ESCAP SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS NETWORK

A champion for sustainable development, ESG investment, digital transformation and the Green Economy, Dr. Lam is Chair of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Sustainable Business Network (ESBN), and the ESBN Task Force on Sustainable and Inclusive Finance.  He is a member of the Governance Committee of the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio, and the Development Bureau Common Spatial Data Advisory Committee, of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, and Convenor of the Panel of Advisors on Building Management Disputes of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Home Affairs Department. He is also a member of the Court of the City University of Hong Kong and the Belt and Road and Greater Bay Area Committee of the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council (HKTDC), Vice Chairman of Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC), Chairman of the Permanent Commission on Economic and Financial Issues of the World Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (WUSME), and President of Hong Kong-ASEAN Economic Cooperation Foundation.

Dr. Lam earlier served as Chairman of Hong Kong Cyberport, Hong Kong's digital technology flagship and global innovation hub.  He was a member of the Committee on Innovation, Technology and Re-Industrialization, the Sir Murray MacLehose Trust Fund Investment Advisory Committee, and the Central Policy Unit, of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.  A former member of the Hong Kong Bar, Dr. Lam is a Solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong, an Accredited Mediator of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), a Fellow of Certified Management Accountants (CMA) Australia, the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators, the Hong Kong Institute of Directors and the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia (ICDM), an Honorary Fellow of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) Australia, the Hong Kong Institute of Facility Management and the University of Hong Kong School of Professional and Continuing Education, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Alliance (HKITDA).  In 2019, Dr. Lam was awarded by the Hong Kong Government a Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) for serving the public.

David Morris is an international consultant advising organisations on international economic cooperation, future trends, opportunities, risks, relationships and reputations. His advisory roles include: Senior Expert for China, East Asia, Australia and the Pacific, LM Prisk Political Risk & Strategic Advisory, International Advisory Board Member, World Green Organisation, Advisory Board Member, Institute for Cultural Relations Policy, Senior Research Fellow, Research Centre for Pacific Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University, and  Academic Adviser, Research Centre for Pacific Island Countries, Liaocheng University .

Mr Morris recently represented the international organisation of Oceania, the Pacific Islands Forum, as Pacific Trade and Investment Commissioner in Beijing, and has worked to build economic cooperation in the Asia Pacific for decades as a diplomat, trade official and senior political adviser.  He also had two diplomatic postings to Europe and advised Australia on United Nations peacekeeping.  He established and was the first Executive Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is currently completing a PhD, is a member of an Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Research Network on Asia-Europe economic relations, has an MBA from Henley Business School and a BA (Honours) from the University of Sydney.

An active advocate for green building and sustainability for over two decades, Esther has been instrumental in establishing CDL’s leadership in sustainability.  It is ranked top real estate company on the 2021 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World and is also the only CDP A-List company for both climate strategy and water security in SE Asia and Hong Kong.  Key ESG initiatives she has spearheaded include publishing the first sustainability report in Singapore in 2008; issuing the first green bond by a Singaporean company in 2017 and pioneering an SDG Innovation Loan in Singapore in 2019.

A forerunner in embracing the UN SDGs, Esther was conferred 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact, is a signatory for the UNGC Caring for Climate network and is also a corporate member to the UN ESCAP Sustainable Business Network.  She sits on the boards or advisory platforms of several organisations, including World Green Building Council, Global Reporting Initiative, GRESB Asian Real Estate Benchmark Committee and UNEP FI Real Estate Work Group.  She Chairs the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association’s Sustainability and ESG Committee, Co-Chairs the Urban Land Institute Singapore’s Sustainability Product Council and Vice-Chairs the Singapore Institute of Directors’ ESG Committee.

Deborah Biber is Chief Executive, Blue Moon Advisory, Hong Kong, China. She is also a Director and former Chief Executive of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC). Ms. Biber was previously the Chief Executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Macau, and a key player in the formation of the AustCham Greater China initiative and the development of Australian Business Asia, a group of Australian chambers of commerce and business organisations in India, China, ASEAN and North Asia. She remains an Advisor to the AustCham Westpac Australia-China Business Awards program.

Ms. Biber is a passionate advocate for business education to help build tomorrow’s leaders in the Pacific Rim. She was recently the Country Manager Hong Kong for the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), a global top fifty MBA provider, part of the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Deborah has enjoyed a diverse career in all aspects of marketing, public policy and public affairs in Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe as well as across Asia including Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and China. Before joining AustCham she Chief Executive of leading integrated marketing consultancy Blue Moon for ten years. Prior to this, Deborah was the Regional Creative Director and Vice President of international public relations firm Hill & Knowlton Asia.

Pedro Eloy is the Chief Executive Officer at Pelham Grey, heading the teams investing in innovative startups & SME’s, partnering with global companies entering local markets and launching new businesses. As former Senior Executive at Fung Group/Li&Fung and with a mandate to champion digital & omni-channel, predictive analytics and innovation-driven technology integration initiatives, Pedro orchestrated a series of cross-platform projects for the Group’s Trading, Logistics & Distribution verticals and led the teams who brought the first digital awards to the Group.

In academia, Pedro founded and heads the HKU MBA BusinessLab since 2012 and serves as Adjunct Visiting Professor, member of the MBA Board of examiners and as Executive Coach for Hong Kong University MBA students. He launched the Social Impact Lab in 2018 and has been leading the program since its inception - the program provides a unique opportunity to experience social impact entrepreneurship whilst raising the awareness of global initiatives led by corporations, governments, civil society and entrepreneurs towards the United Nations 2030 agenda. Recognized by the digital industry, Pedro is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, an Executive Member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a published author and a judge for several digital awards & entrepreneurship competitions.

Anirban leads Sustainability at the USD 20.7 billion Mahindra Group. Under his leadership Mahindra has developed an award-winning Sustainability framework, become the first to have a certified  carbon neutral factory in India, doubled energy productivity in a company, and enabled 21 locations to become zero waste to landfill. He has, in partnership with the World Bank, facilitated the creation of the Sustainable Housing Leadership Consortium to accelerate the spread of green buildings in India. Anirban has led a shared value project that doubled per capita income for 50,000 people in rural India.

Anirban takes great pleasure in implementing projects that drive positive change in society and has been acknowledged as a “Thought Leader” and a “Distinguished Sustainability Officer”.

Asif Ibrahim is the Vice Chairman of Newage Group of Industries, a business house involved in manufacturing and exporting of readymade garments, textiles and plastic products from Bangladesh employing 10,000 personnel. He is recognized as a CIP (Commercially Important Person) by the government of Bangladesh.

Asif Ibrahim is the Chairman of Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE). He is a former President (2011-2012) of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) & founder Chairman of Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD), a Public Private Dialogue platform to enable policy reforms for an improved investment climate in Bangladesh. He is a director of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) holding the responsibility of all sustainability projects of BGMEA. He is also one of the conveners of Resurgent Bangladesh, a platform to help develop policies for Bangladesh to overcome the economic impacts of the covid crisis. He is a member of the Board of Advisers of BRAC Business School under BRAC University. He is also a core committee member of the Citizens’ Platform for SDGs Bangladesh representing the private sector.

Mrs Lee Ju Song is the former Executive Director of the International Chamber of Commerce, Regional Office, Asia from 2002 to 2020, during which in a pioneering fashion she established and developed several ICC’s flagship Chamber services including the ATA Carnet System and the ICC/WCF International Certificate of Origin (CO) Accreditation Chain. She continues to serve as the Founding Chair of the ICC WCF International CO Council.

She played a key role in the setting up of ICC’s global HQ on e-learning in Singapore in 2015, an ICC Representative Office in Shanghai in 2016, and a Court Office in Singapore in 2018. Mrs Lee continues to champion the early implementation of the ATA Carnet System, the world’s passport for goods throughout Asia to help speed up regional integration as an active member of the World ATA Carnet Council. As an ICC specialist on international trade facilitation and documentation and a founding Chair of the ICC WCF International CO Council, she also actively urges the provision of electronic CO services to the expanding international business community.

Business and thought leader, Barbara Meynert, has executive expertise in Asia and internationally across a range of regulatory, commercial and financial sectors. She is Senior Advisor to the Fung Group, a member of the Executive Committee of the UN ESCAP Sustainable Business Network, Adjunct Professor at the University of Hong Kong, and Vice-Chair of the Hong Kong-ASEAN Economic Cooperation Foundation. She serves on the Hong Kong Cyberport Advisory Panel and the FinTech Advisory Council of the Astana International Financial Centre.

Leveraging on her expertise and network, Barbara is helping to build back a post-pandemic world that is better, digital, and green. She is collaborating with the International Chamber of Commerce on an initiative to reconceptualize a new trade finance ecosystem to address the chronic shortage of trade finance for SMEs. As a partner in CarbonBlue Innovations, a venture builder company, she is providing advisory and technology support to developing economies to help with their digital transformation.  And as the world moves towards net-zero carbon requiring substantial new investments, Barbara, together with her CarbonBlue partners, is actively engaged in the development of innovative green bonds to meet these needs.

Mr. Murthy founded Infosys in 1981. Infosys is, today, a highly-innovative software services global company listed on NYSE in the US and on the Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai with US$ 14 billion in revenue and about US$ 76 billion in market capitalization.  Under his leadership, Infosys became the leader in innovation in technical, managerial and leadership training, software technology, quality, productivity, customer focus, employee satisfaction, and physical and technological infrastructure. Mr. Murthy conceptualized, articulated and implemented the Global Delivery Model (GDM) which has become the backbone of the Indian software industry and introduced the concept of 24-hour-work-day to the world.

Currently, he serves on the boards of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (NJ) and the United Nations Foundation. He has served on the boards of Ford Foundation (NYC), HSBC and Unilever (London). He was ranked among CNBC’s 25 global business leaders (2014), Fortune’s ‘12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time’ (2012), The Economist’s 10 most-admired global business leaders (2005), Financial Times’ list of “Business pioneers in technology” (2015). He is a member of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the US National Academy of Engineering.  He received the Founders Medal (2018), the Hoover medal (2012) and the Ernst Weber Medal (2007), all three from IEEE.

Mr. Albert Oung is a Myanmar born Chinese and graduated at the University of Toronto in Canada with a BA degree in Commerce and Economics. He is a Green Entrepreneur and Environmentalist with over 36 years of experience. His focus is on the Green Economy, transforming and commercialising common practices into sustainable and responsible business models with social impact. 

Mr. Oung founded the Green Inc. Group in 1992 and engages in transactions related to Green Finance & Technologies, Green Buildings & Infrastructure, Green Logistics & Warehousing, Renewable Materials & Energies, Carbon Trading, and Waste Management. He is the Founding President of the World Green Organisation & Green Institute, and Founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Myanmar Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Carson Wen is the Founder and Chairman of Bank of Asia (BVI) Limited and BOA Financial Group Limited. He is also Chairman of the Sancus Group of companies, which has investments in policy driven sectors such as new energy, logistics, finance and technology. He has practiced law for over 30 years at his own Hong Kong partnership and subsequently at leading global law firms. Mr. Wen has been named as a leading adviser on Chinese law, mergers & acquisitions and capital markets work in Who's Who of the Law, Asia Pacific Legal 500, AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers, Chambers Asia and China's Top 200. He is also named in the International Who's Who and Who's Who of the World.

Mr. Wen was a three-term Deputy to the National People's Congress of China, which is the PRC's national legislature and constitutionally the highest organ of state power, representing Hong Kong. He is also a Justice of the Peace of Hong Kong and held various public service appointments in Mainland China and Hong Kong. He was the Vice-Chairman and currently Party Affairs Advisor of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong ("DAB"), the largest political party in Hong Kong. He is also Guest Professor of the Law School of Zhongshan University (also known as Sun Yat-Sen University), which is the leading university in Southern China. He is also a Director of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, and inter alia, a Founding Director of the China M&A Association.  Mr. Wen was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government for his contribution to economic ties between Hong Kong, Mainland China and the rest of the world. Mr. Wen obtained his B.A. (economics) from Columbia University, where he majored in economics, and B.A. and M.A. (law) from Balliol College, Oxford University.

Tan Sri Michael O.K Yeoh is a social entrepreneur, public intellectual, thought leader and influencer who has had 35 years senior management, Boardroom, Consulting and international experience. He is an author of several books and is a speaker at many international conferences.

He was co-founder and CEO for 25 years of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute a globally ranked Think Tank, and is currently President of the Kingsley Advisory and Strategic Initiatives Sdn Bhd, a Business Advisory, research and events company as well as a Board member of several Public Listed companies in Investments, Finance, Property and Food. He sits on the Board of Governors of a University and the Board of Trustees of the OSK Foundation. He advises several new technology and e-Commerce companies.

He is Deputy President of the Society for Promotion of Human Rights (PROHAM), Secretary General of the Malaysia Japan Economic Association (MAJECA) and Director of the Malaysia-China Business Council. He has served as Malaysia’s Representative (Ambassador rank) on the ASEAN High Level Task Force on Connectivity and was a Commissioner in the Malaysian Competition Commission and the Human Rights Commission besides being a member of the Advisory Board of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. He holds a Doctor of Laws (hc) from the University of Nottingham and a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University.

Xiaochen leads the design and implementation of FinTech4Goods’s strategy which aims to introduce impactful fintech and blockchain solutions to frontier markets through incubation, acceleration and investment. He brings more than 16 years of thought leadership and global experience to build impactful solutions and scale up innovative ideas in North America, Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

He is the Chairman of the Global Blockchain4SDGs Alliance, and serves on the Crowdfunding Professional Association Board of Directors, and as a senior advisor of the China Social Entrepreneurs Foundation and Inter-America Development Bank. He is also the founder of Blockchain Frontier Group and a co-chair of several blockchain labs.

Prior to FinTech4Good, Xiaochen advised government agencies and multinational organizations on innovative finance, green technology, climate policy, and sustainable energy, including at the at the World Bank. Xiaochen has extensive experience in the incubation and scale-up of result-based solutions and innovative financing mechanisms for the public and private sectors globally. He is a recognized speaker on investment planning, climate finance, green innovation, and crowdfunding. He holds an M.A. in Global Studies from Leipzig University.