Imagine Melbourne

Philipp Ivanov

CEO, Asia Society

Philipp Ivanov commenced as CEO of Asia Society Australia in January 2015. Philipp is a China specialist with extensive experience in policy, education and research and a commitment to building an Asia-connected Australia. Previously, he was a policy officer and manager of the Australia-China Council at the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade where he was one of the principal authors of the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper – China Country Strategy. Previously, Philipp was Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific at the University of Sydney, advised the University of Sydney on China strategy and managed La Trobe University’s partnerships in the Gulf States, Vietnam and Thailand. Philipp spent over 6 years in China and is the recipient of the ‘Rose Award’ by Shenyang Municipal. Government for his contribution to Shenyang City. He is a board member of the Australia-Vietnam Young Leadership Dialogue, Asia Recon, Haymarket HQ and Sydney City Council’s Chinese New Year Advisory Panel. He grew up in Vladivostok on Russia’s Pacific coast and is a fluent Chinese and Russian speaker.

Vicente (Vince) S. Pérez

National Advisory Council Chairman, WWF
Chairman, Alternergy
Former Philippine Energy Minister

Vince is Chairman of Alternergy and Solar Pacific, Philippine renewable power companies in wind, hydro and solar. As Philippine Energy Minister from 2001 to 2005, he promoted clean energy and crafted an ambitious renewable energy policy framework. He served briefly as Deputy Minister for Industry and was Vice-chairman of the Philippines’ Renewable Energy Board. Vince is also a trustee of WWF-China, a board member of WWF US, and a member of advisory boards of the Bhutan Foundation, Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines, New Zealand Trade Enterprise, the Pictet Clean Energy Fund, and the Yale Center for Business and Environment. He had 17 years’ experience in finance at Mellon Bank, and Lazard in London, New York and Singapore, and then founded Next Century Partners, a private equity firm in Singapore, and the Asian Conservation Company. Vince is a director of ST Telemedia, the Temasek media holding company, and of Banco de Oro, and was a director of EDC, Asia’s largest geothermal company, of Del Monte Pacific, and of Northwind, the first wind farm in Southeast Asia. Vince holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines, and was a Yale World Fellow where he lectured an MBA class on renewable power.