Speakers

Amy Tsai

Consultant, Specialised Product Delivery Mastercard

Amy Tsai is a Mastercard Consultant, Cannes Lions 30U30 Brand Marketing Scholar, and founder of Falabidbog, a creative playground for multidisciplinary ideas and consultancy. Her experience spans marketing, communications, and training across Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taipei, blending strategic product delivery, creative storytelling, and social impact. She holds a B.A. in Visual Arts and Sociology from Columbia University. 

Asheen Naidu

Group ECD Leo 

Having worked in the industry for over 28 years across South Africa, New York, Australia and Singapore, Ash is a multi-awarding winning Group Executive Creative Director, now helping Leo Singapore reach new creative heights. Ranked the 10th most awarded Executive Creative Director in the World in 2019, he’s been fortunate to win Grand Prix’s at Cannes, One Show, Clios, NY Festivals, LIA, Spikes Asia and ADFEST, as well as several D&AD Pencils, including the coveted Black Pencil. As much as the awards are appreciated, it’s connecting people with brands that really excites him.
 

Brent Smart

Former CMO Telstra Australia

Brent Smart is one of the world’s most accomplished marketing leaders, known for transforming large, complex brands through creative excellence. As CMO of Telstra, he led a creative renaissance that made Telstra a top 10 strongest brand in Australia and the fourth strongest telco brand globally, earning 120+ major creative awards, including a Cannes Lions Grand Prix. Previously, as CMO of IAG, he transformed NRMA Insurance from Australia’s 36th strongest brand to its 5th, creating over $400m in brand value and winning the Grand Effie. He is one of very few CMOs to have won both a Cannes Lions Grand Prix and a Grand Effie. 

Chris Burggraeve

Founder Vicomte LLC

Chris Burggraeve is an award winning brand builder. After a 23 year blue chip CPG corporate career (P&G, The Coca-Cola Company, and first ever Global CMO AB InBev), he helps B2C/B2B C-Suite and Boards to (re)create Brands with sustainable pricing power via Vicomte, his NYC based marketing strategy advisory (since 2013). Chris is a board member of public/private B2C/B2B companies in US/EU, adjunct faculty at NYU Stern, tech entrepreneur/investor, and a limited partner in multiple VCs. 

He became one of the world’s few top experts in closing what academia calls the stubborn “Managerial Marketing-Finance Gap”. To make Wall Street speak better Main Street, and vice versa. Building on his continued in-market experience and many workshops, he authored 5 very practical books/guides to help close the gap. From “Marketing IS Finance IS Business” (2018), to the most recent “The Ultimate CEO Guide to Create Marketing Miracle$” (2026). He also created Alpha M, the world’s first trademark protected marketing excellence rating model, nicknamed “Moody’s for Marketers”. 

Fernando Machado

Chief Brand Officer Chipotle (Virtual)

Fernando Machado is one of the most awarded marketers in Cannes Lions history and a global leader known for turning creativity into a competitive advantage. He just joined Chipotle as Chief Brand Officer and he also serves as an Operating Partner at Garnett Station Partners, a $5B private equity firm, where he drives growth through brand, culture, and marketing. 

Fernando is the former Dean of the Cannes Lions Brand Marketer Academy and the co-founder and program director of the LIONS Growth MBA. Previously, Fernando was CMO of Activision Blizzard, leading marketing for iconic franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo, and spent seven years at Restaurant Brands International elevating Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons. He began his career at Unilever, where he led Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches.” 

Jeremy Lee

Head of Middle East & South Asia POPMART

Jeremy Lee leads Pop Mart's commercial expansion across the Middle East and South Asia, bringing with him the experience of having built Pop Mart's presence from zero across Southeast Asia — a network that now spans over 40 stores in 6 countries. He is now applying his experience to a new region, establishing the collectibles category as a serious commercial force in markets where it barely existed. Jeremy's career spans both healthcare and consumer products, including commercial roles at the LEGO Group, Johnson & Johnson and Nestle, giving him a cross-industry view of how global brands build local relevance at scale. His work sits at the intersection of market-entry operations and cultural translation, understanding what turns passive consumers into active, obsessive fans, and what it takes to build that obsession from zero across radically different markets and cultures. 

Lex Bradshaw-Zanger

Chief Marketing & Digital Officer L’Oréal South Asia Pacific, Middle East & North Africa Region

Lex’s career has spanned the growth of the web from the 56k modem to 5G, mobile, and has covered North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. 

Lex is the Chief Marketing & Digital Officer for L’Oréal South Asia Pacific, Middle East & North Africa Region (SAPMENA). Prior to this role, Lex was the CMO for the UK & Ireland, held roles in the Western Europe Zone and was Chief Digital Officer for the L’Oréal Middle East and Africa Region. 

The CDMO team in the SAPMENA region has a broad reach covering deep expertise in media, data and technology as well as consumer and market intelligence – and the key responsibility today of accelerating the transformation of the eCommerce business and continuing to remain the leaders in marketing innovation. 

Prior to L’Oréal, Lex was with McDonald’s and Facebook. He is a recovered ad-man having spent over 10 years in the agency world, with both WPP and Publicis – his last role was Regional Director for Digital Strategy & Innovation for Leo Burnett MENA. 

Alongside his day job, Lex is a board member of the World Federation of Advertisers in Asia, Mobile Marketing Association for APAC and the Oxford Saïd Future of Marketing Initiative, a Fellow of The Marketing Academy and The Chartered Institute of Marketing; he is also committed to giving back and using his skills for good; as an adviser to multiple start-ups, and part of The School of Marketing mentoring programme. 

Father of 3 girls, he is a #DigitalNative, Global #geek, and a #Parisian. He balances time between work, the web and family – almost always on his phone. 

Dr Marcus Collins

Professor and Author University of Michigan 

Dr Marcus Collins is a Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, an award-winning marketer and the best-selling author of the book For The Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be. He studies culture and its influence and impact on human behaviour. Collins has been awarded the Thinkers50 Radar Award for the idea most likely to shape the future of business management and continues to be a sought-after voice for all things culture. 

Foo Siew Ting

TRANSFORMATION GROWTH LEADER AND AMAZON #1 BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF “BUILDING BRANDS WITH SOUL” • SIX-TIME CAMPAIGN ASIA “MOST PURPOSEFUL CMO” •GLOBAL TOP 3 INCLUSIVE CMO (Programme Director)

With a 25-year global career spanning senior leadership roles at HP, Unilever, Mars, Diageo, and Fonterra, Siew Ting is a six-time Campaign Asia Most Influential and Purposeful CMO (2018-2024). She scales P&L performance and teams across Asia and globally, blending marketing excellence with operational discipline and human-centric leadership.

As CMO for HP Asia-Pacific, she repositioned HP from a PC-maker to a brand that unleashes human potential – delivering US $2 billion in incremental revenue and propelling HP Gaming from #9 to #1 in North Asia in 18 months.

Today, as CEO of Soul for profit advisory, Siew Ting advises boards and C-suites on uniting technology, purpose, and human insight to drive sustainable growth. An Asian thought leader fluent in four Asian languages, she has contributed to The Drum, Adweek, Bloomberg TV China, WARC, and BBC Asia. As a mother of a 13-year-old daughter, she mentors the next generation of female and marketing leaders across Asia.

Shazan Zahir

Head of Beauty and Wellbeing Unilever International 

A marketer that thrives on creating what doesn’t yet exist, whether that means entering new categories, scaling emerging businesses, or redefining how brands connect with culture. From building Vaseline Lip Care into a strategic growth platform to leading standout campaigns such as Vaseline Nigerian Prince, he is passionate about challenging conventions and unlocking new sources of growth. He is inspired by the intersection of innovation, creativity, and commerce, and believes the most impactful work comes from turning bold ideas into meaningful business results. 

Simone Heng

Award-winning Author and Global Keynote Speaker Simone Heng Speaking Pte Ltd

Simone Heng is a human connection specialist, international keynote speaker, and award-winning author. With a background in global media and communication, she has spoken at TEDx, Harvard University and worked with organizations across the world to help leaders and teams foster authentic relationships. Simone's expertise is rooted in her multicultural upbringing and years of experience in broadcasting, making her a sought-after voice on the power of human connection in leadership and business. She is the author of "Let's Talk About Loneliness." 

Subba

Founder BeingSattvaa

Subba is a breathwork and mindfulness teacher, and retreat facilitator, who spent the first chapter of his career where many of his audience sit today — at the senior levels of global business. An engineer and business graduate from the top schools in Asia, he spent twenty-five years as a senior leader in banking and financial services — living and working across multiple countries in South and South-East Asia, and engaging with markets and colleagues around the world. He came to know not only the weight of consequential decisions and the relentless pace of international business, but also the quiet cost it can exact on the body, the mind, and the spirit. Alongside that global career ran a quieter pursuit. A meditation practice he began in 2004 gradually became the truer thread of his life — until he chose, deliberately, to step away from the corporate world and devote himself to helping others live with greater balance of body, focus of mind, and intentional presence. Today Subba is the co-founder of BeingSattvaa, an award-winning wellness retreat in Ubud, Bali, and the founder of the Being Me series of programs in breathwork, mindfulness, and self-discovery. He has guided thousands of people across the world — among them senior leaders and entrepreneurs from many countries and cultures — blending the timeless wisdom of the East with the practical demands of a modern, high-performing life. What sets Subba apart is his practicality. Where much of the wellness world asks for retreats, hours of practice, or a withdrawal from the demands of life, Subba teaches the opposite — how to integrate simple, powerful practices into the rhythm of a full and demanding life. Each of his breathwork and mindfulness practices takes moments to practise, yet compounds, over time, into lasting balance of body, focus of mind, and ease of heart. His sessions are experiential, practical, and refreshingly fun — designed to be felt and enjoyed, not merely understood. As he often puts it — the leader you are looking for is already within you. Subba is currently writing his first book, Search No More — A Journey to the Teacher Within. 

Sunny Park

Founding Principal KOhesion 

Sunny Park is a marketing leader and researcher of organizational performance whose work examines the systems that underpin Korea's global cultural ascendancy. Over a career spanning more than two decades in Asia-Pacific, he served most recently as Asia Region CMO of HP, preceded by twelve years at Diageo as Marketing Director across Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, and earlier appointments in corporate strategy and brand management at Philip Morris, Renault, and Hyundai. As Founding Principal of KOhesion, Sunny has developed a framework for high-performing teams grounded in comparative case research on the institutions behind the Korean Wave – the talent-development systems of K-pop, K-drama, and eSports, and category-defining enterprises including Samyang Foods, Gentle Monster, Olive Young, and Kolmar Korea. His analysis identifies three recurring organizational behaviours – integration, initiative, and iteration – that convert creative ambition into sustained commercial performance. His teaching bridges practitioner experience and cultural insight, translating the mechanics of world-leading fandom into applicable principles of creativity and leadership.