Mdm Halimah Yacob served in the National Trades Union Congress for 33 years. She held various positions, as Deputy Secretary General; Director of departments including Legal Services, Women’s Development and Labour Studies; and Executive Secretary of the United Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries. She was on various national committees including the Economic Review Committee.

She was Singapore’s representative in the International Labour Organisation for 12 years and the first Singaporean to be elected into the ILO. She represented workers in many ILO committees.

In 2001, she was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Jurong Group Representation Constituency. Her final and fourth term as an MP was in the Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC.

In 2011, Mdm Halimah was appointed Minister of State for Community Development and Sports. She introduced various programmes for seniors and enhanced services for the disabled. She also laid the foundation for the Social Services Offices.

In 2013, she was elected as Speaker of Parliament, the first woman to hold the position.

With her passion for social causes, Mdm Halimah is patron to more than 40 charitable and community organisations. She also championed women’s issues and was awarded Woman of the Year by Her World Magazine (2003) and AWARE Heroine Award (2011). She was inducted into the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame (2014) and conferred the Berita Harian Achiever of the Year (2001).

Mdm Halimah obtained her law degree and Masters in Law from the National University of Singapore. In 2016, she was conferred the Doctor of Law by the NUS.

Laurence D. Fink is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock. BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. He serves on the Board of Trustees of NYU and the World Economic Forum, and is Co-Chairman of the NYU Langone Medical Center Board of Trustees. In addition, he serves on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art, the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Rescue Committee. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management and the Executive Committee of the Partnership for New York City.

Dr. Ma is the Founder and President of Institute of Finance and Sustainability (based in Beijing). He is also the Chairman of Green Finance Committee of China Society for Finance and Banking, Co-Chair of G20 Sustainable Finance Study Group, Chair of the NGFS Workstream Research and Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of the Green Investment Principles for the Belt & Road.

Between 2018 and 2020, Dr Ma was the Director of Center for Finance and Development at Tsinghua University. Between 2014 and 2017, he served as the Chief Economist at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)’s Research Bureau and a member of the central bank’s Macro-Prudential Committee. Before joining the PBOC, he worked for 13 years at Deutsche Bank, where he was Managing Director/Chief Economist/Investment Strategist for Greater China. During 1992-2000, he worked as a senior economist and economist at the World Bank and the IMF. From 1988-1990, he was a research fellow at the Development Research Center of China's State Council.

Dr. Ma has published numerous books and articles on monetary policy, financial market, and green/sustainable finance. He led the drafting of China’s green finance guidelines in 2015-16 and facilitated the global consensus on scaling up green finance under the G20 framework during 2016-18. Over the past decade, he has provided advice to policy makers in many areas, including monetary and macro prudential policies, RMB internationalisation, green finance, and the Belt & Road initiative.

Dr. Ma received his Ph.D. in Economics from Georgetown University in 1994, and his master's degree in Management Science from Fudan University in 1988. He received numerous awards for his research and policy advocacy and was ranked #1 Asia Economist by Institutional Investors for four years in a row from 2009-2012. 

Dr Steve Howard is Vice Chairman, Sustainability, Temasek. He first joined Temasek as Chief Sustainability Officer in January 2021. Steve is a board member of GenZero, which he helped establish, and chairs the Investment Committee. He is also a founding board member of the Temasek-BlackRock joint venture, Decarbonization Partners, and is a member of the Investment Committee. In addition, Steve is Founding Chair of the We Mean Business Coalition and a member of the LeapFrog’s Global Leadership Council. He is also chair of the Advisory board of Tilt Collective, a global initiative promoting plant-rich food systems. He was, until recently, on the Administrative Board of SEforALL.

Before joining Temasek, Steve was Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA Group and served on IKEA’s Executive Group Management from 2011 to 2017. In 2015, Steve co-founded We Mean Business, a leading climate change coalition of organisations that helped support the Paris Agreement. Prior to IKEA, Steve was Founder and CEO of The Climate Group, a global NGO that has built networks of cities, states, regions, and businesses committed to a net-zero carbon world. Before the Climate Group, Steve consulted on sustainability working as a partner at ERM Group in London and a Director at URS Corporation.

Steve has worked with various NGOs and UN bodies on a wide range of global sustainability topics. Earlier in his career, Steve worked in WWF, where he established the Global Forest and Trade Network, chaired the UK Forest Stewardship Council and helped launch and chair The Forest Trust. Steve is trained as an ecologist and has a PhD in Ecophysiology and Environmental Physics based on research on agroforestry systems in Kenya.

Ms Herry Cho joined Singapore Exchange (SGX) as Managing Director, Head of Sustainability and Sustainable Finance on 8 February 2021. She drives SGX’s sustainability and sustainable finance strategic direction and implementation, with the aim of transforming SGX and its ecosystem into a world-class, trusted multi-asset sustainable exchange.

Ms Cho pioneered in the development of Asia Pacific’s sustainable finance markets, in her former role as the Head of Sustainable Finance APAC at ING Bank N.V. from 2017. There she led the origination and execution of sustainable finance transactions including green/social/sustainability bonds and loans, and delivered sustainability advisory to key clients. Furthermore, she shaped the international market standards having served on the Executive Committee Board of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA)’s Green/Social/Sustainability Bond Principles, was the sustainability lead on ICMA’s APAC regional committee and on the Loan Market Association’s Green Finance Committee.

Ms Cho leverages on a broad financial background having previously worked for almost a decade in Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory, Capital Structuring and Advisory, and Equity & Debt Capital Markets. Currently based in Singapore, Ms Cho has previously worked in Hong Kong, London and Amsterdam.

Ms Cho holds a combined Bachelors and Masters (MBioch) Degree in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry from the University of Oxford, UK.

Piyush Gupta has been the Chief Executive Officer and Director of DBS Group since 2009.

Prior to joining DBS, Piyush had a 27 year career at Citigroup, where his last position was Chief Executive Officer for South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Piyush is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Singapore Management University, Vice-Chairman of the Institute of International Finance, Washington, and Vice-Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Executive Committee. In addition, he is a member of Singapore’s Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data. He sits on the boards of Singapore’s National Research Foundation, and the Singapore’s Council for Board Diversity. Piyush is a term trustee of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). Previously, he has been a member of the Singapore Emerging Stronger Taskforce, aimed at defining Singapore’s future in a post-Covid world, the UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the McKinsey Advisory Council.

Piyush has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, India and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Sunny Verghese is the Co-founder and Group CEO of Olam, and post the re-organisation of the Group, he holds charge as CEO of Olam Global Agri and Olam Group Limited (OGL). Olam is listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and ranks amongst the top 30 companies in Singapore in terms of market capitalisation.

Sunny is a thought leader in sustainability, particularly in the food and agriculture sector. Under his leadership, Olam has been a pioneer at the forefront of Climate and Sustainability initiatives.

In April 2022, Sunny was appointed as Chairman of GenZero, Temasek’s Carbon Solutions Platform. Singapore, He is the Chairman of JOil (S) Pte Ltd and also serves on the Board of Trustees of Singapore Management University.

Sunny served as Chairman of the Board of the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) from 2017 till June 2023. From 2018 to 2021, Sunny was Chair of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the global, CEO-led organisation dedicated to accelerating the transition to a sustainable world. He was also a Commissioner of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission (BSDC) in 2016. He served on the Board of International Enterprise Singapore from 2002 to 2013 and was its Chair from 2008 to 2013.

He has won several awards including ‘Outstanding Chief Executive’ at the Singapore Business Awards in 2007, ‘Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ for Singapore in 2008 and ‘Best CEO of the Year 2011’ at the Singapore Corporate Awards. Sunny was conferred The Public Service Medal by the Government of Singapore in August 2010.

Sunny holds a post graduate management degree from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) and has also completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the Harvard Business School. Sunny was recognised as a Distinguished Alumni by IIMA in its Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 2011.

Bill Winters is the Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered PLC (since Jun ‘15). Standard Chartered is a UK headquartered, emerging markets focussed bank, with a presence in 59 markets across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Prior to joining Standard Chartered, Bill spent 26 years with JP Morgan and was Co-CEO of the Investment Bank (2004-2009). He has served as a committee member of the Independent Commission on Banking, established by the UK Govt (2010), and as an advisor to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards. Bill also founded Renshaw Bay, a credit fund which he ran from 2011-2015.

Bill is deeply engaged in driving the climate finance agenda. Under his leadership, Standard Chartered chairs the Net Zero Banking Alliance. Bill chaired the Taskforce for Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets, a global private-sector initiative that developed a roadmap to scale high-integrity carbon markets. Bill also co-Chairs the B20 Taskforce for Finance & Infrastructure, which has a special focus on unlocking finance for green infrastructure.

Bill is a Non-Executive Director of Novartis International AG. He was awarded a CBE in 2013 and holds an MBA from Wharton.

Sebastien joined Temasek in January 2014 and is currently a Director in Temasek’s Agribusiness cluster that is responsible for direct equity investments across the food and agriculture value chain. He oversees the cluster’s activities in EMEA and has led transactions in food tech and ag tech, as well as the traditional supply chain, with the aim to reduce the environmental and resource footprint of the global food system.

Prior to Temasek, Sebastien focused on commodities, including carbon emissions, within the principal investment team of the Noble Group, and as a Vice President on the trading desk of J.P. Morgan. He previously worked at the World Bank Group, covering energy, sustainability and clean tech for the Latin America region.

Soren Skou has been the Chief Executive Officer of A.P. Moller - Maersk since 2016 and has previously held executive positions within the company, both as CEO of Maersk Line and CEO of Maersk Tankers. He has been an Executive Board member of A.P. Moller - Maersk since 2006 and has, until his appointment to CEO of Maersk Line, held a variety of senior positions across A.P. Moller - Maersk.

Soren joined A.P. Moller - Maersk in 1983 as part of the Maersk International Shipping Education programme. He is a graduate from Copenhagen Business School and holds an MBA from IMD Business School in Switzerland.

In December 2014, Soren was named one of the most influential individuals in the international shipping industry according to Lloyd’s List and in May 2019, Soren was appointed member of the Board of Directors to Nokia.

Juliet joined Temasek in April 1996 and is currently Head, Transportation & Logistics and Senior Managing Director, Portfolio Development. During her 26-year tenure at Temasek, Juliet has been involved in originating, evaluating and managing investment opportunities across a broad range of sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, media & technology and transportation and logistics. She has also been involved in shaping various institutional initiatives within Temasek including organisational structures, talent development and governance framework. Prior to joining Temasek, Juliet was with Singapore Press Holdings.

She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Second Upper Honours) degree from the National University of Singapore and is a CFA charter holder.

Peter Vanacker is the President and CEO of Neste, a company which creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. Neste refines waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. The company is the world's leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge.

Peter Vanacker is passionate about sustainability, renewable solutions and the circular economy. Neste's company purpose, "Creating a Healthier Planet for our Children", is his driving force. With a background in the Polymers and Chemicals industry, Peter Vanacker has proven expertise and a record of performance in company transformation, high growth and mature businesses.

Before joining Neste in 2018, he had an extensive career in various CEO and leadership positions in companies such as Bayer, Treofan and CABB Group GmbH in Belgium, Germany, Japan, China, Brazil and the United States. Peter Vanacker is also a Member of the Supervisory Board at Symrise AG and the Chair of the Advisory Board of the European Institute for Industrial Leadership.

Rasmus Valanko is the Managing Director for Systems Transformation at We Mean Business (WMB). He works to implement systemic change by working with companies and partner organisations on climate change. He is Head of Demand at Mission Possible Partnership (MPP) working to catalyse the market for green products in the harder to abate sectors. 

Prior to joining WMB, Rasmus led the sustainability transformation of the chemical company Kemira, acting as Director for Corporate Sustainability. He brings a wealth of experience in leading business collaboration initiatives from previous roles at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) where he led the Climate & Energy programme. 

He has also worked for Royal Dutch Shell on global climate change and CO2 policy as well as their alternative energies strategy, initiating investments in electric mobility. Rasmus began his career in the public sector working for the Ministry of Environment on multilateral environmental agreements as well as oversees development aid while at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 

Rasmus brings a wealth of knowledge on sustainability from private, public and NGO sectors and believes in the power of collaboration to find innovative solutions to some of the most complex challenges faced by society today.

Bill Gates is chair of the Gates Foundation and founder of Breakthrough Energy and TerraPower. In 1975, he co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend, Paul Allen, and today he is chair of the Gates Foundation. Bill is also the founder of Breakthrough Energy, an effort to commercialise clean energy and other climate-related technologies, and TerraPower, a company investing in developing groundbreaking nuclear technologies.

At Breakthrough Energy, he’s putting his experience as an innovator and problem-solver to work to address climate change by supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, big thinkers, and clean technologies. Bill uses his experience partnering with global leaders across sectors to help drive the policy, market, and technological changes required for a clean energy transition.

Through his private office, Gates Ventures, he focuses on Alzheimer’s research and other issues such as healthcare, interdisciplinary education, and technology.

Ernest J. Moniz was the thirteenth US Secretary of Energy from 2013 to January 2017, advancing clean energy technology innovation as central to climate change mitigation, nuclear security, and cutting-edge scientific research capabilities and negotiating the Iran nuclear agreement alongside the Secretary of State.

Dr Moniz joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty in 1973, founded the MIT Energy Initiative and is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems emeritus. He is CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and of the Energy Futures Initiative. He has served on boards and advisory groups of numerous companies, non-profits, research institutions and government agencies in the energy, science and security arenas.

Dr Moniz received a Bachelor of Science degree summa cum laude in physics from Boston College and a doctorate in theoretical physics from Stanford University. Among his awards are the Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator (Portugal), the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan), the Distinguished Public Service Award of the Department of Defense, election to the American Philosophical Society, the inaugural American Academy of Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence in Public Policy and Public Affairs and the inaugural Aspen Institute Award for Energy Policy.