​An intimate evening for a curated group of Singapore's boldest founders, AI builders, and senior tech leaders.

​Kick off the night with a fireside chat featuring Cecily Ng (VP & GM ASEAN and Greater China, Databricks), Thomas Jeng (Head of Startups APAC, OpenAI), and Maria Li (Director of Ecosystem Integration, Singapore’s National AI Group), unpacking what's fuelling the ambition of Singapore's AI builder community, and what it takes to build the next generation of frontier technology companies from this region.

​From there, the evening opens up: cocktails, conversation, and a room full of people building at the edge of what's possible, in a space that captures Singapore's creative energy at its best.

​Agenda

• ​6:00pm: Event starts and introduction

• ​6:10pm: Fireside chat featuring speakers Cecily Ng (Databricks), Thomas Jeng (OpenAI), and Maria Li (Lorong AI)

• ​6:30pm onwards: Open networking

​Speakers

​Cecily Ng, VP & GM of ASEAN and Greater China, Databricks

​As the Vice President and General Manager of ASEAN & Greater China at Databricks, Cecily is responsible for leading and scaling the business within the region. Cecily brings more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry. Prior to Databricks, she was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Salesforce Singapore and Taiwan where she served as a trusted advisor and drove success for customers, partners and communities in the region. Prior to Salesforce, she had a distinguished career at Microsoft, IBM, and Sun Microsystems. An equality champion, Cecily is especially passionate about helping young women to develop their careers. She dedicates her time to mentoring women to grow successful careers through various initiatives such as the Salesforce-Halogen Foundation partnership program BizAcademy as well as MentorConnect in collaboration with IMDA and SG Women in Tech. Cecily holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the National University of Singapore.

​Thomas Jeng, APAC Head of Startups, OpenAI

​Thomas Jeng leads OpenAI’s Startups team across the Asia-Pacific. In this role, he looks after relationships with startups, venture capital firms, and other ecosystem builders in pursuit of OpenAI’s mission of ensuring artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. He was previously an operating executive at fintech firm Aspire and a Venture Partner at Headline.

​Maria Li, Director of Ecosystem Integration, National AI Group, MDDI

​Maria Li works across government, industry and research to strengthen Singapore’s AI ecosystem and advance its ambition to become a leading global AI hub.

​Prior to joining NAIG, Maria was Chief Operating Officer of Tech in Asia, where she helped lead the company through its growth and acquisition by SPH Media. Earlier in her career, she held strategy and operations roles at Apple and Deloitte Consulting.

​Maria has spent much of her career at the intersection of technology, strategy and ecosystem building, with a particular interest in how emerging technologies can drive economic growth and create meaningful real-world impact.

​Cohosts

​Lorong AI

​Lorong AI is Singapore's community hub for AI, established under the National AI Strategy 2.0.

​Lorong AI helps surface demand and curate relevant supply across the AI ecosystem. It brings government, industry, researchers and builders together through hands-on programmes and technical sharing to explore practical applications of AI.

​Olofsson & Company

​Olofsson is a Singapore-headquartered executive search and talent solutions firm focused on the technology and AI ecosystem. We advise founders, investors, and enterprises on leadership and specialist hiring, while developing proprietary Agentic AI-enabled products that enhance recruiter productivity and deliver new digital talent solutions globally.

​DesignSingapore Council

​The DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) envisions Singapore as a liveable, loveable, and limitless city by design. As the national agency for design, our mission is to develop the design sector to be globally competitive, champion the sector, help Singapore use design for innovation and growth, and make life better in this UNESCO Creative City of Design. Dsg is a subsidiary of the Singapore Economic Development Board.

​Our work focuses on deepening and broadening the practice and adoption of design in organisations, in communities, and in everyday life. We cultivate and celebrate Singapore design that resonates, expands what’s possible and builds on our city’s distinctive strengths as a global design hub.

​designsingapore.org