The Team

Mr. Chong is the Singtel Group Chief Technology Officer. He was Singtel’s Chief Executive Officer, International, from January 2013 to March 2017.

He is the current Chairman of Bridge Alliance, Asia Pacific’s leading mobile alliance of 34 premier operators, serving close to 900 million customers.

From Oct 2010 to January 2013, Mark was the Chief Operating Officer of Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS), the Group’s associate in Thailand.

He joined Singtel in 1997 and has held various executive positions in sales and marketing as well as being Executive Vice President of Networks. He had a previous assignment in Thailand from 1999 to 2000. Before Singtel, he was a member of the Singapore Administrative Service from 1990 to 1997.

Mark represented Singtel on the Boards of Globe Telecom, Bharti Infratel, OpenNet, CSLox(Thailand) and other submarine cable joint venture companies.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Electronics Engineering and Master in Research in Electronic Systems from ENSERG, Grenoble, France, on a Singapore Government scholarship. He also obtained his Master of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore. He is a senior fellow with the Singapore Computer Society.

Ms. Vani Venkatesh is currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of Global Business at Bharti Airtel Ltd. In her earlier roles at Airtel, Vani has served as CEO for Del NCR Region, Chief Marketing Officer & CEO for Retail Business. Prior to Airtel, she has served Abbott Nutrition India as Associate Director (Medical Nutrition), McKinsey as an Engagement Manager on their clients’ growth agenda & Hindustan Unilever Limited as Commercial Manager.

Vani is a qualified MBA, Chartered Accountant, Cost and Works Accountant and Company Secretary.

Mr. Somchai Lertsutiwong is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Advanced Info Service PLC (AIS). He has been working for the Intouch Group for many years and is a veteran of the telecom industry.

Over two decades, Mr. Somchai has played pivotal roles in defining the course of the telecommunications industry in Thailand, and in 1992, as Vice President of Business Relations and Development, he helped bring operations into accordance with the Concession Agreement Act which functioned to coordinate the private sector with the Government’s undertakings.

In addition, Mr. Somchai also has served in other key positions of AIS namely Vice President of Wireless Service Business – in charge of all Value Added Services where he introduced the new approach to partnership model, and Executive Vice president of Marketing – supervising all marketing and sales operations where his performances have been highlighted by five consecutive years of new targets achievements. In 2010, he was appointed as Chief Marketing Officer – supervising all commercial and corporate strategies including new businesses of the company.

Mr. Somchai has also been a member of several project teams and forums which have focused on national telecommunications and information technology issues, such as the Thailand Interconnection Forum (TIF) and the Interconnection Charge in Thailand research group. He has also been a member of the IT Business and Communication Committee of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and served as a consultant for the Telecommunications Committee of the Assembly of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Somchai holds both a BA in Statistics and an MBA from Chulalongkorn University and has a certificate from the Executive Development Program.

Mr Frederick Chui is Chief Commercial Officer of PCCW Global.

Mr Chui joined Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) in 1991 and has held senior positions in solutions design, product management, product development and marketing. 

Until 2008, he was the Senior Vice President of PCCW Global’s International Products and Solutions division and was responsible for managing PCCW Global’s product management and development activities, as well as overseeing marketing and presales support activities around the world.  In 2008, he was appointed head of Eastern Europe, Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania sales and business development operations.

In early 2011, he became Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Sales.  He was responsible for overseeing PCCW Global’s business development in data sales as well as presales activities, access management and marketing strategies.  In 2012, he became the Senior Vice President, Global Data Sales and Presales and, in 2019, the Chief Commercial Officer of PCCW Global.

Before joining HKT, Mr Chui engaged in the development of products and solutions for a number of telecoms operators serving the Asia Pacific region.

Mr Chui graduated from the University of Nottingham with a Bachelor of Engineering and holds an Executive MBA from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

He has been serving on the MEF Board (Metro Ethernet Forum) since 2018, and is also a Committee member of the HK Trade Development Council ICT Services Advisory Committee.

Ernest Cu has served as Director since April 2009. He is also currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Globe Telecom, Inc. He joined Globe in October 2008 as Deputy CEO, and was officially appointed President and Chief Executive Officer on 2 April 2009. Since then, Mr. Cu has been passionately driving a sweeping transformation across the company, including modernising its network and IT infrastructure, creating a strong collaborative and service-oriented culture, and product innovations in its mobile business. Under Mr. Cu’s visionary leadership, Globe has outperformed industry growth with the company breaking records across all key product groups, brands and market segments, catapulting Globe as the number 1 mobile brand in the country.

In 2016, Mr. Cu was named Best CEO by Finance Asia for the third time, the last one in 2015 and 2010. Moreover, for the fourth year in a row, he was recognised as one of the 100 most influential telecom leaders worldwide by London-based Global Telecoms Business Magazine Power 100. In 2014, Mr. Cu was honoured as the Telecommunications Executive of the Year by the International Business Awards (Stevies). Mr. Cu also earned international accolade in 2012 as CEO of the Year by Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific.

Prior to Globe, Mr. Cu was President and CEO of SPi Technologies from 1997 to 2008. At the cusp of the new millennium, Mr. Cu spurred the beginning of the BPO business model for the Philippines, earning him the recognition as one of the founding fathers of BPO in the country. Lauding his pioneering spirit and drawing great highlight to his career then was a recognition from Ernst & Young in 2003 as the ICT Entrepreneur of the Year.

Mr. Cu has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Management Engineering from De La Salle University in Manila, and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.

Rob leads the Technology Strategy Division which drives key strategic initiatives for Maxis, and guides Maxis network evolution to sustain and extend its leadership in technology, cost efficiencies and unmatched customer experience.

Rob joined Maxis in August 2018 as the Head of Corporate Strategy and was appointed to the Chief Digital and Transformation Officer role in May 2019. He brings over 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, with experience in ‘incumbent’ as well as ‘challenger’ operators and in leading strategy, delivery and operations across the full suite of IT and network technologies in both challenger and market leading operators.

Before Maxis, Rob held the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Head of Network Planning in an Indian telecommunications company, driving major improvements in productivity. Prior to that, Rob was with Telstra Australia for 18 years, where he served as Director of Voice & Convergence and subsequently, Director of Architecture. His time in Telstra started in Research & Development before transitioning into delivery and then transformational engineering roles.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and a Bachelor of Science, from the University of Western Australia.

Mr Matt Williams is Managing Director, Marketing and Revenue at Optus. He joined Optus in April 2019 and leads the core products that serve Optus’s consumer customers. 

A highly experienced executive with over 20 years’ experience in telecoms and technology in markets around the world. Matt joined Optus from Vodafone where he was part of the global leadership team and held roles spanning strategy, marketing and commercial management.  He has led country business units in Vodafone operating companies, and held leadership roles in the Group’s global headquarters. He most recently led the Consumer Business for Vodafone in New Zealand, and prior to that was the Group Commercial Director leading marketing, product and commercial initiatives across the world-wide business. Earlier in his career Matt worked in strategy consulting and investment banking. Matt has also held a number of board director roles. 

Matt has lived and worked in cities around the world. He has an MBA with Distinction from London Business School, where he also led the Student Association and was a member of the school’s Governing Board. Earlier, Matt completed a Master of Arts with First Class Honours at the University of Auckland.

Mr. Sanghyuk (Will) Cho is VP and Head of Strategic Partnerships at SK Telecom. SK Telecom is South Korea’s leading mobile network operator holding close to 50% market share, with a diverse ICT business portfolio ranging from telecommunications to new ICT businesses including media, security, commerce and mobility.

Mr Cho is responsible for strategic partnerships at SK Telecom and its subsidiaries. Prior to this, he led strategic partnerships at SK Planet, an affiliate of SK Telecom from 2011 to 2018 where he played a key role in corporate development and new business development.

Mr. Cho holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from Korea University. He also obtained a Master of Public Policy from the KDI School of Public Policy and Management.

Jamie now serves as President at Taiwan Mobile and Chairman & Partner at AppWorks, the Greater Southeast Asia leading startup accelerator and venture capital firm founded by Jamie in 2009.

Taiwan Mobile and AppWorks formed a strategic alliance in January 2019, resulting in Jamie taking over as the President of Taiwan Mobile.

Before Taiwan Mobile and AppWorks, Jamie was an entrepreneur. In 1999, he co-founded Hotcool.com that eventually evolved into Intumit, a successful AI software-as-a-service company. In 2006, he co-founded Sosauce.com that evolved into Muse Games. He received his BS in Engineering from National Taiwan University and an MBA from NYU Stern. His blog, MR JAMIE, has provided inspiration to millions of readers in the startup community since 2009.

Mr. Hendri Mulya Syam is the President Director of Telkomsel since May 2021. Prior to his appointment, Hendri has served as Director Sales of Telkomsel (February-May 2021) and Director of Network Telkomsel (2020-2021).

Hendri has vast leadership experience in the telecommunication industry for more than 25 years. He is known for his expertise in LTE Strategy Deployment, Network Strategy, Network Services and Quality Management, Sales Strategy & Operation, Corporate Planning, Product and Mobile Data, Marketing, Customer Service, and IT Operation.

Since starting his professional tenure at Telkomsel in 1995, Hendri has held strategic positions, such as Executive Vice President Program Management Office and Executive Vice President Sales Area.

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electro Telecommunications from the Indonesian Institute of Technology (ITI).