Speakers

Speakers 2021

Philip Andrews-Speed

Senior Principal Research Fellow

National University of Singapore

Dr Philip Andrews-Speed is a Senior Principal Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore. He has 40 years in the field of energy and resources, starting his career as a mineral and oil exploration geologist before moving into the field of energy and resource governance. His main research interest has been the political economy of the low-carbon energy transition. China has been a particular focus for his research, but in recent years he has been more deeply engaged with energy challenges in Southeast Asia. He is currently leading a research project on the governance of nuclear safety. 

Priya Narain Balchandani

Global Head of Market Analysis

Maersk Oil Trading

Errol Bong

Head of North Asia and Managing Director

D2 Legal Technology

Errol has worked as Global Head of Compliance & Legal Counsel, APAC Head of Compliance & Legal and Legal Director at top tier investment banks, securities brokers, fund managers and listed blue chip corporates in Hong Kong. Prior to working at financial institutions, Errol worked at magic circle law firms in London and Sydney. Errol has managed Compliance teams, partnered with Chief Operating Officers to successfully execute MIFIDII & Brexit Compliance programs, addressed MAS & ASIC inspections, conducted internal anti-bribery investigations, established KYC, AML & anti-bribery policies and delivered IT solutions to implement AML & KYC programs. He has also organised the media strategy for responding to bribery allegations. He is a leading speaker at conferences organised by Asia Risk & International Financial Law Review and asked for his views in GC Magazine - The Legal 500. Errol is currently advising and leading Uncleared Margin Projects impacting OTC derivatives documented under ISDA terms at leading Australian funds"

Errol is a qualified lawyer who is licensed to practice in Hong Kong, Australia, England and New York. 

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Deven Chitaliya

Senior Vice President, Head of Risk Management, Central Risk Office

Olam International

Professional Experience: Deven is a Risk professional with 22 years+ of versatile experience. He has a proven track record in the areas of commodity credit risk management, commercial aspects of physical and paper trading (Oil, Agriculture, Softs), compliance, internal control, corporate finance, contract documentation, legal matters, project implementation, people management and people management. In his current role at Olam, he is responsible for the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework development, implementation, periodic consolidation and Board / business reporting.

In his previous stints Deven held various important & senior positions; Masefield Asiapac Pte Ltd (Regional Director & Head of Risk - Asia Pacific), Kobian Pte Ltd (ERP Project Manager & Senior Compliance Manager), Reliance Industries Limited (Senior Manager – Risk & Compliance)

Educational Background: Financial Risk Manager (FRM – GARP USA), Chartered Accountant (CA), Cost Accountant (ICWA), Diploma in Information Systems Audit (DISA), Post Graduate  Diploma in Foreign Exchange & Risk Management (PGDFERM)

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John Driscoll

Director

JTD Energy Services

John Driscoll’s career spans nearly 4 decades with senior management posts in supply, trading, energy publishing and consulting. After graduating from Stanford in 1976, John joined ARCO in Los Angeles as a product operator. He moved to Singapore in 1985 with Maxus, a US-based Indonesian crude producer.  He opened Singapore trading offices for UK oil company Ultramar and US refiner Tosco. He joined Mobil Asia in 1997 as Team Leader, Fuel Oil until the Exxon merger. John ran Argus Media in Asia for 5 years before returning to trading in 2004 as Senior Manager for GS Caltex Singapore, handling product trading, risk management and, market analysis. A naturalised Singaporean, John setup JTD Energy Services in 2013. He lectures at Singapore Management University and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology on Oil Trading, Pricing and Risk Management. He is a regular speaker in local broadcast media.

Aiman El-Ramly | Moderator

Chief Business Officer

ZE PowerGroup

Aiman El-Ramly, MBA, CMC, Chief Business Officer, ZE PowerGroup has been an active member of the energy and commodities industries for 30 years. Aiman has significant understanding of what is needed for corporations to run effectively in complex global markets. ZE PowerGroup is the developer of the ZEMA™ enterprise software for data management and analytics. Aiman and his team have been recently expanding ZEMA’s capability to include advanced analytics and machine learning in resolving key industry challenges in trade, risk and operations. He is a frequent presenter, and market expert, in data and data analytics.

Aiman is also the Chief Operating Officer for ZE Power Engineering, ZE’s engineering design firm for utilities. Aiman holds an MBA from Royal Roads University and a BA in Psychology from the University of British Columbia.

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Stella Farrington

Head of content

Energy Risk

Stella Farrington has been writing about energy markets for over 20 years, working at Futures World News and Dow Jones Newswires before moving to Energy Risk in 2004. She spent eight years as the editor of Energy Risk and six as a writer, before moving into her current role as Energy Risk’s head of content and a commercial editor with Infopro Digital’s Ignite team.

Winson Low

Deputy Managing Director

Enuit

Winson Low is the Deputy Managing Director in Singapore operations. Providing support and assisting APAC Operations, Sales, Services, Support, Consulting & People Development. Prior to this appointment, Winson heads up the pre-sales team in APAC and the Middle East focusing on the expansion and adoption of Entrade. A demonstrated history of working in the ETRM software energy industry with 20 years of experience in the area of application systems, support, pre-sales, requirements analysis, business development, business process improvement, and strategic planning. He holds a B.ENG. Honours Electronics and Communication Engineering from the University of Leeds.

Shibli Md. Faiz

Unit Head, Advisory Services

IDCOL

Mr. Shibli Mohammad Faiz joined Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) in 2014 and is currently heading the Advisory Services unit which provides local and cross-border consulting services. Shibli represented IDCOL in various local and international platforms and presented papers in seminars and conferences in Asia, Europe, and Africa.  

Before joining IDCOL, Shibli worked in a leading local conglomerate and a multinational telecommunication. He completed BBA and MBA from IBA, University of Dhaka. He holds another Master’s degree in Development Studies from University of Dhaka. He received training at both home and abroad, on project financing, financial modeling, project evaluation and monitoring.

Chikako Ishiguro

Senior Analyst, Energy Resources and International Business Unit

Osaka Gas

Chikako Ishiguro is Senior Researcher and Analyst at Osaka Gas.  As a member of the Energy Resources and International Business Unit of the company, Chikako heads up energy market research and analysis activities of the company where she has worked for over 10 years. Throughout her career, Ishiguro has pursued in-depth global market analysis in key energy sectors, particularly in LNG.  Previously, she was Head of Market Research Division of Osaka Gas International Transport, a subsidiary of Osaka Gas.  She is a co-author of OIES papers; Pricing and Demand for LNG in China (2006), A New Paradigm for Natural Gas Pricing in Asia: A Perspective on Market (2009), A Realistic Perspective on Japan’s LNG Demand after Fukushima (2012) and The Outlook for Natural Gas and LNG in China in the War against Air Pollution (2018).

Rewati Jain | Moderator

Head Finance - Renewable Energy Business

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Limited

Rewati is heading finance for the renewable energy business of Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India Ltd. She brings with her over 20 years of experience. Before her current role, she was heading markets, strategy & commodities with Essar Group, India. She has proven expertise in corporate finance with strong experience in Strategy, Treasury & Markets, Commodities and Global Finance. Rewati is a qualified Chartered Accountant from ICAI and Post Graduate Diploma in Foreign Trade – MVIRDC, World Trade Centre, Mumbai.

Cetin Karakus

Global head of quantitative and analytical solutions

BP

Laurence Kwan

Portfolio Director, Head Renewables

Cambridge RE Partners

An experienced individual with proven leadership qualities and management styles in both public and private sectors, Laurence is recognized in the industry as subject matter expert in the areas of electricity and integration to Electricity Market in Singapore and Asia Pacific. He has amassed years of senior managerial experience in a variety of corporate sectors across a wide industry spectrum.

In addition, Laurence was one of the pioneers in implementing Demand Response solution in Singapore with Energy Market Authority back in 2007/08.

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Christophe Malet

Senior Vice President - Upstream and Midstream LNG

Hanas New Energy Group

Christophe Malet is Senior Vice President Upstream and Midstream LNG at Hanas, a Chinese independent energy company focusing on Renewables and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas); and Managing Director of Hanas LNG Pte. Ltd., Hanas’ Singapore-based LNG procurement and marketing entity.

Christophe's experience in the LNG Industry over the last 14 years with Hanas, Yamal LNG, Excelerate Energy and Shell covers short-term trading, long-term LNG marketing and LNG business development.

With an engineering degree and a MBA as academic background, he has over 20 years of commercial experience.

Monika Mangla

Former Digital transformation strategy & program manager

Chevron

Monika Mangla is passionate about driving business transformation leveraging technology.  She has >25 years’ experience in advising C-suite in digital strategy, governance and finance innovation and has delivered finance transformation at global scale, including leading global finance transformation program at Chevron that aimed to transform finance globally, leveraging SAP S/4HANA and Central Finance. 

Monika received a master’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland - College Park and is a Charter Financial Analyst (CFA). She started her career with KPMG in economics and statistical advisory and moved to Accenture as Senior Manager supporting both outsourcing and strategic business consulting.  Monika joined Chevon in 2008 as senior advisor in Upstream Finance and has since held a variety of roles in corporate functions and in operations, with time in the Gulf of Mexico, US Deepwater and Thailand. Monika joined Deloitte as a Managing Director in 2022 leading efforts building technology led finance transformation practice.  Currently, Monika is teaching as a guest professor at the University of Houston, School of business and focusing on growing BreaktheTide.org, a non-profit that focuses on empowering underprivileged communities through technology.  She lives in Houston with her family and enjoys reading and traveling in her free time. 

Jin Ghee Ong

Head of Risk Management

Keppel Corporation 

Risk leadership professional with over twenty years of regional corporate experience covering risk business partnership, governance, policy, and operational excellence in global banks, oil majors, telecommunications and diversified conglomerates.

Nick Smith

Executive Director, Growth and Low Carbon Division

Department for Energy and Mining, South Australia

Nick is the Executive Director, Growth and Low Carbon Division within the Department for Energy and Mining in South Australia.

Nick leads the teams responsible for capturing the growth and economic value associated with South Australia’s world leading renewable, mineral and energy resources. The Growth and Low Carbon Division delivers projects of major importance to the Government, provides strategic policy and communications advice to the Minister and has a focus on developing future industries and decarbonising existing markets that align with the energy and mining sectors.

Nick is the Vice President of the International Association for Hydrogen Safety (HySafe) and a member of the Future Fuels Cooperative Research Centre’s Research Advisory Committee.

Prior to joining Government in 2014, Nick held a range of senior commercial and operational roles predominantly across the LPG and construction materials industries.

In addition to Nick’s energy and industry future planning roles, he is a non-executive director and Deputy Chair of Cara Inc, a large disability service provider; holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy. 

Chris Strickland

CEO and Co-founder

Lacima

Dr Chris Strickland is CEO and co-founder of Lacima - a specialist provider of valuation, optimization, and risk management software to the global energy and commodities markets. Chris also works extensively with senior executives consulting on energy risk management and complex derivative valuation issues for over 20 years.

Chris is the co-author (with Les Clewlow) of the books 'Energy Derivatives Pricing and Risk Management' and 'Implementing Derivatives Models' and co-editor of the book 'Exotic Options: The State of the Art'.

Chris was named in the Energy Risk Hall of Fame and in 2009 he was named in an elite international group of five by Energy Risk Magazine as a pioneering quantitative analyst who has made an outstanding contribution to energy trading and has shaped today's global energy markets.

Chris is an Honorary Fellow at Macquarie University in Sydney and a member of the Special Focus Advisory Board of the Computational Finance & Risk Management Program at the Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Washington in Seattle

 

Ramesh Subramanyam

Chief Financial Officer

TATA Power

Mr.Ramesh Subramanyam is a graduate in Commerce from Nagpur University. He is a member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India & Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He has also passed the CPA (Certified Public Accountants) examination of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

He has more than 25 years of experience in diverse organisations like Lloyds Steel Limited, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Monsanto India Limited and Siemens AG. After joining Tata Power in 2007 he has held various positions within Tata Power. He was Chief Financial Officer for Coastal Gujarat Power Limited (Mundra UMPP), Chief of Finance and Accounting for Indian Subsidiaries of Tata Power and Financial Controller of Tata Power before being appointed as CFO of Tata Power. He is also on the board of several other Tata Power Group Companies. He is also the member of core committee of power sector financing of CII.

Ivan Tan

Director, Trade and Business Services

Enterprise Singapore

Ivan Tan is the Director of Trade with Enterprise Singapore (ESG), the government agency championing enterprise development. His division is responsible for promoting Singapore as a trading hub and helping Singapore-based companies in the wholesale trade sector to grow and internationalize.

Ivan joined IE Singapore, the predecessor government agency to ESG in 2006. Prior to his current appointment, Ivan was the Global Market Director for Southeast Asia from April 2015 to December 2018. From 2013 to 2015, Ivan was seconded to the Energy Market Authority (EMA) as its Director of Planning. 

Eric Tham

Senior lecturer, data science

Australian University

Dr. Eric Tham is a senior lecturer in data science in a top Australian University. Prior to joining academia, he has over 16 years of financial experience spanning quantitative development, risk management and Fintech. He has a Phd in Finance with research interests in asset pricing, AI/ML in Finance and behavioural finance. His extensive practical experiences have helped introduce a practical inclination to his teaching. 

His research interests are at the intersection of behavioural finance and AI/ML, and have been presented at the American Economics Association (AEA/AFA) meetings, Miami Behavioural Finance conference, the European Financial Management Association (EFMA) meetings, the Australasian Banking and Finance conference (ABFC) and the Risk management conference at NUS. He has also won a research grant from the Think Forward Initiative for his research on social media trust.

Nico Valckx

Senior Economist, Commodities Unit

International Monetary Fund

Nico Valckx joined the International Monetary Fund in 2010. He is currently senior economist in the IMF’s Research Department, focusing on energy policy, and held previous positions in the European Department, focusing on euro area monetary policy and EU financial sector policies, and in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, where he led financial sector stability review missions to Hong Kong and Uganda and served as team leader for the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR). Between 2002 and 2010, Nico worked at the European Central Bank, in various capacities, in Financial Stability, in the ECB Representative Office at the IMF, and in the Research Department. Previously, Nico held research positions at De Nederlandsche Bank, Bank of Finland and was Lecturer in International Finance and Applied Econometrics at University of Antwerp. He holds an M.Sc. from KU Leuven and Ghent University and a Ph.D. in applied economics from University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Kevin Wagner

Director

KWA Analytics Singapore

Kevin has 11+ years of experience as an Openlink Consultant & Project Implementer specializing in complex Liquid and Bulk Commodities solutions. Through his many years of Project implementing, Kevin has developed a strong understanding of deal lifecycles, allowing him to implement and design practical end-to-end solutions on E/CTRM platforms, whilst working closely with all major stakeholders of a Project; including Business focal points from Trading, Operations, Risk, and Finance, IT Departments, and Project Sponsors. Prior to joining KWA Analytics, Kevin was most recently an independent contractor overseeing the successful roll-out of a global LNG re-modeling implementation and Engagement Director at Openlink in Singapore responsible for all Liquid and Bulk Commodities implementations across the APAC region; spanning from Northern Asia down to Australia. As Director of KWA Analytics Singapore, Kevin runs the KWA Singapore office including all aspects of Business Development, Recruitment, Strategic Partnerships and Professional Services Implementations.

Matthew Wittenstein

Chief of Section, Energy Connectivity

UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP)

Matthew Wittenstein is Chief of Section for Energy Connectivity at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP). In his role, Matthew supports efforts by countries across the region seeking to improve the sustainability and security of their energy systems through increased cross-border power system integration. Recent work includes capacity building for energy regulators in ASEAN, an assessment of the potential to develop a “green power corridor” in North-East Asia, and supporting increased cooperation on sustainable energy among the countries of the Pacific.

Prior to joining the UN, Matthew was a Senior Electricity Analyst at the International Energy Agency (IEA), where he focused on the economics of generation, the challenges of encouraging investment in clean energy technologies, and electricity market design. He also led the IEA’s work on cross-border electricity security, including the publications “Establishing Multilateral Power Trade in ASEAN” and “Integrating Power Systems Across Borders”. From 2011 to 2014, Matthew was a Fellow in the US Department of Energy’s International Climate Change Office, where he supported the Clean Energy Ministerial secretariat. Mr. Wittenstein holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University, with a concentration in international economic policy.

Yan Chong Yaw

Director of Oil Research & Forecast, Asia

Refinitiv

Yan Chong is the Director of Refinitiv Oil Research & Forecasts in Asia, part of its Commodities Research & Forecast division.

He is also the inspiration behind the Asia Oil Flows Assessment Module, that provides fundamental assessments of cargo flows across the oil barrel to and from demand and supply regions, after having learnt the fundamentals of Supply & Demand in the more than 10 years that he has been in the oil industry, starting out as a Price Editor in Platts, being an Energy Correspondent with Reuters and also having spent some time as a Trading Analyst in Merrill Lynch.