Stephen is a Past President of IIA Australia, Immediate Past President of the Asian
Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditors (ACIIA), and a former member of the IIA’s
International Internal Audit Standards Board (IIASB). Stephen’s focus is on Asia and includes
working with business leaders, governance and compliance professionals; and internal auditors
across the region to strengthen and enhance their representation of the profession; and
engaging with likeminded industry groups.

With a background as an experienced governance, risk, compliance; and internal audit
professional, he continues to advise governments, leading companies, and not-for-profit
organisations on protecting and enhancing organisational value, and share what good internal
auditing services look like. He Chairs several Audit Risk & Improvement Committees and leads
boards towards strategy, in line with transparent and accountable governance.

A key focus is internal audit quality with Stephen participating in many assessments of internal
audit effectiveness. He guides organisations as they manage emerging risks across the Asian
region with recent engagements in Australia, Brunei, Fiji, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines,
Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam attesting to his regional focus.

Stephen is a foodie, loving casual dining in all its versions and complexity. He creates online
content in that context as “Vietnam Steve”, and mentors new professionals dividing his
personal time between Australia’s Gold Coast and Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay.

Edna may be aptly called a career auditor, having spent her professional life in the field of auditing, in both external and internal audit practice.

Her career started in external auditing in 1975 with Sycip, Gorres, Velayo & Company (SGV). She then moved into the field of internal audit with Rustan Investment and Management Corporation (RIMCO), where she headed internal audit services for various companies within the Rustan Group of Companies (RGOC).

Her responsibilities extended outside the Rustan Group as the Chairman’s designated representative to the Audit Committee of a Unibank. The 25 years she worked in this capacity has provided Edna with a deep understanding of an Audit Committee’s responsibilities and how it effectively provides oversight and guidance to Internal Audit. This reinforced the knowledge she gained from attending the Professional Director’s Program by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.)

After retiring as VP for Audit, Systems & Loss Prevention from Rustan SuperCenters, Inc. (RSCI) and Royal Duty Free Shops (RDFS) in 2014, Edna moved to the public sector. Though brief, this stint as SVP-Internal Audit Office with a government financial institution, expanded her knowledge of internal audit services, particularly on how it operates in a government setting.

Edna returned to Rustan Commercial Corporation in 2016 as Consultant for Internal Audit, Loss Prevention, and Data Privacy. Relative to her role as Data Protection Officer, she obtained credentials from TUV Rheinland such as Certified Data Protection Officer (2018) and Certified Data Privacy Protection Auditor (2019), and the National Privacy Commission’s Data Protection Officer ACE Level 1 (2019). Although she has recently relinquished Data Protection Officer role, she remains to be a staunch champion of data privacy.

Edna has been an officer and a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Internal Auditors, Philippines (IIAP) since 2000, taking the helm as President in 2004. She continues to be a resource for IIAP as facilitator in its Public and In-House Seminars, and the CIA Reviews. Her specialization is in Quality Assurance Review (QAR) of Internal Audit, as both a Trainor and a Team Leader for External Quality Assurance Review engagements of the IIAP.

Cora Rey brings over 30 years of experience as Head of Finance, Controllership, Treasury, Systems and Internal Audit in retail and distribution business. She is currently the Senior Vice President and Chief Audit Executive of SM Retail, Inc. overseeing more than 30 brands and retail platforms. Her first job was as an Assurance and IT audit-in-charge of SGV.

Her professional affiliation and volunteer work with PICPA, earned for her the Outstanding Lady Achiever for Commerce and Industry in 1996 and Outstanding CPA in Commerce and Industry in 2013. In FY2020-2021, she was given the PICPA Presidential Award as Most Outstanding Chairperson for Technology and Website Committee. She held various officer positions in PICPA, the Association of CPAs in Commerce and Industry (ACPACI) and IIA-P showing her deep passion to serve the accountancy and internal audit profession.

Cora graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce major in Accounting from the University of Santo Tomas and completed the Strategic Business Economics Program from the University of Asia and Pacific. She is a licensed CPA and holds certifications as CIA, CRISC, CRMA and Quality Assurance Validator of Internal Audit activity. She is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certified by the Asian Institute of Management.