Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson
Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business (see video)

In addition to Brynjolfsson’s position at the MIT Center for Digital Business, he is a professor at the MIT Sloan School, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research examines the effects of information technologies on business strategy, productivity and employment. His recent work studies data-driven decision making, the pricing implications of Internet commerce and the role of intangible assets.

Brynjolfsson has received numerous awards for his research and lectures worldwide on technology and strategy. Businessweek has profiled him as an “e-business visionary” and he is a director or advisor for several technology-intensive firms. His recent books include Wired for Innovation: How IT Is Reshaping the Economy and Race Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy.

Read his blog.  And follow him on Twitter: @erikbryn

Derek Wylde
Head of Group Fraud, HSBC

Derek Wylde has extensive experience in financial services having joined HSBC in 1976. After an early career in retail banking he joined the card services division of HSBC in the UK in 1995 as Fraud Prevention Manager and progressed to Head of Fraud Management when he assumed responsibility for all aspects of plastic card fraud management - issuing and acquiring - for HSBC in the UK.

In 2004 he took up a new role as Head of Group Fraud Risk where his job is to determine and co-ordinate anti-fraud strategy, policy and activities and the use of anti-fraud technology across HSBC Group. He is a member of MasterCard's Global Fraud Advisory Council.

Derek is married to Tina, has two sons and his interests include gardening (because he has to) and playing cricket and golf (to escape the gardening). See video and success story.

Tham Ming Soong
Former Chief Risk Officer for United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Singapore (see success story).

A veteran in the financial services industry, which spans 30 years - Ming Soong has held senior positions at UOB Bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC).

In his role as Head of Group Risk Management with UOB Bank, Ming Soong was responsible for providing strategic risk management directions for the UOB Banking Group. This includes responsibilities for credit, market, liquidity and operation risks of the Group’s banking, fund management and insurance businesses.

Until end 2010 Ming Soong chaired the Risk Management Standing Committee of the Association of Banks of Singapore, and the Risk Management Working Group of the Institute of Banking and Finance. He is currently an adjunct Professor at the Risk Management Institute of the National University of Singapore.

Ming Soong was named Bank Risk Manager of the Year by AsiaRisk in 2009. In the same year, under his leadership UOB received the QFC-Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Award (Risk Management). Ming Soong is also a contributing author of "Banks at Risk – Global Best Practices in an Age of Turbulence."

Simon Ross-Hansen
First VP, Danske Bank and elected to Netherlands-based Pan-European Credit Data Consortium (PECDC

With a background in consulting from both in- and outside the financial sector, Simon ROSS-HANSEN joined DANSKE BANK in 2006. His career credentials include the integration of merged banks into Danske's risk management methodology, heading the bank's Risk Control Unit and Decision Models Unit.

He holds a Master's degree in Planning & Methodology Management from the Danish Technical University, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Finance from the Copenhagen Business School. He is also a Reserve Officer in the Royal Danish Air Force and lives in Greater Copenhagen.

Allan Russell
SAS Fellow

Allan has had an exceptional and very long tenure, having joined SAS in 1980. As the third employee hired when the company was establishing its first European operation in the UK, he played a critical role in establishing SAS' presence through EMEA and Asia Pacific. Over the years, he has been actively involved as a thought leader in extraordinary technical advancement, including SAS/Access products in the 1980s, Executive Information Systems and data warehousing in the 1990s, and score carding and performance management in the 2000s. Allan has been called upon often to paint a vision of where SAS is going in the marketplace.

While much of SAS Product Management focuses on what is required in upcoming releases within an 18-month time span, Alan Russell conducts research into longer-term industry trends that will drive SAS product requirements over a two- to five-year span or even longer. His research focusses on "Uses of BI in a Process Centric World" and covers areas such as Business Process Management, Business Activity Monitoring, SAS Workflow Tools and Integration between SAS and Process Platforms.

A critical part of his role is in helping deepen strategic relationships with customers who are making a significant investment in SAS products for use throughout the enterprise. Allan also speaks about emerging trends in the market at industry events and conferences, hosts executive visits to SAS locations, drives vision discussions with industry analysts, and publishes white papers or other collateral to support SAS thought leadership at the C Level.

Allan Russel is one of the principal authors of the book, Information Revolution: Using the Information Evolution Model to Grow your Business, which describes how organizations mature in their uses of information and presents a model that enables organizations to evaluate their use of information objectively, providing a framework for making improvements necessary to compete in today's global arena. Alan graduated in computing science from Glasgow University in 1975.

Alastair Sim
Alastair Sim, Senior Director for Global Marketing, EMEA Region, SAS (moderator) Alastair Sim is SAS' Senior Director of Global Marketing for the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region. He was promoted to this role after nearly ten years as Director of Strategy and Marketing for SAS UK & Ireland. Sim also leads the SAS Global Marketing Programme for Risk Management, and is a key member of the Global Marketing Board.