Global Speakers

Vihang Shah is a high impact IT professional and a Chartered Accountant with international experience at scale across multiple geographies within a consumer-focused organization. He is currently the Head of Centre of Excellence on Digital Productivity for Electrolux where he has spent almost 22 years of his career overseeing the business and IT functions. His current role In leading The Centre of Excellence has ensures that Electrolux’s operational excellence through the ease of doing business by internal and external stakeholders and making information available with self-service tools and improving process agility and enabled through Digital Productivity Platforms.

Topic:

How OCR Helps RPA To Automate Processes Even Further

Praveen Lala has seventeen years of vast experience in various industries and global locations in GE, prior to his current role as Energy Practice, Services Director for GE Digital. Having had a broad hands on digital, financial, operational and ‘Change Agent’ experience, Praveen is a firm believer in digital transformation and focused on customer value delivery and outcomes. With more than 15 years experience in APAC, Praveen understands the cultural complexity and rules of business in the region.

Throughout his career, Praveen has focused on customer delight as his main priority and believes in breaking down internal silos to exceed customer expectations. Working across various functions, he understands criticality of People, process and technology to drive digital changes. Prior to his current role, Praveen was services director for GE Oil & Gas, APAC /MENAT and global Billing Quality initiative for Power(Schenectady). He has repeatedly proved his ability as a team player and also leading diverse cross-cultural teams.

As a key member to the GE Digital team, Praveen continuously keeps customer focus and strategic growth as top of his agenda. In his digital role, his team has delivered close to ~15 implementations across APAC and millions in additional customer value. Customers look at him as a key facilitator across their organizations to develop sustainable roadmaps for digital innovation.

Praveen holds a Bachelor of Engineering (with Honors) in Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, India and MBA from Indian Institute of Management(IIM), Ahmedabad. He actively plays tennis and goes for a run/walk to keep healthy.

Apart from distinguishing himself as a leader in his successful career path, Praveen also strongly practices work-life balance. He lives in Singapore with his wife Pooja, and two young kids Prinaka (9) and Priyank (7).

Topic:

GE Case Study: Incorporating AI To RPA In Driving Improvements In Customer Experience In The Power & Energy Utilities Industry

Philippe currently focused on building and financing AI ventures enabling digital transformation. Previously, he financed corporate, financial institutions and commercial clients as head of Institutional banking at ANZ or at co-head of Wholesale Bank at Standard chartered. Before banking, he was in telecoms and tech where he designed VLSI chip, launched Wharf T&T Telco in HK or TT&C operations for F2 satellite. He has Masters of Science from Ecole Polytechnique, Telecom ParisTech & Columbia University. Focused on building great team to grow top line (5 fold growth to $1 Billion as co-head of Wholesale Bank), transforming or restructuring businesses winning with clients ( #1-Greenwich survey at ANZ) and with people (Top100 UK best place to work at CapitalOne).

Topics:

• Pre-Forum Masterclass B: Scaling From Traditional RPA To Cognitive Automation
• Putting Cognitive RPA To Work With Unstructured Data

Jonathan is currently the Program Director of RPA for Credit Agricole CIB with over 13 years of experience in leading Business, Organization and IT transformation projects in Financial Services sector. He is currently leading the RPA program for Credit Agricole CIB on its KYC processes with UiPath. As a trained engineer, a manager and PMP-certified, Jonathan has a good track record of successfully delivering impactful, complex and large projects – up to €20 million – in multicultural environments for global companies.

Topic:

Leverage On RPA Technology In Performing KYC Processes

A Strong Logistics Professional with close to two decades of working experience in Regional Logistics Operations in APAC and MNC companies.

An experienced Head of Operations, Warehouse Automation & Logistics Consultant and Conference Speaker with a wealth of demonstrated history working in the Logistics industry.

Highly skilled in Negotiation, Logistics & Operations Management, Freight, Inventory, Team Building and Training, Vendor Management as well as extensive experience in Warehouse infrastructure & Systems Set-ups and Operations.

Topic:

How RPA Can Overhaul The Supply Chain, Procurement And Inventory Management With Intelligent Automation

Sean is a Continuous Improvement and RPA Lead at Eastspring Investments, and is responsible for leading Business Change, Process Improvement and Intelligent Automation initiatives across the Region. Sean’s work experience includes Process Improvement, Digital and Major Transformation Program across Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Most recently, Sean’s been focusing on designing and implementing Intelligent Automation capabilities to enhance productivity within Eastspring’s Business Operations.

Topic:

Integrating A Sustainable Intelligent Automation Implementation For More Productive Business Operations

Frederic Ducros has focused on scale-ups and corporations sustainable performance and transformation. He uses a large range of practices from agile, design thinking, lean and social technologies, and many other domains to make transformations happen, grow and stick.

As Chief Transformation Officer for AirAsia Group (outgoing), he contributed to AirAsia 3.0 vision, “a lifestyle platform with an airline”. He also set foundations for continued growth, and grew new transformation execution capabilities, to help the leaders and staff envision, align and deliver together the transformation towards AirAsia 3.0, across airlines and digital/lifestyle/fintech ventures. AirAsia has been stacking awards since.

He is also a Director with agi.li, a collaborative transformation partner, and Transform!NG, a leadership development collective, where he takes interim executives roles, to launch and support large transformations.

Before this, he supported cultural and digital transformations as a Director at KPMG, and in managerial roles at Deloitte, BearingPoint, Oracle. He worked in Western Europe, North America and South-East Asia, across industries.

Topic:

Now That You Have Decided To Invest In RPA And Intelligent Automation Project, What’s Next?

Sam is a full stack developer who have rich experience in enterprise software development with a deep understanding for mobile & web application. Highly skilled in SEO, PPC, social media, paid social, re-targeting, email marketing, conversion rate optimisation, conversion funnel architecture, product launches and pretty much all areas of digital marketing.

He is currently the Head of Information Technology for Mummys Market where he looks into both management and development role. His primary focus is on driving business agility and transformation across the regional footprint of the company, through the use of innovative technology and efficient business processes.

Topic:

Applying Intelligent Automation For Workflow And Process Optimization

Amit Agrawal has more than 21 years of experience working with over 20+ Financial Services clients across the globe.  His expertise is on leading finance function focus on finance transformations like change management, regulatory change, process optimisation, transforming finance functions as trusted business advisor. During this period, he had held several corporate positions in bank, consulting and technology companies. He had the privilege to work with senior industry leaders like CXOs from different professional and diverse cultural backgrounds. He holds a Master’s Degree in Finance and Electronics Engineer. He is RPA, PMP and CSM certified. Amit’s is keenly interested in understanding how emerging technologies like RPA, AI and Machine Learning will be re-shaping ‘Regulatory Compliance’ and its impact.

Amit Agrawal has more than 21 years of experience working with over 20+ years in Financial Services across the globe.  His core competencies are leading finance transformation, change management like, regulatory, compliance, process excellence and known as trusted business advisor to many business houses.

During this period, he had held several corporate positions in Financial institutions, Insurance sectors, consulting and technology companies. He had the privilege to work with senior industry leaders CXOs from multifaceted professional and diverse cultural backgrounds. He holds a Master’s Degree in Finance and Electronics Engineer. He is certified PMP, CSM and Automation expertise. Amit’s is keenly in understanding the emerging technologies and passionate to explore leveraging RPA, AI and Machine Learning in redefining ‘finance function’.

Topics:

• Industry Use Cases Roundtable Discussion: RPA For Finance And Accounting
• Leveraging Intelligent Automation For Finance Excellence

As Managing Director, Next Generation Optimization (NGO), Ravi drives change across RBC Investor and Treasury Services (I&TS) global client operations. His team is delivering multiple initiatives to transform the organization by the application of Shared Service models, Robotic Process Automation and other Artificial Intelligence tools. He leads teams in Canada, Luxembourg and Malaysia. Ravi joined Investor & Treasury Services in March 2017. Ravi joined RBC Insurance in June 2012 as Vice President,   Insurance Transformational Initiatives Team.  During his stint with RBC Insurance, Ravi led major operations and digital transformation programs. He was also responsible for the project management office, process excellence, capacity planning and portfolio management teams.

Ravi has over 20 years of experience delivering change through conceptualizing, managing and executing business and technology transformation initiatives for Global Fortune 1000 organizations. Before joining RBC, Ravi held leadership roles at various global consulting companies, where he held various roles including strategy, delivery and program execution. Ravi has global experience having lived and worked in North America, Europe and Asia across multiple industry segments. He was born and raised in Bangalore, India where he graduated with an honors degree in mechanical engineering.

Topics:

• Enterprise Next Generation Optimization implementation – Best Practices To Follow And Pitfalls To Avoid To Achieve Optimum Performance, Enterprise Adoption And ROI
• RPA Hype Vs Reality Panel Discussion: Failures, Learning Lessons And Challenges – Why You Should Think Twice About Robotic Process Automation

Nirupam Sannagowdara Dasappa is an Engineering Leader with 18+ years of global executive experience in Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud computing, Data analytics, Visual Computing, Automotive Telematics and smart cities. Focus on Design Strategy, Innovation, New business development/Expansion, Commercial strategies, Presales, Thought leadership, Joint ventures and Public private partnership (PPP). Built start-up ventures, successful IoT operation, IoT platforms, IoT products from scratch. Serves as chief ICT architect and chief instrumentation expert for ICT driven future (smart) cities and on not-for-profit boards.

Nirupam is an expert in the IoT space, leading successive generations of remote connectivity platforms and solutions, playing key roles in designing, evangelizing, and realizing innovative connected product solutions, successful deployment of connected products in the marketplace. He has built robust IoT platform and has proven capability to connect and analyse over trillions of data events and devices. Examples include: Enterprise Grade Fleet Management Platform, IoT for railway transport, Intelligent Video Surveillance Platform, Smart Homes, Plug & Sense Platform for smart cities, IoT deployment in Energy, Mobility, Climate, Retails/Financial Services, Maritime, FMCG, Oil Gas, Manufacturing, Wearable devices and Industrial Gateways.

Topic:

Digital Transformation, Creating A Secure And Efficient Intelligent System With Multi Sense Sensors, Data Fusion, AI & Blockchain In RPA

Bob Gill is responsible for managing ARC Advisory Group’s business operations and market research activities in Southeast Asia. ARC provides technology research, advisory and consulting services to many of the world’s leading industrial automation and software suppliers as well as to prominent end-user companies in the manufacturing and energy industries.

Bob’s work experience includes engineering roles (total 15 years) at British Aerospace, General Electric Company (GEC), and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech). He also had a decade-long career in industrial technology media as editor of publications including Control Engineering Asia, Industrial Automation Asia and Logistics Insight Asia, and editor-in-chief at Reed Business Information Asia and Contineo Media.

Bob graduated from the University of Wales in Cardiff, UK, with a BSc in Electronics and an MSc in Manufacturing Systems Engineering. He also has a MBA from NTU in Singapore. As well as numerous articles for industry publications, he was contributing author to Action Learning Cases in Organisational Behaviour (2004) and Many Ships, One Boat: Expat Tales and Tips (2011).

Topic:

RPA Hype Vs Reality Panel Discussion: Failures, Learning Lessons And Challenges – Why You Should Think Twice About Robotic Process Automation

Vince Kasten heads Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence in the Regional Customer Journey team at Prudential Asia.

He came to Prudential from IBM, where he was an Executive Partner in Global Business Services, and the Cognitive Solutions Leader, advising Insurance and Wealth Management clients on the transformational application of cognitive computing and advanced analytics. He has been a leader in applying Cognitive Computing and evidence-based decisioning to improve customer experience, increase revenue, improve efficiency, and control risk, and has implemented cognitive automation solutions on three continents.

Former affiliations including KPMG Consulting / BearingPoint where he was Partner leading global transformation for Insurance and Banking, Unisys where he was Managing Partner for Global Transformation.

Vince is a co-author of the books Get It Done! A Blueprint for Business Execution and The Jericho Principle, both derived from his global work creating comprehensive transformation programs for private and public sector clients. He holds three U.S. Patents, is a frequent speaker and panelist, having authored or co-authored numerous papers and articles on wide ranging business and technology topics, is a Certified Information Systems Auditor, and holds an M.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University in New York.

Topic:

Utilizing Cognitive RPA To Automate New Processes With AI And Machine Learning

Nikolay Novozhilov has recently joined Bank of Singapore as the Executive Director of Innovation Hub. Prior to this, he was the Head of Digital Products at NTUC Link where he led one of the largest and most successful consumer rewards programs in Singapore. Nikolay worked as a Chief Data Scientist at Wego. He is using advanced statistics and machine learning techniques to create business value from data. He is a strong believer in machine learning and Big Data as a way to build great digital products. Nikolay holds an MBA degree from INSEAD.

Topic:

Industry Use Cases Roundtable Discussion: RPA for Data Processing, Validation And Transactions

Kamaruzaman Mohd Noah (Kamarul) is EVP, Head Transformation & Strategy Group Operations, Maybank. He is in charge of the implementation of robotics process automation since 2017 in Maybank. He piloted RPA processes in group operations and later on, and expanded to across the group beginning2019. Today, apart from group operations, RPA is implemented across business and support units within the Maybank Group.

Topic:

Key Lesson Learned from Maybank Malaysia’s Automation Journey

Rajendra is a skilled professional with an extensive track record in Business Process Improvement & Excellence, Data & Performance Management, Risk Management, Innovation & Transformation through efficient problem-solving capabilities spread across multiple business domains and functions. Currently he is the Senior Manager of Transformation for Prudential Assurance Singapore and overseeing its digital transformation and operational excellence initiatives.

Topics:

• Prudential Case Study: RPA Empowered Consultant Workforce Onboarding
• RPA Hype Vs Reality Panel Discussion: Failures, Learning Lessons And Challenges – Why You Should Think Twice About Robotic Process Automation

Sanjay is currently the Senior Director of Regional Manufacturing Excellence for Johnson & Johnson APAC and also a member of the Global Manufacturing excellence leadership team and leading the regional MAKE Excellence Team. He is also an award-winning Supply Chain Leader with over 20 years’ experience exceeding expectations, improving processes, cutting costs, orchestrating efficiency and upping productivity in the consumer goods manufacturing industry. Striving to help the operations leadership community as a coach and change agent, and to use expertise and skills as a thought leader in the supply chain arena and strategic arenas.

Proven leader, managing large teams with budgets over $100 Mill USD for international production behemoths, and consistently producing exceptional results at multiple facilities both nationally and regionally. Expertise in Supply Chain Network, Operations, Reshaping, Transformation, Manufacturing, Engineering Innovation, and Engineering Strategy.

Topics:

• RPA In Data Processing Case Study – Enhancing Processing Efficiency With Cognitive Robotic Process Automation
• Industry Use Cases Roundtable Discussion: RPA For Operations

Aditya is currently the Digital Innovation & Process Lead for OCBC’s Innovation Lab, The Open Vault and providing leadership and digital vision for architecture direction across the ecosystem to effectively support the short and long-term strategic roadmap that address current and emerging market demands. He is a dynamic professional with rich experience in Banking and Technology in Cash Management, Treasury & Transaction Banking, Emerging Technologies, Fintech & Start-up engagement, Robotics Process Automation (RPA) and Cloud Computing.

Topic:

RPA Hype Vs Reality Panel Discussion: Failures, Learning Lessons And Challenges – Why You Should Think Twice About Robotic Process Automation

Rachel has over 13 years of experience in the Insurance industry where she is currently the Head of Operational Efficiency for Etiqa Insurance Singapore. She is leading the operational efficiency team in running value stream workshops and executing future state components. Rachel is also leading the working committee of Etiqa Insurance in setting its target operating model as well as its process improvement project.

Topic:

Piloting And Implementing RPA

Deric is a Lean Six Sigma professional with 17 years of experience spanned across manufacturing, engineering, service, banking and insurance industry. Experience in developing RPA team, architecting enterprise RPA platform, governance framework and process in managing end to end bots development and deployment. Continuously seeking best practices and ideas to enhance the end to end RPA program from the execution process, risks and governance perspectives.

Topic:

• RPA Hype Vs Reality Panel Discussion: Failures, Learning Lessons And Challenges – Why You Should Think Twice About Robotic Process Automation
• RPA Optimization Roundtable Discussion: Expanding The Scope Of Your RPA Tool

Mahantesh Patil has 23 years of Business and IT Transformation Leadership experience in domains like Insurance and Financial Services across US, EU and APAC. He has driven the Enterprise and Digital Transformation initiatives focused on Customer Experience to bring a greater convergence of Physical world with Digital Space along with the transformation of ways of working thru’ Agile-DevOps-Lean frameworks for a 10x Amplified Business Impact. He is driving the Business to 100% Digital Transformation through Human Centred Design and Services Design at Allianz.

Though the digital technologies has been his passion, he has been preaching more of a “whole brain” approach to any complex problem or enterprise vision bringing in the Design Doing across Products, Target Operating Models, Operational Excellence, Service Design and most importantly Experience to deliver a sustained Customer Delight in the era of Disruptive Technologies.

He is an Engineer and MBA by profession, certified on Design Thinking and Digital Transformation by the accredited agencies in USA.  Creating an “agility” has been core responsibility in all these endeavours leading to more nimble enterprises leveraging DevOps, Lean and Automation-AI.

He learns Pottery, to leverage right brain as a hobby of focus.

Topic:

RPA Optimization Roundtable Discussion: Driving Enterprise-Wide Digital Transformation With RPA Deployment

Ferhad is the General Manager and Head of Transportation, Freight and RPA systems at CEVA Logistics. While at CEVA, he set up the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) COE from inception to a steady state self-governing entity. He then spearheaded the productivity drive in CEVA Asia Pacific, implementing a combination of RPA initiatives with data analytics to help streamline several processes.

Ferhad also serves as the Vice President for the Singapore Computer Society, Supply Chain Management (SCM) Chapter, organizing several forums and initiatives to grow digital supply chain maturity. He is currently in the process of transitioning to a new role at TOLL Group.

Prior to joining CEVA, Ferhad was managing the global multi modal transportation systems team for American President Lines (APL). He started his career as a Graduate Trainee consultant at IBM Singapore. Ferhad hold a Masters (Master of Technology) and Bachelor’s Degree (Computer Engineering) from the National University of Singapore(NUS).

Topics:

• Scaling Your RPA with Effective Governance and Centre of Excellence (CoE)
  
• RPA Optimization Roundtable Discussion: Setting Up Your Centre Of Excellence (CoE) For Smart Automation

Pre-Forum Masterclass B: Establishing Effective Governance Model And Centre Of Excellence (CoE) For Enterprise Wide Adoption

Steve Ng is leading Cyber security, Blockchain and Digital transformation business initiatives in his current role. He has worked for MNCs such as Dell EMC, Amazon Web Services, Avaya, HP, Hitachi Data Systems and Brocade. Currently, Steve is the Lead, Digital Operations and Platform at Mediacorp where he overseas infrastructure optimisation, DevOps, automation, cyber security and real-time dashboard.

Topic:

From Initial RPA Deployment To The Next Level For Enterprise Wide Adoption: How RPA Deployment Is Setting The Stage For Hyper Process Automation In Organizations