Stephen Mercer Partner in charge, Multinational Clients Tel: +852 2826 7264 Stephen is Partner in charge, Multinational Clients, for and oversees of our services to multinational clients in China. He has 26 years of audit experience with KPMG, initially in the UK before joining KPMG in Hong Kong in 1992 where he became a partner in 1998. Between 2000 and 2012, Stephen was based in KPMG s Shanghai office where he headed the audit practice. He was partner in charge of Audit in KPMG Hong Kong from 2012-2014. Stephen s client experience is primarily in the Consumer Markets sector and he has extensive experience in servicing leading KPMG global clients and local listed companies. Ben Simpfendorfer Managing Director Silk Road Associates Limited Ben is Founder & Managing Director of Silk Road Associates, a Hong Kong-based strategy consultancy. Prior to this, Ben worked at The Royal Bank of Scotland as Chief China Economist and JPMorgan as Senior China Economist. His editorials have appeared in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and the International Herald Tribune. He is also author of the forthcoming The Rise of the New East due to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2014. His first book, The New Silk Road, was published in 2009. Ben is a Mandarin and Arabic speaker. David Frey Head of Strategy & Operations Consulting Tel: +86 10 8508 7039 David Frey is the China Head for Strategy and Operations Consulting at KPMG. In this capacity, he advises multinational companies, Chinese companies and various branches of the China government on a wide spectrum of strategic projects. David has spent nearly twenty years in industry and consulting roles, leading strategy, regulatory, and business transformation projects for clients in China, across Asia Pacific and in the Americas. In Asia Pacific, David has worked extensively with governments and private sector clients in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Currently, David works extensively in the area of new urbanization in China, leading KPMG s strategic relationship with the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council. In addition, David works extensively with provincial and municipal governments on developing innovative investment attraction strategies for industry zones and eco-city development zones. Before beginning his consulting career, David worked at the Development Centre of the OECD in Paris, as an aide to a prominent United States Senator in Washington, and in strategic planning roles with two global telecommunications companies.
Katy Wong Partner, Forensic Katy is a Forensic partner in KPMG Hong Kong and has over 13 years of extensive experience in leading investigations and projects relating to Intellectual Property and Contract Governance issues, Fraud and Misconduct, Earning Management, Fraud Risk Management and Anti Bribery and Corruption in China and Hong Kong. Katy has extensive experience in the areas of intellectual property services in a number of jurisdictions such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Katy leads royalty review programmes for a number of large multinational electronics companies in the Asia Pacific, which have resulted in substantial recoveries from identified under-reporting. She has assisted the client to to design, maintain and operate royalty review programs for their customers in the ASPAC region. This involves determining what nature the program should take, how the customers should be reviewed, and what form these reviews will take. Katy has also led a number of channel partners reviews on behalf of a number of overseas companies in China and Hong Kong. She has significant experience in helping clients to assess their business partners compliance with the contract arrangements. She has also led a number of IP risk assessments in the PRC. Katy is currently the lead Forensic partner for investigations across Hong Kong and Southern China. She has conducted and led specialist Forensic teams in executing a wide range investigation including financial investigations for SEC listed multinationals across a variety of industries and jurisdictions in Asia Pacific. Her investigation experience has focused on fraud and misconduct, Foreign Corruption Practices Act ( FCPA ) regulatory violations, earning management investigations and allegations of corruption. Katy has led the team setting up the whistleblower reporting service in China as part of the Fraud Risk Management offerings of KPMG Forensic. This service has since been provided to multinational corporations in Hong Kong and Mainland China in the banking, manufacturing and natural resources sectors. Susie Quirk National Leader, People and Change Advisory As a member of KPMG s Global People and Change team, Susie leads the People and Change Advisory Service for and Hong Kong. Susie is a senior executive with 10 years consulting experience and 20 years corporate HR experience leading teams in operational roles across multinationals and global banks. Susie has been advising clients on people management strategies to support business transformation and workforce effectiveness. Susie's fields of expertise include behavioural and cultural change across organisations, workforce design and optimising the HR function for business performance. The industries Susie has worked in include financial services, telecommunications, banking, the public sector and utilities.
Anson Bailey Principal, Business Development Anson joined KPMG in Hong Kong in 1999 and is currently a Partner based in the Hong Kong office heading up business development across the Practice. At the same time, he works closely with the Regional Consumer Markets Chairman, Nick Debnam across the Asia Pacific region and is part of the Regional Consumer Markets Practice Leadership team as well as being a member of the Global Technology Innovation Centre. Anson has been active in driving a number of thought leadership and executive briefings for senior executives covering the consumer markets arena with recent reports released including Global Mobile Payments, Luxury experiences in China, Consumer Currents, Global Reach of China Luxury, Product Sourcing in Asia Pacific, The Consumer Executive Top of Mind Survey and MNCs in China. Anson specialises in Strategy and Business Development today, he not only mentors the next generation of go-to-market professionals at KPMG but continues to works with a growing number of C-level executives as a trusted advisor in providing the best in client service whilst acting as the Lead Partner for a number of strategic accounts in the consumer and technology arena across the Asia Pacific region. George Foo Chief Operating Officer Artesyn Embedded Technologies George Foo joined Artesyn Embedded Technologies in October 2001 when it was a Division of Emerson Electric. Emerson divested the company in 2013 and Artesyn is now a standalone $1.3 Billion USD business specializing in power conversion and computing products that are embedded in our Customers systems. George is based in Hong Kong and has responsibility for global operations as well as Quality and the Global Supply Chain. Prior to joining Artesyn Embedded Technologies, George worked at Lucent Technologies/AT&T for 25 years where his last position was Vice President of Global Manufacturing for Network Switching Systems. Mr. Foo started his Lucent/AT&T career at Bell Laboratories. Subsequently, he took positions at Corporate Staff which then lead to various Manufacturing Engineering assignments. In 1995, he took an overseas assignment as Vice President, Asia Manufacturing, AT&T Network Systems based in Hong Kong. During this time, he managed operations in Taiwan, Indonesia, India and China. Mr. Foo has a Doctor of Science degree in Materials Engineering from MIT, a Master of Business Administration in Finance from New York University and a Bachelor of Science degree from New York Polytechnic.
Aidan O Meara President, Asia Pacific VF Corporation Aidan O Meara is President, Asia Pacific for VF Corporation since 2007 with overall responsibility for the development of the company s business which includes the Timberland, North Face, Vans, Lee jeans and Kipling brands. Prior to his Asia assignment, Aidan held a variety of general management roles for VF in Ireland, UK and Northern Europe before becoming President of VF s International Jeans business in 2005. He has a background in FMCG sales and marketing management in US and Ireland following his graduation from Trinity College Dublin. Richard Thomas Head of Far East Region, Sourcing Marks and Spencer (Asia Pacific) Limited Richard began his career at Marks and Spencer in 1992 and over the next 10 years held a number of positions in London and Hong Kong covering sourcing, supply chain, product development and technology. His final role was as Supply Chain Strategist in London where he led a number of projects which fundamentally changed how M&S procure clothing, including buying direct and opening regional offices. The next decade was spent primarily focussing on UK based Womenswear brands, starting with a 2 year stint as Head of Sourcing at Monsoon Accessorize followed by 3 years as Managing Director of Mosaic Fashions - Asia (which owned brands such as Oasis, Karen Millen, Coast, Whistles and Warehouse). Richard then spent 2 years as CEO - Asia at All Saints Retail, a role which involved laying the infrastructure for unprecedented growth and the opening of offices in the Far East, India, Turkey and Portugal whilst at the same time dealing with the fallout from the Icelandic banking crisis which hit both All Saints and Mosaic Fashions hard after the collapse of shareholder Bauger. Prior to rejoining Marks and Spencer Asia Pacific, Richard was Product Development Director at TJX Europe and was responsible for a team of buyers, designers and technologists who developed/delivered branded royalty collections in collaboration with respected designers such as Katharine Hamnett, Edina Ronay and Clements Ribeiro. His return to M&S in December 2011 means he has come full circle in a career which has seen him open/manage 15 different buying/sourcing offices. As Head of Far East Region, Richard is responsible for sourcing strategy and operations in the Far East and looks after 5 offices across 4 countries.
Stephanie Costonis Vice President, Global Multi-Nationals Customers Asia Pacific DHL Express DHL Express, a German international express MNC with 6,500 employees in China and 100,000 globally. Stephanie Costonis is VP Global Multi National Customers for DHL (Asia Pacific), based in Hong Kong. Stephanie has been in this role since 2007. She has lived and & worked for DHL in the Asia Pacific region since 1997. She joined DHL Americas in 1987. Stephanie and her team lead and direct the commercial acquisition & management of MNC express transportation business, ensuring these key customers are continuously delighted with DHL Express services. DHL is the leading international express company, serving 220 countries.