Executive Committee & Secretariat
The Executive Committee (EXCO) of UAESBC comprises the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and EXCO members.
EMERITUS CHAIRMAN & SENIOR ADVISOR: Dr Brian Shegar
CEO & Founder, ME Asia Consultancy Pte Ltd
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Dr Brian Shegar’s forty-year career covers leadership international banking experience with focus on South East and South Asia, Asia Pacific and Middle East as CEO of Midland Bank, NedBank and Emirates NBD. Upon his retirement from Emirates NBD in 2018, Dr Shegar established ME-Asia Consultancy Pte Ltd and is the Founding President of the UAE Singapore Business Council. He is a Member of the Global Advisory Board of CASS Business School and the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Gulf Economics, Trade and Finance. Dr Shegar holds a BSc, Hons (Banking and International Finance) and an MSc (Finance) from the CASS Business School of City, University of London. He was awarded a Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Western Australia Business School. He has also presented papers and spoken at numerous seminars and conferences.
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Emeritus Chairman's message:
I am indeed honoured to be elected Emeritus Chairman and Senior Advisor of the UAE Singapore Business Council which is a momentous development in the Singapore business community encompassing companies from UAE in Singapore and Singaporean companies involved in the UAE. It would serve as a platform for such companies to network and participate in activities that would promote stronger business linkages and profile of the UAE Singapore nexus.
PRESIDENT: Mr Dino Civitarese
- Chair, UAESBC Quarterly Talks Sub-Committee
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Dino Civitarese has 35 years’ experience in the Telecommunications Industry, with international exposure in the last 25.
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Since 2019, he’s Vice President Asia Pacific at e& (formerly known as Etisalat), a global technology group currently serving more than 167M customers in 16 Markets in the Middle East, Africa and Asia regions.
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Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer at M800, a CPaaS player based in Hong Kong.
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Prior to this role, he served as Vice President Sales for the APAC region in Telecom Italia Sparkle, playing a significant role in the positioning of the company in the Data and Voice regional market.
Dino also served as Managing Director of Telecom Italia Sparkle Singapore and oversaw Sparkle investments in the network infrastructure in Singapore and Malaysia.
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Before joining Sparkle, Dino served as Head of International Carrier Services in Maxis, at that time the leading mobile operator in Malaysia, and Regional Head at TMI Telemedia International, the international enterprise arm of Telecom Italia.
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Dino received a Bachelor Degree in Political Sciences majoring in international law from the University of Rome, Italy. He’s been also very active with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in HK and Singapore and recently joined the UAE-Singapore Business Council.
VICE-PRESIDENT : Mr Huang Yangxuan
- Chair, UAESBC Quarterly Talks Sub-Committee
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Yangxuan is a seasoned legal professional with over 15 years of experience in both private practice and in-house counsel roles. He graduated with an LLB from the Faculty of Law at the National University of Singapore in 2009. He transitioned to in-house counsel for corporates after concluding the first five years of his private practice career at a prestigious Big-4 law firm in Singapore.
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For the next decade, Yangxuan served as an in-house legal advisor, with the last seven years dedicated to the semiconductor industry at GlobalFoundries Singapore. In his current role, he plays a critical part in managing commercial negotiations and contract drafting with major customers across the APAC region. He also oversees supplier contracts, the implementation of contract management systems, and internal governance requirements. With deep expertise in resolving complex contractual and commercial disputes, Yangxuan is highly skilled at navigating the legal intricacies of the semiconductor industry.
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Since January 2023, Yangxuan has taken on additional leadership responsibilities, heading government affairs in Singapore. He serves as the primary liaison between GlobalFoundries and government agencies, ensuring seamless communication and strategic collaboration.
SECRETARY : Mr Ananth Ramachandran
First Abu Dhabi Bank (Singapore)
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Ananth Ramachandran (Ananth) is a Singapore based senior Asian banker, having been in the industry for 28 years covering both developed and emerging markets. Ananth is Country CEO – Singapore at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), where he heads up the South-East Asia business for FAB. Previously he was Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking (CIB), Asia for Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac). Prior to this, he has been in meaningful roles with first-rate institutions such as Standard Chartered, JPMorgan and BNP Paribas.
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His experience spans a range of sub-sectors of the banking industry: institutional banking (coverage, debt products, portfolio management, risk/credit management, transaction banking, trade finance), financial market products (hedging and liability management), capital markets (both debt and equity), structured financing (securitization, commodities, structured trade, asset financing), investment banking (advisory, capital management).
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Ananth completed his MBA in 1993 from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Ananth is a CFA Charter holder, a qualified Cost Accountant and a Company Secretary. He grew up in Calcutta and did his undergraduate studies in St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta.
TREASURER : Mr Venkataramani Srivathsan
- Chair, UAESBC CSR Sub-Committee
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Mr Venkataramani Srivathsan (“Sri”) joined Olam International in 1994 and has more than 25 years of experience in the commodities industry. He has held various positions in the Olam group, including country head, Ghana; country head, Nigeria; and regional head, West and Central Africa. Currently, he is the managing director and CEO for Africa and the Middle East, with oversight responsibility for the fertiliser business.
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Mr Srivathsan belongs to the 12-member executive committee that is Olam’s top policymaking body and is a member of its human resource and crisis committees. He is also the vice-chairman of the Singapore Business Federation, a member of the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies executive committee as well as on the advisory board of the Pan African University Lagos (Lagos Business School).
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With over 20 years of pan-African experience, Mr Srivathsan has presented many papers on small holder farmer in the Pan African forums. He has also been part of the advisory committees for the ministry of agriculture and the ministry of trade and industry in Nigeria. He is also the Chairman of Organising Committee of the Bi-Annual African Singapore Business Forum organised by Enterprise Singapore. Under his leadership, Olam Nigeria won several international and national awards. He was awarded a prestigious World Business for Peace Award in 2010.
EXCO MEMBER : Mr Fahed Al Nuaimi
- Chair, UAESBC Business Missions Sub-Committee
With more than 15 years of experience inside ADNOC, working across the value chain, including trading, corporate affairs and shipping, Fahed is the inaugural director of ADNOC’s first international trading office outside Abu Dhabi.
ADNOC is one of the world’s leading diversified energy groups, wholly owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with a network of fully integrated businesses operating across the value chain. The growth of ADNOC’s trading businesses, since launching in Abu Dhabi in 2020 and then Singapore in 2021, has been an important part of the transformation of ADNOC.
Fahed won the ADNOC Logistics & Services Scholarship on graduation from high school in 2007. Following undergraduate studies at the University of Tasmania, Australia (BSc in Nautical Science with ‘Principle’s Roll of Excellence’), he spent six years working on oil and gas tankers, becoming a Chief Marine Officer with several high performance awards and organizational memberships. Fahed then worked at ADNOC’s Petroleum Ports Authority, covering maritime pilotage, port operations, and regulations.
Fahed has represented ADNOC at numerous international forums and, as he continued to seek out new challenges, he was included in 2018 as part of the rigorous 18-month ADNOC Future Leaders (AFL) program. Since then, Fahed has moved to ADNOC’s Sales and Trading directorate providing strategic business support and, as a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), played an integral role in the establishment of ADNOC Global Trading (2020), and ADNOC Global Trading Asia (2021). In November 2022 he was appointed as the inaugural AGT Asia Office Director.
EXCO MEMBER : Ms Asmaa Al Kindi
Borouge Pte Ltd
- Chair, UAESBC Workshops & Seminars Sub-Committee
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Ms Asmaa Alkindi is an engineer at heart and a management consultant by profession, with over thirteen years of experience focusing on people strategies, corporate excellence and digital transformation. Currently, Ms Alkindi is the Vice President for Human capital and Administration at Borouge, a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Austria based Borealis. She leads the HR function in line with the corporate strategies across the region spanning Singapore, China, Japan, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Egypt. In her role, Ms Alkindi is accountable for developing and directing the implementation of strategies to determine plans and programs for the most effective utilisation of human resources to meet organisational needs, market competitiveness and financial targets.
Prior to her role with Borouge, Ms Alkindi was the Vice President of Talent Management function at ADNOC Gas Processing during which she leads the overall mission to find, develop and retain talent in support of the organization’s over-all business strategy. She pioneered the establishment of the corporate wide knowledge management framework and innovation management program to support organisation learning and continuous improvement.
Ms Alkindi was born and brought up in Abu Dhabi, UAE and currently lives in Singapore with her family of three kids. Her career was driven by the strong belief that disruptive thinking and change management works in tandem to driving a successful sustainable business.
EXCO MEMBER : Mr Simon Naga
Simon Naga joined the Singapore office as Managing Director, Inditex Brands, Al-Futtaim Group, in early July 2017. In January 2019, he was appointed Vice President of Al-Futtaim Group, Asia to oversee overall Group operations in Asia. In addition to spearheading the Inditex Brands, he is responsible for the other brands under the Group in Asia. These brands include Marks and Spencer and a host of other well-known retail brands such as Bebe, Ted Baker, Massimo Dutti, Nautica, Reebok, Zara, Mango, Pull&Bear, Lacoste and Royal Sporting House.
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With more than 14 years of working experience in the retail industry, before joining the Al-Futtaim Group, his last vocation was a District Manager with the Azadea Group based in Egypt. He was responsible for leading and managing the country’s business operations as well as ensuring business profitability. He holds the 2014 record of achieving record double-digit revenue-growth for the business portfolio. In his earlier professional years, he gained important extensive retail operations and brand management experience with multi-label lifestyle brands retailer Dubai Group Holding.
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Mr Naga is skilled in business development and holds a Bachelor’s Degree specialising in International Business, Trade and Commerce from Ain Shams University.
EXCO MEMBER : Ms Therese Batshon
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Ms Therese Batshon is Senior Vice President and Area Head (Asia Pacific) for Arab Bank. She is an Arab Bank Veteran having started her careere as a Credit Officer with assignments to different branches including Paris, London, New York, Cyprus, Athens, Spain, Frankfurt ad Sovereign Desk - Bahrain.
In 2000, she was promoted to Area Head - International Branches Department (Credit) in charge of Singapore, Australia and the UK and subsequently took over as the Deputy Head of Credit Facilities Division - International Department and became the Chairman of the Department's Credit Committee.
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In 2006, she was assigned officially as the Deputy Area Executive for Asia Pacific, and took the role of Business Development Head for the Bank's Business in Asia Pacific. In 2013, she became the Area Head - Asia Pacific, responsible for Arab Bank's business and operations in the region. In 2017 to 2019 she owned and managed the setting up of the bank's Shanghai branch which now reports directly to the Singapore office.
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Throughout her career, Ms Batshon participated in different projects for Arab Bank including building credit policies and procedures, consolidating of the Bank's business Europe through a subsidiary and the liquidation of the Bank's operations in Athens.
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She is a Member of the Board of Directors of Arab Bank Australia Ltd and represents Arab Bank as a member of the Association of Banks in Singapore.
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EXCO MEMBER : Mr Arun Kumar
Country Head & Senior Executive Officer - DBS (DIFC Branch)
Arun is a career banker with over 24 years of experience across multinational banks. In his current role as Country Head & Senior Executive Officer for DBS Dubai, he is responsible for the
Bank’s overall business in the GCC/ Middle East region.
Prior to DBS, he worked with HSBC in the Origination & Client Coverage business in the UAE and India. He brings several years of client coverage & deal structuring experience in the GCC region across a diverse client segment, from government owned/ related companies & family-owned conglomerates to banks and sovereign wealth funds across the region.
He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology New Delhi and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
EXCO MEMBER : Mr Wilson Vaz
Director, Emirates National Oil Company (Singapore) Pte Ltd, ENOC
Wilson Vaz is Senior Director of International Supply and Trading for Emirates National Oil Company (Singapore) Private Limited. He is a member of the company’s executive management team and also a Board Member of the Company.
With more than 30 years’ global trading and risk management experience, Wilson is responsible for overall financial and strategic management of the company. This includes running all facets of the business from overseeing the full operations which includes trading, marketing, operations, finance and risk control.
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EXCO MEMBER : Ms Vanessa Leung
Ms Vanessa Leung has over 25 years’ experience in the financial industry. Prior to joining Emirates NBD Bank, she spent 22 years in Standard Chartered Bank across multiple functions. Ms Leung is currently CEO of Emirates NBD Bank’s Singapore Branch where she is responsible for overall strategic direction and operations of the Singapore branch and the bank’s representative offices in China and Indonesia.
EXCO MEMBER : Mr Atul Temurnikar
Global Schools Foundation (GSF)
Mr Atul Temurnikar is the founding Chairman of Global Schools Foundation (GSF), a Singapore-based not-for-profit entity which has two schools under its aegis – Global Indian International School (GIIS) and One World International School (OWIS). The foundation has 22 campuses across South East Asia, East Asia and Middle East (through presence in 7 countries) to provide high quality international education for students from kindergarten to High school.
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Mr Temurnikar heads the executive management of GSF and oversees its worldwide operations. He is a strong advocate of high-quality yet moderate and affordable education that transcends socio-economic boundaries. He has also been advocate of new emerging education frontiers and his significant efforts in the education sector.
EXCO MEMBER : Mr Thakore P R
Mr Thakore is the CEO of IFFCO Singapore Pte Ltd and has been with the IFFCO Group in various capacities since 2007. He is responsible for global procurement, trading, risk management and supply chain management for IFFCO’s Oils & Fats business. Prior to joining IFFCO, he was Senior Vice President (Marketing) with Pan Century Edible Oils Sdn. Bhd, Malaysia. He has over 30 years’ experience in the Edible Oils Industry and has been actively associated with various industries and trade bodies.
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Mr Thakore hold an MBA from National University of Singapore, a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from University of Calcutta and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
EXCO MEMBER : Mr Robert Dompeling
Group Chief Executive Officer, PEC Ltd
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Robert Dompeling is the Group Chief Executive Officer of PEC Ltd (PEC or the Group), a Public Company Limited by Shares and listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) since August 2009. He also sits on the board, having served in both capacities since joining PEC in July 2007. His responsibilities include managing the Group’s operational, commercial and financial divisions, as well as shaping its business development and expansion.
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Mr Dompeling honed his skills as a petroleum engineer at the Royal Dutch Shell Group in the Netherlands. From July 1984, he served in various positions that saw him posted to countries such as the United Kingdom and Oman. Between 1988 to 2007, he held various key management roles at the Dutch-based Royal Vopak group, overseeing the growth and development of its Singapore business.
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Mr Dompeling earned his master’s in naval architecture at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
EXCO MEMBER : Ms Grace Chia
EXCO MEMBER : Mr Rashed Al Fajeer (Adhoc Representative)
Country Manager, Singapore & Brunei, Emirates Airlines
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Rashed embarked on his professional journey with Emirates a decade ago when he joined the Emirates Commercial Outstation Management Trainee Programme in 2013. Through the programme, he gained invaluable insights and expertise working across various departments in Dubai and the Emirates office in Sri Lanka.
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Subsequently, he held several other key positions including District Manager in Dammam, Area Manager in Tanzania, and Country Manager for Morocco. Most recently, Rashed was the Manager for Iran and Central Asia, where he played a pivotal role in bolstering Emirates' presence in the region.
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Rashed holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Derby, and a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from the American University in Dubai.
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EXCO MEMBER : Mr Glen Christopher Hilton
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director
DP World Asia Pacific
With more than thirty years of experience in logistics as well as port and terminal operations, Glen Hilton has been delivering effective and innovative solutions that make trade flow and unlock greater opportunities for people and businesses.
As the CEO and Managing Director for DP World Asia Pacific, Glen oversees the company’s operations across several countries and regions including Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Based in Singapore, Glen leads a team of 7500 employees in developing and implementing DP World’s commercial and operations strategies to accelerate growth across the region and deliver unrivaled value to customers and partners. He has also worked to build strong partnerships with China-based suppliers and maximise port-side investments in Turkey, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Glen started his career with DP World in 2005 and within a year, was tasked to lead port operations in the Dominican Republic, which grew by 80 percent under his stewardship. He was subsequently named regional Head of Southeast Asian operations, a role he held for four years prior to his current appointment.
Glen also previously served as the CEO of Malaysia’s largest container terminal at the Port of Tanjung Pelepas and was General Manager of international cargo handling for an airline in his native Australia.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Glen is passionate about following global politics and has an interest in world history. He is also a sports enthusiast and avid golfer.
EXCO MEMBER : Mr Mansoor Alboom
Senior Manager, Marketing & Sales (Asia)
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA)
Based in Singapore since 2023, Mansoor boasts extensive expertise spanning more than 15 years within the Aluminum industry. Currently entrusted with overseeing primary aluminum commercial operations across Asia for EGA, Mansoor manages a diverse portfolio encompassing over 100 clients spanning Southeast Asia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Oceania.
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His unwavering dedication to fostering EGA's regional growth underscores a steadfast commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction and meeting their bespoke requirements. Mansoor's strategic approach emphasizes the cultivation of enduring trust through long-term client relationships, thereby facilitating substantial expansion of EGA's market presence throughout the region. This unwavering focus on client-centric solutions epitomizes Mansoor's contribution to EGA's mission of making modern life possible.
EXCO MEMBER : Mr Sazzali B Sabandi
Head of Islamic Banking, Maybank
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Honorary Auditors
Dr Eitan Konstantino
Singapore Medtech Accelerator
Ms Su-Ann Lee
General Manager, Malaysia & Singapore, Etihad Airways
Honorary Legal Advisor
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EXCO MEMBER : Mr Abdul Jabbar
Rajah & Tann Singapore
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Mr Abdul Jabbar is the head of Rajah & Tann Singapore’s corporate and transactional practice and a member of the firm’s executive committee. Jabbar has more than 25 years of extensive experience in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and banking and finance. He is listed as a leading practitioner in Who's Who Legal – M&A and Governance (2017–2022) and Who’s Who Legal – Management Labour and Employment (2011–2022). He has also been recommended in The Legal 500 (Corporate and M&A) and recognised as a leading practitioner in Legal Week’s Private Client Global Elite. Jabbar advises companies on corporate governance, compliance and regulatory matters and serves as company secretary to numerous boards in Singapore.
Secretariat
