Unlocking Capital for Sustainability 2020

Wilf Blackburn assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Assurance CompanySingapore (Prudential Singapore) with effect from November 2016.

Wilf is an industry veteran with close to three decades of diverse life insurance experience, having livedin seven Asian countries over the past 18 years.

Wilf joined Prudential Corporation Asia in Hong Kong 2012 and initially led new market initiatives. Thisrole included overseeing the launch of Prudential's business operations in Cambodia and theestablishment of Prudential’s representative office in Myanmar and Laos. In July 2014, Wilf wasappointed as CEO of Prudential Vietnam, and subsequently as Vietnam Country Head, also overseeingthe asset management and consumer finance business.

Prior to joining Prudential, Wilf was with Allianz for over 11 years, where his roles included CEO of theirlife insurance joint ventures in China, Thailand and the Philippines and Regional GM, Life & HealthInsurance for Asia. Before Allianz, Wilf worked in the United Kingdom for three life insurers aftercommencing his career with a firm of consulting actuaries.

Wilf, a British national, qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (FIA) in 1995. He has an MBAfrom the University of Bath and a BSc (Mathematics - 1st Class Hons.) from the University of Newcastleupon Tyne. Wilf has been a postgraduate student at the City University (now CASS),SAID Business School (Oxford University) and Harvard Business School.

Feng Hu works as Senior Sustainability Consultant at Vigeo Eiris (VE), an affiliate of Moody’s Investors Service, and is primarily responsible for providing Second Party Opinions on green finance projects. Prior to VE, Feng led water-nomics work at CWR (China Water Risk), a think-tank specialised in water and climate risk analysis. He initiated and led joint projects with the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, and co-authored reports on sectoral water risks such as in energy and agriculture, and basin water-nomics of Asia’s major rivers. In addition, Feng also worked as a senior carbon auditor on climate change mitigation projects of various types ranging from wind, hydro, solar PV, energy efficiency to waste management. As the project leader, he worked in China as well as across Asia and Africa

Mikkel Larsen is the Group Chief Sustainability Officer of DBS and a committee member of Global Compact Network Singapore’s Management Committee. Mikkel chairs the DBS Sustainability Council, which comprises senior leaders across business and support units and is responsible for developing DBS’ overarching sustainability framework, setting key performance indicators and targets in consultation with the relevant stakeholders, and driving sustainability initiatives across the bank. Prior to joining DBS, Mikkel was the Chief Financial Officer for Asia Pacific in UBS from 2009 to 2012 covering Investment Bank, Wealth Management and Asset Management. He was previously the Asia Pacific Head of Accounting Policy and location controller for Hong Kong at UBS. Mikkel has also worked in Citigroup in London and KPMG in London and Denmark. Mikkel holds an MBA from London Business School, Graduate education from Harvard University and a Bachelor and Masters Degree in Economics from Copenhagen Business School in his native country Denmark where he also holds his CPA.

Mike has been involved in project and infrastructure financing for more than 20 years. As Head of Structured Finance, he is responsible for the origination and execution of project financing, cross-border export financing and event-driven financing across a wide range of industries, including renewable energy, power and utilities, telecommunication, and general infrastructure. In 2018, Mike assumed the role of Head of Sustainable Finance. In this capacity, Mike is responsible for the origination and execution of sustainable finance transactions, including green loans, sustainability-linked loans, and financing for sustainable industries. Prior to joining OCBC, Mike was in the project and structured financing business in various institutions including the Royal Bank of Scotland (Hong Kong) and ABN AMRO (Hong Kong). Mike graduated with a Master of Science (International Accounting and Finance) with the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Business (Financial Analysis) with the Nanyang Technological University.

Steven Okun is Founder and CEO of Singapore-based APAC Advisors, a public affairs consultancy working with clients on ESG, sustainability and stakeholder engagement. In addition, he serves as the ASEAN Representative for EMPEA and is a member of its global ESG community. Steve has lived and worked in Asia since 2003, most recently for KKR. As KKR’s first Director of Asia Public Affairs, Mr. Okun’s responsibilities encompassed government affairs, communications, stakeholder engagement and sustainability including KKR’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives. Prior to moving to Asia, Steven served in the Clinton Administration and is a graduate of the University of Virginia and University of Virginia School of Law.

Vivek Pathak is IFC’s Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific, leading advisory and investment operations across 18 countries, which in 2019 reached US$3.8 billion in long-term investments, including funds mobilized from other investors. He has extensive emerging markets experience in principal investments, restructuring and risk management. Mr. Pathak was Director for Investment and Credit Risk, responsible for global coverage of credit risk, investment risk, integrity risk, pricing and credit/equity training. Prior to that he oversaw IFC’s portfolio in the Middle East and North Africa and led business development in frontier markets like Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. Before IFC, Mr. Pathak worked at Bank of America and ABN AMRO Bank in new business and risk management.

With 20+-year experience in the fund management industry with more than 10 years at top ranking investment banking firms (JP Morgan, Citi and Credit Suisse), Cedric has been managing fixed income portfolios and analyzing corporate bonds during the most part of his career, most recently as the Head of Emerging Markets Corporate Credit Research at an independent credit research company. He’s been managing teams of analysts and acting as a principal of small investment teams in various capacities. He earned a Business Degree from EM Lyon in France, including a one year exchange program at Waseda University in Tokyo, a Master’s in Finance from the London Business School and he is currently enrolled in the joint Executive MBA program of INSEAD in Singapore and Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is a CFA charter holder and member of the CFA Society in Singapore. Since relocating for the second time to Asia six years ago (Bangkok and Singapore), he has been developing investable projects in the climate finance space in South East Asia. He’s been a consultant for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (including Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines) on Green Finance.

Regula Schegg is Circulate Capital’s Managing Director, Asia. She leads the investment strategy, manages the investment team and oversees Circulate Capital Ocean Fund’s investment portfolio in South and Southeast Asia.

Together with her team, Regula manages asset allocations as well as due diligence, portfolio management of fund investments. She also provides strategic advisory to the portfolio companies, focusing on strategy, business development, fundraising, key hiring decisions, financial management and governance.

Regula is an experienced global professional with over 20 years' of leadership, business development, project management, finance and social enterprise/start-up expertise. Throughout her corporate career, she held positions in corporate strategy, M&A, private equity, financial controlling and business development.

She was further engaged in the microfinance industry, establishing a growth guarantee fund, financing microfinancing institutions. She further established a social enterprise in the Philippines, developing sustainable housing technologies, establishing production and construction of affordable housing solutions in collaboration with urban poor communities and civil society organizations in Southeast Asia.  

Regula graduated with an MBA (Honors) in Global Management from Thunderbird, School of Global Management, USA, with undergraduate studies in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and France. She is an Aspen Institute Business & Society First Movers Fellow. Regula speaks German, English and French.

Ricco Zhang is Senior Director, Asia Pacific of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) based in Hong Kong. Mr. Zhang is responsible for ICMA’s development in Greater China and works very closely with regulators, financial institutions and other organizations who are active at the capital markets in the region to promote and maintain the best market practice. He has previously worked for international law firms, investment banks and other financial institutions engaged in capital market transactions and mergers & acquisitions in Asia and has extensive experience as a market practitioner. Mr. Zhang graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong.

Jessica is the Managing Editor of Eco-Business, an award-winning journalist, TV presenter, director, producer, and a social entrepreneur. She has more than a decade of experience in media, journalism and sustainable development and is a columnist for print and digital publications such as The Straits Times and TODAY.

She is an independent and non-executive director of Singapore-listed ComfortDelGro, one of the world's largest land transport companies, and sits on the nomination and investment committees.

She serves as Strategic Advisor to Blue Planet Environmental Solutions, and is founding Director for Embodhi (Singapore), a non-profit for women empowerment in Asia. She is also an associate member of the Singapore Institute of Directors, and currently chairs the Climate Action SG Alliance – an initiative supported by the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources to advocate climate action and raise public awareness on climate issues.

A Singapore Press Holdings scholar, she has won many journalism awards. In March 2018, she was announced the winner of the Women of the Future Southeast Asia Awards for the media and communications category. She was also named as one of LinkedIn's Power Profiles for Singapore for 2018.

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Jeanne Stampe is the founder of the Asia Sustainable Finance Initiative. She is the Head of Asia Sustainable Finance and on the Global Finance Practice Leadership Team for WWF. Jeanne works with banks, investors, stock exchanges and regulators in Asia to drive science-based Environmental Social & Governance integration in the finance sector so as to create a meaningful shift in financial flows towards positive economic, environmental and social outcomes. She has 22 years of experience in mainstream and sustainable finance, having worked in investment banking and private equity with Goldman Sachs, Apax partners et al in New York, London, Singapore and Stockholm for 14 years prior to joining WWF. She has co-authored 10 sustainable finance publications, including Sustainable Banking Regulations in ASEAN (2019), Resilient and Sustainable Portfolios (2019), Sustainable Banking in ASEAN (2019, 2018, 2017), Keep Palm (CLSA 2018), WWF Asian Fast Moving Consumer Goods Sustainability Guide (2016). She graduated with an BA (Hons), MA (Cantab) in Economics from Cambridge University.