Nov 10, 2017
2017
GMT+8
1510272000Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong
Finance Street 8, Central
Hong Kong SAR (China)
Managing Director, Region Head, Asia, Financial & Risk of Thomson Reuters
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Chief Operating Officer at Baker & McKenzie
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Chief Communications Officer; Head, Strategic Engagement at Li & Fung
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Senior Vice President, HR Asia at Manulife Financial Asia Ltd.
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Consulting Leader at PwC China and Hong Kong
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Author
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General Manager at Microsoft Hong Kong and Macau
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Chief Operating Officer at South China Morning Post Publishers Limited (SCMP)
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Head of Innovation Technologies, WM Greater China at UBS AG
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Independent Non-Executive Director of Tencent Holdings Limited
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Managing Director – Sales & Operations of Google (Hong Kong) Limited
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Head of Public Policy, Hong Kong & Taiwan at Facebook Hong Kong Limited
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Asia Supply Chain & Sales at Thread International
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Founder of Off Menu
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Founder & Managing Director of Vision Learning HK Ltd.
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Group CFO at Regal Springs AG
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Human Rights Lawyer at Daly, Ho & Associates
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Co-founder of Mother's Choice
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Founding Director of Hong Kong Unison
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Director – Marketing, Commercial and Residential Solutions of Emerson Asia-Pacific
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Co-Founder and Chair of The Zubin Mahtani Gidumal Foundation Ltd.
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President at The American Chamber of Commerce in HK
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Morning Keynote Panel
Sanjeev Chatrath is the Region Head and Managing Director of Financial & Risk, Thomson Reuters – covering Asia Pacific and Japan. He is responsible for client business in the region encompassing end to end client experience, account management, market development, Go to Market regional strategy, sales, operations, and technical functions. Sanjeev is a member of the Global Operating Committee for Thomson Reuters, and F&R.
Sanjeev has worked in Asian financial markets for over 21 years in leadership roles encompassing business management, client management and sales, spanning Asia Pacific, South Asia and Middle East.
Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Sanjeev worked with Citigroup where he was Chief Operating Officer and Region Head of Client Sales Management for the Treasury and Trade solutions business. Before joining Citi, Sanjeev held senior management positions with ABN Amro Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank based in Singapore, UAE and India.
Sanjeev is a member of the Board of Governors of American Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong, Board Member of ASIFMA (Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association), co-chair of the Male Allies in Hong Kong, and a member of 30% Club supporting gender diversity in Hong Kong boards.
Morning Keynote Panel
Brian Henderson is a COO with 25 years’ experience in the professional services sector in strategy, business and office management, mergers, joint ventures, integration, marketing and management consulting roles in London, Paris, Hong Kong / China / SE Asia.
In addition to operational management of the full range of business support functions (Marketing, Finance, HR, Facilities, IT, Operations, etc.), his track record includes practice group restructuring, merger negotiations and integration, organisational structure, strategy development, coaching and motivating diverse teams within complex non-hierarchical, multi-jurisdictional, matrix structures.
Morning Keynote Panel
As a member of the executive leadership team at Li & Fung, Lâle is responsible for global corporate communications with all stakeholders of Li & Fung, and leading the development of strategy on key initiatives aligning the organization to the company’s goals. She directly oversees the company’s branding, digital communication, open innovation unit, and the newly formed corporate foundation which is putting purpose at the heart of the organization.
Over her career and at Li & Fung, she is known as an inventor and a re-inventor of operations and businesses, a collector of great people and an impact freak. She regularly advises start-up and corporate leaders on business strategy and mentors founders and emerging leaders. She is passionate about the economic inclusion of women globally, as leaders and as entrepreneurs.
Lâle is a member of the Board of Governors of The Women’s Foundation (TWF) and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Asian University for Women. She began her career as a litigation lawyer in Canada and she currently lives in Hong Kong with her husband and 3 children (the other job).
Morning Keynote Panel
David Thomas joined Manulife in February 2014 as Senior Vice President of Human Resources of Manulife’s Asia Division. Since then, he has been a member of Manulife’s Asia Division Executive Committee. David works with senior business and global HR leaders to drive talent strategies that enable achievement of Manulife’s strategic objectives in Asia.
Currently, David holds directorships in Manulife (International) Limited, Manulife Asset Management International Holdings Limited, Manulife Financial Plans, Inc., The Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Phils), Inc. and has also been appointed as the Chairman of Manulife (Vietnam) Limited as of 12 July 2017.
In addition, David is a Non-Executive Member of the British Consulate-General’s Joint Management Board (JMB).
He is also a member of Leadership Council of The Women’s Foundation Limited as a Male Allies group.
Prior to joining Manulife, David had more than 25 years of human resources experience in global, regional and country roles, most recently with Standard Chartered Bank. He brings a broad, global perspective to the role having worked in the United Kingdom, United States, the Middle East and Asia. His subject matter expertise includes leadership and talent development, change management and organizational effectiveness.
David has a Bachelor’s of Management Science degree from Aston University, Birmingham, U.K., a postgraduate diploma in Human Resources Management from the University of Wales, Cardiff, U.K. and is a graduate of the Strategic Human Resources Management Program from Harvard Business School in Boston.
Morning Keynote Panel
Shirley is the Consulting Leader in PwC China and Hong Kong. She leads business transformation both in Hong Kong and in mainland China, providing consulting services to help the China economy meet its economic targets, and Chinese companies build on their competitive strengths in the global market place.
Shirley Xie has more than 20 years of professional experience from Canada, Hong Kong and China. She has served a wide range of financial services clients, with a special focus on the Investment Fund Management industry in the last 10 years, in
particular Venture Capital/Private Equity Funds.
In Shirley's previous role as PwC’s China and Hong Kong Assurance Markets Leader, she was responsible for driving transformational programmes in the assurance practice, expanding the breadth and depth of other professional services to China and Hong Kong clients. Most notably was the establishment of the Food Security & Integrity Services, a programme built to tackle the complex food safety issues in China.
In her current role, she has led key business transformation projects for domestic and MNC clients such as Huawei, Cosfco, China Resources, Lenovo, Universal, UBS, Morgan Stanley and more. Key clients also include mid-tier and entrepreneurial business at the growth stage, helping them to grow into leading,
global companies.
Luncheon Keynote
Jung Chang (張戎) is the author of the best-selling books Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (1991), which the Asian Wall Street Journal called the most read book about China; Mao: The Unknown Story (2005, with Jon Halliday), which was described by Time magazine as “an atom bomb of a book”; and Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China (2013), a New York Times “notable book”. Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. She has won many awards, including the UK Writers’ Guild Best Non-Fiction and Book of the Year UK, and has received a number of honorary doctorates from universities in the UK and USA (Buckingham, York, Warwick, Dundee, the Open University, and Bowdoin College, USA).
Jung Chang was born in Sichuan Province, China, in 1952. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) she worked as a peasant, a “barefoot” doctor, a steelworker, and an electrician before becoming an English-language student at Sichuan University. She left China for Britain in 1978 and obtained a PhD in Linguistics in 1982 at the University of York – the first person from Communist China to receive a doctorate from a British university.
Cally Chan is General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong and Macau, leading the overall strategy and business operations, raising the talent bar and providing leadership in customer satisfaction and business growth. Cally leverages on over 27 years of business and IT experience to drive Microsoft’s Mission to empower every person and every organization to achieve more. The key focus is enabling technology, accelerating digital transformation for customers and partners, and empowering people and societies through technology innovations.
Previously she served as Managing Director and Vice President of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Group from 2010 to 2017.
Cally is passionate about driving digital transformation and diversity. She is Chairlady of the first-ever IT women’s “FACE Club” of the Hong Kong Computer Society, a Director of the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) and a Director of the Employees Retraining Board (ERB), to name a just few of her external positions.
Cally holds an Executive MBA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a BSc in Computing Studies from the University of Hong Kong.
Elsie Cheung was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of the company in January 2011, and is in charge of all commercial operations within the newspaper group.
Ms. Cheung began her career at the South China Morning Post, before building broad experience across other blue-chip media organisations including TVB, Hong Kong Telecom and SUNeVision. She returned to the company in 2001 and continued growing her career, first within the Recruitment Services division, then as the director of Advertising and Marketing Services, before being promoted to her current position.
Concurrent Panel 1
Cat Rüst has extensive leadership experience driving mobile, internet and software related transformation with large enterprises and start-ups.
Her current role is Head of Innovation Technologies, UBS Wealth Management Greater China where she is responsible for driving client engagement around technology. Previously, she spent more than 15 years building eight technology companies in software, cloud and mobile in Hong Kong, China, the US and the UK.
With the aim of promoting technology and transformation, Cat holds senior roles with the Women’s Foundation and InvestHK; she also leads a Facebook community with over 12k members around start-up. She was named a top 20 female entrepreneur to watch by ANZ Bank.
Prior to her days in technology, Cat spent 5 years in China building companies, factories and amusement parks.
She studied Management and Statistics at St Andrews University and received Diplomas in Marketing and Process-reengineering.
She also speaks Mandarin, French, German and some Spanish; and was born and raised in Asia.
Concurrent Panel 1
Ian Stone is an independent non-executive director for Tencent as well as board advisor to a number of early stage new media or tech businesses in the Region.
Ian is a business advisor and consultant on Telecoms, Media and Technology and resides in Hong Kong. Projects include advising on telecom and media investment opportunities and operational businesses, interim CEO for early stage telecom businesses, and fund raising for interesting internet-enabled projects.
Ian has 45 years of experience in the telecom and mobile communications industries, with the last 27 years based in Hong Kong. During this period Ian has been the CEO of a number of Hong Kong mobile companies, including CSL, Smartone and PCCW Mobile.
Moderator of Concurrent Panel 1
Leonie Valentine is Managing Director, Sales & Operations of Google Hong Kong. She has over 20 years of experience in marketing and sales, and has served as Director of Customer Experience for Asia Pacific at Google for the past two years.
Prior to joining Google, Leonie was Executive Vice President, Customer Service & Operations at CSL Limited. Earlier, she held the position of Chief of Staff for Telstra International Group, and was a member of the Executive Leadership Team charged with managing Telstra Corp’s business growth and assets outside of Australia and New Zealand.
Leonie holds an Executive Certificate in Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship of Swinburne University, a Master’s Degree in Communication Management from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Bachelor of Science from Melbourne University.
Concurrent Panel 2
George Chen’s career spans international media, academia, and now public policy. George joined Facebook in 2016 as the Head of Public Policy for Hong Kong and Taiwan. In this role, George works with the governments, legislators and other stakeholders on various policy issues. Prior to Facebook, George had more than a decade-long experience in the media sector, including being Managing Editor for the International Edition of the South China Morning Post (SCMP), and in various editorial and project management roles for Reuters and Dow Jones in Shanghai and Hong Kong. George was a two-time judge (2014, 2015) for editorial awards of the Society of Publishers in Asia.
George has been a strong advocate for Internet freedom, which is the research focus of his proposed doctoral dissertation at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He earned his Master’s degree (distinction) at HKU in international and public affairs, with a concentration on the triangular US-China-Taiwan relations.
A 2014 Yale World Fellow, George was selected by the U.S. State Department in 2015 to join its signature International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). He has authored and edited three books: “The Next Big Thing – How China Challenges Silicon Valley And Changes Global Landscape” (2015), “This is Hong Kong I Know” (2014) and “Foreign Banks in China” (2011).
Concurrent Panel 2
Brenda Haitema leads Asia Operations & Sales at Thread International. Thread creates fair wage opportunities in developing countries to turn trash into high quality fabric. This is sold to major apparel and footwear brands, creating value for the communities, the environment, brand partners and the company itself. Integrating community development into her professional life has been a core value throughout her career.
Prior to taking her current role in 2016, she spent four years at VF, most recently as Senior Material Manager of its $1 billion+ footwear division comprising Vans, Timberland, North Face and Reef. She also managed the construction of $20 million manufacturing plants in Dominican Republic and Cambodia under VF’s Third Way partnership that focuses on responsible sourcing and community building. She was named Employee of the Year in 2015 for all of Asia in recognition of social impact projects she created in Cambodia including a mobile clinic to serve areas without access to physicians and a nutrition program at a school for abandoned children.
Brenda previously worked in the automotive sector at Guildford Performance Textiles. She earned her BS in Polymer and Color Chemistry at NC State after being awarded the North Carolina Textile Foundation Centennial Scholarship.
Born in Tabasco, Mexico, and raised in the United States, she has lived in Beijing, Dominican Republic and Hong Kong. She speaks native Spanish and English, and basic Mandarin.
Concurrent Panel 2
Fascinated by the digital world and startups, Cassie left the corporate world of banking to pursue her quest to link technology and lifestyle. Embracing her learnings from each of her startup ventures, she continues to evolve.
She first founded the Hong Kong's first integrated online gift registry platform for mothers-to-be. Her latest ventures include Off Menu; a big-data marketing intelligence platform, and The Artistry; a luxury retail shop located at The Landmark showcasing premium beauty gadgets.
After her MBA, she furthered her studies in web development and digital marketing. She was named, 'The Game Changing Women in Tech of Hong Kong' and she is also an alumnus of Betatron Accelerator, the only venture capital funded accelerator in HK.
Cassie is active in the community, from fundraising for charities to mentoring young professionals at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and participating in many panel sharings including Wharton Business School.
Concurrent Panel 2
Greg Miller is an Executive Coach, Talent Management & Leadership Development professional with a background of creating, developing and implementing people development and talent management strategies in medium and large complex businesses, FTSE 100 and Partnership environments. Sectors include financial, pharmaceutical, petrochemical and professional services.
He has extensive experience in evaluation, design & delivery of Leadership & Management Development programmes, and as a Board Director, consulting and delivering innovative people strategies and culture change.
An experienced Senior Executive Coach, specialising in the fields on performance management, leadership development, emotional intelligence and organisational performance. Currently holding positions on the coaching panels of numerous global organisations with a presence in the APAC region.
An experienced leadership trainer and facilitator, working in partnership with internal and external training teams in local and international environments, designing and delivering global and regional leadership development programmes.
Moderator of Concurrent Panel 2
Elaine Cheung is a C-Suite executive with extensive Asia Pacific network and corporate experience. She Implemented best practice corporate governance and effected change management across diverse company cultures including complex matrix in MNCs, SOE, inter-governmental agencies and family businesses. She is currently the Group CFO for Regal Springs, a global aquaculture company.
She is a Hong Kong born Chinese American. Since returning to Hong Kong in 1994, Elaine held various CFO positions including VF Asia (NYSE:VFC), Zuellig Pharma Group, Alliance Boots Asia and Bertelsmann Music Group. She is a CPA and is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Elaine serves on the Audit Committee of the UN World Food Programme and Board of Governors of AmCham and member of its Finance Committee and Women of Influence Committee. Her past board experience includes serving as an NED for Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals Corporation. She is a member of Global Board Ready Women and Financial Times Non-Executive Directors' Club.
Elaine is a founding member of Metta and served as mentor in The Women's Foundation's best-in-class Mentoring Programme. The Millennial Leadership group Elaine co-founded with her colleagues received Honorable Mention for Diversity Best Practices at Network & Affinity Leadership Congress.
Concurrent Panel 3
Patricia Ho is a Hong Kong based human rights lawyer. Much of her and her firm Daly, Ho & Associates' work involves defending the rights of minority groups in Hong Kong by way of challenging government policies and law in judicial reviews. Her cases include a number of landmark judicial review test cases concerning asylum seekers/refugees (issues include access to social welfare, release from detention, permission to work), transgender persons (discriminatory treatment in detention), domestic helpers (right to security), sex workers (right to security) and victims of human trafficking.
Apart from litigation, Patricia provides legal and strategic advice to a number of NGOs in Hong Kong, and works with both local and international bodies to advocate for the rights of marginalised groups, including refugees, asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking in Hong Kong.
Concurrent Panel 3
Phyllis Marwah grew up in Taos, New Mexico, and studied education at Grace College, the University of Hawaii and the University of Washington. She has lived in Hong Kong since 1974, and is a mother to seven children and grandmother to 9 grandchildren. Phyllis’ children live in Hong Kong, London, New York and Los Angeles, and have been inspired by her work with women and children in Asia. Phyllis was the winner of the 2012 Women of Influence Award by the American Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong.
Co-founder of Mother’s Choice, Phyllis has helped to grow Mother's Choice from a small group of concerned friends to an organisation that has impacted thousands in Hong Kong and inspired sister organisations in India, China and Cambodia. She has been a Board Director of Mother’s Choice since 2000.
Concurrent Panel 3
Fermi Wong founded Hong Kong Unison in 2001 to defend the rights and justice of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, and to promote racial harmony and cultural sensitivity in the Chinese-dominant community.
Ms. Wong came to Hong Kong from Fujian Province at the age of 11 and lived with her family in a squatter area. Her father and three out of his five children have mild intellectual disability. Fortunately, Ms. Wong and one of her elder sisters are intellectually normal and Ms. Wong was admitted to the social work programme at the City University of Hong Kong. Living with family members with intellectual disability, Ms. Wong experienced poignantly the importance of enlightenment through education.
Working with heart and soul for 16 years, Ms. Wong said humbly that her work was progress from zero to one in three aspects. First, she succeeded in urging the Legislative Council to pass the Race Discrimination Bill in 2008. Second, she helped change the central allocation policy for primary one and secondary one places, so that ethnic minority students in principle enjoy the same opportunities as Chinese students. Third, she succeeded in reflecting the difficulties and injustice faced by ethnic minorities, especially those from South Asia. As a result, they are no longer individuals ignored by society, but a group whose hardships have become an issue of public concern.
At the end of 2013, Ms. Wong stepped down as leader of Hong Kong Unison, in order to let her successor further develop the organisation’s work.
She was awarded the 2012 Hong Kong Humanity Award in recognition of her long term contribution to humanity by serving the underprivileged.
Concurrent Panel 3
Lieny Jang is a Director of Marketing, Asia for Emerson’s Commercial and Residential Solutions.
She has been working in Emerson for over 10 years taking up various roles in Planning, Marketing, and Communications in Singapore and Hong Kong.
She has a total of over 15 years of work experience in Marketing and Consulting, and started her career as a Technology Analyst with Accenture in Sydney, Australia.
She is an alumna of German Swiss International School in Hong Kong, has a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering from University of New South Wales, Australia, and a Master of Business Administration degree at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, with an Exchange Program at Kellogg School of Management, USA. She was awarded the Emerson Bob Staley Scholarship for her MBA degree.
Lieny volunteers as a Chairlady of Women in Engineering Affinity Group with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Hong Kong Chapter and is the leader for Emerson’s Women in STEM program in Asia and Middle East.
She is married with two daughters age 7 and 9.
Moderator of Concurrent Panel 3
Shalini Mahtani is Founder of The Zubin Foundation, set up to honour the life of her son Zubin he died suddenly at the age of 3. The focus of The Zubin Foundation is on critical issues that receive little attention in Hong Kong. The Foundation works on patient safety and quality of care in hospitals, racial integration and special education needs of non-Chinese speakers.
Shalini is Founder and previous CEO of Community Business. Community Business is a unique NGO that works in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Diversity & Inclusion. Shalini has been instrumental in advocating for companies involvement in their local communities and bringing diversity to corporates in Asia. She has advised many companies and written research. She has successfully lobbied the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to require listed companies to report on diversity on their boards.
Amongst her many accolades, Shalini received the Excellence Award from the Indian Association of Hong Kong in 2014, the American Chamber of Commerce, Master of Charity, Arts and Culture Award in 2011. She was honored by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2009. In 2008, Shalini was awarded an MBE from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II for services to corporate social responsibility in Hong Kong. In 2005, She was awarded the “Chief Executives Commendation for Community Service” by the Hong Kong SAR Government. Shalini is from Hong Kong where she lives with her family.
Opening Panel Moderator
Tara Joseph is the President of AmCham Hong Kong. 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. 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. She has twice served as President of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, one of the world’s largest press clubs.
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Professional of the Year, Young Achiever of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Non-profit Leader of the Year, Master of The Arts, Leading Woman on Boards, Champion for the Advancement of Women, Best Company for Women and Lifetime Achievement
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The possibilities of technology can be seen in the changes it has wrought on how we do business, as well as both the growing opportunities for careers in this industry and the rise of technology-focused deals. Moderated by Leonie Valentine, Managing Director of Sales & Operations at Google in Hong Kong, our panel discusses the growing prevalence of technology and what this means for business models, careers and the role of women. Technology is becoming an increasingly omnipresent factor in our daily lives, with a growing number of tech start-ups and innovators launching in Asia. As both Hong Kong and Singapore move ahead regulation to encourage FinTech innovation and China establishes its own Silicon Valley in Shenzhen, what does this mean for consumers and businesses in the region?
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Three Concurrent Breakout Sessions (each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm)
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The search for and retention of quality talent remain a high priority for modern managers, made even more critical by the changes being brought about in workplaces by ‘next generation’ workers. Modern corporate workplaces now encompass talent from multiple generations, who have vastly divergent approaches and attitudes towards doing business. What does this mean for how employers engage with their teams? Our panel looks at how to bridge the divide with the ‘next generation’ and incorporate them effectively into a broader team, as well as the transition for new graduates joining a company.
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Three Concurrent Breakout Sessions (each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm)
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Three Concurrent Breakout Sessions (each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm)
Life is full of both positive and negative events which can disrupt professional development and impact the trajectory of your career. Finding a balance with personal disruption and being able to operate amid uncertainty is critical to building a sustainable professional life. What can professional women do to manage these disruptions in a digital world where executives are always online? Our panel of experts discuss their personal journeys and their advice on managing a range of life events and crises, including starting a family and dealing with grief.
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Three Concurrent Breakout Sessions (each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm)
Speakers
Morning Keynote Panel
Sanjeev Chatrath is the Region Head and Managing Director of Financial & Risk, Thomson Reuters – covering Asia Pacific and Japan. He is responsible for client business in the region encompassing end to end client experience, account management, market development, Go to Market regional strategy, sales, operations, and technical functions. Sanjeev is a member of the Global Operating Committee for Thomson Reuters, and F&R.
Sanjeev has worked in Asian financial markets for over 21 years in leadership roles encompassing business management, client management and sales, spanning Asia Pacific, South Asia and Middle East.
Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Sanjeev worked with Citigroup where he was Chief Operating Officer and Region Head of Client Sales Management for the Treasury and Trade solutions business. Before joining Citi, Sanjeev held senior management positions with ABN Amro Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank based in Singapore, UAE and India.
Sanjeev is a member of the Board of Governors of American Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong, Board Member of ASIFMA (Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association), co-chair of the Male Allies in Hong Kong, and a member of 30% Club supporting gender diversity in Hong Kong boards.
Morning Keynote Panel
Brian Henderson is a COO with 25 years’ experience in the professional services sector in strategy, business and office management, mergers, joint ventures, integration, marketing and management consulting roles in London, Paris, Hong Kong / China / SE Asia.
In addition to operational management of the full range of business support functions (Marketing, Finance, HR, Facilities, IT, Operations, etc.), his track record includes practice group restructuring, merger negotiations and integration, organisational structure, strategy development, coaching and motivating diverse teams within complex non-hierarchical, multi-jurisdictional, matrix structures.
Morning Keynote Panel
As a member of the executive leadership team at Li & Fung, Lâle is responsible for global corporate communications with all stakeholders of Li & Fung, and leading the development of strategy on key initiatives aligning the organization to the company’s goals. She directly oversees the company’s branding, digital communication, open innovation unit, and the newly formed corporate foundation which is putting purpose at the heart of the organization.
Over her career and at Li & Fung, she is known as an inventor and a re-inventor of operations and businesses, a collector of great people and an impact freak. She regularly advises start-up and corporate leaders on business strategy and mentors founders and emerging leaders. She is passionate about the economic inclusion of women globally, as leaders and as entrepreneurs.
Lâle is a member of the Board of Governors of The Women’s Foundation (TWF) and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Asian University for Women. She began her career as a litigation lawyer in Canada and she currently lives in Hong Kong with her husband and 3 children (the other job).
Morning Keynote Panel
David Thomas joined Manulife in February 2014 as Senior Vice President of Human Resources of Manulife’s Asia Division. Since then, he has been a member of Manulife’s Asia Division Executive Committee. David works with senior business and global HR leaders to drive talent strategies that enable achievement of Manulife’s strategic objectives in Asia.
Currently, David holds directorships in Manulife (International) Limited, Manulife Asset Management International Holdings Limited, Manulife Financial Plans, Inc., The Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Phils), Inc. and has also been appointed as the Chairman of Manulife (Vietnam) Limited as of 12 July 2017.
In addition, David is a Non-Executive Member of the British Consulate-General’s Joint Management Board (JMB).
He is also a member of Leadership Council of The Women’s Foundation Limited as a Male Allies group.
Prior to joining Manulife, David had more than 25 years of human resources experience in global, regional and country roles, most recently with Standard Chartered Bank. He brings a broad, global perspective to the role having worked in the United Kingdom, United States, the Middle East and Asia. His subject matter expertise includes leadership and talent development, change management and organizational effectiveness.
David has a Bachelor’s of Management Science degree from Aston University, Birmingham, U.K., a postgraduate diploma in Human Resources Management from the University of Wales, Cardiff, U.K. and is a graduate of the Strategic Human Resources Management Program from Harvard Business School in Boston.
Morning Keynote Panel
Shirley is the Consulting Leader in PwC China and Hong Kong. She leads business transformation both in Hong Kong and in mainland China, providing consulting services to help the China economy meet its economic targets, and Chinese companies build on their competitive strengths in the global market place.
Shirley Xie has more than 20 years of professional experience from Canada, Hong Kong and China. She has served a wide range of financial services clients, with a special focus on the Investment Fund Management industry in the last 10 years, in
particular Venture Capital/Private Equity Funds.
In Shirley's previous role as PwC’s China and Hong Kong Assurance Markets Leader, she was responsible for driving transformational programmes in the assurance practice, expanding the breadth and depth of other professional services to China and Hong Kong clients. Most notably was the establishment of the Food Security & Integrity Services, a programme built to tackle the complex food safety issues in China.
In her current role, she has led key business transformation projects for domestic and MNC clients such as Huawei, Cosfco, China Resources, Lenovo, Universal, UBS, Morgan Stanley and more. Key clients also include mid-tier and entrepreneurial business at the growth stage, helping them to grow into leading,
global companies.
Opening Panel Moderator
Tara Joseph is the President of AmCham Hong Kong. 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. 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. She has twice served as President of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, one of the world’s largest press clubs.
Each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm
The possibilities of technology can be seen in the changes it has wrought on how we do business, as well as both the growing opportunities for careers in this industry and the rise of technology-focused deals. Moderated by Leonie Valentine, Managing Director of Sales & Operations at Google in Hong Kong, our panel discusses the growing prevalence of technology and what this means for business models, careers and the role of women. Technology is becoming an increasingly omnipresent factor in our daily lives, with a growing number of tech start-ups and innovators launching in Asia. As both Hong Kong and Singapore move ahead regulation to encourage FinTech innovation and China establishes its own Silicon Valley in Shenzhen, what does this mean for consumers and businesses in the region?
Speakers
Cally Chan is General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong and Macau, leading the overall strategy and business operations, raising the talent bar and providing leadership in customer satisfaction and business growth. Cally leverages on over 27 years of business and IT experience to drive Microsoft’s Mission to empower every person and every organization to achieve more. The key focus is enabling technology, accelerating digital transformation for customers and partners, and empowering people and societies through technology innovations.
Previously she served as Managing Director and Vice President of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Group from 2010 to 2017.
Cally is passionate about driving digital transformation and diversity. She is Chairlady of the first-ever IT women’s “FACE Club” of the Hong Kong Computer Society, a Director of the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) and a Director of the Employees Retraining Board (ERB), to name a just few of her external positions.
Cally holds an Executive MBA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a BSc in Computing Studies from the University of Hong Kong.
Elsie Cheung was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of the company in January 2011, and is in charge of all commercial operations within the newspaper group.
Ms. Cheung began her career at the South China Morning Post, before building broad experience across other blue-chip media organisations including TVB, Hong Kong Telecom and SUNeVision. She returned to the company in 2001 and continued growing her career, first within the Recruitment Services division, then as the director of Advertising and Marketing Services, before being promoted to her current position.
Concurrent Panel 1
Cat Rüst has extensive leadership experience driving mobile, internet and software related transformation with large enterprises and start-ups.
Her current role is Head of Innovation Technologies, UBS Wealth Management Greater China where she is responsible for driving client engagement around technology. Previously, she spent more than 15 years building eight technology companies in software, cloud and mobile in Hong Kong, China, the US and the UK.
With the aim of promoting technology and transformation, Cat holds senior roles with the Women’s Foundation and InvestHK; she also leads a Facebook community with over 12k members around start-up. She was named a top 20 female entrepreneur to watch by ANZ Bank.
Prior to her days in technology, Cat spent 5 years in China building companies, factories and amusement parks.
She studied Management and Statistics at St Andrews University and received Diplomas in Marketing and Process-reengineering.
She also speaks Mandarin, French, German and some Spanish; and was born and raised in Asia.
Concurrent Panel 1
Ian Stone is an independent non-executive director for Tencent as well as board advisor to a number of early stage new media or tech businesses in the Region.
Ian is a business advisor and consultant on Telecoms, Media and Technology and resides in Hong Kong. Projects include advising on telecom and media investment opportunities and operational businesses, interim CEO for early stage telecom businesses, and fund raising for interesting internet-enabled projects.
Ian has 45 years of experience in the telecom and mobile communications industries, with the last 27 years based in Hong Kong. During this period Ian has been the CEO of a number of Hong Kong mobile companies, including CSL, Smartone and PCCW Mobile.
Moderator of Concurrent Panel 1
Leonie Valentine is Managing Director, Sales & Operations of Google Hong Kong. She has over 20 years of experience in marketing and sales, and has served as Director of Customer Experience for Asia Pacific at Google for the past two years.
Prior to joining Google, Leonie was Executive Vice President, Customer Service & Operations at CSL Limited. Earlier, she held the position of Chief of Staff for Telstra International Group, and was a member of the Executive Leadership Team charged with managing Telstra Corp’s business growth and assets outside of Australia and New Zealand.
Leonie holds an Executive Certificate in Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship of Swinburne University, a Master’s Degree in Communication Management from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Bachelor of Science from Melbourne University.
The search for and retention of quality talent remain a high priority for modern managers, made even more critical by the changes being brought about in workplaces by ‘next generation’ workers. Modern corporate workplaces now encompass talent from multiple generations, who have vastly divergent approaches and attitudes towards doing business. What does this mean for how employers engage with their teams? Our panel looks at how to bridge the divide with the ‘next generation’ and incorporate them effectively into a broader team, as well as the transition for new graduates joining a company.
Speakers
Concurrent Panel 2
George Chen’s career spans international media, academia, and now public policy. George joined Facebook in 2016 as the Head of Public Policy for Hong Kong and Taiwan. In this role, George works with the governments, legislators and other stakeholders on various policy issues. Prior to Facebook, George had more than a decade-long experience in the media sector, including being Managing Editor for the International Edition of the South China Morning Post (SCMP), and in various editorial and project management roles for Reuters and Dow Jones in Shanghai and Hong Kong. George was a two-time judge (2014, 2015) for editorial awards of the Society of Publishers in Asia.
George has been a strong advocate for Internet freedom, which is the research focus of his proposed doctoral dissertation at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He earned his Master’s degree (distinction) at HKU in international and public affairs, with a concentration on the triangular US-China-Taiwan relations.
A 2014 Yale World Fellow, George was selected by the U.S. State Department in 2015 to join its signature International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). He has authored and edited three books: “The Next Big Thing – How China Challenges Silicon Valley And Changes Global Landscape” (2015), “This is Hong Kong I Know” (2014) and “Foreign Banks in China” (2011).
Concurrent Panel 2
Brenda Haitema leads Asia Operations & Sales at Thread International. Thread creates fair wage opportunities in developing countries to turn trash into high quality fabric. This is sold to major apparel and footwear brands, creating value for the communities, the environment, brand partners and the company itself. Integrating community development into her professional life has been a core value throughout her career.
Prior to taking her current role in 2016, she spent four years at VF, most recently as Senior Material Manager of its $1 billion+ footwear division comprising Vans, Timberland, North Face and Reef. She also managed the construction of $20 million manufacturing plants in Dominican Republic and Cambodia under VF’s Third Way partnership that focuses on responsible sourcing and community building. She was named Employee of the Year in 2015 for all of Asia in recognition of social impact projects she created in Cambodia including a mobile clinic to serve areas without access to physicians and a nutrition program at a school for abandoned children.
Brenda previously worked in the automotive sector at Guildford Performance Textiles. She earned her BS in Polymer and Color Chemistry at NC State after being awarded the North Carolina Textile Foundation Centennial Scholarship.
Born in Tabasco, Mexico, and raised in the United States, she has lived in Beijing, Dominican Republic and Hong Kong. She speaks native Spanish and English, and basic Mandarin.
Concurrent Panel 2
Fascinated by the digital world and startups, Cassie left the corporate world of banking to pursue her quest to link technology and lifestyle. Embracing her learnings from each of her startup ventures, she continues to evolve.
She first founded the Hong Kong's first integrated online gift registry platform for mothers-to-be. Her latest ventures include Off Menu; a big-data marketing intelligence platform, and The Artistry; a luxury retail shop located at The Landmark showcasing premium beauty gadgets.
After her MBA, she furthered her studies in web development and digital marketing. She was named, 'The Game Changing Women in Tech of Hong Kong' and she is also an alumnus of Betatron Accelerator, the only venture capital funded accelerator in HK.
Cassie is active in the community, from fundraising for charities to mentoring young professionals at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and participating in many panel sharings including Wharton Business School.
Concurrent Panel 2
Greg Miller is an Executive Coach, Talent Management & Leadership Development professional with a background of creating, developing and implementing people development and talent management strategies in medium and large complex businesses, FTSE 100 and Partnership environments. Sectors include financial, pharmaceutical, petrochemical and professional services.
He has extensive experience in evaluation, design & delivery of Leadership & Management Development programmes, and as a Board Director, consulting and delivering innovative people strategies and culture change.
An experienced Senior Executive Coach, specialising in the fields on performance management, leadership development, emotional intelligence and organisational performance. Currently holding positions on the coaching panels of numerous global organisations with a presence in the APAC region.
An experienced leadership trainer and facilitator, working in partnership with internal and external training teams in local and international environments, designing and delivering global and regional leadership development programmes.
Moderator of Concurrent Panel 2
Elaine Cheung is a C-Suite executive with extensive Asia Pacific network and corporate experience. She Implemented best practice corporate governance and effected change management across diverse company cultures including complex matrix in MNCs, SOE, inter-governmental agencies and family businesses. She is currently the Group CFO for Regal Springs, a global aquaculture company.
She is a Hong Kong born Chinese American. Since returning to Hong Kong in 1994, Elaine held various CFO positions including VF Asia (NYSE:VFC), Zuellig Pharma Group, Alliance Boots Asia and Bertelsmann Music Group. She is a CPA and is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Elaine serves on the Audit Committee of the UN World Food Programme and Board of Governors of AmCham and member of its Finance Committee and Women of Influence Committee. Her past board experience includes serving as an NED for Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals Corporation. She is a member of Global Board Ready Women and Financial Times Non-Executive Directors' Club.
Elaine is a founding member of Metta and served as mentor in The Women's Foundation's best-in-class Mentoring Programme. The Millennial Leadership group Elaine co-founded with her colleagues received Honorable Mention for Diversity Best Practices at Network & Affinity Leadership Congress.
Three Concurrent Breakout Sessions (each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm) Life is full of both positive and negative events which can disrupt professional development and impact the trajectory of your career. Finding a balance with personal disruption and being able to operate amid uncertainty is critical to building a sustainable professional life. What can professional women do to manage these disruptions in a digital world where executives are always online? Our panel of experts discuss their personal journeys and their advice on managing a range of life events and crises, including starting a family and dealing with grief.
Speakers
Concurrent Panel 3
Patricia Ho is a Hong Kong based human rights lawyer. Much of her and her firm Daly, Ho & Associates' work involves defending the rights of minority groups in Hong Kong by way of challenging government policies and law in judicial reviews. Her cases include a number of landmark judicial review test cases concerning asylum seekers/refugees (issues include access to social welfare, release from detention, permission to work), transgender persons (discriminatory treatment in detention), domestic helpers (right to security), sex workers (right to security) and victims of human trafficking.
Apart from litigation, Patricia provides legal and strategic advice to a number of NGOs in Hong Kong, and works with both local and international bodies to advocate for the rights of marginalised groups, including refugees, asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking in Hong Kong.
Concurrent Panel 3
Phyllis Marwah grew up in Taos, New Mexico, and studied education at Grace College, the University of Hawaii and the University of Washington. She has lived in Hong Kong since 1974, and is a mother to seven children and grandmother to 9 grandchildren. Phyllis’ children live in Hong Kong, London, New York and Los Angeles, and have been inspired by her work with women and children in Asia. Phyllis was the winner of the 2012 Women of Influence Award by the American Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong.
Co-founder of Mother’s Choice, Phyllis has helped to grow Mother's Choice from a small group of concerned friends to an organisation that has impacted thousands in Hong Kong and inspired sister organisations in India, China and Cambodia. She has been a Board Director of Mother’s Choice since 2000.
Concurrent Panel 3
Fermi Wong founded Hong Kong Unison in 2001 to defend the rights and justice of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, and to promote racial harmony and cultural sensitivity in the Chinese-dominant community.
Ms. Wong came to Hong Kong from Fujian Province at the age of 11 and lived with her family in a squatter area. Her father and three out of his five children have mild intellectual disability. Fortunately, Ms. Wong and one of her elder sisters are intellectually normal and Ms. Wong was admitted to the social work programme at the City University of Hong Kong. Living with family members with intellectual disability, Ms. Wong experienced poignantly the importance of enlightenment through education.
Working with heart and soul for 16 years, Ms. Wong said humbly that her work was progress from zero to one in three aspects. First, she succeeded in urging the Legislative Council to pass the Race Discrimination Bill in 2008. Second, she helped change the central allocation policy for primary one and secondary one places, so that ethnic minority students in principle enjoy the same opportunities as Chinese students. Third, she succeeded in reflecting the difficulties and injustice faced by ethnic minorities, especially those from South Asia. As a result, they are no longer individuals ignored by society, but a group whose hardships have become an issue of public concern.
At the end of 2013, Ms. Wong stepped down as leader of Hong Kong Unison, in order to let her successor further develop the organisation’s work.
She was awarded the 2012 Hong Kong Humanity Award in recognition of her long term contribution to humanity by serving the underprivileged.
Concurrent Panel 3
Lieny Jang is a Director of Marketing, Asia for Emerson’s Commercial and Residential Solutions.
She has been working in Emerson for over 10 years taking up various roles in Planning, Marketing, and Communications in Singapore and Hong Kong.
She has a total of over 15 years of work experience in Marketing and Consulting, and started her career as a Technology Analyst with Accenture in Sydney, Australia.
She is an alumna of German Swiss International School in Hong Kong, has a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering from University of New South Wales, Australia, and a Master of Business Administration degree at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, with an Exchange Program at Kellogg School of Management, USA. She was awarded the Emerson Bob Staley Scholarship for her MBA degree.
Lieny volunteers as a Chairlady of Women in Engineering Affinity Group with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Hong Kong Chapter and is the leader for Emerson’s Women in STEM program in Asia and Middle East.
She is married with two daughters age 7 and 9.
Moderator of Concurrent Panel 3
Shalini Mahtani is Founder of The Zubin Foundation, set up to honour the life of her son Zubin he died suddenly at the age of 3. The focus of The Zubin Foundation is on critical issues that receive little attention in Hong Kong. The Foundation works on patient safety and quality of care in hospitals, racial integration and special education needs of non-Chinese speakers.
Shalini is Founder and previous CEO of Community Business. Community Business is a unique NGO that works in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Diversity & Inclusion. Shalini has been instrumental in advocating for companies involvement in their local communities and bringing diversity to corporates in Asia. She has advised many companies and written research. She has successfully lobbied the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to require listed companies to report on diversity on their boards.
Amongst her many accolades, Shalini received the Excellence Award from the Indian Association of Hong Kong in 2014, the American Chamber of Commerce, Master of Charity, Arts and Culture Award in 2011. She was honored by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2009. In 2008, Shalini was awarded an MBE from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II for services to corporate social responsibility in Hong Kong. In 2005, She was awarded the “Chief Executives Commendation for Community Service” by the Hong Kong SAR Government. Shalini is from Hong Kong where she lives with her family.
Each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm
Three Concurrent Breakout Sessions (each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm)
Three Concurrent Breakout Sessions (each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm)
Three Concurrent Breakout Sessions (each session runs twice at 9:30-10:30am & 11am-12pm)
Speakers
Luncheon Keynote
Jung Chang (張戎) is the author of the best-selling books Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (1991), which the Asian Wall Street Journal called the most read book about China; Mao: The Unknown Story (2005, with Jon Halliday), which was described by Time magazine as “an atom bomb of a book”; and Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China (2013), a New York Times “notable book”. Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. She has won many awards, including the UK Writers’ Guild Best Non-Fiction and Book of the Year UK, and has received a number of honorary doctorates from universities in the UK and USA (Buckingham, York, Warwick, Dundee, the Open University, and Bowdoin College, USA).
Jung Chang was born in Sichuan Province, China, in 1952. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) she worked as a peasant, a “barefoot” doctor, a steelworker, and an electrician before becoming an English-language student at Sichuan University. She left China for Britain in 1978 and obtained a PhD in Linguistics in 1982 at the University of York – the first person from Communist China to receive a doctorate from a British university.
Professional of the Year, Young Achiever of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Non-profit Leader of the Year, Master of The Arts, Leading Woman on Boards, Champion for the Advancement of Women, Best Company for Women and Lifetime Achievement
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