2004 Speakers

Paul Keating was Prime Minister of Australia from December 1991 to March 1996. As Prime Minister, Paul Keating turned Australia's focus away from their traditional ties with Europe and the United States towards Asia, their nearest neighbours and the fastest growing region in the world.

Mr McFadyen has extensive Sydney Airport and retail management experience and an international reputation for leading a strong commercial team delivering benchmark retail products.  Most recently, the major redevelopment of Sydney's  International Terminal in preparation for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and contribution to the successful privatisation of Sydney Airport.

Mr McFadyen has a broad airport background being involved in most spheres of airport management and he has extensive industry and international networks.

Peter de Jong, President and CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), is responsible for providing visionary leadership for the Association and overseeing the delivery of commercially-relevant services to enhance the growth, value and quality of Pacific Asia travel and tourism for the benefit of PATA members. He is based at PATA Headquarters in Bangkok.

Prior to joining PATA in November 2001, Mr. de Jong served for 10 years as the Director General of the Federation of International Youth Travel Organisations (FIYTO), the global trade association for the youth and student travel industry. Under Mr. de Jong's leadership, FIYTO experienced a decade of unparalleled growth of its membership, its global recognition and its financial resources.

Before joining FIYTO in 1991, Mr. de Jong worked for four years as an organisational development consultant in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Prior to that, he served 11 years as the Secretary General of The Experiment in International Living, a U.S.-based international citizen exchange organisation that specialises in language and educational travel, intercultural studies and academic exchanges.

Founded in 1951, PATA is the recognised authority on Pacific Asia travel and tourism. The Association provides marketing, research and educational opportunities to a membership of nearly 100 government, state and city tourism bodies, over 55 airlines and cruise lines, and hundreds of travel industry companies. In addition, thousands of travel professionals belong to 70-plus PATA Chapters worldwide.

Yoko Kawashima joined Itochu Fashion System Co., Ltd in 1984. As a member of Marketing Eye, a membership organisation to analyse changes and developments of consumers and markets from fashion-based viewpoints, she has been involved in the production of reports and journals and planning and execution of seminars in cooperation with corporate members engaged in a variety of industries, including apparel, cosmetics, distribution, household appliances, automobiles, and interior design/products.

Miss Kawashima has regularly contributes to the Nikkei Ryutsu Shimbun, Senken Shimbun, and Asahi Shimbun. She co-authored Oshare Shohi Trend (Fashion Consumption Trends, PHP Publishing Co., Ltd.), Heisei New Family Shohiron (Heisei New Family Consumption Theory, Diamond Publishing Co., Ltd.), and Japanese Designers (Diamond Publishing Co., Ltd.). She is the author of Oshare Shohi Target (Fashion Consumption Target, Gentosha Publishing Co., Ltd.), Tokyo Shohi Trend (Tokyo Consumption Trends, PHP Publishing Co., Ltd.), Egakareta Elder (Elderly People Depicted in Movies, Sobisha Publishing Co., Ltd.), and Beams Senryaku (Beams Strategy, PHP Publishing Co., Ltd.).

Masato Takamatsu joined the Japan Travel Bureau in 1982 as a sales executive in JTB's Kyoto Office. In 1986, he worked at the Western Japan Regional Headquarters in the areas of sales promotion, corporate planning and incentive travel. From 1990 to 1993, he was an active member of SITE (Society of Incentive Travel Executive). He was invited to speak at international meetings in Hong Kong, Singapore, Maui and Aruba.

In 1993, he was assigned Assistant Manager, Human Resource Development & Compensation. He spent next four years reforming all the employee evaluation and compensation programmes of JTB.

In 1997, Takamatsu was made Manager, Information Logistics. For three years, his responsibility included reorganising travel information systems within JTB, encouraging employees to use information systems and maintaining the content of intranet.

Today he is Vice President, Japan Tourism Marketing Co., a subsidiary company which JTB Corp. launched in 2001 to specialise in travel and tourism marketing. JTM carries out many syndicated travel studies of Japanese travellers, including the annual JTM/TFWA Japanese Traveller Study.

Young Soo Choi began his career with Hotel Lotte in 1978. This 26-year tenure has taken Mr. Choi from the Hotel Division of Lotte through various positions in the Duty Free Division of South Korea's venerable leisure company. He has served the company in the areas of finance, trading, human resources and purchasing. Today, Mr. Choi is Managing Director of the Central Buying Division of Lotte's Duty-Free Division.

His long service at Hotel Lotte was awarded in 2002 by the country's Prime Minister's Award for Promoting Korea's Tourism Industry.

Read more about Mr. Young Soo Choi [ PDF, 51 K ]

Simon Ong is the Group Executive Director and co-founder of Kingsmen, a leading 3D communication design and production group with 15 offices in Asia Pacific specializing in the areas of Retail, Commercial Interiors, Exhibition and Museum.

Besides providing strategic directions for the growth of the Group, Simon is responsible for creative directions, design planning and implementation of the group.  He has more than 25 years experience in retail design and has led his creative team to win many prestigious projects such as the award-winning DFS Flagship Store in Singapore, the new concept store of Burberry in Asia, Gucci, Polo Ralph Lauren Flagship store in Suntec City, Raoul, Robinsons Department Store, Marks & Spencer and The Body Shop.  He holds a Master Degree in Design (Mdes) from the University of New South Wales and a MBA from the University of South Australia.

Simon is also actively involved in the creative industry, including having held the position of President of the Interior Designers Association of Singapore (1995 - 1997) and is presently a member of the Advisory Committee of Temasek Polytechnic, School of Design, Singapore and Chairman of Design Development Committee of Singapore Furniture Industry Council (SFIC).  He is often invited to present papers and lectured in various international design conferences in Asia and USA.

Kristine Oustrup is Partner of the consumer trends firm Style-Vision, which is dedicated to creative scenarios of the future consumer. It anticipates consumer needs before they arise so its clients can prepare products, services and communication to meet those needs. Global leaders in Cosmetics, Foods, Fashion, Fragrance, Furniture, Textiles, Automotives, Travel, Hospitality, Banking and Electronics are currently using Style-Vision to better anticipate changing consumer

behaviour and to sparkle innovation in the creation process. With an excellence based on comprehensive research, innovative tools, personalised services, proprietary in-house creations as well as an international multi-sector client base, Style-Vision is set apart to lead the field of qualitative consumer insight.

Steven H L Goh has been a career professional in retailing for nearly 20 years. Today, he and his own companies are involved in the businesses of retail consultancy, trade magazine publishing and retail-related conferences.

He has had extensive hands-on experience in the retail industry in Singapore and Southeast Asia.  He held senior positions in a career spanning 16 years at Metro, a leading retail company in Singapore and was its Managing Director/CEO for the latter nine years. During this period, Mr. Goh held executive directorships on the Singapore/Malaysia boards of such international retailers as Toys "R" Us, Kmart, Metrojaya, etc.

Today, he is Managing Director/CEO of The Business Company, a retail management consultancy firm.  He is also a director and majority shareholder of Retail Asia Publishing, a company that publishes a leading regional trade magazine and organises retail conferences and events in Asia.  Steven Goh continues to hold directorship on the boards of retail companies such as those of the Wing On Group in Hong Kong and, until recently, Seiyu and MUJI in Singapore.  He had also held Associate appointments with other international consulting companies such as Kurt Salmon Associate, an Atlanta-based global consulting company, and Netkraft, a Bangalore-based international IT consulting company.  Steven Goh has recently become associated with Retail Forward, a globally focused management consulting and market research firm based in Columbus Ohio USA specialising in retail intelligence and strategies.

He continues to network very closely with the retail and supply chain industries in Asia and with all the major Asian national retailers associations. He also works closely with a number of trade associations and retail-related firms in North America and Europe.

Mr. Goh was very actively associated with the Singapore Retailers Association and was elected its Chairman for three successive terms.  He was actively involved in launching the Federation of Asian Retailers Association (FARA) in 1989 at the 4th Asian Retailers Convention.