Dharmendra Yadav
Vice President
Singapore Corporate Counsel Association

Dharmendra is the Vice-President of the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association, where he also chairs its Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and coordinates the activities of its Banking and Financial Services Chapter.

Dharmendra joined Maybank Kim Eng Singapore as its Head of Legal in March 2014 to support Maybank's regional investment banking and capital markets franchise, including asset management and private equity. Before that, Dharmendra was a corporate counsel in CIMB Group's investment banking and capital markets team. He brings with him over ten years of experience as a corporate counsel, most of which were gained in financial institutions. His past legal work experience includes stints at WongPartnership, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and NTUC Income.

Dharmendra graduated with an LLB degree in law from the University of Leicester and holds a Master of Laws (Islamic Law & Finance) from the Singapore Management University. He also studied briefly at the National University of Singapore to meet the then qualification requirements for the Singapore Bar, after which he was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore. In December 2016, he was admitted as a lawyer of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia, after completing some study with Australia's University of New England.

Dharmendra is an honorary patron, and holds a non-executive position as an advisor for corporate development and business strategies, of professional services firm, Lex Advocatus. He also sits on the Editorial Board of the Asia Business Law Journal.

Dharmendra enjoys helping with legal work pro-bono during his personal time.

Jonathan Blaine

Head of Regional Compliance and Investigations

DFDL Legal & Tax Thailand

Jonathan has over 15 years of experience in the Asia-Pacific, specializing in cross-border corporate and personal investment and tax planning with a particular focus on US, Thailand and Japanese investment. He typically advises international businesses, high net worth individuals, trustees, insurers and other financial institutions. Jonathan has supported numerous individual clients with US tax amnesty and Streamline filings and is a recognized expert in Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), while also providing several well-known multination corporate clients with international investment planning and structuring.

Huynh Dai Thang

Partner
DFDL Legal & Tax, Vietnam

Huynh Dai Thang is a qualified Vietnamese lawyer with more than 13 years of legal practicing experience in Vietnam. Thang has an in-depth knowledge of real estate, merger and acquisition, infrastructure and other corporate, commercial and investment law in Vietnam. In addition, he worked on donor funded technical assistance projects, including projects for the review and analysis of draft Vietnamese legislation.

Dr. Oliver Massmann
Partner
Duane Morris LLP

Dr. Oliver Massmann is an International Attorney at Law and a Financial Accountant and Auditor. He received his PhD with Major in International Business Law from the European Global School in Paris.

He is the General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC and has more than 20 years of experience working as a commercial lawyer in Vietnam and 5 years in Myanmar. He is registered Arbitrator of the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (The VIAC). He is the only foreign lawyer in Vietnam who is presenting to the National Assembly of Vietnam in Vietnamese language and teaching International law in Vietnamese language at the Ministry of Justice in Hanoi. Dr. Massmann is Board Member of German Business Association (GBA), Adjunct Professor at the FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY of Vietnam and the only foreign lawyer as Member to the Supervisory Board of PetroVietnam Insurance Corporation, Vietnam's largest industrial insurer.

He has been awarded "Leading Lawyer" in Mergers and Acquisitions in Vietnam by LEGAL 500 for the last four years in a row. He practices in the area of corporate international taxation and on power/water projects, matters related to oil and gas companies and telecoms, privatization and equitisation, mergers and acquisitions, and general commercial matters for multinational clients in relation to investment and doing business in Vietnam and Myanmar. He is currently working on several investment projects as well as taxation matters and advising the Ministry of Electrical Power on building the power generation infrastructure in Myanmar.

He is holding a German Judge Degree and has worked as arbitrator in International Arbitration and Mediation centers in Asia and Europe during the last 20 years.

He is a 1994 graduate of Bochum Law University, first state exam and Ministry of Justice, Duesseldorf Germany, second state exam 1997. He is holding a LLM degree in international taxation from St. Thomas University Florida- United State of America. He is certified as International Financial Accountant and Auditor by College of Birmingham. He is admitted to the Bar Association in Berlin and a licensed foreign lawyer in Vietnam.

Brett Clapp

Senior Managing Director – Data & Analytics

FTI Consulting

Brett Clapp is a Senior Managing Director (Asia Pacific) at FTI Consulting and is based in Hong Kong and Singapore. He leads the company's Asia Pacific Data & Analytics practice in the Forensic & Litigation Consulting segment. His expertise is in extracting and analysing large amounts of data from disparate financial systems to quickly and efficiently provide meaningful insights. He specialises in complex, data-intensive cases including government/ regulatory investigations, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) compliance, financial/ accounting investigations, class action settlement distributions, bankruptcies and other cases requiring complex data modelling or sharing of electronic information.

Brett has extensive experience in the identification, collection, analysis, and production of financial, transactional and operational electronic data. He has managed the design and implementation of complex data platforms including the integration of multiple disparate financial systems, the assessment of existing financial system data integrity, and the definition and application of complex legal and financial data analysis methodologies. He has led significant initiatives to improve business-critical information flow, including metric development, performance dashboard implementation and the improvement of strategic decision making processes.

Brett’s most notable engagement involved his role a core member of the global FTI Consulting team providing on-going investigative and litigation support to the Trustee and his counsel on the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities Ponzi scheme. In that capacity, he led the team responsible for the reconstruction and reconciliation of all accounts, as well as significant litigation related complex data modelling and analysis used by the Trustee.

Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Brett was a Senior Associate in Financial Analysis with United Airlines, preceded by five years of experience in technical design and project management at Boeing Satellite Systems. Brett has a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and a MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Gino Bello
Managing Director - Technology
FTI Consulting

Gino Bello is a Managing Director in the Technology segment at FTI Consulting and is based in Singapore. A computer forensic expert and certified Computer Examiner, Gino specialises in forensic collection, analysis and expert reporting of digital evidence.

He has over 14 years’ experience in Computer Forensics, Cyber, Legal Technology and IT. He has led a broad range of matters including large-scale, cross-border disputes, arbitrations and e-Discovery engagements in class actions and royal commissions. He also assists clients in Cyber risk and incident response. Gino has led investigations into IP theft, information leakage, anti-bribery and corruption, regulatory and other employee-related misconduct.

Gino has extensive experience across a wide range of sectors, including construction, shipping, financial services, government, insurance, manufacturing, retail, health and utilities.

He is a member of the International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners, Gino has held Australian Government security clearances, and has completed postgraduate, undergraduate, and formal industry training in Computer Forensics. He has lectured at Melbourne University in Computer Forensics and has co-authored forensic policy for a government department.

David Fu
Partner
Global Law Office, Shanghai

David Fu is a Senior Partner of Global Law Office, Shanghai.  He has more than 25 years legal experience in foreign direct investment, mergers and acquisitions, private equity investment and restructuring of foreign-invested enterprises in China as well as outbound acquisitions and overseas securities offerings and listings by Chinese companies.  He has extensive experience in advising foreign investors in connection with their acquisitions of equity interests and operating assets of Chinese companies and establishment of joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries in China and representing Chinese clients in overseas share offering and listing, investment and acquisition transactions.  He has a deep knowledge of local regulations as well as local business practices. 

Prior to joining Global Law Office, he worked at the Beijing, New York and Toronto offices of Shearman & Sterling LLP for nearly 15 years.  During the first half of 2013, he worked as a member at the Strategy and Development Committee of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

Among other distinctions, he was awarded as a Leading M&A Lawyer in China by Chambers Asia Pacific 2012-2015, a Leading PRC Lawyer in Healthcare by Chambers Asia Pacific 2012-2019, a Leading Lawyer in China M&A by LEGALBAND in 2015-2019, and a Leading PRC Lawyer in Healthcare by LEGALBAND in 2015-2019.

George Wang
Partner
Global Law Office, Shanghai

George Wang is a senior partner of Global Law Office, Shanghai.  Before joining Global Law Office, he practiced with several leading international and Chinese law firms in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

 
He has a balance of experience working with multinational corporations, Chinese companies (both public and private), State-owned enterprises and financial institutions.  His industrial clients include Abbott, Avery Dennison, Danaher, Delphi, DSM, GE, Honeywell, KONE Elevator, Parker-Hannifin, PETRONAS, TE and UTC, etc.  Clients often come to him for advice and insights on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, foreign direct investment, real estate, corporate restructuring, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and general corporate matters.

His expertise has been acknowledged by Asia Legal Business which awarded him “2013 ALB China Client Choice Top 20 Lawyers.”

Robin Yoo

Director, Corporate Secretarial 

TMF Group

Robin is a Chartered Secretary and an associate member of the Chartered Secretaries Institute of Singapore (f.k.a. The Singapore Association of The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators). He holds a practising certificate as a company secretary for listed companies on the Singapore Exchange.

Robin has a MBA (Merit) awarded by Anglia Ruskin University, UK and has more than 19 years of experience in the corporate secretarial industry. Prior to joining TMF, Robin was the Head of Corporate Services in Aspire CS Pte Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of a listed company on the MainBoard of the Singapore Exchange). He has previously worked in Abogado Pte Ltd, an affiliate of Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow in Singapore.”

John Ho

Head, Legal, Financial Markets

Standard Chartered Bank

John is the Global Head of Legal, Financial Markets for Standard Chartered Bank (“SCB”), overseeing and providing legal advisory, transactional and documentation support for Financial Markets (FM) business globally for Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), its branches and affiliates. Mr. Ho is also the co-chair of the ISDA South East Asia Legal and Regulatory Committee.

He plays an active role in implementing changes within SCB to conform to applicable OTC regulatory reforms impacting FM business. He has been involved in fostering closer working relationship and rapport with industry groups and regulators on key global and regional regulatory reform changes, including MIFID II/MIFIR, Financial Benchmarks, Dodd Frank, EMIR, CRDIV, FATCA, CCPs and Margin Reforms for Uncleared Derivatives.

In addition, he has supported digitisation in SCB and adoption of new or innovative technology initiatives such as blockchain, distributed ledger technology and smart contracts. He is an active participant in the industry’s Fintech events and has shared insights on the legal and regulatory framework relating to the development of Fintech. He is the chair of the FIA Fintech and Cryptoasset Study Group.

Prior to joining SCB, he was the Managing Director Principal in the legal department of Bear Stearns (Japan), Ltd (“Bear Stearns”) where he supported the Asia franchise (including Tokyo, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Korea, India and South-east Asia) from January 2003 to August 2008 covering various structured products and derivatives including equity derivatives, credit derivatives, fixed income and commodities.

Prior to joining Bear Stearns, he worked as Asia equity counsel for Lehman Brothers in Tokyo with experience dealing in convertibles, options, warrants, delta one products and other types of equity derivatives transactions, equity finance and equity capital markets.

He is qualified as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore since 1995 and he received his law degree from the National University of Singapore.

Prerna Gandhi

Senior Corporate Counsel
Amazon

Prerna is a Senior Counsel at Amazon who supports the Kindle eBooks and Alexa content teams in their end-to-end negotiation of commercial contracts, and spends her time worrying about privacy, data protection, content moderation and intellectual property.  Prior to Amazon, she spent a decade at law firms in Singapore, London, and Mumbai at Sidley Austin LLP, Latham & Watkins, and Amarchand Mangaldas, respectively advising on equity and debt securities transactions in the US, India, Singapore and Indonesia.

She is dual qualified in New York and India and obtained a Masters in law from the NYU School of Law, New York and her Bachelor’s degree in law from National Law School of India, Bangalore.

Stephen Trevis
Managing Director, Head of Markets Legal Asia Pacific and South East Asia Legal
Barclays

Stephen Trevis is a Managing Director and Head of Markets Legal Asia Pacific and South East Asia Legal. 

He joined Barclays’ Singapore office in February 2007, and was originally responsible for managing the Legal teams in Asia that supported Barclays Capital’s FICC and Loans businesses, dealing with Infrastructure and Company Secretarial matters. Prior to joining Barclays, he worked at Standard Chartered from 2003-2007, Deutsche Bank from 1997 to 2003 and Clifford Chance in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong from 1992-1997.

He is the Diversity Committee Chairperson at the British Chamber of Commerce and an affiliate member of WiN Singapore.

Outside of work, he plays the electric guitar with his band, Crawford, and performs in pubs to adoring fans (including his wife and two daughters).

Saswata Mukherjee
General Counsel
Unilever

Saswata has worked for Unilever Legal group since 2002 working in several portfolios worldwide. From beginning 2017 he is based in Singapore and responsible as General Counsel for Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, General Counsel Unilever International business and heading M&A for South East Asia and North Asia.

Previously he was based at London as Global Legal Operations Director and was part of Unilever’s Legal Management Team. In his previous role he was responsible for external legal provider strategy and implementation of law firm panels. He was also overseeing Unilever’s Legal transformation agenda and ensuring the talent pool has the right learning tools by creating & maintaining a Learning Academy for Legal function. The role also is responsible to drive simplification and IT synergy and opportunities for the entire legal group including contract management and matter management tools.

Prior to the move to London, he was Legal Director SEAA, overseeing the cluster and involved in all issues/key projects most notably M&A’s. Saswata also led the Competition Law work for Unilever in Asia (South Asia, North Asia and SEAA).

He acted as Legal Director (Board member) for Unilever Asia Pte Ltd (Unilever’s office in Singapore) leading a team of lawyers managing all legal & compliance issues. He moved to Singapore in 2007 to undertake a specialised Supply Chain Legal Business Partner role and thereafter moved to corporate commercial roles in 2011.

He wants to spend his spare time with his family and travelling to different countries. He is also an avid football fan

Mark Tan
Managing Director, General Counsel
GLP Pte Ltd

Mark is the General Counsel of GLP. Mark is responsible for overseeing all legal matters, including regulatory compliance, contract negotiations on fund management transactions, acquisitions and dispositions and other significant transactions.

Prior to joining GLP, he was previously at Shearman & Sterling LLP, Singapore where he represented underwriters, issuers and private equity sponsors on debt and equity offerings. Previously, he also worked at Goldman Sachs and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

He received his Juris Doctor Honors from the University of Toronto and Bachelor of Mathematics in Computer Science, Economics Minor from the University of Waterloo. He is based in Singapore.

Fong Wei Kurk

Legal Director

Heidelberg Cement

Wei Kurk began his career years as a Corporate Associate in Drew & Napier LLC in 2002. After an in-house stint as a Legal Officer in a Singapore statutory board, he joined the Capital Markets Department of Rajah & Tann LLP, where he undertook several public merger and acquisition deals. In 2008, he joined US law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP, one of the top energy law firms in the world, in their Shanghai office where he specialized in energy-related transactions and outbound M&A deals for the Chinese National Oil Companies.

In 2011, he returned to Singapore and served as the Legal Counsel and Company Secretary for BW Offshore, a leading Norwegian company in the FPSO industry. He joined the HeidelbergCement Group, the 2^nd largest cement manufacturer in the world, in 2012 and is currently the Legal Director overseeing the Asia-Pacific region. He currently sits on the boards of Butra HeidelbergCement Sdn Bhd, HeidelbergCement Bangladesh Limited and Asia Cement Public Company Limited.

Benjamin Choy
Chief Investment Officer
Natural Cool Holdings Limited

Benjamin is currently the Chief Investment Officer at Natural Cool Holdings Limited, a SGX listed company. He has more than 25 years of work experience in a variety of roles in multiple industries and countries. Prior to joining Natural Cool, he spent 8 years at the Corporate Finance Department at CIMB Bank Berhad, Singapore Branch where he last held the position of Director, Corporate Finance. Before his stint at CIMB Bank, he spent 3 years at the Corporate and Capital Markets Group in Rajah & Tann. During the period, he has advised on more than 30 transactions including initial public offerings, secondary fund raises, takeovers and reverse takeovers, and acquisitions.

In his previous lives, he has also, at various times, worked at Touche Ross & Co (predecessor firm of Deloitte & Touche) in London, U.K.; in construction, property and hotel development in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China and in Singapore, and in oil and gas exploration and production in Jakarta, Indonesia.

He serves on the board of, and also advises a number of other SGX listed companies in the areas of corporate strategy and corporate development. He balances the rest of his free time between his family and nursing a glass of fine wine.

He is a Chartered Accountant (Singapore) and holds a Bachelor’s of Accountancy Degree from the National University of Singapore.

Campbell Clark
Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Asia Pacific
Medtronic

Campbell Clark is Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Asia Pacific, for Medtronic, a healthcare company, and is based in Singapore. He was previously General Counsel, Asia, for Covidien, another healthcare company which was acquired by Medtronic in January 2015. Prior to joining Covidien in 2008, Campbell was the Assistant General Counsel, Australia and New Zealand, for Tyco International. He has also held senior roles in-house as an international legal counsel in Japan, and in private practice as a litigation lawyer in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Campbell graduated from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and holds an LL.B (Hons) and M.Jur (Dist.).

Maija Burtmanis
Regional compliance Director – Japan/Asia Pacific
Shire

Maija Burtmanis(LLB/BSc, LLM) is an Australian qualified senior Legal / Compliance Life Sciences Executive, whose career has primarily been based in the international markets. She has worked as a senior lawyer and compliance professional for companies such as Pfizer, Novartis and recently with Shire BioPharma. She has extensive in-house experience in dealing with investigations, audits and high level risk assessments, monitoring programs, commercial dispute resolution, distribution arrangements, as well as resolving complex / opaque compliance issues and regulatory matters.

Throughout her career, she has worked with government representatives, industry groups, healthcare professionals and external advisers in addressing a range of issues which have impacted Life Sciences companies which innovate, produce and promote state of the art pharmaceutical products, medical devices, vaccines, diagnostic tools as well as over-the-counter consumer products.

She is an active Legal / Compliance industry professional, and is proud to be a faculty member of the annual Seton Hall APAC Compliance Officers training program which takes place in Singapore every year. She very much enjoys her vocation and loves the daily challenges presented by an industry which serves Patients and the Healthcare Community.

Reagan Lim
Head of Risk & Compliance
City Development Limited

Reagan has more than 10 years of risk advisory consulting and corporate work experience with listed companies, across multiple industries and sectors. Prior to joining City Developments Limited Group, he was previously with Protiviti (ex-Arthur Andersen), a global consulting firm, co-leading the risk advisory and governance consulting works in South East Asia.

Over the course of his career, he has undertaken numerous corporate governance review works for both public and private organisations. He has assisted a wide range of large organisations across sectors in Singapore and Malaysia, in developing and sustaining their governance and risk management programmes. In recent years, he is also a frequent guest and speaker at public forums in Singapore and Malaysia, on the topic of corporate governance, risk and sustainability reporting. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Finance, a scholarship graduate diploma in Enterprise Risk Management from the National University of Singapore, and a Master of Science in Risk & Investment Management from EDHEC business school.

Nishtha Kharb
Board of Director
Association of Corporate Counsel

Nishthais a distinguished healthcare & technology focused lawyer with over 12 years of experience in handling wide range of legal and regulatory issues, particularly in the Asia region. Presently, she is working for a British Multinational RB as their Legal Director, ASEAN, Japan & Korea advising them on legal affairs and contributing towards innovative solutions to people’s every day challenges in the arena of health and well-being.

She also worked as the Legal Head of Asia for another dynamic, US head-quartered healthcare company, Carestream Health Inc. In this role, she leads the legal and compliance affairs of the company for Asia-Pacific region that comprises of ANZ, ASEAN countries, India and South Korea. Prior to joining Carestream, she was the in-house counsel and Data Privacy Officer at Philips Electronics Pte Ltd for ASEAN and South-East Asia operations. She started her career as a legal associate at Singapore’s Tan Kok Quan Partnership and later joined world’ s leading dispute law firm, Herbert Smith in their arbitration & dispute practice. She briefly headed Herbert Smith’s India desk as the firm expanded its Indian corporate clientele. Nishtha also sits on the Board of the Singapore chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), one of the world’s largest professional association of in-house counsels.

A prominent panel speaker in various leading Legal Conferences of the region, she has been providing thought leadership on managing cross border disputes- role of arbitration and challenges in Asia’s legal framework. She graduated with First Class Honours (LL.B) from Amity University, New Delhi and also holds a Masters’ degree in law. She has attended Executive Programs on Strategy and Negotiations at Harvard University and NUS Business School.

She feels strongly about charitable causes and utilizing creative arts as a medium for contributing to society. To this end, she has directed and acted in numerous plays, scripted and directed a music album with an aim to raise funds for blind school children and for palliative care children in Singapore.

Devottam Sengupta
Senior Legal Counsel
Louis Dreyfus Company

Devottam is a Senior Legal Counsel at Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) Group, one of the largest traders of agricultural commodities. He is the global lead counsel for the Global Markets platform of LDC Group, as well as the Asia-Pacific Treasury counsel.

He has extensive in-house and private practice, having previously worked as a regional counsel for Cargill Inc., and as principal associate with Amarchand & Mangaldas (now Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas). A graduate of India’s premier law school, National Law School of India University (Bangalore), Devottam also holds a European Masters in Law and Economics, awarded jointly by the University of Hamburg and the University of Manchester. He was also the recipient of an Erasmus Mundus scholarship from the European Commission. 

Christopher Buay

Legal Director

JohnsonControls

Christopher currently heads the SEA & ANZ legal team for Johnson Controls’ Building Technologies & Services division.  He also leads the company’s global committee for Project Recovery, a programme by which the law department actively assists the company pursue litigation and recovery opportunities.  From 2013 to the merger of Tyco International with Johnson Controls in late 2016, he was Tyco’s Asia Senior Litigation Counsel, overseeing the company’s Asia litigation docket and assisting in the management of the APAC (ex-China) law team. 

He obtained an “In-house Counsel Certified” (ICC) qualification from the Association of Corporate Counsel in 2018 and presently serves as a Board member of the ACC Singapore Chapter. He is also part of the Legal500’s GCPowerlist SEA for 2019. He was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2002, after graduating from the National University of Singapore with degrees in Law (2001) and History (1998).  Prior to moving in-house in 2010, he was in private practice for 8 years at Wong Partnership and ATMD Bird&Bird, focusing mainly on litigation and arbitration work for construction-related disputes.  

Sigrid Wettwer

Head of Group Legal – Middle East and Asia Pacific

DNV GL

Sigrid is a dually qualified lawyer, being a member of the German bar and also admitted to the roll of Solicitors of England and Wales. Since 2018, she holds the position Head of Group Legal Middle East & Asia Pacific at DNV GL, a major ship classification society and global provider of testing, inspection and certification services. She is leading a diverse team of highly dedicated lawyers working from Dubai, Shanghai and Singapore.

Before moving to Singapore for this role, she was working for DNV GL in Hamburg and Shanghai, having different functions within the company’s legal department, i.a. heading the Central European Team and being responsible for legal oversight of the company’s core business maritime classification. She studied law at the University of Hamburg, the Université de Lausanne, Kaplan Law School, London and holds a Master Degree in Shipping Law from the University of Cape Town. 

Prerna Gandhi

Senior Corporate Counsel
Amazon

Prerna is a Senior Counsel at Amazon who supports the Kindle eBooks and Alexa content teams in their end-to-end negotiation of commercial contracts, and spends her time worrying about privacy, data protection, content moderation and intellectual property.  Prior to Amazon, she spent a decade at law firms in Singapore, London, and Mumbai at Sidley Austin LLP, Latham & Watkins, and Amarchand Mangaldas, respectively advising on equity and debt securities transactions in the US, India, Singapore and Indonesia.

She is dual qualified in New York and India and obtained a Masters in law from the NYU School of Law, New York and her Bachelor’s degree in law from National Law School of India, Bangalore.