Community Business Advisory Council

The Council's mandate is to drive the narrative and set the strategic direction of DE&I in Asia. The purpose of the Council is set out below: ​

• Identifying and mobilising around new themes and trends in the DE&I space in the region​
• Provide market, sector or industry insights to elevate DE&I in the communities we serve​
• Engaging new industries to adopt DE&I practices and being innovative towards building next practices​
• Connect the Council with other civil society organisations to support & collectively lobby for legislative change in the markets​

All Members listed in alphabetical order by first name
 

Abby Lee
Founding Partner
Pink Dot HK

Abby Lee was born in Singapore and moved to Hong Kong in 2001. In 2004, beside her busy day job in Product, Sales & Marketing, she co-founded, Les Peches and later Qlove, organisations dedicated to raising visibility, equality, and connections for LGBTQ+ individuals especially lesbians, trans/bisexual/queer women in Hong Kong and the region.  Abby Lee was also the co-founder/co-organiser/co-director of Pink Dot Hong Kong, the city largest LGBTQ+ event.

Alisha Fernando
Head of Diversity & Inclusion (APAC) 
Bloomberg LP

Alisha Fernando is the Head of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) across Asia Pacific at Bloomberg. Alisha is responsible for overseeing the diversity and inclusion strategy with a strong focus on delivering programs and initiatives that support enterprise-wide D&I goals and regional priorities to drive change across the organisation.   

Alisha and her team provide coaching and guidance to senior executives and leaders and collaborate across teams at Bloomberg to deliver solutions that promote an inclusive and equitable workplace and engage employees in 24 offices across 17 countries.    

Alisha has also been recognised as a top D&I thought leader by SpeakIn, awarded the Game Changer award by Tigerhall Asia.   

Prior to joining Bloomberg in 2019, Alisha led the D&I strategy, programs and initiatives at the University of Melbourne. She previously spent most of her career at the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), where she served as the firm’s Inclusion Program Manager.  

Alisha earned a Bachelor of Business, Banking and Finance at Monash University. 

Chitra Shyam Sundar
Vice President, Head of D&I, APAC 
Barclays 

Chitra is an accomplished HR professional with more than 23 years of experience with expertise in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI). She has managed global initiatives and programmes in the areas of gender, culture, disability, age, multigeneration and work life balance.

She has held senior responsibilities as a DEI champion, driving the agenda through talent attraction, retention and development practices. She has worked with organisations like HCL Technologies, Accenture and Datamatics in the past. She holds a PhD in D&I. She is a member of NASSCOM D&I 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.

Holly McGhee
Diversity, Equity &Inclusiveness Leader, Asia-Pacific
EY

Holly is a diversity, equity and inclusiveness professional with global experiences and perspectives. She brings her views from over 10 years of DE&I expertise, as one of Asia-Pacific’s top thought leaders and multi-award winner. Holly’s broad experiences at EY include leadership and board roles focused on women, women entrepreneurs, LGBT+, culture, social mobility, disability and wellbeing. Building on her international experience of living in Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia , she leads a program of work accelerating DE&I across the talent life cycle, client interactions and creating social value.

Holly believes that education is essential for building a more inclusive world and spearheaded a first of its kind multi-language primary research into belonging in Asia-Pacific with the EY Belonging Barometer research paper. In 2023 Holly was awarded the EY Hult Business School Masters of Sustainability, she is also an accredited executive coach and has post graduate qualifications from Yale and Cambridge Universities. Holly’s passion for building community led her to be the founder of EY’s neurodiversity community in Asia, holds the role of secretary for LGBTQ+ network Interbank Hong Kong, and in 2017 founded of women’s network Taikoo WIN.

Jerome Yau
Chief Executive, AIDS Concern

Co-founder, Hong Kong Marriage Equality

Jerome Yau is the Chief Executive of AIDS Concern and the Co-founder of Hong Kong Marriage Equality. He has extensive experience in executive and non-executive positions in the nonprofit and education sectors, specialising in communication, strategic engagement, policy research and public affairs. Jerome dedicates his efforts to social justice and the promotion of LGBTQ+ health and inclusion. He believes strongly in using positive narratives to mobilise for change.

Jerome has extensive experience working with a diverse range of stakeholders. His dedication lies in enhancing people's well-being through affirmative and evidence-based practices.

Kathy Teo
Founder and CEO
Xpointo Media

Kathy Teo is an out and proud business leader, marketer and entrepreneur. Since 2019, Kathy has advocated for Singapore companies to support Pink Dot SG through the Red Dot for Pink Dot campaign. She is on the board of Outright International, a 34-year-old leading queer human rights organisation headquartered in New York, and currently serves its Board Co-Chair. Kathy co-founded Q Chamber, Singapore’s LGBTQ+ and allied chamber of commerce that strives to connect businesses and individuals to promote shared economic interests, values and aspirations. She is the founder of Bridge the Digital Divide, a social impact initiative that aims to build digital inclusion in Singapore.

Leow Yangfa
Executive Director
Oogachaga

Yangfa is a registered social worker and the executive director of Oogachaga. He joined the organisation in June 2013 as deputy director, and in July 2015 took on the role of executive director.

He has more than 20 years of experience working in various social service organisations, including in suicide prevention (with Samaritans of Singapore, from 2005 to 2013), and social service planning (with National Council of Social Service, from 1999 to 2005).

His current role in Oogachaga includes providing LGBTQ-affirming professional counselling to individuals, couples and families, volunteer management, conducting community outreach, delivering professional training, engaging corporate partners, media relations and fundraising.

He edited the anthology “I Will Survive: Personal LGBT stories in Singapore”, first published in 2011 and currently in its third print edition. He is veggie by choice and a guncle (gay uncle).

Li Wei Cheah
GAR D&I Lead, Global Diversity Inclusion & Strategic Talent (GDIST)
Intel

Cheah Li Wei is a dedicated leader in diversity and inclusion with a proven track record of fostering inclusive workplaces. Currently, Li Wei spearheads initiatives to enhance disability inclusion and global representation, ensuring that diverse voices are heard and valued. Previously, Li Wei expanded Employee Resource Groups across Asia, significantly growing support networks for underrepresented communities. Notably, Li Wei led the creation of a sign language name for the company, a pioneering effort in the industry. With extensive experience in human resources and organisational development, Li Wei has been instrumental in developing mentoring programs and inclusive hiring practices that have positively impacted thousands of employees. Passionate about creating equitable environments, Li Wei continues to drive initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion on a global scale.

Manisha Wijesinghe
Executive Director
HELP for Domestic Workers

Manisha serves as the Executive Director of HELP For Domestic Workers, an award-winning Hong Kong based non-profit organisation empowering migrant domestic workers to access their rights through education, advice, community and employer engagement. She is a registered Attorney at Law in Sri Lanka and holds a Master of Laws in Human Rights from the University of Hong Kong. Prior to coming to Hong Kong in 2013, Manisha worked for the UNICEF Child Protection & Juvenile Justice Programme and Save the Children Sri Lanka, building systems and processes to support child victims of abuse and juvenile offenders. In Hong Kong, Manisha worked at Christian Action and at Daly & Associates, specialising in the area of migrant worker rights and international labour law.

Outside of her role at HELP, Manisha serves as an Advisor to the Board of MindHK, a non-profit committed to improving awareness and understanding of mental health in Hong Kong, a Member of the Executive Committee of the Amber Foundation EMpower Programme that provides support and training to Hong Kong ethnic minority women and a member of the AmCham Women of Influence Steering Committee an initiative to champion women leaders in Hong Kong. She has also served as a Mentor under the Women’s Foundation Mentoring Programme for Women Leaders. Manisha was named a winner of the Tatler Magazine’s 2022 Inaugural Front & Female Award, the 2023 American Chamber of Commerce 19th Annual Women of Influence Award for Champion of Disadvantaged Communities and Minorities, and an awardee of the 2023 Tatler Gen.T List.

Mellener Anne Coelho
Senior VP, Country Lead, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Northern Trust

Mellener Anne Coelho is Senior Vice President Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Northern Trust. In her current role she leads the Diversity, Equity and inclusion Strategy for the APAC Region. Prior to joining the bank she worked with the AXA Group and Infosys Technologies Limited and has lived and worked across countries. Her passion centres around working towards creating cultures where people can thrive and bring joy in the workplace and in our communities.

Mellener is often invited to speak at external events and conferences. In 2018, she was invited as a guest speaker to the UN Women Gender Focal Point Meeting in Geneva. She has been on the task force for several projects initiated by the Community Business Diversity Inclusion Asia Network. She has been an expert panellist for the 2021 Review of the Global D&I Benchmarks by the Centre for Global Talent and Inclusion.

She has been associated with the D&I advisory board of the Future Talent Council (FTC) since 2020 and has spoken at various FTC summits including the 2023 in person FTC Summit at Stockholm.

Recognised as an expert in the industry she has received a number of accolades for her work in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Mental Health including the Highly Commended - Most Inspiring HR Leader of the Year- THIS CAN HAPPEN 2022 and the India D&I champion of change award 2019.

She is passionate about education and employment of female students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and currently volunteers with a not for profit as a mentor for these students.

Her mission in life is to create more mindful, grateful and kinder communities at the workplace and beyond with the larger endeavour of impacting equality, equity and social justice.

Penny Barsha
Head of Corporate Responsibility, Asia
Linklaters

Penny worked as a corporate lawyer advising financial institution clients in Australia and Hong Kong for over 12 years, focusing on cross-border M&A as well as IPOs. She is now the Corporate Responsibility Manager for Asia for Linklaters. She manages the social impact, pro bono, diversity and inclusion, environment and health and wellbeing initiatives across Asia for the firm.  Penny moved to Hong Kong from Australia in 2007 and lives here with her husband and three children.

Shalini Mahtani
Founder
Zubin Foundation

Shalini Mahtani is one of Hong Kong’s most authoritative and respected voices on social issues, particularly diversity and inclusion. In addition to founding The Zubin Foundation, among the city’s most accomplished think tanks on issues related to ethnic minority welfare and patient welfare, Shalini is the founder of Community Business, the first organisation in Asia that brings together companies and their management around women, LGBTQ+ and disabilities at work. In 2009, Shalini was honoured by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, and a year prior she was awarded an MBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her services in corporate social responsibility in Hong Kong. She was also recognised by the HKSAR Government for her contribution to issues related to ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Shalini has authored research and opinion pieces on diversity and inclusion and is a frequent speaker on the topic. She is also a co-host on both BBC World Service and RTHK Radio 3. Shalini is from Hong Kong. She is a graduate of The London School of Economics. She is married and has three children.

Shruti Thakar
Practice Head, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – Asia, Australia, Middle East & Africa
Citi

Shruti heads the DE&I Practice for the Asia South, Asia North & Australia, Japan and Middle East & Africa clusters at Citi.

Shruti is a seasoned HR leader with 18 years of experience in leading multinationals, Citi, Unilever and Coca-Cola. She has held leadership roles, partnering with business heads to deliver on ambitious people plans.

Shruti is a dynamic professional with hands-on experience in cross-cultural talent development and succession planning and is passionate about embedding diversity, equity and inclusion for global organisations.

Shruti has extensive experience in Asia, having worked in Singapore, Hong Kong and India. Shruti, who is currently based in Singapore, is committed to assisting leaders in realising their full potential and improving organisational equity for all workers.

Shruti holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics and a Master's Degree in Human Resources. She is a certified strategic human resources leader from Cornell University.

Sudesh Thevasenabathy
AVP, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Asia
Manulife

Sudesh Thevasenabathy brings with him over 20 years of experience specialising in customer experience, process efficiencies and change management across multiple industries including telecommunications, consumer products, manufacturing, banking, healthcare tech as well as insurance. He is currently Asia Regional Lead of Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Manulife responsible for driving DEI global strategy and agenda across the region.

Being an advocate of inclusion, he won the 2019 LGBT+ Hong Kong Ally Award by Community Business and was named 2019 Global Top 50 LGBT+ OUTstanding Role Model through his work for the LGBT+ community. He is a true believer of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and with customers, and has been actively working to support differently abled, ethnic minorities, LGBT+, gender and multi-generational employees and the community over the past few years.

Walter Tsui Yu-hang, M.H.
Co-Founder and CEO
CareER

Walter Tsui, M.H. is the Co-Founder and CEO of CareER. Walter, though visually impaired, he has a strong commitment to support highly educated people with disabilities and special education needs in Hong Kong. In 2024, Walter was awarded the Medal of Honour by the HKSAR Government and was nominated by the U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong and Macau to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) to visit the USA, focusing on NGO Management.

Under Walter’s leadership, CareER, which was established in 2014, was recognised by the Vienna-based Zero Project Award 2021 for being the Innovative Practice for Employment from Civil Society. It was also awarded by The Hong Kong Council of Social Service as the Most Impactful Small and Medium-sized Non-subvented NGO in 2019. In 2022, he was awarded as one of the Gen.T Leaders of Tomorrow by Tatler, recognising his contribution in the community. Walter has acquired his executive training with Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2023 and 2021 respectively. Prior to starting his venture in CareER, Walter worked in a number of multinational corporations where Walter acquired relevant skills that empowered him to lead CareER.

Walter has devoted himself to serving the Hong Kong community, being nominated to various committees hosted by the Hong Kong Government and other statutory organisations. Walter has been a guest lecturer at HKUST in the MBA program, City U at Master of Social Work program on the topic of driving diversity, equality and inclusion in the private sector.

Despite his visual impairment, Walter has participated in Hong Kong’s New Year Winter Swimming for over 20 years and he has practised Chinese martial art “Wing Chun” for over 10 years, showing his endurance and perseverance.

Yosuke Ishikawa
Program Director, Social Inclusion Team
Nippon Foundation

Yosuke serves as the Program Director for the Disability Inclusion Program at The Nippon Foundation in Tokyo. In this capacity, he oversees various projects such as establishing bilingual deaf schools, capacity building for universities, scholarship programs, employment support efforts, and the establishment of sustainable prosthetist and orthotist schools systems throughout Asia.