Speakers
They come from world-leading corporations, to government agencies, to niche industries and organisations. Our carefully curated line of world-class speakers will provide you precious insights and a holistic view of the UAV and commercial drone industry that you won’t find anywhere else!
Jin Xi Cheong
CEO, Poladrone
Jin Xi is the CEO of Poladrone, a leading UAS (drones) solutions company in Malaysia. He was awarded as a Forbes Asia 30 under 30 recipient in 2019 for Poladrone’s work in the agriculture sector. He is a certified remote pilot under the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Australia and holds a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree from Monash University Australia.
Uttam Pudasaini
Nepal Flying Labs
Uttam works at Nepal Flying Labs, a local innovation hub that focuses on solving local challenges and needs through the use of drones, appropriate robotics & AI technologies. He has proven expertise in GIS mapping, geo-data analysis and UAV/Drone photogrametry and is a co-founder of a startup company NAXA based in Kathmandu which mainly provides GIS and digital mapping services.
Dr Mohd Yazid Ahmad
Deputy Director General, STRIDE
Malaysian Ministry of Defence
Sonam Velani
Global Partnerships, Zipline International
Sonam Velani is passionate about cities and the infrastructure and technology that drives them forward. She leads Global Partnerships at Zipline, an innovative healthcare logistics company that uses drones to deliver lifesaving medicine to people in need across the globe. Previously, Sonam was the Senior Advisor to New York City’s Deputy Mayor, and helping oversee $4.5 billion of investments to build new mobility options, create jobs in cutting-edge sectors, and increase affordable housing. Sonam collaborated with startups and Fortune 50 companies to operationalize emerging technologies in NYC - LiDAR mapping for autonomous vehicles, internet connectivity, and modular housing, to name a few.
Zala Pogorelcnik
Independent Advisor
Zala has been an active leader in the UAS space; first as a VP and later CEO of the leading collision-avoidance and tracking UAS software startup in Singapore. In 2017, she joined PrecisionHawk as the APAC regional director, engaging enterprise and civil aviation clients, while focusing on UTM and end to end enterprise solutions in energy, agriculture, insurance and power. Prior to engaging with the unmanned space, Zala spent 5 years in renewable energy manufacturing in Indonesia. Today she is an independent advisor and spends time between Helsinki and Singapore.
Brig. Gen (R) Dato’ Hj Mohd Nazri
President of MUDAS
Dato’ Hj Mohd Nazri b.
He is the first Malaysian to be trained on digital Military Defence System
Dr. Mohd Harris Ismail, PhD
Ascension
Dr. Harris Ismail has been actively involved in developing & implementing cutting-edge technology such as MMC (IBS) & BIM in Malaysia. His passion in advocating new technology is translated into his active involvement in providing consultancy and coaching to the industry while being a CEO of a technology company. He speaks at various international and local events since 2012, such as GeoSmart Asia Conferences, RICS International Conferences, National BIM Day, WorldBEX 2019 & series of Lectures around Malaysia - just to name a few.
Kamarulazman Muhamed
Founder, CEO of Aerodyne Group
Kamarul is the Founder and CEO of Aerodyne Group, a Malaysian drone solutions company that is ranked third in the world by Drone Industry Insights of Germany. He was also named by Nikkei Japan as the CEO of top 10 hottest start-up of 2019.
Kamarul led Aerodyne from a 3 person start-up in 2014 to global company operating in 25 countries in less than 5 years. He is a TEDx speaker and a drone Industry thought-leader and have presented his ideas and innovation on AI, drones and Industry 4.0 around the world.
LT.M N.G. Senthelnathan
Officer, Malaysia Civil Defence Force (MCDF)
LT.M N.G.Senthelnathan, is an officer from Malaysia Civil Defense Force (MCDF) based in Penang. A mechanical engineer by background, he is currently pursuing his PhD at UPM. He has served in MCDF for the past 16 years, as a volunteer reserved. He has applied his innovative engineering skills into rescue missions resulting in MCDF’s own first search and rescue drone in Malaysia. He has a double Masters in engineering and disaster risk management, and is also a lead search and rescue drone pilot..
Anthony Davie
Founder, Simply Success, Huverr and Gildas
Anthony was born in Mexico, grew up in Latin America and the UK. He’s lived in Asia for 25 years and has a background of running startups, being on global projects in Silicon Valley and the Middle East, along with roles in personal development training, CTO and CIO roles for public and private companies. He’s deeply passionate about our stewardship of the planet and how blockchain and other disruptive technologies can create a more egalitarian, fair and sustainable future. He’s written a book called the “The Power of Simplicity”.
Bobby Varanasi
CEO, Matryzel Consulting Inc
Bobby Varanasi is one of the acknowledged Top 25 Globalization Leaders in the global sourcing space and the Founder of Matryzel Consulting – an independent advisory firm that has been acknowledged as the Best of the World’s Best Outsourcing Advisory Firms in 2019, and as among the Top 20 World’s Best Outsourcing Advisory Firms (three years in a row - 2013, 2014 & 2015). He brings with him over two decades of experience in consulting and management across Technology, Business Services and building global businesses across sectors like Banking, Financial Services, Broking, Investment Management etc. He advises federal governments across the world on ICT sector development with particular emphasis on policy transformation, and industry-government partnerships aimed at creating domestic resilience through increasing productive (and inclusive) faculties of technology entrepreneurs.
Nordin Abdullah
Managing Director, Glenreagh Sdn Bhd
Nordin is an Australian businessman living in Asia, currently Managing Director of Glenreagh Sdn Bhd. He is well known for his creative approach to strategy and sustainable development which has been applied across various sectors.
An active member of the business community Nordin was formerly the Vice President of the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is currently an EXCO member of the Malaysia Australian Business Council.
Nordin recently established the Crisis Management Centre to assist individuals, corporations and governments effectively deal with all aspects of a crisis.
Rizal Kamaruzzaman
Executive Director, Tindakan Strategi
Rizal Kamaruzzaman is the Executive Director of Tindakan Strategi, a boutique consultancy firm based in Kuala Lumpur. As a trained Aerospace Engineer and an alumni of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Rizal brings an additional dimension to the understanding of the aerospace industry. He has consulted both the government and the private sectors over the last 15 years.
Nizzal Syafiq Bin Bostaman
Business Development Manager, Aeronerve
Nizzal has been involved in green technology R&D for 4 years mainly in agriculture and biomass utilisation and management. Head project of TerraAgra - Drone-powered Precision Agriculture by Aeronerve. Has been recently involved in Tasik Chini ecosystem evalution project using drone for data acquisitions. Currently involved in Pineapple Farm IOT Project as UAV technology consultant.
Dr. İsmail Bayezit
Istanbul Teknik Universitesi (ITU)
Dr Ismail Bayezit is the department vice chair at Aeronautics Engineering of Istanbul Technical University since 2017. Additionally, he is scientific advisor of Academic and Scientific Cooperation Project of Turkey by Yunus Emre Institute. He is acting as an executive for academic and scientific networking in between Turkey and other fellow countries.
His main research focus includes advanced drone technologies, collaborative flight, cooperative driving, autonomous systems, model based design and control.
Metin Erdoğan
Director of Business Development and Engineering, ALTINAY Aerospace and Advanced Technologies
Metin Erdoğan worked in ASELSAN between 1997 and 2019. Till 2007 he worked as a mechanical, opto-mechanical and optical designer in many projects that were the first for the Turkish Defence Industry. In some projects, he had been assigned as system engineer and technical manager. In 2007, he was appointed as founding manager of the Istanbul Office for naval projects. Between 2007 and 2014, most of “naval new shipbuilding” programs combat systems projects was managed by Istanbul teams.
In 2014, he has assigned to lead indigenous development of Navigation and Platform Management Systems as national products. In 5 years, high-tech products has been developed in 3 sub-business areas, navigation systems, platform management systems and propulsion control systems.
In 2019 Metin Erdoğan joined ALTINAY Aerospace and Advanced Technologies as Director of Business Development and Engineering.
Phil Captain
Founder & CEO, NexDrone
Phil is a senior executive with worldwide (USA, Europe, South America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and ASEAN) experience across a range of strategic and tactical aspects of business leadership, with full Balance Sheet and P&L management, defining the strategic direction (Country & Regional) and tactical making-it-happen plans.
At NexDrone Phil has built a user friendly Cloud based Geospatial Intelligence platform. This platform uses Unmanned Vehicles (DRONES) on land, water, underwater, subterranean and in the air, equipped with various cameras & sensors, to collect large amounts of Geospatial Data. Various types of data can be acquired, such as LIDAR, Photogrammetry, Thermal, 3D, Point cloud, DSM, etc. This raw data is then processed, structured and uploaded to the NexDrone Geospatial Intelligence portal for deeper analysis and dissemination of tasks
Ir. Mursyidi Bin Mohammad
Partner, Acis Technology Sdn Bhd
Being in the oil & gas industry for over 12 years, Ir. Mursyidi has been involved in inspection, design, construction, commissioning and maintenance of Lube Based Oil Projects, Sweet and Sour Crude Refinery, petrochemical plant, terminal and Turnaround/Shutdown Projects.
He possesses good and considerable analytical, communication and management skills that is translated into improving the integrity and reliability of the static and rotating equipment for continuous safe plant operation.
