ABOUT OUR PRESENTERS

Mr Johnny Lau, Co-Founder & CEO: Vasunas Pte Ltd

 Creator of Mr. Kiasu, but not so Kiasu by nature when is comes to challenging a Mindset. Laughed at when the architect position was abandoned for comics. He believes that a market is to be created, not found.

 Johnny is the Chief Executive Officer for Vasunas Pte Ltd, holds directorship for a technology company and advisory positions for two public listed companies, mainly in the media domain. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture credited by the University of Southern California (LA, USA). He has extensive experience in the creative field as a whole and has initiated many projects of different nature and sizes across the board for more than ten years now. These include publications in both books and magazines; initiating public events such as art shows and stage musicals, conducting group events for cartoonists around the region; wrote and produced music albums and CD Rom; hosted radio shows and wrote as a newspaper columnist; participated in nationwide campaigns for MNCs and government agencies. Johnny currently has more then 20 comics book titles under his wings, in both English and Chinese under his credits.

Johnny was one of the founding member of Singapore Chapter of Young Entrepreneur Organization (YEO), a global business organization with a network of enterprising leaders age under 39. He is presently very actively in the business of animation and intends to bring Asian style animation and comics into the global arena. (For a more updated list of his credits :-) click here to download the PDF).
Mr Adrian Tham, Senior Regional System Engineering Manager, ASEAN: Symantec Singapore Pte Ltd

In his current role as Senior Regional System Engineering Manager for Symantec and leading a team of engineer in the South East Asian region, Adrian works with corporate customers to ensure the successful integration of Symantec's enterprise security solutions into existing environments. Adrian plays an integral role in the security consulting, training services to Symantec's clients. His key focus in enterprise security is firewall, antivirus, intrusion detection, vulnerability management and security management architecture. Adrian joined Symantec in 1998 after completing his Science Degree in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining Symantec, he held engineer positions with leading corporate resellers and was directly involved with providing networking solutions for both the Novell and WinNT environments. Adrian graduated from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom with a Master of Science Degree, majoring in Computer and Information Networks. Adrian also holds a Advanced Diploma in Data and Communication Networks. He is certified for Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP),Symantec Certified Security Practitioner (SCSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM).
Mr Daniel Koh, Partner, Principal Practice Group: iTec - IP Technology Entertainment Communications: Rajah & Tann Advocates & Solicitors

Daniel is a partner in the firm of Rajah & Tann. His main areas of practice are intellectual property law, commercial litigation and dispute resolution. He was called to the Singapore Bar in 1994 after graduating from the Law Faculty of the National University of Singapore. He also graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Laws degree in 1997. He also teaches in classes at the National University of Singapore and at the Practice Law Course conducted by the Board of Legal Education. Daniel is also a member of the Law Society Intellectual Property Committee and the Law Society Continuing Practice Development Committee.

Daniel is the editor of The Law and Practice of Injunctions in Singapore, published by Sweet & Maxwell and has also co-authored the chapters on Intellectual Property, Defamation and Employment Disputes. He was among the first in 1997 to successfully apply at the Singapore High Court for an order for discovery from internet service providers, disclosing the identity of a user who had carried out copyright infringement over the internet. More recently, he has represented the successful plaintiff in the case of Virtual Map (S) Pte Ltd vs. NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Ltd in a copyright infringement suit. He has a broad based practice and a large part of his work also includes claims for corporate fraud, breach of contract claims and resolution of commercial disputes.
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Mr Chak Ming Fai, Business Development Manager: Macromedia South Asia (Singapore)

Chak is Business Development Manager for Macromedia South Asia and is responsible for developing key partner relationships with major IT vendors and solution providers. He also handles evangelism and technology transfer to developers. _ Chak graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in Computer Science. Prior to joining Macromedia, he was with Microsoft Singapore, handling business development and content operations for MSN. He has also had technical field sales experience in IBM and running his own Web design startup.

About Macromedia Experience matters. Macromedia is motivated by the belief that great experiences build great businesses. Their software empowers millions of developers and designers to create and deliver on digital devices. Their Macromedia MX family is an integrated suite of tools, servers, and client technology which streamline the creation and delivery of everything from websites to rich Internet applications.
Mr Rob Stanley, Sales Director South Asia: DoubleClick International Asia B.V. (South Asia)

Rob has worked at senior levels in sales and planning in several leading Interactive Marketing technology companies, and currently leads DoubleClick Technologies in South Asia. He has helped many brands such as Citibank, ESPN, MTV, Singtel, StarHub, and Zuji among others, enabling them to utilize the online medium to target their customers in a less expensive way with better results.

After selling his own consulting business in Canada, Rob came to Asia with Vignette where as Sales Director, he launched the first office in Asia. His time in servicing local and Asian regional clients served to strengthen his appreciation and understanding of cross-cultural issues. Rob has worked with clients in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and across North and South America. His personal mission is to play a leading role addressing the challenge of helping companies to utilize technology to build their brands and create a one-to-one dialogue with their customers.
Mr Riccardo Monaco, Co-Founder And ICT Project Manager: ForteYang New Media Agency (Rome, Italy)

Riccardo is an ICT project manager and co-founder of ForteYang New Media Agency based in Rome, Italy. He's been working in the information and communication technologies field since early 90's as he started his first company, TechnoEast, specialized in remote data monitoring technologies.

Riccardo "accidentally" got a degree in Law while he was working as project manager for a multimedia and telemedicine project (Siemens Nixdorf and University of Rome La Sapienza) and obtaining his specialization in managing information and communication projects within post-graduate masters at the New York University and Harvard University.

As the "Web" boomed in mid 90's his passion and work focused on the great opportunities given to communication and information by the Internet and made him start a new company, Forte Consulting, which soon teamed up with other two companies giving birth to the current ForteYang New Media Agency. Since 1998 he has coordinated and delivered several major projects for national and international clients; works include web sites development, multimedia CD/DVD Rom presentations, content management systems and web oriented software development. Riccardo's main skills and work are now focused on Usability and effectiveness of web information architectures and projects, Information Design, Interface Design and web sites analysis and benchmarking.
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Mr Justyn Olby, Freelance Editor: Tech Perspectives
(Up to 15 Sept 2004) Contributing Editor: GameSpotAsia , CNET News and CoolGear by CNETAsia (Singapore)

Justyn has been living in Singapore for the past 11 years. He is currently the Contributing Editor for CNET Networks Asia Pacific (up to 15 September) editing GameSpotAsia and contributing to CNET News and Cool Gear magazine. CNET Networks, Inc. is a premier global interactive content company that informs, entertains and connects large, engaged audiences with content in the personal technology, games and entertainment, and business technology categories. Justyn has been a journalist and photographer working for a wide range of local and international publications, including the Business Times, Project Eyeball, AsiaOne, Silver Kris and CHiP magazine.
Mr James Miner, Director of Client Services: BLUE Singapore (Singapore)

 James has over 15 years of experience in interactive development across Asia and the United States. Before joining BLUE, he was the Regional Director of the Customer Experience Innovation Center at Scient, a leading eBusiness professional services firm. Prior to Scient, James was a Regional Director at Y&R/WCJ Brand Dialogue. There he helped establish their interactive operations across Asia, while producing award winning interactive work for Citibank, Ericsson, Ford and leading Singaporean Companies. At BLUE, James and the team work with HP, Cisco, Polycom, JPMorgan, Nokia and others to create measurable and effective Internet programs.
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_Asst Prof Adrian Cheok, Director: Mixed Reality Lab - National University of Singapore

Adrian is director of the Mixed Reality Lab National University of Singapore. He has worked in real-time systems, soft computing, and embedded computing in both Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (Osaka, Japan) and National University of Singapore (NUS). In NUS he has been working on research covering mixed reality, human-computer interaction, wearable computers and smart spaces, fuzzy systems, embedded systems, power electronics, and multi-modal recognition. He has successfully obtained funding for four externally funded projects in the area of wearable computers and mixed reality from the Defense Science Technology Agency Singapore. The research output has included numerous high quality academic journal papers, research prototype deliverables to DSTA, numerous demonstrations including to the President and Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, CNN / CNBC television worldwide broadcasts on his research, and international invited new media exhibits such as Ars Electronica.

He is currently an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore where he leads a team of over 20 researchers and students. He has been a keynote and invited speaker at numerous international and local conferences and events. He is invited to exhibit for two years in the Ars Electronica Museum of the Future, launching in the Ars Electronica Festival 2003. He was IEEE Singapore Section Chairman 2003, and is presently ACM SIGCHI Chapter President. He was awarded the Hitachi Fellowship 2003, the A-STAR Young Scientist of the Year Award 2003, and the SCS Singapore Young Professional of the Year Award 2004.
Mr Ian Beattie: WizWorks (Singapore)
Workshop Trainer: Apple South Asia

Ian has worked in the video film industry for the past 15 yrs , originally an industrial illustrator, he left the world of pen and paper to meet the computer age head on , he has travelled the world adapting as technologies change, working in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, London and for the past 10 years here in Singapore . He now works with a variety of clients - helping them make the digital transition, understanding the technology, showing creative individuals how to produce TV and Film content on Desktop workstations, guiding them through the digital revolution, removing the myth Video and film post is Difficult and expensive.
Mr Aaron Tavakoli, Applications Engineer: Adobe Systems Pte Ltd (Singapore)

Aaron has extensive experience with Multimedia, Acrobat PDF Workflows and Adobe applications in general. He comes to Adobe from Agfa Gevaert where he was an application engineer in their Prepress Systems Division, responsible for integrating prepress systems in PDF based workflows. Prior to that, he was the Technical Services manager for Worldwide Online Print, where he implemented InDesign and Adobe PDF workflows across their many retail storefronts in Australia. In addition Aaron has 2 years experience training Adobe applications at Adobe Certified Training Centres in Australia and contributes to Printing industry publications in Australia and South East Asia.
Mr Filippo Gregoretti, Founder & Flash Professional: ForteYang New Media Agency (Rome, Italy)

Filippo is a Flash Developer who founded Forteyang, based in Rome, Italy. He is also CEO of Alpha Channel Interactive Ltd. He founded his studio in Stokholm in 1994. After that he moved to Rome (due to incompatibility with Swedish weather) where he created Alpha Channel Interactive and since then he has worked both as a production member and as a project leader for his company. In 2000 with a group of other IT and Design professionals, he co-founded Forteyang, the New Media Agency. After graduation in Fine Arts and Animation at the ICEI in Rome, he got deeper in his passion for visual, music and technology moving into Multimedia. During the past 8 years, Filippo has coordinated and designed the production of several Web Sites, CD-Roms, Network Communication Environments and Content Management Systems, both for his companies and international clients. He has knowledge of creative, networking and technical aspects of production. He often collaborates as a technical writer and also teaches New Media Production at the Istituto Europeo di Design. He was involved in major creative projects for Europe and Abroad.
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Mr Preetam Rai, Multimedia Developer and Part-Time Lecturer: Ngee Ann Polytechnic (Singapore)

Preetam has worked on a wide array of multimedia development and training projects - interactive stories for kids, games and content for commercial/educational sites and simulations for a defense agency. A tireless traveler, Preetam, is always on the move working and partying with designers, developers and end users in China, India, Korea and South East Asia. His blog at preetamrai.typepad.com talk about his tech related and other adventures. Currently he is involved in helping organizations build accessible and web standards complaint content.