The Stewardship Advantage 2022

Prof Arnoud De Meyer

Chairman, Stewardship Asia Centre

Professor De Meyer is a global academic leader with more than 35 years of experience in top academic institutions in Europe and Asia. Until December 2018, he served as President of Singapore Management University (SMU). Before joining SMU, Professor De Meyer was from 2006 until 2010 Director (Dean) of the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge.

Earlier on he was a faculty member at INSEAD and assumed several management positions, among others as founding dean of INSEAD’s Asia campus in Singapore. He has additionally been an Independent Director of various international companies and non-profit organisations. He is currently Independent Director of Viva Energy Pty Ltd, Banyan Tree Holdings Limited and upGrad Tech Pte Ltd.

Professor De Meyer is an internationally recognised researcher in the areas of Research & Development and Innovation Management, Manufacturing Strategy and International Management. He has published more than 100 academic articles and 12 books. His most recent books are “Ecosystem Edge: Sustaining Competitiveness in the Face of Disruption” (Stanford Business Press) and “Building Excellence in Higher Education: Singapore’s Experience” (Routledge).

Ms Annisah Smith

Senior Research and Advocacy Manager, Stewardship Asia Centre

Ms Annisah Smith is Research and Advocacy Manager at Stewardship Asia Centre (SAC), where she helps lead and develop sustainability-related engagements and content. With a background in environmental policy and sustainable agriculture, she brings experience in conducting sustainable development research, preparing due diligence and policy analyses, and building public-private partnerships.

Before joining SAC, Ms Smith was based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as a Fulbright Research Scholar. She examined the inextricable challenges linked to sustainable and equitable palm oil development in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Her research interests have further explored the nexus between environmental governance and private sector engagement and has enabled her to work and live in the US, Costa Rica, Indonesia, and now Singapore.

Ms Smith is a graduate of American University’s School of International Service, where she pursued a BA in International Relations and an MA in Global Environmental Policy.

Professor Dave Fernandez

Professor of Finance (Practice) & Director, Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics, SMU

Professor Dave Fernandez is the Director of the Sim Kee Boon Institute (SKBI) for Financial Economics and Professor of the Practice of Finance at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University (SMU). He is also the Co-Director of the Singapore Green Finance Centre which is jointly run by SKBI and Imperial College London’s Centre for Climate Finance & Investment. Outside of SMU, he was recently appointed chair of the Advisory Panel at the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office.

Prior to returning to academia in 2018, Professor Fernandez worked as an economist in the private sector at Barclays and J.P. Morgan. He started his career in the public sector, serving as an economist in the administration of President George H.W. Bush and at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Outside of his activities as an economist, he sits on the board of EMpower, a global philanthropy focused on at-risk youth in emerging market countries. He is also a member of Phillips Exeter Academy’s Asia Council and the Exco of the Princeton Alumni Association of Singapore.

Professor Mark Findlay

Professorial Research Fellow & Director, Centre for AI and Data Governance, SMU

Professor Mark Findlay is a Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University and director of its Centre for AI and Data Governance, where he is a Professorial Research Fellow. In addition, he has honorary Chairs at the Australian National University, the University of Edinburgh and the University of New South Wales. He is also an honourary senior research fellow at the British Institute for International and Comparative Law and an honourary fellow of the Law School, University of Edinburgh. 

Professor Findlay is the author of 29 monographs and collections and over 150 refereed articles and book chapters. He has held Chairs in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, England and Ireland. For over 20 years he was at the University of Sydney as the Chair in Criminal Justice and the Director of the Institute of Criminology. His most recent publications include: "Globalisation, Populism, Pandemics and the Law: The Anarchy and the Ecstasy," "Law’s regulatory relevance? Property, power and market economies," and "Principled International Criminal Justice: Lessons from Tort Law."

Currently, he is working on Covid-19 regulatory issues, trust in AI regulation and governance, smart cities and surveillance/mass data sharing, and law and change. More material by Professor Findlay is available on the CAIDG website. 

Ms Willow Wong

Research Associate, Centre for AI and Data Governance, SMU

Ms Willow Wong is research associate at the Centre for AI and Data Governance, Singapore Management University. She first joined the research centre in October 2020 under the SGUnited Traineeship programme, where she pursued her research interests in moral philosophy, metaethics and the philosophy of technology.

Prior to SMU, Ms Wong was the elected Vice President (Welfare and Diversity) and Board of Trustees Member for two years at Royal Holloway Students’ Union, where she was responsible for campaigning and lobbying for high-level policy changes around student well-being and diversity issues at Royal Holloway, University of London. 

In 2019, she was the elected student representative on the College Council, the governing body of Royal Holloway, where she contributed to the institution's equality, diversity and widening the participation agenda. Willow has a first-class degree in BA English and Philosophy (Joint Hons) and received the Edmée Manning Award (2020) for best academic performance in the graduating cohort of the English department at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Dr Rajiv Lall

Professorial Research Fellow, Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics, SMU

Dr Rajiv Lall is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics and sits on the Singapore Green Finance Centre’s Management Committee. He has been active in the finance and policy landscape as an economist and business leader for over 35 years. Dr Lall was Founder MD & CEO of IDFC Bank, and prior to that was CEO and then Executive Chairman of IDFC Limited.  

Beyond the world of banking, Dr Lall is also involved in public policy and has served on numerous committees of the Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India. Outside India, he serves on the Steering Group of SDG Impact and is a member of the City of London’s Advisory Council for India and the board of the US-India Business Council. 

Dr Lall earned his BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and holds a PhD in Economics from Columbia University.

Mr Karan Capoor

Former Senior Energy Specialist, World Bank; Founder and CEO, The Krysalis Company

Ms Krista Baetens

Executive, National Australia Bank, Asia; Member of the Corporate & Institutional Banking Leadership Team

Ms Krista Baetens is an experienced global business leader in banking with an international track record of running, growing and fixing local and global businesses in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US. She has deep sector and product knowledge across wholesale and retail banking anchored in her 25-year international experience with NAB and ING.

Ms Baetens is currently the Executive for Asia of C&IB National Australia Bank. In this role, she is responsible for all NAB activities in Asia. She joined NAB in January 2021. Until December 2020, Ms Baetens was the CEO of Wholesale Banking Asia Pacific. She was also a non-executive non-independent director of ING Australia. Prior to that, she was CRO and Executive Board Member of ING Belgium SA. 

Ms Baetens was most recently awarded the title of Fellow of the Hogenheuvelcollege of the Catholic University of Leuven. She is a recipient of ING’s global Engaging Leadership Award and a laureate of the prestigious Prince Albert Fund. She is a qualified business and personal coach.

She is known by her stakeholders as a courageous, decisive and inclusive leader with a strong drive for change. She is caring, result-driven and likes learning.

Mr Jesher Loi

Director, Branding and Marketing Development, Ya Kun International

Mr Jesher Loi is Ya Kun International's third-generation business owner and brand guardian. Ya Kun is a regional brand that serves Singapore’s heritage breakfast of kaya toast and local coffee. They are currently in 11 countries with over 131 outlets worldwide. Mr Loi oversees the branding elements of each outlet and ensures brand consistency throughout its operations. He is also actively involved in the regional expansion strategy as Ya Kun goes beyond Singapore’s shores.

On the side, Mr Loi is actively involved in the classical music scene among youth and also strives to use the vehicle of the business for social good.

Mr Abel Ang

Group Chief Executive Officer of Advanced MedTech Holdings

Ms Fay Fay Choo

Asia Cocoa Director, Mars Incorporated

Ms Fay Fay Choo is the Asia Cocoa Director for Mars Incorporated and responsible for Mars’ sustainable sourcing strategies in Asia. In this role, she is humbled to be able to serve tens of thousands of cocoa smallholder farming families and communities in Indonesia, the Philippines and PNG.

Ms Choo’s passionate about transferring science and technology solutions from Mars research centres, through community and farmer empowerment based approaches, to enable adoption at scale for improved yields and income. The next movement is now focused on scaling diversified cocoa agroforestry, which brings resilient farmer livelihoods and environmental protection across landscapes together, to make chocolate that brings smiles to farming families and consumers around the world.