Retail Asia Summit - Philippines - March 13, 2025

Samuel Powell has recently been appointed as the CEO of HMR Philippines, after almost a decade of successfully growing the HMR Group’s auction company. During his tenure as CEO of HMR Auctions, he established the Philippine’s first live public automotive auction and developed the country’s largest online auction platform – HMR Bid. Specializing in the liquidation of commercial assets.

Samuel now leads HMR Philippines, the industry leader in full-service asset management for retail consumer returns. They offer logistics, refurbishment and omni-channel sales solutions to extract maximum value from every surplus asset, all while minimizing landfill by ensuring assets are re-purposed in the circular economy.

In his leisure time, Samuel enjoys playing tennis as well as co-managing a fantasy football team with his 11-year-old son.

Jaceline Go has over a decade of combined experience in marketing, client relations, and business development, with experience in both corporate and international settings. She holds a Business Marketing degree from California Coast University and an MBA from Ateneo de Manila University. Currently a Manager at YCP Holdings, she focuses on marketing, research, and business growth initiatives. Previously, she worked at Etihad Airways, refining her expertise in customer experience and brand loyalty in competitive industries.

Paul Andrew Birkett is the Chief Operating Officer of Ayala Malls, overseeing the strategic and operational management of one of the Philippines’ largest and most dynamic retail and lifestyle portfolios. With extensive global experience spanning the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, he brings deep expertise in property and asset management across high-footfall retail, residential, and commercial environments.

Prior to joining Ayala Malls, Mr. Birkett held senior leadership roles in major international property and investment firms. He served as Vice President for Retail at Meraas, a semi-government entity in Dubai, where he led the expansion of the company’s retail portfolio, including the development of four new malls, beach destinations, and the award-winning F&B food park concept, Last Exit. He also held a key leadership position at Nakheel, where he managed a diverse asset portfolio encompassing malls, residential properties, commercial spaces, and leisure destinations with over 20,000 properties.

Before moving to the Middle East, Mr. Birkett was National Director for ISS, the world’s leading facility management company, overseeing operational delivery across a range of corporate and commercial properties. He also played a pivotal role in Europe’s retail landscape, serving as General Manager for Lendlease, where he led Europe’s highest-performing REIT, and previously as Operations Director managing a portfolio of over 30 retail destinations with an annual footfall exceeding 400 million. His expertise in designing and developing large-scale projects is further demonstrated by his work on one of the Middle East’s leading super-regional retail destinations in Doha, Qatar, where he spearheaded the project’s development and operational strategy from the ground up.

With a strong background in real estate development, asset lifecycle management, and operational excellence, Mr. Birkett continues to drive innovation and strategic growth in Ayala Malls, reinforcing its position as a premier retail and lifestyle destination in Southeast Asia.

Graham Coates is the First Vice President and Head of Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, the retail and commercial arm of real estate giant Megaworld Corporation and the pioneer of the lifestyle mall concept in the country.

He is responsible for overseeing the operations of Megaworld Lifestyle Malls’ 24 properties across the country, providing leadership in leasing, mall management, marketing, finance, and overall business strategy. Under his leadership, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls has been recognized as a two-time Mall of the Year awardee by Retail Asia, solidifying its position as a leader in the industry.

Mr. Graham Coates brings extensive international experience, having worked with multinational companies across Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, and Asia, including Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines. In the country, he has spent the past two decades in both family-owned retail businesses and major mall operations.
 

Mr. Steven T. Tan holds a master’s in business administration from the Paris School of Management. His professional career aptly began in the hospitality industry as Management Trainee, working his way up the corporate ladder at the 5-star Howard Plaza Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan from 1990 to 1998. He then moved to Shanghai to open the Barcelo Grand Hotel. He returned to the Philippines to become Regional Director of Marketing and Communications for FilBarcelo, handling external affairs for the Barcelo Group, one of Spain’s leading tourismcompanies with over 230 hotels in 21 countries.

His training in international hotel management caught the eye of Mrs. Tessie Sy-Coson, who met Steven at the Barcelo-managed Taal Vista Hotel in 2004 and asked him to lend his touch of international service levels to SM’s joint venture with Singapore’s Keppel Land, The Podium Mall. After 2 short years, he found himself spearheading the launch and operations of SM Supermall’s
crown jewel, SM Mall of Asia, where Steven took daily mentoring sessions from the SM founder himself, Mr. Henry Sy, Sr.

His success in launching the Mall of Asia amidst a volatile economy, in a location considered by many to be too far and isolated to be economically viable, became the catalyst for Steven’s rise to head SM’s Premier Malls Division in the Philippines, which accounts for over 35% of the system’s sales and revenue. Steven’s responsibilities also included overseeing all the SM mallsin China.

His hard work and relentless dedication to customer delight led to his appointment as President of SM Supermalls in early 2020, just as Taal Volcano spewed ash over SM’s Batangas malls and the Covid pandemic halted all business operations, unprecedented in all of SM’s 63 years of service.

His leadership during the pandemic was particularly noteworthy, as he steered the company through the challenges of caring for varied SM stakeholders: its employees, service providers, tenant-partners and customers. His execution of Mr. Hans Sy’s quick response to the government’s call to lend a hand in the nationwide vaccination drive by offering the malls as its single largest venue partner led to over 11M Filipinos vaccinated against Covid and the early restoration of business normalcy in these communities.

His dedication has earned him prestigious accolades, both locally and internationally, among these The UN Women Asia-Pacific Empowerment Principle Award for Leadership Commitment, The Filipino Executive of the Year at the Asia CEO Awards, and the Global Peace Award for Philanthropy and Corporate Citizenship from the Global Peace Foundation.

Mr. Steven T. Tan’s leadership, strategic vision and commitment to excellence continue to drive SM Supermalls’ success. His confident outlook on the company’s future and his consistent push for innovation and positive change are nothing but an inspiration to the predominantly Gen Z organization he leads daily. 

Wence Wenceslao is the Senior Global Digital Lead at Unilever Beauty & Wellbeing, where she drives digital innovation and operational excellence across global markets, scaling a fully optimized content supply chain. With over 15 years of experience, she has led award-winning Beauty Tech and AI initiatives, including BeautyHub PRO & U-COIN program, driving double-digit growth in engagement and sales. Previously, she held leadership roles at Unilever Southeast Asia, SM Investments, and Globe Telecom, consistently delivering business growth through data-driven strategies and digital transformation.