Panel Discussion
Day 1: Panel Discussion – Security Technology and Practices to Support the Next Normal
Moderator
Mr Willem Hoekstra
Associate Managing Director, Cyber Risk / Business Resilience
KROLL
Willem Hoekstra is an associate managing director in the Kroll Cyber Risk practice, based in Hong Kong. Willem is specialized in operational resilience, business continuity, and crisis management.
He leverages over 25 years of experience in Europe and Asia in various capacities and project management positions, mainly in the COO sphere of large international corporate and investment banks, covering areas such as finance, IT, operational risk management and compliance. He is a business resilience expert, with a focus on business continuity and crisis management programs for the last 10 years.
Prior to joining Kroll, Willem served as the president of Continuity Group Ltd. (CGA), which is a specialized consultancy firm that provides crisis management and business continuity expertise, organizes training and conferences and provides interim management to banks and other financial institutions as well as organizations in a variety of industries, including insurance firms, legal firms, hospitality companies and manufacturing companies. CGA was also the organizer of the annual Hong Kong Business Continuity Conference.
Previously, Willem has also served as an unremunerated COO for Gay Games Hong Kong Ltd., a recognized charity organization that is licensed to organize the 11th Gay Games in 2023, where he led the teams for program management, finance and accounting, procurement, technology, and security and contingency.
In the beginning of his career, after an internship with the Commission of the European Union and a few years in municipal financial controlling roles with the city of Amsterdam, Willem joined ABN AMRO bank in 1998, originally also in a controlling role. He moved up the ranks and stayed with ABN AMRO for 10 years in various roles, including as business manager of the COO (running projects in finance, operational risk, compliance, IT and client management).
During this time, in 2001, he was first introduced to business resilience, which has dominated his career since then. Willem managed to shift the business continuity management (BCM) attitude from what was primarily an IT concern into a holistic program involving everyone in the organization through numerous presentations to staff and management, crisis management trainings, plan reviews, awareness campaigns and large-scale business integration tests. Before his move to Singapore in 2008, where he became the ABN AMRO Regional Chief Continuity Officer (CCO) Asia, he was Global Business Continuity Manager for ABN AMRO, which at the time included 120,000 staff in 52 countries. Willem later joined Société Générale in Hong Kong, as the regional director BCM, and he also worked for seven years with Nomura Asia ex Japan as regional Head of BCM.
For many years, Willem played an active role as chairman of the Hong Kong Financial Service Business Continuity Management (HKFSBC) forum, which is the professional peer group for business continuity professionals in the financial sector in Hong Kong, and there he was leader of the WISE15 and WISE17 industry-wide crisis management simulation exercises for the financial industry in Hong Kong. Currently, he is also the Hong Kong Forum leader of the Business Continuity Institute (BCI).
Willem has presented and/or participated at numerous conferences and seminars on business resilience around the globe. He has received the BCM Industry Personality of the Year 2013 award issued by BCI Asia.
Willem holds an MBA from Business School Nederland. He also holds a Dutch degree of Doctorandus in communication science from the University of Amsterdam and a Propeadeuse degree in economics from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Willem is admitted as the Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute (FBCI).
Panelists
Mr Frank Chow
Head of Cyber Security and HKCERT
Hong Kong Productivity Council
Frank Chow is the Head of Cyber Security and HKCERT, Hong Kong Productivity Council. Frank oversees HKCERT operations and leads a team to deliver a wide range of cyber security consulting services for Hong Kong industries. He has over 20 years of experience in Financial and Service Provider industries spanning across cyber security, technology risk management, IT governance, and business continuity. Prior to joining HKPC and HKCERT, Frank held management role of cybersecurity and information risk in various financial institutions, such as Ping An OneConnect Bank, Livi Bank, Manulife, and Fubon Bank.
Frank was awarded the Hong Kong Cyber Security Professionals Awards, (ISC)2 Asia Pacific Information Security Leadership Awards and BCI Asia Business Continuity Awards in recognition of his commitment in the cyber security and business continuity industries.
Frank was invited to serve on various advisory panels of local and global organizations, such as Education Bureau of Hong Kong SAR, HKIRC, and (ISC)2. Besides, he has held leading roles to serve the professional community in Professional Information Security Association, Cloud Security Alliance Hong Kong and Macau Chapter, (ISC)2 Hong Kong Chapter, Information Security and Forensics Society, and Project Management Institute Hong Kong Chapter.
Vice President, APAC
SSH Communications Security
Ricky Ho is the Vice President of SSH Communications Security in the APAC region and is responsible for business development and sales within the region.
Prior to joining SSH.COM, Ricky has built a very focus career in information security in the APAC region, and was the Regional Director at McAfee for the Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau markets. In this role, Ricky was responsible for developing the regional sales and marketing strategy, expanding the channel community, and managing customer satisfaction. Also he had served as management role within APAC region for companies liked TippingPoint, Fortinet and NetApp.
Cyber Security Architect, SecOp APJC
Cisco Systems (HK) Limited
Expert in cyber security, highly experienced in identifying cyber threat risks in the complex ICT Infrastructure. With over 15 years of networking and information security experience, I am competent in cybersecurity solution design and consultation of security projects in various industries across the Asia Pacific region. Specialties include Infrastructure transformation, Network Security, Cloud Security, SecOps, Hybrid IT Security & Risk Management, Predictive Analytics, and Security Operation Centre design and build. Possess a solid foundation of cybersecurity knowledge and continuing to thriving to take it to the next level.
Mr Michael Yip
Chief Innovation Officer
Modern Terminals Limited
Michael Yip is the Chief Innovation Officer at Modern Terminals Limited, a leader in the container terminal industry in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
Michael heads the IT function for the group and is also responsible for leading digital transformation initiatives and advocating innovation throughout the organisation.
Michael has over 25 years of experience in IT management & consulting, and prior to joining Modern Terminals, he held various IT leadership & consulting positions throughout the Greater China region.