ASEAN Webinar 2023

Pia joined Globe in September 2021, relocating back to the Philippines from the UK, where she was CEO and Managing Partner at Ideas and Action. There, she advised blue-chip financial services firms and fintech clients on marketing strategy, market research, and client engagement programs. 

Her marketing expertise has been built over 20 years of leading marketing and communications teams in brands such as Citi, HSBC, ABN AMRO, and BNP Paribas-Fortis, both in Europe and Asia. 

She holds a Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Certificate in B2B Marketing with distinction, from the Institute of Data and Marketing, UK. 

She is also an Atenean. Pia is a Fellow at both the Institute of Data and Marketing, UK, and at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. 

Rudy Khaw is the CEO of airasia brand co. (abc.) which manages intellectual property developed for Capital A and the airasia brand ranging from trademarks to brand development, content, licensing and merchandising. 

He began his career with AirAsia as a Brand Executive in June 2007 and climbed through the ranks over the years before taking on the role of CEO of abc. in May 2023. 

Rudy has led AirAsia into a global brand with an airline that’s been named World’s Best Low-Cost Airline by Skytrax 14 years in a row, while maintaining rooted in Asia. He has also spearheaded numerous award-winning brand campaigns - including partnership activities with Taylor Swift, David Foster, Roberto Carlos, Park Ji-Sung, MotoGP, UFC, Queens Park Rangers, (RED) and 88rising - to provide AirAsia wider visibility across the globe and championing the brand’s spirit of inspiring youth to Dare to Dream. 

The years of work and dedication to building the brand globally ultimately led to recognition in Campaign Asia’s inaugural Campaign Asia-Pacific Power List 2018.

Rick is a Singaporean country brand adviser who helps governments build their nation brands. He was a member of the Singapore Tourism Board’s Marketing Advisory Panel for Singapore’s current country brand, “Passion Made Possible”. He lectures on country branding at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. 

He is the author and editor of 40 books, including “Brand Singapore” (third edition, 2021, a study of Singapore’s nation brand). He has spoken on brand Singapore extensively, including at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, and the Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies in Bhutan.  

He was previously head of global media relations and strategic planning at the Singapore Economic Development Board, where he led a team to devise the “global entrepolis” brand concept for Singapore. He read English at Cambridge and has a master’s in public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. 

Tom Thrussell is a British national with over 20 years of experience in the marketing field, having worked for leading companies such as American Express and Maybourne Hotel Group, which owns and manages Claridge’s, the Connaught and the Berkeley, three of the world’s most distinguished luxury hotels. 

Relocating from London to Bangkok in 2015, Tom has spent the past five years leading the global marketing efforts of Centara Hotels & Resorts, Thailand’s leading hotel group comprising 80 hotels across six distinct brands.  He oversees all elements of the marketing mix from branding, marketing and ecommerce, through to CRM, loyalty and PR. During his tenure Tom has added two new brands to the group’s portfolio, helping the company expand into both the affordable lifestyle and luxury sectors; he’s overseen double digit growth in direct web revenues for five consecutive years and he has been instrumental in the company’s growth and expansion into several new markets. 

He speaks both French and Spanish as well as his native English, and his passions are his family, travel and Tottenham Hotspur. 

Marla drives the execution of the BDO Sustainability Framework and Strategies with oversight on policy formulations and programs implementation across the BDO Group. She produces the Bank’s annual Sustainability Report aligned with global standards and collaborates with external partners on strategic sustainability projects supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She communicates sustainability initiatives to stakeholders and represents BDO in external forums. 

Marla was former Global Diversity & Inclusion Lead for Thomson Reuters, and held senior corporate communication roles at Intel Corporation, San Miguel Corporation, and Orendain & Associates. Marla is an experienced international speaker on sustainability, gender, diversity and inclusion. She is a founding member of the Women Inter-industry Network (WIN) and the Philippine Financial Inter-industry Pride (PFIP), and former Board member of the International Association of Business Communicators Philippines. She majored in Journalism, Mass Communications at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Rica is a ‘polymath explorer’ passionate about championing stories about Asia. Her expertise is producing culturally relevant, holistic and human-centric thought leadership and solutions for brands. As an insights and strategy professional by trade, she speaks and moderates about marketing effectiveness, trends and innovation at major conferences such as the IAB, the Future Laboratory, Adfest, SXSG, Spikes, Citra pariwara, and FUTR.  

Alex is an all-rounder on all areas of valuation and quantitative market research but is a technical specialist in the assessment on the return on investment of different brand architecture and brand positioning options. Much of this experience has focused on identifying the brand structures, media investment, media mix and distribution channel management needed to minimise risk and maximise opportunity from any brand changes.

His other area of expertise is the use of market research and brand valuation for licensing strategy and transfer pricing having helped to set up brand licensing teams and structures with many clients.

He is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Tax adviser and has completed the Advance Diploma in International Tax, with a specialisation in Transfer Pricing. He holds a dual degree in Economics and Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics and has completed training in Data Analysis and Marketing Strategy. He has worked internationally across all continents and in most sectors and now manages Brand Finance's teams and client work across Asia and Australasia.

Annie is a qualified management accountant and has worked on Brand and Business valuation projects serving global clients, including Barclays and Shell. She is experienced across of variety of services including brand licensing, research analytics, rebrand uplift and balance sheet valuation. Annie heads up various studies at Brand Finance, including the annual Global Intangible Finance Tracker (GIFT™) and the Brand Guardianship Index. In addition, Annie has conducted research and analysis for the Brand Finance brand rankings, specialising in Banking, Retail and Oil & Gas sectors. Annie has served clients worldwide, with a particular focus on the USA and the Middle East. Annie joined Brand Finance as an Analyst in August 2017 after graduating from The University of Edinburgh with a Masters degree in Philosophy and Economics. She has since completed her CIMA professional qualification.

Konrad leads Brand Finance’s place branding and soft power practice. He liaises with clients, directs consulting projects, and is responsible for the creation and promotion of the annual Global Soft Power Index, Nation Brands, and City Index studies.

Konrad has extensive experience in advising clients in the fields of place branding and public diplomacy. Before joining Brand Finance, he worked at the Polish Embassy in London where he developed and delivered successful marketing communications campaigns as well as media relations programmes of official engagements by the president, prime minister, government ministers, and the ambassador.

In his role at Brand Finance, Konrad has advised a variety of place branding organisations, including the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign, New Zealand Story, and Cape Town Tourism.

Before moving on to grow the place branding practice, Konrad was the Communications Director of Brand Finance and Managing Director of Brand Finance’s PR agency – Brand Dialogue for 5 years. He has a proven track record in executing integrated communications strategies, having been responsible for publishing nearly 100 industry and country reports on the world’s most valuable brands on an annual basis.

Konrad has qualified with the Professional PR Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). He studied European Studies MA at King’s College London and the Humboldt University in Berlin, and International Relations with Political Science BA at the University of Birmingham.

Yen Fen is a valuation professional with over a decade of experience in Valuation and Corporate Finance. Her background includes working in international accounting firms and corporate finance advisory firms before joining Brand Finance. Throughout her career, Yen Fen has led and successfully completed numerous engagements, encompassing business valuation, intangible assets valuation, complex financial instrument valuation, financial due diligence exercises, and M&A sell-side advisory projects. She has also played a key role in corporate exercises, including fund raising, mergers & acquisitions, and underwriting. Her notable accomplishments include:

• Pricing analysis of a group of companies involved in paint manufacturing and distribution business in Asia, with a transaction value of approximately USD 12 billion.
• Conducting pricing analysis for a group of companies engaged in the manufacturing of PVC stabilizers and metallic soaps across multiple countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India, China, South Africa, Kenya, Europe, Colombia, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia.
• Conducting purchase price allocation and independent valuation for the acquisition of an open-cut thermal coal mine located in Queensland.

Yen Fen holds a membership with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and has achieved the notable feat of passing all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) examination.

Ben heads the Insights function for Brand Finance in Asia Pacific.

He has enjoyed a 30-year career in market research spanning Europe and Asia, and both qualitative and quantitative research.

Based in Kuala Lumpur since 1999, he has developed intimate knowledge of the Malaysian market and has worked extensively in the broader Southeast Asia region.  He has particular expertise in the automotive, consumer goods and financial services sectors.

Ben obtained his first degree from Birmingham University in 1985, and an MBA from The University of Sheffield in 1998.