Event Partners & Speakers

Heather is on a mission to inspire global voices to speak with clarity and confidence so they can build innovate, inclusive and more efficient organisations. Her high-energy talks and training courses on language, communication, and people skills have encouraged leaders across four continents to improve their communication skills and relationships. Heather runs virtual training courses and coaching for companies around the world through her Singapore-based communication firm, Global Speech Academy Pte Ltd. Her next two books will be published in 2021: Powerful People Skills for the Digital Age and Unmuted: How to show up, speak up, and inspire action in a changed world.

Professor Yeah Kim Leng assumed the current positions in May 2016 following a 2-year stint as a business school dean at another local private university. Prior to joining the academia, he was with the country’s first credit rating agency for 20 years principally as the chief economist with 7 years as the managing director of its wholly-owned consultancy services subsidiary. He also had a short stint as a Senior Analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia after completing his graduate studies. He obtained an MBA and a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Hawaii, USA, both obtained under the East-West Center degree participant award. Earlier he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry from the then Agriculture University of Malaysia (Universiti Putra Malaysia).

Professor Yeah Kim Leng is currently the Deputy President of the Malaysian Economic Association (MEA). He was a former trustee of the Malaysian Tax Research Foundation (MTRF) and external member of Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee (2015-20).

Yin Shao Loong is a former Research Officer at the Third World Network and has spoken at government and civil society forums worldwide on matters ranging from the environment to development and human rights.

He has recently been leading an independent policy think tank as the Executive Director of Institute Rakyat. The Institute conducts research and formulates policies on promotion of democracy and social justice and a sustainable future. Institute Rakyat has been an active member of, BERSIH (the civil society coalition for free and fair elections) and #TakNakDiktator (the coalition against the powers granted to the Prime Minister in the National Security Council Bill).

Yin Shao Loong was part of the team that produced Malaysia’s Shadow Budget 2013 and 2014, Pakatan Rakyat’s 2013 National Election Manifesto, and Pakatan Rakyat Selangor’s 2013 manifesto.

Yin Shao Loong has in the past served as policy advisor to the Selangor State Executive Councilor for Environment, Tourism & Consumer Affairs, and is now Strategic Communications Director for the Selangor Chief Minister.

Amarjeet heads EY tax practice as well as the Tax Policy and Controversy practice in Malaysia. He has more than 20 years of professional experience in the field of taxation. Amarjeet’s areas of focus are tax policy and controversy, tax structuring and incentives. He has served a wide range of clients across sectors, including some of Malaysia’s largest MNCs investing in Malaysia and Malaysia’s government-linked corporations. Amarjeet is also a regular speaker in tax seminars and conferences and has contributed articles on tax. He has provided tax input to national policy-level discussions on attracting foreign direct investments. He is a Fellow member with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation Malaysia and is a licensed GST and Tax agent with the Ministry of Finance, Malaysia.

With an illustrious 25 year career in the education industry that encompasses the academia at the National University of Malaysia, research project and program management, consultancy and policy formulation at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies and the Multimedia Development Corporation, and management of sales operations at Microsoft and Apple, Dr. Norrizan Razali is now an entrepreneur dedicated to pursuing her passion in helping education institutions, educators and school leaders meet their fullest potential.

Datin Dr. Norrizan Razali founded Tech Capacity in 2018 which is focused on sustaining and scaling the mission of building educators and education leaders’ capacity with collaborators who share her passion.

An Ivy League qualified educationalist, who features regularly in local and global forums, her views on education trends resonate with audiences from education institutions, businesses, and government agencies.

A hands on professional, Dr. Norrizan persists to engage directly with students through mentoring and lecturing as an adjunct faculty at various universities.

Dr Ray Choy is Regional Head of Treasury and Markets Research at CIMB and heads a team of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC) research professionals across South East Asia. Ray’s experience in the financial markets spans two decades and includes G3 and Asian fixed-income and currency strategy, global bond funds management, regional equities investments, commodities research and credit ratings. Ray has set up both sell-side and buy-side research teams at investment banks and asset management companies. Apart from management duties, he remains actively involved with the formulation of FICC investment strategy.

Throughout his career, Ray’s research has been ranked in various regional polls, publications and Bloomberg. His team has also received an award for contributing to fixed income research and development of the Malaysian bond market. In addition, he is a regularly invited conference speaker and commentator through various media channels, and is a columnist in The Edge Weekly. Ray has published in peer-reviewed journals and authored a book titled ”Essays in Bond Market Economics”.

Ray graduated with Bachelors and Masters degrees with distinction, 1^st class honours and Merit from Heriot-Watt University, University of London (LSE and SOAS) and completed his PhD degree focusing on sovereign credit ratings with the University of Nottingham.

Shazwan is a Senior Associate at Vriens & Partners’ Malaysia office and brings along 10 years of professional experience in the field of politics, journalism and the media. He consults for clients from various verticals such as technology, healthcare and transportation.
From 2009 to 2020, Shazwan worked for online news portals the Malay Mail and The Malaysian Insider as an assistant news editor and senior journalist. Shazwan received his Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Monash University, and a Master in Diversity and the Media from the University of Westminster, UK. He was also a 2012 Chevening scholarship recipient.

Nazhif Yusoff is Country Director at Vriens & Partners’ Kuala Lumpur office. With the team, he consults for clients from various verticals such as technology, healthcare, transportation and tourism, helping them develop their government relations strategy.
Previously, Nazhif was with the trade and investment team at Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation, an agency under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. At MPRC, he developed the agency’s database of export opportunities and connected Malaysian oil and gas companies with opportunities overseas through the organization of trade and specialized marketing missions.