SPEAKERS (in alphabetical order)
Alan Armitage Alan Armitage is Chief Executive Officer (Asia Region) and is responsible for Standard Life’s
existing operations in Hong Kong and China and supporting the
development of the business interests throughout the region.
Mr Armitage joined Standard Life in 1990. In his 20 years with the
Company, he has held management positions in the UK and Canada in areas
including information technology, strategy and business development.
In 2004, he led the strategy review of the Canadian Operations and
subsequently spearheaded the repositioning and transformation of the
UK Life and Pensions Company in preparation for demutualisation and
IPO. In 2005, he was appointed the Acting General Manager for Heng An Standard Life and subsequently appointed to the position of Chief Executive (Asia Region) in 2006. |
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Vincent Connor Vincent Connor is Head of Asia Pacific and is also Head of Office in Hong Kong. He specialises in contentious construction law, providing clients with strategic advice during projects and representing them in arbitration & litigation. In addition to his strong reputation for advocacy, Vincent has considerable experience of Adjudication under Security of Payment legislation. Vincent has recently been named as one of Asian Legal Business' "Hot 100" Lawyers in Asia. He is described by the Asia-Pacific Legal 500 for 2008 as having "a top reputation" in Construction Law; and is recommended as a leading lawyer for Construction in Who's Who Legal 2009, the independent legal research guide. Currently he is advising on a HK$250m civil engineering arbitration in HK; complex claims on a light rail project in Singapore; & significant financial issues arising from a power plant project in Vietnam. In 2007, Vincent was appointed as a GlobalScot by Scotland's First Minister; and in 2009 he was included in Scottish Business Insider's Elite List for his work on behalf of Scottish business interests in Asia. |
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Michael Crow Michael Crow was the Director of Strategy and Communications for the Conservative Party in Scotland until the General Election, where he worked closely with David Cameron, George Osborne and the party in Scotland. Before that he was the Political Correspondent for Scottish TV working on regional news programmes Scotland Today and North Tonight. He also presented a number of STV's flagship programmes including Politics Now. Michael has a long background in journalism including working in London for the BBC and as Westminster Correspondent for STV. He has also chaired numerous conferences and events including turning the tables on Michael Parkinson and interviewing him about his life in front of a live audience. |
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Fiona Donnelly Fiona Donnelly is currently engaged as Scottish Development International's representative in Hong Kong, covering Hong Kong and Macao markets. Having lived in Hong Kong since 1995, this Glaswegian has a broad background in professional services, including roles at two of the Big Four accounting firms and serving three economic development agencies. She is a graduate of Strathclyde University, a recovering Chartered Accountant-turned-Chartered Marketer. |
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Mike Flynn Finance Director Diageo www.diageo.com |
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Sandy Flockhart CEO, Asia Pacific HSBC www.hsbc.com Sandy Flockhart is Executive Director of the HSBC Group, Chairman of Commercial Banking, Personal Banking and Insurance, as well as Chairman of the Group’s businesses in Latin America and Africa. He is also an executive director of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, a director of HSBC Bank Plc, and a non-executive director of HSBC Bank Australia Limited and Hang Seng Bank Limited. Based in Hong Kong, Mr Flockhart has global responsibility for: Personal Financial Services, Commercial Banking and Insurance; HSBC’s Latin American and African businesses; the Group’s technology, services and operations; and a number of key Group functions, including Human Resources, Marketing, Corporate Sustainability and Legal. He is also a member of the HSBC Holdings plc Group Management Board. Previous senior positions held by Mr Flockhart include Chief Executive Officer of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited from July 2007 to January 2010; Group Managing Director, Latin America from 2006 to July 2007; Group General Manager, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HSBC in Mexico from 2002 to 2006. From December 1999 to July 2002, he was Senior Executive Vice President, Commercial Banking, HSBC Bank USA and Chairman, HSBC Bank Mexico S.A. In January 1995, he was appointed Deputy Managing Director of HSBC’s 40 per cent-owned associate, The Saudi British Bank, which is headquartered in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was later appointed Managing Director in 1997. From 1992-1994, Mr Flockhart served as Chief Executive Officer of HSBC in Thailand. His previous appointments include postings to Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. In December 2007, Mr Flockhart was named a Commander of the British Empire in the Queen’s New Years Honours List in recognition of his services to British business and charitable services and institutions in Mexico. Mr Flockhart is a member of the Visa Asia Pacific Senior Advisory Council, VISA Inc. and of the Chongqing Mayor’s International Economic Advisory Council. Born in the UK in 1951, Mr Flockhart was educated in Edinburgh, Scotland where he attended George Watson’s College. He joined HSBC in July 1974 after graduating in law (LLB) from Edinburgh University. |
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Fiona Hyslop MSP Fiona Hyslop is the Minister for Culture and External Affairs in the SNP Government, prior to this she was the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Life-Long Learning and has been responsible for developing the SNP’s visionary policies in these fields. It is Fiona’s strong belief that a good education and a solid foundation to life helps the individual as well as society. She has ensured that SNP policy is ambitious for the individuals concerned and for Scotland as a whole. Fiona is also hugely enthusiastic about her new role as Culture and External Affairs Minister, involving promoting Scotland and ensuring we make the most of our cultural assets and overseas links. |
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Ian Irvine Ian Irvine has been in the renewable energy industry for over 20 years. With a background in mechanical engineering, he has been involved in a wide range of renewable projects, from 500kW hydro schemes to 4000MW wind farms and is a Carbon Trust accredited consultant for the wind and biomass energy sectors. He is particularly skilled in technical assessments, problem solving using complex analytical tools and front-end project development. Ian has provided financial due diligence assessments for numerous financiers on a large portfolio of wind farms throughout the UK, Europe, Asia and North America, including the 120MW project Q7, which was the world’s first project financed offshore wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands. |
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John Walter Kerr www.oceanpark.com.hk/html/en/home/ Walter joined Ocean Park Corporation in 2007 after 29 years with Jacobs Engineering (including 26 years with Babtie Shaw & Morton of Glasgow). For the past 13 years Walter has worked extensively throughout Asia, based in Jakarta and Hong Kong, and is currently fully concentrated on delivering the US$0.8Bn Master Redevelopment Project at Ocean Park. Walter is professionally qualified as an engineer, with experience gained across design consultancy; construction and project management, on a wide range of projects, including water supply, dams & reservoirs; railway modernisation works; highway, airfield and marine works; hotels and theme parks - in Europe, Hong Kong and elsewhere internationally. In particular, he has extensive experience in co-ordination, Client liaison and project interfacing, with Government Departments, international Funding Agencies and Banks. |
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Anne MacColl Anne MacColl has newly taken over as the Interim Chief Executive of Scottish Development International. Prior to this, Anne was Operations Director for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region for SDI, managing the SDI's overseas sales & marketing teams and directly working to both attract inward investors and support Scottish companies to successfully trade internationally. Anne was previously the Regional Head for Southern Europe for SDI. Prior to this, Anne lived and worked for two years in Madrid and for 3 years near Toulouse, France, as a management consultant to the French Chambers of Commerce network, and as part of a national private Spanish consultancy, Soluziona. Her first degree from Glasgow University in French, Spanish and Portuguese and this then led her to apply her business skills to an international setting, through an MBA at Strathclyde Graduate Business School. Fully fluent in both French and Spanish, Anne has a track record of international business and is passionate about "selling" Scotland internationally. She has a strong interest in international education, and is an active participant in the activities of the International School in Sevres, near Paris. |
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Murdoch Ross Martyn Murdoch Ross Martyn has practiced international trade and energy law since 1996 and is currently based in Toronto, Canada. He acts predominantly for Canadian and Scottish clients on Canadian and international trade law matters and currently is the Managing Director (North America) to several trading companies based in Scotland. Over the years he has hosted many Scottish Companies in Canada and made introductions to Canadian Companies, Government Agencies, Banks and other Financial Institutions. In addition to his legal and consulting practices, he has taught international trade law at the undergraduate and graduate levels in Canada, the United States of America, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand since 2007. He is a frequent visitor to Scotland on both business and personal trips and is very interested in the recent boom in renewable energy in Scotland and the opportunities that will exist between Scottish and Canadian Companies in the years ahead in this sector. |
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Donald McLaughlin Donald McLaughlin heads up the Scottish Operation for Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Donald has been in the ICT industry for 21 years and has worked with an extensive list of private and public sector organisations throughout the UK & Ireland. Donald has been with Cisco since February 2000, initially joining the software sales division before taking on leadership of the Northern Commercial sales team and following that, the Local Government division. The common theme in all these roles has been a passion for helping customers gain competitive edge through Cisco’s innovative technology solutions. Donald spent around 10 years based in Manchester before returning home to lead
the Cisco Scotland Operation in July 2008. Prior to joining Cisco, he spent time at
Siemens Communications and Unisys in a variety of sales and management roles
across a broad range of industry sectors. Donald has degree in Mathematics & Statistics from Glasgow University and was President of the Students’ Union in 1988 |
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John Rendall Appointed to the role of CEO for Scotland in June 2009, John Rendall has been tasked to lead growth and development of HSBC’s business North of the Border whilst raising the brand’s profile in the region. With over 22 years experience with HSBC, John Rendall has held a variety of high profile roles within the organisation. Most recently he has spent two years as Chief Operating Officer for Mexico. In this capacity he was successfully responsible for the implementation of the first non-UK implementation of an innovative fraud identification infrastructure and managed the overall improvement of customer service quality, cost effectiveness and improving the quality of internal controls. Prior to his time in Mexico, John held the role of Chief Operating Officer for HSBC Commercial Banking. This role encompassed responsibilities for all aspects of planning, strategic development, management information and finance within the UK Commercial Banking business. From this impressive history with HSBC, John Rendall will no doubt bring a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to his new role at the helm of HSBC’s expansion in Scotland. |
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Allan J.P. Rooney www.allanrooneyesq.com |
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Robert W Walsh |
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James Wanstall www.blumontcapital.com |
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