David Simister is Chairman for Thailand, Vietnam and Indochina and plays a leading role in regional investment acquisitions and the development of new business in emerging economies, including Phuket.

Mr. Simister became the Chairman of CB Richard Ellis (Thailand) Co., Ltd. in 2005 and a resident of Thailand in 1990. The company is the oldest international property-consulting firm in Thailand.

From 1986 to 1990, Mr. Simister was a Director of Richard Ellis Hong Kong and has over 28 years experience as a qualified surveyor in Asia and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Simister started his career in 1977 in property in London before moving to Hong Kong in 1981.

On graduation from The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, England John Birt was served with the Brigade of Gurkhas for some 12 years in Malaysia, Singapore, India, Nepal, Korea, Brunei and Hong Kong. On resigning his commission he returned to Hong Kong and in 1979 joined Richard Ellis, International Property Consultants. In 1988 he moved to Thailand where he established the Bangkok office of First Pacific Davies. In 1996 he commenced business on his own account as an independent property consultant in Thailand and was retained by several multi-nationals including Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels (Peninsula Group) and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund.

He first invested in Koh Samui property in 1989 and over the years assisted a variety of friends in the acquisition of property on Samui. In 2001 he moved to the island on a full time basis to open Samui Villas & Homes (SVH). Initially set up to administer private villas belonging to the shareholders, SVH has grown into a full service property company with some 60 staff providing villa management and vacation rental services, estate agency, project and construction management and property consultancy. The SVH web site at www.samuivillasandhomes.com provides a clear picture of SVH’s activities.

Asawin became a partner of Baker & McKenzie in 2003. He is a member of the construction, labour and employment, real estate, hotel/resort and property development, corporate & commercial, merger & acquisition practice groups.

Paul is a tax partner with BDO Richfield Advisory Limited, a firm specialising in providing tax and legal services to foreign investors in Thailand and the Asia Pacific region. The firm is a member of BDO International, a world wide network of independent professional service firms serving global and national businesses.

Paul has over 18 years experience in tax consulting, including more than 7 years in Thailand. His expertise includes international tax planning for cross border transactions and the development of tax effective structures for property acquisitions and disposals in Thailand by both local and offshore investors.

Mdm Yaovaluk Suksathit is the Head of Thai Desk and Support Services at Bangkok Bank Public Co Ltd, Singapore. She was a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand prior to her Banking career.

She has in total more than 25 years of banking experience and her past experience cover bank operations, financial & management accounting, trade finance, retail banking, etc. In her current appointment as the Head of Thai Desk at Bangkok Bank, she is responsible for driving the Thai-related businesses for the Bank, including its Thai Properties Financing Scheme.

Lai Voon Hon is the CEO of Ireka Land Sdn. Bhd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ireka Corporation Berhad. Over the last ten years, he has successfully launched a number of innovative projects such as the chic Westin Kuala Lumpur hotel, the trendy i-ZEN brand of properties in Mont’ Kiara and the first of its kind, Luyang Perdana gated-garden community housing scheme in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Mr. Albert Cheok, Chairman of Lengkap Satria Sdn Bhd, began his career in 1974 with the Australian Treasury, rising to become Senior Economist. In 1983, he joined the Reserve Bank of Australia and became Chief Manager of the Banking Supervision Department in 1989. Mr. Cheok then moved to Hong Kong where he became the Deputy Commissioner of Banking and later the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Mr. Cheok returned to Malaysia in 1995 and is currently the Chairman of Bangkok Bank Berhad and Deputy Chairman of Asia Life Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad.

Lengkap Satria Sdn Bhd was appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Tourism in 2003 as the Official Sponsor for the “Malaysia: My Second Home” Program in P.R. China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Lengkap Satria has now grown to become one of the largest sponsors of the “Malaysia: My Second Home” Program with applicants applying through Lengkap Satria’s network of agencies in Singapore, UK, Australia and Bangladesh. Mr. Cheok resides in Kuala Lumpur and believes that “everyone should make Malaysia their second home.”

Marc Leong Yat Ming is Channel Head of 3 direct sales teams: 2 teams are involved in wealth management products while the 3rd team specialises in loan products. Wealth management covers the areas of financial planning, debt management, personal investments and risk management. Loan specialists is involved in the credit and marketing of a host of loan consumer and commercial loan products i.e. property mortgage loans, overdraft, off-shore property financing, personal credit facilities, etc.

The channel is also tasked to introduce innovative business development > > initiatives on consumer banking products, reaching out to consumers and corporates in Singapore.

Rob Henderson is Chief Economist, Markets, at National Australia Bank (NAB).

The key aspects of his role are analysing economic and financial developments to assess their impact on financial markets and client businesses. Rob’s work is client focussed, but he also plays a key role advising NAB’s sales and trading teams.

Rob has a Masters Degree in Economics from the Australian National University and 30 years experience working in economic forecasting and policy analysis roles with the Australian Government and the private sector.

Rob joined NAB in 2001 from Dresdner Bank in Sydney, where he was a Director and the Chief Economist.

Earlier in his career, Rob worked for the Federal Government in a number of roles, lastly with the Prime Minister’s Department in Canberra, providing policy advice to the then Prime Minister, Bob Hawke.

Mr. Kent Lim graduated with a Master Degree in Business Analysis at the University of Lancaster in U.K. Mr. Lim has started the migration business since 1983, assisting many migrants to Canada, Australia and New Zealand from Malaysia, singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong kong, china, Taiwan, Pakistan and India. Mr Lim is the application processor who directly assist potential migrants to prepare, submit and follow up until they get the eventual approval of their permanent residence visas.

Mr Steve Douglas is the co-founder and Managing Director of Australasian Taxation Services (ATS). ATS was established in 1995 to provide specialist taxation services to property investors throughout South East Asia and today attends to the Australian taxation needs of over 1,500 property investors based all around the world. His areas of specialisation include the Australian taxation aspects of property investment, expatriate and migration taxation planning.

Steve wrote the book “The Australian Expat – The Luckiest Person on Earth” which is the only concise reference for expatriate tax planning and financial management. ATS has delivered many presentations on Australian property taxation matters in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Australia on behalf of industry organizations and developers, including the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia & various Australian Chambers of Commerce, focusing on how investors can benefit from the taxation laws relating to property investment, the impact of GST on property and the impact of CGT changes to the property investor.

Steve has also been featured in articles by the South China Morning Post, Singapore Business Times, Australian Entrepreneur Magazine, Benchmark, Western Australia Property & Investment and Property Link.

Steve began his career with Ernst & Young in 1984 and established a private taxation practise in 1988 specialising in small business taxation and management. He is a Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia and a Registered Tax Agent.

Malcolm has been with ANZ for over 15 years in Melbourne, Sydney & Singapore. During this time he has held management and senior management positions with Institutional & Investment Banking divisions and has been with ANZ Private Banking for the last 6 years.

Barry Lea joined Lloyds TSB Group in 1987 and has been an expatriate in Asia for almost 24 years of which 18 years have been spent in the banking industry. As a result, he has extensive experience in the areas of personal investment management, offshore banking and financial services, encompassing client bases in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and beyond.

With Lloyds TSB Group in Asia, he has been closely involved in the development and promotion of the bank’s Overseas Property Finance Services (OPFS) in recent years. This is Lloyds TSB’s lead offering in Asia and celebrates its 20th anniversary next year. It constitutes a unique, multi-currency, multi-jurisdictional offer and provides residential property finance/refinance for clients buying/refinancing properties in Australia, NZ, Great Britain and certain locations within selected states and provinces in US & Canada. Dubai, France, Spain and Portugal are slated for inclusion later this year.

Whilst their work has previously been largely confined to lending to residents of Asia, they have, recently extended the service such that they now process loans in Asia for clients who are resident outside the region (subject, to regulatory/compliance considerations).

Barry’s staff have handled over 50,000 mortgage enquiries and Lloyds TSB is currently Asia’s market leader in this field. He has also compiled and edited two books on English and Australian property purchase and is a regular speaker on related topics.

Barry is, today, the Country Head for Malaysia & Singapore and Regional Marketing Director of Lloyds TSB Bank plc in Asia.

Mr. Kekoo Colah has been with Knight Frank since October 1995, when the company set up operations in India. He has been a part of the core management team right from the inception of the Indian operations, first as General Manager and, since April 2000, as Executive Director in charge of the Indian operations. He has worked in all the functional areas of the company, namely Advisory Services, Agency, Investments, Hospitality & Leisure, Project Management and Facilities Management.

Mr. Colah obtained a B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai and an M.Sc. in Management Science from Imperial College, London.

Prior to joining Knight Frank, he was with Larsen & Toubro and Ingersoll-Rand, and has around 25 years experience in sales, marketing, finance, corporate planning, project evaluation and implementation.

Graham Bibby, CEO, founded Richmond Asset Management Ltd. in Hong Kong in 1991. Mr. Bibby has 25 years experience in the investment management field specializes in Absolute Returns strategies. He has undertaken extensive research into investment management techniques and what makes markets move. As a result of his findings he has developed a system that utilizes a combination of fundamentals, technical analysis and investor psychology producing absolute returns.

He is an experienced public speaker, appearing regularly on CNBC, CNN, BBC, Bloomberg and NDTV.

RICHMOND GROUP (ASIA PACIFIC) Ltd. is a niche property developer focused on creating quality developments catering to high-end markets and the international investor community. Besides The Residence and The Park, Richmond Group have 3 other projects in the pipeline in Bang Tao, Chalong Bay and Loch Palm.

RICHMOND GROUP (ASIA PACIFIC) is the name given to Mr. Graham Bibby’s private property development interests in Phuket, Thailand.