GlobalRisk Community

Media Kit

Leadership Profiles

CONTACT:

Boris Agranovich, The Netherlands

Boris Agranovich is the founder of the GlobalRisk Community and the GlobalRiskConsult a young consultancy delivering practical risk solutions in the area of all major risks faced by financial institutions.

Mr. Agranovich has more than 20 years of extensive business experience operating in markets throughout Europe, Russia/CIS, Middle East and Asia Pacific. He has been active as a Risk and Project Manager as well as a senior consultant.  He advised corporate and financial institutions including banks, insurance companies, trusts and hedge funds in the areas of risk management, management organization, corporate finance and IT-business alignment.

His assignments ranged from regulatory requirements such as Basel II and Solvency II to strategic risk propositions such as defining and setting risk appetite and embedding risk management through the organisation. He implemented projects in the area of Payments, Cash management, treasury and asset management. As a Risk and Project manager, Mr. Agranovich participated in implementation of operational risk strategy, tools and methodologies, worked closely with all stakeholders including Business Directors, Audit, Tax and Compliance. He was responsible for development of Risk policies and procedures, management reporting, dashboards, training, support, creating risk aware organization.

He was educated at the Tel-Aviv University, Leon Rekanati School of Business Administration and the Maritime Technical University of St. Petersburg, Russia

Mr. Agranovich obtained an International Certificate in Banking Risk and Regulation from GARP (Global Association of Risk Professionals) Risk Academy.

Charles D. Brooks, USA

Charles Brooks is a recognized expert in the field of government relations, homeland security and International Relations.  Most recently, he has held senior executive roles at IT companies Keane Inc. and SRA International, in Government Affairs. He has also served in a senior strategy role for a Cyber Security Company, Inzero Systems Inc.

From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Brooks was appointed by the White House to work at the Department of Homeland Security and helped "stand up" the Office of Legislative Affairs and served as the first Legislative Director of the DHS Science & Technology Directorate. Concurrently he served as an Adjunct Faculty member at Johns Hopkins University where he designed and taught an accredited course in Homeland Security (Homeland Security and Congress) for the Graduate Program.

Charles Brooks managed his own consulting and lobbying firm Brooks Consulting International, LLC, where he worked closely with investment banking and venture firms. He also served as Washington, D.C. representative for Brightpoint Inc., a global Fortune 500 company specializing in supply chain management and cell phone integration.

For six years, Mr. Brooks served as a senior Legislative Aide to Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) for defence and foreign affairs issues. Charles also worked at the Voice of America where he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve as a direct-report to the Director of the international broadcasting agency of the U.S. Government and coordinated relations between Capitol Hill and the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, as well as the outreach in domestic and international public affairs.

Charles Brooks holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Political Science from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana He obtained a Certificate in International Law from The Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands.

Gerard van Vliet, The Netherlands

Gerard van Vliet Msc/MBA has a unique profile. His vast experience in IT, (direct) Marketing and (new) Media brought him many successful (international) projects in these fields. He has always been a trend maker, as he was with msce.nl, the first internet community for Microsoft Certified System Engineers (1995), still going strong. Gerard published many books on Internet issues, like Digital Diarrhea, Successful E-commerce and CRM and Internet.
Recently he finished The Network Bible, THE book on networking using old fashioned ways as well as new ways (LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ning, Twitter etc). He is a co-Founder of The NetworKing Academy.

Mr. van Vliet studied Communication Science, Organization Science and did his MBAat Nyenrode/Kellogg School of Management. He is also involved in the Icesave affair, where he is a spokesman for the large depositors in the Netherlands. He will publish a unique book about his experience with the international financial world in September 2010.

Brian Henry, South Africa

Brian Henry is the founder of Caridon Business Solutions, a consulting company focused on business consulting and solutions. He has been a Member of the Institute of Management Consultants of South Africa since 1986, and is a past President and Fellow of the Institute in South Africa and in Australia. He is also a Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute in London, and has practiced in the field of Business Continuity since 1986.

His most recent activities have been in addressing the new regulatory challenges of Governance Compliance and Risk. In this he has assisted large organisations including major South African banks in implementing solutions and the associated Risk Management models and frameworks required for Contract Risk Management and Business Continuity Management.

Mr. Henry currently serves as the Area Representative for the BCI in South Africa and the International Association of Contracts and Commercial Managers (IACCM)

He holds a BSc degree from the University of Capetown and Diploma in Business Management.

Jean L.N. Hofsté, The Netherlands

Mr. Hofsté is the Owner and CEO at Hofsté Holdings B.V., an Interim Management firm. His specialties include Purchasing, Sales, International Commerce, International Institutions, Political Risk Insurance, Shipping, Logistics, M&A, Competitive Analysis, Financing, Corporate Recovery, Financing, Forensic Accounting, Bankruptcy Protection and Artificial Intelligence.

He has held numerous positions including Managing Director, Director of Finance, Commercial Director, Director of Purchasing, Shipping Manager, and Import & Export Manager.

He holds an Executive MBA from Kingston University - Kingston-upon-Thames, UK, where wrote a thesis entitled ”Business Failure Prediction at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange 1989-1993, utilising Artificial Intelligence.”

Ramesh Pillai,  Malaysia

Ramesh Pillai is the Chairman of the Board of Governors and the Chief Examiner of the International Institute of Enterprise Risk Professionals as well as being the Chief Executive Officer and Group Managing Director of Friday Concepts (Asia), a regional BCM, Governance, Risk Management and Compliance boutique consultancy. Ramesh is also the former Risk Management Adviser to the Public Trustee and one of the largest fund managers in Malaysia as well as to the largest Islamic fund manager in Malaysia. He is also a nominee Director for the Malaysian Central Bank. Ramesh holds a Bachelor of Economics with  Accountancy (Honours) degree from Loughborough University in the UK. As part of his degree course, Ramesh specialised in Economics and Banking in general and  Islamic Banking in particular.

Ramesh started his career with Price Waterhouse’s Financial Institutions specialism in London gaining experience in Audit, Consultancy and Corporate Finance assignments. Succeeding the seven years there, he went on to become the Director of Finance and Administration at Picker International Ltd in London. In 1994, he spent a year as the Chief Financial Officer of Rank Video Services (Europe) Limited before accepting a more challenging job experience through an international assignment.

Upon his return to Malaysia, he headed the Credit Administration and Portfolio Management functions in Citibank Berhad before accepting a position in Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad in March 1999 as the General Manager of the Risk Management Division.  He was also involved in presentations to the National Syariah Advisory Council in an advisory capacity.

Following his assignment in at the Central Bank, Ramesh joined moved back into the Banking sector where he was the Chief Risk Officer for regional Conventional and International Islamic Banks. His responsibilities included guiding and co-ordinating the group’s Operational and Enterprise Risk Management initiatives.

Ramesh has published articles in international publications, presented various papers on Risk Management in general and Enterprise Risk Management in particular, Corporate Governance and Bank restructuring issues at National, Regional and International forums and is currently writing a book on Enterprise Risk Management.

Phil Gadzinski, Australia

With over 15 years in the banking and finance industry, Phillip has grown a credible professional expertise in the Risk Management and Project delivery space – commencing with Credit at the Retail level, moving to Corporate Credit, then to Institutional Level and International Credit and then moving on to Operational Risk for an Institutional Bank.

Phillip then moved into Project activity, within the banking industry, commencing with Basel II programs, Enterprise Wide Fraud Risk application design, AML compliance and synergies with enterprise wide risk detection systems, Project Lead for development and global implementation of an IB Client / Product Pricing Model, Program Director driving NAB’s global compliance effort to revised Prudential Liquidity Requirements, commencing Projects related to developing solutions to Risk Starategic initiatives with an ERM flavour, and now leading an application development project in the IB /Wholesale Banking credit risk approval and origination process.  

During this career Phillip has obtained qualifications in Banking and Finance specialising in International Trade and Asia in particular, Post Graduate qualifications in Accounting, and is a Senior Associate of FINSIA.

Combined with this career progress and educational development, Phillip is an engaging and clear communicator with excellent stakeholder management ability at all levels and a strong personal style that lends itself readily to any situation.

Tony Ridley, Singapore

Director Security Services Asia Pacific International SOS

As the Director Security Services Asia Pacific, Tony is responsible for International SOS’ corporate and commercial security services to clients around the world. Since joining the Global Security Team, he has delivered and directed a variety of security projects from risk assessments, specialised training, simulation scenarios, policy and procedure development and security evacuation operations. Successful solutions were implemented to clients in numerous commercial and government sectors in demanding and challenging locations.

Often called upon, he has presented to hundreds of corporate clients, professional bodies and organisations, along with interviews with print and television media on a diverse array of technical security issues.

Prior to joining International SOS, Tony spent the five years in a wide variety of security and business support roles. Managing the operational demands of a 3,500 man security company across Indonesia, protective security operations for government personnel within Iraq, and both public and private companies with at risk assets within Indonesia, Tony delivered positive results and financial benefit to clients, share holders and staff.

The foundation of Tony’s unique security skills and experience is the result of nearly 14 years in the Australian Army, serving predominately in Special Operations with the Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment. During this time, he planned and led special operations across the region on counter-insurgency, anti-terrorism and recovery missions.

In previous corporate and executive roles, he has designed and implemented security solutions from the ground up, crafted sustainable loss reduction strategies, maximized security budgets along with managing contracted and proprietary security personnel. His planning and management has resulted in significant reduction in business disruption events, even in hostile and remote locations.

Tony holds diplomas on Security Operations Management and Search and Rescue together with advanced linguistics. He is a Certified Anti-Terrorism Specialist (CAS) and is an active member in various other professional associations.