Speaker Profiles
Goh Swee Chen, '03 (AXP-2) (Panelist)
Chairman, Shell Companies in Singapore
Goh Swee Chen has been the Chairman of Shell Companies in Singapore since October 2014.
Concurrent to her country chair role, Swee Chen is also Vice President, Lubricants – Asia Pacific, a role she undertook in 2011.
Swee Chen joined Shell in 2003 and was previously with Procter & Gamble and IBM. A global leader, she has lived and worked in many countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Netherlands, Australia, USA, Japan and China. She spent a large part of her career in global roles, leading significant businesses with multinational teams. Swee Chen has a diverse professional background having spent her career in IT, Real Estate, Sales & Marketing with P&L responsibilities in Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas industries.
Other than chairing the Shell Companies in Singapore, Swee Chen also chaired/sat on the Board of several Shell Joint Ventures in China and Saudi Arabia. She holds Board positions with the Singapore University of Technology & Design, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce and is a Council Member of SNEF. She is also a member of the Committee on the Future Economy of Singapore.
Swee Chen graduated with a B.Sc. from Victoria University and an MBA from Chicago Booth. She is married with three children.
Nels Friets (Panelist)
Vice Chairman, tryb Capital Pte Ltd
Nels Friets is currently Vice Chairman of tryb capital, a private equity investment partnership focused on ASEAN fintech.
Nels also sits on the boards of Fullerton Fund Management and PortfolioQuest as well as the Finance Committee of Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD, a joint venture with MIT). He previously served on the boards of publicly listed, not-for-profit, educational, and private entities.
He started his career as a management consultant, first with Strategic Planning Associates (1983-1991) and then with SRI International (1991-1994). He was a member of SPA's first team in Asia (1985) and was the first Research Analyst to be promoted directly to Associate. During his consulting tenure, he worked across multiple geographies, industries, and functions.
For the past twenty years, Mr Friets has been actively involved in capital markets– first with CLSA (where his roles included Singapore Research Director, Deputy Regional Research Director, Global Sales Director, and Head of Singapore/Malaysia) and then Citigroup (where he ran the equities business for Southeast Asia). While at Citigroup, he chaired the SGX-ST Advisory and Disciplinary Committees and also served on the Monetary Authority's Capital Markets Review Committee. After retiring from Citigroup in 2008, Mr Friets provided advisory services and served on boards. In 2011, he was persuaded to join the Singapore Exchange for two years to help restructure the securities market.
Mr Friets graduated cum laude from Yale University in 1983, where he majored (with distinction) in Applied Mathematics, specializing in Operations Research. Since 1986, Mr Friets has lived in Singapore, where he is a permanent resident.
Rick Marchese, '96 (Panelist)
Director, Lares Loreno Private Capital
Rick is the founder of Lares Loreno Private Capital, a Singapore-based firm providing corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and private equity advisory services to SMEs, family businesses and family offices. He is also a director with Fortress Group, a US-based private equity placement agent, overseeing their Asian operations.
He is currently a non-executive director for Grand Perfecta Inc., a Tokyo-based sports media company listed on the US OTC Markets (OTCMKTS: GPIW) and was formerly a non-executive director for CAM Group, Inc., a China-based, diversified agricultural concern that also traded on the US OTCMKTS. He serves as a director for a Spanish private equity firm and serves as the trustee for an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for a US-based, construction engineering company.
Previously, Rick was in the investment banking groups at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch in New York and Silicon Valley. He started his investment banking career as an associate with Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette after receiving his MBA from Chicago Booth. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors.
Rick is also a former naval officer and graduate of the United States Naval Academy.
Malini Vaidya (Panelist)
Managing Partner, Spencer Stuart
Malini Vaidya manages Spencer Stuart's Southeast Asia office. She leads the Consumer Practice for Asia Pacific and is also a member of the firm's Financial Services Practice. Malini focuses on board advisory (evaluation & recruitment) as well as CEO search throughout the region.
Global expertise with deep Asian insights:
Malini was a consultant in the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur offices of another international executive search firm, where she played a key role in driving the firm's Malaysian practice, led the financial services practice group for Southeast Asia, and co-led efforts in the region's consumer industry. Her work also spanned the telecommunications, media, and transportation and logistics sectors, as well as board director and senior executive assignments.
Prior to moving to Singapore in 2001, Malini was based in India, where she conducted cross-border search assignments in the financial, media and telecommunications sectors.
Before entering executive search, Malini served as the India head of business development for cash management services in the corporate financial services group of ANZ Grindlays Bank. She was also a senior deal and relationship originator within the corporate and investment banking groups of the ANZ Bank in the United States and India, focusing on the media and financial services industries. Malini also served as strategic adviser within ANZ Grindlays as a member of the core McKinsey-Grindlays team.
A Singaporean, Malini holds an honours bachelor's degree in economics from St. Xavier's College at Bombay University, and master's degrees in both finance and economics from Northeastern University in Boston.
Malini currently serves as co-chair of the Women's Corporate Director chapter for Singapore
Steve Stine (Moderator)
Managing Partner Asia, DHR International
Steve Stine leads DHR International's Asia-Pacific region, the firm's largest business region outside of the US.
Steve has lived and worked in Asia for nearly 25 years. Prior to joining DHR, Steve was with Heidrick & Struggles where he built the firm's Digital Media & Entertainment and Renewable Energy & Clean Technology service areas in Asia-Pacific. He later become a key member of the firm's Global Technology & Services (GTS) practice and served as sub-practice head for the region.
In 2000, Steve established Asia Ventures International, a strategic
consulting and services group specializing in new business start-ups and strategic consulting services.
He began his career in Asia as the Hong Kong correspondent for the Asian Wall Street Journal before becoming a telecommunications and media analyst and consultant with Paul Kagan Associates and PricewaterhouseCoopers, respectively.
Prior to moving to Asia, Steve received his Master's degree in China Studies and Economics from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is a published children's book author and has recently received a second Master's degree in Mythological Studies from the Pacifica Graduate Institute in the U.S