NUS FinTech SG Progamme

Dr Guo Lei

Dr Guo Lei is an active educator and researcher in data science, behavioural study and design thinking, with extensive experience in delivering practice-based learning programmes and applied research projects with successful results.

Starting her career in Singapore as a marketing practitioner, Dr Guo worked across manufacturing, entertainment and education industries. She was the Chief Representative in China for a Singapore listed company. She was also responsible for setting up Shanghai Office and promoting executive education programmes for NUS Business School in Greater China market.

With the aspiration of bridging the gap between research and practice, Dr Guo pursued her PhD in the UK, where she worked on large-scale research projects with Cambridge University Service Alliance, BAE Systems and China Mobile.

Dr Guo returned to Singapore and joined NUS as a faculty member in 2011. She has particular experience in tackling complex challenges through applied research and education. She was the Principal Investigator for a series of research projects to inform better public transport policy decisions. She consults corporate clients on data analytics, user experience design and service innovation. Dr Guo teaches executive programmes of Data Analytics and Design Thinking at NUS. She has a passion for engaging and inspiring working professionals at all levels by applying the theory to real world business applications.

Dr Guo holds a PhD in Marketing from University of Exeter, an MBA from University of Adelaide University and a BA in Literature from Beijing Normal University.

Dr Lek Hsiang Hui

Dr Lek Hsiang Hui is a Specialist in Data Analytics, System Analysis and Development. He is an IT techie who is passionate about computer systems and technology.

He is involved in a few startups and is constantly looking into innovative IT solutions which can be translated to business ideas, with the recent one in the area of Big Data Analytics. He is also a mobile application developer and has produced more than 10 mobile apps.

Dr Lek has been teaching various undergraduate courses and executive courses in National University of Singapore (NUS) since 2006. Some of these modules include programming methodology, enterprise system analysis and development, and data mining. During this period, he has won a number of teaching awards such as NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Award (2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18) and NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Honor Roll (2018/19), Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17), and Faculty Teaching Excellence Award Honor Roll (2017/18).

Dr Lek received his Doctor of Philosophy (Information Systems) from NUS in 2013. His research area is in Natural Language Processing (Sentiment Analysis). He graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree (1st class Honors) in Computer Engineering from NUS.

Industry Credentials

Shopping Malls (UOL, Marina Square, ION), Healthcare (SingHealth), Government (STB), various SMEs in F&B, Apparels, Cleaning Solutions, Photography, Health Products, Baby Products

Ms Claudia Marcusson

Claudia has over 20 years of financial industry expertise in investment management, insurance and banking having worked in the U.S., U.K., Germany, The Netherlands and Singapore. She worked in various leadership roles at Standard Chartered Bank, ING, NN Group, ABN AMRO, and State Street Bank to name a few.

Since August 2022, Claudia is CEO of Germany’s very first crowdfunding platform issuing crypto securities of renewable energy projects. Claudia has been living in Singapore for 7 years where she joined Standard Chartered Bank in 2019 as Strategy & Innovation Lead building out the corporate venture arm and running entrepreneurship & innovation programs for the bank, partners and regulators. In 2021, she became Global Head of Client Experience Center where she led innovative co-creation programs with corporate clients worldwide. Claudia is a licensed instructor and expert in Human-Centred Design & Design Thinking, Lean Start-up, agile methods and a certified SCRUM Master.

Since 2018, Claudia is an Adjunct Lecturer on emerging technologies, corporate innovation & entrepreneurship, digital transformation and sustainability at the National University of Singapore, and gives training to corporates and C-suite executives. She is also a guest lecturer at Singapore Management University and Singapore Academy of Law.

She enjoys working closely with startups & scale-ups focused on FinTech and Sustainability as a Non-Executive Director, board advisor and mentor. She is an investment advisor to Venture Capital funds in Europe and Singapore and a mentor & advisor to several Accelerators in Singapore, Germany, Korea and India.
Claudia holds an LL.M. degree in Chinese Business Law as well as an M.Sc. in Economics and Operations Research.

Mr Dixant Mittal

Mr Dixant Mittal is a final year PhD student at the School of Computing, National University of Singapore, under the supervision of Professor Lee Wee Sun. His research interests include Machine Learning and Robotics. He graduated with a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the National University of Singapore in 2018 and a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra in 2015. He worked as a Backend Software Engineer in Snapdeal, an e-commerce company.

Dixant has a strong aptitude for algorithms and computer programming. His insatiable thirst to seek knowledge led him to pursue higher studies in Singapore and become an expert in his research area. He is passionate about teaching and believes in learning at all stages of life, which motivated him to join as a co-facilitator in the FintechSG course organised by the National University of Singapore.

Mr Jon Scheele

Mr Jon Scheele provides IT strategy, data analytics, security, interoperability and industry specific consulting and training to management and workgroups at leading companies in the financial services and telecommunications industries. Jon also trains, coaches and mentors to develop high performing teams and identifies how to apply emerging technologies to meet evolving customer needs. A special focus is helping companies build their ability to partner within and beyond their industry using Open APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Jon has provided several clients’ projects to define an API strategy and roadmap to support their business strategy, build multi-disciplinary teams to identify customer needs, create, publish and govern APIs, and foster developer communities to extend the firm’s core offering to its customers. Amongst others, Jon has implemented initiatives for ANZ Banking Group, Singtel, Telecom Italia, Telefonica Germany and Telstra. Jon holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration, a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering, and Graduate Diplomas in Applied Finance and Digital Communications.

Mr Phil A. Woods

Mr Phil A. Woods is the Founder and CEO of the Abele Group, a Singapore based fintech firm focused on delivering advanced technological solutions in financial services. He teaches courses on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology use cases through the NUS Fintech Lab. Prior to the Abele Group, Phil spent 15 years working in financial services at UBS Investment Bank and Citigroup in Markets businesses. Phil is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point where he studied History and Civil Engineering. Phil served as a US Army Aviation Officer prior to embarking upon a corporate career.

Ms Samantha Sow

Ms. Samantha Sow is currently a Senior Lecturer in the department of Information Systems and Analytics at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She has over 8+ years of experience in Business Analytics and Data Science and she conducts training for both government agencies and corporate clients. Before joining NUS, she lectures at Temasek Polytechnic, teaching Business Analytics and Data Science to professionals, managers and executives (PMEs). Prior to being an academia, Samantha worked in the research and development at Infineon Technologies. Her research and project areas include Business Analytics, Data Mining, Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics.

She has a passion for engaging and inspiring participants to enhance their workplace analytics capabilities and increase business intelligence quotient within their organisations. Her interests lie in the applications of data analytics, predictive modelling and optimization techniques to derive actionable insights for commercial effectiveness. She is familiar with typical analytics tools such as Python, R, and SAS, SPSS and Tableau. She also has working knowledge in the area of Analytics, Data Science and Machine Learning.

Samantha completed her Master of Education from University of Sheffield and graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor’s in Engineering, First Class Honours. She has also completed THEC (Teaching in Higher Education) and ACTA (Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment). She is a member of the adult associate educator (AEN) by Institute for Adult Learning (IAL), Singapore.

Her certifications include:

Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate. Microsoft Certified Data Analyst Associate. SAS Certified Predictive Modeller in SAS Enterprise Miner. Tableau Certified Desktop Specialist.

Mr Shashank Shekhar Tripathi

Mr Shashank Shekhar Tripathi is an Instructor at the Department of Information Systems and Analytics (DISA) at the School of computing, National University of Singapore. He teaches “Application development for business analytics” and “Systematic trading” to the undergraduate students. He holds the designation Chartered Market Technician (CMT)and Certified Financial Technician(CFTe) . Prior to this, Shashank worked as a Senior Software Engineer at the NUS Fintech Lab where he worked on developing applications related to financial technology. He has a vast experience in oil and gas industry in the domain of corporate finance, financial evaluations, and simulations. He has a huge interest in financial markets, blockchain technology and data analytics. He researches extensively to design, develop and test strategies for algo trading utilizing machine learning, fundamental analysis, and technical analysis. He is an experienced trainer and consultant of data visualization, robotic process automation, and algo trading.

Mr Uli Hitzel

Mr Uli Hitzel has been working with data engineering, automation, and distributed systems since the early days of the internet. Previously with companies including Microsoft, Red Hat, Yahoo! and IBM, he is now focusing on technology innovation at Dyson. In recent years, he has worked on building a digital healthcare platform in times of a pandemic, as well as leading a platform engineering team for an e-commerce unicorn expanding into Asia-Pacific.

As the founder of Electric Minds, Uli is looking to combine machine intelligence with human ingenuity to inspire new ways of thinking and help solve some of the most challenging problems we face as a global society today. He has been teaching at National University of Singapore since 2020.