MEET OUR SPEAKERS

Hiroshi Ishiguro received a PhD from Osaka University, Japan in 1991. He is currently Professor of Department of Systems Innovation at Osaka University, Visiting Director of Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR), Project Manager of MOONSHOT R&D Project, Thematic Project Producer of EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, and CEO of AVITA, Inc.

His research interests are interactive robotics, avatar, and android science. Geminoid is an avatar android that is a copy of himself. In 2011, he won the Osaka Cultural Award. In 2015, he received the Prize for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. He was also awarded the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award in Dubai in 2015. Tateisi Award in 2020, and honorary doctorate of Aarhus university in 2021.

Ms Catherine Lian was appointed as Managing Director for IBM in Malaysia in 2019. In this role, she is responsible for all strategic and operational matters related to IBM's sales, services, and delivery operations in Malaysia.

Catherine leads the IBM Malaysia team to help key stakeholders and clients put smart to work in their organisations by applying IBM’s leading AI, cognitive solutions, and cloud platform to advance digital transformation.

A Northern University of Malaysia graduate, Catherine's stint with leadership roles began at Dell Technologies, where she worked for the past two decades before joining IBM Malaysia. Her last role was the Senior Director & Managing Director for Dell Indonesia, based in Jakarta. She has also held various management roles within Dell Technologies, covering the South Asia markets, including Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indochina, and Cambodia. Throughout her career, Catherine has been consistently recognised as the key leader in the IT industry, helping and enabling clients to innovate and succeed.

Catherine is a strong advocate for women in leadership in the IT Industry and was recognised at the Channel Asia Women in ICT Awards 2020 as the Highly Commended winner under the Achievement Category in the ASEAN region. She continues to mentor aspiring talents, believing that by leading the way, aspirants are empowered to create thriving and sustainable communities.

Catherine has been appointed as the PIKOM (The National Tech Association of Malaysia) Councillor in 2021. She has held key positions in the association, including Chairman for Women in Tech 2022, Chairman for Tech Fest 2022 and Deputy Chairman for IR 4.0 SIG 2022.

In 2022, Prestige Magazine Malaysia recognised Catherine as one of the 100 nation's most influential Women of Power.

She is also recognised as the winner of the Channel Asia Women in ICT Awards under the Achievement category. Catherine won this award in recognition of a management career spanning more than two decades in Malaysia and South Asia, built on the foundations of business growth, customer success and individual mentoring.

Recently, Catherine was recognised by Tech Wire Asia as one of the five Most Influential Women in Technology

Azizah Ali currently helms the role of Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft Malaysia, leading business operations, marketing strategy, and overall business performance for the subsidiary while delivering successful digital transformation for its customers and partners.

An industry veteran with more than two decades of experience, Azizah has been a trusted technology leader and advisor for organizations and governments across Asia Pacific in enabling them to realize and achieve their digital transformation visions and ambitions.

Azizah started her career at Microsoft more than two decades ago serving multiple portfolios. Previously helming the role of Director of Small, Medium, and Corporate (SMC) Group, Azizah was instrumental in helping SMCs achieve their digital transformation goals by leveraging Microsoft solutions and Microsoft’s vibrant partner ecosystem.

Other assignment includes;

- Director of Public Sector Group for Microsoft Malaysia, leading key initiatives in establishing the framework collaboration model and eGovernment projects with the Government of Malaysia.

- Country Manager for Microsoft Brunei where she led the collaboration with the Government of Brunei

- Director for Small, Mid-Market Solutions and Partner Group where she built the partner ecosystem to support the growth acceleration of SMEs leveraging on the cloud.

- Microsoft Asia Pacific’s Enterprise Channel Lead in One Commercial Partner organization where she worked with the partner ecosystem in supporting the customers’ cloud digital transformation journey across Energy, Healthcare and Government.

Azizah holds an MBA from Aston University, UK; a BSc. In Business Administration from Washington University, USA;

As the strategic leader for the Azure business and go-to-market in ASEAN region, leading end-to-end accountability including strategy, planning, execution, advocacy governance and learning.

Penny Wong

Emerging Tech & Cyber security Leader

With two decades of experience, Penny is a trusted advisor to boards and tech investors to advise on emerging technologies, cyber security and digital transformation. She is a director at Radmis Advisory and The Cypher Network, worked with industry giants like Visa, MasterCard, Optus, Telstra, Tata, and the Australian government, along with innovative startups, MedTech and Web3 blockchain ventures.

Penny’s expertise spans telecom, payments, AI, cyber security, Web3 blockchain and digital assets. From designing robust payment networks, to security products, striking the right balance between innovation and security, to successfully leading strategy, product commercialisation and turnaround for 50+ digital projects across enterprise and government. Her multidisciplinary background as a management consultant, solution architect, CISO, and holding a Master of International Business and Law, enables Penny to bring a unique blend of expertise to her clients.

Penny focuses on tech for good, championing diversity, STEM education, ethics in AI, decentralized technologies, and innovation in governance. She serves as a Supervisory Council Member at SingularityNET Foundation, working towards community-led governance. Penny's personal mission is to transform health and aged care.

www.justaskpenny.com - The vision of a futurist, experience of a technologist, mindset of an entrepreneur, and heart of a humanist.

Currently Co-Coordinator Flying Labs Malaysia, Convenor Farm Robotics Working Group Flying Labs Network

Convenor, Global Sustainability Summits and Dialogues, Initiator, ASEAN/Asia-Pacific/Global Green Chamber of Commerce (www.apacgreenchamber.com)

Currently Director, Green Renewable Organic World (GROW) Centre Sdn Bhd providing:

o advisory for sustainability and waste management projects,

o advisory for sustainable farm systems, aquaculture, and microalgae production,

o use of agriculture biomass for SAF biofuels, biofertiliser and bioproducts,

o development of organic/natural farms, cultural, rural eco-agro tourism enterprises;

o remote sensing applications in precision agriculture utilising AI empowered satellite & UAV platforms.

Advisor, Malaysian FIRST Foundation (www.malaysianfirst.foundation), Member, RSB (www.rsb.org)

Busiai Bin Seman is the Chief Executive Officer of Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS).

He is a highly accomplished professional with over two decades of experience in the Geomatics and Remote Sensing industry. He holds a Bachelor of Social Science in Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing from the University of Malaya and a Master of Social Science in Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing from the University of Malaysia Sarawak. He is also a certified Digital Business Transformation Professional.

Before becoming the CEO of SAINS in 2023, he started his career with GeoSpatial Consultant Sdn Bhd as a GIS Analyst in 1998. He joined SAINS in 1999 and served as a GIS Consultant in the Geomatics Section. In 2018, he was promoted to become the Director of the Data Science and Innovation Division. During his tenure as the Director of the Data Science and Innovation Division, he provided technical leadership and was involved in various projects with local and federal governments related to Spatial Mapping, Spatial Modeling, Data Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence.