Funding Quantum

Allen Cheong, CFA, is a seasoned capital markets and corporate finance professional with over 25 years of experience spanning investment banking, equity capital markets, and sustainability advisory. He has held roles at leading financial institutions including DBS Bank, OCBC, and Daiwa Capital Markets, where he advised companies on capital raising, IPOs, and strategic transactions across sectors such as healthcare, real estate, consumer, industrials, and technology.

Allen currently serves as Director and Head of Sustainability at LMS Compliance Ltd, where he leads sustainability strategy and solutions, helping companies strengthen ESG governance, climate disclosures, and sustainability data credibility through technology-enabled platforms and independent verification.

He is also the founder of Kai Asia Advisors Pte Ltd, a boutique corporate advisory firm that supports business owners and corporates on IPO readiness, capital markets strategy, and growth initiatives.

Allen is actively involved in professional education, speaking engagements, and training. He has delivered courses and masterclasses in investments, corporate finance, and sustainability at universities, as well as through professional bodies including CFA Society Singapore, ISCA and various corporate training platforms.

He holds an MBA from the Chicago Booth School of Business and multiple professional designations, including the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Chartered Valuer and Appraiser (CVA), Accredited Director (MSID-AD) from the Singapore Institute of Directors, and the CFA Institute Certificate in Sustainable Investing.

Chong Li Min, CFA, CA, is a Senior Lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic’s School of Business. She has over 12 years of industry experience spanning transaction advisory, investment analysis, and financial auditing, and is passionate about developing the next generation of finance professionals through applied learning and an industry-relevant curriculum design.

Prior to joining Temasek Polytechnic, Li Min was a Senior Manager in the Transaction Services Finance department at PIMCO Prime Real Estate, where she provided financial due diligence, deal analysis, and accounting advisory support for M&A transactions across the APAC region. Before joining PIMCO Prime Real Estate, she spent nearly a decade at KPMG across Transaction Services, Business Solutions, and Audit. Drawing on her strong accounting and finance background, she specialised in financial advisory work, analysing deal-specific financials to identify risks and opportunities that could influence purchase agreement negotiations.

In addition to her industry and teaching work, Li Min has been actively involved in professional finance community initiatives, including contributions to industry publications, media engagements, and community programmes.

Her transition into academia was driven by a strong passion for teaching, mentorship, and curriculum innovation. She continues to bridge industry experience with education, equipping students with practical, future-ready skills.

Dr. Janet Liu, CFA, CAIA, CFtP, is a trainer for the CFA Program Level I and Level II Preparatory Programmes at CFA Society Singapore. She brings over 18 years of experience across global markets, wealth management, and financial technology, and is currently the CEO of CapBridge, a Singapore-based capital markets platform.

Janet has held senior roles at institutions including OCBC Bank and Citi, where she was responsible for investment product strategy, portfolio positioning, and advisory across asset classes such as equities, fixed income, and collective investment schemes. Her experience across both traditional financial institutions and digital platforms enables her to connect CFA Program curriculum concepts with real-world market practices, including portfolio construction, risk management, and client advisory.

In her teaching, Janet focuses on helping candidates build a strong conceptual foundation while developing practical intuition by linking core topics such as quantitative methods, asset valuation, and portfolio management to real-world investment decision-making in institutional and client-facing settings. She is particularly passionate about simplifying complex financial concepts and equipping candidates with the analytical frameworks needed for both the CFA Program and careers in finance.

Janet holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from the Singapore University of Social Sciences and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She is a CFA^® charterholder, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), and Chartered FinTech Professional (CFtP).

Kok Kah Fai, CFA, is Head of APAC at BCA Research, a leading independent investment research provider. BCA’s research insights support investment management and asset allocation decisions across traditional asset managers, alternative investment firms, wealth managers, banks and asset owners globally.

Prior to joining BCA Research, Kah Fai played a key role in building the Asia/APAC businesses for Rimes Technologies, a market leader in investment and ESG data management; RiskMetrics, formerly JP Morgan Risk Analytics now part of MSCI; and Bloomberg Portfolio Analytics (PORT).

His subject matter expertise spans investment analysis, portfolio construction and backtesting, as well as portfolio credit and market risk methodologies, including CreditMetrics, RiskMetrics, and historical and predictive stress testing. He is also certified in performance attribution analysis across equities, fixed income, and balanced portfolios, including Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) requirements.

Beyond his professional work, Kah Fai delivers foundational financial literacy training through Credit Counselling Singapore and AIDHA.

Kah Fai graduated summa cum laude in Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University, where he also earned a Certificate in Engineering Management Science, He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi honor societies.

His professional certifications include the CFA^® designation, Professional Risk Manager (PRM), Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM), and the CFA Institute Certificate in Sustainable Investing.

Phoebe Gao is an Assistant Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). Her teaching covers Quantitative Analysis, Investment and Risk Analysis, Derivatives, and Research Methods, with a focus on bridging rigorous financial foundations with contemporary analytical tools such as R and Python. She earned her PhD in Business (Finance) from Singapore Management University, and her MPhil and BSc in Risk Management Science, with a minor in Mathematics, from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Gao’s research examines issues at the forefront of modern finance, spanning asset pricing, risk management, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and sustainability. Her work reflects a strong commitment to interdisciplinary and empirically grounded research, particularly in understanding how quantitative and computational approaches can inform financial decision-making, market behavior, and broader questions of corporate responsibility. She has published in internationally recognised journals, including the Journal of Environmental Management, FinTech, and the China Journal of Accounting Research.