Change Makers Stage

Swati Bani, an experienced finance professional, is passionate about solving most challenging social problems and helps social enterprises to reach their full potential and scale their social impact by leveraging her experience and skills.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

1. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by running mentoring programs.

2. Reduce inequality within and among countries by education and skill based volunteering.

Winnie is Client Relationship Manager at PwC responsible for enhancing client experience across China. Previously, she was a headhunter covering financial services, and worked at the Bank of East Asia’s facilitating cross-border corporate loans. Besides, she volunteers for NGOs in an advisory capacity and for youth programmes as a mentor/coach.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

• Enable young adults to seek for better careers through increased creativity and higher resilience
• Improve employee experience

David Bishop is a multi-award winning educator within the HKU Business School, and an active participant in the social impact scene.

Passionate about addressing the climate crisis with technology and innovative business models. Proven track record in product and portfolio development, global partnerships, marketing, sales, and growth strategies for Fortune 500 companies and start-ups.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

Planting more trees, eating less meat, and buying less stuff.

An economist who has worked for the International Labor Organization and the International Finance Corporation, currently heads PwC’s Thought Leadership team for HK.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

My personal goals are: (a) to reduce consumption of non-vegetarian food therefore we do two vegetarian meals/week (b) to continue to recycle clothes.

Founder, educator and social entrepreneur, Jon’s intrinsic mission is to help create a world where every human is empowered to give their unique gift to the world.

Max Song is founder and CEO of Carbonbase (carbonbase.co), a HK based climate tech startup building enterprise solutions for measuring, managing and reducing carbon emissions. Previously, he worked in investments for HK family offices, where he invested in TMT, AI, blockchain, and healthcare. He worked as a data scientist in Silicon Valley for Ayasdi, where he helped with data analysis applications for finance, biotech and healthcare. He received a Masters degree from Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, and Bachelor of Science from Brown University, where he majored in Applied Math.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

Helping enterprise companies measure, and reduce their CO2 emissions.

Kait Sheridan is the founder and CEO of Runwell Global, a boutique social impact consulting agency, that specializes in helping organizations take big ideas and put them to action. She has over a decade of experience in program management, strategic planning, fundraising, marketing and content development, thought leadership and executive coaching, and digital campaigns, with a focus on developing global impact programs to scale.

Philo Alto (李家仁) is the founder of Asia Value Advisors (AVA), a purpose-driven philanthropic capital advisory firm based in Hong Kong. Through bespoke advisory services, convening, and research, AVA seeks to inform and inspire individuals and organisations to create sustainable impacts.

His work included advising The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust on program curation for its inaugural Philanthropy for Better Cities Forum in 2016 with 60 globally-renowned speakers and attracting over 1,300 delegates; convening an impact investing forum with the Rockefeller Foundation to grow impact investing in Asia; and, hosting a Foundation Philanthropy Roundtable to explore what’s next in creating sustainable value.

Philo has also co-authored two publications: Mind the Gap: Lessons and Findings from EngageHK and Adopting the London Principles: Policy Considerations to Grow Impact Investing in HK.  His work has been cited in books such as Problem Solving: HBS Alumni Making a Difference in the World (2019) and The Power of Impact Investing.

Philo received his MBA and MPA from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. He was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs and Citibank prior to founding AVA. Among his voluntary engagements include serving as a board chairman of the Harvard Club of Hong Kong Education Fund, an advisor to Sustainable Finance Initiative, Social Ventures Hong Kong and Shared Value Initiative Hong Kong, and an officer of the HBS Association of Hong Kong. He also serves as a global editor advisory board of Impact Entrepreneur magazine (US) and the Alliance magazine (UK).

Mariam Ashroff is a sustainability professional with 10 years of financial services experience. At LGT, she combines her financial services experience with her expertise in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues to embed sustainability concepts throughout the organization. Prior to this, Mariam was a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she advised asset and wealth managers on ESG integration.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

My goals are to raise awareness on sustainable investing; break down the complexity of the climate crisis and empower people with knowledge needed to act as a change agent; and continuously improve on my own sustainable lifestyle.

Liza is Head of Corporate Citizenship Asia Pacific at Credit Suisse and Executive Director of the Credit Suisse APAC Foundation, based in Hong Kong. She is responsible for overseeing regional grant-making and the management and impact assessment of the Credit Suisse philanthropy portfolio, working with local country management and foundations in multiple locations across Asia.

Lucia’s interest in sustainability started while studying at the university where she researched the social impact of tourism and the traditional food heritage. She holds a joint master’s degree in Tourism Management with focus on sustainability and has been involved in social impact space, diversity & inclusion, and the nonprofit sector throughout various NGOs over the past decade. Most recently, Lucia has become the Executive Director of GREEN Hospitality and is the Education Program Manager at the Foundation for Shared Impact, delivering experiential learning programs at the University of Hong Kong.

Charlotte Breyer specializes in connecting the corporate community with good social causes to create sustainable positive impact. Charlotte has worked for NGOs in the overseas aid sector and is also the co-founder of Big Heroes Ltd., a social enterprise connecting corporates with great local charity organisations through professionally managed social team-building events in Singapore. She believes a sustainably thriving business is in touch with its impact on people and planet, and that respect for the triple bottom line is the best foundation for long-term success.

Being a specialist in the realm of Sustainable Development in Hong Kong and China for over 15 years, Melanie has gained extensive and international experiences in formulating a range of Corporate Sustainability Strategies/Programmes, ESG Policies, as well as Heritage and Cultural Conservation Projects.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

To promote sustainable tourism in the trend of staycation.

Joshua leads the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability function at The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited – the owner and operator of the iconic Peninsula Hotels and luxury commercial properties, clubs and services. He has experience on improving company’s sustainability performance, enhancing internal policies and guidelines, driving more effective environmental, social and governance disclosure, engaging with internal stakeholders and identifying collaboration opportunities with like-minded partners. He was also involved in the development of the company’s Sustainable Luxury Vision 2030, which covers emerging topics such as climate risks, sustainable building, circular economy, responsible sourcing, animal welfare, modern slavery, diversity and inclusion, and community investment.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

Overcome adversity and identify risks and opportunities in a post-COVID world. Continue to enhance our connection with local communities; work with like-minded partners, charities and NGOs to identify innovative solutions that could drive systemic changes and create positive impacts to our society and the planet.

Leading private and social enterprises for over 25 years in multilateral, culturally diverse environments, Virginia is passionate about bringing to life innovations that impact our society.

Virginia has a demonstrated track record of securing strategic partnerships between corporations, governments, and non-profits to deliver on social impact projects. She started her career in telecommunications, building satellites, and the distribution of free-to-air television across 60 countries in Asia.

Seeing the uptake firsthand, Virginia focused on education, believing that investing in people is the key driver for impactful change. Bringing together diversity and crossing cultural divides is a pathway to create Shared Value in our world, aligning purpose with profit.

After serving on the board of several educational institutions, Virginia is now a member of the Board of Directors of the Adecco Group Foundation in Switzerland a social innovation lab, incubating and accelerating new solutions in the world of work.

Passionate about addressing the climate crisis with technology and innovative business models. Proven track record in product and portfolio development, global partnerships, marketing, sales, and growth strategies for Fortune 500 companies and start-ups.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

Planting more trees, eating less meat, and buying less stuff.

As Head of Programmes & Partnerships, Martina manages member services and builds tri-sector partnerships to promote the adoption of Shared Value. Drawing from tri-sector experience in public relations and sustainable business, Martina believes in the power of collaboration and corporate social innovation for scalable, sustainable development.

An Indian by descent, Hong Kong-born and raised Jeffrey Andrews is one of the first ethnic minority registered social workers in Hong Kong. Committed to helping refugees and minority rights, in 2014 he travelled to the United Nations in Geneva to speak about the issues of segregated schools. He has been featured in numerous documentaries, news articles, TV programmes. He has received The Secretary for Home Affairs’ Commendation awarded in recognition of his dedicated service and outstanding contributions to the enhancement of racial harmony and integration to Hong Kong. Recently been selected as 2019 JCI Top Outstanding young persons and also 2019 Cathay Pacific’s Change Makers award and his beloved football team Manchester United recognised him as one of 7 Global heroes. He has been with Christian Action’s Centre for refugees for 11 years as a social worker and now assistant manager.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

Promote understanding and action in addressing systemic racism for advancements through community led initiatives within the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework.

Pushing diversity and inclusion practices at the heart of racial equity through engaging different sectors of society to Integrate the elimination of Systemic Racism, and highlight racial and ethnic discrimination, in order to bring about change to corporate and community responsibility and continuing to provide platform for dialogues, racial and cultural bridging initiatives.

Athena Ng is the Board Member and Honorary Treasurer of Friends of the Earth (HK), one of Hong Kong’s most prominent and long established green groups. She is a CFA Charterholder, a Certified Public Accountant of Hong Kong and the State of Virginia. She is a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) Credential holder and a Certified ESG Analyst (CESGA®) of The European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS). Athena holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce from The University of Virginia.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

Advocacy of decarbonisation through green finance education.

Vivien Teu is a corporate and commercial lawyer with focus on the financial institutions sectors, specialised in investment funds, financial services and related regulatory matters. Vivien has extensive experience in providing strategic advice on legal and regulatory issues in the structuring of asset management, investments or financing arrangements, investment funds and collective investment schemes, joint ventures, private equity and private M&A, and other commercial as well as private clients wealth management matters, across key jurisdictions, asset classes and structures.

As a thought-leader and as a strong believer of responsible capital and social finance, Vivien has dedicated efforts on ESG and impact focus within her investment funds and corporate legal practice, as well as advising on private and corporate foundations, charities, social enterprises, philanthropy and impact. Since joining Dentons, Vivien is part of the Global ESG Leadership Group and the Co-Lead for Sustainable Finance.

Vivien is a member of the advisory board of AVPN – Asia’s largest impact funders network, and is separately also a director of EMpower Hong Kong – The Emerging Markets Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that supports at-risk youth in emerging market countries.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021

Bringing others along on ESG and impact, through intentional and extensive internal and external engagements, contributing to capacity and knowledge building in the broader legal and market ecosystems.

With a multi-dimensional background and experience in emerging technology, social innovation and arts in New York City, Hong Kong, Berlin & Abu Dhabi, she integrates various disciplines of wellness, resilience and innovation of how businesses can integrate community-driven and human-centric solutions to solve today’s pressing social issues. Having successfully built a network of 140+ social startups, NGOs, universities, impact investors and corporates to work on cross-sector collaborations, Dream Impact is the leading impact ecosystem builder in Hong Kong.

My Sustainability Goals for 2021:

We are driven to channel capital to scale the most promising projects and to bridge corporates, NGOs and universities to work with direct service social enterprises to maximize reach and impact.

Howard Ho is a Senior Engineer with over 20 years of experience in managing housing projects. His work covers the project management, contract administration, design analysis, building control, cost evaluation and quality assurance.

Currently Howard is working as a Senior Project Manager to take part in the development of transitional housing in Transport and Housing Bureau.

Suvan Law is the Deputy Director at CCHA, providing support and services to homeless and people living in poor housing. She has served the underprivileged for over 20 years including “cage home” residents and unwed pregnant women in HK; refugees in the U.S.; university students and needy children in Mainland China. Suvan has a Master’s in Social Work and is a registered social worker.

Dr. Jane Lee is Director of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican) Welfare Council. In 2008, she initiated an annual event, Social Enterprise Summit and served as the Chair for 9 years. She was Founding Chief Executive of Hong Kong Policy Research Institute and now remains as a member of the Board of Directors. Currently, her engagement in government committees includes Chair of the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Task Force., Commission on Poverty, Community Care Fund Task Force, Antiquities Advisory Board, Advisory Committee on Built Heritage Conservation, Assessment Panel of the Innovation and Technology Fund for the Better Living, Elderly Care Service Industry Training Advisory Committee.

In NGOs, she is Executive Committee Member of St James Settlement, Council Member of Sheng Kung Hui St. Christopher’s Home Limited, Vice-chair of Management Committee of HKSKH Lady Maclehose Centre.

In education, she serves as Chair and Supervisor of the IMC of SKH Lui Ming Choi Secondary School, Supervisor of The True Light Middle School of Hong Kong, Vice-chair of School Council of Macau Anglican College, Vice-chair of School Council of Sheng Kung Hui Choi Kou School (Macau), Council Member of St. John’s College, The University of Hong Kong, and Member of Board of Governors, Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education.

Andy Mok has been working in real estate development for more than two decades and is now the Senior Project Manager in Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. Being an architect and working as a project manager for years, his works cover from government municipal complex to comprehensive commercial development; from project planning to development handover; from private residential development to transitional housing for those in need.

I write about economics and China’s development for The Economist. I’ve spent 15 years with the magazine, including stints in London and Delhi. In 2014, I became an investment strategist and Managing Director for Bank of New York Mellon, before returning to the paper in 2016.

Mark R. Kramer, a former lawyer and venture capitalist, is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. Mark co-authored the seminal article “Creating Shared Value” which won the 2011 McKinsey Award for best article in the Harvard Business Review. In 2000 Mark and Prof. Michael Porter founded FSG, a global mission-driven consulting firm which supports the Shared Value Initiative and the Collective Impact Forum.

Gabriel works closely with Fidelity’s investment professionals to integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes, develop proprietary sustainability ratings, identify long term sustainable investment trends and strategic opportunities, and represent Fidelity’s sustainable investment capabilities to clients.

Gabriel joined Fidelity from BNP Paribas Asset Management’s (BNPP AM) where he was Global Head of Sustainability Research and managed the global ESG Analyst team. He joined BNPP AM from Goldman Sachs where he was Head of GS SUSTAIN Asia (Goldman Sachs ESG equity research team).

Ben manages and drives the strategy of Eureka Nova, a leading open innovation platform that empowers technology startups to co-create within the New World Group ecosystem of culture, creativity and innovation. Through Eureka Nova’s accelerator programs, open competitions and sandboxes, participating startups work with New World Group’s business units and corporate partners to design innovative technologies that solve real business problems. Ben also co-founded Impact Kommons, the first UN SDG accelerator in APAC focused on accelerating impact with purpose-driven startups.

Prior to Eureka Nova, Ben founded Startup Launchpad, now Asia’s largest I.o.T. startup trade event. He has helped startups raise more than $2 million on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. He is an angel investor and regularly mentors in startup support programs.

He holds positions as a Director and Vice Chairman of the Dongguan-Hong Kong Bay Area Association to drive innovation initiatives between Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Ben graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.