Opening Remarks
EMERITUS PROFESSOR MARTIN BEAN CBE
CEO, The Bean Centre; Vice-Chancellor,
RMIT University
Martin is the CEO of The Bean Centre, an organisation founded with a single mission: To partner with visionary education experts, breakthrough technology companies and future thinking education providers to create a future that works.
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Through The Bean Centre and drawing on his deep knowledge of the intersection of technology and education, Martin provides strategic advice to educational organisations of all types - private, public and community.
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Previously, Martin was Vice-Chancellor and President of RMIT University, an institution with over 80,000 students based in Melbourne, Australia, with campuses in Vietnam and formal University partnerships in Singapore and China. He previously held the positions of Vice-Chancellor of The Open University, the UK’s largest academic institution and leader in the provision of flexible learning, and General Manager of Microsoft’s Education Products Group in Seattle, Washington. He has held various executive leadership roles in companies focused on integrating technology and learning solutions.
In 2012, he launched FutureLearn, the UK’s first at-scale provider of Massive Open Online Courses, and in 2014 he was named one of the UK Prime Minister's Business Ambassadors.
Martin was the Australian Government representative on the Commonwealth of Learning Board of Governors, Chaired the Australian Technology Network of Universities in 2017 and 2018 and Chaired the Victorian Vice-Chancellors' Committee in 2018 and 2019.
In 2021, Martin was appointed by the Australian Government as one of three Business Champions to support the Australia – Vietnam Strategic Partnership and jointly led a Federal Government Review of university-industry collaboration in teaching and learning.
He has won numerous awards in the UK and US for his contribution to education including an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of London in 2013 and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 United Kingdom New Year's Honours list, both for services to higher education.
MODERTOR: DANIELLE RAHENDRAM
Associate Director, Advisory and Insights,
Asialink Business
Danielle Rajendram is the Associate Director of the Advisory and Insights team at Asialink Business. She is an experienced strategy consultant who works with Australian businesses to develop evidence-based market entry strategies and public market insights reports. She has worked with private and public sector clients to understand and access opportunities across key Asian markets.
Panel
TIM AMAN
Partner, Head of Global Fintech, BDO Australia
Tim is a Partner and head of Global Fintech at BDO Australia. With a career spanning more than 27 years, Tim provides audit and assurance services to the financial services industry, including wealth management, funds management, superannuation, retail and investment banking, fintechs, leasing and insurance clients.
Prior to BDO, Tim was a KPMG International’s global head of audit deployment and communications and was formerly an audit managing partner for the big four firm in Vietnam and Cambodia from 2007 to 2012.
Tim is an experienced audit partner, having spent his career in both technical and client-facing roles in the US, Vietnam, Cambodia and Australia.
PHILLIP AN
Co-Founder,
Homebase
Phillip An is the co-founder, and chief operating officer of Homebase, a Vietnam-based prop-tech startup providing personalized co-investment plans and novel home-financing technology to tackle the homeownership crisis in Southeast Asia.
Homebase is backed by Y Combinator, Partech Partners and Goodwater Capital along with various others and is currently available in Vietnam. In 2019, Phillip founded Polymath Capital Partners a venture capital firm that invests in pre-seed and seed stage companies with an emphasis on community, longevity, and financial democratization.
Phillip completed a BSc in Computer Science at Caltech, and an MBA at Harvard and, prior to starting Homebase worked in the investment space in Silicon Valley and Singapore for companies such as Lumia Capital and Goldman Sachs.
SANDRA TRAN
Director, Trade and Investment,
Global Victoria
Sandra Tran graduated from Greenwich University, United Kingdom with a BSc in Business Administration and master’s in international marketing has approximately 10 years in Branding Marketing and Business development in FMCG, she has held Regional Business Development across various reputable companies, including Metro Cash and Carry, L’Oréal and Fonterra. Areas of expertise include E-commerce development, O2O solutions and Digital Marketing in B2B and Retail.
Sandra is the Director, Trade and Investment at Victorian Government, Vietnam plays a major role in assisting Victorian Exporters to gain market access in South East Asia through connecting with potential buyers in the region and nurturing strategic partnerships for the benefit of Victoria’s interests in the region.