Career Awareness Day 2016 Speakers' Profiles

1. Career
Awareness
Day
@ NASS
Speakers’ Profiles

2. Ms Natalie Bay [Financial Services]
Financial Services: Banking, Insurance, Investment Management, Accountancy
Have been in this job for past 20 years and still enjoying and passionate about it.
Started as a junior Relationship Manager (RM) and rose thru the rank in the bank.
Presently, I head a team of RMs, managing a portfolio of SME clients.
Given that our clients are entrepreneurs, they consistently have banking needs to
expand their business. These businessmen hailed from different industries, engaged
in different segments – they could be manufacturers, traders, commission agents
etc. Over the years, I also benefitted with insights and develop wisdom while
learning from these “towkays” their difficulties running their organisation and the
challenges they faced among their competitors. This job allows one to be updated
of changing economic conditions, public policies, politics, industry outlook etc etc,
In short, this is a holistic and demanding job, we are required to be on the ground
and our job calls beyond financing and servicing clients needs.
The achievements come when clients acknowledged that bankers are their business
partners. Together, we aim to grow and expand their business from leap to leap.
As a banker, we draw inspiration from successful businessmen and learn from those
who failed due to certain shortcomings.

3. Mr Ben Teo [Counsellor]
I enjoy counselling and working with people who need help. I believe in
conversations that matter, and bringing the best out of people (even if they don't
believe so).
I am not representing the organisation that I work for, but I can share the passion
and soft-skills that have been acquired over the last 10 years.
Ms Jacinth Low [Counsellor]
Provide professional counselling to any staff who requires assistance for their
problem which affects their performance at work, post-trauma counselling,
additional support for psychiatric patients, suicidal personnel. Also provide stress
management.
Was trained as a professional social worker and counsellor.
Happy to help someone who are incapacitated by a temporary issue.
Interesting experience in using counselling to help a soldier who is unable to shoot
properly to become a marksman.

4. Ms Kendra [Entrepreneur]
Kendra is the founder and managing director of local independent natural skin
& hair care brand Katfood. She graduated from the National University of
Singapore's Law Faculty in 2011, and was called to the Singapore Bar in 2012.
After practicing as a litigation associate for a few years, she decided to leave
legal practice to pursue her dreams of entrepreneurship. Since being launched
as a just an online store (www.ilovekatfood.com) in November 2014, Katfood
has come to be stocked in multiple online and offline retail platforms, including
Zalora, Lazada, Naiise and Isetan, and has been featured in The Straits Times,
The Business Times and on Channel 8. Kendra is also a DJ for clubs and events
under the moniker Electrokat and is an avid supporter of Arsenal FC & the
German National Football Team.

5. Ms Gigi Tan [Global Content Manager for Credit; Head of Asia Content
Management for Fixed Income]
Ms. Tan is the Global Content Manager for Fixed Income/Credit at Thomson Reuters. She is responsible for
all Credit data on-boarding on Thomson Reuters desktop products, with particular focus on Credit
derivatives. She holds a Business Management (Hrs) degree from the Ateneo de Manila University,
Philippines. Gigi has worked in financial services for most of her career, and has a wide range of expertise
in business strategies, sales, marketing, product management, and content gained from roles throughout
Asia.
Prior to joining the Fixed Income division as content specialist, she held various posts within Thomson
Reuters as Global head for Fixed Income Charting (2007) and Global Product Manager for WebStation
(2006). She was also the regional product manager for browser-based products during her stint at
Moneyline Telerate (2003).
Gigi has held various sales and marketing positions including Regional Equities Marketing Manager,
Singapore (2000) and Head of Sales and Marketing, Indonesia (1998) for Bridge Information Systems. She
was also head of Sales and Marketing for Bloomberg LP, Indonesia and Fixed Income Sales Manager for
Bloomberg Singapore (1996).
Her exposure to fixed income started at Equitable PCI Bank, Manila where she was the Chief Dealer –
Emerging Markets Treasury Asset Trading Unit (1994) trading primarily Brady and Eurobonds.
Amongst her other credentials, she also specializes in Credit Default Swaps, and was the chief architect of
the Markit CDS data on-boarding (the market’s premier source of CDS data) on Thomson Reuters in 2006,
and has been involved with major market data changes including the April 2009 CDS Big Bang Protocol
and the Dec 2010 Small Bang Protocol. She was key in the data on-boarding for the China Risk Mitigation
Instruments (China’s CDS-like credit instruments), providing not only the depth of content on Thomson
Reuters platform, but also in providing China’s major financial institutions and regulatory bodies with the
necessary training and background on international CDS market practices to pin down and establish local
market standards.

6. Ms Tina Yap [Head of Talent & Leadership, APAC & Japan]
I graduated with a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Human Resource
Management from Western Illinois University, USA. I’ve worked for over 20 years
in Human Resources (HR) across various industries such as financial services,
manufacturing, IT and Telecommunications and been located in Shanghai, Kuala
Lumpur and now Singapore. I have done various roles within HR such as HR
Consultant, HR Business Partner, Recruitment and Learning & Development. I find
HR a challenging field as you have to find ways to attract, motivate and retain
talented employees while striving to achieve Corporate goals.

7. Dr Kelvin Khng B.D.S (Singapore) M.S (Iowa, U.S.A)
Certificate of Prosthodontics (Iowa, U.S.A) Diplomate, American Board of Prosthodontics
Dr Kelvin Khng belonged to the class of 1997, the pioneer batch of students from Ngee Ann
Secondary School. After completing his O levels, he moved on to TPJC where he completed
his A Levels. After completion of his national service in 2002, he got admitted into the
Faculty of Dentistry , National University of Singapore to pursue his Bacholar of Dental
Surgery Degree.
Graduating in 2006, he joined the National Healthcare Group and was the dentist-in-charge
at Toa Payoh Polyclinic later in 2008.
2009, Dr Khng continued to pursue advanced specialist training in Prosthodontics at the
University of Iowa, USA. In 2012, he successfully completed his postgraduate training and
obtained his Masters of Science degree in Oral Sciences. Dr Khng then worked as a clinical
fellow at the University of Iowa, College of Dentistry for a year before returning to Singapore.
Upon his return in 2013, he continued his practice of prosthodontics at the National
University Hospital, Dental Centre with a joint appointment as an assistant professor at the
National University of Singapore, Faculty of Dentistry in the Department of Restorative
Dentistry. He continues to be actively involved in the undergraduates, teaching part-time at
the University. Dr Khng now works in a private practice where he sees patients of all walks of
life requiring prosthodontic treatment.
Dr Khng obtained his American Board certification in 2013 and is a diplomate of the
American Board of Prosthodontics. He was also awarded the Fellow of the American College
of Prosthodontics at that time and is the current Vice President of the Prosthodontic Society
of Singapore.

8. Dr Noreffendy Bin Ali
Dr Noreffendy Bin Ali graduated from Ngee Ann Secondary School in 1998 with
seven distinctions. He went on to further his education at Tampines Junior
College, where he graduated in 2000 with five distinctions. He was then awarded
the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Local Medicine Scholarship and attained
theBachelor in Medicine, Bachelor in Surgery (M.B.B.S.) at the National University
of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in 2006. Sports have been his
passion since young and being a recreational athlete in the past, it was thus a
natural decision to pursue Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) as his specialty of
choice. He completed his Masters in Science (SEM) with Distinction from the
University of Exeter, England, in 2010. Studying in the United Kingdom has
broadened his perspective of Sports Medicine and has inspired him to put the
knowledge and skills that he had gained to practice during his course of
work. During his service in the SAF, he has served extensively as Head Soldier
Performance Centre (SPC) (2010-2016) as well as Deputy Chief Army Medical
Officer (2012-2013). He also runs clinic sessions at Changi Sports Medicine Centre
as a Resident Physician. As part of community service, he volunteered to be one of
the team physicians for Team Singapore at the SEA Games 2013 (Myanmar) and
SEA Games 2015 (Singapore).

9. Mr Jezer Goh (Law)
Jezer Goh graduated from Ngee Ann Secondary School in 2006 and is a graduate
from the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. During the course of his
undergraduate studies, he was an active participant in university life. He has
volunteered in community service programmes, represented his fellow students
as part of the National University of Singapore Students' Union, and has spent the
large part of his past vacation breaks interning at various law firms. In his final
year, he was cast in a musical organised by his graduating class. Jezer has also
spent a semester on an exchange programme at the University of Toronto in
Canada, where he artfully divided his time between chic cafes, the Niagara Falls,
Disneyland in Florida, New York City and his lectures and tutorials. Presently, Jezer
is a practice trainee at a local law firm, and is looking forward to life in the
corporate jungle after being called to the Bar in July/August 2016.

10. Ms Girisha Lakhiani (Veterinarian)
Dr Girisha Lakhiani graduated from Murdoch University in 2004 with a Bsc BVMS(Hons)
degree. She worked in Perth, Western Australia for 3 years in a predominantly small animal
practice with occasional farm animals and exotics. The practice policy was to look after every
animal with love, compassion an kindness and every effort was made to foster and rehome
abandoned animals. These core values are the foundation of her care. She strongly believes
that each animal is different so tailoring her approach to each pet is essential. She believes in
a wholistic approach where the best medical care is combined with the greatest effort to
keep the patient happy and content and in a stress free environment.
She returned home to Singapore in 2008 and has been practicing here for 7 years. She has an
interest in internal medicine and has completed a post graduate study in feline medicine
with the University of Sydney in 2011. She enjoys soft tissue surgery and dermatology. With
the growing population of aging dogs and cats, (lost her dog to old age last year after 17
years) she is keen to provide services that can optimize comfort and quality of life for this
tier.
She has three cats, Tigger, Theodore and Ralphie, that were adopted as kittens in Perth and
has recently adopted Lola, an 8 month old naughty little chocolate labrador puppy.
Outside of work, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband and little boy.
She is also passionate about painting, cooking, dancing and reading.