FEATURED SPEAKERS
Klaus Heines
Director Financial Reporting, Asia-Pacific Service Centre
BASF
Based in Kuala Lumpur, Klaus Heines oversees the services provided to BASF companies across the Asia Pacific region in the area of Book-to-Report Financial Reporting.
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With over 13 years of international work experience, Klaus has garnered expertise in the areas of Logistics, Mobility, Pharmaceutical and Chemical Manufacturing. Klaus began his career in SAP Inhouse consulting specializing in Finance & Controlling. In 2012, he joined the Finance team at BASF Coatings GmbH, a coatings subsidiary of BASF. He continued his career in Controlling, being responsible for operational planning & reporting of the BASF Coatings division. He then moved and has spent so far 4 years in Kuala
Lumpur, where he was Head of Business Reporting.
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Klaus holds a degree in Business Administration from University of Applied Sciences Dortmund, Germany and a Master in Economics from the University of Hagen, Germany.
Penny weller,
Ph.D., CMA, ADGBS
Program Manager, North American Global Business Services Advisory
The Hackett Group
A Motorola-certified six sigma black belt and certified master trainer, Dr. Weller has a wealth of experience in global business services. She provides advice to clients through empirical research and experienced insights.
Before joining The Hackett Group, Penny was a senior executive in Finance Shared Services at Pfizer Inc. In addition to F&A service delivery, she managed multiple large-scale mergers and system migrations and developed their performance management and continuous improvement programs.
Penny served in numerous board positions as an avid supporter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). In addition, she is the content expert supporting The Hackett Institute’s Certification in GBS.
Viba Sundaresan
Global Indirect Tax Lead
Baker Hughes
Viba is currently a Global Indirect Tax Leader with Baker Hughes overseeing the indirect tax compliance for BH entities worldwide. She focuses mainly on developing high performing team, globalizing the process and transforming the team into best in class in terms of operational efficiency. With over 19 years of experience working in Tax professional firms to Oil and gas industries, Viba has led multiple transitions and built Tax CoE successfully, bringing the work over from many parts of the world.
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She also actively leads projects on transforming the tax organization from manual, conventional ways of working to a more robust automated process leading the way for digitized platform.
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Viba is a Certified Public Accountant from California Board of Accountancy and holds a Masters in Business Administration with specialization in Finance.
Joon Teoh
CEO and Founder
AGOS ASIA
Joon Teoh is a Global Business Services (GBS) and Finance expert, and she is currently the CEO of AGOS ASIA, a firm specialising in assisting companies jump start the set up & implementation of Shared Services and in automation, Robotics Process Automation and analytics. In addition, she provides strategic mentoring & coaching to senior leaders within the shared services industry. Her team also focuses on FSS talent competency assessment and training & development to upskill finance shared services professionals.
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Joon is a speaker for Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), CFO Forums and organizes the annual AGOS GBS Summit since 2018.
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Joon holds a BSc Econs in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics and is a Fellow Chartered Accountant of ICAEW(Institute of Chartered Accountant England & Wales) and Chartered Accountant of MIA (Malaysian Institute Of Accountants).
etienne bonnancy
Finance Transformation Director, APAC
Kering Group
Etienne Bonnancy is currently managing the Finance Transformation Programme of the Kering group in APAC, aiming to streamline the organization, the processes and the systems of the Finance Shared Services. He is based in Kuala Lumpur since 2021. He is as well the Worldwide Business Owner of the SAP Finance and Controlling solution, making sure that it remains efficient and consistent across geographies and organizations. He graduated a MBA in 2011 and joined the group in 2016, with a strong focus on the Finance Shared Services set-up and optimization.
Prior to joining Kering, Etienne has worked 10 year for KWS, a German listed company specialized in bio-technologies, as Controlling and Reporting Manager. He also worked 4 years as a consultant in management for BearingPoint, helping various clients in Organization, Process design and System implementations.
Kering is a global Luxury group, managing the development of a series of renowned Houses in Fashion, Leather Goods and Jewelry: Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, Qeelin, as well as Kering Eyewear.
Raymond Siva
Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Investment Officer
MDEC
Ray has more than 23 years of experience in strategic communications, investor strategy and promotion, crisis and issues response. He is a sought-after Strategist for International brands, local conglomerates and CEOs. Ray has conducted over 100 spokesperson and crisis trainings, investor and corporate messaging workshops and talks in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
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Ray assumed leadership of Edelman Malaysia in 2010, growing it to be the largest Communications consultancy firm in Malaysia with over 60 consultants, leading the financial communications and stakeholder engagement strategy for various multinational and government-linked companies. Ray moved to lead the Edelman Indonesia team at the tail end of 2015, leading over 100 consultants in the Jakarta office. Prior to joining the Edelman network in 2010, Raymond was General Manager at Grey PR, a multinational firm for over three years, growing the team to build competencies across corporate, consumer, technology and sports marketing public relations.
Ray is recognized for his financial communications, investor relations and CEO/Leadership positioning. He had led various IPOs in Malaysia and Indonesia, including the world’s second largest IPO and the biggest in Asia in 2012.
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He is recognized as one of the few Malaysians with deep knowledge of the government and international affairs, with extensive experience in stakeholder engagement and management. He is also the only strategic consultant from Malaysia who has successfully led Investor Promotion engagements for both private and public sector at the World Economic Forum at Davos for 5 years.
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Ray was appointed as the Chief Marketing Officer of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) in October 2019. He assumed the Digital Investment portfolio as the Senior Vice President (SVP), Digital Investment Division of MDEC in December 2020.
He holds an LLB from the University of London and a Professional Diploma in Public Relations from the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia.
TOMASZ KLIMEK
Head of Financial Planning and Analysis
Formerly IAG GBS,
Coca-Cola, Dupont
Tomasz is a Finance professional with almost 30 years of experience in large multinational companies including DuPont, Coca-cola, British-American Tobacco, Tesco, Akzo Nobel, IAG, SAB Miller, CHEP.
Most of his roles undertaken were in the area of Management Accounting, FP&A, Business Partner. Tomasz has an extensive experience with implementation of ERP, BI, FP&A software
Tomasz is also CIMA qualified, with a master’s degree in International Trade.
SYED HUSSAIN TAHA
General Manager
Shell Business Operations KL
SYED HUSSAIN TAHA, General Manager of Shell Business Operations KL Syed is currently the General Manager of Shell Business Operations Kuala Lumpur. In his current capacity, Syed is accountable for delivering an efficient and flexible platform of infrastructure and people management structures that enable the delivery of global operations to the Shell Group. He is also a member of Shell Malaysia Country Coordination Team.
Spanning 31 years in Shell, Syed brings with him a diverse experience working with various Upstream and Integrated Gas businesses. He started his Shell journey in 1990 and worked in several technical roles in Malaysia. In 1997, he took on an assignment with Petroleum Development Oman and returned to Malaysia in 2001 to join Shell Gas & Power as a tecno-commercial professional supporting the governance of She for equity in the Malaysia LNG Dua and Tiga joint ventures. Syed moved to Japan as General Manager LNG & Strategy in 2008, supporting Shell's LNG marketing initiatives and business development activities with Japanese customers and partners. From 2013 to 2017, Syed was appointed as General Manager Market Access based in Jakarta, Indonesia to oversee the gas/LNG market development activities. Upon returning to Malaysia, Syed became the Advisor of Shell Malaysia/Sarawak Shell where he was responsible for the overall Shell's PETRONAS stakeholder management and PSC Management Office.
Syed has a Bachelor of Science (High Honours) in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland USA. On the personal front, Syed is married to Sharifah Salwa and has three children. His hobbies includes travel and music. He is also a "catdaddy" and his 11 cats have nearly half a million followers on TikTok.
Jodie rogers
Founder and Managing Director
Symbia
For nearly 20 years it’s been Jodie’s business to understand what makes people tick, and to use that learning to help them be more engaged, feel more empowered and become more productive for the business they’re in.
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As a human behaviour consultant, learning expert, and facilitator with a background in psychology and interpersonal communications, Jodie founded her company Symbia with a specific focus on helping build dynamic teams of emotionally and socially intelligent individuals who are pro active problem solvers and agile in the face of change.
Symbia is a leadership and professional development company which focuses on working closely with global corporates like Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Barclays and L’Oréal at individual, team and leadership levels to them unlock performance and recognise ‘Mental Fitness’ as a catalyst for growth.
Jodie is also the author of ‘The Hidden Edge – why mental fitness is the only advantage that matters in business’ (an Amazon #1 bestseller)
Jacob (MinHyeok) Choi
Head of APME GBS HR
BAT
Jacob joined BAT at 2010 as BAT Korea Operations HRBP. While working in BATK, Jacob managed various project like, Business Transformation, Salary litigation and Aurora, Integration of HR Shared Service Center project of NAA (North Asia Area).
In 2017, Jacob moved to KL to manage GBS HR as Operations manager in KL and was later assigned to Romania as the ENA GBS HR Operations Manager for two years.
Before joining BAT, Jacob spent most of his time in HRBP areas in various industries, within the scope of IT, as Head of HR in Electronic Arts, Yahoo Korea and FMCG Coca-cola, and in the pharmaceutical industry, namely, MSD (Merck Sharp and Dohme) as a training manager.
Jacob specializes in driving change, business transformation, leadership development, to formulate high performing organization, work with diversified culture, Organization Development.
He is also interested in the new digitalized era of Data Science, Customer focused design, Storytelling with data analysis, Machine learning and etc.
TS Koay
Senior Director / General Manager
Dell Digital Cyberjaya
TS Koay leads the Dell Digital Infrastructure Operations globally. He is also the head of Dell Digital Global Center in Malaysia, driving digital transformation for Dell internal businesses. In addition, he heads up the General Manager role for Dell Cyberjaya site, overseeing site level operations and development.
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He brings with him over 19 years of IT experience across enterprise application and infrastructure management in both internal IT and outsourcing services industry. He is very passionate in driving Digital transformation across application transformation, IT transformation on multi-cloud strategies and workforce transformation, provide the best end user digital experience for Dell internal stakeholders.
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He is also a strong advocate in developing the digital workforce for the future with new technologies adoption as well as cultivating innovation culture in the workplace. Under his leadership, Dell Digital Malaysia has been awarded the Best Digital Global Business Services Provider of the year 2019, Overall Corporate Achievement Award and GBS Excellence Award in year 2021 from PIKOM (The National Tech Association of Malaysia).
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TS studied Bachelor of Computer Science at University Putra Malaysia and obtained Master of Business Administration from Manchester Business School.
Alessandro Aulisa
Regional Close & Control Director and APAC Hub Lead
GSK
Alessandro has cross-functional leadership experience in Global Business-Finance Services, Finance Transformations, Commercial Finance, Audit and Risk Management across different Regions and roles.
Based in Malaysia Since 2019, Alessandro currently heads the GSK Pharmaceutical Regional Controllership activities and recently expanded his responsibilities as the APAC Regional Hub Lead. He Spent the last 9 years with GSK in different Head of Finance, Projects, Audit & Compliance roles across UK and South East Asia markets.
Prior to GSK, Alessandro worked in the automotive industry with Inchcape Plc in UK and in the Whirlpool consumer business in Ireland covering various global and regional Finance and Audit roles.
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Originally from Italy, Alessandro graduated in Finance and Business Economics from the University of Parma, Italy and holds and accounting qualification.
Pial Khadilla
Managing Director
GIFT South East Asia
GIFT
Pial is the Managing Director of GIFT South East Asia based in Malaysia, where she overseas and directs GIFT SEA’s overall business operations and is responsible for expanding GIFT's executive education offerings in Malaysia and across the ASEAN region. She is also responsible for business development opportunities and for developing a pipeline of field projects in the region.
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In addition to working on GIFT’s public Malaysia and ASEAN Young Leaders Programmes. Pial has been involved in the design and delivery of custom offerings for Bank Negara Malaysia, Maxis, HSBC Malaysia.
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Prior to joining GIFT Pial worked at the Central Bank of Malaysia before launching her own coaching practice. Pial holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Bath, England and is a fluent English and Malay speaker.
Tan Wooi Hong
OtC Director
MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme (M) Sdn Bhd)
Wooi Hong is seasoned trainer and speaker (over 20 years training experiences) in Order to cash areas. He spent most of his career working within the Oil and gas, Manufacturing, Banking and finance, pharmaceutical and GBS industries.
He obtained Masters in Business Administration from Edinburgh Business School (Heriot-Watt University, UK) in July 2005. Acquired professional qualification - Certified International Credit Professional (C.I.C.P.), U.S.A. in 2006 and completed FCIB online Foreign Exchange Management course in early 2007. Subcequently, I was conferred International Certified Credit Executive (I.C.C.E) by FCIB in 2012. Have been a member of FCIB (An association of Finance, Credit and International Business) of USA since 2005.
Wooi Hong professional experiences ranging from credit risk management, liquidity management, GBS start up, projects migration, spin off, divestiture, streamlining, robotics & automation, Lean projects and Control & Compliance etc. He is primarily overseeing OtC areas for APAC region since 2012 with much insights in these APAC markets. He is part of global OtC leadership team in his current capacity.
Aleksandar Zelenovic
Senior Director, Strategy & Consulting Practice Lead
Publicis Sapient
Aleksandar Zelenovic is a recognized industry expert, practitioner, speaker and thought leader in business and digital transformation, intelligent automation, emerging technologies, DevOps/Agile, modernization, user experience, and organizational design.
Aleksandar holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and has over 20 years of experience with global commercial companies, as well as in the public sector, including government, finance, manufacturing, health, high-tech, energy, commodities, publishing and others. He is also the founder of Publicis Sapient's Strategy University, a professional development program that educates professionals in maximizing business value.
As an adjunct professor, Aleksandar teaches blockchain at American University. He pioneered the blockchain ecosystem concept with "connected intelligence" and the ways that emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, work in concert to increase benefit to organizations. His work won him the Federal 100 Award, for his impact in advancing IT. His ideas and work have also been highlighted by organizations such as the World Bank, MIT Enterprise Forum, Linux Foundation / Hyperledger, Chamber of Commerce, Inter-American Development Bank, Columbia University, American University, Public Health Informatics (PHI), International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC), GCN, Association of Government Accountants (AGA), FCW, and ACT IAC. For his contribution to MIT community, he also received the MIT Seley Award.
His educational background, combined with years of business line management, product management and consulting experience, provide a combination of business savvy and technology know-how that allow Aleksandar to successfully manage scope, schedule, and budget and deliver project that create real business value.
Laurel Farrer
CEO
Distribute Consulting
As the Founder and CEO of Distribute, a virtual organizational development think tank and consulting firm, Laurel Farrer is an internationally-renowned thought leader on the topic of remote work. For the past 15 years, she has been unlocking the power of distributed workforces to create impact in corporate and socioeconomic infrastructures.
She and her team of fellow experts collaborate with the world's leading businesses and governments on three primary topics: how to convert business operations from physical to virtual, how to build products and content for the remote work market, and how to leverage workplace flexibility to solve global concerns. In addition to being a regular Forbes contributor, Laurel’s subject matter expertise has also been showcased by brands like Zoom, VMware, Gallup, NPR, Logitech, BBC, New York Times, Office Depot, Abbott, Vistaprint, Fast Company, and Upwork.
Akhil Kapoor
Head of Customer & Technology Solutions
Novartis Global Service Center - Kuala Lumpur
Akhil Kapoor currently leads as the Head of Novartis Global Service Centre Kuala Lumpur (NGSC KL) in Malaysia, a position he assumed in early 2021. He has more than ten years of tenure in Novartis, spanning various leadership roles in different Novartis entities and geographies including India, South Africa and most recently in Kuala Lumpur. In addition to his role as CTS NGSC Head, Akhil also holds the role of Head of Procurement in Kuala Lumpur.
The Novartis Global Service Centre in Kuala Lumpur (NGSC KL) is one of the five hubs worldwide, which is a key enabler in providing services that supports our healthcare divisions.
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With over 500 employees delivering high quality expertise, our scope of services covers domains like Procurement, Technology Transformation, Talent & People Solutions (HR), Real Estate & Facilities, Financial Report & Accounting and scientific & commercial services (CONEXTS) to the Novartis Divisions and organizations worldwide.
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Under the leadership of Akhil, Novartis Malaysia has been certified as a Top Employer in 2021 in the Asia Recruitment Awards in Malaysia, which is our second consecutive win.
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Our aspiration is to deliver best in class services by investing in Technology and Talent who are passionate to “Reimagine Medicine”.
Shahid afzal
Global Head of GBS Finance & General Manager
GBS Kuala Lumpur Hub
B.A.T is a leading, multi-category consumer goods business. Our business includes manufacture and sale of tobacco and nicotine products (traditional cigarettes, vaping products, tobacco heated products, and modern oral products) as well as some non nicotine products. B.A.T is a truly global organization and operates in around 180 countries with around 55,000 employees.
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B.A.T has its inhouse shared services team called Global Business Solutions (GBS) which is a part of Digital Business Solutions (DBS) function. GBS currently operates through four hubs located in Asia (Malaysia & Pakistan), Europe (Romania), and South America (Costa Rica). Recently, for a third consecutive year, B.A.T GBS was ranked among the “Top 20 Most Admired SSO 7 GBS in the World” by SSON. GBS team currently offers solutions to B.A.T commercial units in aspects of Controllership (which includes planning, budgeting, and reporting), Product Cost reporting, Record to Report (R2R), Order to Cash (O2C), Procure to Pay (P2P), Transactional Procurement, and Human Resource Shared Services.
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GBS is in the process of setting up two new hubs in Poland, and Mexico during 2021 as part of transformational journey to expand into new service and solutions lines e.g. Commercial Finance, Marketing Research and Revenue Growth Management related analytics etc.
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Shahid is currently performing the role of General Manager for GBS, Malaysia as well as Global Head of GBS Finance. He joined BAT in 1997 in Pakistan, and has completed assignments in Nigeria, Senegal, South Korea, Vietnam, Turkey and Indonesia.
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In addition to being part of business unit strategy formulation in various leadership roles, he has contributed to many cross functional strategic projects including business unit integration, M&A opportunity analysis in various markets, effective capital management projects leading to significant savings. Shahid has always strongly driven the talent development in his area, as he strongly believes that people are the most important success factor of any team. In GBS Malaysia he is driving a high focus on laying down foundations of digital capabilities, as part of the global transformational journey of GBS.