Our Speakers

Ms. Theresa Wu has over 20 years of experience in the planning, design and project management of large-scale waste-to-energy/resources recovery infrastructures, including the Integrated Waste Management Facilities (I-PARK) and the Organic Resources Recovery Centre Phase 1 (O-PARK1). She has also involved in the formulation and implementation of various environmental policies, namely the Producer Responsibility Scheme (PRS) and the Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme. Before joining the Government of the HKSARG in 2002, she was a consulting engineeer, specialized in drainage and sewerage treatment works.

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Mr Edwin Keh is the CEO of The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. He also teaches supply chain operations in the Operations, Information and Decisions Department of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Edwin was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2020 by the HKSAR Gov for his research work during the pandemic.

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Christine Loh, SBS, JP, OBE, is the Chief Development Strategist at the Institute for the Environment, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Previously, she held the positions of Special Consultant to the Office of the Chief Executive of the HKSAR Government on the ecological civilization aspects of the Greater Bay Area Outline Development Plan (2019-2020); and Under Secretary for the Environment in the HKSAR Government (2012-2017). 

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In 2012, Peggy opened Grassroots Pantry (GP) in Hong Kong with a mission to raise awareness of the inequities in our food system and to share knowledge on the benefits of whole food plant-based cuisine. GP became carbon neutral in 2018 and its first sustainability report was recognized by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals ESCAP as a best practice case study on sustainable sourcing and responsible management. Peggy is one of the region’s most authoritative voices on regenerative organic sourcing and systems design. 

Manav is the Founder & CEO of Brinc. Brinc is a different breed of venture capital and accelerator firm. Core to Brinc’s business is their belief that some of the world’s biggest challenges can be solved by entrepreneurs, who Brinc likes to call GAME CHANGERS. More game changers will make a positive impact on the world if they are given the right backing. And that’s what Brinc is here for.

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Dr. Lawal Marafa is the founding Director, Postgraduate programme in Sustainable Tourism. He is a Senior Fellow of the World Leisure Academy and serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the World Leisure Organization. He also serves as a member of the UN World Committee on Tourism Ethics. Dr. Marafa was awarded the “Exemplary Teacher Award” in 2005, and received the Royal Belum Inaugural Ecotourism Award, Perak, Malaysia.

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Carmen Ng is Director of Sustainability at Langham Hospitality Group. In her role, she leads and drives the sustainability strategy within the Group by setting high-level goals and commitments, including the reduction of our environmental footprint by half by 2030. She also supported closing a sustainability-linked term loan and revolving credit facility amounting to HK$7.5 billion with 11 banks in 2019. It is also the first raised by a listed company in the Asian hospitality sector.

David S. Lee is an award-winning teacher that is active broadly in the areas of ethics, fintech, leadership, law, and corporate governance. A recipient of multiple teaching excellence and teaching innovation awards, David is the first business academic to ever receive a UGC Teaching Award, the highest university teaching honor in Hong Kong.He teaches in the undergraduate, executive education, MBA, and other taught postgraduate degree programs.

Ms Sindy Wong joined Invest Hong Kong in September 2004 and was promoted to Head of Tourism and Hospitality in 2015. Her team attracts companies from HoReCa, travel, MICE, wellness, beauty industries globally. Prior to joining Invest Hong Kong, Ms Wong worked in multinational advertising agency, entertainment group, Hong Kong Tourism Board and banking industry.

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Peter Yu is the dedicated manager to the APAC Society
for Cellular Agriculture, an association and coalition of 10+ cultivated meat and seafood companies across the APAC region. Peter works as a drive-force to both promote the industry as well as to encourage the establishment efficient and transparent regulations and policies. He is actively engaging towards creating a harmonized industry. Peter holds an MBA and a MSc in Bioengineering, while working towards his third Masters in Law.

Ronna Chao is a textile industry market leader with operations across Hong Kong, China and Asia. She has spearheaded initiatives that challenge and improve industry standards and practices, including The Billie System, an innovative upcycling process that endeavours to lessen environmental impact. Ms. Chao is also CEO of Novel Investment Partners Limited and Director of Novelpark Investments Limited, where she oversees cover investment and portfolio management, and property redevelopment.

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Anita has over 15 years' experience in developing, planning and managing marketing plans, events and digital marketing initiatives. Key focus areas include leading the successful delivery of meetings, conferences and marketing events, offline and online, aligned with the firm's strategic growth initiatives, and key accounts programme. Anita is the lead events strategist for the firm’s flagship C-suite activities including the KPMG INED Forum and KPMG CFO Forum. 

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Helga founded “Wealth of Flows Consulting” which helps organizations around the globe set powerful sustainability and circular economy agendas and strategies. Before that, Helga was a senior expert with McKinsey & Company for 13 years, where she initiated its Circular Economy service line. She was the lead author on numerous reports with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and a frequent speaker and panelist on circular economy topics.

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Ir Dr Cary Chan, JP is a professional engineer with the vision of driving the green building agenda for Hong Kong. He is regarded as an expert on building energy efficiency by the industry. Up to now, A number of his work have won international awards. He played a key role in establishing Hong Kong’s Green building assessment tool back in 1995. Since then he has been playing a leadership role on sustainable buildings within Hong Kong and abroad. He’s been nominated as WGBC APN Chair on 1 July 2021.

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Natalie Lung is the Program Manager for the Food Technology Accelerator Programs at Brinc, a global venture capital and accelerator firm that empowers entrepreneurs to help solve some of the world's biggest challenges. In her role, Natalie invests in and supports startups that are using technology to make the food system more sustainable and efficient. 

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Joshua leads the sustainability function at HSH, the owner and operator of the iconic Peninsula Hotels, luxury commercial and residential properties, and provides club management and other hospitality-related services. As the sustainability adviser to the CEO, his role is to develop strategies and manages environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related risks for the company, preparing all HSH operations for sustainable transition. He champions group initiatives covering topics including climate change, sustainable building, circular economy, responsible sourcing, animal welfare, modern slavery, diversity and inclusion, and social inequality.

Dr Ben Iaquinto is a human geographer with research interests in tourism and human-environment relations. Overall, his work explores how tourist practices and mobilities (dis)connect people from pro-environmental ways of living. Current projects explore the geopolitics of tourism and pro-environmental tourist practices among China’s Generation Z. He has a PhD in human geography from the University of Melbourne and is a Steering Committee member of the Australian Mobilities Research Network.

Ashley is a data scientist at ADM Capital Foundation who is passionate about applying spatial and statistical modeling techniques to address themes around climate change, conservation, and sustainability. As a Fulbright Research Fellow and NOAA Hollings Scholar, she has gone from characterizing critical habitats of salmon in Alaska to quantifying coral reef resilience in Taiwan. Her recent publications with the Foundation include: ‘Eat Without Waste: Hong Kong’s Takeout Packaging Challenge’ and ‘Sink or Swim: The future of fisheries in the East and South China Seas’.

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Soraya is an highly motivated CSR and business development professional with a background in both corporate and NGOs. Her areas of expertise range from client and donor management, developing fundraising strategies, building rapport with stakeholders, and creating effective communication and marketing tools. 

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Mr Lau has been actively engaged in environmental protection work since the late 80s. He is currently a member of the Advisory Committee on Water Supplies and senior advisor of Hong Kong Solar Industries Association.
In 2009, Mr Lau was awarded the Medal of Honour by the HKSAR Government in recognition of his long-term contribution to the promotion of environmental protection and environmental education.

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Ronnie joined HKRITA in 2019 focusing on research project design and launching partnerships with commercial and academic sectors. Prior to this role, Ronnie was a design and creative professional who has worked in multiple functions across the fashion value chain – from design, manufacturing to retail and marketing, where she gained first-hand insight into the industry landscape. Ronnie also serves as advisor to new businesses in fashion and co-edited fashion and textiles publication with Fashionary.

Carine focuses on building the techstyle community, developing partnerships and designing Fabrica’s incubation program. Prior to joining Fabrica, Carine worked in marketing and consulting at major international luxury brands including Guerlain, Richemont Group and Shanghai Tang, where she held various positions in corporate marketing, communication and operational marketing, strategic marketing and product development as well as business operations. 

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Christiane is responsible for setting out the strategic direction for the Planet Positive pillar of H&M Foundation. She has extensive experience in the field of sustainability, previously working as an advisor for sustainability and management strategies in a variety of different industries since 2007, as well as entrepreneurial experience from founding a consultant firm of sustainability experts.

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Dr Reza Azmi's conservation career began with WWF Malaysia in 1994 before establishing Wild Asia in 2003. He has led numerous multi-disciplinary teams conducting conservation assessments for International Aid-agencies, National Governments and NGOs. Reza has written several popular publications, he has also been instrumental in conceptualising Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Initiative – a 10-year programme that began in 2004 – as an initiative to promote sustainable tourism in destinations by working with tourism operators and engaging travelers. 

Wendy Lam is the Head of Eaton Club where she manages all the centres across Hong Kong and drive the growth of the business of every aspects. Also, she leads the team to work towards company vision of building a sustainable growth in terms of business, people and community. Prior to joining Eaton Club, she worked in Real Estate related companies, and had gained handful of experience in commercial leasing and CRE practices.

An entrepreneur and avid traveller since young, Ian Low is the founder and CEO of Trabble, a B2B guest engagement SaaS platform for travel and hospitality businesses. Intent on using data and technology to better serve travellers through conversations, he taps on his extensive experience in startup consulting and venture capital across the region, to spearhead the growth of Trabble through a challenging time especially for hospitality, expanding the company and making inroads into major East Asian markets. 

George has a PhD in physics and pioneered the development of underwater bomb detection systems. He founded Teng Hoi Conservation Organization in 2004 to spearhead efforts to develop a practical fish bomb detection system and has frequently presented at UN workshops on destructive fishing. He was a co-founder of the Hong Kong Sustainable Seafood Coalition in 2018 and has worked with Peninsula Hotel to help tackle seafood sourcing issues since 2017. 

Lucia has a degree in Tourism Management and practical experience in hospitality, compliance, and education. She has been involved in social impact and sustainability for over 10 years, most recently with the Foundation for Shared Impact, delivering experiential learning programs at the University of Hong Kong. She has been leading GREEN Hospitality since its inception.

John Lui has nurtured this well-loved pizza brand into 10 markets in Asia and Europe, including Hong Kong, where there are currently 21 restaurants. With 10 years’ marketing experience and numerous accolades under his belt, John’s passion lies in developing successful brands that put the planet and people first. Thinking outside of the box when it comes to brand building, John believes a brand should be managed inside and out, and in recent years has applied this slightly more unconventional approach within the HR & Training functions at PizzaExpress, fostering a culture and reputation for staff wellness, development and empowerment.

Originally from Singapore, Samantha played a pivotal role in ensuring that sustainability initiatives were implemented successfully at her previous role with Grand Hyatt Singapore. Upon moving to Hong Kong, she attained a Master of Social Sciences in Corporate Environmental Governance from HKU and now leads the sustainability programme at KIN. Her role includes implementing the company's sustainability policies for ingredient sourcing, procurement, waste management, social inclusion among others.

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Natalie Ip is the Head of Sustainability at Dorsett Hospitality International where she oversees the group’s sustainability governance and corporate responsibility at the hotel group. Before she joining the group, she has had experience with the food and beverage teams at JW Marriott Hong Kong, The Ritz Carlton Hong Kong and Westin Grande Sukhumvit in Bangkok. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in International Hospitality Management from Les Roches Marbella and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto.

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André manages EarthCheck's overall business development and engagement strategy across 70+ countries and territories. Working with a passionate team of tourism and activation specialists, EarthCheck provides advice, vision and implementation for destinations and social activation that contributes to a location's resilience. With a particular focus on tourism, green infrastructure, precincts, culture and climate action, EarthCheck collaborates with its partners to deliver cohesive and innovative solutions.

Dana is a founding member of DB Green, a grassroots community environmental NGO where she drove the residential recycling programme. In 2013 she co-founded Plastic Free Seas, a registered HK charity focused on educating young people on the issue of plastic pollution, with a mission to change the way single-use plastic is viewed and used in society today.

Luciane is a corporate veteran who worked for many years in Marketing-related leadership roles within the FMCG and Retail sectors. She was born in Brazil, where she built her academic background focused on Business Administration; has lived and worked in several countries across 5 continents, and has recently concluded a Specialisation Degree on Leading Sustainable Corporations by the Oxford University

Kanika has studied physics and environmental engineering and worked on economic models to inform policy decisions in New Zealand. Her focus is to help businesses ensure that they are making as much positive impact as possible. She is equally comfortable at a table with the Senior Managers working on an ESG strategy and encouraging them to apply a sustainability lens to all their decisions or engaging with the front line staff to understand the operational challenges to implementing sustainability initiatives.

Aamir is the former COO of Lane Crawford, having worked there for almost 9 years. Prior to working at Lane Crawford, Aamir worked in various luxury and retail brands such as Burberry, DFS and Macy's. He holds a Finance and Marketing MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business. 

Diana Chen advises and helps enterprises deliver on climate change mitigation actions and decarbonization through consulting and technological solutions. Prior to joining Schneider, Diana was Sustainability Advisor at The Purpose Business. Diana has a Master in Sustainability Leadership from the University of Cambridge and a BBA in International Business from the University of South Carolina.

Anita Cheng is the coach and manager of the Hong Kong Culinary National Team, a culinary consultant for government projects & strategies, design & management culinary competitions, and for new start-up restaurants or those that required remodelling. Currently focus on GBA initiatives, sustainability programs, food trends interpretation, and serving up the future with technology applications. She is well regarded by the industry as a go-to person for solutions and partnerships, and as speaker on local and international forums covering a wide spectrum of culinary topics

Jetty Lee is a Senior Lecturer for BSc Food & Nutritional Science and Programme Director for MSc Food Industry: Management & Marketing respectively at the University of Hong Kong. Jetty is also a member of several committees, including the Representative for HKU in Global Challenges University Alliance 2030 and the American Chemical Society. She was also awarded Senior Fellowship at the Higher Education Academy (UK) in 2022.

Gary drives strategic market development for both Aleph's corporate and commercial footprint. He is currently developing a network of potential partners for the company across APAC, LATAM and EMEA regions. Prior to Aleph Farms, Gary was the Co-Founder of Solbar (Israel), where he built soy proteins & soy isoflavones businesses and created a global network of strategic customers and distribution channels across Israel, China and the US. He has over 30 years of experience in building new ties between emerging markets and businesses worldwide.

Ed currently leads the Talent Acquisition and Talent Management Center of Excellence Asia Pacific for Marriott International. Prior to this Ed was with Starbucks where he led their Asia Pacific talent acquisition team supporting their 14 JV / Licensed markets. In his earlier career, Ed was the Regional Head of Talent Acquisition, APAC for adidas group.
Ed holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the CUHK and speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Ed is also an active DE&I advocate and an enthusiastic baseball spectator.

Amy is the Program Director of Asia Sustainability of Informa Markets Asia Ltd (IM), reporting to CEO & President of IM Asia. IM Asia is one of the leading exhibitions organisers in the world. In her role, she drives and support the implementation of the Group sustainability strategies across all Asia events and helps to ensure that sustainability practices are embedded into the business plans and decision making.

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Shrestha Sook Yean is a Senior Director (Membership and Industry Services) with the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA). She has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality sector with varied roles in the areas of training, career development, membership engagement and industry services. Over the years, she has had the opportunities to be involved in numerous industry initiatives relating to manpower, productivity, security, innovation as well as sustainability.

Jenny is primarily responsible for driving green and sustainable finance initiatives across its eight working groups and contributing to the Centre for Green and Sustainable Finance capacity building and data analytics workstreams. Jenny has over two decades of experience in global investment banking, primarily in equity derivatives, prime brokerage sales, equity financing and new business development at Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan, and has lived in London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Annupa moved to Australia 19 years ago and has been based in Sydney since then. A traveller at heart Annupa has extensive experience in leading Sustainability programs from retail side and a passion to lead exchange of knowledge that will respond and develop solutions to combat the Environmental crisis in Asia.

Mabel is passionate about empowerment and building teams. Throughout her career journey across a few different sectors including education, journalism, corporate communications and NGO, she has revisited some of the fundamental questions regarding engaging and empowering people to achieve the same goals. Recently, she has the privilege to re-join South China Morning Post to head the Corporate Social Responsibility team. Her intention is to create impact with the people in SCMP for the people of
Hong Kong.

As a hospitality professional graduating from Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, for the last 6 years Adrian has been representing independent spirits at one of Asia’s most reputable distribution companies, Proof & Company Spirits. Their most recent development, a technology that eliminates single glass wastage in the supply chain known as ecoSPIRITS has been changing the way spirits have been distributed in an age old industry that has historically seen little to no change, and starting with some of the most recognized players in the field. Today they have over 200 users in Hong Kong and now implements this closed loop technology not only in Asia but in the US, Australia and Europe with expansions constantly in development.

Azim is sustainability specialist with more than 9 years of combined working experience within the Aerospace and Aviation industry. Azim previously pioneered sustainability development for AirAsia Group, specializing in the establishment and execution of climate change mitigation strategies for airline including GHG monitoring, reporting and verification as well as the adoption and implementation of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) strategy. Azim has recently joined Cathay Pacific Airways to help the airline meet its 10% SAF target by 2030 and ultimately meeting its Net Zero 2050 goal. He has was instrumental in the setting up of Cathay Pacific’s Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) which was launched recently.

Born in Hong Kong, grew up in Taiwan, and having lived and studied in the US and the UK, Ceicy Wong, the managing director of Vegware also pursued her MBA degree in luxury brand management from ESSEC Business School in France. Ceicy's diverse international background gives her a comprehensive insight into the future of sustainable development and she believes that sustainability is the new luxury. With a strong belief that plant-based, plastic-free disposable brings solutions to reduce waste in the food sector, Ceicy introduced Vegware to Hong Kong in 2016, a visionary brand that specialises in plant-based compostable foodservice packaging.
Recognised by numerous green awards and accolades, Vegware's sustainability goals include reducing carbon footprint divert in the landfill by simply being recycled together with food waste and also to grow composting regions including closing the loop through promoting compostable disposables.

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Tommy Leung is an entrepreneur, food developer and founder of HakkoBako a food-tech startup. He also founded GAFELL a frozen meal delivery business in Hong Kong.

Tommy has been awarded a number of prizes and honours for development of foods, including the PAPA Awards, AA Taste Awards and he was also nominated as one of Sweden’s top entrepreneurial Super Talents published by business magazine Veckans Affärer.

Tommy is a gaming enthusiast (Age of Empires, Starcraft) and is relearning to skateboard after 20 years.

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With over 10 years of experience in mainly the non-profit sector, Michelle is well versed in project & event management, marketing communications and fundraising. She has been immersed in both local and international green organizations, and is devoted to environmental conservation for her career. In Soap Cycling, she is in charge of the organization's marketing, business and fundraising strategies which include public relations, brand and social media management.

Jen Queen has served as the creative force behind many cocktail programs from San Diego to Cambodia, Myanmar, & Thailand. She currently holds court at The Pontiac in Hong Kong. Queen has been deemed a pioneer of up-and-coming hospitality industries: known for connecting communities, & promoting growth through collaboration & education.

Beginning his career as a building services engineer in UK, Mr. Mo participated in various types of building projects such as hotels, offices, arena, schools, shopping arcade and data centre across different regions including U.K., H.K., Macau and Mainland China over a decade. He was able to implement environmental-friendly approach on HVAC design such as condensate recovery on heat rejection and waste heat recycled heat pump for central chiller plant.

Later, he switched his focus to cultural excursion as well as community engagement and became a freelance tour guide who conducted different routes in exploring To Kwa Wan area on various issues like urban renewal impact on neighbourhoods, art and cultures, housing and underprivileged. In summer 2018, he finally put his footstep into non-profit organization sector by joining Soap Cycling. Such a move provided him the ideal platform to engage the local community, inspire the next generation to their full potential in leading the way to a more sustainable future. From there on, he was heavily involved on improving sanitation and hygiene of disadvantaged communities in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia countries. The impact of this good initiative is being elevated into a new high since the COVID-19 pandemic. Now he often finds himself in the thick of running CSR activities among different stakeholders of the organization as well as playing a pivotal role on youth, minority and elderly empowerment.

Bio to be updated 

Cameron has thirty years’ experience as a sustainability consultant, educator and service provider. Currently President of the international Sustainable Event Alliance, he established Sustainability Systems & Services to provide customised support to organisations seeking to meet their regulatory obligations and sustainability objectives whilst actively generating benefits through the alignment of products and processes with positive social outcomes. He believes we need to get away from 'random acts of environmental kindness’, focusing instead on continual improvement systems.