APREA #EmbraceEquity Leadership Forum

Christine currently serves as the Head of Research APAC at Knight Frank, a globally renowned property consultancy firm. In this capacity, she plays a pivotal role in shaping the firm's long-term business strategy by spearheading research initiatives that align with both regional and global objectives.

Christine boasts a remarkable track record of providing valuable and actionable research across diverse property sectors, including offices, industrial spaces, residential properties, student accommodations, multi-family units, and data centers. She adeptly curates and coordinates regional forecasts and market outlooks for clients, offering research-driven insights that influence commercial leasing and investment decisions.

Christine holds a Master of Arts degree in Media and Communications from the University of London and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Cornell University.

Sara Cheng is Senior Vice President to APAC’s Banking and Corporates, and is responsible for leading the overall business strategy and execution at SS&C Intralinks. Prior to joining SS&C Intralinks, Sara was the Managing Director to Twitter China and CEO of Fuji Xerox Singapore. Her strong sense of curiosity propelled her to live and work across Asia, the US and Europe while rising to executive positions at Xerox, IBM, Teradata, NCR and Procter & Gamble.

Sara is known for being a catalyst of change, who has transformed people and organizations throughout her career and is a strong advocate of workplace diversity and the development of next-generation Asian leaders.

Sara's Board experience includes: Chairlady of the Board - Fuji Xerox Singapore, Board Member - Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, and Advisory Board - Women's Forum for Economy and Society Asia.

A sustainability practitioner for over two decades, Esther published the first sustainability report in Singapore in 2008 and issued the first green bond by a Singapore company in 2017. Conferred the 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact, and named amongst 25 Trailblazing Women against Climate Change by Reuters in 2023 as well as the inaugural TIME100 Climate Leaders in Business 2023 list, Esther sits on the boards or advisory platforms of international organizations including:

• World Economic Forum Nature-Positive Cities Global Commission
• World Green Building Council Corporate Advisory Board Chairperson
• Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
• UN PRI Real Estate Advisory Committee
• UN ESCAP Sustainable Business Network Executive Council
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Supervisory Board
• Urban Land Institute (ULI) Randall Lewis Center Advisory Board for Sustainability in Real Estate and ULI Asia Pacific Net Zero Council
• Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (APREA) Board of Directors and Chair of ESG Committee
• GRESB Foundation Board

She founded Women4Green and Youth4Climate networks to empower women and youths to champion climate action and sustainable development.

Jeremy Chee (Singapore) joined KKR in 2021 and is a member of the Asia Real Estate team. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Chee was with Partners Group, based in Singapore, where he focused on real estate investments across the Asia Pacific region. Previously, Mr. Chee was responsible for underwriting distressed real estate and NPL transactions for Kildare Partners in London. Mr. Chee started his career at BNP Paribas Leveraged Finance Group in London. He holds a BSc in Economics and Statistics from University College London.

Shirin is a corporate partner at Baker McKenzie and leads its M&A practice in Singapore. With over 23 years of experience in M&A and PE transactions across Asia, the U.S. and beyond, Shirin specializes in institutional real estate and asset management transactions, including capital raising platforms, joint ventures, co-investments and club deals, portfolio restructuring and exits. Shirin has led transactions with an aggregate deal value of over USD 55 billion in the last 10 years.

Shirin is a widely recognized lawyer and is ranked as a Leading Individual for Corporate/M&A in Singapore by Chambers Asia Pacific, Chambers Global and Legal 500 Asia Pacific. Additionally, she is acknowledged by IFLR 1000 as a Women Leader and is Highly Regarded for Private Equity/M&A and was recognized The Legal 500’s inaugural M&A Private Practice Powerlist: Asia Pacific 2024. Best Lawyers named Shirin their Lawyer of the Year (Singapore) for Mergers & Acquisitions in 2024.

Dr. Valerie Speth is the Co-Lead APAC for the Climate Infrastructure Group which invests and manages investments and portfolio companies of the Global Renewable Power Fund 3 (4.8 Billion USD) and the Climate Finance Partnership (673 Mio. USD). As a qualified mechanical engineer, she brings more than 15 years' of experience in the renewable power sector in Europe and APAC. Prior to joining BlackRock, she was the CEO of a global wind and solar developer for APAC and hold senior leadership positions in strategy, M&A and portfolio management. Valerie was placed in the "Top 40 under 40" in 2019, 2020 and 2021 by the Capital business magazine in Germany.

Valerie holds an engineering diploma from University of Stuttgart, a Master of Engineering Management as a Fulbright Scholar from Duke University, a PhD in Business from St. Gallen University, a Personal Leadership Certificate from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an International Director Certificate from INSEAD.

Christine currently serves as the Head of Research APAC at Knight Frank, a globally renowned property consultancy firm. In this capacity, she plays a pivotal role in shaping the firm's long-term business strategy by spearheading research initiatives that align with both regional and global objectives.

Christine boasts a remarkable track record of providing valuable and actionable research across diverse property sectors, including offices, industrial spaces, residential properties, student accommodations, multi-family units, and data centers. She adeptly curates and coordinates regional forecasts and market outlooks for clients, offering research-driven insights that influence commercial leasing and investment decisions.

Christine holds a Master of Arts degree in Media and Communications from the University of London and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Cornell University.