Contributors

Gina Yu-Aquino

Gina Yu-Aquino is a member of Bain & Company’s Consumer Products, Retail, and Performance Improvement practices. 

Over more than 10 years in management consulting, Gina has advised clients on strategy, merger integration, and operational improvement, as well as led diligence and value creation efforts. She is an expert on our proprietary Brand Accelerator and Revenue Growth Management solutions. 

Gina's key case work has included: 

Charting the five-year growth plan and full potential identification for a key F&B retail chain; 

Developing the cross-category growth acceleration program for a regional food and beverage player, sparking revenue growth across five different categories; 

The diligence of a ~$100 million deal for a U.S. private equity firm, identifying specific levers for value creation and financial performance improvement. 

She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Marketing from Singapore Management University. 

Hiromi Yamaguchi

Hiromi joined Euromonitor International in Tokyo in 2013 and is a Research Manager in Singapore leading the team of analysts specialising in consumables, durables and retail market research.

He is responsible for providing the actionable data and insights that stimulate growth strategies, go- to-market, and innovation. Hiromi is also driving thought leadership pieces and briefings that discuss the industry trends of tomorrow.

Hiromi holds a bachelor’s degrees in International Business and Chinese Studies at University of New South Wales in Australia, during which he researched corporate strategies regarding international operations.

Huiqi Ong

Joel Neoh

Joel Neoh is one of Asia’s most recognized and successful young entrepreneurs. Joel is the Chief Executive Officer of Fave, Southeast Asia’s leading Digital Merchant Platform with presence in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

Joel was one of the initial founders of the Groupon businesses in Asia and headed up Asia Pacific region for 4 years. He played an instrumental role in establishing the high-growth
business model that propelled Groupon into a multi-billion dollar business, with thousands of employees spanning across 12 countries.

Joel has co-founded several successful companies including social news platform SAYS.com, and invested in a string of technology venture capital funds and startups across Asia. In 2013, SAYS.com merged with Catcha Media and the company was rebranded as REV Asia. REV Asia was recently acquired by Media Prima for over RM120mil.

Joel has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Malaysian Tatler also awarded Joel Entrepreneur Par Excellence in 2018. He completed his studies in Monash University and Harvard Business School.

Julien Bourdinière

Julien has over 25 years of experience in management consulting, with a focus on consumer goods and retail industries. He is now a Senior Partner with global consulting firm Roland Berger, based in Singapore, and serves clients across South-East Asia and China. Prior to joining Roland Berger, Julien held several leadership roles in the management consulting industry in Asia. Over his consulting career, he has delivered projects across Europe and Asia, gradually concentrating on fast-growing consumer markets. From 2006 to 2009, he worked as a principal consultant in Mumbai to one of the world's fastest and most ambitious retail rollouts in the world, bringing to life a retail network to over 1,300 stores in just 18 months — all from scratch. Over the last 10 years, he has worked closely with global sports brands, luxury, and cosmetics brands in the design of their growth strategies in the Chinese eCommerce market, and has advised leading Asia retailers in the redesign of their growth strategies, store formats, and operating models. Julien holds master’s degrees from the École Centrale de Lyon and Essec Business School in Paris, and attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Justin Loh

As the country director for Veritas' Singapore operations, Justin Loh is responsible for leading Veritas' overall business strategy, sales operations and continuous growth in Singapore.

Prior to Veritas, Justin was the general manager at Adura Cyber Security where he led the consulting services businesses across Singapore and Hong Kong. Having held numerous leadership roles in diverse multi-national firms, Justin is highly experienced in managing large-scale operations and leading high-performing teams across sales, consulting, professional services and maintenance support. Justin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computing from the Monash University Australia.

Ken Hickson

Ken Hickson is an author, advocate, and advisor; a promoter of the art of sustainability & the art of travel, with a focus on forests and PEFC.

He is committed to spread the sustainability message through media, words, deeds and actions, and committed to a cleaner world where renewable energy takes over from dirty fossil fuels and where our cities, communities and countryside value the environment, nature and air quality.

Passionate about the arts as well as the environment. he continues to be an advocate and a communicator, providing content for media - online and print - all over the world.

Ken Hickson is the author of "The ABC of Carbon", "Race for Sustainability" and "Mr SIA: Fly Past", the latter providing insight into the man who was responsible for getting Singapore Airlines off the ground and his work in many areas, including his vision for aviation's sustainable future in the final chapter "Flying into the Future".

He is the Sustainability and Communications Consultant for PEFC - Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification and Double Helix Tracking Technologies.

Ken Hickson

Ken Hickson is an author, advocate, and advisor; a promoter of the art of sustainability & the art of travel, with a focus on forests and PEFC.

He is committed to spread the sustainability message through media, words, deeds and actions, and committed to a cleaner world where renewable energy takes over from dirty fossil fuels and where our cities, communities and countryside value the environment, nature and air quality.

Passionate about the arts as well as the environment. he continues to be an advocate and a communicator, providing content for media - online and print - all over the world.

Ken Hickson is the author of "The ABC of Carbon", "Race for Sustainability" and "Mr SIA: Fly Past", the latter providing insight into the man who was responsible for getting Singapore Airlines off the ground and his work in many areas, including his vision for aviation's sustainable future in the final chapter "Flying into the Future".

He is the Sustainability and Communications Consultant for PEFC - Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification and Double Helix Tracking Technologies.

Marco Lim

Marco has over a decade of experience in technology, supply chain and retail. As the Commercial Director APAC for Cegid, he helps large specialty retailers solve complex retail challenges ranging from O2O execution, staff enablement, country compliance, to China expansion. Today Cegid powers 85,000 stores for 1,000 brands globally, with a leading cloud POS and unified commerce platform.

Maria Mascaraque, Yang Hu, and Kemo Zhou

Maria Mascaraque is the Head of Food and Nutrition at Euromonitor International. María is the Industry Manager for dairy products and alternatives and cooking ingredients and meals. She provides global expertise and forward-thinking insights, identifying the latest product developments and key market trends within these industries. She has a particular interest in health and wellness trends and plant-based dairy alternatives.

Yang Hu is the Insight Manager, Health and Beauty, Asia, at Euromonitor International. Yang provides regional cross-industry insights on health and beauty across Asia, working with local analysts to deliver high-quality market analyses.

Kemo Zhou, is a Consultant, Health and Beauty at Euromonitor International. Kemo helps identify industry strategies, consumer trends and key new product developments, with industry experience focussed on consumer health, sportswear, and beauty and personal care.