Speaker of the Year Awardees:
2022 – Maverick Foo
Maverick was once told, “You are one of the worst salespeople I’ve ever met.” This comment completely shifted Maverick Foo’s life trajectory. Since that day, over 21+ years ago, Maverick resolved to turn his weakness around and focus on what he excelled at – marketing. Maverick has successfully launched 9 businesses and provided consulting services to MNCs, SMEs, and startups in the areas of revenue generation, sales enablement, and market positioning. He has played a crucial role in helping sales professionals become more effective marketers in the post-pandemic business landscape, earning him the affectionate nickname of the Marketing Monk.
2021 – Hanzo Ng
Hanzo Ng is a sales trainer, coach, and consultant with an impressive total of 24 years of sales experience. He has consistently been the top sales performer in all the companies he has worked for, achieving record-breaking success as a sales manager and sales director, all before the age of 30. Hanzo is the founder of Sales Ninja, a renowned sales training, consulting, and coaching company. His expertise and achievements have garnered recognition, as he was named one of the “100 Most Influential Young Entrepreneurs” in 2019. Hanzo’s story has been featured internationally on ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC channels, showcasing his inspiring journey. He has also appeared on BERNAMA TV and been interviewed on radio BFM. Hanzo has trained and coached over 800+ corporations and thousands of SMEs across various industries, impacting a total of over 15,000 sales representatives.
2019 – Kerk Loong Sing
Kerk Loong Sing is the Chairman of the Department of Economic Studies of the Federation of Chinese Associations. He was a prominent speaker who shared Market Outlook for Malaysian economy for the past 15 years. The audience has always benefited from his analytical views on Malaysia’s economy and budget. Due to his credible experience and analytical expertise to ‘comment’ on Malaysia’s economic policies, he has been invited by the Chinese media and is a regular speaker on Chinese forums in our community.
2017 – Loh Wei Hoong
Loh Wei Hoong was the Head of Marketing Department of KPMG for many years. He was responsible for strategic planning, brand management, public relations, marketing planning and marketing research. Later, he became Senior Manager of BDO, a top accounting firm and was in charge of operations and human resources. Loh also worked in various industries including the financial, oil & gas industries. Currently, he works as an advisor to SM International Company in Port Klang Free Zone. He taught adjunct courses with many MBA programs in schools in the Asian region. He has conducted MBA classes in Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand for over 15 years. He is fluent both in Mandarin and English.
2016 – Heah Kok Soon
Heah Kok Soon oversees the VCE-1 Group, comprising of 16 CEO members, several of whom have stayed in the group since Heah became its Chair 18 years ago. Heah has won 13 Chair Excellence Awards, a Speaker-of-The-Year Award for 2016, the Robert Nourse Founder’s Award and the life-time Master Chair Award. He believes all these can be attributed to possessing and constantly practising his four personal tenets for successful and powerful Vistage chairing namely Heart, Empathy, Accountability, and Humour (HEAH).
2015 – Chee Hong Seng
Chee Hong Seng is a Corporate Advisor, Chartered Accountant and Financial Planner. His illustrious career spans over 30 years as a Banker, Trainer and Corporate Advisor to numerous private and public listed companies. His areas of expertise include Financial Management, Corporate Restructuring, Company Valuation, Data Modelling and Business Management. He has advised clients from various industries including retail, trading, manufacturing and property development. Currently, he is the managing partner of Leap Forth, a corporate advisory firm in Kuala Lumpur.
2013 – Dr Christophe Morin
With over 30 years in marketing, consumer research, and advertising effectiveness, Dr Morin is passionate about understanding and predicting consumer behavior. Dr Morin has run and started many businesses as well as held senior positions in several publicly traded companies. He holds an MBA from Bowling Green State University, an MA in Media Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Media Psychology from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California. He joined the Adjunct Faculty of Fielding’s Media Psychology department in 2013 as a Professor of Media Neuroscience.
Qualifications and Selection
The Speaker of the Year Award winner embodies Vistage values and consistently delivers high quality, relevant, actionable content that drives member value. They represent the model all Vistage speakers should aspire to.
Minimum Qualifications
- 2 consecutive years as an active Vistage Speaker
- a minimum of 30 presentations to Vistage Groups, with at least 10 in the qualifying calendar
- an average annual score of 8.5 in both content and delivery, plus real-world applicability
Selection
After meeting the minimum qualifications, the winner will be determined by a panel of Vistage support staff who work closely with Vistage speakers. The awardee is the speaker identified as demonstrating the highest level of Vistage core values of TRUST, CARING, CHALLENGE, and GROWTH during the year.
Specific examples of demonstrating Vistage core values:
TRUST – Works with policies, honors commitments to bookings, open to all engagements (singles, last-minute, am/pm, multi-day) and willing to travel anywhere.
CARING – Appreciates the impact afforded by working with Vistage members, responds quickly to requests, has a track record of going above and beyond, easy to work with and has a genuine “what can I do for you?” attitude.
CHALLENGE – Inspires Chairs and members to be better through each interaction and with relevant, actionable content.
GROWTH – An expert, material is always cutting-edge and current, constantly learning and seeks out feedback to improve.
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