Dato’ P’ng Soo Hong is the Vice President of Manufacturing Operations and Managing Director of First Solar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. He oversees the company’s overall strategic direction and is responsible towards the company’s operations, EHS, Quality & Reliability, Human Resources, Finance, IT and Supply Chain performance. 

P’ng joined First Solar in October 2008. Prior to First Solar, he was attached to Intel Corporation and had served the company for 17 years after graduating from university. 

While at Intel, P’ng had the opportunity to lead several major functions, which include Operation Management, Manufacturing System/Process, and Supply Chain Management development. He was the General Manager for Intel’s largest Assembly-Test Chipset Operation in Chengdu, China, from 2004 to 2007. It was also the company which he helped start-up. After his assignment there, he was relocated to Intel’s 300mm Fab at Arizona. 

P’ng currently is the Chairman of Malaysian Alternative & Renewable Industry (MARI), the President of Kulim Industrial Tenants Association (KITA), the Board of Governor of American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), the Director of Junior Achievement (JA) Malaysia, the Board of Director of Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MiGHT), the Board of Director of Penang State Sports Council, and the Vice President of Penang Volleyball Association. 

Stu has over 35 years of experience working across GE businesses in the US and Asia in senior positions in sales, services marketing and general management. He graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a BA in Economics and Political Science and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  Following a two-year assignment with the US Government, he obtained an MBA from Harvard. 

ASEAN is close to his heart having served GE in the region since 1991 when he was Business Development Manager, GE International, based in Singapore with responsibilities for Southeast Asia and Australia.  In 1993, he became President, GE Capital, Southeast Asia.  In February 1995, he became President, GE Indonesia, located in Jakarta.  Stu then had responsibility for all of ASEAN from 2002 to 2015 when he retired from GE. He is currently a Senior Advisor for ASEAN Advisory Pte Ltd., a corporate and government consultancy and resides in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Stu serves on the Boards of Air Asia Berhad, Asia’s leading low-cost carrier, the Malaysia Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and the Malaysian American Commission for Education Exchange (Fulbright).  He serves on the Duke University Trinity College Board of Visitors and was recently recognized by the university with the Charles A. Duke award. He also serves as a board member of Harvard Business School Asia Pacific, the US-Indonesia Society and Junior Achievement Asia Pacific.

Dr. Wei-nee Chen holds a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, a Master of Business Administration from Universiti Tun Abdul Razak, and a Doctor of Business Administration from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Prior to returning to Malaysia, Dr. Wei-nee was in New Zealand for 14 years serving in the banking, insurance, freezing, and health industries in various cities in New Zealand. From 2005-2010, Dr. Wei-nee served in the capacity of a Technical Advisor in the Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic (MBIPV) Project; a project administered by the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water Malaysia with support from Global Environment Facility through United Nations Development Program. Her role in the MBIPV project was to spearhead the awareness and capacity development of grid-connected solar PV systems in the country. From January 2011 to September 2011, Dr. Wei-nee was a member of interim SEDA under the same Ministry. Dr Wei-nee was involved in the development of subsidiary legislations under the Renewable Energy Act 2011 [Act 725], the ICT framework of the e-FiT online system, and strategizing the communications on the Feed-in Tariff. She is also the Malaysian representative for Task 1 (Strategic PV Analysis & Outreach) of the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS). Dr Wei-nee is a climate change advocator focusing on sustainable energy strategies to mitigate climate change and its negative impact