MEET OUR SPEAKERS

Bobby Liu is the Director of EIR at Touchstone Partners, an early-stage Vietnam-focused VC fund. This ensures that while looking at deal flow, he's still very much in the mix with founder development.

Prior to Touchstone Partners, he was a Senior Director of Topica Edtech Group and the Executive Director of the TFI, an early-stage accelerator.

The founder of Hub.IT, a co-working space/incubator, which was the inertia into the tech startup ecosystem. It was a space that provided young entrepreneurs a conducive environment to innovate and share collective experiences, and in the process contributed to building a great entrepreneurial ecosystem in Hanoi and Vietnam.

Bobby Liu actively mentors and advises startups in Southeast Asia. He is also an accredited mentor for the Google Developer Launchpad Accelerator and other startup programs.

Thaddeus is a co-founder @ e27 and also the company's Head of Programs. He is currently tasked to revamp and revitalise e27's Programs especially the Echelon and TOP100 Series. He has successfully executed and relaunch Echelon Asia Summit 2023, with 5,000pax supporting the return of the renowned large scale conference for Southeast Asia markets.

Richard Ker is a tech influencer who has over 280k followers on social media. A viral marketer & ecosystem builder previously attached to MaGIC, Cyberview and Aerodyne Group, he has more than 20 years of experience in tech, entrepreneurship, social media & digital marketing. Richard spent 10 years living and working in Beijing, China. He is a 5 times TEDx speaker and a digital storyteller of businesses, tech and Malaysian success stories.

Dato’ Ng Wan Peng is a highly motivated professional with more than 30 successful years in the corporate and Government Incorporated Company (GIC) environment. She is an enthusiast in digital transformation that drives economic growth and she has led many key transformation initiatives that have benefited businesses and the community.

She currently serves as a board member of public companies and Government-owned organisations; including F&N Holdings, Hong Leong Assurance, IRIS Corporation, Securemetric, Digital Penang, Nano Malaysia, and Autocount Dot Com.

She advises Governments and corporates on National Digital Transformation strategy, and continues to play an active role as an advisor and member of industry associations, technology and NGOs, mentoring startups and judging for business competition and Awards.

Ng was with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation between 1998- 2020, including serving as its Chief Operating Office from 2009 until December 2020. She has led the successful implementation of the organization’s vision and strategy, championing the country’s digital economy and digital transformation agenda.

Throughout her career, she has built ecosystems around emerging technology including Data Technology, AI, Cybersecurity, and Cloud in Malaysia, championed new economic models such as Sharing Economy, and Promoting Malaysia Globally. She is a regular speaker at international and national events and conferences, interviewed on TV, Radio, Social media and main media on market trend, technology, and management.

She graduated from USM and is an HBS Alumni.

Karla leads the Startup Community & ecosystem team at QBO innovation Hub, dealing

particularly with general awareness, learning and collaboration initiatives for innovators

and partners who want to engage in the startup space.

Her previous work in the former DOST-ICT Office now Department of ICT gave rise to her

drive to serve in the startup community, having been involved in the national deployment

of the agency’s earlier startup initiatives which included startup bootcamps for teachers,

awareness roadshows and the first few runs of the Philippine Startup Challenge.

Carrying this drive for nation-building and innovation has led her to continue her work at

QBO where she aims to contribute more in building an inclusive, supportive and fun

ecosystem for innovators and enabalers in the country.

Dr. Gang LU is the founder and CEO of tech media company TechNode Group (TechNode and TNGlobal), making him one of Asia’s most recognized influencers in the global technology sector. He’s also the co-founder of BEYOND Expo which is a fast growing and the leading technology expo and platform in APAC. Due to his remarkable contributions in building the international ecosystem for technological innovation, He’s awarded Shanghai "Thousand Talents Program" Expert, honored with “National Advisor” of UNIDO China, and received the Entrepreneurial Award of the British Council’s Study UK Alumni Awards (China & East Asia) in 2017-18. Dr. Lu got his Ph.D. in wireless communications from the University of Sheffield, UK.