2020 DIAN Meeting 2

A talent management strategist, a board advisor, sought after speaker and executive coach, Gulnar is re-imagining leadership for the 21st Century. Gulnar is passionate about helping leaders understand and embrace inclusiveness, cross-cultural dynamics and diversity. She draws on a 20-year career where she has held senior roles in multinational organisations, across a range of industries, functional roles, and geographies including Africa, Europe, and Asia. Gulnar’s own life journey has deeply influenced who she is and what she does today. Her dual identity as a woman with Indian origins and a US upbringing, complemented by her experience living and working in different countries, have helped her to appreciate the richness that comes from a diversity of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences.

As the Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Marla is responsible for the execution and direction of the Thomson Reuters Diversity & Inclusion strategy globally, with special focus in the Asia Pacific region. She partners with senior leaders to champion D&I, with HR to advance the company’s talent agenda, and with key business groups to integrate D&I in business operations. She also provides oversight for business resource groups and global volunteer network teams. She oversees volunteer leads in the region in employee volunteer activities promoting the Sustainable Development Goals on No Poverty, Climate Action, Zero Hunger, Gender Equality, and Peace & Justice, Strong Institutions. She also served as Convenor of the company’s Regional Inclusion Council for Asia.

Before this role, Marla has had over 20 years experience in corporate communications and PR, with seven of these at Thomson Reuters as former manager for strategy, communications and corporate responsibility in Manila. She was responsible for the Manila Leadership Team strategic initiatives, internal and external communications, and the execution of Corporate Responsibility programs in the Philippines. She was also responsible for executing the company’s employee volunteer program and CR partnerships with other companies and non-government organizations.

Prior to joining Thomson Reuters in 2009, Marla was with Environments Global/Cirdia Group as internal communications manager; Intel Corporation as operations manager for the Asia Employee Communications group; San Miguel Corporation as internal communications officer, responsible for internal publications and media relations. She started as senior associate at Orendain & Associates, a public relations firm, where she was a consultant to multinational banks, drug companies, and non-government organizations. Marla took up BA Mass Communications, with a major in Journalism and a minor in History, at the University of the Philippines.

Pat Dwyer is the Founder and Director of The Purpose Business, who help organisations in Asia to embed purpose and sustainability into their business strategy and operations. They map environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts and help scale them responsibly to future-proof business amidst global volatility. Pat’s clients include Cathay Pacific, Jardine Matheson, The Hong Kong Shanghai Hotels (Peninsula), Danone, Swire Properties, Vitasoy, Century Pacific Food, Metro Pacific and Universal Robina Corporation.

With over 20 years sustainability leadership experience, including as Ayala Land’s first CSR Manager and as global head of CSR and Sustainability for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, she has worked across the spectrum from NGOs to corporate boardrooms and start-ups to make them purposeful and impact-driven.

Pat is a regular keynote and conference speaker on topics including purpose, responsible leadership and sustainability.

She is an experienced moderator, having led panels including at the Obama Foundation Asia Pacific Programme and the World Economic Forum in Vietnam.

She is a fellow of the Asia Society and the Royal Society of Arts, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and sits on the Boards of Enrich, a Hong Kong - based charity promoting the economic empowerment of migrant domestic workers.

Penny worked as a corporate lawyer advising financial institution clients in Australia and Hong Kong for over 12 years. She is now the Corporate Responsibility Manager for Asia for Linklaters, a leading law firm headquartered in the UK. She manages the social impact, sustainability, health and wellbeing, and diversity and inclusion initiatives across Asia for the firm. Penny moved to Hong Kong from Australia in 2007 and lives here with her husband and three children.

Since 2012, Peter has been Legal Counsel at the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) leading a wide range of the EOC’s legal advocacy work such as the Discrimination Law Review project. He has been instrumental in the organisation’s legal work promoting equality for LGBT+ people including work on: introducing LGBT+ anti-discrimination legislation; equality for same sex couples; and gender recognition legislation for transgender people. Moreover, Peter represents the EOC in high level advocacy forums, participates in the organisation of relevant LGBT+ international and local conferences and events, as well as represents the EOC in media and stakeholder engagement on the issues. Peter believes that with evidence-based advocacy and continued collaboration with all stakeholders, further progress on LGBT+ inclusion in Hong Kong can be achieved, to the benefit of everyone in society.

A mental health advocate, coach and Reiki teacher, Robbie was born and raised in Hong Kong. She pursued a career in Digital Marketing and is presently employed at HSBC where she founded the Weekly Wednesday Meditation sessions as a spin off to mental health talks she hosted last year. 

Shalini Mahtani is one of Hong Kong’s most authoritative and respected voices on social issues, particularly diversity and inclusion and the plight of Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities. Shalini has been a pioneer in civil society working in areas previously untouched in Hong Kong. She is the founder of The Zubin Foundation, a think tank and charity that works to improve the lives of Hong Kong’s marginalised ethnic minorities by providing opportunities and reducing suffering.

In addition, Shalini has championed for the inclusion of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong advisory and statutory bodies. Diversity List, established in 2016, puts forward worthy candidates for such roles each year. Since 2016, over 30 appointments have been made by the HKSARG of ethnic minorities. In addition, her policy recommendations many have been adopted by the administration, particularly on ethnic minority special needs children. Shalini is also founder and the first Chief Executive Officer of Community Business, the first organisation in Asia that brings together companies and their management around women, LGBT and disabilities at work.

Shalini serves on the board of a few advisory and statutory bodies and a number of local NGOs. She is also a co-host on Backchat on RTHK Radio 3, the only English language current affairs radio program me in Hong Kong.

Sophie Guerin is the Head of Diversity & Inclusion for Asia Pacific at Johnson & Johnson. She is a bilingual, GTM, customer centric diversity & inclusion professional with extensive experience building localized strategies for international clients in Asia Pacific. Sophie is skilled in leveraging strategic partnerships with multiple stakeholders to achieve measurable, business driven results.

Currently residing in Singapore, Sophie is a recognized expert on diversity & inclusion in Asia and speaks frequently at industry and thought leadership forums. She is co-author of "Examining Diversity & Inclusion from an Asian Perspective" and “Developing Dependency” which explores special economic zones in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. She is a member of the Diversity & Inclusion in Asia Network Advisory Council and a Founding Member of the American Chamber of Commerce Singapore Women's Steering Committee. Sophie is the first recipient of the American Chamber of Commerce China Committee of the Year Award and is the Founder of Women in International Public Affairs based in Paris, France.

Stephanie is an award-winning Diversity and Inclusion Expert.

She supports clients developing a diversity and inclusion strategy, identifying new markets and developing inclusive value chains that will include women and minority owned companies.

Before joining IDB Invest, Stephanie was the Associate Director for Diversity& Inclusion in Coca-Cola European Partners in London. And before that Stephanie was Head of International Diversity at L’Oréal in Paris where she led the D&I strategy among 60 subsidiaries of the company.

Stephanie has received numerous awards for her work in diversity: Diversity Leader by the USA diversity Journal and Head of Diversity by the European Diversity Awards. She was also recognized as one of the top 40 diversity professionals in the world by The Times in 2017 and 2018.

Sudesh is currently Chief Operating Officer at Heals Healthcare Asia and was formerly the Head of Customer Care Transformation at AXA Hong Kong looking to enhance customer experience through innovation and technologies including AI and bots. Sudesh was also previously the Head of Customer Care Management where he managed and set up the customer contact Teams across the Life, Health and General Insurance business in Hong Kong and Foshan, as well as driving key customer touchpoint improvements. In a previous role, he led a company-wide customer-centricity and experience programme delivering numerous customer experience enhancements through the deployment of rapid and agile approaches which have translated to immediate and significant changes throughout. This transversal programme covers both customer experience improvements and employee culture change. Recent awards include:
Sudesh was the founding member of the AXA Hong Kong Diversity & Inclusion Council, specifically supporting the LGBT+ and Origins workstreams, and won the 2019 LGBT+ Ally Award by Community Business and named 2019 Global Top 50 LGBT+ OUTstanding Role Model through his work for the LGBT+ community. He is a true believer and advocate of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and with customers. He has been actively working with the organisation to support differently-abled, ethnic minorities, gender and multi-generational employees.
Sudesh is an Electronics and Computing engineering graduate and is Six Sigma, Lean, and Human-centred Design trained. A change agent at heart, he is passionate about delivering the best customer experience possible at every level of any organisation.

A recognized global leader and well respected organizational and talent development executive with over 25 years of multinational experience. Tracy Ann brings a sophisticated, creative and pragmatic approach to all of her work.

She attributes this to working globally throughout her career as well as having positions within Human Resources, IT Operations and Asia Pacific Sales. Tracy Ann’s most exciting role was relocating to Bangalore, India to lead the change management work associated with Cisco’s expanding IT Development Center. A six-month assignment in India turned into seven years of Tracy Ann leading Cisco transformation work across the Asia Pacific region. After which Tracy Ann remained in Bangalore to set up her consulting practice.A core focus of Tracy Ann’s global work is across fast changing emerging business regions.

Tracy Ann is a lifelong learner with an education and understanding of behavior change, adult learning, psychology, emotional intelligence, appreciative inquiry, fitness, emotional wellbeing, mindfulness, yoga and philosophy – all of which contribute to her unique consulting approach, perceptiveness and sensitivity.

Her work is anchored by the experience and insight of working and living around the globe and her commitment to purpose and meaning. She believes encouraging talent development, building inclusive environments, advancing women and diversity builds healthy cultures, delivers business results and makes the world a more peaceful place.