of IncubAsia Ventures (early stage venture capital firm) and an advisor to a number of early stage technology companies. He has gained over 12 years of international experience in private equity, mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance at RBS, Bank of America and Citigroup in Amsterdam, New York and London.
He received a Masters degree in Business (Finance & Economics) from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and dual Masters degree in Business (Finance & Economics) from SKEMA, a Grande Ecole Superieure de Commerce in France. He obtained a certificate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) for the FinTech course. Gerben is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and has been a registered Securities & Regulations, Corporate Finance Advisor with the Financial Services Authority in the UK. HOCK LAI CHIA HEAD, DIGITAL OFFICE, NTUC INCOME I gratefully accept his nomination for the position of President. I look forward to the opportunity to serve the FinTech community, and to defend their interests, again. I am the Head of the Digital Office in NTUC Income and the founding member of SFA. I am also the co-chair of both the Partnerships and Education sub-committees. In addition, I am also a Fellow at the Singapore University of Social Science, advisor to start-ups and a mentor of Student FinTech projects at the Singapore Polytechnic. As the President of SFA for the past eight months, I believe I have led the organisation well to build and grow the brand, and pursue its core mandates of providing access to talent, capital and market access. Given the lack of resources for a young association, I have been leading various events and activities from raising funds, developing SFA website to running various events and partnerships to grow the brand of SFA and promote awareness of FinTech in Singapore and abroad. Having worked for 17 years in various roles in large organisations primarily in the financial industry, with the current role to drive digital transformation initiatives within one of the largest social enterprises in Singapore, I believe that mine background has prepared me well to lead SFA to the next phase of development Growing a strong FinTech talent pipeline is key to the continued growth of the FinTech sector in Singapore. Attracting capital inflow is critical to enable our FinTech companies to scale their business regionally. Facilitating market access for FinTech solutions and services, home and abroad, will provide significant benefits to the ecosystem. It is equally important that all members feel that their ideas and concerns will be heard and treated seriously. It is the job of the President to make sure this happens. IGOR PESIN PARTNER, INVESTMENT DIRECTOR LIFE.SREDA VC Igor Pesin is a Partner and Investment Director at Life.SREDA VC, a global fintech and blockchain venture capital fund, headquartered in Singapore. Being responsible at Life.SREDA for the investments throughout their entire life cycle, Igor has executed more than 20 fintech deals across the world in the US, Europe, CIS and Asia. Some companies, invested by Life.SREDA, are well-known benchmarks in the fintech space, such as Simple bank (sold to financial group BBVA), Moven, Fidor, Anthemis, SumUp, Allset, Lenddo etc. Among 20 investments, executed 7 exits through M&As and secondary deals. - Igor is a Board/Advisory Board Member at SumUp (Germany), Allset (US), SoftPay (Vietnam/Singapore), Mobikon (Singapore/India), Scorista (Russia/China), Lenddo (US/Philippines), Ayannah (Philippines), Fastacash (Singapore), Yolopay (Singapore) - From 2016 Igor serves as CFO and managing director at Banking on Blockchain (BB) fund, powered by Life.SREDA, alongside with other partners - Chris Skinner, Thomas Labenbacher and Slava Solodkiy. - From Q4 2016 Igor serves as interim CEO for Life.SREDA's strategic project in Asia BAASIS (www.baas.is), which is a first Pan-Asian open-api bank-as-a-service platform aimed to address main challenges of fintech in Asia and create infrastructure for the whole industry. Previous Igor s background includes mix of corporate and entrepreneurial experience: 5 years in management consultancy, corporate finance and M&A (Strategy Partners Group, KPMG, JFK System) and 4 years as serial entrepreneur, launching and managing own startups in the e-commerce and tech space. After a succesful exit from e-commerce platform Shopping Online (Russia), Igor joint Life.SREDA VC fund as a partner and investment director. Igor passed a full-time MBA program in management, finance and investments at SKOLKOVO business school (the US, China, Russia), entrepreneurship and innovations executive MBA program at MIT Sloan (the US), holds degrees in math and economics (The Higher School of Economics, Russia) JAN REINMUELLER HEAD OF DIGITAL VILLAGE KPMG DIGITAL VILLAGE Jan is the founder and head of Digital Village in Singapore. He is responsible for turning opportunities or challenges into customercentric products or services and serves as an independent innovation lab partner for corporate clients. The focus is on maximising commercial impact and optimising time in bringing products or services to market.
He drives innovation out of the innovation lab by contextualising and commercialising start-up innovations to address new market opportunities. He brings international experience and knowledge of markets in US, Europe, India and ASEAN. He is also a key mentor for SG Innovate and Singapore Management University s undergraduate programme for innovation and entrepreneurship. JUANITA WOODWARD PRINCIPAL, CONNECTING THE DOTS Juanita Woodward has lived and worked in Singapore since 1991, and is a Singapore Permanent Resident. As a SFA Committee Member Nominee, she brings a combination of experience in the Singapore FinTech community, engagement across the Asia Pacific region, and Singapore association leadership experience, skills and contacts to the SFA Committee and its membership. From 1991 to 2014, Juanita held regional and global marketing and product roles in Transaction Banking at Citi, ABN AMRO and Standard Chartered Bank, followed by her role as Asia Pacific Regional Director for Eurogiro, a global payments network with HO in Copenhagen. Catching the early stage of Fintech activities in Singapore, Juanita founded a boutique consultancy called Connecting the Dots in 2014 to provide consultancy, market research, and project management services in Digital Payments, Migrant Worker Remittances, and Financial Inclusion to FinTech companies, as well as established financial services market leaders. Juanita s current roles: Principal, Connecting the Dots, consultancy focus on Payments, Remittances and Financial Inclusion FinTech Fellow, Singapore University of Social Sciences Investment Committee Member of the UNCDF Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformations (SHIFT) programme This United Nations Capital Development Fund initiative aims to advance economic empowerment and market participation for low-income consumers, microenterprises and SMEs in ASEAN Country Director Singapore for WorldRemit Ltd (UK), Board Member of WorldRemit (Singapore) Pte Ltd Advisor, InfoCorp Technologies, Singapore FinTech company focused on last mile payment solutions Member, Singapore Institute of Directors A frequent speaker at conferences in Singapore and the AP region, including commercial conferences, and forums organised by intra-governmental and development agencies on Payments and Financial Inclusion In addition to her work in the FinTech and financial services space, Juanita is well known in the Singapore community as Founding President of PrimeTime in 1997, and returning as President for the period of 2003-2010 to lead and further develop the association, now Singapore s most active international businesswomen's association, and a member of the Singapore Council of Women s Organisations since its beginnings. Juanita is also known for her role as Co-Founder and Co-Chair of BoardAgender, launched in 2010, Singapore s first initiative to draw attention to the importance of gender balance in the Boardroom and organisations. At both organisations, PrimeTime and BoardAgender, Juanita was highly regarded for her ability to develop and implement a strategic plan for start-up associations that creates a long-term foundation for association growth, good governance, and community impact. PrimeTime celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and some of BoardAgender s activities, such as tracking diversity in SGX-listed Boardrooms, are now being handled by the Diversity Action Committee, chaired by SGX. Juanita is a role model for women both in the FinTech and Financial Inclusion arena, and has been a leader in Singapore s women empowerment dialogue. As a SFA Committee Member Nominee, she brings skills and experience in the FinTech community, and a clear understanding of good governance practices for associations in Singapore. LIU XI, LOUIS CEO FOMO PAY PTE. LTD. Liu Xi is a payment specialist in Chinese payment and new alternative payment modes in Asia. With prior working experience in VISA, he saw the opportunity of new mobile payment and started up one of the largest payment aggregator company FOMO Pay in Singapore. Apart from his daily work, he is committed in promoting Fintech industry and works actively as: An insightful speaker who frequently speaks in mobile-payment related conventions and summits about Chinese payment landscape and South East Asia payment industry roadmap. A proactive researcher on mobile payment related topic and successful case studies of Go-to-China-Market strategy. A firm believer that mobile payment and Fintech will democratize financial services to help the underbanked group seize greater control of their financial lives and the ability to improve their financial health. A focused forerunner in bridging East and West culture and payment behaviour to facilitate international company reach out to new Asia market. Award-winner for Best Fintech Company on Seamless Asia 2017 and Red Herring Award 2016 Some of his active sharing and speaking experiences include:
Keynote speaker at MeetingYoungMinds@BIT convocation event for BIT students at Temasek Poly, themed Embrace IT, Enrich Life - 22 Feb 17, Singapore Singapore Committee on Future Economy Seminar at SPH TV Program- 22 Dec 16, Singapore Morgan Stanley 15th Annual Asia Pacific Summit - 16 to 18 Nov 16, Singapore` Singapore Press Holdings program - 25 Oct 16, Singapore VISA Fintech Conference - 8 Sep 16, Hong Kong MARKUS GNIRCK CO-FOUNDER & CEO, TRYB Markus has been a key member of the Singapore FinTech ecosystem for over 3 years. In his role as Co-founder and COO of Startupbootcamp FinTech he was instrumental in helping to bring focus to early stage companies in ASEAN and provided a platform to connect various ecosystem players from banks to investors and regulators. As a co-founder and CEO of tryb, Markus is now looking to invest in, build out and aggregate growth stage companies for the financial infrastructure in ASEAN, with Singapore as its anchor. tryb is an integral part of the Singapore FinTech ecosystem and aims to push the FinTech conversation to the next level. He not just brings a wealth of global networks, but also a fresh view on how to change financial services in ASEAN - and not just through powering hype. His input on regulatory change, technology transformation and an integrity to all tribes in Singapore FinTech adds value to the growth of the Singapore FinTech Association. He is committed to the cause of supporting entrepreneurs with a people, technology and capital platform that will make Singapore a more connected, sustainable and diversified FinTech hub. As one of the founding team committee members, he is keen to continue his work to represent SFA globally, recruit more members and build a diverse group of stakeholders. RICHARD HARTUNG MANAGING DIRECTOR, TRANSCARTA I am seeking to be elected to the Committee so that I can leverage my deep background in financial services, the skills I have developed through my extensive volunteering service on the board of non-profits and my passion for helping the community to support the interests of fintechs in Singapore. As background, I am consultant with more than 20 years of experience in financial services, primarily in Asia, and also work as a freelance writer for Today, GTNews, The Asian Banker and other media. I first worked in retail banking in California, the diplomatic corps and Citibank in Japan. After moving to Singapore, I worked for MasterCard, Keppel TatLee Bank and OCBC Bank. I started Transcarta in 2002 and work with payments companies as well as technology and other firms on payments strategy, operations enhancement and market entry. I have a BA from Pomona College and an MBA from Stanford University. I also serve on the boards of other non-profits, including the Metropolitan YMCA and the Jane Goodall Institute. During the time I ve lived in Singapore, I have volunteered with non-profits that reflect my personal interests and where I can leverage my skills. I have gained extensive experience at non-profits through co-founding a new conservation organization here, serving as treasurer on two other non-profits, and serving in various roles at other non-profits as well. When I was asked by SiTF to help support the fintech community because of my experience in financial services and strong background with non-profits, I immediately volunteered and helped in the initial planning for the Fintech Alliance. When the Alliance and other organizations in the fintech community came together to form the FinTech Association, I joined the Fintech Association (Singapore) Committee as the Secretary. I have used my background to help with developing the governance practices needed to start up the Association, supporting the fintech community as co-chair of the Policy Subcommittee and serving in other capacities when help is needed. I seek to continue to serve on the Committee so that I can do even more to grow the fintech community in Singapore, and to continue as the secretary so that I can fully leverage my experience with non-profits as well as with financial services firms and fintechs. UMANG MOONDRA MANAGING PARTNER, AVANTE CONSULTING Umang is a transformation leader with a track record of crafting and leading change driven by strategy, culture, digitization and automation, aimed at quantum leaps in bottom line, revenues, client delivery and risk mitigation. With 25 years of experience with Citigroup across Asia Pacific, his cross-functional experience provides him with a unique understanding of the end to end connectivity in an organization. In the past few years, Umang has held various leadership positions as Global Transaction Services Operations Head for Asia Pacific, Operations & Technology Head for SE Asia, and Retail Banking Head for Singapore. In these roles, he has led efforts focused on leading and helping business units achieve marketplace dominance by building the right team and culture, defining target markets and products, devising low cost acquisition and servicing models, developing partners and distribution channels, excellence in client delivery and risk mitigation. Umang is currently working with consulting firms and their clients in SE Asia to define and lead transformation efforts. He has deep knowledge of, experience in and connectivity with the banking industry across ASEAN and India. Over the last 2 years, he has been
actively involved with the FinTech community directly as a mentor, advisor, investor, observer and indirectly, through his consulting practice focused on transformation connecting banks and FinTech players, and educating both about each other. He believes that FinTech will drive tremendous positive change in the world of financial services and that while what we have seen thus far may seem momentous, it is, in fact, just the beginning. For fintech to live up to its revolutionary potential, for it to find real solutions to real issues, it also needs the right kind of environment and that is exactly what SFA aims to do by connecting and fostering collaboration between all stakeholders and players in the FinTech space in Singapore and beyond. Singapore has firmly established itself as a best in class FinTech Hub and SFA aims to help the Singapore FinTech community cement that position. It is an aim that he is fully supportive of and wants to contribute to meaningfully. In his view, FinTech is not about one party besting the other, but all parties working together and also competing to provide customers across the spectrum the best possible experience. The focus has to be on the customer, and on whatever collaboration is required. Umang s experience, knowledge and skill set will allow him to help the community and SFA make progress towards achieving its goals. Specifically, as secretary, he will work to effectively channel communication between the players, industry and regulatory bodies to ensure that not only is there clear understanding of objectives and challenges but also a clearly defined and executable collaborative action plan. Umang has lived and worked in India, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Philippines, and is conversant with Bahasa Indonesia. He is an avid traveller, voracious reader of history, current affairs and trends, and is passionate about cricket and music. He lives in Singapore with his wife and son.
VARUN MITTAL ASEAN FINTECH LEADER, EY Varun Mittal is the ASEAN Fintech Lead at EY covering emerging technology and business models in financial services across ASEAN. Previously Varun was the first marketing and sales employee at hellopay (acquired by ANT Financial, Alibaba Group), led payments for Samsung in ASEAN and developed regional mobile payment solutions at Singtel Group. Prior his work in payments, Mittal worked at Microsoft and Gemalto. He holds an MBA from the National University of Singapore. Varun is also part of founding team of Singapore Fintech Association, working closely with startups, educational institutions, investors and regulators across ASEAN. VIKAS NAHATA CHAIRMAN, CO-FOUNDER, VALIDUS CAPITAL PTE LTD Post graduation from Wharton in 1998, I have founded 4 companies in diverse sectors. My 4th start up - Validus is an online marketplace connecting growing SMEs with accredited global investors. We recently received funding from Vertex <member of Temasek Holdings> and our team has over 200+ years of financial industry experience. I am also part of the Entrepreneur's Organization (EO) and have won two global awards from events and marketing & communication. I was also previously the Managing Director for Bengal NRI Complex Ltd., a township spread over 65 acres and particularly handled the Finance portfolio. In my free time, I love adventure sports, and particularly scuba diving.