Ranajit Dam

Managing Editor

Asian Legal Business

Ranajit Dam is the Managing Editor of Thomson Reuters Legal Media Group, which includes Asian Legal Business, Asia’s foremost monthly publication covering the legal industry. A former lawyer, Dam has been a journalist for more than a decade, after graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Since then, he has worked in the United States, India, China and Singapore, where he is currently based.

Priscilla Soh

General Counsel

AIG Singapore

Priscilla is General Counsel for AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd. She is also a member of the Executive Committee. Priscilla is responsible for all legal and regulatory matters in the company and works closely with the business and operations in a wide range of issues, projects and initiatives. She also advises the business on complex claims and dispute resolution matters. Priscilla is also part of AIG’s corporate secretarial team.

As an in-house counsel, Priscilla believes that Legal should be a business partner to the business and work collaboratively with them in order to achieve the best possible commercial outcomes for the company. As such, Priscilla also actively takes part in business strategy sessions and in user acceptance testings for new platforms.

Priscilla has been with AIG since September 2014. She started her career as a State Counsel and Deputy Public Prosecutor in the Attorney-General’s Chambers. She also practised commercial litigation before moving on to in-house legal roles. Priscilla has assumed in-house legal positions in companies including Singapore Technologies Aerospace Ltd, Temasek Holdings and AXA Insurance Singapore.

Priscilla holds an LL.B. (Hons) from the National University of Singapore and graduated on the Dean’s List. She is also a recipient of various scholarships including the Public Service Commission Humanities Scholarship and the ESSO Tertiary Scholarship. She is also part of the Legal team in AIG which won the ALB Southeast Asia Insurance Legal Team of the Year Award in 2018.

Rhenu Bhuller

Partner

Frost & Sullivan

With more than 20 years of experience in life sciences, medical technology and business evaluations, Rhenu works with Frost & Sullivan’s Transformational Health analysts in tracking key issues globally related to healthcare access, digital transformation, as well as how market trends and disruptive technologies such as AI, big data analytics, blockchain, mobile health and consumerism are impacting business models and the future of healthcare delivery. Prior to joining Frost & Sullivan, Rhenu held positions at Bayer and has a Degree in Chemistry and a Masters in Finance and International Business. With a background in life sciences and financial evaluations, Rhenu has supported initiatives for the development of public private partnerships, regulatory initiatives, investment valuation and initiatives to expand healthcare reach. She is also a qualified moderator and workshop leader and has conducted growth opportunity workshops to guide companies on prioritization of business strategies and investment plans in areas such as new product development, market expansion, competitive strategy, as well as sales and marketing strategies to innovate in today’s disruptive business environment and is member of the global Visionary Innovation team at Frost & Sullivan.

Swetha Vijay

Director

ComCap LLC

Swetha Vijay is a Director at ComCap LLC and heads its Asia operations. ComCap LLC is a global boutique investment bank with focus on technology, ecommerce and the retail ecosystem. With a presence in San Francisco, Singapore and Europe, ComCap has recently completed or has active transactions in Southeast Asia, Australia, India, United States, Europe, Japan and Latin America.

Swetha has 11 years of corporate finance experience in Southeast Asia and India servicing Asia Pacific and global clients. Most recently, Swetha was a Vice President at Houlihan Lokey’s affiliate in Southeast Asia where she originated and executed various transactions in the telecommunications, technology and consumer space.

Swetha has also worked at Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance in Singapore and with DBS Bank as a part of their Mergers & Acquisitions team working on buy-side and sell-side advisory deals in the telecommunications, oil & gas and technology manufacturing sectors.

Swetha has experience working on two tech startups in Singapore. She graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India (MBA) and has a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

Nishtha Kharb

Legal Director - ASEAN, Korea, Japan

Reckitt Benckiser

Nishthais a distinguished healthcare & technology focused lawyer with over 12 years of experience in handling wide range of legal and regulatory issues, particularly in the Asia region. Presently, she is working for a British Multinational RB as their Legal Director, ASEAN, Japan & Korea advising them on legal affairs and contributing towards innovative solutions to people’s every day challenges in the arena of health and well-being.

She also worked as the Legal Head of Asia for another dynamic, US head-quartered healthcare company, Carestream Health Inc. In this role, she leads the legal and compliance affairs of the company for Asia-Pacific region that comprises of ANZ, ASEAN countries, India and South Korea. Prior to joining Carestream, she was the in-house counsel and Data Privacy Officer at Philips Electronics Pte Ltd for ASEAN and South-East Asia operations. She started her career as a legal associate at Singapore’s Tan Kok Quan Partnership and later joined world’ s leading dispute law firm, Herbert Smith in their arbitration & dispute practice. She briefly headed Herbert Smith’s India desk as the firm expanded its Indian corporate clientele. Nishtha also sits on the Board of the Singapore chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), one of the world’s largest professional association of in-house counsels.

A prominent panel speaker in various leading Legal Conferences of the region, she has been providing thought leadership on managing cross border disputes- role of arbitration and challenges in Asia’s legal framework. She graduated with First Class Honours (LL.B) from Amity University, New Delhi and also holds a Masters’ degree in law. She has attended Executive Programs on Strategy and Negotiations at Harvard University and NUS Business School.

She feels strongly about charitable causes and utilizing creative arts as a medium for contributing to society. To this end, she has directed and acted in numerous plays, scripted and directed a music album with an aim to raise funds for blind school children and for palliative care children in Singapore.

Selin Pattni

Regional Head of Legal, SEA & ANZ

Henkel

Selin Pattniis Regional Head of Legal Role for SEA & ANZ at Henkel. She joined Henkel in 2013, prior to her role in Singapore she was working at Henkel HQ (Germany) as Globally Responsible Lawyer for Industrial Adhesive Business Unit of Henkel. Selin has previously practiced law as in-house counsel in Carrefour Group, Ernst&Young and Habboush Group (Associated with Goldman Sachs). She has practicing law for 12 years. Educated at the University of Istanbul, Turkey (LL.B) and Martin Luther University, Germany (LL.M.). She holds degrees in law and economics.

Maree Myerscough

General Counsel

Conergy

Maree is the General Counsel for Conergy, a renewable energy company that develops, builds, owns and operates solar power generation assets. Conergy was recently acquired by Macquarie’s Green Investment Group.

At Conergy, Maree is a member of the senior management team and responsible for managing Conergy’s legal affairs in the Asia Pacific region.  She provides legal advice and transaction support for each of Conergy’s business units.  Maree also provides strategic advice on investment opportunities, corporate governance and general commercial matters and helps to manage and mitigate disputes across the region.  Maree was awarded the 2018 Global Counsel Award in the category of Individual: General Commercial at a reception held in New York and was included in ALB’s 40 Under 40 List for 2018.

Before moving to an in-house role, Maree was a senior associate at Latham & Watkins in Singapore and gained extensive transactional experience in project development and financing. Maree was actively involved in the pro bono community, serving in various roles to facilitate pro bono opportunities for international lawyers in Singapore. Maree is qualified to practice law in Australia and England & Wales and has been based in Singapore for over eleven years.

Amanda Han

Regional General Counsel and Compliance Officer

BSH Home Appliances Asia Pacific

Amanda is General Counsel and Compliance Officer for BSH Home Appliances Asia Pacific Region, in charge of overall legal services and compliance management in the region.  She serves on BSH Asia Pacific management team where she provides broad and risk weighted perspectives on business strategies and operations.  Before joining BSH, Amanda worked for two leading US and UK law firms respectively for about 10 years.   

Amanda has extensive experience in the areas of corporate and commercial laws in supply chain structure, distribution, retail, franchising, real estate, employment issues, competition issues, consumer protection, mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring.

Amanda received her LL.M from UC Berkeley and is admitted in China and New York.

Annie Lim

Global Diversity & Inclusion Lead

Sanofi

French pharmaceuticals healthcare major, Sanofi, has appointed Annie as the global diversity and inclusion (D&I) lead, based in Singapore. In this role, she manages and implements strategic enterprise programmes, develops and deploys global inclusive workplace practices, and evolves cultural efforts and uplift Sanofi employer branding in supporting Sanofi’s global diversity and inclusion approach.

As a global lead in Sanofi, she will catalyse and shape gender balance, embed D&I into human capital strategy, and enhance organisational culture to drive Sanofi to be Top 3 global pharmaceutical healthcare company.

Prior to Sanofi, she has experience working with GSK, Pall Life Sciences, Adecco, Lee Hecht Harrison, and has worked 10 years overseas in China and a short stint in Australia to setting up CoE of talent acquisition and talent management practice centers for Asia Pacific. She has over 23 years of HR experience and graduated from The George Washington University (USA) with a Master’s in Human Resource Development (HRD) and a Degree in Business Marketing from the Monash University (Australia). She is also an alumni member of the IMD (Lausanne) business school. On personal self, Annie enjoys hiking, yoga, traveling and like all Singaporeans eating hawker food as her past time. At work, she enjoys working with millennials and coaching leaders to be successful in their roles.

Preet Grewal

Inclusion & Diversity Lead, APAC

GSK

Preet is the Inclusion & Diversity Lead for APAC.  She is responsible for the Global Inclusion and Diversity plan of GSK in the region and local markets.  She partners with senior leaders to lead the diversity and inclusion plan, with HR and key business stakeholders to help build organisational capability and commitment to diversity and inclusion in the region.

Prior to that, Preet was the Diversity Recruitment Partner with BMO Financial Group in Canada. She worked closely with senior leaders to develop recruitment programs and hiring managers on best practices on attracting and retaining top talent in the company.

She obtained her post graduate certificate in Human Resources at the University of Toronto.

Magdalena Poulin

Head of Diversity & Inclusion, APAC

AIG

Magdalena has over 13 years of diversified and multinational work experience across Asia Pacific and EMEA regions. Currently based at AIG, she oversees the strategy and implementation of diversity & inclusion strategy in APAC. She fosters a culture of inclusion across the region and her focus areas include developing strategic diversity programs to recruit, engage and develop talent, advancing a culture of inclusion and enhancing the AIG’s brand and market relationships externally. Her previous professional experience includes a mix of Diversity & Inclusion, HR and CSR roles in companies such as MVCI, EMC and HP.

Magdalena is involved in the Singapore Business Network on Disability and she is a mentor in the AIG Student Innovation Program for students with disabilities. She promotes gender equality through her leadership at PrimetTime Business and Professional Women’s Association where she designed and launched the Two Way Mentoring Program for women. She is also a co-founding member of KeyNote Asia Women Speakers Directory.

Magdalena obtained her Master’s degree in English Studies at the University of Lodz in Poland. She also studied HR Management at the Cork Institute of Technology and Griffith College in Ireland. Her education and career brought her from Poland to France, Finland, Ireland, to Singapore. She currently lives in Singapore with her husband and two children and in her leisure time, she enjoys sports, dancing, aerial arts and traveling around the world with her family.

Kirsten Trott

Executive Director, "Speaking Up"

Standard Chartered Bank

Kirsten is a compliance, risk and policy professional, with specialist expertise in whistleblowing (speaking up) and ethical conduct and culture. A qualified lawyer, Kirsten started out in whistleblowing as Legal Adviser at Public Concern at Work (PCaW), the London based thought leader in whistleblowing. She was later made Deputy Director there. At PCaW she gave legal advice to whistleblowers, provided consultancy services to organisations looking to develop more open and ethical cultures and was involved in public policy and law reform relating to whistleblowing. Returning home for a couple of years to Australia, Kirsten was the CEO for the Committee which ensured compliance with the Australia Code of Banking Practice.

She moved to Singapore in 2008, where she held various positions at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, including as the Director of Strategy for think tank The Centre for Asia and Globalisation. After completing a double Masters degree in Public Policy and Law at NUS and having 2 children, Kirsten moved back to the private sector in 2014, joining Standard Chartered. There she has held roles in Operational Risk, Financial Crime Compliance and now heads up the Bank’s Speaking Up Programme.

April Raimundo

Chief Legal and Compliance Officer

EFA Group

April is Chief Legal Officer of EFA Group and is responsible for all legal matters including business and investment structuring, corporate and fund set up and other legal issues across all countries where EFA does business including Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE, Switzerland, UK, Romania, and Turkey. April oversees legal support in all areas of transaction management for capital finance, structured and trade commodity finance and provides support on restructuring and litigation for financing across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. She was the first legal counsel of EFA in 2011 and set up the legal and compliance platform of EFA through an accelerated growth period.

She was named one of five in-house lawyers in the 2016 edition of ALBs 40 under 40 and her team was shortlisted as banking and financial services in house team of the year in the ALB SEA Law Awards 2016. 

Prior to joining EFA Group, April was an Associate at Baker & McKenzie International. Her legal practice focused on various aspects of corporate and commercial work including mergers and acquisitions, contract drafting and review, doing business concerns, due diligence, outsourcing, special registrations and structuring of investments. Her industry concentrations included environment and natural resources, real estate, outsourcing and retail trade. 

Jasmine Karimi

Former Senior Director, Head of Legal & Compliance

Illumina

A lawyer with over 20 years’ experience, Jasmine has worked in law firms and MNCs in the US, UK, Canada, Hong Kong & Singapore, across diverse sectors (Media, Manufacturing, Luxury Goods and Healthcare). Most recently, she headed up legal and compliance across Asia Pacific for Illumina Inc., a US listed leader in the biotech industry. She also sat in the APAC Management, Global Legal Management teams and led the Women’s Leadership Network for the company in Singapore.

A frequently invited public speaker at industry and professional forums globally, Jasmine has been named as one of the leading influential in-house lawyers in business in Asia in the Legal 500: Corporate Counsel 100 and was recently featured in Legal Era Magazine’s first ever Coffee Table Book featuring the World’s Leading General Counsel 2017-2018.

She has an LL.B. (Hons) from the U.K., and an LLM specializing in IP law from Canada. She is admitted to practice law in England & Wales, Singapore, Canada, and Hong Kong. A firm believer in giving back, Jasmine has served on several boards and is the immediate past President of the Hong Kong Corporate Counsel Association, (now ACC). She currently sits on the SIAC Users Council.

Marla Alvarez

Lead of Diversity & Inclusion

Thomson Reuters

Marla is the Diversity & Inclusion Lead for Asia Pacific, responsible for the execution and direction of the Thomson Reuters Diversity & Inclusion strategy globally, with special focus in the region. She partners with senior leaders to champion D&I, with HR to advance the company’s talent agenda, and with key business groups to integrate D&I in business operations. She also provides oversight for business resource groups and global volunteer network teams.

Previously, Marla has had over 20 years experience in corporate communications and PR -- at Thomson Reuters Manila responsible for strategy, communications, and corporate responsibility; at Intel Corporation as operations manager for the Asia Employee Communications group; and at San Miguel Corporation overseeing internal publications. She started as senior associate at Orendain & Associates Public Relations, where she was PR advisor to multinational banks, drug companies, and non-government organizations in the Philippines.