Board of Advisors

Mr Ben KING

Managing Director, Google Singapore

Ben King was appointed as Country Director for Google Singapore in mid-2019, and was subsequently promoted to Country Managing Director in 2021. He is responsible for Google’s sales and business development operations both within the country and as a hub for the region.

Prior to this appointment, Ben ran sales and business development operations for Google Thailand between 2015 and 2019. He has also worked with various Google businesses across a diverse range of countries in South and Southeast Asia including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Before joining Google in 2012, Ben worked at Microsoft Advertising Australia. Joining the business shortly after its launch in the country, he held a number of roles as the business grew into a significant player within the performance marketing space.

Ben is part of the Sentosa Development Corporation Board, sits on the board of advisors for the School of Computing and Information Systems of the Singapore Management University, and sits on the SGTech Council in the capacity of co-opted councilor.

Ben has a BA in Media and Communications from the University of Sydney, Australia, majoring in Media, History and Ancient History.

Mr Desmond WONG

Managing Director, Accenture

Desmond Wong is currently a Managing Director with Accenture. He joined the Company in 2008 after graduating from the Singapore Management University with a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems.

He has over 11 years of professional technology consulting and business development experience, having led and delivered various digital transformation and modernisation business solutions for clients in the health and public service sector in ASEAN.  Desmond also advocates and spearheads the innovation initiatives in Accenture.

Mr LIANG Xinjun

Co-founder, Fosun Group

Mr. Liang is a Chinese entrepreneur, who is the co-founder of Fosun Group, one of the largest civilian-run enterprises in China. He had been the Vice Chairman of the Group since its establishment in 1992 until March 2017, and had also served as its President and CEO. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of XIN Fund Management Pte. Ltd., a MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore)-licensed family office and fund manager.

Mr. Liang received his Bachelor’s degree in Genetic Engineering from Fudan University in 1991, his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in 2007 and his Doctor’s Degree in Global Financial Business administration from Arizona State University in 2015.

Mr. Liang's current social responsibilities include the following:    

• Member of Private Equity & Investment Fund Committee for the Asset Management Association of China
• Chief Investment Expert for the Insurance Association of China
• Director of Tongji University’s Board of Trustees

Ms Marjet ANDRIESSE

General Manager and Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific, Red Hat

Marjet Andriesse is a seasoned leader, with over 25 years of vast international experience in driving customer satisfaction, sales, and revenue growth. She has been instrumental in successful transition and organizational management for technology and professional services firms across Europe and Asia.

As general manager and vice president of Red Hat in Asia Pacific, Marjet is responsible for the next phase of the company’s growth in the region, as well as leading initiatives to enable customer success with open hybrid cloud technology. Marjet also manages engagement with enterprise customers and emerging technologies sales and support capabilities.

Throughout her career, Marjet has been a passionate advocate for workplace diversity and has been acknowledged for her forward thinking leadership. This includes her role as Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) council for Red Hat APAC and has been recognized as one of the Techleaders for the inaugural SG100 Women in Tech in 2020.

Marjet’s experience spans industries, including logistics and telecommunications, as well as HR services in a variety of leadership positions. Before joining Red Hat, she was the managing director of Telstra in Asia Pacific and was responsible for delivering the company’s corporate strategy in the region. Prior to Telstra, Marjet’s career also included working with Randstad and KPN NV in national and international management positions across Europe and Asia.

Marjet is a Dutch native and holds a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

Mr Sam LIEW

Chief Executive Officer, NCS

Sam is Chief Executive Officer of NCS and leads NCS as an AI-led Technology Services company focused on AI platforms and products, embedding AI into how organisation designs, builds, and operates systems, and developing deep AI talent and expertise across the organisation.

With more than 28 years of industry experience, Sam was the Managing Director of Technology Group at GIC, responsible for delivering Technology, Data Analytics and Data Science projects and initiatives, across GIC globally. Prior to GIC, Sam was Managing Director at Accenture ASEAN Technology. He also led Accenture's Asia Pacific Communications Centre of Excellence for more than 5 years delivering business solutions across Asia. He was also a member of Accenture's Global Technology Leadership Council and ASEAN Geographical Leadership Council.

Ms Verena SIOW

President and Managing Director, SAP Southeast Asia

Verena Siow is responsible for leading customer success, accelerating customer transformation into intelligent enterprises, and driving innovation adoption in the region. She oversees SAP’s business across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and other emerging markets in Southeast Asia.

Verena is an accomplished leader with more than 23 years’ experience in sales, business development and start-ups in the technology sector across Asia and the Americas and has played a significant role in building businesses from the ground up. She was most recently the Managing Director, SAP Indochina, responsible for scaling the business. With her focus on building trust and shared success with employees, partners and customers, SAP Indochina has achieved strong growth and high leadership trust and employee engagement scores. Prior to that, Verena was the Managing Director of Strategic Conglomerates, SAP Southeast Asia, where she successfully supported the top conglomerates across the region with a vision of building long-term relationships and establishing transformation roadmaps for enterprises in ASEAN. She is a strong advocate of driving diversity and inclusion to promote different perspectives and improve business outcomes.

Mr Vikram SUBRAHMANYAM

Global Technology Transformation Lead, Citibank N.A.

Vikram Subrahmanyam is the Global Transformation Technology Lead at Citibank and is responsible for the prioritization and delivery of all planning and execution tooling and reporting solutions for Citi's Consent Order Transformation program, based in New York. Prior to this, as the Asia Pacific Regulatory and Cross-Enterprise Transformation Lead based in Singapore, he was responsible for the oversight and delivery of key regulatory, and cross-franchise and strategic projects in Asia-Pacific.

Earlier, he was the Managing Director and Head of Operations & Technology for the Asia Pacific region, where he was responsible for driving Citi‘s Operations and Technology strategy leading a team of 32,000 employees across multiple geographies and Citi‘s Service Centers (CSCs) in Asia. He was also the Head of Citicorp Services India Private Limited and the Head of Operations & Technology for South Asia. Under Vikram‘s leadership, the O&T headcount in South Asia more than doubled to 10,000 employees, a reflection of the rapid expansion of the India CSC and its importance in Citi‘s global network.

Before that, he was the Head of Operations & Technology for Citi in Japan and the Head of Operations & Technology for Citi in Indonesia.

Vikram started his career with Citi in 1991 in cards operations in Chennai, India. He has extensive experience across business and operations in credit cards, retail banking, transaction banking, custodial services, capital markets, product management, sales, and customer service.

He has also led a number of technology transformations during this time, ranging from the replacement of the corporate banking platform in India, through the retail banking platform in Indonesia, and the credit card platform in Japan.

Vikram has an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and also holds a Master‘s in Information Technology from the University of Stirling, UK and a Bachelor‘s degree in Physics from Loyola College, Madras, India.