(Inspiration of The Month)

Tim is the Market Leader of Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan at PayPal. Based in Hong Kong, he is responsible for leading the business and building on PayPal’s global leadership to help customers in the three markets capitalize on growing cross-border eCommerce and mobile commerce opportunities.

Tim has extensive experience in the financial services industry. Prior to PayPal, Tim worked with HSBC for more than 20 years in various geographies including Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Korea, Taiwan and Malta. He held different roles in the bank’s consumer and corporate banking businesses including his latest position as the Head of Sales for PayMe digital payment service in Hong Kong where he was in charge of driving merchant acceptance for the consumer digital wallet. Prior to that, he led the global sales practice management function for the Global Liquidity and Cash Management business, focusing on sales transformation.

Tim holds a Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London, and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Manchester.

(Guest Judge)

Benjamin Quinlan is the CEO and Managing Partner of Quinlan & Associates. He also sits on the Board of Directors at the FinTech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK), is an official Mentor for PingAn’s FinTech Accelerator, is a Guest Contributor for eFinancialCareers and Regulation Asia, and was named as one of Lattice 80’s top 50 FinTech influencers in Hong Kong in 2018.

Benjamin has an extensive track record advising many of the world’s leading multinational companies, financial services organisations, SMEs and start-ups on a variety of high-profile strategic engagements. He is quoted extensively in the global financial press and is frequently interviewed by leading media outlets, including Bloomberg, Reuters and CNBC. He is also a regular keynote speaker at leading financial services industry conferences across the world.

Prior to founding Quinlan & Associates, Benjamin was the Head of Strategy for Deutsche Bank AG’s Equities business in Asia Pacific and its Investment Bank in Greater China and sat on a number of the bank’s global and regional executive committees. He was also the global strategy lead for several of Deutsche Bank’s landmark projects executed out of London and New York.

Prior to Deutsche Bank, Benjamin worked as a Management Consultant at Oliver Wyman, a leading international strategy consulting firm. As part of the firm’s Corporate & Institutional Banking practice, Benjamin advised a variety of global and regional financial institutions on a range of strategic matters. He was also actively involved in the firm’s thought leadership publications and was widely regarded as one of Oliver Wyman’s global subject matter experts in investment banking and capital markets strategy.

Before joining Oliver Wyman, Benjamin worked at UBS AG in the bank’s Asia Pacific Client Coverage and Group Strategy departments, reporting into the regional President and CEO. He began his career in M&A and Capital Markets Advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Sydney.

Benjamin holds a Bachelor of Commerce / Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a First-Class Honours Degree in Economics (on scholarship) from Macquarie University, Sydney.

(Guest Judge)

Brit Blakeney is Executive Director, Innovation and Ecosystems, Consumer Banking Group. Brit is a digital executive with over 20 years of experience. Prior to joining DBS, Brit was a Director at Dun & Bradstreet, leading its digital transformation. She has also held senior positions at major media and internet companies, such as AOL and Univision, and helped launch and run several successful internet and financial startups.

Brit holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University. She is on the digital banking committee of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong, a member of Women in Tech Hong Kong, and is a regular speaker at industry events across Asia.

(Guest Judge)

Dan is Vice-President for Public Policy, Group Public Affairs in Asia-Pacific at HSBC where he actively identifies and responds to policy issues that may impact the bank and its customers. That includes issues related to financial crime, financial regulations, data privacy and sustainable finance. He is co-chair of AmCham Hong Kong’s Working Group on Financial Technology (FinTech) and is actively engaged in policy discussions with industry associations across the financial community in Asia-Pacific. Prior to joining HSBC, Dan was Head of Government and Industry Affairs, Asia-Pacific (ex-China) for Refinitiv. He represented Refinitiv at industry forums throughout the region and regularly spoke on the intersection of data, technology and regulations.

A native of Toronto, Canada, Dan started his career with Global Affairs Canada, working on technical barriers to trade issues related to free trade agreements being negotiated by Global Affairs Canada. He then joined the Standards Council of Canada, working with regional organisations and countries throughout Asia, Latin America and Africa to mitigate market access issues facing Canadian companies. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public and International Affairs from the University of Ottawa.

(Guest Judge)

Jean-Remi Lopez is the Director of Government Relations for Asia Pacific at the DTCC. He shares the company's expertise with regulators and policymakers, as well as ensure that regulatory trends across the Asia Pacific region are identified and addressed by the firm.

Based in Hong Kong, Mr. Lopez joined DTCC in July 2012 (through their Omgeo subsidiary) from FIS, where he led their capital market's post-trade group pre-sales activities for Asia Pacific. Prior to FIS, he worked on the global OTC derivatives fixed income operations of BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Bank and at the international division of S.D. Indeval, Mexico’s central securities depository. He was awarded an MBA jointly by NYU Stern, LSE, and HEC Paris (TRIUM), holding a masters from Paris' Pantheon-Sorbonne University and postgraduate degrees from various institutions including Harvard and Reading universities.

(Judge)

Tara Joseph has been president of AmCham Hong Kong since February 2017. She is charged with overall responsibility for leadership and operations of one of the most influential NGO business organizations in the Asia Pacific, with a mission to foster commerce among the United States, Hong Kong and mainland China.

Tara has more than 15 years experience working in Asia, covering top economic and political stories as a foreign correspondent for Reuters. In her 22 years as journalist, she has reported on hundreds of the world’s most important and high profile news stories including Russia’s financial crisis, Myanmar’s emergence from virtual isolation, China's rise on the world stage and the Beijing Olympics to name a few. As a TV reporter and presenter she has interviewed Fortune 500 CEO’s and government officials across the globe.

Earlier in her career, Tara was the editor and main presenter of Reuters Financial Television based in London, and covered emerging markets and G7 economic issues.

Tara is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism, and Smith College in the United States. She has twice served as President of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, one of the world’s largest press clubs.

Jen Flowers is currently the global head of strategy and business management for partnership development and innovation for HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management. She is an expert in design thinking helping companies think outside the box to innovative. Jen has over 15 years experience across marketing, business development, innovation and change. As co-­chair of the TEDx TinHau committee, Jen oversees all facets of the planning and running of multiple non-­profit TEDx conferences and events in her free time. Jen has a masters degree in Chinese Literature, speaks Mandarin and spent over 10 years living across Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Jen currently serves as the Innovation & Technology Committee Co-Chair at AmCham Hong Kong.

Based in Hong Kong, Ming Lai Cheung works as Manager for Illicit Trade Prevention – Asia at Philip Morris International. Among her many responsibilities, she is tasked to devise and execute strategies against illicit trade in selected markets in Asia Pacific which include engaging relevant stakeholders in business and the wider community to bring about legislative and regulatory changes in governments and law enforcement. She has a research interest in terrorism, organized crimes, and human trafficking.

Ming Lai established and chairs the Shadow Economy Sub-Committee (SESC) within the Trade and Investment Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (AmCham), leading a team of experts in three areas: Financial Crimes and Anti-Money Laundering, Trade Technology, and Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Enforcement to address illicit trade issues in the region.

Ming Lai volunteers as a Charities Reporter for the American Women’s Association (AWA) magazine AWAre and researches, interviews and writes about community projects in Hong Kong. Further, she serves as a Director and Company Secretary for C3 Church Hong Kong providing strategic direction and governance, and overseeing its external relations and charity programs.

Ming Lai was formerly a Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs at AmCham. She is a qualified lawyer of the New South Wales Supreme Court, Australia. She holds a Master of International Law from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Government & Public Administration from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

As a strategy and Board advisor, Todd Bryan helps companies transform through new business models and digital strategies. His experience spans Software, Digital Media, Networking Hardware, Consumer Electronics and Durables, Industrial Goods, and Telecommunications.
Previously, Todd has held leadership positions on corporate strategy teams at Philips Lighting, Adobe Systems, and Cisco Systems. Todd was also a strategy consultant with BCG in San Francisco, and an equity analyst with Morgan Stanley in Singapore.
Todd earned a BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MS from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MBA from the Kellogg (Northwestern University).