Empowering the future: Clean energy innovations, regional cooperation and integration, and financing solutions.
2 – 6 June 2025 | ADB Headquarters, Manila
ACEF 2025 Speakers
ALL SPEAKERS
Samuel Tumiwa
Asian Development Bank
Samuel Tumiwa
Asian Development Bank
Bio
Mr.Tumiwa is the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Representative to North America, where he fosters collaboration and dialogue with stakeholders across Canada, the United States, multilateral institutions, civil society, and the private sector. With over 30 years of development experience in nearly all countries across Asia and the Pacific, he previously served as ADB’s Country Director for Afghanistan, managing a $4 billion portfolio in energy, transport, and agriculture, and also led ADB’s Fragility and Engagement initiatives. A long-time energy expert, Mr. Tumiwa played a pivotal role in scaling ADB’s clean energy investments from $200 million in 2005 to nearly $2 billion by 2009. He founded the $250 million Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility and launched the Energy for All Program, aiming to provide 100 million people with access to clean, efficient energy. He also headed ADB’s NGO and Civil Society Center and has led numerous energy sector reforms, rural electrification, and infrastructure projects in Central, South, and Southeast Asia. Prior to ADB, he worked with a design engineering firm in Washington, D.C.
Sanchita Basu Das
Asian Development Bank
Sanchita Basu Das
Asian Development Bank
Bio
Sanchita Basu-Das is Economist at the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division of the Economic Research and Development Impact Department of ADB. She contributes to the division’s flagship publications, knowledge products and analytical studies. She participates in various policy forums, including G20, ASEAN and ASEAN+3. Her core research interests include regional cooperation initiatives and issues related to them, such as trade, logistics, industrial corridors, tourism, digital economy, institutions and others. Sanchita has published in international journals including the Singapore Economic Review, Journal of World Trade and Asia Pacific Economic Literature, authored/ edited books and book chapters and wrote for media. Sanchita joined ADB in November 2018 and initially served as an Economist in the South Asia Regional Department.Prior to joining the ADB, Sanchita was the Lead Researcher for Economic Affairs at the ASEAN Studies Centre of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. She was concurrently a Fellow of the Regional Economic Studies Program, coordinator of Singapore APEC Studies Centre and a co-editor of Journal of Southeast Asian Economies (JSEAE), all housed under the same institute. Sanchita earned her PhD in International Political Economy from Nanyang Technology University, Singapore, and her Masters in Economics and Business Management from the University of Delhi and the National University of Singapore respectively.
Sarah Wilson
A&O Shearman
Sarah Wilson
A&O Shearman
Bio
Sarah is the managing partner of A&O Shearman’s Bangkok office and head of its Energy, Natural Resources & Infrastructure practice.Sarah specialises in project development and finance transactions in the power and infrastructure sectors across ASEAN and the wider Asia-Pacific region. She has acted for major international commercial and institutional lenders and sponsors, and regularly negotiates concession agreements and power purchase agreements with governments and state-owned enterprises. Sarah is known as an emerging market specialist and has advised on many market-firsts in this context, most recently in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. She also regularly advises on large-scale cross-border transactions. While Sarah is based in Bangkok, she advises on transactions across the wider region and, by way of example, is currently advising on projects in Indonesia and Vietnam.Prior to joining the Bangkok office some 14 years ago, Sarah was part of then Allen & Overy’s Structured and Asset Finance team in London, which she joined in 2009.
Sascha Oppowa
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Sascha Oppowa
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Bio
Sascha Oppowa is an Energy Project Director at GIZ, leading the project "Clean, Affordable and Secure Energy for Southeast Asia" (CASE), funded by the German Government. CASE supports energy transitions in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as regional energy cooperation, specifically strengthening the ASEAN Power Grid. Since joining GIZ in 2014, Sascha has built extensive expertise in sustainable energy and climate policy. He was part of the German delegation at UNFCCC conferences (2015-2016) and supported Vietnam on implementing the Paris Agreement (2017-2020), focusing on developing bankable sustainable energy projects.
Satya Ramamurthy
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Satya Ramamurthy
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Bio
Satya Ramamurthy (Satya) is Chair, Public Sector in the Structured Finance Department Asia Pacific at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). In his role, Satya works with multilaterals and government entities in Asia with the objective of broadening and deepening the bank’s lending footprint. He has been actively working with ministries and state-owned enterprises across ASEAN and South Asia in building out a pipeline of bankable projects across economic and social sectors. Prior to this, he was a long-standing senior KPMG partner having spent more than 30 years with that firm. During his tenure with KPMG, he held Global and Regional leadership roles, most notably Global Co-Head of Public Transport, ASPAC Head of Government and Infrastructure and Singapore Head of Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare. Satya has extensive experience working with governments and private sector in Asia and the Middle East on transformative programs like public-private partnerships, corporatisation and design of market structures. He brings deep experience in structuring business, financing and operating models to balance public and private sector objectives. Satya sits on the Council of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, a Singapore-based think tank which focuses on sustainability and digitalisation in ASEAN. He is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Saule Zholdayakova
Department of Alternative Energy, KMG Engineering
Bio
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Saurabh Kaura
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Saurabh Kaura
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Bio
Saurabh Kaura is a Senior Investment Specialist in the Private Sector Operations Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), where he has served since October 2023. He brings over 17 years of transaction experience across Africa and Asia, with an investment background in the climate, energy, and infrastructure sectors. His expertise spans project finance, equity funds, and financial institution (FI) debt investments. Prior to joining ADB, Saurabh worked with the Private Sector Facility of the Green Climate Fund in South Korea. There, he was responsible for originating, structuring, and executing blended finance transactions using equity, debt, and guarantees, including development of blended finance platforms. He has an academic background in engineering and in management from the Indian Institute of Management Mumbai (formerly NITIE). Saurabh is also a CFA and CAIA Charterholder.
Scott Morris
Asian Development Bank
Scott Morris
Asian Development Bank
Bio
Mr. Scott Morris joined ADB on 1 November 2023 and has significant prior leadership experience in both government and the non-profit sector. He is currently responsible for overseeing ADB’s operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. Mr. Morris is an expert on development finance and debt policy with more than 25 years of experience in international economic policymaking and research. Prior to joining ADB, Mr. Morris was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) in Washington, DC. At CGD, he led work on multilateral and bilateral development finance, including the role of concessional finance in supporting low-income and climate-vulnerable countries. Mr. Morris previously served in senior roles in the US government, including as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Development Finance and Debt in the US Treasury. In this role, he oversaw the participation of the US in multilateral development banks, including ADB, as well as US participation in the Paris Club. Prior to his US Treasury appointment, he managed the international and monetary policy portfolio of the Committee on Financial Services, US House of Representatives. Mr. Morris holds a master of public policy studies (international economics) from the University of Michigan, Institute for Public Policy Studies, in Michigan, US. He obtained his bachelor of arts degree in government from Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, US.
Sean Richmond
UK Govenment
Sean Richmond
UK Govenment
Bio
Lead the UK's Accelerate-to-Demonstrate (A2D) Facility, and Partnership for Net Zero (NZP), for the UK Government (Department of Energy Security and Net Zero).
Sean Whittaker
World Bank Group
Sean Whittaker
World Bank Group
Bio
Sean is a mechanical engineer and Principal Wind Specialist with the World Bank Group. He is the co-founder of the Offshore Wind Development Program which has since 2019 worked to accelerate the uptake of offshore wind in over 25 countries including Vietnam, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Brazil, Colombia and South Africa. In 2023, the Program received an Offshore Wind Collaboration Award from the UK’s renewable energy industry association in recognition of its impact on the global offshore wind sector. He is also the co-founder of IFC’s Scaling Wind program which develops utility-scale onshore wind projects in developing countries including Barbados, Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Mongolia. Prior to joining IFC in 2011, Sean served as Vice-President of the Canadian Wind Energy Association and also worked as a senior energy specialist and project developer with ICF Consulting. He started his career in wind in 1993, spending five years in Madagascar designing, building and installing windmills for rural irrigation projects.
Selena Jihyun Lee
World Bank Group
Selena Jihyun Lee
World Bank Group
Bio
Selena is an Energy Specialist in the World Bank’s Global Energy Knowledge unit. She focuses on energy transition, with deep expertise in energy efficiency and resilience. Prior to joining the World Bank, Selena worked at the International Energy Agency, where she contributed to country policy reviews and provided recommendations on energy security and efficiency.
SeokJai CHOI
Korea Energy Agency
SeokJai CHOI
Korea Energy Agency
Bio
With over 25 years’ work experience in Korea Energy Agency(KEA), Mr. Seok-Jai Choi is an MRV specialist for emission reduction activities, especially in energy and industry sector. Currently, He is in charge of Energy Audit Division of KEA. Energy Audit is an entry point to find the idea for energy efficiency improvement and GHG emission reduction especially in energy and industry sector. KEA is a public entity for energy efficiency, renewable energy deployment and climate change mitigation of Korea. He has managed boiler and pressure vessel inspection scheme of Korea for 12 years, including experience in various energy facilities as a field inspector for 4 years. He holds a qualification as in-use inspector for boiler and pressure vessel by NBBI of USA. And he also served in standardization and product certification in renewable energy sector for 5 years. Especially, he managed CDM DOE function of KEA and audited various CDM projects in developing countries for 7 years, and also managed government support programs of Korea related to Article 6 activities under the Paris Agreement to facilitate the global GHG mitigation activities. He was also engaged in ODA programs, feasibility studies, pilot demonstration projects, investment programs for ITMO and 6.4ER issuance to achieve NDC target of Korea.