Mr Patrick Tay

Assistant Secretary-General, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)

Mr Patrick Tay joined NTUC in April 2002 and was appointed as NTUC Assistant Secretary-General in January 2014. He was elected into the NTUC Central Committee in October 2015. He is also the Director of NTUC Legal Services Department, as well as the Future Jobs, Skills and Training Department.

Concurrently, Mr Patrick Tay is the Executive Secretary of The Singapore Manual and Mercantile Workers’ Union. He is also an Advisor to the Creative, Media and Publishing Union; DBS Staff Union; Healthcare Services Employees’ Union; Keppel Employees Union; Singapore Insurance Employees’ Union and the Union of Security Employees.

Within the Labour Movement, Mr Patrick Tay is the Supervising Lead for the Labour Movement’s Financial and Professional Services Cluster and Healthcare Cluster. He also sits on the NTUC Industrial Relations, Membership and Training Councils and is the Chairman of the Ong Teng Cheong Education Trust Fund Management Committee.

Representing workers and the Labour Movement, Mr Patrick Tay sits in several Government boards, national institutions and tripartite committees such as the Economic Development Board, Future Economy Council (previously Council for Skills, Innovation and Productivity Sub-committee) (Modern Services), Workforce Singapore, Financial Sector Tripartite Committee, Singapore Corporate Counsel Association Advisory Board, Institute of Banking and Finance, Tripartite Workgroup on Review of the Industrial Relations Act and the Tripartite Workgroup to Review the Employment Act.

Mr Patrick Tay is a Member of Parliament for the West Coast Group Representation Constituency (Boon Lay), as well as the Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Manpower and Member of the GPC Home Affairs & Law.

Graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Master of Laws from the National University of Singapore, he also completed the Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School. Mr Patrick Tay is an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore, an Associate Mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre and Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators.

Born in 1971, Mr Patrick Tay is married with three children.

Kwek Kok Kwong

Chief Executive Officer, NTUC LearningHub

Kwek Kok Kwong has been the Chief Executive Officer of NTUC LearningHub (LHUB) since February 2013. Prior to joining NTUC, Kok Kwong served with distinction in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) for 27 years before retiring as a Brigadier General on 31 July 2012.

Under his leadership, LHUB has further strengthened its contributions as a key player in Singapore for training in Workplace Safety and Health, IT, Service Excellence and Workplace Literacy. Kok Kwong strongly advocates e-learning and LHUB has since collaborated with two international partners to offer e-learning through the LHUB e-shop. He is now leading a transformation journey for LHUB to offer companies and individuals with holistic solutions towards business and personal excellence

Kok Kwong strongly believes in lifelong learning and is a keen learner himself. In his learning journey, Kok Kwong graduated with Honours in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 1989, a Masters of Arts (Arts and Social Sciences) in 1993, and a Masters in Public Administration, with the Lucius N. Littauer Fellow distinction in 2002. In his free time, Kok Kwong continues to learn through seminars and books, and he is today a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner.

Clay Stobaugh

Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, John Wiley & Sons

Clay Stobaugh, Chief Marketing Officer & EVP Government Affairs, leads marketing, communications, innovation and government affairs for John Wiley & Sons. Working across the organization, his teams have driven the deployment of customer experience, demand generation, content marketing, digital commerce, customer analytics, brand strategy, customer insights, and innovation.

An award-winning leader at developing customer-focused strategies, leading change, building strong teams, and delivering commercial results, Clay has a 30-year track record of transforming companies across multiple industries and geographies. He has helped transform Wiley, a 200-year-old, global publisher into a digitally focused Research and Learning organization.

He has extensive start-up experience in emerging technologies, having led senior sales and marketing roles in legal, financial, information, and healthcare companies, generating over $200 million in shareholder payouts at exit.

Prior to joining Wiley, Clay led emerging technology start-ups in the legal, financial, and healthcare industries to successful financial exits, generating over $200 million in shareholder payouts. Previously, he served in senior management roles at Reuters and Nestle SA where he launched and expanded the Nespresso division in the USA.

Clay earned his BA, with honors, in International Relations and French from Tulane University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Peter Nixon

Managing Director & Founder, Author & International Speaker, Potential Limited

Peter provides training, advice, and inspiration for current and emerging leaders to achieve optimal outcomes through dialogue. As creator of The Potential Dialogue System he has helped thousands of private and public sector leaders achieve optimal outcomes in over 500 organisations and 60 countries.  Peter’s slogan is “The Solution is in the Dialogue” and his philosophy is that “we have a duty to realise our potential while helping others realise theirs” (Potentialism).

He is founder and managing director of Potential Limited and author several books including:

• Dialogue Gap (SCMP “one of the best business titles published this century”)
• Negotiation: Mastering Business in Asia

The Business Developer’s Playbook: Relationship Selling Principles and the DNA of Dialogue Selling, Corporate Culture: Hurdles to being #1 in the private and public sectors today, The Star Negotiator Casebook . Peter is also creator of the popular Dialogue Playing Cards which featured in Cathay Pacific’s inflight duty-free magazine.

Peter has worked with thousands of leaders from over 500 organisations in 60 countries advising on sales, sourcing, strategy, change management, family business, relationships, talent management, public sector, bilateral negotiations (Iran-US, Israel-Palestine, Malaysia-Thailand, Aceh-Java, Tibet-China, Sunni-Shia, HKChina), hostage negotiations, religious conflicts, regulatory change, compliance, shareholder disputes, mediations, and more.  Peter early career was spent auditing for PwC (C&L) in Montreal, Geneva, and Hong Kong.

Peter’s workshops are popular for their pace, practicality, humour, and engagement and are often rated the best workshops people have ever attended.  He advises mainly inside organisations but also teaches public courses at management institutes, chambers of commerce, universities, schools, and colleges around the world. Peter is CUHK (MBA) professor of Business Negotiation and visiting professor at HKPolyU, McGill, SFU, & Bishop’s. He is also Course Director of HKICPA’s Financial Controllers’ Programme; has appeared on TEDx, CNBC, Discovery Channel, TV5, TVB, & Media Corp.  and has been showcase speaker globally for YPO and EO. His clients have received awards for his work including Colgate President’s Award, HKMA Training Award nominee, and recently Potential was named Best Independent Change Management Consultant 2018 in the Hong Kong Business Awards hosted by APAC Insider Magazine.

Peter has been detained in Bahrain, locked up in Tehran, deported from Austria and India, hit by lightning in a small plane in the Arctic, survived roadside shootings in Aceh, bombings in Pakistan, 7/7 in London, slept with lions in Africa, survived bear intrusions and forest fires in Alberta, nearly broke his neck playing ice hockey, and led his small business through the ravages of the Asian Currency Crisis, Bird Flu, SARS and the Great Recession.  He joined a million Indian worshippers at Pushkar’s Mela (Camel Fair) where pilgrims achieve eternal salvation if they step in the lake during November’s full moon, which he did but despite this he still gets sick and pay taxes.

Peter was born and raised in Montreal, married in Geneva, and moved to Hong Kong in 1989 where he and his wife Marie raised their three children.  Peter enjoys music (“the best form of dialogue”), reading (sociology, economics, religion), travel (to reach 100 countries), outdoor adventure (to connect with nature) and time with family and friends.  Peter is immediate past Chairman of Discovery Bay International School, Dean’s advisor at McGill’s Faculty of Education and to the School of Religious Studies.  He is also director of McGill’s Alumni Society and the Martlet Foundation in HK, Trustee of Outward Bound HK, HK Head of the Asian Cabinet of Bishop’s University, and a member of the governance committee of UNICEF HK.  He is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of CPA’s and has degrees from Bishop’s (BBA), McGill (GDPA), and Leicester (MSc).  He has also studied at Alberta, Harvard, INSEAD and Fielding.  He is a Canadian Chief Scout (1st TMR) & Knight of Tamara.