2021 DIAN Year-End Conference

Dr Mathew Mathews is Head of IPS Social Lab, a centre for social indicator research and a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies. To date, Mathews has been involved in over fifty research projects, most of them addressing social policy issues. These have included research using both quantitative and qualitative methods on race, religion, immigrant integration, family, ageing and poverty.

Dr Papia Sengupta is Assistant Professor at the Centre of Political Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi where she teaches Political Science. She completed her PhD and Masters of Philosophy on Multiculturalism and Political Theory at JNU and held fellowships at Queen’s University in Kingston and University of Edinburgh where she specialised in subjects such as multiculturalism, linguistic diversity and ethnic violence in Northeast India and its impact on the women.

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.

Fyiona is one of the youngest certified coaches in Asia (ICF ACC) and a DiSC certified trainer with a 14-year corporate career in Royal Dutch Shell where she took up global and leadership roles in Finance, Digital Transformation and was appointed the youngest Head of Operations globally.

Now, she is a passionate executive coach, keynote speaker on multi-generational and cultural inclusion and a trainer for corporates and top business schools. In the past 4 years, she supported leaders in creating effective and engaged teams who embrace diversity and inclusion, as well as helps the next generation workforce in driving self-leadership and a growth mindset.

Fyiona was featured on Forbes, Financial Times, SCMP, TVB Pearl, China Daily, and HR Magazine APAC to share insights and support current and future leaders to embrace generational and cultural diversity and inclusion.

Head of Diversity & Inclusion in Asia Network (DIAN), based in Hong Kong. She is responsible for managing the Diversity and Inclusion in Asia Network (DIAN), the leading network of companies and professionals committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in Asia.

Tina was lauded for her student activism and her work on various official and student-led publications when she studied in university. She was also awarded the Gerry Roxas Leadership Award, a national accolade for young leaders in the Philippines.

Prior to joining Community Business, Tina was a corporate governance advocate working with the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) of Philippines. There she managed ICD Fellows membership, updated Professional Directors Programme, developed bespoke board governance tools for a major bank, and helped organise the 2009 OECD Asian Roundtable.

Graduated from the University of Asia and the Pacific in Manila, Philippines, Tina holds a Bachelor degree of Arts in Political Economy.  She is fluent in English.

Rhadem Musawah is a Indigenous documentary filmmaker, human rights activist and Film Festival organizer from the Philippines. He is also a member of PhilSilat Association under Philippine Olympic Committee, Changemaker Alumnus of Thomson Reuters Foundation, Core Member of Vote Pilipinas under the Philippine Commission on Election, and an honorary member of MUJER LGBT+ Organisations. Creative Consultant for various programs of government agencies and international organisations.

Arti Ram leads Bloomberg's Company & Brand Marketing efforts for Asia Pacific, working to develop brand affinity with clients, philanthropic partners, government officials, prospective customers, candidates and employees. With 15+ years of marketing experience, she's established Bloomberg's Global Employer Brand the ground up out of New York prior to moving to Singapore to better serve the region. In Asia, she looks after marketing efforts for Diversity & Inclusion, Employer Branding & Recruitment, Corporate Philanthropy and Government Relations. Additionally, she is an executive sponsor and champion for Mental Health at Bloomberg in Asia Pacific

Chitra is an accomplished HR professional with more than 19 years of experience with proven expertise in Diversity & Inclusion (D&I). She has managed global initiatives and programmes in the areas of gender, culture, disability, age, and work life balance. 

She has held senior responsibilities as a D&I champion, driving the agenda through talent attraction, retention and development practices. She has worked with organizations like HCL Technologies, Accenture and Datamatics in the past. She holds a PhD in D&I. She is a member of NASSCOM Tamil Nadu Regional Council and CII National Committee on Special Abilities & India Business & Disability Network (IBDN). She spends her free time volunteering for Inner Wheel club that servers the local community.

Ms. Sandhya Manoj is responsible for Community Business’ overall business strategy in India, with a mission to lead, inspire and support organisations and individuals to bring about positive impact and social change. The role is also to reinforce Community Business’s position as a leader in responsible and inclusive business practices and differentiate our offering, particularly in the areas of diversity and inclusion and employee wellbeing.

Prior to Community Business, Sandhya worked as CEO of Foundation For Excellence India Trust, an NGO and was responsible for all aspects of the Trust’s operations in India, in addition to providing support to FFE-USA in certain areas. Her role was to guide overall strategy, finance, people development, new initiatives, and donor management.

With experience of more than 30 years, Sandhya has worked both in large corporations, not for profit (NGO) and start-ups in the areas of sales, operations, HR, training and general management. She has built processes, worked with diverse teams, created organisation structures, work flow processes across departments besides creating a remote mentoring platform. In her earlier stint as founder of Teamworx Consulting, she was involved in hiring of senior talent and mentoring them. She has also worked as a consultant HR head to a VC firm, where she was involved with APD (Association of People with Disability), creating training modules leading to employment. She was also a highly successful sales manager for Monster.com in the earlier stages of her career.

Sandhya is a certified trainer and a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) certified by the International Coach Federation. She is passionate about people development and has mentored or coached a number of youngsters. As a trained advanced facilitator, she has also been involved in building teams, especially with focus on customer orientation, bringing value to client organisations.

Varshaa Ram Kutik joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in November 2017 as the Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Asia Pacific. She has twelve years of experience in the D&I space and has worked across several industries. Prior to joining the bank, she led D&I for the APAC & EMEA regions for Cargill, a Minnesota-based global leader in trading and distributing agricultural commodities. Before Cargill she was employed with Goldman Sachs and led their D&I efforts in India. She started her career in the ESG space and was responsible for the publication of the first sustainability report for Infosys, an Indian multinational corporation that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. Varshaa has a master’s degree in Globalization and Development from Warwick University in the UK.