Brand Finance Global Forum 2021 - The Rise of Asian Brands

David is the Chairman and CEO of Brand Finance Plc – the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. He has worked in the area of branded business, brand, and intangible asset valuation since 1991. He specialised entirely in the field after becoming the Director of Brand Valuation for Interbrand in 1995. He subsequently left Interbrand in 1996 to launch Brand Finance which is celebrating 25 years in business this year.

David represented the British Standards Institution in the working parties responsible for crafting international industry standards: ISO 10668 on Brand Valuation in 2010 and ISO 20671 on Brand Evaluation in 2019.

David is a passionate writer and has authored many articles on brand valuation, published in numerous marketing and finance newspapers and magazines, such as: Financial Times, Accountancy Age, and Marketing Week. He has also lectured on the topic of brand valuation for Harvard, Chicago, and London Business Schools.

David graduated from Bristol University with an English degree, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London, and obtained a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He is a Fellow of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and has a practising certificate with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

With a global career spanning over 20 years across brand, marketing, communications, consulting and financial Industry, Samir has a wealth of experience across global strategy, research, IP management, corporate communication, PR, global brand management, M&A branding, and advertising.Previously, as a global brand controller at Standard Chartered Bank, Samir managed the global brand agenda with strong focus on global brand strategy, global brand tracking research/KPIs, internal communication, brand and business integration and brand architecture & alignment during M&A.In his various roles across marketing communications and advertising, Samir has worked across industry segments including FMCG, retail, hospitality, industrial products, automobiles, electronics, beverages, mobile telephony, pharma & healthcare, NGOs, airlines etc.Samir is an i-advisor with IE Singapore, an external speaker, contributes to teaching and curriculum inputs at Marketing Institute if Singapore and at other reputed management institutes.In the past 12 months, Samir has been driving marketing and business acceleration strategies for B2B and B2C segments alike, across industry and consumer segments like pharma, insurance, banking and finance, education, retail, internet/on-line and advertising communications.

Veetika is an experienced professional with varied sectoral background across - Hospitality, Retail, Financial Services, Telecom and Consumer Goods. Skilled in Digital Strategy, Data and Analytics, Business Planning, Strategic Planning, Product Management, Consumer Strategy, Brand and Marketing Management and PR.

She has a strong marketing and finance professional with a Fulbright Scholarship for Leadership and Strategy from Carnegie Mellon University - Tepper School of Business.

Dilhan C. Fernando is the younger son of Dilmah Founder Merrill J. Fernando. A graduate of the London School of Economics and currently CEO of Dilmah Tea, as Trustee of the Merrill J. Fernando Foundation, and Director of Dilmah Conservation he directs the fulfillment of his father's unique commitment to  serving humanity and environment through business.  Dilhan serves as  Chair of UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka and Biodiversity Sri Lanka, a pioneering environmental collaboration amongst the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, IUCN and Dilmah Conservation.

Robin is an award-winning strategist with over 25 years of experience in developing disruptive brand, marketing and creative communications strategies for many leading corporations. He began his advertising career working on Rover Cars and Sony in the UK, before moving to Asia in 1991 to join the highly regarded Ball Partnership in Singapore. Now, as Chief Strategy Officer, Robin leads a multi-disciplinary group of strategists across one of the world’s most dynamic and exciting regions and is responsible for the implementation of Disruption across this footprint.

Scott co-founded Brand Finance China where he is currently Managing Director for the company. Over the past 3 years he has led the China team, jointly with the UK headquarters and other international offices branches of Brand Finance, to lay a solid foundation for the Greater China business. Scott is involved in project discovery, pitching, planning, technology input and final delivery across all China related projects, both domestically and internationally.

Scott has more than 25 years of experience in branding and marketing services within China where he experienced the start of Chinese branding from the 1980s after China's Opening Up Policy, and subsequently accumulated rich knowledge and expertise of the Chinese market. In addition to this, Scott has spent over 10 years both studying and working in the UK where he undertook his Postgraduate and Doctoral studies in Finance and Investment. His experience includes financial management and project investment for a world class insurance group and project management for global giants such as State Grid, Apple, Alibaba, Shell and COFCO, etc.

In addition to this, Scott is responsible for the daily management and operation of all other areas of Brand Finance China. He holds thorough expertise in technology, brand valuation and the strategic consulting for brand value growth and it is this unique vantage point of the Chinese market that gives Scott the ability to spot new opportunities and strengthen networks continuously and steadily in the region.