11 Jun (Sat): Panel Discussion on Tech Entrepreneurship
3 – 4.30 pm, Raffles Girls’ School
Tickets: $10 for RGS Alumnae members, $15 for non-members
RGS alumnae are welcome to bring a guest. Get your tickets here.
Featuring our panellists:
Ms Chan Li Han, Co-founder and CEO of DynaOptics
Ms Chong Chiet Ping, Managing Partner of Small World Group Incubator, Managing Partner of Green Meadows
Ms Lai Shanru, Co-founder and Country Head of Emerging Markets of ShopBack
Ms Lynette Seah, Founder and CEO of Alpha7
Ms Kathy Teo, Founder and Managing Director of Xpointo Media
Moderated by Ms Jennifer Loh, Co-founder and Director of Playeum
Chan Li Han (Class of 1995)
Li Han is the co-founder and CEO of Dynaoptics, a startup pioneering the use of free-form optics in imaging. She leads a team of 15 engineers and is, of course, passionate about their technology changing the world.
Li Han’s background is in technology commercialization, business development, operations and strategy. She cut her teeth at ST Engineering, leading business development and sales efforts in the defense industry while based in Singapore and London. She was subsequently a strategy consultant to Fortune 500 clients at Marakon Associates, a boutique management consulting firm in London.
Most recently, she was Vice President of Operations at NIREC, a clean energy technology accelerator in the US where she worked with corporations, government agencies, universities and research institutions to fund, license and commercialize early-stage technologies. Li Han is a graduate of Stanford University, a former Singapore national tennis player, a member of the Sierra Angels and a Trustee at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, NV.
Chong Chiet Ping (Class of 1969)
Chiet Ping is currently the Managing Partner of two start-up incubators – Sm
all World Group Incubator Pte Ltd and Green Meadows Pte Ltd. Both companies focus its investments on early stage incubation of start-ups that are in the areas of clean/green, optical and materials technology. She enjoys the challenge of helping start-ups navigate their way to success. In her words, “Sometimes, it’s not so much the investing. I like to see people grow, see companies grow. You know some will trip, but you try to prevent the tripping.”
Previously, Chiet Ping worked for 33 years with Hewlett Packard and her last position was Senior Vice President of Operations HP Asia Pacific. Her experience includes the areas of supply chain, logistics, process and information technology re-engineering. After leaving Hewlett Packard, she was a consultant to the top management of the largest home appliances company in China for 2 years. She also serves on the boards of publicly listed companies and start-ups.
Lai Shanru (Class of 2004)
Shanru, co-founder and Country Head of Emerging Markets at Singapore-grown start-up ShopBack, is one who enjoys the challenge of bringing something from zero to hero.
Starting her career in the banking industry, she later made a 180-degree move to Zalora, Asia’s largest and fastest-growing online fashion company, where she spearheaded sales campaigns to drive revenue growth. In 2014, Shanru co-founded ShopBack, which has won two Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SITF) awards – a gold for Best Start-up (Growth Stage) and a silver for Best Innovative Info Comm Products (Consumers) within a year of start-up. ShopBack has also expanded into Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, where Shanru is currently based.
Shanru is a thrill-seeker and lover of exploring the outdoors and new places. In her words, “Rollercoasters, cliff-diving, waterfall-climbing – love them all!”
Lynette Seah (Class of 1980)
Lynette is the founder and CEO of Alpha7, a Singapore-based technology start up providing advisory and solution services to businesses seeking to transform their operations with digital and disruptive technology in Singapore and Asia. She brings over 25 years of experience in finance, operations, business and project management. Lynette’s expertise lies in helping businesses leverage technology to improve productivity, increase customer reach and improve bottom lines, by balancing people, processes and technology with priorities, constraints & budgets.
Prior to setting up Alpha7 in 2014, Lynette served as Vice President of Finance and Strategy and member of the APAC management team at Salesforce.com for eight years. Salesforce is the fastest growing enterprise cloud company globally. Lynette has also held senior management roles at PWC, JD Edwards and Interwoven.
Kathy Teo (Class of 1987)
Kathy is Founder and Managing Director of Xpointo Media, a leading digital marketing agency and digital startup incubator headquartered in Singapore. Kathy is a marketing professional with career time spent in B2B publishing, digital marketing, FMCG, market research and online media industries. Prior to founding Xpointo in 2008, Kathy was Managing Director Asia and Vice President International for CNET Networks Inc, one of the Global Top Ten Internet publishers (since acquired by CBS), overseeing a team of 125 digital publishing professionals in 9 countries and cross-functional teams including account management, business development, campaign & ad operations, editorial, tech development, client servicing, and finance/HR across its consumer and B2B media portfolio.
Prior to joining CNET Networks, Kathy was Group General Manager of Fairfax Business Media, responsible for the Strategic Research division that produced business intelligence products for the enterprise technology sector.