2021 Hong Kong LGBT+ Inclusion Awards - Judging Panel

To maintain the credibility of our 2021 Hong Kong LGBT+ Inclusion Awards, we work hard to ensure a robust and objective judging process. This includes the formation of a Judging Panel with representation from senior members of the Community Business team as well as external stakeholders. 

Each Judging Panel comprised of:

• At least one external expert in the relevant field;
• One senior executive from the award sponsor, where applicable; and
• Two senior representatives from Community Business

All judges listed in alphabetical order by first name

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Renee So 
Executive Director, Human Capital Management
Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC 

Renee So is the Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Goldman Sachs Asia. She is responsible for driving the D&I strategy and inclusive culture initiatives and efforts related to the recruitment, retention and advancement of diverse talents. She also oversees talent assessment in Asia and drives leadership talent review and succession planning for the region. She joined the firm in 2003 as Executive Director.  

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, she has worked in Merrill Lynch, American Express, Morgan Stanley and Motorola, and has extensive experiences in human resources advisory, learning and development, recruiting, compensation, benefits and mobility. 

She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and has worked in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Sydney. 

Rob Head  
Director, Proposition Lead, Content Solutions, Asia and Emerging Markets 
Thomson Reuters  

Rob Head is commercially responsible for Thomson Reuters Legal and Tax content portfolios including Westlaw, Practical Law and Checkpoint services from Africa, Russia and Middle East through to Asia, and Australasia and manages diverse teams this region.  Rob is passionate about Diversity & Inclusion in all its forms, and is the Executive Sponsor for Pride at Work in the region.  Rob is also a male-ally to Women@TR and in the wider legal community.  Rob is the 2019 Hong Kong LGBT+ Inclusion Champion and an OUTstanding LGBT+ Future Leader Role Model 2019 and 2020, and led efforts to achieve the 5th place ranking and Gold Standard in the Hong Kong LGBT+ Inclusion Index. 

Sara Duckworth
Managing Director, Head of Talent Development, Diversity and Inclusion Asia Pacific, Hong Kong
J.P Morgan  

Sara Duckworth is responsible for designing and delivering an inclusive talent strategy to attract and retain a diverse pipeline of talent across the region.  She partners closely with the firm’s senior country officers and local management teams to ensure J.P Morgan deliver a first-class inclusive employee experience that will help the firm grow and maintain a robust pipeline of exceptional talent across all lines of business and functions.   

Prior to joining J.P Morgan in 2011, Sara held various roles where she was responsible for driving employee development and talent management initiatives at financial institutions such as BNY Mellon, HSBC and Morgan Stanley. 

Sara has a Graduate Certificate in Change Management, a Masters degree in Human Resource Development and a bachelors degree in Institutional Management. Sara has been living in Asia Pacific for the last 21 years and currently resides in Hong Kong with her husband Mark.  At weekends, you will either find Sara walking in the hills with their three dogs, Lucy, Bear and Fudge or taking part in yacht races around the island. 

Stuart Levison
Managing Director—Technology & Operations Risk, Asia Head of Enterprise Security Platforms, Global Head of ESP Data Protection
Morgan Stanley Asia  

Stuart Levison is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley in the Technology & Operations Risk Division, based in Hong Kong. He serves as the Asia Head of Enterprise Security Platforms (ESP) — responsible for the engineering and operations of the Firm's cybersecurity controls — and leads the global ESP Data Protection practice. Previously, Stu was the Chief Operating Officer to Asia Enterprise Technology & Services, and was the Chief Information Security Officer for Morgan Stanley Asia.  

Stu is co-Chair of Asia Pride and Allies. He first joined Pride and Allies in New York, and has been with the network in Asia since it was formed shortly after he relocated to Hong Kong in 2011.  

Stu has also been based in New York and London, where he led a range of cybersecurity and technology infrastructure programs.

All judges listed in alphabetical order by first name

Dr. Ben Capell 
Founder and Principal 
BeCap Management Consultancy 

Ben Capell is the founder and managing director of BECAP Management Consultancy and a senior consultant in organizational development. He partners closely with business and HR executives to help them improve their business results through the development and implementation of outstanding people management strategies and practices. Ben's main areas of expertise include cross-cultural collaboration, post merger integration, leadership development and diversity & inclusion (D&I). 

Ben brings close to 20 ears of consultancy experience. Over the years, Ben has designed and implemented large-scale people management initiatives in a variety of global organizations. He brings unique in-house expertise from his experience at Hewlett-Packard, where he headed regional and global roles in the areas of global leadership, D&I, talent management, and employee engagement. His consultancy track record comprises a wide portfolio of successful projects with a diverse range of organizations, such as Marriott, Danone , Nike, Danfoss, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Cathay Pacific, Shangri-La, Merck, ExxonMobil, Gensler, AIG, Roche, Electrolux, Hollister, Emerson, Tesco, Wells Fargo, UBS, W. L. Gore, and Unilever. 

Ben’s has lived in Hong Kong, the U.S., Japan, Israel, Spain, and Turkey, and he’s managed multinational teams in a wide range of locations. He speaks various languages, including English, Hebrew, Spanish, Catalan, and Japanese. 

Ben is licensed psychologist and has a Ph.D. in management sciences from ESADE Business School in Barcelona (Spain). He also holds a master’s degree in management sciences from ESADE, a master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Hartford (U.S.A), and an honor B.A. in human resources management from Tel Aviv College of Management (Israel).  In addition, Ben collaborates with various academic institutions, including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the University of Hong Kong

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David Hall 
Director of Communications
Pink Alliance 

David left HSBC in November 2010 having served for more than 12 years as Head of Corporate Communications in Asia. Subsequently, he was an adviser to the Chief Executive of Hang Seng Bank, 2012-2013, a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Bilingual Studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and a member of the International Advisory Council of APCO, a Washington DC based lobbying and corporate communications consultancy, from 2011-2012. 

Prior to joining HSBC, he was Head of Corporate Communications, North Asia, at Standard Chartered Bank, based in Hong Kong, 1994-1997. Before moving to Hong Kong he had been a partner in and director of Grayling, a corporate communications consultancy, where he had also been joint managing director of Westminster Strategy, its public affairs subsidiary. 

He is the Director of Communications for Pink Alliance. 

Eva Chau 
Former Board Member
Community Business 

Eva’s last corporate role was Group Head of Human Resources, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. She was responsible for formulating and implementing human resources policies, procedures, guidelines and systems 

Eva spent most of her career in the finance industry; She was previously with Goldman Sachs for 21 years, and her last official role was Co-head of Human Capital Management (HCM) in Asia Pacific Region. She managed offices from North to South East Asia, Japan and Mumbai.  Prior to joining HCM, Eva was global head of Banker Support Services in Investment Banking Division in Goldman Sachs. 

At Goldman Sachs, Eva was also a member of the Sustainable Leadership committee, of the Asia Pacific Diversity Committee. She served as a Managing Director ally of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT+) Network and was co-sponsor of the Women’s Career Strategies Initiative.  In addition to Goldman Sachs, she also worked for JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch. 

Eva was a former Board Member of Community Business between March 2016 and December 2020.  She was also former Chair of CareER, a Hong Kong non-profit organisation which supports higher education students with disabilities as they transition from school to the workplace. 

Peter Reading 
Senior Legal Counsel
Equal Opportunities Commission   

Peter Reading is an international human rights lawyer who has been working in the field of human law and advocacy for 19 years in Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, Commonwealth countries, and most recently in Hong Kong China.    

Since November 2012, Peter has been working at the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in Hong Kong where he is currently Senior Legal Counsel. In his role he has been leading the EOC’s work to modernise all the existing discrimination legislation in Hong Kong relating to sex, disability, race and family status. He has also been instrumental in the EOC’s legal work relating to promoting equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) groups.  This has included for example, advocacy work relating to the introduction of LGBTI anti-discrimination legislation, the right to equality for cohabiting same sex couples, as well as introducing gender recognition legislation for transgender people.   

Peter has also held a number of other positions recently. Since 2009, Peter has been a regular speaker at the European Academy of Law in Germany where he lectures on European Union anti-discrimination and human rights law.  In December 2017 Peter worked for Hagar International in Cambodia, doing policy work to further their assistance to victims of trafficking, sexual and other violence against women and children.   

Previously for 11 years Peter worked in London United Kingdom in a number of human rights roles including at Amnesty International UK; the Commission for Racial Equality as Principal Litigation Officer and Head of European and International Legal Policy from 2005 to 2008; the Equality and Human Rights Commission as a Senior Lawyer and Director of Legal Policy from 2008 to 2012; and at the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2012 as a human rights consultant on Commonwealth projects. 

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Dr. Travis S K Kong 
Associate Professor of Sociology and Programme Director of Media, Culture and Creative Cities
The University of Hong Kong 

Dr. Travis Kong is Associate Professor of Sociology and Programme Director of Media, Culture and Creative Cities at the University of Hong Kong. Kong is a leading sociologist of Chinese sexuality with a specialization in masculinity, homosexuality, prostitution, and transnational Chinese intimacy. He is the co-editor of Sexualities: Studies in Culture and Society and the sole author of Chinese Male Homosexualities: Memba, Tongzhi and Golden Boy (Routledge, 2011) [Later translated as  華人男同志跨地域研究 (香港中文大學出版社 , 2018)]  and Oral History of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong 男男正傳：香港年長男同志口述史 (Stepforward Multimedia, 2014) [Later translated as Oral Histories of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong: Unpoken but Unforgotten (HKUP, 2019)].

He publishes widely in books, encyclopedias and journals such as Gender, Work and Organization, British Journal of Criminology, The Sociological Review, Lancet and AIDS Care. He was the recipient of Prism Award of Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (2014) and  LGBT+ Advocacy awardee of Community Business (2020). He is now a board member of Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS and AIDS Concern. 

All judges listed in alphabetical order by first name ​

Adrienne Davis
Senior Programme Manager, LGBT+ 
Community Business

Adrienne is Senior Programme Manager, LGBT+ Campaign, based in Hong Kong. She drives the development, strategy, and execution of Community Business’ LGBT+ campaigns. Adrienne was a member of LGBT+ oriented clubs and volunteered for a disabled sporting NGO before relocating to Hong Kong in 2016. 

Prior to joining Community Business, she worked at an NGO in Hong Kong, which provides legal assistance to domestic workers in need. Her university experience and work in Hong Kong strengthened her drive to work for social justice and inclusion. Adrienne uses They/Them and She/Her pronouns. 

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Cora Mok
Manager, DIAN Programmes and Research
Community Business 

Cora Mok is a Manager for the Diversity and Inclusion in Asia Network (DIAN) at Community Business, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to advancing inclusive and responsible business practices in Asia.  

In her role Cora is responsible for the strategy and delivery of the programmes and research at DIAN, with the goal to help companies navigate critical diversity and inclusion issues through an Asian lens. She is also the author of 2019 Gender Diversity Benchmark for Asia and co-author of Balancing Career and Caregiving in Asia – The Role of Companies. 

Prior to joining Community Business, Cora worked in public relations where she developed campaigns to help global companies communicate their purpose to local audiences. She holds a master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Hong Kong, where she also received her bachelor’s degree in English Studies and Comparative Literature. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she speaks fluent Cantonese, English and Mandarin. 

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Janet Ledger
Chief Operating Officer
Community Business 

The Chief Operating Officer as a member of the Executive Leadership team, contributes to the overall strategic direction and sustainability of Community Business as a not-for-profit organisation. Responsibilities include executive leadership of all operational functions including Marketing and Communications, Change Management and HR, Employee Engagement & Culture, Finance, Legal and Compliance, Technology and Infrastructure. In addition she has leadership oversight of our number of our key programs including Gender, LGBT+ and Employee Wellbeing.  

Prior to joining Community Business Janet has built a successful career as a senior leader most recently with Telstra International in Hong Kong, covering a broad range of disciplines and functions including strategic business planning and performance, programme management and delivery, corporate governance, change management, organisational effectiveness and talent development. She also has experience in the Travel, Tourism, Training and Hospitality sectors. Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Janet and her husband now call Hong Kong home. 

Janet believes organisation is only as strong as its people. She has helped teams get where they want to be by working with people, opening channels of communication, developing and retaining the right talent and ensuring an inclusive environment where creativity and collaboration can thrive. 

With over 35 years work experience Janet is continuing her learning by undergoing study towards a Bachelor of Psychological Sciences through Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is an alumni of The Women's Foundation Mentoring Program. 

Jasmine Chung
Principal, Consulting & Training 
Community Business

Jasmine is Principal, Consulting & Training, based in Hong Kong. She is mainly responsible for the design and delivery of Diversity and Inclusion training and consulting to our corporate clients. 

Jasmine is a seasoned learning and development professional as well as a Certified Gallup StrengthsFinder Coach. Having worked in various industries including consumer products, information technologies, stage production healthcare, she has a good understanding of the opportunities and challenges faced by businesses and senior management. She is experienced at planning and executing learning, training and development solutions for corporate senior managers so as to address their various needs and career aspirations.  

Graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in the USA, Jasmine holds a Master degree of Science in Industrial Administration. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Jasmine is native in Cantonese and fluent in English and Mandarin.

Michael Chan
Manager, DIAN Learning and Engagement
Community Business 

Michael is Manager, DIAN Learning and Engagement, based in Hong Kong. He is responsible for managing DIAN Circles and The SPARK Series programmes. 

Prior to joining Community Business, Michael worked at an NGO in Hong Kong, where he was responsible for managing a programme that supports people living with HIV across their life span through individual counselling services, as well as the organisation of support groups and life quality enhancement activities.  

On a voluntary basis, Michael is part of the Global Shapers Community Hong Kong Hub, a global youth leadership initiative of the World Economic Forum. He is leading the hub’s mental health initiative, branded as “Shaping Minds”, that aims to shape workplaces in Hong Kong and improve levels of mental wellbeing among Hong Kong workforce through evidence-based interventions, as well as build a tight-knit community of workplace wellbeing professionals to cultivate partnerships and change. 

Michael is also an alumnus of the American Express Leadership Academy, a leadership program for young social purpose leaders and innovators. He is interested in anything related to diversity and inclusion, public health, and the translation of psychological science research to the real world.  

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michael holds a Bachelor Degree of Arts in Psychology, and he completed his Master of Public Health at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is fluent in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin.