GEEKS ON A BEACH 2017 SPEAKERS

Anelyn Binancilan is a Development Management Officer IV of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA). For the past two years, Anelyn has been active in promoting the integration of Inclusive Business Models and Innovation for the agricultural sector of the island-region to benefit low-income farming communities including those in conflict-affected areas.

Anelyn is also a Senior Lecturer of the College of Governance and Business of the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) in Davao City, Philippines. She obtained her Master of Science in Development Administration also from USEP in 2012. In 2017, she qualified for and completed an Australia Awards Fellowship Program in International Business Skills for the Mindanao Agribusiness Sector from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia.

Chips Guevara is a mechanical engineer from Xavier University and has an MBA from Manchester Business School. He was a project engineer from Unilever Philippines, Inc. and later became production manager. After his MBA in the UK, he worked for Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy as an operations consultant. He returned to the Philippines and started his own Environmental Social Enterprise Alterenergy Systems Inc where he converted diesel engines to run on used cooking oil. He runs a swim school together with his wife Akiko. He is the current Executive Director of Phildev Foundation.

JJ Lumagbas is faculty at the Department of Computer Science at University of the Philippines Cebu, and Incubator Manager at UP Cebu inIT. inIT is the first Technology Business Incubator in Cebu City, and one of the earliest TBIs established by DOST-PCIEERD.

JJ holds a Bachelors of Computer Science from UP Cebu, and a Master of Information Systems from the University of Melbourne, both of which were mostly useless at preparing him for the Incubator Manager role. Thankfully, he has the right set of shoulders to stand on: key people in the TBI staff, the Cebu startup community, and DOST's network of TBIs, all of whom were more than willing to get him up to speed.

He is now heading a team that is upgrading inIT's incubation program, as well as launching for the first time a student technopreneurship program for UP Cebu: mentoring multidisciplinary teams of undergrads pulled from CS, Management, and Product Design.

In 2016, UP Cebu inIT was awarded the UP Gawad Pangulo Award for Excellence in Public Service. This award highlights how inIT continues to level-up to better serve the Cebu startup community.

Jhaze is the current Center Manager for the DOST-UP Enterprise Center for Technopreneurship. An entrepreneur himself for the distribution of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) in different provinces and outsourcing of regional products, he was also involved in the Tourism Industry for the wholesale and retail of outbound travels to East and South-East Asian destinations. Prior to this, his corporate experiences include international business development for interactive online education services and outsourcing. He also came from the Exports Industry of Processed and Manufactured food of the Philippines.

Jhaze is considered a result-driven professional with firm background in international business development and exports management in both Filipino-ethnic markets and mainstream customers for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Online Services. He is exceptional in accounts management of diverse client profiles from the Pacific Region, East-South East Asia, Middle East, Europe and Americas. He is also adept in market penetration and distribution expansion; is skillful in product and services development, as well as, innovation and upgrades. An exceptional communicator with strong negotiation skills, problem resolution and customer needs evaluation, Jhaze is effective at identifying market opportunities with efficiency in providing business strategies and venture matching. Jhaze has the experience in working with different Government institutions in cooperation with business consortium by project executions of industry breakthrough solutions.

Jhaze is a graduate of BSBA- Major in Exports Management of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and currently taking his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

In the last 20 years, Emmy Lou Versoza-Delfin has been in public service, working mostly in developmental work related to Information and Communications Technology (ICT). She is currently the Program Manager of the eInnovation Group or the ICT Industry Development Project Management Team of the Department of Information and Communications Technology. Ms. Delfin has contributed greatly to the ICT ecosystem, especially in the countryside through her work and leadership of the digitalPH initiative which is composed of four major programs: Next Wave Cities (NWCs), Stepping Up the Value Chain, Digital Startups/seedPH and Rural Impact Sourcing.

Through the NWCs Program, Ms. Delfin has been instrumental in helping establish more than 70 multi-stakeholder organizations called ICT Councils around the country, which are the prime movers in developing and promoting the local ICT ecosystems. She has played an active role in assessing and promoting cities outside Metro Manila as alternative locations for Information Technology – Business Process Management (IT-BPM) operations, bringing significant job opportunities to the countryside.

Sen. Bam Aquino is a former social entrepreneur turned senator that continues to support Filipino entrepreneurs and the development of micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs.

Thanks to his first law - the Go Negosyo Act - there are over 580 Negosyo Centers across the Philippines providing training and mentorship, market linkage, and access to financing for Filipinos who wish to build a successful business.

He has also passed laws that bridge the gap between local MSMEs and access to financing and is working on the passage of the Innovative Start-up Law to incentivize tech startups and social enterprises in the Philippines.

He has been hailed by some as one of the most productive and hardworking senators - now with nineteen (19) laws passed in just four (4) years.

Just recently, a revolutionary reform principally sponsored by Sen. Bam in the Senate - the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act - was signed into law, making college education free in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs), and TESDA-run Tech-Vos Institutions (TVIs).

Magiging libre na po ang kolehiyo para sa milyon milyong estudyante sa mga SUCs, LUCs at TVIs!

Even with all his accomplishments, Sen. Bam continues to work to improve the lives of Filipino families through entrepreneurship, employment, and education.

And even in the most trying times, Sen. Bam stays true to his hopeful brand of politics, believing that every Filipino can overcome poverty with the right support and opportunities.

Eric has been working as a software engineer for more than 20 years. He started messing with the web at the age of 16 and has almost 18 years of professional experience in that field working in web agencies in Switzerland.

Last year, Eric moved to the Philippines as a consultant and architect for Arcanys and is currently working closely with their developers to instill the habit of learning, clean coding, re-usability and testing with the goal of increasing the overall quality of the products delivered by the teams.

Jaime Enrique Y. Gonzalez, Filipino, is currently the CEO of IPVI. He is also the founder of IPVG Corp., Egames, and IP-Converge, Inc., which are all listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

He has structured profitable exits such as PCCW Teleservices (sold to PCCW of Hong Kong), Prolexic Technologies (sold to Kennet Partners and eventually Akamai for over US$ 300 million), and Level-up Games (sold to Asiasoft).

He is a partner in the Kaikaku Fund (a Softbak-led fund), a venture capital focused on SE Asia. He is also on the board of Arthaland Corporation (PSE ticker symbol: ALCO), a listed real estate developer. Enrique is also a shareholder and director of Retail Specialist Inc, the exclusive retailer of Naturalizer and Florsheim brands in the Philippines.

Enrique is also founder and CEO of IP Ventures Inc, a leading venture group that owns businesses that represent large retail brands such as Highlands Coffee, NBA Retail and Western Union.

He was IT Executive of the Year in 2008 and a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011. He is also part of the Young Presidents Organization and sits on the Board of Trustees of Asia Society Philippines.

He continues to hold the record of being the youngest person to have listed a company on the Philippine Stock Exchange at 27 years old. Enrique is also a columnist for Philippine Star covering entrepreneurship and business under Business Life section.

Mr. Gonzalez went to Middlebury college, Asian Institute of Management and Harvard Business School. He is also a Kauffman Fellow and part of the Class 21 batch.

Enrique is an active evangelist for attracting foreign capital and partners into the Philippines. He has joined state visits under President Gloria Arroyo and most recently President Duterte's state visit to China. He was instrumental in bringing in China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC) a Fortune 100 company, and Tianjin SULI cable (a Fortune 500 company) into the Philippines.

Kat spearheads and currently serves as Director of QBO, a Philippine innovation hub and startup platform. QBO is the first of its kind public-private partnership initiative in the country specifically geared to provide resources, connections and support to accelerate the growth of Philippine startup companies.

Kat is concurrently an Associate Director at IdeaSpace, one of the Philippines’ leading startup accelerators, where she has led fundraising and business development activities collaborating closely with startup ecosystem partners. Kat draws on her experience working with senior management in corporate development, capital markets and process engineering positions, and at QBO/IdeaSpace, advises startups on scaling and growing share, fundraising and improving efficiency and profitability.

Kat completed her undergraduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University, obtaining a B.Sc in Materials Science and Engineering, with a double major in Business Administration. Kat advocates for spurring innovation and ‘technopreneurship’ as an engine for driving economic growth and global competitiveness in emerging economies.

Butch is President of IdeaSpace Foundation, a leading early-stage technology incubator and accelerator for startup companies, and head of QBO Innovation Hub, a public private partnership launched to nurture, mentor and prepare startups for a successful exit. He is also the President of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, a private sector disaster management organization that includes many of the major business groups in the country. He is concurrently president of Pacific Global One, an aviation firm owned by the PLDT group of companies. Previously, he worked with a financial start-up and has an extensive background in leveraged buyouts and mergers and acquisitions in New York.

Prior to joining the New York firm, Butch was First Vice President and Special Assistant to the chairman of Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and president of the PLDT Smart Foundation. He served as Vice President, Communications for TLC Beatrice International, a multinational food company and leveraged buyout where he played a leading role in the attempt to take the company public on the New York Stock Exchange. He has worked with several New York public relations firms, focusing on mergers and acquisitions.

A graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, Butch has an M.A. in Journalism and Communications from the University of Florida. He was a recipient of the College of Journalism’s Alumnus of Distinction award in 2000. He returned to UF in 2003 as the Freedom Forum Distinguished Visiting Professor.

At ConsenSys, Griffin is architecting and developing accounting and financial applications utilizing the blockchain. As Director for Blockchain Accounting, he leads the development of Balanc3 a financial management application for digital currencies and is a founding member of the Accounting Blockchain Coalition.

Vicente Nakpil-Roxas is the son of Bancom founder Sixto Kalaw Roxas. He was New Media Projects Director for the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and is currently an Investment Director for Bancom II Consultants and sits as Chief Information Officer of Lab.ph. During his time with the FDCP, he created the first online Philippine film database in 2008. Also in 2008, he founded one of the first (if not the first) online festivals in Asia. Back in the ‘80s, he was part of an initiative that installed a big data framework with 100 thousand households using an Apple II desktop with 512k RAM for every 10 barangays.

President and Designer, Classical Geometry
Board of Trustees, Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation, Inc.
Member, Movement 8 (Elite Group of Philippine Furniture Designers)
Board of Trustees, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry
2016 Outstanding Alumnus - University of San Carlos College of Law
2016 Recipient of the Outstanding Zambosurian Award, Zamboanga Del Sur
2007 Presidential Citation Recipient for his ASEAN Summit Contribution
2006 Recipient of the Furniture Design Award Singapore, Singapore Furniture Industries Council
2005 Mugna Award Winner for Material Innovation
2004 International Awardee for Funiture Design, Sunix s.r.o. Slovakia
2004 Good Design Award (G-Mark), ASEAN Design Selection, Japan
2003 Mugna Award Winner for Best Booth
2002 Mugna Award Winner for Best Booth
2002 Mugna Award Winner for Best Product – Furniture Complement Category
2002 Mugna Award Winner for Best Designer
2001 CFIF Special Citation for Material Innovation
1998 Guest Product Showcase, Japan
Three-Year Product Showcase, Valencia, Spain
Lieutenant Sergeant, Cebu Coastguard Auxiliary
Member, Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF)
Founding Member, Kythe Foundation
Founder, Cebu Bancart Project

Jojy actively promotes entrepreneurship in the region as an adept mentor, and notable speaker in technology and business events.

He completed a degree in Mechanical Engineering as a full scholar at the University of the Philippines, and took up units in M.A. Economics at the University of Asia and the Pacific.  Accepted into PhD in Engineering-Economics Systems program at Stanford University, Jojy switched careers and focused on the Information Technology business where he co-founded several pioneering tech companies in the fields of BPO, IT outsourcing, online content publishing and eCommerce.

He is currently co-founder for several startups such as BayanHealth.com, Gavagives.com, Parachure.com, Azurrance.com, Printers2Go.ph, Hiring.ph, SparePartsAsia.com, AsiaPixel.com and many more.

He is co-founder of 1000 Angels, a group that matches angel investors with startups.   He is also the Manila co-director Founder Institute, the world's biggest incubator for startups.

PD Nannette Arbon is the digital ambassador leading the MSMEs of Cebu to fearlessly innovate. In the quest for Digital Transformation, many government agencies go hand in hand with the business community to transform Cebu into the envisioned tech hub of the country and PD Nannette is seen as one of those tirelessly empowering everyone to embrace the digital change and move forward.

Rui Palhais is the founder and manager of Mappalab, a company that helps startups and young corporations to enhance their performance and reach their full potential.

He’s a Biomedical Engineer with several years of international experience as a Kaizen and Lean specialist. Manage and implemented projects from Portugal, Spain, to Bulgaria and China for some of the most important companies in the world. He was recently with a PhD scholarship at MIT – Portugal Program, regarding technology adoption and systems thinking.

Being passionate about entrepreneurship, he’s now pursuing what he has seen as a critical gap in the startup ecosystem, the lack of management guidance and improvement support.

So Mappalab is now his platform to support and nurture start-ups and young corporations through systematic and proven management models, and to mentor them through proven corporate best-practices.

Ehon has passion for creating opportunities through connecting people, capital, and ideas to solve our world’s most pressing social and environmental issues. He’s the brainchild behind the Malaysian Social Enterprise Blueprint launched by the Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2015, and has been instrumental in the incubation and growth of at least 70 social enterprises in Malaysia.

Previously, Ehon was the cofounder of Hub Australia, a network of coworking communities driving innovation through collaboration, and Spur Projects, a not-for-profit making it easier for men to take preventative action rather than to suicide.

He is currently a Board Member of Montessori International College, the Global Advisory Board for Movember Foundation, the world’s largest men’s health charity, and Advisor to numerous social enterprises. He was an Advisory Board member for Bendigo & Adelaide Bank’s PlanBig and StartSomeGood, the world’s leading crowdfunding site for social ventures, and the Chairman of the World Happiness Forum 2014.

Although far from his mind, his effort and contribution to social change has won him numerous awards and accolades, amongst them Suicide Prevention Australia's ""LIFE Award"", The Age's ""Top 100 Most Influential People in Melbourne"", Australia Trade Commission's ""Top 30 Digital Influencer"", GOOD Magazine's ""GOOD 100 People Moving the World Forward"" which includes the likes of Kirsten Bell, Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, Prestige Magazine’s “30 under 30”, and Tatler’s “Generation T: Malaysia’s brightest connectors, creative visionaries, innovative influencers and entrepreneurial talents".

Rocky Chan is a lawyer and business consultant who excels in corporate formation, immigration procedures, and client relations. Having started his career with the some of the country’s top law firms and spending the last 7 years honing his craft in the field of foreign investment consultancy, Rocky has been involved in the success of over 200 multinational clients across a wide gamut of industries. He advises the company’s clientele on business formation requirements and proceedings, immigration policies, labor law and human capital strategies and best practices, and has brokered a succession of fruitful business deals for them.

He can broaden the scope of his discussion to fit the needs of the audience.

Micah is the Community Rockstar at the country's leading coworking space, A SPACE Philippines. She works magic in different gatherings and community collaborations.

Aiai Garcia is the Business Development Manager for ConsenSys in the Philippines focusing her efforts on driving strategic partnerships in the region, with a particular interest in developing financial inclusion projects for emerging markets & in driving blockchain education for developers, non-developers, and executives through ConsenSys Academy. She also lends her time on building decentralized initiatives in making ConsenSys a diverse & inclusive place to work in.

Ray has industry know how in payments and money-transfer from his experience at MoneyTran in 2005. He has worked in finance and marketing for four years and has served as Financial Analyst II @ Lam Research in 2011.

Ray was a Batch 17 cohort at 500 Startups as Qwikwire Founder in 2016. Qwikwire topped the list of 10 finalists from over 100 pitchers and won the grand prize at Ignite Pitching Competition in July 2017.

He graduated Cum Laude in Finance/Economics from San Jose State University.

Engr. Russell Pili is a patent agent of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). She is also a licensed chemist and was trained at the University of Sto Tomas.

Russell has studied Master of Laws in Intellectual Property Rights at the Universita Di Torino, Italy and has trained for Masters of Technology Management at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

On any given day, RJ Ledesma is hosting an event, taping a segment for his TV show, overseeing the operations of his food markets, and writing his weekly column.

As an entrepreneur, RJ is the co-founder of the Mercato Centrale of night food markets and EnterPH, a company that assists foreign businesses and start ups set up their business in the Philippines.

As an events and tv host, RJ is currently the host of Bloomberg TV’s Bright Ideas - a show that features start up companies, and ANC’s Philippine Realty TV . He is also a sought after events and wedding host, moderator for business events and a motivational speaker. RJ was recognised as Best Male Emcee in the 25th Aliw Awards.

As a writer and editor, RJ has a lifestyle columnist for the Philippine Star since 2005. His award-winning column Pogi from A Parallel Universe comes out every Wednesday. He is the author of six best-selling books, three of which are National Book Award Finalists. He is a UP National Writers Workshop and Silliman University Writers Working fellow.

RJ is the Honorary Consul of Monaco to the Philippines. He graduated with a double degree in Applied Economics and Business Management from De La Salle University and a Masters in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Engr. Ramon D. Escueta, is the Director for Energy, Power and Water of PCCI and President, Asia-Pacific Business and Industrial System, Inc. He is the Founder and President of APSYS Solutions Technology, Inc., Founder and Former President of Byers Communications, Inc. and Founder and Former Director of Transpacific Broadband Group International, Inc. He was Area Manager for the Philippines of Westinghouse Electric S.A. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer, former National Governor and Treasurer of the Integrated Institute of Electrical Engineers and former Director of the Alumni Engineers of the University of the Philippines.

Olivier is a hands-on technologist with more than 10 years of experience in the industry and has been working for Amazon Web Services across Asia-Pacific and Europe to help customers build resilient, scalable, secure and cost-effective applications and create innovative and data driven business models. He advises how emerging technologies in the Artificial Intelligence (AI), ML and IoT space can help create new products, make existing processes more efficient, provide overall business insights and leverage new engagement channels for end-consumers. He also actively helped customers build platforms that align IT infrastructure and service spending with revenue models, effectively reducing waste and disrupting how product development had been executed over the past decades. In Olivier’s beliefs, agility is driven through quick, data-driven iterations of lean and quantifiable developments. Prior to his AWS time, Olivier ran the digital product strategy for an American multinational publishing, education and media company across Asia and lead engineering and R&D efforts to build a virtualised web service platform for a Luxembourgish Internet Service Provider pre-cloud era.

Derya is Co-Founder and CEO of NXTLVL Academy. NXTLVL Academy was created to improve the technical skills talent gap in the Philippines. With a focus on short-term immersive courses, workshops, and corporate training programs in the subjects of UX Design, Data Science, Digital Marketing, Web Development and more, NXTLVL Academy is building a leading community of high-skilled technical professionals in the country.

Derya is also co-founding companies in Southeast Asia focused on investing in technologies to solve the world's most basic needs and requirements through the sectors of education, energy, water, agriculture. These companies implement technologies that decentralize critical resources, improve accessibility and cost-efficiency, and provide clear social and environmental benefits.

Derya began his career in finance and strategic consulting in New York City. Derya helped raise capital commitments of over US$ 1.5 billion for private equity funds, as well as corporations through cross-border transactions and investments as an Analyst with Global Strategic Associates, LLC.

Derya is of Belgian-Turkish descent and has lived and worked in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Derya graduated with a BS in Business Administration, concentration in Finance and Economics from Fordham University's Gabelli School of Business in 2011.

Mario is currently the Founder and CEO of FlySpaces.com a tech-start up that empowers SMEs to get access to flexible office and retail space. He is a Senior Consultant in the PLDT Group (Philippines’ largest Telecom and conglomerates) and various Conglomerates, consulting about innovation, digital transformation, sales and Start-up Culture.

He was formerly Nova Founder’s director for growth, a tech incubator and VC firm that boasts among its investor Richard Li (among HK’s richest tycoon) and Asia Regional Co-Founder of Rocket Internet’s Easy Taxi.

A true global professional with extensive experience in leadership, strategy, innovation and expansion, Mario is passionate about empowering and enabling people, developing businesses, and supporting companies and institutions all around the World. He is driven by success, strongly believes that we live in a world where relationships are the key to standing out of the crowd and excelling at doing business in present competitive environment.

Mario has built, managed and trained successful sales teams in Africa and in the APAC region, including Papua New Guinea, Macau, Angola, Nigeria, Philippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

His areas of expertise are: Start-ups, IT / E-commerce, Mobile Payments, Social Media, Telecoms, Advertisement, Business Development / Sales, Training and Coaching.

He was dubbed “Asia Expert” by founding and running multiple businesses for 6 years +. He is fluent in 4 languages: Italian, English, Spanish and Portuguese. He was a contestant in the famous business reality show “The Apprentice”, Spanish version.

Mario holds a Master’s Degree in Business & Economics from University of Turin with exchange in IE Business School (Madrid) and has attended OMP (Owners Management Program) in IE Business School.

Kay-Mok joined Gobi in 2010 and has invested in over 30 companies, including Aptoide, DeClout, Eko, Hermo, Offpeak, Orami, and Qraved. He is a board member of the Singapore Venture Capital Association (SVCA). Prior to his career with Gobi Partners, Mok held the Vice President position in both Xinya Media and MediaCorp (Singapore). He was also part of the team that managed a $500 million fund at the Media Development Authority in Singapore, and is co-founder of Private Express, which was based in the Silicon Valley. He started his career with the Infocomm Development Authority, and has a Computer Science degree from UC-Berkeley, and an MBA from San Jose State University.

Nat brings 18+ years of high-end product-focused engineering leadership and software development experience in both the enterprise software and advertising spaces to Temasys. His background includes both the technical and creative landscapes and extensive experience in cloud computing, all of which gives him unique insights into product development and scaling. Nat has also worked with agencies, brands and companies such as McgarryBowen, Marriott, Nokia, Google, General Motors, RedBull, Spotify, and MTV/Viacom.

Chip has 25 years of experience with an international track record in leadership, general management, product management, marketing and operations management. He was a Product Manager for Yahoo! Mail and Messenger (SEA) and held senior roles in Digital Media, Healthcare, Consulting, Insurance and Financial Services with Yahoo!, International SOS, CapGemini, and others. He joined Temasys in 2014, and has worn many hats during his tenure there. He likes to build custom electric guitars and mentor startups in his free time. Chip has a BA from DePauw University and earned an MBA from the University of Washington Foster School of Business.

Steve is a Solutions Architect with Amazon Web Services (Singapore) covering the ASEAN region, and has over twenty years of IT experience across networking, infrastructure and software development on both Windows and Linux.

Dindo Marzan is the Managing Director of Hatch, the Digital Transformation (DX) group of Voyager Innovations, Inc. (Voyager) that works with companies and organizations to enable excellent digital customer engagement. Leveraging the platforms and capabilities of Voyager and PLDT, Dindo drives the company's business ventures on Lead Generation, Marketing & Advertising, Customer Value Enhancement, CX Automation, and API Enablement.

A graduate of University of the Philippines, Dindo has over 13 years product development experience in the fields of IT, telecommunications, advertising, and broadcast media. He's very knowledgeable in strategic and operational management, and has full exposure to marketing and brand communications with expertise in digital media.

Before he joined Voyager, Mr. Marzan was a Digital Consultant in Australia helping start-ups and SMBs on their digital strategy and online marketing. While in Melbourne, he pursued his graduate studies at RMIT University. His passion for innovation pushed him to come back to the Philippines to be part of the digital unit of PLDT, Inc., the largest telecommunications and digital services company in the country.

Prior to Dindo’s Melbourne stint, he held senior positions at ABS-CBN Corporation, the largest media conglomerate in the Philippines. As its Digital Strategy Head and later on Head of Digital Lifestyle, he was instrumental in the company's digital transformation as well as in the creation of Choose Philippines and ABS CBNmobile. He also handled the content operations of iWant TV, iWant Stars, and iWant Txt.

In his early years in the corporate world, Dindo has gained extensive experience in product management and marketing at Globe Telecom handling broadband solutions for businesses and unlimited voice services for consumers. He got his first taste of new innovation and business development at Mozcom, the Philippines’ First Internet Service Provider, where he created a video streaming solution that was used by Ateneo in its first ever webcasted graduation ceremony.

Craig Dixon has been the Singapore program’s Entrepreneur in Residence for the Telstra-backed muru-D accelerator since June 2016. Craig is also the co-founder of ZUMATA, a B2B travel technology startup founded in 2013 and a portfolio company of Wavemaker/DFJ and 500 startups. He is an investor and advisor in early-stage startups and is keen to promote “founder-friendly” practices in the regional startup ecosystem.

muru-D is a tech startup accelerator with five programs and staff in Silicon Valley; accepting teams from all over ASEAN to its Singapore program.

Craig is currently focused on recruiting the best startup founders to join muru-D Singapore’s third cohort which begins 25th Sept.

Michelle, the founder of 1010Life, is a Certified Trainer in the Myers-Briggs Personality Profiling Tool® (MBTI®), California Psychological InventoryTM (CPITM) and DiSC Workplace Certification for Trainers. She works with individuals and corporations to create training and developmental programs that empower people on both a personal and organizational level.

Warm, caring and compassionate, Michelle is passionately committed to helping people bring out the best in their own unique personalities. A natural communicator, she is able to emphasize and forge a real connection with others, helping them to overcome their weaknesses and draw out their strengths. Her enthusiasm for working with people motivates her to inspire others to make positive changes in their lives. By engaging those around her with honesty and sincerity, she encourages people to explore their personal experiences in life and guides them along the road to self-discovery.

As the principal trainer of 1010Life, her strengths include working with middle management teams to foster close knit working relationships. She specializes in analyzing and consulting on team interaction dynamics, offering insights to increasing team motivation and efficiency. In prior engagements, she has designed customized workshops for organizational management teams such as teambuilding, communication styles and conflict resolution workshops.

A strong believer in giving back to society, Michelle has played an instrumental role in many community-based youth development programs, serving as a trainer, facilitator and mentor. A Singapore Management University (SMU) alumnus, Michelle volunteers extensively with her alma mater to make a positive impact on the lives of future generations of tertiary education students.

Frederic has been working in financial institutions from insurance, private banking and banking software companies in Switzerland - the heart of banking - for the first part of his career. When he moved to Asia in 2009, Frederic worked for an Internet startup in Hong Kong, moved its operations to the Philippines and has co-founded Arcanys, a software development company with its delivery center in Cebu in 2010.

Frederic is regularly mentoring startups from the first Fintech Incubator (Fintech Fusion) in Geneva, Switzerland and advises other technology startups from around the world.

Arcanys' team of 140+ works with small and medium businesses and startups to help them with their innovative software projects from the conceptualisation and design phase, to the full development of their web and mobile product.

Arcanys invests up to USD 100,000 in technology services and optionally up to USD 100,000 in cash in startups through its Venture Capital-funded Arcanys Labs program.

Jopin, as she is fondly called, is an experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. She is highly skilled in Public Affairs, Government, Branding & Identity, Entrepreneurship, and International Relations.

Join has unique acumen in business development, is a professional and advocate of economic empowerment for all, especially women and entrepreneurs.

Annabelle is a Certified Public Accountant who has served and managed various institutions since 1985 in Luzon like Mission Marketing Corp., Sterling Paper Products and Laguna Palawan Drug before she became a full time CPA practitioner at A.P.O. Accounting Office and an esteemed Senior Partner in 2017 at APO KPO & Co. CPAs.

Aside from going head on with serious stuff, Annabelle actively involves herself in civic activities by leading the Rotary Club of Puerto Princesa Central as president from 2012-2013, and by taking the helm of PTO Princesa Chamber of Commerce and Industry also as president in 2017.

Annabelle makes sure she is on top of her game by securing professional accreditations from Cooperative Development Authority, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Board of Accountancy.

Prasad Vanga is the founder & CEO of Anthill Ventures, a speed scaling platform for early growth stage startups. Within just two years, Anthill has built a startup portfolio of 21 companies across India, US and SE Asia that has grown by 150% in portfolio value. Prasad mentors several global startups to provide his expertise on ""Scaling with Speed”.

Prasad has over 18 years of experience in helping senior executives from large organizations like Symantec, Nike, Nestle, Novartis, Wachovia, HSBC and YES Bank to drive business transformations. His expertise is to help senior leaders discover the core competence of their organizations and design a change management framework that allows them to leverage their culture to drive large transformations.

Prasad brings a unique expertise of combining large corporate consulting ,entrepreneurship with startup investments experience. This experience enables him to combine corporate scalability and startup agility in creating an ADAPTABLE Enterprise.

He is board advisor to ISB (Indian School of Business) SRITNE center of excellence, Charter Member (TiE), Member (Hyderabad Angels) and an active Alumni of the Stanford Business School. His achievements have been quoted in several media including Forbes Asia, Business Standard, Economic times and Washington Post.

At BlastAsia we provide world class product engineering service to Software Companies all over the world. Over the last 12 years, we are proud to have build and extend Software IP for our client that currently serves numerous users and helps builds millions of dollars in value for all.

Through Xamun, a cloud based service we provide SMEs across the world a operations platform that enable them to manage better their projects, client engagements and people; empowering them to grow and build a more healthy business leveraging on the game changers like global workforce, outsourcing, best practices in project management and cloud technology.

At Asian Institute of Management, one of the top management schools in Asia, I get to interact with undergraduate students, practicing managers and executives in the classroom sharing my own experience and best practice in the field of Project Management and IT Strategy.

As an active member of Philippines Software Industry Association (PSIA), over last several terms as elected board member, I have been trying to give back my time and learnings to help strengthen and grow the industry, through this 170 plus corporate members of the industry association.

Through spring.ph, that we cofounded, we are helping the technology startup ecosystem grow and strengthen to gain its due potential. Its a co-operation between industry, academe and government to establish Philippines in the forefront of technology product innovations globally.

Rafael Padilla is a blockchain-focused commercial attorney and a professor of law at San Beda Alabang School of Law where he teaches Legal Interpretation, Constitutional Law, Tax and Transport Law. Rafael is also Legal & Compliance Officer at Bloom Solutions - one of the well-regarded blockchain remittance startups based in the Philippines; a co-founder of Fintech Philippines Association, a non-profit industry group that represents the interests of the local fintech community and their advocacy on financial inclusion; and the Organizer of two blockchain Meetup groups - the Manila Ethereum Meetup and the Makati Digital Currency Meetup.

Mark is an entrepreneur, a software engineer, and a technical coach.

He is a founder at Next Level, where he help teams build high quality and better software. A Principal Consultant atSymph, and Technology Strategy at Reapra.

Previously, he is a tech co-founder of Caresharing, a global software company building an online platform for implementing electronic health records of patients.

He is a computer programmer by profession, a mountain biker, a trail runner, and a parent.

He is passionate about using technology and software in helping solve the world’s biggest problems in healthcare and education.

At the age of 19, Fam Alonto graduated from Ateneo de Manila and immediately moved to San Francisco, California to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University. Fam has extensive technology entrepreneurship experience after working as a VC at PnP Ventures (seed investors of Paypal, Dropbox, Lending Club, Soundhound, etc), where she advised startups and helped them raise funds, giving a unique and fresh perspective as an Asian female millennial VC. She also ran incubators, conducted deal-flows with C-levels and SVPs of Fortune 500 companies, even when she was the youngest person in the room.

Before coming back to the Philippines, Fam co-founded and ran the PnP Travel & Hospitality Innovation Platform, a 12-week Silicon Valley based accelerator that aims to focus on innovation/disruption in the travel industry, in partnership with large corporations. Passionate about tech entrepreneurship, education and innovation, Fam has given lectures to students at Stanford University's School of Engineering and at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, and co-taught a Leadership & Strategy class at Ateneo de Manila University. Currently, Fam is team lead at Launchgarage, managing the companies portfolios and doing investor relations. Her hobbies include backpacking, skydiving, and traveling by herself around the world.

Taylor is an entrepreneur and business consultant with years of Web Development & Internet marketing experience. Current passions focused on Ethereum and Crypto-currencies. He works with a broad range of clients from tech start ups to local businesses.

Taylor has driven growth at several top technology startups, including:

• Mavenlink (5k to 500k+ customers; #1 app the entire Google Apps Marketplace for 3 years; $0 to 6-figures MRR)
• Pivotal Tracker (acq. EMC; 2x organic traffic to 500k+/mo, which drove 1000s of new signups)
• Pantheon (2x userbase and 4x MRR to mid 6-figures)
• SignNow (acq. by Barracuda Networks)
• Qualaroo (formerly Catchfree & KISSinsights)
• Helpshift (Growth)

Taylor graduated from Arizona State University, Summa Cum Laude, with a B.S. in Business and Finance.

He is an avid mountain biker, diver, snowboarder and adventure traveler. I've been fortunate enough to have traveled to over 30+ countries, looking forward to more.

Manny is the Managing Director of Endeavor Philippines, the third affiliate for Endeavor in Southeast Asia.

Manny has a long-standing interest in helping entrepreneurs become more successful in business and in helping them develop their “give back” acumen. Prior to Endeavor, Manny founded Hatchd, a tech incubator in the Philippines that has built a portfolio of consumer tech companies. He is also a past president of the Philippine Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization (“EO”), where he launched the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards across Asia.

Manny was a co-founder of IRG Ltd, a Hong Kong based M&A advisory boutique, where he worked on a variety of transactions in the Telecoms, Media and Tech sectors across the Asia Pacific. Prior to that, Manny spent several years in the Television industry in Asia, working for Discovery Channel and Turner Broadcasting in Strategy and Business Development roles.

Manny sits on the Board of Directors of Sky Cable. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Yale University.

The face of e27, Mohan Belani is the Co-Founder and CEO at Optimatic Pte. Ltd., where he also runs Asia's leading web technology event, Echelon. Aprt from events, he runs all business development and strategic partnership-related activities.

Mohan is also the co-founder of Gokil Games, a startup focused on the social gaming industry.

Mohan is an avid fan of Skyrim and loves mountain climbing. He loves meeting new people, anytime, anywhere. "

Gian is CEO and co-founder of InnoVantage - an AI startup focused on helping companies effectively engage their customers or employees and automate business processes using natural language, machine learning and automated workflows. He is also the founder of AI PH, a grassroots organization devoted to teaching developers create AI-enabled solutions and to helping individuals and groups understand the impact of AI on their day to day lives or businesses. Gian has held project delivery positions for global giants like HP and Unilever as well as technology leadership positions for US-based startups.

Diane is the Executive Director of IdeaSpace. She is responsible for managing the foundation’s flagship incubation and acceleration program. Prior to IdeaSpace, Diane served as Executive Assistant to the Head of Strategy for First Pacific Company Ltd where she gained exposure in closing deals, M&As and strategy management.

Diane also brings her experience in people and government relations, and manufacturing which she gained from previous roles in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and in the semiconductor manufacturing industry as manager of Analog Devices Philippines’ Total Quality Management Program.

​She took her undergraduate studies in B. A. Organizational Communication (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines – Manila, where she focused her research papers and thesis on team cohesion.

I'm now the Developer Evangelist at SMART.com.ph - check out SMART's APIs at http://developer.smart.com.ph - I'm also a startup evangelist for IdeaSpaceFoundation.org and co-founded SMARTDevNet (SMART Developer Network) - the Philippines fastest growing developer community as of 2014 with Jim Ayson.

Chris McCann started and runs the community program at Greylock Partners, a top tier VC fund. Previously he was the founder of the media company StartupDigest (acquired in 2012).

Wilson graduated with a Master’s in ITPM from National University of Singapore. He was conferred the Gold Medal award by the Singapore Computer Society for finishing at the top of his cohort. He also has certifications in IT business Continuity Management(Senior), Big Data Science Analysis from UC San Diego, PMI PMP, Machine Learning using R, Tableau, ITIL V3 Foundation and ITIL RCV 3.0.

Wilson takes the helm of Future Gen International Pte Ltd, a virtual services provider that includes call center, BPO, help desk, System Integration work. In this capacity his company provides Data Analytics consultancy,  Media Streaming service, and Data security services. Wilson also helps manages Farmout Central Intouch, a mid-sized BPO operation that has grown to over 200 seats.

Wilson is also one of the Tech Columnist for Manila Bulletin where he hopes to connect with budding startups and investors to be able to  tell their story for MB.

Miguel is the Country Manager of Payoneer Philippines, a leading cross-border payments company for small businesses and professionals worldwide. Founded in 2005 and based in New York, Payoneer is venture-backed, profitable and ranked in the top 100 of Inc. 5000’s Financial Services companies.

Miguel graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Management Engineering from the Ateneo De Manila University. He has been involved in financial technology (fintech) since 2003 with global solution providers such as FIS, SunGard and GFG Group (now Wirecard). Miguel has worked with banks, mobile payment operators and payment schemes (Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay) across South East Asia to deliver card, mobile and cross border payment solutions for consumer and business-to- business (B2B) payments.

A reluctant manager with a dislike for offices has lead a rockstar team to create the Philippines’ most innovative and successful coworking brand. London-born, Manila-resident, Matthew has worked worldwide for 20 years in brands, media and start-ups, supporting what he describes as the “innovation community: a global tribe of awesome”.

After completing his Bachelor in Arts degree in Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2000, Carlo Calimon entered the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in 2003 for his MBA degree where he majored in Marketing and graduated on the Dean’s List. Soon thereafter, he joined the Let’s Go Foundation (Leading Entrepreneurs Towards Seizing Global Opportunities), a non-profit, non-stock organization advocating entrepreneurship. Currently he is a Director of the foundation.

Aside from being an advocate of entrepreneurship, Carlo is also an entrepreneur. He is co-owner of several companies mostly focused on innovation in training, food and various services.

Carlo also won several awards. Rappler and Smart rawarded him as the Boss for Mobile Readiness during the BeTheBoss Awards in 2015. The World Marketing Congress recognized him as among the 100 Most Influential Global Marketers of the World in 2015 as well as included him in the Best Marketers Listing 2016. He also went to New Zealand to take part in the Young Business Leaders Initiative where he got a certificate from the University of Auckland. He was a finalist of the Global Social Venture Competition, a global business plan competition conducted in Hyderabad India. Also, he is part of the group that recently won Venture Capital Investment from the MVP group through the Ideaspace Foundation.

Lastly, Carlo is also an educator. Carlo previously taught entrepreneurship in the Asian Institute of Management, Assumption College, De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business under the ACE Center for Entrepreneurship and Management Excellence (ACEME). He is also a trainer and an Angelpreneur of GoNegosyo which allows him to reach and spread entrepeneurship to more people around the country. His topics of focus are Mindsetting, Visioning, Product Development and Marketing as well as Innovation.

He continues his advocacy by guiding and mentoring entrepreneurs, especially start-ups, in StartUp Village, the newest incubator/accelerator in the Philippines where he is a Director.

Goldy considers her work meaningful in IdeaSpace Foundation, Inc. as Associate Director for Business Development & Partnerships.

Building a management career in IT companies across gaming, digital content provision and startup sectors in the past 7 years, with various roles in product, operations and P&L, Goldy has served witness to the power that innovation can unleash in an enterprise.

Goldy holds a masters degree in Technology Management at The University of the Philippines, Diliman, and took her Business Economics degree at the same institution where she graduated cum laude. It is her goal to delve further into baseline and progressive ecosystems, and contribute to the technopreneurial appetite of the region. She is grateful to be a Professional Fellow from the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative.

Goldy’s advocacy is to enable innovation opportunities for startups and those who want to be part of the community. She shares the belief that opportunities should trickle down and be inclusive. Fortunately, her role allows her to engage with institutions that share the same belief and co-conspire ways to amplify the effects of catalyzing technopreneurship. She loves connecting people and getting stakeholders together to collaborate on achieving shared goals. 

Goldy also loves to travel, write and does yoga.

Cecilia / Ceeli Martinez-Miranda runs Josan Farms, Inc., a company that works to combine creativity and community to establish place-based community assets. She is also the co-convener of CreateCebu, an initiative to promote art, culture and creative economy in Cebu.

In high school, Ceeli co-founded WE International Philippines, an NGO supporting garbage scavengers in Tondo, Manila. She then moved to Saint Paul where she earned her B.A. in International Studies and Education from Macalester College. Before returning to the Philippines, she managed a youth-run flower shop in Minneapolis and developed philanthropic strategy for the Sundance Family Foundation.

Ceeli is a StartingBloc Fellow, WEF Global Shaper, and winner of a Davis’ Project for Peace.

Sagiv Massad is a retired Israeli Ari-Force Brigadier General with a service of 30 years as a combat pilot. His last position with the Air force was the head of the operations planning. He served as the Israel Defense Attaché to Korea, Vietnam, Philippines and Australia from 2005-2008. Currently Sagiv is the Director for Technology and Cyber Security of Business Profiles, an established security consultancy firm specializing in Enterprise-Wide Risk Management and Corporate Business Security.

Prior to working at Business Profiles, he also served as the General Director of SNP International and a New Hospital Project Manager at Family Medical Practice in Vietnam.

Sagiv graduated in Tel Aviv University with an EMBA Business Administration, Management and Operations.

Seasoned brand strategist specialising in communications, creative storytelling & content marketing. Founder of a Singapore-based content strategy firm, Frame 316. Robert has produced content for Microsoft, Pfizer, Standard Chartered & Randstad employing a story-centric approach which focuses on human experience rather than product or service features.

He has extensive experience in content design for inbound marketing which includes conceptualising, execution & distribution of intelligent content for lead generation and customer acquisition.

His storytelling skills have landed him international recognition such as placing second in the APEC Video Contest 2015 and semi-finalist for Our Good Story Asia 2014 and Our Better World Story of the Year 2015.

Ben Kim is the Co-Founder and Principal of Apical Design, a UX and Product Design Agency in Los Angeles and Manila. Born in Korea but now living in Los Angeles, Ben was formerly the UX Researcher for UXPin, a Silicon Valley startup. He has also created experiences for global brands like Lexus. He has spoken at UX conferences and taught several design lectures in the United States, Philippines, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Carlo Delantar is an award-winning social entrepreneur working at the nexus of environmental opportunities and challenges in the Philippines. Co-Founder of Altum; A sustainable manufacturer of furniture and interior decor built on Circular Economy principles, Carlo collaborates with hotels, retailers and brands to bring designs from concept to form. Carlo is also the Country Director of Waves For Water (W4W), a global non-profit providing access to clean water. The aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan inspired Carlo to become involved in humanitarian efforts and through W4W, Carlo has helped over 1,000,000 individuals in remote communities across the Philippines set up rainwater storage and filtration systems. Awarded with the Development Award (second highest distinction for civilians) and the Bayanihan Award from President Duterte, Carlo is also recognized as a Top 30 under 30 innovator by numerous publications. Carlo was named a Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum and attended the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in 2017 as the youngest male attendee.

Cattski Espina is a musician, singer songwriter and record producer. She was first recognized in 2001 when her debut album ""Cattski"" was released. Fast forward to 2017 with 5 albums and one on the way, Cattski Espina's presence in Cebu has never been stronger.

As the founder and force behind 22 Tango Records, a non-traditional, independent record label and music publishing house that promotes homegrown talent, Espina's traction in the local music scene has organically elevated her into becoming the influencer and leader that she is now. 22Tango Records currently hones 14 in-house talents and is supported by institutional partners and major commercial establishments spread across the city. Her role in propagating the music culture on an industry level is evident in the platforms 22 Tango Records has opened -- annual music summits, school tours, music makers' bootcamps and one-on-one sessions.

Recently performing under the name 'Mother Folker', Cattski continues to mentor musicians, widen the community and pilot 22 Tango Records into realising the vision of making Cebu a destination for music.

Alvin hails from a background in Film, Multimedia and Web Development. With great timing, he eventually transitioned into the young field of Video Game Development and now takes part in incubating and building the Philippine Digital Creative Industry.

He is the Creative Services Industry Champion for the Board of Investments, Board Trustee for the IT Business Process Association of the Philippines, and the Animation Council and the currently the 4 term President & Chairman of the Game Developers Association of the Philippines.

Haifa Carina is a community builder who leads and promotes various initiatives for the Philippine tech community and volunteers for Developers Connect (DevCon) Philippines.

Currently, she’s the Senior Manager for Market Development at Amihan Global Strategies, a strategic consulting company that designs and implements digital transformation alongside its clients. She’s the former Executive Director for DevCon Philippines, a national volunteer organization promoting collaborative growth and competence among developers in the Philippines. Prior to DevCon, Haifa was an iOS developer, project manager and consultant. She has bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Ateneo de Cagayan – Xavier University.

Yobie Benjamin is a successful venture investor and innovator in life sciences, IoT, FinTech, sustainability and consumer products. In recognition of his technology achievements in virtual reality, the World Economic Forum named him as a 2015 Technology Pioneer.

Currently Mr. Benjamin is an Innovation Fellow at 4iNNO, working on health care disruption with several Fortune 100 firms.

He is also senior advisor and mentor to several startups in the technology and synthetic biology space — AstroDigital.com (satellites and space imagery, satellite communications), CambrianInnovation.com (clean water and clean power), Stilla (wearables), WildlifeWorks.com (forest and wildlife conservation/carbon credits), WearableWorld (IoT accelerator), Moni.com (payments/FinTech), Filld.com (fuel and energy delivery) and IndieBio (synthetic biology accelerator).

Mr. Benjamin is also the Consulting CTO of ClickSWITCH.com, a service that helps financial institutions become more competitive by solving the complex problem of switching account holders’ direct deposits and electronic payments to new accounts. He also serves as CTO Emiritus of Token.io, providing software to banks that enables them to issue a new payment type designed specifically for use in the digital era. Mr. Benjamin has recently raised $18.5MM for Token.

Mr. Benjamin is a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Faster Payments Task Force. He is also an adjunct lecturer at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, teaching an executive education course on Global Angel Investing.

Previously, Mr. Benjamin was Global Chief Technology Officer for Citibank Institutional Clients Group/Global Transaction Services. He was also Chairman of Citi’s Research Development Innovation & Learning Center. For many years, Mr. Benjamin was a Partner and Chief of Global Strategy at Ernst & Young, LLP.

He was a co-founder of Avegant, where he led the software development of the next generation of virtual reality and augmented/mixed reality devices (winner of a 2014 CNN Top 10 Technology Products award for the Avegant Glyph and Skully Systems AR1 Helmet).

Mr. Benjamin has also served as Managing Director/Partner at Computer Sciences Corporation. He was former chair for a civilian volunteer group NASA AMES Collaboration Labs.

He is currently writing a book, ""Tribes of the Valley"" chronicling the different power tribes and groups in Silicon Valley. It is due for publication in Q3 of 2018.

As the President of the Philippine Software Industry Association, Jonathan leads the way for the Information Technology industry of the Philippines.

He is also the Founder and CEO of CMI Tech, a software innovations company involved in developments in web, mobile and cloud solutions for various verticals.

Jonathan’s latest conquest is to create the Philippines’ Silicon Valley. Spring Valley was created to address the need for a venue where Innovation and Technology is cultivated and nurtured in terms of talent development and intellectual property creation. Spring Valley aims to be Asia and the Pacific’s answer to Silicon Valley in the US – with a few exciting tweaks!

The main goal of Spring Valley is to become a Melting Pot of talented technology experts and innovators whose focus is to design, develop and deploy game-changing creations and inventions that will help make this world a better place.

Jonathan is a seasoned independent World Bank Consultant for global information technology initiatives responsible for the design and implementation of such projects as the Center of Excellence in IT-BPO for Central Africa, the feasibility study of the Malili Technopark in Kenya as well as a multitude of talent mapping initiatives in Southeast Asia. He has been invited on numerous occasions to lecture about outsourcing and off- shoring at various events and conferences in all parts of the world.

He is known simply as JDL within the different sectors of business processing, information technology and innovation. He holds a Political Science degree from the De La Salle University.

Lawyer Jocelle Batapa-Sigue is a three-termer councilor of the City of Bacolod responsible for promoting Bacolod to become a Center of Excellence for Information and Communications Technology-Business Process Management (ICT-BPM in the Philippines) in 2013.

She lead local stakeholders in 2004 as a new councilor to develop strategies to attract ICT-enabled jobs and opportunities to the countryside, and saw the city moved from 5th in 2009 to 3rd in 2012 in the annual Top Next Wave Cities in the Outsourcing and Off-shoring Industry of the Philippines from 2009 to 2012 and from No. 100 in 2010 to currently No. 85 City in the Tholons International Top 100 Cities in the World for Outsourcing.

Today she plays a vital role as founder, former president and current trustee in charge of eGovernance of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP), a network of more than 50 ICT Councils created in various cities and provinces in the country. She leads NICP's annual search for best eGovernance practices for local government units.

In 2013, she was awarded as Philippine Individual ICT Contributor of the Year Awarded by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines and IT-Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) for her contribution to inclusive growth by providing mentorship to new ICT councils.

In 2016, she was recognized as one of The Outstanding Women in Nation Service (TOWNS) of the Philippines in the field of ICT.

She is the 2012 Eisenhower Fellow of the Philippines in the Eisenhower Fellowships Multi-Nation Program with her fellowship focused on ICT, ICT startups, animation and game development and health care information management. She currently leads the management of the technology business incubation center of Negros Occidental.

Calen Legaspi founded Orange & Bronze Software Labs in 2005, a Philippine software development company that implements large, mission-critical systems for multinational companies across industries - including telecommunications, banking, and healthcare. Many of the systems O&B develops handle millions of concurrent users and billions of dollars worth of financial transactions.

Calen has initiated programs that support the Philippine academe: by providing training to teachers through the Philippine Society of Information Technology Educators, authoring technology modules for TESDA, developing responsive IT education curricula for the Commission on Higher Education, and contributing to programs aimed at enhancing the skills of IT educators.

Calen is a Sun Certified Enterprise Architect, Certified Web Component Developer, and a Certified Java Programmer. He co-founded the Association of Philippine Java Developers and served as the organization's president for six years. He is currently the chair of the technical council and board member of the Philippine Software Industry Association.

Dan Clarke is SEO consultant, conference speaker, contributing author, and thought leader in the digital marketing space; with broad international experience of SEO, SEM, Social Media, Online Marketing, and Web Development. Agency & Client side.

Dan has almost a decade of experience consulting some of the worlds largest brands, including Groupon, HSBC, Nissan, Adidas, and Zalora, having worked extensively in Europe, the Middle East, and South East Asia.

A Google Adwords Certified Professional, Dan currently runs his own consultancy from Singapore with clients across APAC and MENA.

The startup culture is not for everybody, especially those with backgrounds working for large organizations with fully formed processes and the top technology tools at their disposal to complete their work goals. The first thing that separated Norlin from others at her level is she never focused on what wasn’t available to her; she used the tools that were available to get the job done.

Norlin has a strong ability to prioritize. While building out these rudimentary systems, she still had many other essential responsibilities including maintaining client relationships, managing dozens of employees, helping implement new processes internally, and managing multiple new projects to deadline. Norlin knew exactly what tasks she could push, when she could push them, and was able to communicate changes in priorities well in advance so everybody’s expectations were being met.

Norlin relishes the role of being a mentor and advisor to fellow leaders within the organization that have less experience while also listening to those experienced voices around her to continue her own development.

Most importantly, Norlin understands that her role as a leader doesn’t mean she needs to do everything on her own. She can create and share a vision, select the right people to perform the right functions to move those projects forward, trust them to get the work done, and remain a pillar of support that inspires the people she oversees to invest in her and the goals of the company. These are amazing traits to have for anybody let alone with Norlin’s amount of time in the management role.

Ravi is a serial entrepreneur who previously founded three companies in Boston, two of which have had exits: today they employ over 3,000 people and one is public (NASDAQ:EIGI). Ravi has invested in several companies as an angel investor in the US and Asia, and is also a Limited Partner in 500 Startups.

Many moons ago, he was chosen by Entrepreneur Magazine in their ""3rd Annual 10 under 30"" - top 10 business people under the age of 30 years old. He is co-inventor of a US Patent on Internet security, patent #8,566,938.

In 2011, he volunteered with Grameen Foundation in Ghana and Uganda working on mHealth and mAgriculture programs. Based on market gaps he saw, he then co-founded engageSPARK, a social enterprise based in Cebu, Philippines, to help organizations of all sizes interact with anyone via any phone using Automated Voice Calls, 2-way SMS, and Facebook Messenger - at scale. engageSPARK has been used in 130+ countries and includes customers such as Facebook, Google, and UNICEF. engageSPARK has recently raised funding from both 500 Startups and 500 Durians, as well as xchange.ph, a Manila based social impact investor.

Mr. Ibrahim is currently with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as Undersecretary. Prior to this, he became an Executive Consultant to the Secretary. He also served as Deputy Executive Director of the then Information and Communications Technology Office under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-ICTO) from July 2011 to June 2016 and Commissioner of the former Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) from 2007 until June 30, 2011.

He started his career in the IT industry in 1975 as a Systems Trainee at NCR Philippines. In the course of his extensive involvement in the industry, he has worked for multinational companies like Fujitsu, WeServ, Siemens-Nixdorf, Comparex Germany and Unisys Australia in various executive positions.

He joined the Philippine Computer Society in 1990 and served as President in 2004-2005 and was the President of the PCS Foundation in 2005-2006. He also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Southeast Asia Regional Computer Confederation in 2004-2005.

Mr. Ibrahim served as Chair of the APEC Electronic Commerce Steering Group(ECSG) from 2011-2012 after having Chaired the Paperless Trading Subgroup of ECSG for 2 years. He also served as the ASEAN TELSOM Leader of the Philippines from 2009-11.

He was a member of the Board of Advisers of the De La Salle University College of Computer Studies and the University of the Philippines Information Technology Development Center (UPITDC). Currently, he is a Trustee and President  of the University of the Philippines System Information Technology Foundation (UPSITF). He is also serving his 9th term as member of the Technical Panel for Information Technology Education (TPITE) of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

He did his B. S. Major in Chemistry at the Far Eastern University and Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business for his post graduate studies. He completed a Public Sector Executive Program on Innovative Government at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore.

During the 2012 International ICT Awards organized by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, he was given the ICT Individual Contributor Award for his contributions to the growth of the Philippine IT-BPO Industry. He was also recently named as one of the Ten ICT Industry Movers and Shakers for the period 2002-2012 and recipient of the Boards’ Choice as Government Champion, both given by the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP).

He is also a recipient of Saphire Flare for Brilliance in the recently concluded 1st iBPAP Flare Awards on the 28th of October 2016, for his key contributions to the Roadmap 2012-2016 where he organized 32 ICT Councils that helped in establishing the Next Wave Cities as well as for being instrumental in sustaining developments of the Philippine cyberservices.

Joey is the Vice President and Head of PLDT Enterprise Core Business Research and Development, concurrent Head of PLDT Research and Innovations Laboratory (Innolab), and Head of Smart Wireless Mainstream Enterprise Solutions.

With long years of experience in the Telecom industry ranging from marketing, pricing, channel management, marketing research and development, product development and service quality, Joey has encouraged and lead innovation and paved the way for future communications through leading his team into generating new technologies and solutions serving both the local enterprise and global market. He has a wide grasp on the workings of WAN/LAN technologies and bundling Telco/IT solutions for BPO, banking and other emerging industries. He has solid understanding of the Asia Pacific and US telecom market through the exposure with global telecom players.

Joey is one of the pioneers of PLDT’s data services and spearheaded the creation of PLDT’s cloud computing portfolio.

Other than his contributions to the telecommunications industry, he is also an entrepreneur himself and has undeniable passion for traveling, various sports and music.

Rico Sta. Cruz is the developer behind many popular open source JavaScript libraries in use today. He is one of the top contributors at GitHub, previously hosted of JSConf Asia, and organized the Philippine JavaScript community Manila.js. Today, he’s the Chief Creative Officer at Mashup Garage.

Jay is a serial tech entrepreneur, a coder, and a soccer player.

He is currently co-founder and CEO of Ruby development shop PROUDCLOUD, co-founder and CTO of healthtech startup MEDIFI, and the founder and CEO of LAUNCHGARAGE, an innovation hub based in Manila.

In 2002, he founded Wi-Fi hotspot network Airborne Access, which was acquired by PLDT in 2008.

As a regular speaker at local and international forums on the South East Asian startup ecosystem, and holding roles as director, advisor, and mentor in various tech startups, Jay is considered to be one of the pioneers and thought leaders of the Philippine tech startup scene.

Joey Gurango started his IT career way back in 1982, when he got a job with Apple Computer as a product support engineer for the Lisa computer, the predecessor to the Macintosh. Then in 1986, he worked as a programmer at Microsoft on version 1.0 of Excel for Windows. He moved back to the Philippines in 1991 to start his own software company called Match Data Systems, which he sold to Great Plains Software in 1999 and was acquired by Microsoft in 2003. He worked as a Microsoft executive between 1999 and 2003, first as the Managing Director for the business solutions software development team, then as the Asia-Pacific Regional Director for Products and Services.

He is currently the CEO and CTO of Gurango Software, an award-winning global provider of Human Capital Management solutions, serving over 500 customers in 15 different countries. In addition to leading Gurango Software, Joey has co-founded or mentored several start-ups, co-founded the SPRING.ph LaunchPad program, and has been President of the Philippine Software Industry Association (2013-2014). He is currently an Independent Director of Xurpas Inc. and Managing Director of Kation Technologies.

Joey’s advocacy is to grow the Philippine software industry to become a major contributor to nation-building.

Jackie holds the reigns of the Senior Level Executive office with extensive hands-on experience in Management, Entrepreneurship and working with Board of Directors and Banks. She positioned incumbent group of companies for growth by building international networks in the industry and affiliate businesses, developing business strategies and financial models in coordination with business unit heads and spearheading the industry’s efforts to bridge the gap between education and the real market requirements. She also manages relationships with venture capital partners.

Jackie works closely with the business development team and its subsidiary heads to implement and maintain fiscal plans for projects, departments, and company mission objectives. She promoted the Philippine animation and gaming industry abroad by attending various international conferences, and she co-produced a season long major release in 2015.

More interestingly, Jackie is managing director & co - founder of Synergy88 Digital Inc., a Manila-based Art-strong Creative Digital Solutions Studio with representative offices in the US, UK and Singapore.. The studio provides a wide range of services for the production of Games and Non-game applications across diverse platforms and do comprehensive variety of work on AAA titles, with services expanded to multi-platform game development in Unity, Unreal and Substance, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Motion Capture, 3D architectural visualization, Mobile game publishing and Live Operations.

The company has the distinction of being the country’s first and only so far, Microsoft Certified Supplier for 3D game art and takes pride in the studio’s great team who worked on “The Gears of War 4” released in October, 2016 and CD Projekt Red’s “The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine.”

Jackeline maintains professional affiliations with Game Developers Association of the Philippines, Animation Council of the Philippines, & Women in Animation.

Mr. Jojo Flores is the Co-Founder of Plug and Play Tech Center , a Silicon Valley based technology startup accelerator, which he started in January 2006. He is involved in the overall strategic planning and his immediate focus is on building strategic alliances in the Philippines and other reigns of South East Asia. In the Philippines, Jojo is Co-Founder & COO of Launchgarage, which started operations in March 2016. Patterned after Plug and Play, Launchgarage is an incubator co-working space, accelerator, and investor for tech startups in the Philippines and the ASEAN region.

Jon Cholak is a venture investment professional who serves as a start up mentor at Plug & Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, CA. Jon is also on the venture investment team at USAA; with nearly $500M in committed capital, Jon manages direct investments in Software, Security, IoT, Consumer, and Financial Services technology companies. Jon represents USAA on the boards of directors for Roostify, Robin Systems, CafeX Communications, Automatic Labs and PrecisionHawk. Jon previously served on the board of Saffron Technology (acquired by Intel in October 2015).

Prior to joining USAA, Jon worked for Intel Corporation and Deloitte Consulting, LLP. While at Intel, Jon managed a portfolio of early-stage internal ventures designed to provide non-core organic revenue growth. During his tenure at Deloitte Consulting, Jon worked with numerous private and public sector clients concentrating on strategic management, process reengineering, and systems modernization and integration.

Jon holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems and International Business from New York University, an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin.

Chris Co-Heads Corporate Finance Asia for North Ridge Partners which works with leading high-growth technology companies on raising capital, growth by mergers & acquisitions and achieving exits. Based in Singapore Chris covers the South East Asia region and recent assignments include companies in:

• IOT/ Telematics;
• Digital Media/ eCommerce;
• Fintech;
• Cloud/ Data and Security Services.

Chris previously served as:

• an investment manager for funds managed by North Ridge Partners;
• an Executive Director in ASX listed, APD a 360 degree digital services business, where Chris headed Asia strategy execution and M&A;
• an observer board member for aCommerce.

He has been an active investor, operator and corporate financier for over 18 years.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the CFA Society in Singapore.

On behalf of the firm, Chris also speaks at various conferences such as the Echelon Asia Summit, SheWorx Asia and ASEAN deal sourcing plaza by KOTRA.

Jason has been leading Ruby on Rails engineering teams for many years and has successfully launched a couple of startups and dozens of internal and client products.

A ruby developer, he invents webtoys. He takes CTO roles.

Jason focuses on high quality, test driven, well designed projects only. He is open for collaboration on new things. He’s interested on new and cutting-edge technologies but delivery and quality is more important for him.

Jason has been focusing on Ticketbase.com recently.

He runs MashupGarage, a new startup that focuses on high-end product development and technical leadership. Recently: TicketBase, LawAdvisor.

He also owns Proudcloud, a Ruby on Rails service company with about 30+ Ruby on Rails engineers. This company helps build client products and their teams.

Jason is actively looking for people to join him in his companies."

In a country where technology is needed in almost every aspect of the culture, Christian finds his purpose being in the Philippines. He believes he can disrupt; cause change and inspire through technology. He runs a 40+ man staff all in which believe in his skills to do so.

Robertson graduated top of his class with a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science from Ateneo de Manila University in 1991. After college, he worked for 2years at Citibank Philippines as a Systems Analyst. He went on to pursue a MBA degree at Babson Graduate School of Business in the USA. His intention was to balance his tech training with a business angle. After school, Robertson returned to Manila to start a small Internet Service Provider. The Internet craze was just starting in thePhilippines and a lot of players were jumping into the bandwagon. It was during this time, that Robertson struggled for a couple of years, until they were acquired by the biggest local private ISP. Robertson joined the bigger ISP initially as head of technology and eventually resigned in 2012 to work full-time on Dragonpay, his own startup.

Aldo is the is Co-Founder and CEO of GlycoProX Biosciences (GPX). GPX combines next generation glycomics (carbohydrates), instrumentation (LC/MS) and deep machine learning to augment cancer diagnosis, biomarker and target discovery for the development of more efficacious therapeutics. He is also the Founder and COO/CTO of San Francisco based, Veem (formerly know as Align Commerce and the world's largest cross border payment processor on the blockchain). Veem uses the blockchain to replace the outdated SWIFT system and it is changing the way global payments are sent and received across the world, making the process much simpler, faster, more transparent and secure. Prior to founding GPX and Veem, Aldo was the Founder and Founding CTO of Jukin Technologies / Jukin Media – one of the world's largest User Generated Content (UGC) licensing platforms. Aldo has been featured on CNN, Bloomberg, ANC and The Cube for his “zero to one” work on healthcare, global finance and digital media, collectively, his ventures have created ~$500M in value for investors. Aldo has an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Babson and and is a graduate of the Ateneo De Manila University.

Mikko was also an investment manager at Next Century Partners, where he managed private equity on behalf of Soros Fund Management, LLC and several institutional investors. He was also an investment banker at JP Morgan Chase (Hambrecht & Quist) in San Francisco where he advised technology, media, and telecom ventures.

Mikko serves on the board of several companies and foundations. Having begun his career as a community organizer helping build social enterprises in the Philippines, he remains actively involved in initiatives that support social entrepreneurship and sustainable development in emerging markets.

Mikko holds a BSC in Management (with Honors) and a BA in Development Studies (with Honors & Award for Excellence) from the Ateneo de Manila University, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.