Dr. Felipe Medalla, a noted economist and educator whose career spans more than four decades and four administrations, is the current Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Dr. Medalla has been a member of the policymaking Monetary Board since July 2011, having been appointed by former President Benigno Aquino III and President Rodrigo Duterte in July 2017.

Before joining the Monetary Board, he was a prominent figure in the academe, having taught at the University of the Philippines-School of Economics (UPSE) from 1991 to 2011. He also served as UP vice president of planning and finance from 1988-1991 before being named dean of UPSE from 1994-1998.

In 1998, Dr. Medalla was appointed Secretary of Socio-Economic Planning and Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority by then-President Joseph Estrada.

He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and his M.A. in Economics from the University of the Philippines. A certified public accountant, he graduated cum laude from De La Salle University with an economics- accounting degree.

Emilio Benito Aquino is the first certified public accountant-lawyer appointed as chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Philippines.

He became the youngest director of the SEC Philippines’ former Prosecution and Enforcement and Non-Traditional Securities and Instruments Departments. He also headed the SEC Davao and Zamboanga Extension Offices, where he launched capital market promotion activities, and relentless enforcement actions against investment fraud in the countryside. He then served as commissioner before his appointment as chairperson.

Under his leadership, the SEC Philippines crafted its Digital Transformation and Technology Modernization Roadmap. His digital-first policy has enabled the SEC Philippines to navigate the unprecedented global health and economic crisis. He pushes for a zero-touchpoint transaction environment powered by cloud, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity solutions, and other new technologies.

Very recently, Atty. Aquino was named “CEO of the Year” in the 2022 IDC Future Enterprise Awards for the digital transformation of the SEC Philippines.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in Commerce major in Accounting with honors at Universidad de Zamboanga in 1984. He then took up Law at Sen Beda College and placed 16th in the 1992 bar examinations. He then earned his master’s degree in Public Management from the Development Academy of the Philippines, graduating at the top of his class.

Jose Antonio Tan III is currently the Director of the Public Management, Financial Sector, and Trade Division in the Southeast Asia Department. He joined ADB in January 2008 as an Economist (Public Finance) in Central and West Asia Department, and was promoted to Senior Economist (Public Finance) in February 2011. In this position, he led the processing and implementation of programs and technical assistance projects on several sectors that included working on issues about budgeting, taxation, private sector development, financial reforms, and crisis recovery support. He transferred to the Office of the Vice President (Finance and Administration) as Senior Advisor to the Vice President in September 2011, and later moved to the Office of the Vice President (Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development). In this role, Mr. Tan has provided strong support and advice to the Vice President on the full range of operational and administrative matters, including advising on strategies, policies and business processes, and assisting in the development of initiatives in the areas of knowledge management and sustainable development. His blend of policy and operations experience as well as his strong research background, broad perspective of ADB operations gained from his stint in the Offices of the Vice President. Subsequently, later appointed as Advisor at the Independent Evaluation Department. Prior to joining ADB, he had worked with the Government of the Philippines as Deputy Treasurer of the Philippines and officer at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Obtaining his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of the Philippines, he has done post-doctoral research as a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and the Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco, New York and Boston. He was also a Humphrey Fellow for Finance and Economics at Boston University in 1998-1999. His research interests are in the areas of monetary and fiscal policies and reform, public finance, econometric modeling, and financial economics.

Rosemarie Edillon is presently the Undersecretary for National Development Policy and Planning at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Ms. Edillon holds a PhD in Economics from La Trobe University in Australia, an MA degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Economics and an MS degree in Statistics from the UP School of Statistics. She is also a 2019 Presidential Gawad CES Awardee.

Among her major responsibilities is shepherding the formulation of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP). The PDP is an elaboration of the country’s priorities over the medium-term and is the blueprint of government policies, programs and projects. She also oversees the monitoring of the PDP implementation. In addition, she is in charge of providing technical advice on policy issues to both the legislative and executive branches of government, especially the committees of the NEDA Board.

Ms. Edillon chairs the Social Development Committee-Technical Board and the Technical Committee on Tariff Related Matters and is a member of the Development Budget Coordination Committee of the NEDA Board. She also chairs the National Innovation Council – Executive Technical Board.

Undersecretary Edillon is currently a member of the Philippine Economic Society, where she used to be President. She is also a member of the Philippine Commission of the UNESCO.

Mr. David L. Almirol, Jr. is the Undersecretary for E-Government of the Department of Information and Communications Technology. He is a 2021 Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee for Science, Engineering and Technology, was bestowed the distinct honor of being The Filipino Technology Icon of the Year also in the same year given by the Asia Pacific Luminaire Awards including a dozen other awards both locally and regionally in the field of information technology and business leadership.

He is also the founder and former CEO of Multisys Technologies Corporation which is regarded as one of the country’s leading software development company. A full stack programmer. A UI and UX expert. An elite systems analyst and quality assurance specialist. He has more than 15 years of solid software programming experience providing numerous services to both medium and large private organizations and government agencies in the field of e-business; e-commerce; e-finance and e-banking; e-health; e-learning; e-services; and e-government.

A highly motivated, dedicated Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) with significant contribution and experience in public sector management, specifically, planning, monitoring & evaluation, performance management, public administration, and public policy formulation. As a CESO, ASEC Pacheco is a Gawad CES (2017) nominee and a 2015 CES VIP (Very Innovative Person 2015) awardee, for introducing innovation and institutionalizing good governance initiatives in the DTI. Last year, she participated the Lee Kuan Yew Senior Fellowship in Singapore and became a Lee Kuan Yew Fellow.

Appointed in 2018 as Assistant Secretary for Digital Philippines, her current portfolio in the Department of Trade and Industry include managing the Ecommerce team, Supply Chain and Logistics Management Division, and DTI’s Business Name Registration System.

Eugene Acevedo is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation.

Under his leadership, RCBC accelerated its business and digital transformation, winning multiple awards in innovation including best digital bank and best retail bank. RCBC also took major strides in sustainable finance resulting in landmark green bond issues, and its upgrade to Double A (AA) ESG rating by MSCI.

Eugene serves as Chairman of the Asian Bankers Association (ABA) for the 2021-23 term. In 1987, he graduated from the Asian Institute of Management. He completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

An avid learner, he has professional certifications in Clean Power, Customer Experience, User Experience and Digital Marketing from Imperial College London, CX Academy, British Computer Society and Wharton School, respectively.

Lito Villanueva is the Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer for RCBC. He is concurrently the Chief Digital Transformation Advisor for the Yuchengco Group of Companies. Villanueva is also the founding chairman of Fintech Alliance.ph and recently elected as the global chairman of the South Africa-based Alliance of Digital Finance Associations.

He is the Philippines’ leading and award- winning thought leader on digital transformation and inclusive digital finance. He has over 20 years of experience in banking, telecommunications, payments, development finance, advisory, and financial technology. He has merited with over 70 global and regional awards, including being named one of the Top 100 FinTech Leaders in Asia, 2021 Chief Innovation Officer of the Year by London-based The Banker, Top 100 Filipinos on LinkedIn, and Mr. Fintech of the Philippines by BizNewsAsia, among others. He has a regular business column in the Philippine Star.

Kenneth Stern is the General Manager of Binance Philippines. Binance is the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider with a financial product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchange by volume. Trusted by millions worldwide, the Binance platform is dedicated to increasing the freedom of money for users, and features an unmatched portfolio of crypto products and offerings, including: trading and finance, education, data and research, social good, investment and incubation, decentralization and infrastructure solutions, and more.

Prior to joining Binance, Kenneth held a number of leadership positions including CEO of Lamudi, the Philippines largest PropTech platform and Country Manager of RE/MAX, the Philippines largest Real Estate franchise. Kenneth is a 2 sports national athlete competing in the World Cup, Asian Games and South East Asian games for Rugby and Ice Hockey. He has a bachelor degree from Boston University and a MBA from Macquarie University.

She is an Independent Director and Chairperson of Prulife Uk Ph, she is also an Independent director of several companies including Alipay Ph, Seedin and Xurpas Inc and Trustee of Fintech Alliance Ph. Previously a traditional banker spanning 22 years in senior management positions in National Australia Bank and Philippine National Bank.

She is a fintech and governance advocate and recently appointed as fintech representative to BSP Open Finance Oversight Committee TG- Ms Ida Tiongson

Qamar Saleem is the Regional Manager Advisory Services, Financial Institutions Group for Asia and Pacific, and the Global Lead for SME and Supply Chain Finance Practice at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. In this role, Qamar heads IFC’s Financial Institutions advisory services business spanning across nearly 40 countries, covering over 200 financial sector clients and providing technical support across 10 thematic areas such as MSME, SCF, Climate, Digital, Housing, Agri, Gender finance. IFC’s MSME Banking and Supply Chain Finance advisory services specifically supports financial sector globally in building and scaling MSME Banking and SCF businesses at the market, financial intuition and firm levels.

Qamar has over 27 years of experience in diverse commercial banking and business transformation initiatives globally. He is a recognized development finance expert working across Asia driving IFC’s financial intuitions clients into playing an active role in stimulating inclusion, climate change response, and enabling digital economy. He is also an MSME Banking and Supply Chain Finance expert and has played leadership roles in driving up MSME and SCF businesses for financial institutions across Middle East; North Africa; Eastern Europe; Africa; Latin America; East, Central and South Asia. He is a featured speaker, thought leader and trainer at numerous MSME and SCF knowledge sharing forums across the world and has steered partnerships with various private and public sector entities in helping augment support mechanism for increasing financial inclusion of especially the micro, small and medium enterprises.

Prior to joining IFC, Qamar was associated with international organizations like HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank as well as large regional banks in while serving in several emerging markets. Qamar holds a master’s degree in business administration and carries several certifications in the areas of Strategy, Business Transformation, SME Banking, Corporate Leadership, Supply Chain Finance, Credit, Risk, Trade, Treasury, Sales, Transaction Banking and Product Management.

John Januszczak is the President & CEO of UBX. UBX was initiated to positively impact financial inclusion and business growth through technology. Founded in 2018 by Union Bank of the Philippines, UBX operates in Singapore and the Philippines; recognized as the Fastest Growing Fintech Company in South East Asia 2020 by UK-based Global Brands Magazine and Best Digital Community Impact Initiative in South East Asia 2020 by Capital Finance International (CFI.co). Under his leadership, UBX has defined the standard for digital payment platforms and access to credit.

Originally from Canada, his degree in Astrophysics and experience in telecom, commercial software, banking and insurance industries provides a unique and well-rounded perspective on digital platforms. Prior to UBX, John served as the Chief Operating Officer of Manulife Philippines.

Miguel Cuneta is an early adopter of Bitcoin and has been active in the industry for almost ten years. In 2014, he co-founded SCI Ventures, a pioneer Bitcoin startup that created Blockchain-powered remittance, payments, exchange, and mobile money applications and was venture-backed by Kakao Investment and Cebuana Lhuillier. Rebittance Inc., a subsidiary of SCI, was established in 2016 and became the first Philippine-based company to receive BSP’s Virtual Currency Exchange (VCE) license in 2017. Rebittance Inc pioneered the use of Bitcoin and blockchain technology in financial services and focused on providing cryptocurrency exchange and transfer services for Filipinos. He is also currently an advisor to Stanible.com,. a PH Web3 startup focused on digital collectibles and NFTs. Miguel has been featured as a subject matter expert on Bitcoin and Blockchain technology on Bloomberg, DW, ANC, GMA news, among others, and has been a resource speaker in conferences, both locally and globally, since 2014.

Todd Schweitzer is co-founder and CEO at Brankas, the leading Open Banking Enabler in Southeast Asia. Todd has held senior roles in private equity and management consulting, spanning technology, public sector, and financial services. He holds dual bachelor’s degrees from the University of California, Irvine and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University.

John was previously the Head of Dual Transformation Management (DTM) of iPeople and Head of Planning of the National Teachers College. As Head of DTM, he leads the end-to-end strategic planning and strategy management processes, and acts as the point-person for business development and key partnerships. Prior to this, he was Chief-of-Staff of AC Education, Ayala’s education holding company (prior to the merger).

John has been in the education sector for more than 12 years, with roles ranging from the frontline (teaching, facilitation and line administration) to more macro responsibilities (strategy, finance and leadership). He started his career as a Special Assistant to the President of De La Salle University. He then joined the ministry and was exposed to teaching and running programs in multiple year levels and verticals, including grade school, high school, college, adult night high school, alternative learning systems and children-in-conflict-with-the-law.

After leaving the ministry, John led key transformation initiatives including the creation and integration of a farm boarding school and facilitated the strategic positioning and alignment of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, one of the fastest-rising progressive tertiary education institutions in the country. Subsequently, he represented Kaizenvest (Asia’s first fund focused on education) in the Philippines and built their pipeline locally, which led to the fund’s maiden investment in the Philippines.

At present, John is an adviser to multiple education technology startups and companies. He is a mentor in Eduspaze, Southeast Asia’s premiere education technology accelerator.

John has a Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Business Studies from De La Salle University.

As the Executive Director of Seedin Technology Inc., Edison is responsible for managing and developing the Philippines finance market, and works closely with other overseas counterparts to ensure successful expansion and implementation of SeedIn in the Philippines.

Edison has over 20 years of experience in the development, management, operations and consultation of Information Management Projects for major private companies and government agencies in the Philippines. He is also a Board of Director in ExpressPay Inc., one of the leaders in Payment Services franchising with over 800 franchised branches since 2016.

As an art enthusiast, Edison also founded Unit 256 Ventures Inc., a startup that operates the Artifract.io NFT Marketplace, a pioneer of Fine Arts NFT in Asia that focuses on helping art estates, museums, private collectors, and artists in the preservation of Fine Arts, ensuring copyright of every piece, and future-proofing collections. The platform brings Master art to the public through NFTs and Fractional Ownership. In his work he focuses on how through royalty programs, artists can directly profit from their work and have a sustainable perpetual income.

He is currently the Chair of Strategic Partnerships for FinTechAlliance.ph to foster and strengthen relationships with other Fintech Organizations in and outside of the Philippines, and the Chair of Membership Committee and Board Member of Fintech Philippines Association (FPA) in its mission to promote Philippines as a global leader in FinTech innovation and expanding its membership base.

Prior to SeedIn, he worked with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as its Chief IT Consultant for implementation of key IT projects involving business registrations. This includes collaborations with various government agencies such as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Local Government Units (LGUs) and other permit/license-issuing agencies.

He is also the founding CEO of Sigmasoft Technologies, that was acquired by Touch Solutions in 2011, before the company went public on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Edison holds a degree in Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) from De La Salle University.

Martha Aguila Borja joins Grab as the new Country Head of Grab Financial Group for the Philippines. In this role, Martha is the most senior GFG leader in the Philippines, overseeing the Payments, Lending, and Insurance businesses of Grab. Martha is a seasoned banker with 20+ years of experience in Corporate and Consumer Banking. Prior to joining Grab, she spent 14 years in Citibank’s Consumer Business, most recently as the Senior Vice President for Credit Payment Products.

She is also the Supervising Partner of the Securities Department of the firm, and has headed project teams which have undertaken several major projects involving the flotation of equity and debt securities and listings at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), including offshore listing of various Philippine corporations, either as counsel for the underwriters or the issuer. These projects involve several Initial Public Offering (IPOs) of leading Philippine-registered companies, offered both domestically and internationally, including offerings in the form of Global Depositary Shares (GDS), Philippines Depository Receipts (PDRs) and other financial instruments, such as bonds, options and warrants. She has also worked on major demutualization projects and has supervised major listings by way of introduction in the PSE of foreign companies listed in other foreign jurisdictions. She has been involved in various securitization projects, structured financing and similar projects. She has also assisted in the financing of various projects of the Philippine Government, consisting mostly of bond flotation and issue of other debt instruments. She has also assisted the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the PSE in drafting rules and regulations affecting the capital markets, including the regulations on stock warrants, and secondary listing of foreign companies. She has also worked with various organizations and financial institutions by assisting them on major legal issues and formulation of policies and proposed legislation and regulations. She headed the team involved in various bond flotation of public and private companies, including those issued by the Republic of the Philippines, equity issues and privatization projects, debt restructuring and rehabilitation of Philippine private companies and acted as receiver in the rehabilitation of some financially distressed corporations. She also advises foreign investors doing business in the Philippines and has represented both foreign and domestic clients in major mergers and acquisition projects.

Bryan Makasiar is currently the Senior Assistant Vice President for Digital Business in PETNET, whose retail network brand PERA HUB is one of the country’s leading cash and payment-related transaction centers with over 3,000 locations nationwide. In that capacity, he manages the company’s digital business which includes the PERA HUB Mobile App and the PERA HUB Digital Remittance Platform (DRP).

The PERA HUB DRP is Southeast Asia’s first API developer portal for remittances to empower the next generation of fintech solutions. It serves foreign and local remittance companies, fintech partners, banks, e-wallets, retailers, and any other businesses looking to offer remittance and financial services. The platform was recognized by the Asian Technology Excellence Awards and won the Philippine Technology Excellence Award for Fintech – Remittance in 2022.

He has over 10 years of experience in the field of digital business and fintech. He previously served as the Assistant Vice President of the Fintech Business Group in UnionBank of the Philippines for four years and worked as a Senior Product Manager in Globe Telecom for five years.

Bryan received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University and a Master’s degree in General Management from the Asian Institute of Management. Bryan is a sports enthusiast and enjoys playing basketball, golf and tennis. He’s also a music lover and played in a professional capacity in the early 2000s.

Ravi, Co-founder & President-APAC, leads Sales, Delivery and Customer Success for Uniphore. His passion for mobile learning applications and technologies found traction when Uniphore was founded. Ravi and Umesh envisioned building solutions that give more power to human speech.

He has vast experience in directing technology teams in initiatives spanning mobile theft security, wireless network development, and mobile learning applications. Ravi is currently an active member of the Mobile Payment Forum of India (MPFI), where he identifies and develops business opportunities in the field of mobile payments. He is known for his excellent analytic skills, dexterity in problem resolution, and proclivity for driving operational excellence. Ravi is an alumnus of Jaypee Institute of Information Technology.

• Heads Product Management and global Pre-Sales, Alliances and Business Development
• Over 18 yrs in fintech; deep understanding of business, domain & technologies across products & services
• Acumen in taking high-tech enterprise products to market • MBA, IIT-Delhi + B.Tech, Comp. Science, Osmania University.
• 360-degree experience in taking products from concept to category leadership
• Deep knowledge of market trends & requirements in the enterprise financial crime management domain; commendable track record in building, positioning, selling Enterprise Fraud Management and AML solutions
• Conducted consulting assignments at prominent global financial institutions
• In previous role at Wipro Technologies, led domain-specific consulting assignments for large banks across US, UK and India spanning across Core Banking, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, Credit Cards, Lending, Payments and Cash Management • Led business analysis for Wipro’s Banking Business Solutions CoE

Mr. Jean-Marc Arbogast is the Country Manager for the Philippines at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets.

Jean-Marc, a French national, was formerly the Adviser to the Vice-President Corporate Strategy and Resources, where he helped formulate and articulate IFC’s strategic priorities while aligning resources to deliver on our ambitious agenda. Prior to that, Jean-Marc was a Senior Investment Officer in the Global Water team, where he led origination and execution of transactions in the sector globally, in close coordination with regional infrastructure colleagues. Before joining IFC in 2012, Jean-Marc worked as an investment banker at BofA Merrill Lynch in New York City, advising industrial and agribusiness companies globally on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions.

In his role as Country Manager for the Philippines, Jean-Marc is responsible for all IFC activities in the country, including leading efforts to build its portfolio, developing new upstream opportunities and enhancing its impact. He holds an MBA from Yale University and a Master’s in Aeronautical Engineering from ENSICA, a French engineering school.

Eillen Mangubat is Asialink Finance Corporation’s (AFC) President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). Apples, as she is known in the finance industry, helped change the way AFC operates today – accessible to more customers, faster turnaround time, and convenient application process through online and offline channels. With her expertise and guidance, AFC now has 94 branches in strategic locations in the Philippines and thousands of loan consultants and partner dealers nationwide – strengthening the company’s foothold in the non-bank financing space. In addition to her accomplishments, Apples is also the current President of the Philippine Finance Association for the fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

She obtained her Bachelors Degree at the University of the Philippines – Visayas – finished her Management Development Program from the Asian Institute of Management and her Certification on Strategic Business Economics from the University of Asia and the Pacific

Christo Georgiev is the Country Manager and Chief Operations Officer of FinScore, Inc., an alternative credit scoring and data analytics company in the Philippines. The company has been awarded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) as the 2nd prize winner – Global Category for its ‘Alternative Credit Evaluation (A.C.E) Portal’ solution in the SFF Global FinTech Awards 2021, the highest accolade for FinTech innovation. Christo oversees the business operations, sales, marketing, and project management of the business.

Christo is actively helping in bridging the gap between the unbanked population and the financial institutions in Southeast Asia through FinScore’s alternative data credit scoring services.

Prior to joining FinScore, Christo oversaw the operations across several verticals in the iGaming industry, both in Philippines and internationally. He’s an experienced digital entrepreneur and operations executive with special affinity towards digital payments, assets, and currencies.

Atty. Mark S. Gorriceta is the Managing Partner and Head of the Corporate Group and Head of the Technology Media and Telecommunications Group of Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra. With over 19 years in private practice, Mark has developed an extensive expertise in complex corporate transactions, commercial contracts and regulatory matters in a range of areas that impact businesses – whether for start-ups or for Top 1000 companies in the Philippines. He is a leading lawyer in the Philippines in the fields of Capital Markets, Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Law.

Atty. Gorriceta has been recognized as one of the Philippines’ Top 100 Lawyers for 2020, 2021 and 2022 by the Asia Business Law Journal. He was also recognized by Asian Legal Business (ALB) as one of the Top TMT Lawyers in Asia and Ranked # 1 in the Philippines in the Tech/Fintech Space. With pioneering expertise on the law on digital assets, fintech, blockchain, virtual currencies, e-commerce, data privacy, and artificial intelligence, he is legal counsel to the biggest and most impactful technology and online companies in the Philippines. He was also awarded as the Philippines’ Managing Partner of the Year for 2020 during the Philippine Law Awards of ALB, named as one of the Dealmakers of Asia for 2021 and among the Top 10 Philippines’ Clients Choice Lawyers for 2021 and 2022 by ALB.

Mr. Bastillo assumed the post of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Small Business Corporation / SB Corp (formerly the Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corporation), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in September 2022. Prior to that he served as Vice President for the Innovation and Advocacy Group for the Corporation from September 2021 up to his appointment as President/CEO.

Prior to joining the Small Business Corporation, Mr. Bastillo was one of the country’s established management experts, with more than 25 years of experience in management consultancy work in the business, government, non-government, grassroots and international development sectors in the Philippines and other countries.

Mr. Bastillo was an Associate Professor at the Asian Institute of Management from 1993 to 2000, where he was the Director of the Master in Development Management Program in 1995-1996.

Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip is the Founder of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Public Service. Dr Alip is the chairman of CARD Bank, CARD SME Bank, and CMDI. He is also the Chairman Emeritus of CARD, Inc. (mother organization of CARD MRI) Started in 1986.

Dr. Alip is currently the Chairman of the Microfinance Information Data Sharing, Inc. (MiDAS Inc.), the microfinance industry’s credit bureau. He continues to serve on the board of International Cooperative and Insurance Federation (ICMIF) based in the UK. As an educator, he now serves as the dean emeritus of CMDI. He also served as the dean of CMDI Tagum Campus (2017-2021). He is also an Eminent Fellow of the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), since 2012 and an Adjunct Professor of CPAF, University of the Philippines in Los Baños (2011-2019).

Ms. Daniela Laurel is a 5-year News Anchor-Producer for week-daily live broadcast BusinessWorld Live and Bloomberg TV Philippines on One News, Cignal TV/News5 (MVP Group of Companies). She was recently awarded the Best News Presenter or Anchor at the 25th Asian TV Awards.

Ms. Laurel is a weekly columnist for BusinessWorld, entitled Rethinking Finance, and a TV Host and Writer for Financial Literacy show Bank On It. She is a Finance Professor and a published researcher in France, Italy and the Philippines. She is also a Financial Literacy professor in Ateneo School of Government, and an Investment Banker in ABN AMRO Amsterdam Headquarters.

Ms. Laurel is a TV, Ramp, Print model, Social Media influencer with over 16k followers, and an Endorser of different brands such as Celeteque and Microsoft. She is hailed as the PPCRV Goodwill Ambassador for Voter’s Education and Goodwill Ambassador of the EU delegation to the Philippines for Higher Education. She also acts as the Treasurer of the France Alumni Philippines Association.

Ms. Laurel holds a PhD in Management Engineering con merito from Politecnico di Milano (Italy). She also has an MBA with Sobresaliente honours, Postgraduate diploma in Microfinance from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) and she earned her undergraduate degree BSc Major in Management, Minors in Hispanic Studies and International Business in Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines).

Mike takes the helm of CYFIRMA’s technology leadership team in 2022 and responsible for the company’s overall technology and product strategy. He harnesses his deep expertise in the areas of Experience-Driven Transformation, Cognitive Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Customer Experience to drive continuous innovation.

Prior to joining CYFIRMA, Mike was the Chief Technology Officer for Singapore Sports Hub, an integrated Sports, Entertainment and Lifestyle Hub. As part of the core leadership team, he was responsible for full strategic and operational accountabilities across the entire technology landscape. During his stint there, Mike has helped drive a wide range of innovations in the world of sports technology.

Mike was also the Head of Digital Experience at BHP. During those years, he was responsible for the Mobility, Application Development, Collaboration, Content Management and User Experience teams worldwide.

Mike has been actively contributing to the start-up ecosystem by mentoring young companies in Australia, Singapore and Indonesia. In addition, as the Vice Chair of the Digital and Cyber Industry Group at the Australian Chamber of Commerce (Singapore), Mike is driving thought leadership on digital transformation and cyber security across the region.

Nichel Gaba is the Founder and CEO of PDAX. He has been a financial markets professional throughout his career and has been a CFA Charterholder since 2013. He has worked in banking, asset management, trust and the securities services industries. He founded PDAX in 2017 after obtaining his MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Today, PDAX is the leading, regulated exchange in the Philippines.

Mr. Mario Jordan “Magellan” Fetalino III is the Head of Alternative Finance and Innovation Garage of UBX Philippines Corporation. He led the development of 2 out of the 11 major products of UBX within a span of 6 months. His key focus is the development of lending and NFT products.

Mr. Fetalino has taken part in a number of policy development initiatives as a member of the technical working group for certain laws like the Personal Properties Securities Act, which is an enabling policy for the use of movable assets as collateral by financial institutions.

He is one of the authors of a published study led by former DOF Sec. Gary Teves, which was sanctioned by the Asian Development Bank about the startup landscape in the Philippines, particularly in 4 key sectors namely Cleantech, Agritech, Healthtech, and Edutech.

He is also currently a Board Trustee of Fintech Alliance Philippines, helping support policymaking and policing of fintech players in the Philippines.

Atty. Michael ” Mike” Toledo is the head for Government and Public Affairs of the Metro Pacific
Investments Corp. (MPIC). He is also the head of the MVP Group Media Bureau. He writes a regular column in The Philippine Star and he is also a Host of One News Channel’s “Titans” on Cignal TV.

Mike is the Chief Operating Officer of Silangan Mindanao Mining Company Inc. (SMMCI), and was the Senior Vice President for Public and Regulatory Affairs of Philex Mining Corp. He was the President and CEO of the Manila office of Weber Shandwick.

Mike was a corporate, litigation, labor, intellectual property, and criminal lawyer. He started his legal career at the prestigious Angara, Concepcion, Cruz, Regala and Abello law offices (ACCRA Law).

He obtained his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines. He earned his Master of Laws in Public International Law at the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science through a scholarship grant from the British Government. He was accepted at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1993.

Manish is the Founder and CEO at UNOAsia Pte Ltd., a Singapore based fintech that is the primary incorporator of UNObank, a digital bank that is being established in the Philippines which will be entirely regulated under the Digital Banking License framework of Bangko ng Sentral Pilipinas (BSP).

Manish left Citigroup in mid 2019 to start his entrepreneurial pursuit around digitalisation and is also the Co-Founder of CoantumLeap, an operating platform focused on digital transformation in APAC He is a financial services and banking veteran with 25+years of industry expertise, and C-level engagement across the ecosystem. He has built and managed diverse businesses including Asia Institutional Sales, Global Markets Indonesia and Singapore, Country Treasury Indonesia and Corporate Structuring & Sales, South Asia.

Manish is an industry innovator with expertise across Investments, FX & Derivatives, Balance Sheet management, Credit, Sales & Execution

Manish is a HBS alumnus, a Fellow Chartered Accountant, Associate Cost Accountant and a qualified Company Secretary with a number of university level and All-India Rank recognitions.

Wei Zhou is the CEO of Coins.ph, the Philippines’ leading fully-regulated fiat and crypto and mobile wallet provider. Wei and Joffre Capital led the buyout of Coins.ph early this year and recently completed a $30 million Series C financing led by Ribbit Capital.

Wei also serves as a strategic adviser and key investor in Old Fashion Research (OFR), a multi-strategy blockchain investment fund founded in 2021 by former executives and investment teams from Binance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

Prior to his role at Coins.ph, Wei served as Chief Financial Officer of Binance, Zhaopin.com, and Charm Communications. He also led the landmark acquisition of Grindr, where he served as Vice Chairman.
He started his career at Goldman Sachs, and he graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and East Asian Studies.

25 years of experience in fintech, cloud computing, enterprise data center, digital transformation, data security, data protection, customer success and managed services in Asia Pacific and global markets.

Current role is General Manager for International Business, Digital Technologies BU in Ant Group, responsible for BD, product development, channel sales and customer success for various innovative fintech solutions and services.

Graduated from National University of Singapore (NUS) with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (Telecommunication) and an Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA). He also holds various industry certifications in cloud computing from AWS, Azure and data security.

Previously, he was the (1) General Manager of Microsoft Azure, Apps & Infra for Asia and (2) Global VP for Cloud/AI in Orange Business Services.

Quintin Pastrana is President of WEnergy Power Pilipinas and Head of Business Development for WEnergy Global. He is also a founding partner of Morning Tide Capital and business anchor at ANC. He graduated with degrees in Business, International Relations, and Creative Writing from the Universities of Georgetown, Cambridge, and Oxford. Quintin is an Asia 21 fellow of the Asia Society and was named among the US-ASEAN business council’s young leaders, and is on the board of the Georgetown Club of the Philippines

Is Chief Technology Officer responsible for global technology service fulfilment at MDI Novare Technologies, a diversified technology systems integrator, working on various projects involving digital transformation, elastic infrastructure, and end to end AGILE DevOps in diverse industries from Telecommunications, Banking and Finance, Utilities, and Sales and Distribution. He works with customers, which include the country’s top telecommunications, financial institutions, and select organizations abroad, to help delight their customers with next generation telecommunication and Internet technology.

Outside his corporate endeavors, William is active in technology advocacy and technology voluntarism. In particular, he is a Trustee for the PPCRV (citizen’s arm for the safe guarding the elections), Member of the Philippine’s Commission on Elections Advisory Council (CAC), Consultant for the Philippine Government Interoperability Framework (PeGIF) and an active member of Internet CSOs such as the Internet Society (Internet governance and policy), The Asia Foundation, and PH-CERT (Information security).

William holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s degree in Computer Science, a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from the Ateneo de Manila University. He also serves as a faculty member at the Ateneo de Manila University’s Computer Science department.

Donald Evangelista is TALA’s General Manager, responsible for overseeing the company’s business growth and overall operations in the Philippines. Prior to assuming TALA’s General Manager post, he was a part of the APAC leadership team for Bain & Company and previous to that, the Country Managing Director for Nordic consulting services firms QVARTZ Analytics & BusinessMinds. His experience as a seasoned global leader with expertise in data-driven innovation, business strategy, and digital transformation will be integral to elevating the tech expertise that TALA has built over the years. His key role in TALA’s Philippine market is also vital in bringing financial freedom and inclusivity to more Filipinos, particularly by tapping into their potential and ability to progress in their financial journey.

Paolo leads Maya in forging strategic, financial, and operational partnerships with global financial services and technology companies, among other sectors. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Maya, helping to grow the company from inception to its position as the digital financial services leader in the Philippines.  
 
Paolo joined Maya from Rocket Internet AG, where he served as Managing Director responsible for FinTech. Prior to that, he was involved in building leading startups in the FinTech and RegTech space in London. Paolo started his career at JPMorgan’s Investment Bank, where he spent 7 years between London and New York.  
 
He graduated with a degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics. 

John is an expert on all aspects of open banking, open finance, regulatory compliance, and alternative payment methods having worked in payments and banking systems for over 20 years.

John joined the European Banking Association (EBA) Clearing in 2002 becoming Director of STEP2 taking the platform through SEPA migration to be the largest clearing system in Europe. He also created MyBank, a pan-European e-authorisation solution for online payments and open banking.

In 2017, John launched the Open Banking Europe (OBE) Membership Programme, enabling participants to collaboratively identify market issues and problems and create solutions via guidance, standards, and rules. OBE S.A.S was acquired by Konsentus in January 2021.

Open Banking Exchange was founded by Konsentus in May 2021 to meet global demand for national and regional membership programmes aligned with the European initiative.

In December 2021, Open Banking Exchange (OBE) was chosen by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as a partner to support the development of the industry framework for open finance in the Philippines.

As part of a broader World Bank programme with the Bankgo Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP), OBE is advising the IFC on designing and setting up local arrangements for open finance comprising practical and operational design, the implementation of industry-level governance, and technical and operational arrangements.

He had extensive experience in both local and international banking, particularly in corporate communications, product management and brand management. He is also the Vice Chair of Rise Against Hunger, an international hunger relief organization distributing food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable.

Prior to joining Pru Life UK, Mr. Tumbaga was with EastWest Bank where he was the Vice President and Head of Bank Marketing and Corporate Communications. He also held key leadership positions as Marketing Head for AIG PhilAm Bank, Marketing Division Head of RCBC, Country Marketing Manager of Bank of America Savings Bank, and Marketing and Public Relations Group Head of Asiatrust Development Bank. He started his banking career with Citibank.

Mr. Tumbaga graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from De La Salle University and completed his Master’s degree in Business Management from the Asian Institute of Management. He is the author of a handbook on products and services published by the Bankers Association of the Philippines.

Isabel brings almost fifteen years of corporate and investment banking experience to PayMongo. Prior to joining the company, she worked for the country’s central bank (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas), Maybank ATR Kim Eng, Société Générale in London, Asian Development Bank, MUFG Bank. Immediately before joining PayMongo, Isabel was a Director in the Global Banking Division of Standard Chartered Bank. As acting CEO, Isabel manages the company’s top priorities and spearheads the goal of making PayMongo the leading fintech company in Southeast Asia by “going back to first principles and finding ways to rethink financial services.”

Dr. Robby Galang is the dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management in Ateneo de Manila University. He was formerly a Senior Private Sector Specialist for the World Bank. At the World Bank, his responsibilities revolved around projects to foster competition, enhance productivity, improve business regulations, facilitate trade and promote innovation in support of private sector development in countries like the Philippines, Timor Leste, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Robby has had more than a decade of international experience in the analysis of strategic and regulatory issues for private corporations. He was an assistant professor of business strategy at Ateneo de Manila University and the Asian Institute of Management where he conducted research on the impact of government institutional inefficiencies on firm performance. He completed his PhD in Management from the IESE Business School, his MSc in Development Economics from Oxford University and his AB in Communications from Ateneo de Manila University where he was the class valedictorian.

Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea is currently the President and CEO of the Mapua University. He is also the Chairman and CEO of iPeople, Inc., an education company that has as its subsidiaries the following schools: Malayan Colleges Laguna, Mapua-Malayan Colleges Mindanao, University of Nueva Caceres, National Teachers College, the Malayan High School of Science and the APEC schools. He leads the digital transformation initiatives in these schools.

Dr. Vea is presently the Chairman of the Engineering Sciences and Technology Division of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) of the Philippines. He is a former Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of the UNESCO National Commission for the Philippines and Director of the Philippine Fulbright Commission. Dr. Vea is a former Dean of the College of Engineering of the University of the Philippines (UP).

Dr. Vea was recently awarded the 2022 Engineer of the Year Award by the Federation of Engineering Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (FEIAP).

Dr. Vea has a PhD in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, an SM in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of the Philippines.

Radu Tatucu is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist with the World Bank’s Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice, East Asia and Pacific Region. He is currently based in Manila, Philippines, where he is leading the World Bank’s financial sector engagement in the country. He joined the World Bank in 2015 as part of the Young Professionals Program and has been involved in projects covering topics such as green & sustainable finance, fintech and digital economy, financial stability & macro-financial monitoring, development finance institutions, MSME finance, and affordable housing finance. During his time at the World Bank, he has worked on a wide range of countries, including Cambodia, China, Kenya, Lao, Malaysia, Moldova, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania, Thailand and Vietnam.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Radu worked for Amazon as a Senior Pan-EU Vendor Manager, covering the 23 countries in the EU where Amazon didn’t have a platform. He also worked in economic and management consulting for Booz & Company and Compass Lexecon, FTI Consulting, where he focused on highly complex projects in industries such as airlines, banking, IT, oil, natural gas and softwood lumber. Last, but not least, between 2005 and 2007, he was a JPA with the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific PREM Department, where he worked closely with the Regional Chief Economist on two flagship analytical reports, “An East Asian Renaissance: Ideas for Economic Growth” and “East Asian Visions: Perspectives on Economic Growth”.

Moreover, Radu is a co-founder and former president of GRASP (www.mygrasp.org), a non-profit organization of Romanian young professionals from around the world. He also served for six years as Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors of Alianta (www.alianta.org), a non-profit organization that empowers Romanian and American institutions and individuals through education, networking, and facilitating opportunities that benefit the citizens of both nations.

Radu has a BA with high honors in Economics from Harvard College, a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government and an MBA from London Business School. During his MBA, he was selected for an exchange program at the National University of Singapore Business School.

Sagar is with IFC’s Creating Markets Advisory team, which focuses on regulatory and policy interventions with governments to improve sector competitiveness and promote private sector investments in countries. As part of this team, he has worked in projects across South and East Asia and East Africa, covering a broad range of areas from fintech innovation to financial infrastructure to agritech promotion. He is currently based in Manila, the Philippines, as point person for IFC’s regulatory work in the country.

Gani has been in the insurance industry since 2015. In his more than 8 years in the business, he took on roles in sales, sales management, bancassurance business development and agency development in the top insurance companies in the region. Empowered by his Learning and Development expertise, he is now venturing in the Insurtech space as part of his advocacy to accelerate financial literacy, insurance inclusion and wholistic wellness for all Filipinos.

Tomer is an enthusiastic diplomate who has so far dedicated his career to promoting Israel’s economic and commercial relations with the Asia Pacific region. On June 2020 Tomer was chosen to open and lead the very first Economic Mission of Israel to the Philippines on behalf of the Foreign Trade Administration (FTA) within the Ministry of Economy and Industry of the state of Israel.

As part of his role, Tomer is leading a team of talented commercial officers, focused on promoting business collaborations with the Philippines in priority areas such as Agriculture, Water Technologies, ICT, Cybersecurity, Fintech and Digital Health. Prior to his arrival to the Philippines, Tomer served as Head of Branch in the China Department of the FTA between the years 2017-2020, where he took part in high level visits as the visits of Mr. Wang Qishan, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, and the visit of Mr. Jack Ma, Founder of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group to Israel in 2018. Between the years 2015-2016, Tomer served as an External Relations and Business Development Manager at the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce (FICC), focused mainly with Asia Pacific region, including the Philippines.

Tomer started his career as a diplomat in 2014-2015 serving as an acting Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassies of Israel in Yangon, Myanmar and later in Hanoi, Vietnam. Tomer holds a B.A. degree in Statistics and in International Relations from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Triton Dsouza is the Vice President of Netcore Cloud in the Southeast Asia region. Netcore Cloud is a marketing technology company focused on SaaS, Martech and CPaaS to help product and growth marketers deliver AI-powered customer experiences across all touchpoints of the user’s journey.
Triton began his professional journey in Mumbai as a Sales Professional. Driven by the purpose of helping create a better technology for tomorrow, Triton is passionate about marketing technology, Artificial Intelligence, hyper personalisation, and customer engagement.

Driven by the purpose of helping businesses, Triton joined Netcore Cloud in 2011. In the last 11 years, he has worked with over 200 renowned brands in various industries & geographies, ranging from Banking and FinTech, Ecommerce, F&B, Airlines, Media, Loyalty etc. Under his leadership and strategic acumen, Netcore Cloud SEA region has witnessed an average year-on-year growth of 30% to 40% , making it one of the company’s top performing markets.
In his current role, Triton is envisioned to empower businesses in Southeast Asia through Netcore Cloud’s martech blueprint, and to accelerate the next generation of businesses while driving innovation for corporations as they work towards the next decade of sustainable growth.

Henry founded Edukasyon.ph in 2015. Fast forward to today, it is now a leading edtech in the Philippines empowering 8 million Filipino learners. Edukasyon.ph launched its newest product, EDGE Tutor, on-demand K-12 tutoring service in English, Math, and Filipino for students in Kindergarten to Grade 10, in addition to Explore (college & career counseling) and Experience (future skills training).

Henry received his Bachelor degree in Economics and Economic History at the London School of Economics in 2007. He pursued his MBA at the Harvard Business School under a scholarship from Bain Capital, and graduated in 2013 with distinction.

Acknowledging his contributions to society through his efforts as a social entrepreneur, Henry has been recognized by the Forbes list of 30 Under 30 Asia Social Entrepreneurs, Asia Society 21 Young Leaders and the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Institute.

Mr. Roby Alampay is the Editor-in-Chief of Business. He also anchors the nightly newscast of The Big Story on Bloomberg TV Philippines.

He was one of eight distinguished alumni of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UPCMC) honored in November 2017 as recipients of its first Glory Awards. The awardees were acknowledged for their outstanding work and influence in their chosen disciplines. Roby was recognized for his contributions to print and online journalism.

Roby graduated from Columbia University’s School of Journalism.

Malik is a globally recognized Fintech expert, author and global keynote speaker on Digital Finance, Fintech, Innovation, Blockchain, Digital Financial Inclusion and Industry 4.0. He has chaired and spoken at 200+ marquee conferences, addressing 50,000+ professionals in 25 locations across APAC, EU, US and Middle East. In his 25 year career, he managed global roles in Multinational banks, run billion dollar businesses in various markets, driven key innovations, and been a serial entrepreneur.

Malik is currently the Co-founder and Chairman of Finnovation Labs, and a partner at PaymentGenes∙ Malik has been on the Board and Advisory Board of global fintech companies, innovative banks and leading conferences across APAC, Africa and the MENA region. Aside from his work, he is a passionate Fintech & Digital ecosystem builder. Malik is an acclaimed author with global readership. He is passionate and committed to making the world a better place, and runs an online community dedicated to personal and collective wellbeing. It has nearly half millions social media followers in 60 countries with a BILLION impressions! He is the Co-Founder and Board Chairman- Global Impact FinTech (GIFT) Forum, the most diverse and inclusive Fintech think tank globally.

Malik has been a mentor at leading Fintech and Digital Accelerators in Singapore and China (Ping An), as well as a judge at marquee hackathons and Digital awards. Malik is the Program Director- Fintech at the Asian Institute of Management and Adjunct Professor of Fintech at AIM Graduate School of Business, Philippines.

Raoul Littaua is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Insular Life. Prior to his appointment, he was the company’s Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Distribution Officer. Before joining Insular Life, he occupied various key positions such as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Distribution Officer of other life insurance companies.

with 20+ years of information technology experience, she has led several women startup founders. Prior to serial entrepreneurship, she has advanced in the corporate scene of banking and finance and have spent good number of years in payments and fundraising. She has been a pioneer in the Philippines for helping non profit organization achieve its digital transformation and online giving facilities. She is passionate about social impact and is now leading the whole TraXion direction on blockchain for the common good.

Strong experience in Business Process Optimization, IT Consulting, Sales and Project Management for various industries including Banking, Retail, Real Estate and even Non-Profit Organizations.

Over ten years in IT corporate client and five years in principal software sales and another five on freelance consulting.
Significant experience in change management, business process reengineering, installation, migration, implementation, and enhancement of complex, multi-site systems.