4th UIA Associations Round Table Asia-Pacific 2016

Chris Champion
BE (Hons1) MEngSc GradDipMgmt

Secretary-General, International Federation of Municipal Engineering
Director International, Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia
Director, Chris Champion Consulting Pty Ltd

Chris Champion has 30 years experience in Local Government and 15 years in Association Management.

He was appointed Secretary General of the International Federation of Municipal Engineering in 2015 which represents some 20 countries globally.

He was Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) for 15 years since the year 2000. He has now taken on a more international role with IPWEA as Director International.

Chris led IPWEA to become recognised internationally as leaders in the implementation of sustainable approaches to infrastructure asset management and financial planning. IPWEA researches, develops and delivers training, publications and other capacity building initiatives to public works professionals for their continued professional development.

Chris holds formal tertiary qualifications in Engineering, Management and Internet Marketing. In 2009, he was awarded the James Hill Prize from the Institution of Civil Engineers in London.

He is a Past President (2006-2009) and a Director (since 2004) of the International Federation of Municipal Engineering. He has recently been re-appointed by the US Federal Highways (FHWA) to their Asset Management Expert Task Group (to 2016). Chris is also Managing Director of Chris Champion Consulting Pty Ltd.

Chris was awarded Emeritus Membership of IPWEA in 2013. He has been a regular inclusion in Engineers Australia list of Top 100 Most Influential Engineers in Australia since its inception in 2004.

Yashna Batra

Founder of “Selflessly Yours”, an initiative to bring together like-minded youth and members of society to highlight the issues affecting under privileged and marginalized children, to spread awareness regarding measures and efforts to end violence against children in general and specifically amongst those belonging to lower strata, and to be a medium of connectivity among other NGOs with similar objectives.

Founder of “Buddy Building Club”, a mentoring program for underprivileged children by high school students and professionals from diverse fields including entrepreneurs and social welfare workers.

Founder of “Peace Gong – Haryana State Chapter”, a children's newspaper aimed at giving young people a platform to write and develop understanding of issues of social concern, with workshops to train rural children in reporting, writing and editing for newspapers and thereby provided them opportunities to develop their communicative, semiotic and cultural skills along with critical thinking abilities.

Research Assistant on the Missing Child Alert (MCA) Project initiated by SAIEVAC (South Asian Initiative to End Violence against Children), a regional inter-governmental body comprising of 8 South Asian Nations. The project aims to map legal provisions with respect to trafficking in the eight South Asian nations and create an action plan for greater co-operation in the region.

Member of the Student Committee of the Kumaon Literary Festival (KLF)

Octavio "Bobby" Peralta

Secretary General, Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP)
President & CEO, Philippine Council of Associations & Association Executives (PCAAE)

Mr. Peralta, Filipino, is presently the Secretary General of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), the focal point of 102 development banks and other financial institutions engaged in sustainable development financing in 40 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region.

He is also concurrently the Secretary General of the World Federation of Development Financing Institutions (WFDFI), the umbrella organization of 328 development banks in 154 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East.

As a long-standing member of and contributor to the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and an advocate for the continuing professionalization of association governance and management, he is the Founding Chairman and currently Chief Executive Officer of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE), the national umbrella organization of associations in the country.

He is also a member of the Union of International Associations (UIA).

In these capacities, Mr. Peralta initiated the formation of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations (APFAO) comprising of same-purposed institutions in Australia, South Korea and the Philippines.

Hemant K Batra

Secretary General, SAARCLAW (South Asian Association for Regional Co-Operation)
Founder & Lead Partner, Kaden Boriss Legal

• Specialist Corporate, Commercial & Business Lawyer with over 25 years’ experience, with practice concentrated across the Globe in general, specifically in India and UAE
• Founder of Kaden Boriss, a global corporate/commercial law firm having presence in Australia, India and UAE
• Awarded with the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi Seva Medal by the Gandhi Global Foundation
• Associated with various projects of UN, UNDP, UNAIDS, UN-ESCAP, ADB and IDLO
• Chair of the South Asia Committee of Indian National Bar Association
• Mentor at Indian School of Business, Hyderabad
• Director, South Asia Region on the Advisory Group of the World NGO Day Initiative (WND) based in London
• Visiting Guest Speaker to various international universities and institutions
• Winner of England’s Corporate-INTL Lawyer Award for the years 2014, 2015 & 2016
• Has spoken as a Speaker at more than 200 international conferences, seminars and workshops on varied topics of commercial/corporate law importance
• Has been widely reported in various sections of print and electronic media including India Today, Outlook, Financial Express, The Hindu, CNBC, Zee etc. Most of these coverages are available on the web/internet.

Hemant Batra has successfully executed diverse domestic and global assignments such as mergers, acquisitions, cross border transactions & investments, joint ventures, corporate compliance, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, commercial agreements, transactional documentation, private equity, regulatory work, agreements, anti-corruption, anti-bribery compliance, legal auditing etc. governed by corporate, commercial laws, FDI, trade and economic laws.

He is also fond of writing & speaking on current topics of importance be it on legal or policy or economic issues. He is well acclaimed legal commentator & writer.

He has travelled extensively around the world including America, Australia, Austria, Bhutan, China, Czech Republic, Dubai, England, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Kuwait, Italy, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Thailand.