Join Us as a Participant!

Help shape the future of leadership, organizational transformation, and societal impact at the complimentary SPICE Insights Hub Kick-Off Conference on 26th February 2026 at Pullman Singapore Hill Street, Level 3, Oculus Room. SPICE is SMU Executive Development’s innovation engine. The Kick-Off conference asks bold questions on whether we are on the right track with leadership development – at SMU, in industry, and in wider society.

A full-day mini-conference of curated debates on leadership.

Have your say! The conference tackles 5 themes in rapid-fire one-hour blocks using the “Empty Chair” format: a rotating panel where audience members can step into the conversation. The 60-minute sessions start with a provocative question and explore emerging insights.

Date:
26th February 2026

Venue:
Pullman Singapore Hill Street
1 Hill Street, Singapore 179949
Level 3, Oculus Room

The order of sessions might change. 

The above link leads to a form where you can register for this exciting event.
Kindly R.S.V.P. by 31 December 2025.

Moderated Dialogue with Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman | Banyan Group:

From Certainty to Curiosity: Evolving Singaporean Leadership

Is leadership development a science, a craft, or an art—or have we reduced it to a formula that misses the point?

Journalist and Founder-CEO

Glenn's 30 years as an international journalist come in handy in running his global media consultancy, VanMedia Group, where he is committed to offering results-oriented coaching & programs on communication. 

Partner, Developing Global Leaders Asia

Mike worked for beverage MNCs until 2010, when he became interested in coaching. In 2018, Mike became a partner in Developing Global Leaders Asia, a company specialising in Inclusive Leadership. 

CPF (Master), HSDP, Co-Active Coach

Noel is a Organisation Development & Design practitioner (OD&D) with Roche where he is Global Consulting Partner. He is a member of the NTL Institute fostering applied behavioral science.

Academic Director,
SMU Executive Development

Originally a STEM scientist, Dr. Markus Karner designs and teaches SMU-ExD programmes, and heads the SMU-ExD Media Team. He is interested in interdisciplinary approaches to create good designs, strategies, and business models.  

Will AI expand our minds by helping us think better—or diminish them by numbing our innate abilities? 

Co-Founder,
Centre for AI Leadership

Previously at Meta, Georg Zoeller is a Co-founder of the Centre For AI Leadership (C4AIL), a Singapore based non profit. He is a pioneer of telemetry and data analytics in the games industry and advocates for increasing technology literacy in non-technical leaders. 

Associate Professor of Computer Science (Practice), SMU School of Computing and Information Systems

Previously with IBM, Laura Wynter designs and teaches Generative AI and launched research initiatives on enterprise AI code evaluation, generative AI for complex document understanding, and applications of AI in biology and finance. She worked the development of digital twins for FASTER with the LTA.

Founder, Leadership Design Lab Asia | Former APAC Lead, Amazon Leadership Institute 

Shun Kaneko is the Founder of Leadership Design Lab Asia, a Singapore-based consultancy that helps organizations transform leadership from concept into culture. Drawing on two decades of experience at Amazon, Baker McKenzie, Accenture, and Daimler, he helps enterprises design leadership ecosystems that make authenticity scalable, measurable, and sustainable. 

Lee Kong Chian Professor of Communication and Technology, SMU College of Integrative Studies, SMU Vice President

Professor Sun Sun Lim researches the social impact of technology, focusing on family dynamics and ethics. From 2018-2020, she was a Nominated Member of the 13th Parliament of Singapore, advocating for digital literacy and children’s digital rights.  

Head, Learning and Innovation
SMU Executive Development

François Bogacz has a strong focus on generating a measurable and sustainable impact through Executive Development. François has extensive leadership experience in various MNCs like Philips, Hitachi and Microsoft. In 2011, he founded one of the first companies dedicated to popularizing the findings about how the emotional, social and cognitive brains work.  

Was the meaning in products and services ever more than a sales trick—and who still believes it? 

Head of Market Management, ASEAN, South Asia and Middle East, HDI

Cristiano is one of the innovator evangelists in the Start-up and InsurTech space. In 2011, he launched the first InsurTech company to provide Blockchain-backed digital insurance solutions for the On-demand and Sharing Economy. He is also acted as a Senior Advisor to one of the world largest Pension Fund on innovation and turnaround strategies for $ 1/2 B acquisitions.

Director, Nakasendo Capital

Marina brings along 18 years of commercial, business development and leadership experience in the oil and gas industry working for companies including Shell, Gazprom and Steelhead LNG. In addition, she was responsible for energy and emerging markets within Capital International Investors.

CEO and Co-founder, Impress.ai

He is the co-founder and CTO of impress.ai, a Singapore-based startup that provides an AI chatbot platform for recruiters. As CTO, he leads the engineering teams in Singapore and India, overseeing product development and operations. The company's AI bots conduct structured, competency-based interviews to help recruiters screen and shortlist candidates at scale while fighting human bias.

Co-Founder, Cashvisory

Utkarsh Choudhary is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cashvisory, a financial technology (fintech) company based in Kolkata, India. Founded in 2020 with Arpita Sinha, Cashvisory aims to make financial planning accessible and affordable for young professionals and empower individuals regardless of their financial background. 

Associate Faculty,
SMU Executive Development

Eric Saint-Andre leads teaching of design thinking, business model innovation, and startup acceleration. Over the past eleven years, Eric mentored over 90 startups.   

Do businesses drive social innovation—or stumble into it and call it strategy? 

Board Director, EYElliance

Jayanth is an accomplished Global business leader in Eye care and a passionate believer in " Business as a force for good”. As a practitioner of Corporate Purpose, Social impact and Sustainability in the World, Jayanth is credited with creating first time eye care access to over 500 million people. He advises The World Health Organization (WHO) SPECS 2030. 

Assistant Director, SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Gabrielle is the founder of Beauty Undercover, a trusted platform that connects consumers with top beauty professionals. Gabrielle was Incubation Manager at the Business Innovations Generator (BIG) of the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition. 

Strategic Advisor,  
Magic Bus Global Singapore

Sakaya Johns Rani is a former Partner and Southeast Asia Leader at PwC’s Global Mobility Business. Now a Strategic Advisor and Finance & Operations Lead at Magic Bus Global Singapore, Sakaya advances the organization’s social impact.She is a strong advocate of ethical leadership. 

Angel Investor, PLAYBOOK

Hazleen Ahmad is a global speaker, leadership coach, and ecosystem builder.   
As a global impact investor, she backs women-led innovation, inclusive entrepreneurship, and sustainable brands. 

Programme Director, 
SMU Executive Development

A certified DEI practitioner, Dr Aman teaches executives and researches workplace culture. He has more than 15 years of professional experience across Singapore's Public Service such as the Ministry of Education, Higher Education Division & National Environment Agency and is a former Vice-President at the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI), a subsidiary of Temasek Investments. 

Is fractional leadership the future of work— or just leadership without commitment? 

Associate Faculty,
SMU Executive Development

Fermin has a more than 35 years of corporate and academic HR experience, centered around the theme “Implementing Strategy Through People”. Author and Thought Leader in over 40 countries, he has published three books and is the Deputy CEO at Singapore’s National Council of Social Service. 

Fractional CHRO

Susan Chen leads co:grow, a fractional HR and executive coaching practice that helps founders and senior teams design people strategies, strengthen leadership, and scale organizations across Asia. Susan has held senior industry HR leadership roles including Lead HRBP for Visa Inc., APAC Leadership Development Lead at AIG, Head of HR for Gojek International and GoPay, and more.  

Fractional CTO

Damien Kopp is a global technology advisor and innovation strategist based in Singapore. He leads RebootUp, a boutique advisory firm helping corporate leaders unlock business value through AI, digital innovation, and organizational reinvention. Previously, Damien was Head of Innovation at NCS (Singtel Group), and is a sought-after speaker on technopolitics—the intersection of AI, geopolitics, and strategic autonomy. 

Adjunct Faculty,
SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business

Neal leads the Humanaissance Initiative, unlocking performance by addressing the foundation of human life – conversations. He combines training, coaching, and consulting to elevate mundane and high-stakes conversations. Before transitioning to leadership development, Neal held commercial roles in the mining industry (Rio Tinto, South32)

The above link leads to a form where you can register for this exciting event.
Kindly R.S.V.P. by 31 December 2025.

If you require more information,
please contact Dr. Markus Karner at markuskarner@smu.edu.sg.

For registration matters,
please contact Huarong at hrzhang@smu.edu.sg