Please stay tune for more updates regarding the event speakers.

For more event information, please contact Marianne Tocmo at marianne.tocmo@thomsonreuters.com or call +63 2 8789 5095.

 

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Guests-of-Honour

Hon. Maria Leonor “Leni” Gerona Robredo

Vice President

Republic of the Philippines

Maria Leonor Gerona Robredo, an alternative lawyer and public servant, is the 14^th Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines. After years of working with the poor and the marginalized, teaching the less fortunate about their rights under the law, Leni, as she is popularly known, emerged into national consciousness following the loss of her husband, long – time Naga City Mayor and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. Called upon to carry on his legacy of good governance, she stepped into the political arena in 2013, when she won as Representative of the Third District of Camarines Sur.

Amid a productive term in Congress, she was called upon to run for the Vice Presidency and rose above many odds to assume the second-highest elected post in the country. Determined to bring the Office of the Vice President closer to the people, she led the crafting of its flagship anti-poverty program, Angat Buhay -  an endeavor inspired by the work she had done alongside those in need. The program focuses on six key advocacy areas, including food security and nutrition, women empowerment, education, healthcare, rural development, and housing. It has reached 176 communities around the country, through the generosity of partner-organizations and individuals, most of whom are from the private sector. She also launched Istorya ng Pag-asa, a program that aims to spread hope and positivity by featuring extraordinary stories of ordinary Filipinos through words and portraits shown at events, exhibits, and social media.

Believing in the power of collaboration, and a faith in the people, VP Leni vows to keep working to help her fellow Filipinos, especially those in the fringes of society.

 

Forum Chairperson

Ranajit Dam, Managing Editor, Asian Legal Business

Ranajit Dam is the Managing Editor of Thomson Reuters Legal Media Group, which includes Asian Legal Business, Asia’s foremost monthly publication covering the legal industry. A former lawyer, Dam has been a journalist for more than 15 years, after graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Since then, he has worked in the United States, India, China and Singapore, where he is currently based.

 

Speakers / Panelists

Julie Raneda, MCIArb, Partner, Schellenberg Wittmer Pte Ltd

Julie Raneda is a Partner in Schellenberg Wittmer's international arbitration practice in Singapore. Julie specializes in international commercial, investment and sport arbitration and has been involved as counsel and arbitrator in complex arbitrations seated in civil and common law jurisdictions under many different laws and various arbitration rules (in particular ICC, SCAI, SIAC, UNCITRAL, CAS, VIAC). Her main areas of expertise include construction and engineering, energy, pharmaceutical/life sciences, manufacturing and international sales. She also advises clients on international trade sanctions.

Julie is qualified in Switzerland and is also admitted as a foreign lawyer in Singapore.

 

H.E. Lynn McDonald, High Commissioner of Canada to Singapore

Lynn McDonald joined Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (now Global Affairs Canada) in 1996.

After working in both the Legal and Trade Policy Bureaux of the Department, she took up a position as Legal Advisor to Canada’s Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland before serving as Counsellor and Head of the Trade Policy Section at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C.

In 2014, she became Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner at the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao and in 2016, was appointed as High Commissioner of Canada to Singapore.  She is married and has two children.

 

Almudena Gómez Benito, LaLiga Delegate to the Philippines, LaLiga 

Originally from Madrid, Spain, Almudena Gomez is currently based in Manila as LaLiga delegate to the Philippines. 

She studied a Bachelor's degree in business administration and management between Spain and the US, and with a Master's degree in international business, Almudena's experience has been linked to international development. After working as an International Trade Advisor for the Spanish Embassy in Indonesia and as a Senior Innovation and Strategy Consultant in Spain, she joined LaLiga in 2017 to be part of LaLiga Global Network international project in the Philippines.

Since then she’s been working to promote LaLiga's brand in the country, its football competition, and its clubs.

 

Christina Winn, Asia Pacific Head of Anti-Bribery and Corruption and Internal Investigations, Fidelity International

Christina has been with Fidelity International since 2014 overseeing risk and compliance functions within the office of the General Counsel, including internal investigations, crisis management, fraud prevention, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, security risk advisory and business continuity planning. Prior to joining Fidelity, Christina worked in governance, risk and compliance for a global legal information services provider as well as in various research, analysis, writing and case management roles. Christina is a U.S. qualified attorney, licensed in New York and Massachusetts. Christina was an enthusiastic participant in this year’s Hong Kong Corporate Rugby Sevens tournament and enjoys hiking, skiing, travelling, a good psychological thriller and running around with her two young children.

 

Catherine Roberts, Global Strategic Client Director - Legal Professionals, Thomson Reuters Asia and Emerging Markets

Catherine is the Strategic Global Client Director for Thomson Reuters’ largest clients in Australia, Asia and Emerging Markets. She a qualified Lawyer based in Sydney, Australia and has been with Thomson Reuters for 17 years, working across the organisation's suite of content and legal solutions. Catherine has a longstanding commitment to progressing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.

 

 

Sandhya Vishal, Chief Counsel and Integrity Leader, Nielsen - South Asia

Sandhya joined Nielsen in March 2016 as the Chief Counsel and Integrity Leader for South Asia, after spending many years in banking and consulting. As an in house counsel of more than 18 years of experience, Sandhya brings together a collective strong experience of managing matters pertaining to legal, ethics and compliance, litigation and complex regulatory issues and Government relations to the forefront. As a result of the combined experience of having worked in a law firm, a Big 4 and a large financial institution, she is able to guide and advise businesses and management to grow and sustain in challenging environments.

As the Chief Counsel and Integrity Leader, Sandhya is also a part of Nielsen's South Asia Leadership Team. In her role, she brings in a confluence of best practices across legal, ethics and Integrity and policy-making to the forefront.

Sandhya supports the business in all legal matters, including policy creation and enforcement, government relations/affairs, privacy support, governance support, litigation support, M&A, Ombudsman and Compliance initiatives for South Asia. As an Integrity Leader for a large data company, she also manages the Ombudsman and Compliance program for South Asia.

Prior to Nielsen, Sandhya worked with ANZ Banking Group Limited wherein she was the Head of Legal for India. Her experience in ANZ over 8 years covered a gamut of matters, from assisting the business to set up their operations in India, providing legal and regulatory support on various products and assisting in strategic business initiatives and managing high value litigations.

During her tenure, Sandhya has also gained exposure to manage senior regulatory relationships and complex regulatory matters including interfacing with senior regulators, Government and Consular officials on policy matters and DFAT objectives.

Prior to joining ANZ, Sandhya worked for PwC for around 5 years heading the legal practice within the Tax and Regulatory team and advised clients on a host of corporate and commercial issues. Sandhya started her career in 1999 in private practice with a leading law firm called Kochhar & Co. in New Delhi where she gained experience in laws relating to foreign direct investments and corporate law.

Sandhya holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin. Sandhya has been a recipient of Legal 500 GC Award, Legal Era Rising Star Award and other awards. She regularly speaks at conferences on various issues like Compliance, Governance, Ethics, and Investigations. Sandhya is part of a few professional women communities and has mentorship roles outside. She is the POSH Chairperson at Nielsen and takes an active interest in diversity and inclusion topics and initiatives.

 

Diana The, Business Mentor, Peer Advisor, Nanyang Business School

Named in Legal 500's GC Powerlist Southeast Asia 2017 and awarded again for the second time 2019 in the publication which recognizes an array of the most influential and innovative in-house counsel working in the region, Diana The is an well-established legal professional with strong business acumen.  Based in Singapore with 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, she is known to have a proven track record directing strategic vision and building and leading legal teams across Asia-Pacific. 

She is prolific speaker in both legal as well as financial services industry.  As a strong advocate for on gender diversity, she has also spoken in various conferences as an advocate for women in leadership positions. She holds several leadership positions in various non-profit organisations, including Nanyang Business School as well as Equestrian Federation of Singapore.

Also, an accomplished athlete, where most notably, in following her passion in horse-riding, a sport which she picked up 8 years ago, she became competitive in equestrian where she has competed in dressage as well as showjumping, both at the club level as well as national level.  Her most recent achievement was being part of Team Singapore in the equestrian discipline of endurance riding in the South East Asian Games 2017 held in Malaysia.  She was part of the pioneer team to represent Singapore for the first time in an 80km endurance event at the regional level. 

 

Leza Klenk, CEO, Spendless Cosmetics

She is currently the CEO of SC Beauty Network, managing operations in more than 14 countries. She has also authored several books and appeared in multiple media newspapers & books. In 2014, she lead an empowering women campaign with Singapore Committee of UN Women, as well as becoming the face to Shiseido in the same year. She is a sought-after speaking having spoken about entrepreneurship, investment & trade equity financing, networking, evolution of retail e-commerce etc at global & international conferences. Having spoken at universities in SEAsia including KDU, Dwi Emas International, University of Malaya, Manipal University, Taylor's College & Uni, NUS, SP Jain and more, Leza dedicates to lecture monthly on topics related to personal branding, entrepreneurship and leadership. Apart from university talks, Leza also speak at international conferences in Asia including HK Retail in HK, BEAM Summit in Singapore, HYWE Conference in India, BWMC in Malaysia and more.

In 2014, she (then 28) was acknowledged as Singapore Youngest Business Guru and her story told in a publication "The Lady Boss" available in bookstores. In 2019, Leza bagged the award as Asia's Greatest CEO 2019 awarded by URS and Asia One. She has invested and incubated several companies including a baking studio, beauty academy, tuition centres, art schools, baby goods marketplace and photo studio.

 

Yosr Hussein Hamza, Director, Legal & Ombudsman Affairs, Middle East, Gartner

Yosr is a bilingual multi-award winning experienced legal counsel with both a private practice and in-house background. She is admitted to the Egyptian Bar.

During her career, Yosr held various positions in global international law firms in the region allowing her to gain significant regional experience in contracts, commercial, corporate, compliance, employment and a wide range of general legal areas. She is currently leading and managing the legal and compliance matters across the Middle East in Gartner. Embracing Gartner’s Principles of Independence and Objectivity, Yosr also supports the Gartner Office of the Ombudsman in the Middle East, a team that is established to openly and assertively address issues of analytical independence, accuracy and integrity. Yosr was the first locally based legal counsel in the region and has played a key part in establishing and developing Gartner’s legal team in the Middle East. With such experience, she also has broad experience in risk management, corporate governance and compliance. Yosr is passionate about the empowerment of women and further the advancement of women rights to achieve gender equity.

 

Sharin Kaur Veriah, Group Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Fusionex International

As Group Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Fusionex, Sharin leads the legal team and provides strategic legal advice to the stakeholders and management teams within the Group.

In this capacity, Sharin also aids the Group in overseeing all contractual matters and negotiations, while simultaneously identifying, managing and minimising the potential legal risks of the Group. Sharin works with her team to support the various internal departments and key stakeholders across the business.

In addition, she ensures legal compliance throughout the business and maintains the business’s integrity both internally and externally. Furthermore, Sharin's role merges with the operational aspects of the business where she works hand-in-hand with the various department heads to make certain that the business of the Group as a whole runs smoothly.

 

Sonica Dua, Head of Legal, Asia, Group Legal Department, Al-Futtaim Group

Sonica is an experienced commercial solicitor, with varied multi-jurisdictional cross border transactional knowledge; and has experience in a wide range of sectors including retail (online and brick and mortar), F&B, FMCG, automotive, hotels and aviation. 

Sonica was born and raised in London. She has an English Literature Honours degree from Sussex University and subsequently attended the College of Law where she undertook both the GDL and LPC courses before qualifying as a solicitor with boutique London law firm Memery Crystal LLP.

Upon qualifying, Sonica transitioned in-house where she moved to Kuwait to work for M. H. Alshaya W.L.L., a privately owned multi-national conglomerate. Here she assisted predominantly with franchising, distribution and business development; and it is here that she developed her passion for commercial transactions. Moving on, Sonica did a small stint at flydubai (Emirate Airline’s low-cost sister airline) assisting with their legal IT Portfolio, before relocating to the reputable Al Futtaim Group (a leading global franchise operator), which is where she works today.

Initially, Sonica was hired for the Commercial Legal Team in Dubai. However, within the year, Sonica was relocated to Singapore to oversee the Asia operations where she is currently Head of Legal for Robinsons and RSH Group of companies; the Al Futtaim retail business that holds over 30 well-known household brands across 8 APAC territories.