2022 SPEAKERS
MARK RITSON
World-renowned marketing expert
Mark is a former Professor of Marketing at Melbourne Business School. He has a PhD in Marketing and has been a marketing professor at London Business School, MIT Sloan (visiting) and the University of Minnesota. He has also received MBA teaching awards at LBS, MIT, Singapore Management University and MBS. Furthermore he teaches a Mini MBA in Marketing online twice a year.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
Founder of The Huffington Post and one of the most influential women in the world
Arianna Huffington is the founder and CEO of Thrive, the founder of The Huffington Post, and the author of 15 books, including, most recently, Thrive and The Sleep Revolution. In 2005, she launched The Huffington Post, a news and blog site that quickly became one of the most widely-read, linked to, and frequently-cited media brands on the Internet. In 2016, she launched Thrive, a leading behavior change tech company with the mission of changing the way we work and live by ending the collective delusion that burnout is the price we must pay for success.
JAKE KNAPP
Inventor of the Design Sprint
Jake is a co-founder of Character Ventures, where he helps startups find product-market fit with Design Sprints. He also tries to work on new books when his kids are in school, but writing has mostly been a disaster during the pandemic. Jake is currently among the world’s tallest designers.
RUPEN DESAI
Chief Marketing Officer, Dole Sunshine Co.
Rupen is a strong advocate of the responsibility business and creativity have, towards the interdependence between people, planet, and prosperity; and is architecting purpose at the heart of the company’s business model for this 170 year-start-up.
ALICE TONG
Head of Marketing, APAC, Content Solutions,
THE ECONOMIST
Alice is responsible for amplification of content programmes created by Economist Impact. She oversees the development of marketing strategies and tactical plans for sponsored and branded content.
IAN DEJONG
Principal Strategist, Technology, Digital Strategy Group, APAC, ADOBE
Ian holds a diverse skill set, from data commercialisation strategies to enterprise architecture designs. He bridges the gap between technical readiness and business impact.
JEFFREY SEAH
Partner, Asia Fund
QUEST VENTURES
Jeffrey Seah is a Partner at Quest Ventures, a top venture capital fund in Asia. Prior to that, he was CEO, Southeast Asia and Chair, Asia Digital Leadership Team of Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), part of Publicis Groupe.
WENDY JOHANSSON
Co-founder, Chief Product Experience Officer, MISALUD.AI
Wendy spent her career building equitable teams, products, and environments in tech. Wendy has previously co-founded and exited Wizeline, a global product development company, led the UX Apprentice program at Amazon, and was Global VP of Experience at Publicis Sapient.
SIDDARTH PURI
CEO, TYROO
RONEN MENSE
APAC President & Managing Director, APPSFLYER
Ronen has been a veteran of the mobile and adtech industry since 2005. He has grown the AppsFlyer business in APAC, from a newcomer to market leader achieving 70% market share.
MARK SNG
Vice President - Investments and Portfolio Management, GENTREE FUND
Mark previously spearheaded the Singapore office launch for Go-Ventures. Before Go-Ventures, he was with Gojek’s Corporate Development Team, where he was part of the team that led the acquisition of Coins.ph in the Philippines.
GEORGE ROYECA
CEO and Transport Advocate, ANGKAS
George is a staunch advocate of inclusive mobility and sustainable transport, a champion of local brands, and an award-winning storyteller.
He leads Angkas, the leading app-based ride-hailing service in the Philippines with over four (4) million downloads and 30,000 biker partners.
VICTOR LIM
Co-Founder, KRAVER'S CANTEEN
A Korean-American tech entrepreneur, previously with Zalora Indonesia, Global Fashion Group, Coins.ph across Southeast Asia, and now building Kraver's Canteen, the fastest growing cloud kitchen network in the Philippines.
ERIC THOMAS DEE
Co-Founder, KRAVER'S CANTEEN
One of the leading food entrepreneurs in the Philippines, concurrently Co-founder of Kraver's Canteen, the leading cloud kitchen operator, and the COO of Foodee Global Concepts, one of the leading brick & mortar food groups.
MARIA RESSA
Co-Founder and CEO, RAPPLER
A journalist in Asia for more than 35 years, Maria Ressa co-founded Rappler, the top digital-only news site that is leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. In October 2021, Maria was one of two journalists awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.
JON WAITE
Global Marketing Director, Head of Media Experience Development, HAVAS MEDIA GROUP
He is responsible for setting Havas Media Group’s approach to in-channel planning and media measurement. His role brings to life the ‘3Cs’ at the core of Havas Media Group’s proprietary media planning process, deploying strategy that brings connection, context, and content to clients and consumers across each media channel.
PRASANNA RAMAN
Business Expansion Lead
Snapchat
Prasanna leads advertising solutions for Snapchat in India. In his current role, he engages with top tier advertisers across Media & Entertainment, CPG, Technology, E-Commerce to name a few. In a career spanning over 15 years, he has played an instrumental role in developing and implementing monetisation strategies for several top organizations, including Facebook, Google, IPG, and Group M.
MICHIKO SORIANO GAENG
VP, Ad Revenue - Strategy & Operations
Kumu
Driven by the passion to uplift and empower the Filipino culture and creativity, Michiko takes pride in building the kumu Ad Revenue division that has tapped hundreds of financially-successful content creators for brand partners. As an advocate for women empowerment and sports in development, and a former athlete herself, she is part of Girls Got Game Philippines.
JAMES RUMOHR
Co-founder and Chief of Staff
Kumu
James currently oversees initiatives for the loyal and active user community in Kumu, appropriately nicknamed the “KUMUnity”.
Previous to his startup and tech scene journey with Kumu, he held various leadership roles in California public school districts and education non-profit organizations.
LEDZ LIM
Expert Solutions Director
Worldpanel Division, Kantar Philippines
Ledz has been leading Kantar’s Expert Solutions in the Philippines for the past 4 years, working with FMCG clients in understanding how to win Filipino buyers in an ever-evolving market landscape.
Ledz and a team of experts from Philippines and Singapore support many local and multinational brands in developing their strategies across brand messaging, media investments and shopper planning like pricing, packs and promotions.
LAURICE PADLAN-OBANA
Shopper Insights Director
Worldpanel Division, Kantar Philippines
Laurice is passionate about the shopper agenda. She started her career on-ground -- going through various roles in sales, retail, channel and category development. Over the last four years, Laurice helmed shopper insight teams for top global FMCGs before moving to Kantar.
YANG YANG ZHANG
Managing Director - Philippines
Xendit
Yang Yang has lent a lifelong passion for disruptive technology and social impact to building innovative products. After co-founding a startup in Silicon Valley, she became CMO of a publicly traded environmental tech company. Yang came to the Philippines to realize her dream; a brand new digital payment infrastructure for Filipinos through Xendit Philippines.
CONSTANTIN ROBERTZ
CEO and Co-Founder
Locad
Constantin leads LOCAD — the logistics engine that coordinates the physical movement of goods in an online world through a tech-enabled network of warehouses, and logistics partners. Prior to founding LOCAD, he was formerly the CEO and President of tech-driven logistics solutions provider Entrego and the Managing Director of Zalora.
RAGHAV GUPTA
Managing Director - India and APAC
Coursera
He is responsible for growing Coursera’s consumer and enterprise business in the region; thereby bringing the world’s best education to learners. In his role, Raghav is responsible for driving impactful partnerships with leading corporate and higher education institutions. He has over two decades of experience in the consumer, internet, and management consulting industries in India, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Raghav has an M.B.A. from INSEAD.
IAN MONSOD
CEO
Kroma Entertainment
Ian Monsod is the CEO of KROMA, a tradigital entertainment company passionate about creators, content and technology. KROMA is in the business of telling stories and creating experiences through film, video production, podcasts, music, TV, talent, events and publishing.
DAVE YANG
Regional Head of Brand Engagement
GrabAds
Based in Singapore, Dave leads a regional cross-functional team to create value for GrabAds’ customers, working closely with them to design hyper-personalised experiences for consumers across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Grab, Dave was based in Los Angeles, United States, where he led community discussion site Reddit’s business in the South West Region. He was also the founding member of Snapchat’s commercial team.
ALBET BUDDAHIM
Chief Marketing Officer
PRIMER Group of Companies
Albet is responsible for leading the various marketing and creative teams across PRIMER Group in both traditional and digital channels. Albet is also the Co-founder of Katapult Digital Corporation and the Chief Marketing Capability Strategist of Mansmith & Fielders. His previous roles provided him with breadth and depth of expertise in Marketing, eCommerce, Media and Brand-buildin.
DIGS DIMAGIBA
Chief Marketing Officer
Metrobank
Digs Dimagiba is the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of the Analytics, Brand, Communications & Marketing Technology (ABCMT) Group of Metrobank (Philippines) since 2017. Previous to Metrobank, he was the first Country Director of Facebook Philippines from 2016 to 2017, Country Director of the IT & Mobile Business Unit of Samsung Philippines from 2014 to 2016, and also served with Unilever from 1999 to 2016 in international Senior Brand Marketing Director positions.
RON BAETIONG
Founder and CEO
Podcast Network Asia
Ron leads Podcast Network Asia, the first and biggest podcast network in Southeast Asia that helps podcasters produce and monetize their shows using technology. This year, Ron also launched Podmachine – a podcast editing subscription platform. In 2019, Ron started creating his own podcast, Hustleshare Podcast which is considered the #1 Business Podcast in the Philippines.
JAMES CARAAN
Podcaster
The KoolPals
James Caraan, also known as Batang 90s, is in It's Showtime's Funny One Second Runner-Up and Finalist of Banana Split's Clown In A Million Season 2. James is one of the hosts of the first podcast in the Philippines to be signed by Spotify as an exclusive show, The KoolPals. It is now considered as the top comedy podcast reaching up to 25,000 listeners per episode.
ALEC CUENCA
Podcaster
Small Talk with Alec Cuenca
Alec Cuenca is a Mindset & Life coach, Motivational Keynote Speaker, Content Creator, and the Podcast Host of Small Talk with Alec Cuenca. He has evident skills in motivational speaking, on-air hosting, content management, creative content production, and public speaking. He also mentors coaches that want to learn how to grow their business using social media.
AMRITA RANDHWA
CEO - Southeast Asia
Publicis Groupe
Amrita leads Publicis Groupe's capabilities across data, technology, creative and media for the high growth Southeast Asia markets. She has been recognized with the CEO of the Year and Business Leader of the Year at the Campaign Women Leading Change APAC Awards, Agency Leader of the Year at the Campaign Greater China Agency of the Year awards, one of ten women to watch by Ad Age China and has been on Campaign’s 40 under 40 list.
JAYATI BASU
Director Marketing Effectiveness APAC
The Nielsen Company
Jayati is an analytics & quantitative research specialist with ~20 years of experience across Asia, Middle East and Africa with expertise in marketing spend optimization, innovation, communication testing & neuromarketing.
MERVIN SANCHEZ
Head of Business Development
Share Treats Innovation Corporation
Mervin heads the ShareTreats Channel Sales Team for Enterprise Platforms and Solutions with focus on Banking, Financial Services, Insurance and FMCG industries. Prior to joining ShareTreats, he headed the BD Team of the Digital Ventures group in one of the country’s leading telcos.
BRYAN ESPINO
Business Development Manager
Share Treats Innovation Corporation
Bryan started his career in the FMCG industry and has been in different industries like Casino/Gaming, Financial Institution, and Headhunting. At Share Treats Innovation, he is passionate about providing tech solutions for businesses, to join a cultural movement of sending casual treats digitally.
JAN MICHEL H. SANTOS
Business Development Manager
Share Treats Innovation Corporation
Mikel started his career in the food and beverage industry. When the pandemic struck, he joined the E-Commerce wave and is now part of Share Treats, with the mission of helping clients transition to digitizing their gifting and rewarding processes.
CESCA SILVESTRE CRUZ
Chief Growth Officer
Data Analytics Ventures, Inc.
With 17 years of experience in FMCG, Brand Strategy, Analytics, Growth Consulting, Digital Marketing, and Start-ups, Cesca brings her experience in synthesizing Consumer, Market, and Business insights for growth, and, together with DAVI’s powerhouse of Data Scientists, unlocks the power of Go Rewards, DAVI’s 6 million-strong Loyalty Program.
JIM GUZMAN
Director - Digital Center of Excellence
Unilab
Jim is currently with Unilab as Director under the company’s Digital Center of Excellence. Prior to Unilab, Jim has served as the Network Head of Social Media for Dentsu Philippines and General Manager both for iProspect and D+Gility. Jim, together with industry partners, launched the Creator and Influencer Council of the Philippines (CICP), which he is now chairing as founding President.
CHRIS JORDAN
Regional Vice President - Commerce Cloud and Digital 360 Specialists, ASEAN
Salesforce
‘Jordy’ leads the Commerce Cloud, Personalisation and Marketing Intelligence team across ASEAN. Chris has been with Salesforce for 6 years and sees a huge opportunity for customers to; understand more about their consumers through the use of known and unknown data, activate against that data in real time, and deliver growth.
ERWIN RAZON
General Manager - Philippines
Bent Pixels Asia
With over 8 years of digital experience, Erwin is a leader in digital media marketing and audience data analytics, he now brings his experience to the esports and gaming industry, enabling brands to understand, plan, and activate compelling video and influencer marketing campaigns towards millennials and Gen Z gamers.
JEL DIRECTO
Country Manager
PGAG Inc.
Jel is the Country Manager of Hepmil Philippines that runs PGAG and Hepmil Creators’ Network. Jel has been part of the digital marketing industry for 10 years working for companies such as McCann Worldgroup Philippines and Nuffnang Philippines. Hepmil Philippines is an advertising company championing the strong connection to Millennials and Gen Z.
KIM YAO
Co-Founder and CEO
CloudEats
Kim is revolutionizing a very traditional food service industry in SouthEast Asia by building digitally native restaurants and cloud kitchen technology. Her mission at CloudEats is to create SouthEast Asia’s largest cloud restaurant group, challenging brick and mortar heavyweights in the F&B industry.
ROLAN MARCO GARCIA
Co-Founder, CEO and Managing Partner
Embiggen Group
Rolan leads Embiggen Group - an international corporate venturing and innovation group that partners with ambitious organizations and executives to build, scale, and invest in new digital ventures at startup speed. He is a recognized innovation consultant by the Global Innovation Management Institute
(GIMI) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is a member of their Think Tank.
BELA GUPTA D’ SOUZA
Founder
Edamama
Bela is the founder of edamama -- the leading parenting platform in the Philippines to shop for the most trusted childcare products and services, while discovering authentic parenting content and advice. For the past decade she has been an active contributor to the startup ecosystem as a founder, investor, and advisor.
NAS ARCAYAN
CEO
Mothership
In the past four years, Nas has become a sought-after Cognitive Branding Specialist for helping companies solidify their brand’s differentiation through strategies rooted on psychology, neuroscience, and business fundamentals — empowering them to go beyond the unending cycle of short term tactical executions. Nas is also a lecturer for the Ateneo de Manila University, with a focus on Entrepreneurial Marketing for the John Gokongwei School of Management.
PAOLO DAVID
Head of Brand Partnership
TikTok, Phillippines
Paolo joined the company in August 2021 with a focus on helping and supervising businesses in the archipelago to grow and succeed on the platform. Before joining TikTok, he brings with him over 15 years of leadership experience from leading companies in the industry such as Unilever, Meta, L'Oreal and Globe Telecoms.
ALEXANDER LIM
Creative Strategist
TikTok, SEA
Alexander builds effective creatives for brand and agency partners with TikTok's ad solutions. He brings over a decade of creative expertise from agencies such as Havas, JWT, Ogilvy, publicis and BBH. In his free time, he is father to a one year old and keen reader of food anthropology.
ALAN LEONG
Creative Strategist
TikTok, SEA
Alan joined TikTok in 2020 with the focus on helping brands and businesses to make effective creative in TikTok. With over a decade of experience working with leading creative agencies like Wunderman Thompson, BBDO and Leo Burnett, he brings a wealth of creative insight and experience.
FRANCIS FLORES
Head, Consumer Business
Smart Communications, Inc.
Francis is the Senior Vice President and Head of Consumer Business Group-Individual at Smart Communications, the wireless services arm of the country’s largest fully integrated telco, PLDT. Prior to joining Smart last July, Francis was the Global Brand CMO and Head of Marketing at Jollibee Foods Corporation, where he spent 15 years spearheading iconic campaigns.
NINA DIZON-CABRERA
Founder and CEO
Niv Della Beauty Innovations
Nina is the Founder of Niv Della Beauty Innovations Inc., under which are the brands Colourette Cosmetics and Fresh Formula. She is also the founder and CEO of the first swimwear line in the Philippines with 10 inclusive sizes, Every Body PH. She is an entrepreneur, content creator, wife, mom, and an advocate of inclusivity and women empowerment.
IBBA BERNARDO
Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder
Packworks
He has worked with sari-sari stores for years, however always ran into problems getting either the users to gel with the technology. Instead, he decided to go straight to the heart of the communities, and went to the stores themselves. Having worked on impactful technology and innovation his whole life, Ibba also enjoys sharing his knowledge on entrepreneurship, business strategy, and innovation as a mentor and speaker.
ANDOY MONTIEL
Head of Data
Packworks
A seasoned executive in the field of first-mover innovation, Andoy has led teams in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. From operationalizing the first hybrid cloud system in Globe to the monetization of the company’s vast unstructured data, the projects Andoy leads lay the groundwork for enterprise-wide development and adoption of customer-focused strategies.
DAE LEE
Managing Partner
The Fourth Wall Branding and Consultancy Inc.
Dr. Dae specializes in culture design. He leverages the attitudes and behaviors of people to design an environment that pushes change through constant improvement. His expertise comes from his experience as a usability designer, military personnel under the U.N., and deep immersion in different environments and cultures. He holds a Ph.D. in Organization Development and Planning.
ARVI VILLACIN
Chief Executive Officer
SVEN
Arvi has led the award-winning firm, SVEN, in driving the digital transformation of its brand and business partners. Arvi believes in the unending power of digital to enable ever-evolving improvements and continues to introduce pioneering ways to elevate digital-led human experiences.
RAIZELLE SO
Executive Director for Creatives & Strategy
SVEN
Rae has been driving digital-1st strategies for countless brands and businesses across industries for over a decade and has consistently led the agency to be locally and globally recognized as a digital authority in creativity, effectiveness, and purpose.
PROF. FERNANDO PARAGAS
Dean - College of Mass Communication
University of the Philippines
Ernan was awarded the University of the UP Centennial Professorial Chair in 2017 and the UP Diliman Chancellor’s Award for Exemplary Teaching in 2019. He was also previously an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He holds degrees in BA Communication Research and Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning, both from UP, and a PhD in Communication and Media Studies from Ohio University.
ASH MANDHYAN
CEO
MetaverseGo
With 15+ years of experience in digital retail (ex-Bytedance, Facebook, Lazada), Ash heads the MetaverseGo team and is passionate about building solutions to expand access to the Metaverse and improve the Web 3.0 gaming experience
MICHAEL PATENT
Founder
Culture Group
Michael Patent is a sports, entertainment and brand marketing executive with a 14 year history of developing creative partnerships in the United States and Asia. He is the founder of Culture Group, a pan-Asian sports and entertainment agency serving global brands and talent, as well as leading regional marketers.
AADIT BHIMBET
Regional Head of Ecommerce, APAC
Wunderman Thompson
Aadit has 10 years of e-commerce experience in APAC across multiple industries and categories. He has helped launch over 12 D2C sites across six markets in APAC for brands like Calvin Klein, Uniqlo, adidas, Muji, Nestle & Under Armour to name a few. He has helped companies across at all stages of ecommerce growth, from launch through to achieving multi-million dollar scale.
DR. JC PUNONGBAYAN
Rappler
JC is an assistant professor and the graduate director at the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE). Teaching economics since 2013, he has also previously worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the World Bank Office in Manila, the FEU Public Policy Center, and the National Economic and Development Authority. JC writes a weekly economics column for Rappler.com. He is also co-founder of Usapang Econ and co-host of Usapang Econ Podcast.
QUAD DELA PAZ
Head of Digital - Philippines
Dentsu
Quad is a seasoned digital marketer with experience in different areas such as web development, social media, digital media, performance among others. Quad is also the Digital Lead for MSAP.
JAKO DE LEON
Content Creator, Producer, and Consultant
CICP
Jako created the Bogart the Explorer series and produced a slew of other online shows, series and content under his PaperbugTV banner. He is currently the Executive Director of the Creator and Influencer Council of the Philippines.
BEA EVARDONE
Hatchery PH
She is an awarded digital marketer who leads operations, creative content strategy and business development for Republiq Group of Companies (RGC) as its Group Chief Operating Officer and Head of Creative Strategy. RGC is the biggest Digital Agency in the VisMin region.
ACE GAPUZ
Influencerpreneur
With more than 20 years of experience under her belt, Ace Gapuz is a pioneer in the content creation and influencer marketing industry in the Philippines. Ace is the Chief Executive Officer of Blogapalooza Inc., the Philippines’ premier influencer marketing company established in 2011. She leads a 10,000-strong community of content creators and influencers.
MALENA GONG
VP - Product and Partnerships
TheAsianParent
Malena Gong has over 10 years of experience in business strategy & development, account management, sales, and marketing. She is the VP of Product & Partnerships at theAsianparent, the world’s highest-rated parenting app and SEA’s largest content and community platform for parents reaching 35 million users monthly.
DALE LOPEZ
Creative Strategist - Philippines
Meta
Dale leads creative strategy at Meta, Philippines. Prior to that, he was the Executive Creative Director at BBDO Indonesia, and BBDO Guerrero. His work has earned him numerous awards in the form of Clios, Spikes, Cannes Lions, and One Show Pencils—as well as the first Philippine Grand Prix at AdStars.
MARGOT TORRES
Managing Director
Golden Arches Development Corporation
Margot has over thirty years of marketing, communications and management experience under her belt. She has been with McDonald’s Philippines for over 16 years and is currently the Managing Director of its 670 strong store network and 65,000 workforce. In 2010, she received the Agora Award for Excellence in Marketing Management from the Philippine Marketing Association. She was also the first Tambuli Chief Marketing Officer of the Year from the University of Asia & the Pacific in 2011.
ANGELINE THAM
Founder
Angkas
She’s a serial entrepreneur who launched Sold.sg, one of the top online auction outfits in Singapore. After she sold her company, Angeline joined a Softbank Affiliated Fund focused on investments in SEA and Philippines. With her experience, she founded Angkas in 2016. Today, Angkas is the most popular motorcycle ride-hailing and delivery service in the country.