Speakers

Mr Steve Peters has twenty years experience in the construction industry. He has worked for numerous multinationals providing project and construction management services. Steve has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree and a Masters of Engineering Science by Research in Project Management from the University of Melbourne. He has provided strategic consulting and technology solutions for a variety of institutions and multinationals throughout the world. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Stratcon Stingapore Pte Ltd a project management consultancy. W2E is a developer of biogas plants. The company "Design-Build-Own & Operate" contracts to convert wastewater or organic solid waste (e.g cassava, palm oil mill effluent, municipal solid waste) for the production of renewal energy utilising an anerobic digestion system. This can include funding and carbon development services.

Mr Stephen Forshaw joined Singapore Airlines in Sydney in June 2000 to oversee Public Affairs in Australia and New Zealand, based in Sydney. In June 2004, Mr Forshaw moved to Singapore to take up a senior management position in the Airline’s Public Affairs Department. In August 2004, he became the Airline’s principal external spokesman and head of the Public Affairs Department. In January 2005, he was promoted to position of Vice President Public Affairs. Prior to joining Singapore Airlines, Mr Forshaw was Chief of Staff to Gary Humphries MLA, the Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Police & Emergency Services and Treasurer (and for a time, Minister for the Environment) in the Government of the Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Australia. In this role, he ran the Minister’s office and was the Minister’s principal policy and communications adviser and spokesman. He was a political and campaign adviser on several local and Federal elections in Australia. Prior to 1992, he worked for another airline in a sales and marketing role.Mr Forshaw is member of the Industry Advisory Council at the National University of Singapore’s Communications and New Media Programme. He is a professional member of the Public Relations Institutes of both Singapore and Australia. He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of New England, Armidale, Australia.

Mr Marshall Towe leads Better Place's efforts in Asia, working directly with governments; financial institutions; automobile manufacturers and technology companies to create local joint venture Better Place operating companies. Once created, these operating companies will install and operate electric vehicle charging grids that will enable the mass deployment of electric vehicles, thereby greatly reducing a country's dependency on oil and the pollution associated with tailpipe emissions. Prior to joining Better Place, Mr Towe served as the Corporate Vice President and Managing Director of the Asian subsidiaries of technology companies VeriSign Inc and QUALCOMM Inc. In addition, Mr Towe also participates in non-profit work through his family's charitable foundation, and volunteers with the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention, Chicago's 2016 Olympic effort and the Taproot Foundation.

Prof. Chou Siaw Kiang is Executive Director of Energy Studies Institute and Head of the Energy and Bio-Thermal Systems Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NUS. From 1998 to 2003, he was Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering. From 1992 to 2000, Prof. Chou served as Director of the Industry and Technology Relations Office (INTRO), NUS, and concurrently from 1995 to 2000, the Managing Director of NUS Technology Holdings Pte Ltd (NUSH), a wholly-owned NUS company having equities in new technology start-ups from university research and inventions. Prof. Chou’s research interests are in energy performance of buildings, clean energy systems, micro combustion and micro power generation, and cryosurgical thermal processes. He is credited with having developed the formulation of the Envelope Thermal Transfer Value (ETTV) and the Residential Envelope Transmittance Value (RETV) criteria in the present building energy standards used in the Singapore Green Mark Scheme. His research team has been cited for its pioneering work on portable power generation based on the micro combustor-thermophotovoltaic system. He serves on the journal editorial board of Applied Energy and The International Journal of Energy Research.

Ichiro Kawada is the President of JAIC Asia Holdings Pte Ltd, the wholly owned Singapore based subsidiary of Japan Asia Investment Co., Ltd. (JAIC: Venture Capital Fund Management Company in Japan. Listed in Tokyo Stock Exchange Main Board on June 2008). Mr. Kawada has more than 17 years of experience in venture capital and private equity. His expertise in the ASEAN market is exemplified when he headed JAIC’s operations in Thailand for 1 year, PT JAIC Indonesia’s operations for 4 years and 4 years in Singapore. He has extensive relationships with Japanese corporations throughout the ASEAN region and is now overseeing the whole of South East Asia Operations. Currently he is managing two Private Equity Funds (about US$60 million) and involved in one Distressed Debt Fund (US$400 million). He graduated from Rikkyo (St.Paul’s) University, Tokyo, with a Bachelor of Law (Asian Politics), specific area of study included Economics, Politics, Law, Accounting & Corporate management in Asia.

Goh Chee Kiong is a Deputy Director of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and has been responsible for leading the promotion of the Cleantech industry since 2003. The Cleantech industry has been identified as a key economic growth area for Singapore, and includes Clean Energy, in which solar energy is a major focus, and Environmental and Water Technologies. Concurrently, he is the Programme Manager for Urban Solutions in EDB responsible for leading the corporate-wide efforts in growing the Urban Solutions business growth theme that builds on the strengths of Singapore in terms of quality of governance and sustainable development. He is actively involved in many national Cleantech initiatives spanning various government agencies. For instance, he leads the cluster development efforts within the inter-agency Clean Energy Programme Office (CEPO) and is concurrently the Director, Cluster Development in the inter-agency Environment & Water Industry Development Council (EWI). He sits on the international Project Evaluation Panel for the S$50 million Clean Energy Research Programme managed by CEPO as well as the evaluation panel for the S$20 million Innovation for Environmental Sustainability (IES) fund managed by the National Environment Agency (NEA). He is also on the Management Board of Singapore-Delft Water Alliance, an environmental R&D centre at the National University of Singapore. Prior to this, Chee Kiong was the Director of the EDB Chicago office from 2000-2003 where he managed the relationship with potential and existing American investors in the Mid-West region.

Dr. Michael Quah is a Corporate Technology Fellow and Executive Director at Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC). Currently based in Michigan, Dr. Quah is an internationally recognised leader in the energy and environmental field, bringing a wealth of experience spanning leadership appointments in various companies and organisations. Some of these include: NextEnergy in Detroit, Michigan, the US Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) and the Communications and Electronics Directorate (CERDEC), Ocean Power Corporation (OPC), Lydall Technical Papers, and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. (DuPont). Dr. Quah now works for an independent, non-profit, applied research and development professional services organization providing innovative management and technology-based solutions to a wide array of clients in the U.S. state and federal government as well as the private sector. Established in 1988, CTC operates from more than 35 locations, primarily in the US, with a staff of over 1,500 employees.

Mr Neil McGregor is the Managing Director of PowerSeraya, a multi-utility company in Singapore that generates over 30% of electricity for the Singapore market. Originally from New Zealand, Mr McGregor holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Hons) degree from the University of Auckland and an MBA in International Finance from the University of Otago. He has vast experience is in both regulated and deregulated Energy Markets, and has previously held key positions on the Singapore Stock Exchange trading international indexes, managing portfolio risk. Mr McGregor has also held several senior international positions, including Directorships in the Electricity and Gas sector in Singapore, India, New Zealand and Germany.

Professor Joachim Luther is the CEO of the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS). Established by the Clean Energy Program Office, SERIES was founded in Feb 2008 as an independent institution based within the National University of Singapore (NUS). SERIS will focus on three key areas of research for a start – silicon-based solar cells, novel photovoltaic devices and innovative materials for solar and energy-efficient buildings. Bringing a wealth of practical experience to Singapore, Prof Luther will play an active and formative role in the area of solar energy research and technology development. Prior to SERIS, Prof Luther was the director of Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Europe’s largest solar energy R&D institute, and also a Professor of Physics at the University of Freiburg in Germany.

With deep technical expertise in renewable energy technologies and over 13 years of international management experience spanning Europe, Asia and Africa, Stefan Mueller has reinforced the management strength of Conergy since July 2005. As Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Stefan oversees the business operations of the regional offices in Australia, China, India, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore. From the time he studied technical physics at the UAS Lübeck in Germany, Stefan focused on solar and semi-conductor technology. After graduating in civil engineering in 1992, he worked for the Namibian Engineering Cooperation in Namibia managing project planning of solar energy plants. From 1993, he was employed by Zeo-Tech in Munich, where he was also responsible for selling and marketing solar-powered cooling systems. In 1997, Stefan joined BP Solar and was involved in the development of BP Solar Germany. Most recently, he was Head of Project Development for Europe based in Madrid. He also gained additional experience with the Asian market through setting up the Indian business for BP Solar in 2002 and 2003.