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Madeline Di Nonno
CEO of Geena Davis Institute on Gender in MediaDi Nonno serves as CEO, of the Institute, the leading research based non-profit working to achieve cultural equity and inclusion in family media and entertainment. Di Nonno leads the Institute's strategic direction, advocacy, programs, research, financial and operational activities. Di Nonno brings a track record of successful executive leadership in the entertainment, non-profit, digital and consumer packaged goods industries. Di Nonno is an Executive Producer on the People’s Choice and Gracie award winning children’s show Mission Unstoppable on CBS and the award winning feature film documentary This Changes Everything.
Previously, Di Nonno has served in Executive leadership positions for Anchor Bay Entertainment/Starz Media. Nielsen Entertainment, Hallmark Channel, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and ABC Television Network.
Di Nonno is U.S. State Department Speaker Specialist and is also a frequent speaker at global conferences and in major media outlets including: AdWeek, Cannes Lion, Chatham House, Media Week, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Glamour, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and The United Nations.
Sarah Borwein
General Practitioner and Infectious Disease EpidemiologistDr. Sarah Borwein, MD (Toronto), LMCHK, FCFPC, MSc in Infectious Diseases (LSHTM), is a Canadian physician who has lived and worked in Hong Kong and Beijing for 22 years. She worked as a staff physician at the Beijing United Family Hospital where she was Director of Infection Control during the SARS outbreak in 2003. After returning to Hong Kong, she became one of the founding partners of what is now a large multi-disciplinary medical group. She has remained involved with infectious disease surveillance both globally and locally, continuing to follow her passion for public education about science.
She looks after a significant refugee population, is on the Board of Directors of the Patient Care Foundation, and is medical advisor to Outward Bound HK.
Having first-hand experience in the SARS epidemic in Beijing in 2003, and the COVID-19 epidemic in Hong Kong in 2020, Sarah has spoken and written extensively about the pandemic.
Sarah pursued an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Economics from Queen’s University in Canada and an MSc in Development Economics from Oxford University before attending medical school in Toronto. She then obtained Certification in Family Medicine from the College of Family Physicians of Canada, followed by an MSc in Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is married and has three grown children; she enjoys hiking, Pilates and yoga and used to love to travel.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Senior Advisor at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLPIleana Ros-Lehtinen served for almost three decades as a member of Congress representing a congressional district in South Florida, and was the first Hispanic woman to serve in Congress.
As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, she became a leader in crafting U.S. foreign policy. She served as the Committee’s Chairwoman, and Chair or Co-Chair of multiple subcommittees including Chair of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia; International Operations and Human Rights; International Economic Policy and Trade; and Africa; and as Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
Her key issues included advancing democracy, international trade, national security and defense, energy and environment, education and immigration.
Rep. Ros-Lehtinen also served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and was a member of the CIA Subcommittee and the National Security Agency and Cybersecurity Subcommittee.
Anne LeBourgeois
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Hamilton Advisors- Welcome & Keynote Intro
- Virtual Keynote #1: The Power of Media for Social Change : "If she can see it, she can be it"
- Lunch - WOI Highlights
- Closing Remarks
Anne LeBourgeois is Co-Chair of the Women of Influence Committee of AmCham Hong Kong
In her professional life, Anne is Managing Director of Hamilton Advisors, a Hong Kong-based strategic communications firm she co-founded in 2009, serving clients primarily in the financial services and professional services / think tank arena. She was previously Chief Operating Officer of Fung Global Institute (now Asia Global Institute) in Hong Kong. From 2001-2007 she served on the Board, and as President for two years, of the World Affairs Forum, a Connecticut / New York chapter of the World Affairs Councils of America.
Anne began her professional life in international corporate banking. Her banking career of 21 years comprised corporate relationship management, strategic planning and merger integration roles with JP Morgan Chase and its heritage banks. Highlights included leadership roles in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York.
Anne received her MA in International Economics and Asian Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a BA in History from Middlebury College, Vermont. She holds a certificate from the Fung Group Executive Leadership program at the MIT Sloan School, 2014, and was awarded the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Diploma in 2015. She is proficient in Mandarin Chinese and French.
Anne has been involved since 2014 with the AmCham Women of Influence (WOI) Committee first as a Chief Judge and since 2019 as Co-Chair. She was President of the Johns Hopkins University Hong Kong Alumni Association 2018-2020.
A native of the US, Anne is married with two grown daughters and enjoys music, visual and performing arts, travel, running, swimming and hiking the hills of Hong Kong.
Mary McHale
Director, Strategic Accounts APAC of Equinix- Welcome & Keynote Intro
- Virtual Keynote #2: Close Encounters of the Contagious Kind
- Lunch - WOI Highlights
- Closing Remarks
Mary McHale is the Co-Chair of the Women of Influence Committee at AmCham Hong Kong.
She has more than 25 years of experience in the banking and financial services sector including leadership roles at Citi, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America. She joined the Equinix team in 2017 initially serving in a Business Development and strategy role for Digital Payments and Banking. In May this year she was promoted to a sales leadership role and is now focused on developing key partnerships and strengthening relationships in strategic accounts across APAC. In addition to her functional role, Mary serves as the APAC Chapter Lead for Equinix’s Women’s Leadership Network.
Prior to joining Equinix, Mary served as the Vice President of Financial Services for Nielsen. There she helped to develop a new vertical for the company and was responsible for creating new products that supported the sale of consumer research and market insights to financial services companies. Prior to joining Nielsen, Mary served as the Chief Operating Officer for Citi’s Transaction bank in Asia. During her 14-year tenure at Citi, Mary worked in retail banking and wealth management, Foreign Exchange and Capital Markets, and Global Transaction Services in both the US and Asia.
Mary received an MBA with honors in Marketing Management and Finance from DePaul University in Chicago, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Marquette University.
She is a strong advocate for diversity and the development and advancement of women in leadership. She is a serial volunteer and serves on the Advisory Boards for Emerging Payments Asia; Women in Payments and is a member of the Global Expert Council for AsiaPaymentsConnect, In addition she is an alumni of The Women’ s Foundation Hong Kong and an active member and leader for a Lean In Circle. “I am passionate about helping people to reach their greatest potential. And working hard to find my first NED role serving on a Board in Hong Kong.”
Sharmini Chetwode
Head of Environmental, Social and Governance Research for Asia at Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLCSharmini Chetwode, head of Environmental, Social and Governance Research for Asia. Prior to that, she co-managed the global Content Management Group within Global Investment Research after several years as a supervisory analyst, reviewing global investment research. Before that, Sharmini was an equity analyst covering conglomerates, real estate and consumer companies from 1999 to 2005. She joined Goldman Sachs in 1999 as an associate and was named managing director in 2013. Prior to joining the firm, Sharmini worked at ING Barings as an equity analyst. Sharmini earned an MSc in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of Otago in New Zealand and a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology from Imperial College London.
Yolande Escher
Head of Greater China at BNY Mellon Wealth ManagementYolande Escher is the Head of Greater China for BNY Mellon Wealth Management based in Hong Kong. In this role, she manages the company’s bespoke portfolio management proposition, trusted fiduciary services (for both offshore and US onshore trust structures), as well as global family office services for the Asian region. Yolande’s clients include ultrahigh net worth individuals (UHNWI) from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines. Many of these significant families have touch points with the U.S., Canada or U.K. and seek BNY Mellon’s guidance to help them with cross-border, multi-jurisdictional family matters and wealth protection.
Prior to moving to Hong Kong, Yolande was Senior Wealth Director for Family Office Services at BNY Mellon, based in London. With more than 17 years of relationship management experience in private banking, She has worked with international and UK resident non-domiciled high net worth individuals, with a focus on mainly the Asian and European markets. Prior to joining BNY Mellon, she was a director at Barclays Wealth, London and UBS, Switzerland and London.
Yolande won Gold for the prestigious future leaders award ‘Family Office Individual of the Year’ 2017 from reputed Citywealth. She is also the Co-Executive Sponsor for the Women’s Initiatives Network (WIN) for BNY Mellon in Asia Pacific.
Yolande holds a masters in business administration and economics from University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. She attended an international MBA student exchange program at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India. She is married and has three daughters; she enjoys hiking, tennis and nice meals.
Julie Purser
Vice President, Loyalty and Partnership Asia Pacific at Marriott InternationalJulie Purser is Vice President of Loyalty and Partnership in Asia Pacific for Marriott International. She is responsible for leading loyalty and partnership strategy across the region. This includes growing and engaging Marriott Bonvoy’s loyalty members, cross-brand marketing of the company’s portfolio of brands as well as building strategic loyalty partnerships.
Prior to joining Marriott International, Julie spent 12 years with Prophet – a marketing, brand, and digital consultancy. Julie spent much of her time with Prophet working with hospitality companies such as Marriott International, as well as other companies in financial services and insurance, helping them drive growth through customer-centric business, brand, marketing, innovation, design, analytics and digital strategies. Since moving to Hong Kong from Prophet's Chicago office six years ago, she has also been responsible for leading the development and growth of Prophet’s Asia business.
Julie has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BBA from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Julie is based in Hong Kong, where she currently lives with her husband and two children.
Tara Joseph
President at The American Chamber of Commerce in HK(Moderator)
Tara Joseph has been president of AmCham Hong Kong since February 2017. She is charged with overall responsibility for leadership and operations of one of the most influential NGO business organizations in the Asia Pacific, with a mission to foster commerce among the United States, Hong Kong and mainland China.
Tara has more than 15 years experience working in Asia, covering top economic and political stories as a foreign correspondent for Reuters. In her 22 years as journalist, she has reported on hundreds of the world’s most important and high profile news stories including Russia’s financial crisis, Myanmar’s emergence from virtual isolation, China's rise on the world stage and the Beijing Olympics to name a few. As a TV reporter and presenter she has interviewed Fortune 500 CEO’s and government officials across the globe.
Earlier in her career, Tara was the editor and main presenter of Reuters Financial Television based in London, and covered emerging markets and G7 economic issues.
Tara is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism, and Smith College in the United States. She has twice served as President of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, one of the world’s largest press clubs.
Dhaanya Ganeriwal
Climate ActivistDhaanya, 8 year old youth climate activist from Hong Kong, is born in India and grew up in Hong Kong. Dhaanya read about global warming in 2018 and she felt concerned about the environment and felt anxious about excessive use of plastic in our daily life. She then started reading further about greenhouse gases and its impact on places she lived such as Mumbai, Singapore and Hong Kong. She prepared a chart that depicts rise in summer temperature in last 10 years in these places. That made her concerned about wellbeing of children in draught prone areas, and established a committee that provides clean and cool drinking water systems in schools and community places.
Last year she decided to take things in her hand, and go out in public each week and speak to people about climate change, the daily actions necessary to reduce the impact of climate change. She read about SDGs and created Climate Action game with simple graphics on daily climate actions. She goes for beach clean-ups twice every week. She has also formed a network of parents and kids to share information about climate crisis and actions needed. She studies at ESF Discovery College in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong. She is grateful for the support that she received from her school, teachers and friends.
Marianne Hughes
Founder and CEO of Kno GlobalMarianne is an award-winning entrepreneur and thought leader on transparency. As the Founder and CEO of Kno Global, her vision is to humanize the supply chain.
Marianne’s journey into the heart of supply chains includes “accidentally’ becoming a journalist and working at a factory in China. She was shortlisted for "One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year" in 2019 with conveners including Emma Watson, and nominees including the Founders of Duolingo and Bumble.
She previously led sales for B2B software company GivingForce to help multinationals manage their corporate responsibility and employee engagement. She is an advocate for gender equality, and since launching her first business aged 18 has raised Angel, Government and VC funding as an entrepreneur.
KNO Global's clients include Top 10 USA retailers. Brands want to avoid the next factory crisis, factories want to reduce the cost of turnover and make sales, workers want a voice. Kno builds community with factory workers and reports on their well-being weekly, driving continuous improvement to help brands avoid costly scandals.
She has studied at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Royal Holloway University of London and Babson College.
Hillary Yip
CEO of MinorMynasHillary Yip is the 15-year-old founder and CEO of MinorMynas, which aims to connect kids for real-life learning. Starting from the age of 10, Hillary has been invited to share her ideas and entrepreneurship journey on many occasions including TEDx, government and multinational summits, entrepreneurship & leadership conferences and panels. Most recently, she has given speeches at events organised by Facebook, Microsoft, PWC, HSBC and collaborated on a workshop with Apple. Her story of being a visionary young entrepreneur has been widely featured by numerous media outlets including the BBC, Yitiao （一条）, South China Morning Post, HK Economic Journal and CNBC to name a few, resulting in MinorMynas amassing global users in almost 60 countries.
Jen Flowers
Global Head of Strategy & Business Management, Partnerships & Innovation, RBWM at HSBC- Ignite Talk #1 - Courage: My courage is having a voice that is loud despite my age
- Ignite Talk #2 - Courage: I found courage to stand up for ethical manufacturing
- Ignite Talk #3 – Courage: Courage is doing things outside the social norm
Ignite Talk: Courage (Moderator)
Jen Flowers is currently the global head of strategy and business management for partnership development and innovation for HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management. She is an expert in design thinking helping companies think outside the box to innovative.
Jen has over 18 years experience across marketing, business development, innovation and change.
As co-chair of the TEDx TinHau committee, Jen oversees all facets of the planning and running of multiple non-profit TEDx conferences and events in her free time.
Jen has a masters degree in Chinese Literature, speaks Mandarin and spent over 12 years living across Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Jen currently serves as the Innovation & Technology Committee Co-Chair at AmCham Hong Kong.
Jennifer Parks
COO, Asia Pacific at White & Case(Introducer)
Jennifer Parks is White & Case's Chief Operating Officer in Asia-Pacific and President of the White & Case Global Operations Center in Manila. She works with firm leadership on White & Case's strategic direction across the region. This includes practice development and client relationship strategy, financial planning and practice, legal and business personnel management and development, and overall oversight of the firm's profile in the region.
The firm's operations which Jennifer oversees are based in Beijing, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo, and she also manages the firm's association with Indonesian law firm WCA in Jakarta.
Prior to becoming White & Case's COO in Asia, Jennifer was the firm's Director of Strategic Initiatives for five years, based in New York. Her main responsibilities in this role were to work with senior management of the firm on implementation of the firm's new structure and long-term strategy. Her work included macro and micro business planning, analysis and implementation of strategic initiatives, assessment of opportunities, change management, and improvement of firm systems and global business support strategy.
Jennifer's career also includes strategy and change management roles in the financial services and consulting sectors, based in New York, London and Dallas. Jennifer currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Women of Influence Committee at AmCham Hong Kong.
Unsung Heroes
Jane Engelmann, Founder / Joy Carbonell, Soloist
The Unsung Heroes is a choir comprised exclusively of overseas foreign workers, many from the Philippines. First assembled in 2014 by Jane Engelmann, a Hong Kong based performing arts teacher, they have now grown to more than 70 choir members. The choir performs regularly at concerts and community events throughout Hong Kong, sharing their talent, enthusiasm and passion for singing.
The Unsung Heroes aims to give a voice to domestic helpers to be seen and treated as valuable human beings.
"I Wish I Could Kiss You Goodnight" written especially by Jane Engelmann, is now recognised as their signature song. The song highlights the story of maternal sacrifice that many of these overseas workers make in leaving behind their children and families in order to provide for them.
Jane is a creative and talented teacher, musician, pianist, composer, and performer. She has enjoyed and exciting and rewarding career in education and in the media and performing arts industry including working as a children's television presenter, a musical and choral director, head of performing and expressive arts, a voice over artist and has also worked in theatrical management and events coordination. Throughout her career, Jane has been involved in leading, directing and writing for a countless large scale productions, and her compositions and songs have been used in concerts, show, promotional, and educational videos, TV theme music and in films. Jane also run choirs, musical theatre and drama groups for adults and children and offers professional development training and workshops in public speaking, communication skills and the voice/singing.
Helene Liu
Executive Director of Ingrid Millet Ltd.(Announcer)
Helene Liu is the Co-Chief Judge of the Women of Influence Awards at AmCham Hong Kong.
Helene is the executive director of Ingrid Millet Ltd, a leading Medical Aesthetic service provider. She is also a governor of Bioscreen Foundation and Ingrid Millet Foundation, as well as the Dean of the French Institutes Beauty Academy. She has over 16 years of experience in the Medical Aesthetic industry.
She holds Masters degrees from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris-University of Paris (Economics and Finance) and the University of Hong Kong (Buddhist Studies). She is also a PhD candidate.
Helene is also a member of the Mentorship committee of the Asian University for Women’s (AUW) Hong Kong Support Foundation, a TedX speakers’ coach, and a French Foreign Trade Advisor to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development.
She holds a black belt in traditional Kung Fu and is a certified teacher of Ashtanga Yoga.
Stella Abraham
Owner at Stellar Real Estate Hong Kong(Announcer)
Stella Abraham is the Co-Chief Judge of the Women of Influence Awards at AmCham Hong Kong.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Stella’s love of this city is matched by her expertise in its residential real estate market.
Stella has most recently set up her own boutique real estate company, Stellar Real Estate and focuses on local and international clients looking to buy, sell and rent Hong Kong real estate.
From 2011 - 2018 Stella headed up the JLL residential leasing and relocation team where she was responsible for driving new business and ensuring that JLL’s activities were tailored to the needs of key corporate clients as well as institutional and individual landlords.
Stella returned to Hong Kong in 2010 to continue her extremely successful real estate career. Her highly regarded international experience and knowledge of Hong Kong, coupled with her exceptional client skills, are just some of Stella’s strengths. Her passion lies in both people and property and she counts being proactive and tenacious amongst her personality traits.
She has always played an active role championing women leaders within the Hong Kong business community, and was the Chair of the JLL Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Recently she has also had the privilege of being a Mentor as part of the The Women’s Foundation mentoring program.
Stella enjoys a good netball game, swimming a few laps and of course travelling. Stella has two children, Callum, 17 and Jessica 10.
Felicity McRobb
Founder of McRobb Consulting(Announcer)
Felicity McRobb is the Co-Chief Judge of the Women of Influence Awards at AmCham Hong Kong.
Felicity is the Founder of McRobb Consulting, a Hong Kong based company specializing in individual and team performance at the executive level. She has been at the forefront of women’s leadership development in the world’s largest organizations, and in the poorest villages in developing countries, for the past thirty years.
She first came to Asia in 1984 and has lived and worked in Japan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Portland, Oregon, returning to Hong Kong in 2011 with her family, to build a regional consulting practice.
Felicity holds a B.A. in Modern Languages from Anglia University in the United Kingdom. She is married with four children and six grand-children, and loves to spend time traveling with her husband Dennis.
Tatman Savio
Partner/Registered Foreign Lawyer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld(Introducer)
Tatman Savio leads Akin Gump’s international trade practice in Asia. In this role, she brings to client engagements substantial experience in the laws, regulations, policies and international arrangements surrounding U.S. export controls, sanctions programs, foreign investment laws, and anticorruption laws.
Tatman is one of very few U.S. lawyers based in Asia who advises clients on the full scope of U.S. law and policy affecting international trade and business related to their international operations. She has been based in Akin Gump’s Hong Kong office for over five years. Prior to that, she was in the firm’s Washington, DC office for nine years.
On a day to day basis, Tatman works with companies to develop and implement international trade compliance programs and manage internal investigations and related enforcement issues. She also works with companies to navigate the extraterritorial impact of U.S. laws in Asia and issues related to the U.S.-China trade war. In addition, Tatman assists clients with cross-border transactions by conducting due diligence and developing strategies to mitigate international trade compliance liabilities.
Tatman is currently a member of Board of Governors, the Board Liaison of Trade and Investment Committee and a committee member of Women of Influence of AmCham in Hong Kong.