Singapore Media Awards 2014

Joo-Lee Aw is the Managing Partner of The People at Work Pte Ltd, a regional executive search consultancy focused on senior appointments in the Asia Pacific market. She is responsible for driving the vision and direction for the group while actively developing international partnerships and initiatives for its offices in Singapore, Shanghai and Manila.

Joo-Lee began her career in advertising with Leo Burnett. She gained her experience in Media, Consumer and Banking sectors with companies such as Citibank, KFC and MediaCorp and has a successful commercial track record in Business Development, Marketing and Sales in both startup and transformation environments.

She was last with Dow Jones International Media as its Asia Marketing Director identifying strategic alliances between the different Dow Jones businesses including AWSJ, CNBC and Far Eastern Economic Review before she left to start The People at Work in 2000.

Joo-Lee holds a Bachelor (Marketing & Management) from University of Oregon (USA) and Master of Science (Marketing) from University of Wisconsin - Madison (USA).

Basil is a seasoned media executive in international PayTV content, marketing, adsales and business development. In his present role at StarHub Media Network since October 2012, Basil is responsible for leading StarHub’s media sales business through developing and managing partnerships, advertising and sponsorships with leading brands, agencies and PayTV channels.

Prior to joining StarHub Media Network, Basil’s most recent career was at Fox International Channels (FIC), a fully-owned business of News Corporation. He spent nearly 9 years in business and marketing leadership roles across the region. His last assignment as territory head, took him to Kuala Lumpur to start the local office for FIC. His many award-winning marketing campaigns had resulted in the catalytic growth of the National Geographic, FOX and STAR brands. Among his many pioneering firsts, he led the launch of National Geographic Channel HD on StarHub in 2006, the first in Southeast Asia.

Carol helps clients translate business objectives into compelling brand ideas and strategy, guiding creative teams to develop original creative expressions. She captures the rare synergy between imagination required for brand thinking, the analytics of commerce and the technology of the digital world. “A powerful brand is simply a shorthand for a hidden, engaging, and inspirational story waiting to be uncovered and told to the world.”

Carol’s career started in an interactive marketing agency, where she enabled clients to leverage digital technologies to market more effectively to consumers. As a digital strategist, she has worked with corporate brands in various capacity to design, market and develop customer experiences online. Following her digital experience, Carol joined Virgin Mobile Singapore overseeing Brand Equity and Proposition Planning. She then moved to FutureBrand as Head of Brand Strategy leading client brand strategy, architecture and identity engagements from the likes of Globe and Maxis.

Carol has over 15 years of experience, 5 in North America, 10 in Southeast Asia. Carol has shaped highly-profiled brands which include Uniquely Singapore, Eu Yang Sang, SMART Telecom, Sime Darby, Changi Airport Group, ANZ and Intercontinental Hotels Group.

Cheryl Wang joined Tigerair in July 2012 as Director of Brand & Strategic Marketing. She is responsible for managing Tigerair’s overall brand strategy and positioning.

Since joining Tigerair, some of the key initiatives Cheryl has introduced to date are the Integrated Marketing Communications planning framework and the development of branding guidelines to effectively align and ensure consistency in brand communications across business groups, consumer touch points and mediums.

Prior to her current role, Cheryl was with SingTel and was instrumental in driving profitable business growth and successful brand building efforts, actively leading the launch of sponsorship events including SingTel F1, and brand campaigns. Most notable was the recent the SingTel Hawker Heroes “Gordon Ramsay” campaign.

A veteran in the branding and marketing communications industry with over 20 years experience, Cheryl has successfully helped companies build their brand presence and enhance consumer awareness and engagement in key markets across Asia Pacific.

Cheryl has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Economics and History from the National University of Singapore and a graduate Diploma in Marketing at Marketing Institute of Singapore. She is married and has two children.

As Senior Vice President of Marketing & Sales Planning at MediaCorp, Christina Chua is responsible for directing the communication and engagement processes with both internal and external customers, generating marketing synergy across MediaCorp’s myriad of media platforms as well as driving revenue in tandem with customer groups. In her role, she leads the marketing functions within the Group Sales & Marketing division, namely the product marketing, pricing management, trade marketing, marketing communications, market research and sales analysis teams.

Christina has over two decades of professional experience across pan-Asia, in the area of sales and marketing. Her portfolio includes a travel business venture she co-founded which saw a successful turnaround in five years as well as senior management positions at Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Parkroyal Hotels & Resorts and Meritus Hotels & Resorts.

Christina has a BBA with Honours in Travel Industry Management & Marketing from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Sriram is a Marketing Director at HP. In this capacity, he leads consumer and SMB marketing for HP Personal and Printing solutions (PPS) for APJ. In addition he oversees the media function for HP PPS in the region.

His role has oversight of through the line marketing programs – traditional/digital/offline for HPs line of PCs, Printers and accessories. Prior to this role, Sriram was overseeing Consumer and SMB Marketing for HP Imaging and Printing group – driving marketing, media and agency relationships. Prior to HP, Sriram has worked for more than a decade at Procter & Gamble in Mumbai and Singapore. His love of marketing has seen Sriram peddling toothpaste, dish wash, Feminine hygiene, baby diapers and male grooming services in addition to IT products. Sriram has also had a brief stint in corporate IT in P&G – setting up data networks and corporate data warehouses. Sriram has been recognized numerous times with internal awards at the companies he has worked in and most recently was awarded the Marketer of the year award at SMA 2012. Apart from work, Sriram is currently mentoring Secondary school children in Singapore on social entrepreneurship ventures.

Sriram holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the Delhi College of Engineering and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

“Some people have 20 years of experience, and some have 1 year of experience repeated 20 times.”

Dominic specialises in strategic branding and has spent a decade each in agency and client roles, including Young and Rubicam, SingTel and CDL.

He has worked on a large portfolio of brands including Akzo Nobel BV, Apple, Audi, Blizzard, Bulgari, CDL, Cerebos, Chevron, HP, M1, Miele, New Era, Rosenthal, RWS, SingTel, Spinelli Coffee, Versarce, and the Singapore destination brand. He has also developed brand strategies for Government Ministries including Ministry of Manpower, Workforce Development Authority, Media Development Authority, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Authority) as well as Tertiary / University bodies including SUTD, NTU and SIT.

Edward Stanislaus is the Managing Director of The Edge Publishing Pte Ltd. Prior to this, he was appointed the Chief Operating Officer in 2010. He was instrumental in launching The Edge Singapore in 2002 as the Regional General Manager - Advertising & Marketing

His career with The Edge media group started way back in 1994 when he was part of the pioneer team that launched The Edge Malaysia and its group of publications.

In his current capacity, his role is to continue to grow The Edge brand in Singapore and also establish a wider footprint in the ASEAN region. He is a firm believer in the power of compelling contents and an advocate for engagingly creative marketing communications.

His vision is for mankind to live in peace and mutual respect for each other; for every child to be given the opportunity to attain their fullest potential; and for the elderly to live-out their old age with grace and dignity.

Elsie Chua received her Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Economics and Sociology from National University of Singapore and her Masters of Business, International Marketing from Curtin University. She has also received a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Diploma in Financial Management from the Singapore Institute of Management.

Elsie started her career in the motor industry doing Marketing Research at Cycle and Carriage, before moving on to retail management in high end fashion and sporting goods. Prior to joining Singapore Press Holdings, she was holding general management responsibilities in the Royal Sporting House Group, marketing brands like Reebok, & Speedo in Singapore and regionally in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Elsie was the Executive Vice President, Classified Advertisements in Singapore Press Holdings Ltd, prior to her appointment as Head of Display advertisements since Feb 2011. She is currently leading Integrated Sales, Marketing team in SPH.

Eugene is currently the Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management Marketing at HSBC Singapore and is responsible for brand, sponsorship and retail banking marketing activities in Singapore for HSBC.

Eugene has a depth of experience having worked in the banking industry for over 20 years holding various roles across multiple disciplines which include marketing, business management, sales and business development in Citibank Singapore, Citibank Australia, UBS Private Bank and ANZ. Prior to joining HSBC, Eugene was the Asia Pacific Head of Marketing in ANZ where he was responsible for developing marketing strategies to deliver revenue and customer growth in the region.

Eugene holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from National University of Singapore and a MBA from Australian National University.

Based in Hong Kong, Evan oversees all Asia-based advertising sales marketing activities. He joined WSJ in NY in 2003. Earlier, he held various positions at Time Inc. and created China Now – a multi-media examination of 50th anniversary of the PRC and one of the first cross-platform advertising programs created by a publisher. A two-time winner of the min “Best Integrated Marketing Program” for work on Dell and Citi, Evan is also recipient of the Jack Ready Award for Excellence, the highest award given on the commercial side of The Wall Street Journal. He holds a BS in theatre from Northwestern University and an MBA in International Marketing from New York University.

Frances Koh is Vice President, Trade Marketing & Communications for MediaCorp Pte Ltd. She is responsible to provide seasoned leadership in establishing MediaCorp’s trade engagement model to strengthen the tripartite relationship amongst the media owner, its media agencies as well as other trade partners, to support Sales in driving revenue growth for the organization.

Frances began her career in hospitality branding and communications with luxury hotels such as Wynn Resorts, Hilton and Pan Pacific where she has accrued substantial experience both locally and regionally including China, Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand. With over 7 years in the hospitality sector, Frances has crafted and executed various brand positioning and public relations campaigns across Asia with great success. She was most recently with McDonald’s Singapore marketing where she successfully launched new products through first-ever digital campaign and integrated marketing initiatives to achieve record-breaking sales and winning industry awards from EFFIES and SMA as well as the prestigious global McDonald’s Circle of Excellence Award.

Frances has a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Melbourne specializing in International Marketing.

As Head of Communications and Digital Marketing for Electrolux Asia Pacific, Frazer Neo Macken leads and drives the full gamut of public relations (PR), external and internal communications, digital marketing and social media in the region. In this role, Frazer is also a member of the Electrolux global communication leadership team, global marketing leadership team and Asia Pacific leadership team.

Frazer brings with him proven expertise and knowledge in leading communications, PR, integrated marketing communications, digital as well as social media strategies and management. A seasoned corporate and brand marketing communicator, Frazer has been a member of judging panels of esteemed regional Marketing and PR awards and a regular speaker at Marketing and Communication workshops and forums in Asia.

Frazer holds a Bachelor of Arts (Communications) degree from Monash University (Australia), and is a member of the Golden Key Society for outstanding scholastic achievements. He is also a Singapore Management University (SMU) scholar and holds a Master of Science in Communication Management. Effectively bilingual, Frazer speaks fluent English and Mandarin.

After graduating with a major in Marketing from the University of New South Wales [Sydney, Australia] in the early 80s, Geoff returned home and worked in three international advertising agencies before settling into a career with Singapore’s leading media owner & publisher, the Singapore Press Holdings Group [SPH].

In his 28 years at SPH, Geoff has worked across a myriad of portfolios – newspaper advertisement sales, electronic publishing, advertising & promotions, product branding, research & analytics, digital strategy, and strategic marketing.

Currently, as Senior Vice President and Head of Strategic Marketing, Geoff’s responsibilities include new-business modeling, formulating innovative sales strategies across both print & digital platforms, championing change management, driving the company’s foray into big data, and evangelizing SPH’s integrated media ideology to the advertising & media fraternity at large.

Geoff was conferred Marketer of the Year 2006 [Highly Commended] from the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association [PANPA] for championing creative and out-of-the-box advertising options in newspapers. Geoff was the keynote speaker for WAN-IFRA’s 20th annual advertising conference entitled “Where’s the money?” held in Copenhagen. He has also taken centre-stage at major industry conferences in Denmark, Dubai, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Canada. In 2011, Geoff was conferred the PANPA Marketer of the Year accolade for outstanding performance in marketing for a newspaper publishing company.

Irene Lim is Head of Group Sales and Marketing at MediaCorp, and a member of the company’s Senior Leadership Team. With her well-recognised leadership qualities and a proven track record in sales excellence and organizational development, Irene is responsible for driving the company’s sales and marketing efforts for MediaCorp’s range of media platforms spanning television, radio, TODAY, magazines and digital.

Irene has an extensive background in sales and marketing, having amassed more than 25 years of experience in both the media and hospitality industries.

Prior to joining MediaCorp, Irene was Vice President, Sales & Marketing and Acting Vice President, Operations at Crown Hotels and Resorts where she was responsible for managing the group’s portfolio of hotels and resorts. She joined MediaCorp in 2006 and has held leadership positions overseeing various sales teams across platforms and sectors. Irene was appointed to her current role in 2011.

Immediately upon graduation from university and at a time fraught with indecision, James made a move, thought by many to be impulsive and shortsighted. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In the year 1993 James moved from his humble domicile in Colorado to Beijing where he found employment with a start-up American marketing agency. In 1997, moving to Hong Kong, he was hired by the tobacco giant British American Tobacco where he acted as Sponsorship and Marketing Manager to China. After a stint in the tobacco industry he found himself the fantastic opportunity working with Volkswagen Group China on their activation of the 2008 Olympic Games sponsorship in Beijing. Following the Olympic Games he moved to Hong Kong for nearly two years working with Volkswagen Hong Kong Ltd. In 2010, after two years in Hong Kong, he was seconded to another brand within the Volkswagen Group, Automobili Lamborghini, acting as Head of Marketing and PR for the Asia Pacific Region until 2014, again based in Beijing. Since April 2014 and moving to Singapore, James has been working as General Manager, Marketing Communications, Volkswagen Group Singapore.

James Wong joined Malaysia Dairy Industries Pte Ltd, the leading diary and juice company in Singapore and owner of popular brands MARIGOLD, HL MILK, PEEL FRESH and VITAGEN, as General Manager in 2011. Prior to joining MDI, James was a regional director in Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), being in charge of the company’s business in Singapore, Cambodia and Global Export. In his 18 years with APB, he held various senior positions in business development, marketing, sales, export and general management. He played a key role in spearheading the Tiger Beer brand development in the global market. He holds a Degree in Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore.

Jeslyn Tan is Senior General Manager, Commercial Business, and runs SMRT Media’s dynamic Out-of-Home and digital businesses of SMRT Investments Pte Ltd. She joined SMRT in 2005, and has tripled the business over the years; today SMRT Media is ranked Singapore’s Number One local media company. Jeslyn also overseas Commercial’s digital business, comprises e-commerce, mobile advertising and online engagements. She continues to play a pivotal role in growing Commercials’ business and ensuring its sustainability.

Jeslyn is also a Board member of SMRT Alpha Pte Ltd, which manages the retail mall at Singapore Sports Hub.

Marketing has many aspects to it. It’s more than a poster or brochure and most definitely more than ‘colouring in’ – as some would tell us! With 15 years experience in Marketing, Kelly is an expert at positioning Marketing at the heart of a business. From driving brand differentiation (holding a firm belief that a brand is as a brand does!), to the digital, sponsorship and PR agenda’s, to also leading the launch of direct channels in the UK and in Singapore. With experience in all aspects of both B2B and B2C Marketing, Kelly is passionate about demonstrating the ROI on all that the function delivers to continue to show the valuable role that Marketing plays within a business.

Leon has over 10 years experience in the digital industry, encompassing all aspects of digital marketing (across all channels) and social media, in both planning and implementation. Since 2012, he has crossed over to the client side of things, where he heads off all things Digital & Social Media for HTC across South Asia for 9 markets. Prior to HTC, he was at Tribal DDB, Arc Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi - working with brands like BlackBerry, Hewlett-Packard Lexus and Nokia across different roles in account management, brand and planning, not just for revenue but has helped his agencies win many creative/marketing awards.

A proactive advocate of entrepreneurial learning, Lim Mei Mei actively supports initiatives at institution and industry level as jury, speaker and contributor to promote cross sharing of "real world" knowledge in competition, conferences and publications. Her professional experience of 25 years as management staff in varied sectors; media, publishing, finance, education and non-profit organizations was what she described as building blocks of diversity in network. The spectrum of her roles in HR, branding, sales and strategic management in her previous capacities as media owner, media, and marketer armed her with a holistic perspectives as an educator in her current role as General Manager of the KLC International Institute.

Manpreet brings 25 years in media, advertising sales, marketing, publishing, digital and advertising across Asia including hands-on country experience in China, India, Singapore and Hong Kong. A C-suite warrior – he applies his commercial media, marketing and business development acumen to fuel the growth of digital and media companies.

Under his leadership, MindShare Group Singapore grew to be Singapore’s most respected agency brand. Its fortunes grew 5-fold; its talent was recognized as the industry’s best and it became the country’s most awarded agency. Under his leadership, MindShare was the only agency to win the “Media Agency of the Year Award” three years in a row.

He was honored with Singapore’s most coveted “Advertising Professional of the Year Award” at the Singapore Hall of Fame Awards, “MindShare Asia Pacific Manager of the Year Award” and “J Walter Thomson global gold award for media creativity”.

He spent 3 and a half years in China as CEO of Universal McCann where he turned around the operations into black in the first year of taking over the business.

He now heads Brand, Marketing and Editorial Strategy for Novosol Mobile for Asia Pacific. He is also part of the executive management team of Novosol to help expand the company footprint to new markets.

An accomplished marketing professional with more than 13 years of strategy, brand and creative experience in FMCG, sports performance, fashion and finance industries at both the national and regional level, Marcus oversees NTUC Income’s Brand Marketing, Media, Corporate Communications, Brand Activation and Events, Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Relationship Management, and Consumer Insights and Analytics.

Prior to joining NTUC Income in 2013, Marcus was Brand Marketing Director of Adidas China, a position he assumed for two years after heading adidas South East Asia’s Brand Marketing & PR from 2008 to 2011.

While at Adidas, Marcus was named Marketing Magazine’s Industry Top 25 Rising Stars under 35.

Marcus has worked in Malaysia and China. He joined Adidas from Unilever, where he was Senior Brand Manager.

From being the first to create a 2-year-long multi-episode love story TV campaign with cliff-hanger endings to the only 10-part TV campaign shot in English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Tamil, Malay and sign language, Mark has always pushed the boundaries with creative and innovative use of media.

Now as Deputy General Manager-Branding & Strategic Marketing for City Developments Limited, and for the earlier 22 years as an internationally-awarded Creative Director at the legendary Batey Ads and Young & Rubicam, Mark believes that old media isn’t dead yet and new media isn’t the silver bullet which experts have been predicting.

Because the truth is never found in fancy power points, voluminous studies or rate cards.

Martin Soong is the Country Marketing Manager for P&G Singapore & Malaysia. He currently oversees brand operations for 15 P&G brands across Strait. In 2012, he began his career in advertising firm - Galaxy Comm, led his team in growing Digital-Print Business, developed new media solutions for SME and successfully converted this into one-stop franchise that provides clients with innovative & integrated solutions. He joined P&G in 2006 and assumed various roles in the areas of ASEAN brand operations, shopper marketing, multi-brand innovations, interactive digital marketing, providing him a broad range of insights and experience in the marketing fields. During his tenure in P&G, Martin has built strong partnerships with media owners, leading media agencies and content partners which have contributed to creative and inspiring campaigns that garnered recognitions from PMAA, MARKIES, PUTRA Awards, etc. More recently he was responsible for a festive multi-brand innovation ‘Revive Your New Year Celebration with 12 Prosperity Figurines’, which led to EFFIE SILVER & PMAA GOLD Awards

Melissa is the Head of Marketing for Honda Singapore, Kah Motor. In this capacity, she oversees product marketing, customer relationship management events and branding initiatives in various platforms of communications.

Her work experience in marketing and sales management covered diverse industries comprising of consumer product marketing, trade marketing, broadcast and print media.

Her marketing and communications experience spans across the automotive trade, B2B and FMCG brands where creating innovative and effective marketing strategies resonates as top priority. She is also particularly passionate about conceptualising events that drive branding, consumer engagement and revenue generation.

Michael Smith, Chief Commercial Officer, Group Digital Life is responsible for the go to market of the SingTel Groups Digital Life activities. Encompassing traditional sales and marketing across the regional group of SingTel companies, the role also encompasses the monetisation platforms of Big Data, Design and Digital Advertising.

Oliver is Marketing Director, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Singapore. He leads all marketing activity across 4 major business categories including wellness, oral care, skin health and nutrition. His career started in the UK working on energy & sports drinks. Since then Oliver has managed a wide array of brands, journeying through the Middle East and North America over the course of 8 years at GSK.

Pamela brings with her more than 18 years of experience in retail and consumer banking. Assuming this role in 2010, Pamela is responsible for bankwide marketing roadmap and strategy for Singapore to grow market share, including building the ANZ brand and driving customer acquisition and revenue growth. She was awarded the “Top 50 most talented CMO” from CMO Asia in 2013.

Before this role, Pamela was Senior Vice President and Head, Consumer Finance at ABN AMRO/Royal Bank of Scotland where she was responsible for developing and implementing strategic marketing plans and she led the sales and marketing teams to gain market share aggressively through multi platforms and strategic partnerships. She joined ABN Amro in 2004 and started the credit cards business which acquired more than 300K customers within 5 years and contributed more than 70% of the retail business revenue. The products won Best Platinum Card from MasterCard and Most Innovative Card from Asian Banker Awards. Prior to that, she spent several years with United Overseas Bank and Standard Chartered Bank managing the credit card marketing portfolio.

Pamela began her marketing career with American Express Bank during which she was recognised as and awarded the Top Performer of the Year in two consecutive years. Pamela holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from the Royal Melbourne of Technology in Australia.

Pang Lee Cheng oversees the advertising sales and marketing teams in the Men's and Special Interest division of SPH Magazines. Titles she takes care include Men's Health, Home & Decor, Torque, Golf Digest, Young Parents and HWM - all monthlies - plus two annuals, Young Parents Preschool Guide & HWM Mega Guide.

Her role as General Manager entails crafting out integrated advertising campaigns for print, online and tablet platforms, growing readership and leading the teams in implementing creative marketing strategies.

With some 18 years' experience in different departments and divisions at SPH Magazines, her diverse background cuts across various market segments, specialised subject matter and targeted readerships. Key accounts she handled included L'Oreal Singapore, LVMH, Jay Gee/Melwani Group and Johnson & Johnson.

She spearheaded the Special Projects Unit (now known as Creative Services) which was focused on developing creative buys and mapping out innovative campaigns for advertisers. Her previous roles included regional account management, to grow regional advertising sales in SPH Magazines' licensed titles, and General Manager of the luxury titles division, which produces The Peak and ICON - both leading and award-winning titles in their respective categories.

Patrick’s career began in 1978 at Fortune Advertising, then Singapore’s largest local ad agency. In 1981, he joined Ogilvy and Mather where he won his first major international award. 1987 saw him move to Y&R where he became its longest serving Executive Creative Director.

In 1995, Pat became the first Singaporean to chair the local Creative Circle Awards, setting the stage for many other Singaporeans to follow.

In 1998, he co-wrote the short film ‘OOPS’, which featured in the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2005 he was one of 4 advertising veterans awarded Champion of the Creative Circle for his contribution to the industry. In the same year, he was also featured in IDEAS, a book on Singapore’s hottest creative directors.

To date, his work has won awards in every major international competition, notably the One Show, D&AD, Clio, New York Festival, London International, Communication Arts and Cannes. Besides winning awards, he has also judged many including the Cannes Advertising Festival.

Also in 2007, Pat was voted Singapore’s Creative Director of the Year at the Advertising Hall of Fame Awards.

In 2009, he left Y&R after 22 years and founded Goodfellas.

Patrick is also a member of the Temasek Polytechnic School of Design Advisory board.

As the Head of Marketing for Asia Pacific Breweries in Singapore (APBS), René is responsible for all areas of Marketing spread across the 16 brands managed by APBS. Rene officially assumed this position on November 14th 2011.

Prior to being appointed as the Head of Marketing APBS, René was with DB Breweries in New Zealand where he was the Consumer Marketing Manager, responsible for the full portfolio of DB's brands which include Tui, DB Export, Monteith’s, Heineken and Tiger.

René started off his career with DB Breweries in 2002, where he held a variety of different marketing roles which included Brand Manager Innovation, Premium Marketing Manager and Consumer Marketing Manager. He also worked for Heineken in Amsterdam as the Regional Marketing Manager for Western Europe and the Americas from 2006 – 2009.

René was born in Holland and emigrated to New Zealand with his parents in 1981. Married and blessed with 3 children, Sandringham in Auckland was home prior to moving to Singapore. Sandringham is walking distance to Eden Park, New Zealand’s largest sporting stadium that has been in existence since 1900.

René holds a bachelors degree in Commerce from the University of Auckland, majoring in Marketing and International Business. Time permitting he enjoys a good round of golf, is an avid All Black’s fan and enjoys time with the family.

Rosalynn has over 23 years' Asian and European work experience across multiple industries including advertising, fast food, alcohol & spirits, and aviation. With the last ten years in senior management positions, Rosalynn had a brief stint at DBS Bank as Managing Director, Head of Marketing for Consumer Banking. Prior to that, Rosalynn spent five years in Tiger Airways and was Managing Director of Tiger Airways Singapore. Here, she was part of the team responsible for taking the airline public. Rosalynn was also Deputy Managing Director at Leo Burnett Advertising from 2003-2005, and Marketing Director, Yum Restaurants International in Asia and the United Kingdom.

Rosalynn graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1989 with a Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in marketing.

Rosalynn is an avid sports person and played competitive squash while at school. Over the last ten years, she switched her sporting passion to golf and served for two years as Lady Captain at one of the Singapore golfing clubs. Her passion for golf has also driven her to study and pass the Royal & Ancient Golf Rules Exams Level 1.

Besides golf, Rosalynn enjoys her wine seriously. To help with her wine appreciation, she has completed Level 1 of the Court of Masters Sommeliers course. Good wine goes with good food so needless to say, her appreciation of food is in tandem with wine.

Serene Lim is the Deputy Head of Marketing at SPH Radio and is responsible for marketing and promotions for the three radio stations managed by SPH - Kiss92, HOT FM91.3 and UFM100.3.

Since joining SPH Radio in 2012, Serene has been working on creating awareness and strategic partnerships for the radio brands, resulting in an increase of listenership and share for SPH Radio. She also works closely with clients to develop innovative ideas that would propel client’s brands further.

Her track record includes strategy, brand development, communication, integrated marketing, product marketing and digital engagement.

Prior to joining SPH Radio, Serene spent more than 10 years in B2C and B2B marketing roles. Her last appointment was as the Marketing Manager for StarHub’s Enterprise Business Group overseeing marketing communications for the brand’s B2B group after having spent 4 years handling marketing communications in StarHub’s Consumer business.

Susanne Arfelt Rajamand is currently the Marketing Manager of Unilever Singapore.

Based in Singapore, her responsibilities include setting strategic business growth agenda for brand building with all categories (Foods, Ice Cream, Home Care and Personal Care) in Unilever Singapore and ensuring current and long term profitable growth of the brands within each category by driving leadership in marketing communications and innovation launches. Areas that she oversees include brand communications, media/advertising, digital and promotion.

Susanne has a Tsinghua-INSEAD Executive MBA and has lived and worked across international markets with strengths in building brands. She has 10 years of marketing, marketing communications and strategy planning experience for FMCG category in Unilever.

Tan Bee Leng is currently Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Corporate Social Responsibility at CapitaLand Group. Bee Leng oversees the corporate branding strategies and marketing communications efforts of CapitaLand, to strengthen the Group’s brand positioning and identity across all businesses and markets. Bee Leng is also responsible for the community development and volunteerism efforts of the Group. Bee Leng is the General Manager of CapitaLand Hope Foundation, the philanthropic arm of CapitaLand, which focuses efforts on education, healthcare and shelter needs of underprivileged children in communities which CapitaLand operates.

Bee Leng has over 15 years of experience in media communications, corporate branding management and marketing communications. Prior to joining CapitaLand, Bee Leng was an award-winning bilingual journalist for Singapore’s national broadcaster, MediaCorp News.

Bee Leng graduated from the National University of Singapore, majoring in Chinese Studies and Chinese Language.

Sulin is the deputy head of the new Digital Division of Singapore Press Holdings. Her mission is to consolidate and rationalise all the internet business units of the group. Together with her team of digital natives, she is charged to ensure that the group transitions successfully into the digital era.

Prior to this, Sulin was heading the print classified business which was worth more than S$200mil annually to SPH. She was also one of the pioneers of SPH’s Strategic Marketing Department, a unit which drives new advertising-related business opportunities. Her longest stint was in media sales as the advertisement sales director for the telco and government sectors, providing solutions for clients across 17 SPH newspaper titles as well as on SPH’s online, radio and out-of-home platforms.

A strong proponent of teamwork and collaboration, resourceful and creative thinking as well as old-fashioned commitment-to-the-task, Sulin always challenges herself and her team to stretch themselves that little bit further to achieve new highs.

Problem solver. Energiser. Catalyst. Dasheng has more than 20 years experience in marketing strategy development, creative direction, communications, and production. His work has consistently garnered both local and international recognition with more than 110 awards (PromaxBDA, New York Festivals, Asian Broadcast Awards, Singapore Media Awards, Effies, SPH iink Awards, etc) under his belt. Although gaining award recognition is satisfying, he is most satisfied when his team delivers growth in qualitative and quantitative measures as a result of both smart strategy, solid creative, and smooth execution. He is most inspired when members of his team fully realize their potential as a result of his coaching.

Virginia is the Senior Director for KFC Singapore and has been driving the KFC brand in Singapore for the past 11 years.

During her tenure, she introduced KFC a.m., putting Singapore on the map as one of the leading markets for breakfast and has won several internal and industry awards for KFC a.m. She launched the first oven baked items Egg Tarts and Roasta Burger as well as introduced the Epic Zinger Double Down and the current Zinger Double Down Max with visible tieups with blockbusters like The Avengers and Ironman She was also quick to realise the potential of Social Media and has built the KFC Facebook fan page to over 250K fans and is one of the Top 5 most engaged pages in Singapore. Sales at KFC Singapore have more than doubled due to Virginia’s decisive leadership and ability to marry brand building strategy with driving sales and profitability. She believes that a brand is only as strong as its understanding of its customers, and she makes it a priority to understand what makes the KFC consumer tick.

Virginia has received numerous internal and external awards, including Client Marketer of the Year 2012 by the IAS and 2012 Superhero Award from CEO of Yum! International for leadership on KFC a.m.

Virginia is happily married with 3 lovely children who are her pride and joy!

Wang Li-Na oversees Marketing within the Integrated Marketing group at StarHub. She is responsible for Product and Content Marketing for all consumer and enterprise products and services across StarHub’s Mobile, TV, Broadband and Digital platforms, including market research and social media.

Li-Na joined StarHub in June 2012 as Vice President of product management in the Broadband business before taking on the Marketing appointment in February 2013. Prior to joining StarHub, she was General Manager of Product Development with a telecommunications operator where she spent 14 years in both product development and marketing functions.

Li-Na holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a Master of Science (Management of Technology) degree from the National University of Singapore.