The Speakers

Annie is the Chair of RS Group, and believes we should, and can, “invest in the future we want to create”. Besides challenging RS Group to invest its own capital sustainably, and advocating for sustainable finance in Hong Kong, Annie also actively supports causes that focus on climate change through natural capital conservation.

With a career spanning climate science, technology, policy, and finance, Ian Monroe has taught at Stanford University for over a decade and worked on climate challenges in over 30 countries, and is the co-author of the forthcoming book Solving Climate Change: A Guide for Learners and Leaders. A pioneer in climate solution investing, Ian is the CIO of Etho Capital, which runs the ETHO ETF and some of the world's first and best performing deeply decarbonized index strategies. Working directly with family offices and institutional investors, Etho has helped decarbonize over $100 billion in assets, and Etho is now helping move even more capital into climate solutions by co-founding the new Climate+Positive Investing Alliance (C+PIA). Ian is also a Founder of Oroeco, a pioneering personal climate solution platform, and Ian has advised the United Nations, World Bank IFC, governments, companies, investors, and the creation of several international sustainability standards, including Climate Neutral and Science Based Targets (SBTi). Beyond his work and graduate degrees in Earth Systems science from Stanford and the University of Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme, Ian has also been educated by climate-fueled droughts and wildfires on his family’s small farm in California.

Joe Hsueh is a passionate systems change strategist, who uses participatory systems mapping to enable collective action. He is the co-founder of Systems Impact Multi-Family Office (SIMFO), a systems change company and ecosystem builder that brings together funders, impact investors, conveners and innovators to catalyze systems change towards a regenerative and inclusive economy. Previously, he co-founded Academy for Systems Change and founded Omplexity, where he worked with stakeholders through the process of system design, community building and blended finance for large-scale systems change.

Joe is based in Taipei, Taiwan. He served as an advisor to the Walton Family Foundation, World Economic Forum, and UNDP, and has participated in more than 60 systems change initiatives worldwide. He has a MPA in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School and a PhD in System Dynamics from MIT Sloan School of Management. Joe spent a year soul-searching at a Buddhist monastery in his twenties.

Kelvin Chiu is the Founder and Principal of Silverstrand Capital, a Singapore-based single family office with an impact mandate focused on addressing the biodiversity crisis. The investment strategy prioritises systems-levels investment solutions that accelerate the widescale restoration and conservation of natural ecosystems. Working with a range of public and private organisations, Silverstrand launched The Biodiversity Accelerator+ in May 2022, Asia’s first accelerator program designed to support biodiversity-enhancing early stage companies. He started his career in commodities trading and outside of work, he is an avid diver, hiker, skier, and safari goer. Kelvin is passionate about protecting the natural world, and is devoting time and energy into impact, helping to scale a movement which is core to many of his values.

Eugenia Koh is Global Head of Sustainable Finance for the Consumer, Private and Business Banking division at Standard Chartered Bank. In her role, she is responsible for building sustainable finance product capabilities and client engagement tools, and embedding sustainability and climate risk considerations into governance frameworks and risk management processes to deliver on the division’s net zero and sustainability commitments. She also partners with bankers to engage clients on conversations to incorporate sustainable investing strategies into their portfolios. She has over 13 years of experience in sustainable development from sustainable investing to corporate social responsibility and experimenting with building a social enterprise to support livelihoods in Cambodia. She is author of “Dawn Kwan. Art Awakening”, a chronicle of child prodigy Dawn Kwan’s journey as a child artist, which is available in all National Libraries in Singapore.

As Head of Startup Ecosystem, Will Lee works with Korea’s most exciting startups, VC/PE, and Accelerators, helping founders along the journey from idea phase to IPO.

Jeong-Hee received a Bachelor of Science degree at Yonsei University and earned her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University, majoring in Materials Science and Engineering.

While working at Intel as an engineer after graduate school, she clearly witnessed the strong influence which technologies exert on the world while they evolve. At the same time, she also noticed that Intel was contemplating and testing multiple strategic directions for its long-term growth, even while the company was the indisputable No.1 player in the semiconductor industry. This made Jeong-Hee aim to become a person of influence on an industry and society, rather than confining her potential to just a sector of Engineering.

With this in mind, she joined the Boston Consulting Group as a consultant to develop her business acumen. Afterwards, she learned how to strike a balance between strategy and execution at the corporate headquarters of Samsung Electronics. She also refined her skill in dealing with stakeholders of diverse backgrounds while leading the regional offices’ strategies and operations at Microsoft Korea and AWS Korea.

After years of career growth in the “shareholder capitalism” environment, Jeong-Hee became eager to apply her unique skills to make a meaningful and lasting contribution to the world. Just then she met Doug and learned about impact investing. The philosophy of impact investing, which is to change the way capital works so it achieves a purpose together with a return on investment, deeply resonated with her.

As a mother of two daughters, she feels a sense of urgency to protect the Earth so that the environment will be habitable when her children become grandmothers. She wants technology to bring us together instead of generating economic-inequality or social polarization.

Jeong-Hee hence decides to support tech companies which shape a ‘more livable world’ by finding the economic opportunities that are overlooked because they may not fit the traditional view of capitalism.

Nam Chaewoo received a Ph.D. in business engineering from KAIST School of Finance in 2005, and has contributed to the development of the Korean capital market since 2005.

He has published a number of papers, contributing to the Korean capital market including "A Study on the Introduction of Korean Default Options for the Efficient Operation of Retirement Pension Funds", "Asset Management Based on the Risk Budget System", "A Study on the Integrated Risk of National Pension Fund using Copula", "Changes in the National Pension Fund's stock investment and market volatility".

Brandon is a community builder, systems thinker, and mission-driven professional with experience working with leading sustainable enterprises.

He is passionate about equipping youth leaders with frameworks for strategic thinking and conscious leadership, which he believes are the necessary skill sets to achieve maximum social impact and personal fulfillment. Outside of SOA, Brandon is a board member for the Young Professionals in Energy and is a mentor for StartingBloc, a fellowship program that convenes, supports, and shapes the leaders our future needs.

During his tenure at the California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF), Brandon helped manage CalSEED, a funding and professional development program for innovators and entrepreneurs working to develop early-stage clean energy concepts. Brandon recently completed an MBA at the Presidio Graduate School where he focused on market-based solutions to climate change. In addition to the MBA, Brandon holds a B.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University where he graduated with special honors . Brandon enjoys spending his free time listening to and creating music, philosophizing with friends, traveling to beautiful locales, playing basketball, and engaging in contemplative practices.

Milena has over 20 years of finance experience, spanning investment banking, wealth management, venture capital investing and startup advisory. She is Partner at Aera VC, a global venture capital firm investing in breakthrough technologies that accelerate the world to a more sustainable future. She focuses on radical and rapidly scalable climate solutions. Milena is a strong believer that directing capital for impact can be a powerful force for good without compromising financial returns.

Dr. Nam is a researcher who studies carbon-neutral policies and precision farming strategies in Korea's agricultural sector. He worked as a researcher at the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, and helped ag.food startups at the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency. He published several books including <Food crisis of Korea> and <Climate impact>.

Sang-Hyup Kim is the president of Jeju Research Institute, a visiting professor at Graduate School of Green Growth, College of Business, KAIST and the founder and former chairman of Coalition for Our Common Future. Prior to joining KAIST, he worked at the Office of the President of the Republic of Korea in 2008 as the Secretary for National Future and Vision, where he contributed in setting the historic "Low Carbon Green Growth" vision for Korea. In 2011, he became the Senior Secretary to the President for Green Growth, coordinating the planning, development, and implementation of Korea's Green Growth strategy. Through collaboration with the Presidential Committee on Green Growth and relevant ministries, his agenda ranges from national implementation of Green Growth policies to international climate change negotiations and promoting global cooperation for making Green Growth became a truly global asset. He also served as a member of the Global Agenda Council.