Upskilling with the Enhanced CFA Program

Grace Yeung, CFA, FCPA (Practising), CPA, CPA (CA) is Senior Director, Exam Development, Asia Pacific of CFA Institute. Grace plays a global role, and she leads the development and production of CFA Exams and CFA Institute’s certificates. Grace’s team consists of over one hundred fifty consultants and staff worldwide. She develops strategies and leads projects of the CFA Program, CFA Exam, certificates, and accomplishing the mission of CFA Institute. One of Grace’s key projects is transitioning the CFA Exam from paper-based to computer-based. Grace is committed to advocating for ESG and the Certificate in ESG Investing program. She often shares her views about ESG with the media. With her background and professional experiences in Asia Pacific, Grace outreaches to CFA Societies, professional standard setting bodies, practitioners, and credentialing organisations in the region to seek insights and develop strategies that are relevant to the CFA Program and the Certificate in ESG Investing.

Grace has over twenty years of global experiences in the financial services and investment management industry. Prior to joining CFA Institute, Grace held the position of Senior Manager, Assurance, Financial Services and Asset Management of PwC Hong Kong. Her clients include global and regional asset managers in traditional and alternative investment spaces, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate, and infrastructure. She led assurance and consulting projects including investment fund set-up, regulatory licensing, and internal control compliance. Grace had assurance, consulting, and financial services working experiences in the United States and Canada.

Grace holds a Master of Economics from University of California at Berkeley and a Master of Laws, Corporate and Financial Laws from University of Hong Kong. She graduated as a Bachelor of Science with summa cum laude, distinction in Management Science, and Phi Beta Kappa from University of California, San Diego. Grace is a CFA charterholder, a Certified Public Accountant licensed with California, USA, a Chartered Professional Accountant of Canada, and a Certified Public Accountant (Practising) at Hong Kong SAR. She completed the Certificate in ESG Investing program and holds the certificate. She is also a Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP)’s Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate holder. Grace is a Fellow and a member of the Task Force for Digitalization of the Qualification Programme under the Qualification and Examinations Board of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She is a member of Greater Bay Area Green Finance Alliance Working Group of Hong Kong Green Finance Association. She is also an active participant in the accounting standards roundtable panel of the HKICPA.

Justin is a Partner with Deloitte Asia Pacific. Based out of Kuala Lumpur office, he is the Country Leader for Financial Services Industry and Risk Consulting practice in Malaysia. In his role, he enjoys engaging with key stakeholders in the financial services ecosystem (regulatory bodies, industry players, and talents), by bringing the latest thinking to achieve a progressive, sustainable and resilient future. In the past decades, he has worked with more than 50 regulatory bodies and financial services institutions in the regions, across Asia Pacific (i.e., Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Australia), Europe and Africa. He supported Boards and C-suites, in their transformation programme, focusing on digital, governance, risk management, compliance, and audit related matters. In addition, he is an active volunteer with CFA Institute and CFA Society Malaysia, where he has served in various leadership positions since 2015.

Ms. Tan is Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of GMO Singapore Pte. Limited and is responsible for operational, compliance and governance matters for GMO’s Singapore office. She is also involved in business development efforts for GMO’s Global Client Relations team in Asia. Prior to joining GMO in 2004, she worked at Ernst & Young in Singapore, where she was involved in advisory and assurance services for financial institutions in the local market. Ms. Tan currently sits on the Board of CFA Society Singapore, where she is also a member of the Investment Committee. Ms. Tan earned her Bachelor in Accounting from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She is a CFA Charterholder and a CFA ESG Investing certificate holder. Ms Tan is also a Chartered Accountant of Singapore.

Dr. Tae-Wook Ahn is the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of DeepSearch, Inc, the financial technology start-up that was founded in 2013. DeepSearch analyzes big data in the financial industry and develops a financial answer engine for professional investors.
Dr. Ahn joined DeepSearch full-time as CSO in June 2016. Before joining DeepSearch, he had over 20 years of extensive experience in financial data product development, risk management, sales & marketing, and corporate planning across industry sectors.

Dr. Ahn had worked for Bloomberg LP for 16 years based in the United States and Hong Kong as an equity product manager, fixed income data specialist, sales director, and regional head of new business development. After Bloomberg, he moved back to his home country to serve as an executive director of Myungmoon Pharm. (KRX: 017180), where he managed its investment portfolio. After two years of his tenure, he returned to the financial technology industry and opened a new chapter with two young founders from DeepSearch, Inc.

He has been a CFA charterholder since 2002 and an active volunteer at the CFA Institute such as grading CFA exams and participating in practice analysis and public awareness of the CFA program at both a global and local level. He also holds the FRM (Financial Risk Manager) designation.

He received his Ph.D. in Finance from Dongguk University and previously received an MBA from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. His research focuses on the impact of ESG controversies on firm value relying on the text-mining analysis of corporate news stories.