Schedule

Josh Bersin founded Bersin & Associates in 2001 to provide research and advisory services focused on corporate learning. He expanded the company’s coverage to encompass HR, talent management, talent acquisition, and leadership and became a recognized expert in the talent market. Bersin sold the company to Deloitte in 2012.

In 2019, Bersin founded the Josh Bersin Academy, a professional development academy which has become the “home for HR” in past months. He is frequently featured in publications such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review, HR Executive, The Wall Street Journal, and CLO Magazine. He is a popular blogger and has more than 800,000 followers on LinkedIn.

Nela Richardson joined ADP as Chief Economist in November of 2020. Nela is the co-head of the ADP Research Institute and leads economic research for ADP. Previously she was Principal and Investment Strategist at Edward Jones, a financial services firm. In that role, Nela analyzed and interpreted economic trends and financial market conditions and recommended investment strategies. Nela is also the former chief economist at Redfin Corp., a national real estate brokerage and technology company, where she led a team of data scientists, economists and writers to track trends in the housing market. Nela also served as a senior economist for Bloomberg, L.P., covering housing and financial markets, and has held research positions at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and Freddie Mac. She also worked as an adjunct finance professor at the Carey School of Business at John Hopkins University.

Nela earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Maryland-College Park with concentrations in financial economics, international finance and economic development. She obtained a master’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, where she was a triple major in mathematics, economics and philosophy.

Nela regularly provides insight on the economy, real estate trends and capital markets to policymakers, consumers and media. She is a regular contributor to Marketplace from American Public Media and has frequently appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business CNN, Yahoo Finance, the Wall Street Journal, FORTUNE magazine, The New York Times and other national and local media.

Nela serves on the foundation board for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Conference of Business Economists.

Alexandra Badenoch became Telstra’s Group Executive Transformation & People on 1 October 2018 and in February 2020 took on expanded accountability for the Communications team, becoming Group Executive Transformation, Communications & People. In this role Alex is accountable for Telstra’s transformation roadmap and orchestrating the delivery of its key priorities with a focus on transforming the way employees work. The role also oversees activity designed to strengthen employee engagement and external reputation.

Alex re-joined Telstra in August 2016 to take up the role of Group Executive Human Resources. In this role she was responsible for the provision of strategic advice and support to the business in the areas of Organisational Development and Performance, New Ways of Working, Talent, Recruitment, Remuneration and Rewards, HR Systems, Health Safety & Environment and Workplace Relations.

Prior to this, she was Director of Human Resources, Corporate Affairs and Customer at Asciano, Australia’s largest rail and ports operator, and brings a wealth of experience dealing with a highly diversified and international workforce.

Before joining Asciano, Alex worked at Telstra for more than five years as Executive Director Organisational Development & Talent and Executive Director HR for Telstra’s Consumer business, including BigPond and Telstra Country Wide.

Known for her change management skills and ability to deliver strong commercial outcomes, Alex has designed and implemented key initiatives to drive successful change across multiple organisations, including Novell Inc and Coles Myer.

Alex has a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology and Criminology) and a Graduate Diploma in Human Resources from the University of Melbourne.

Johannes Eckold is a recognized Human Capital Management expert with 15+ years of working experience in Hong Kong and Singapore. He advises organizations on areas such as HR Technology, Talent Management, Succession Planning, Employee Engagement, Leadership Development etc.

Prior to his current engagement with Oracle, Johannes founded HR consulting firm Up! Advisory and held various senior positions in Willis Towers Watson in Europe and Asia. As a trusted advisor and frequent public speaker, Johannes helps leaders, teams and organizations to be future ready.

Rachele Focardi is a global thought-leader and world-renowned public speaker on Multigenerational Workforce Dynamics, Future of Work, Employer Branding and Talent Strategy. Born and raised in Italy, she spent her professional life between Europe, U.S.A. and Asia. Since 2003, Rachele has spearheaded the Employer Branding movement globally, advocating that organizations and governments incorporate an Employer Branding Strategy into their workforce planning. Over the years she has advised hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, Asian organizations, NGOs and Government Agencies. Today, Rachele’s passion is to help organizations adapt to the needs of the new generations and make Generational Diversity a key item on their Diversity & Inclusion Agenda by developing initiatives, programs and content that provide the opportunity for employees across all age groups to learn about each other and from each other, collaborate efficiently, and together drive change. Rachele is also is committed to helping Governments, Organizations and Education Systems undergoing transformation meet the needs of the future workforce. She is the author “Reframing Generational Stereotypes” published by McGraw Hill in December 2020, Chair of the Multigenerational Workforce Committee for the ASEAN Human Development Organization and Founder of XYZ@Work. Previously Chief Strategy Officer for Universum and Anchor for CFN-CNBC, Rachele is also a member or MENSA.

Lauren is the EX Solutions Strategist for Qualtrics in South East Asia. She is a highly experienced organisational psychologist with over a decade of experience in working with C-suite and senior management across industries to enable their human capital strategies. She has previously worked at SHL (including during its ownership by CEB and Gartner) as well as Deloitte, prior to this she worked in internal HR roles. Lauren has a specific focus on emerging economies; she started her career in Africa, has been living in Asia for the last 3 years and is currently based in Singapore – having delivered on site to clients in sixteen countries. Lauren holds two Masters degrees, her first was in Organisational Psychology and her second was in Innovation Studies through a leading business school.

Drew Fernandez is the Global Chief People Officer for Coca-Cola Bottling Investments Group. Drew sits in the Global HR leadership team of The Coca-Cola Company and in the Senior Leadership Team of the Coca-Cola Bottling Investments Group, responsible for about 45,000 associates and 800 HR professionals across all Coca-Cola-owned bottlers around the world. Prior to this role, he took on numerous leadership positions such as the Vice President and Chief People Officer of Coca-Cola Philippines and as the Chief Human Resources Officer Asia Pacific for Sitel Group at the time when the company was recognized as PMAP People Program of the Year for their work on Sitel Academy. Before returning to the Philippines in 2018, he has spent 15 years with Unilever assigned in international leadership roles covering Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Drew is inspired to continuously innovate towards the future of work, and committed to groom the modern talent.

Neil Jones serves as Regional Managing Director, APAC at AMS. Backed with over twenty years of experience in the sector, he heads the APAC Leadership team, driving the region’s growth strategy and business plan objectives.

Prior to joining AMS, Neil spent 12 years of his career at the Adecco Group, fulfilling a variety of senior roles including serving as Managing Director of Pontoon EMEA. He brings a wealth of experience to the APAC region, having previously served as Managing Director of Pontoon APAC and CEO of the Adecco Group, Australia & New Zealand.

Madeline’s primary focus over the last 12+ years has been on the talent management market, specializing in talent acquisition. Her work helps companies both validate and reevaluate their strategies and understand the role technology can play in driving business outcomes. She has watched HCM transform from a back-office function to a strategic company initiative with a focus on partnerships, experience and efficiency. Before Aptitude Research Partners, Madeline held research roles at Aberdeen, Bersin by Deloitte, ERE Media and Brandon Hall Group. She is co-author of Best Practices in Leading a Global Workforce and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Yahoo News, and The Financial Times. She is a frequent presenter at industry conferences including the HR Technology Conference and Exposition, SHRM, IHRIM, HCI’s Strategic Talent Acquisition conference, GDS International’s HCM Summit, and HRO Today.

Kevin Martin is the chief research officer at the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp); the leading research firm focused on discovering the people practices that drive high-performance.

In addition to guiding i4cp’s research agenda and deliverables, Kevin advises corporate and human resources leadership teams on best- and next-practices in topics that range from talent risk management and organizational agility, to human capital strategy and metrics, to leadership behaviors and corporate culture. He is also the executive sponsor of i4cp’s distinguished Chief HR Officer Board.

Prior to i4cp, Kevin worked at research firm Aberdeen Group where he built one of the industry’s leading human capital management (HCM) research practices and then held a variety of roles of increasing responsibility which included SVP of Research Operations with general management oversight of 17 research practices, and SVP of International Operations where he led the firm’s expansion efforts in to Europe.

A highly sought-after international keynote speaker on all aspects of human capital and talent management, Kevin has been recognized as a “Top 100 HR Influencer to Follow on Twitter” by Witty Parrot and a “Top 100 HR Influencer” by HR Examiner. His and his team’s research have been cited in leading business media, including Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Inc. Magazine, Bloomberg, the Financial Times, The New York Times, CFO Magazine, CIO Applications, and on CNBC.

Kevin currently serves on the advisory councils for the University of Dayton’s school of business administration and school of engineering. He also serves on the board of advisors for Bullseye Engagement. From 2005 to 2014, Kevin served on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Massachusetts, which included a two-year term as board chair. In 2006, Kevin was awarded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s “Big Brother of the Year”.

Kevin earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of Dayton. He resides in the United States (Massachusetts) with his wife (Laura) and their three sons.

Anita Lettink is an HR and Payroll technology expert with more than 20 years of strategy, alliances, business development, sales and solution experience. Anita advises companies and investors around the world on HR Tech selections and investments. She is fascinated by the Future of Work, the founder of hrtechradar.com and the force behind HR2025 research.  Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter, or subscribe to her newsletter.

Ms. Jashmeen joined SHL in 2018 and is now the Senior Consultant in the Singapore Professional Service Team.

Jashmeen has worked in the Human Capital industry since 2010. Her consulting expertise in particular have seen her develop strong advisory relationships with clients in a multitude of industries. She has been responsible for the implementation of significant leadership development projects, including the provision of feedback and working with individuals one-to-one on devising their post-feedback developmental plans, assisting them to set career goals to guide their career strategies and decisions using psychology theory and practices. She has conducted needs analysis with various organisations and advised on business solutions accordingly, delivering various outcomes related to human capital needs and talent management, culminating in the development of organizational specific best practice guidelines. She works with her clients to understand needs, trends and demonstrate return on investment.

Prior to joining SHL, Jashmeen was employed as the Head of Assessments at Omnicor (Pty) Ltd, where she was responsible for client management and consulting activities as well as leading a team of experienced consultants to deliver talent solutions to a wide range of clients, including franchises, financial institutions, higher education institutions and NGOs. She draws upon a wealth of experience as an Industrial-Organisational Psychologist, with her expertise focused in the areas of talent management and consulting. Delivery has ranged across many aspects of the talent cycle, including the use of psychometric assessments for recruitment and development, conducting job analyses,  development of competency frameworks, conducting talent audits, designing and delivering training interventions, running wellness programs and conducting research and analysis of assessment data. She has advised clients on human capital needs related to talent management, retention, talent development and succession planning.

Jashmeen holds a Masters’ degree in Industrial Psychology from the University of Johannesburg. Jashmeen is a registered Industrial Psychologist and Psychometrist with the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA), having worked in the Human Capital industry since 2010. She is also an Associate Member of the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychologists, South Africa (SIOPSA).

As a trusted ERP expert with 20+ years of consulting with global organizations, Stephen Roche and his company, Cloud Services Solutions, are client advocates helping enterprise companies:

• Find the ERP software that’s the right fit for them.
• Reduce time associated with implementing or migrating ERP to the cloud
• Complete their ERP projects on time and on budget
• Triage problems with existing ERP implementations

Cloud Services Solutions was named by CIO Review as one of the ”10 Most Promising ERP Consulting/Services” companies in 2019 and 2020 and a “Top Cloud Solution Provider” in 2020 by APAC CIO Outlook. Stephen has also shared his knowledge and expertise with readers of Acquisition International, CIO Review, and LinkedIn.
Stephen holds an MBA from California Lutheran University and is a veteran of the United States Navy. Before founding Cloud Services Solutions in 2017, he worked as General Manager in the Application Services Division of Sunguard Higher Education, Peoplesoft Practice Director with Enterprise Resource Planners, and Peoplesoft Workday Practice Director with HECS, Inc.

Dr. Terri Horton is a workforce futurist, artificial intelligence business strategist and founder of FuturePath, LLC. She is a future of work expert and her expertise sits at the intersection of the future of work, artificial intelligence, and the impact to organizational strategy and people. She consults, coaches, trains and provides strategies and solutions for organizations, executives and entrepreneurs to thrive in the accelerated unfolding of the future of work.

Dr. Horton uniquely synthesizes her multidisciplinary background in corporate strategy, learning and development, digital transformation, branding and education to inspire and empower clients to reimagine the future of work, business and people strategy by connecting the dots for them to humanize the workplace, develop emotionally intelligent, future-focused leaders, develop, upskill and reskill workers, and to ethically and responsibly use data for good.

Dr. Horton is a widely recognized thought-leader on the future of work, is a subject-matter expert with two global research consultancies, has provided strategic insights for Pew Research Center, Forbes and the Obama Foundation Scholars Program on International Development and Policy. She has provided training, coaching and keynote speeches for Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, professional associations, institutions of higher learning, government agencies and to international officials from Asia, Europe and Africa.

Dr. Horton is currently writing a book about thriving in the future of work that will publish in 2021. Dr. Horton’s prior experience includes several marketing and advertising leadership and executive roles across print, television and online platforms with global media organizations, and administrative roles in higher education.

Dr. Horton holds a doctorate in Education focused on Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California, Master of Arts in Organizational Management, MBA-Marketing, micro-credentials in AI Business Strategy from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Data Analytics from Cornell University. She is a Workhuman® Certified Professional, EQ-i 2.0/EQ360 certified to assess, coach and train leaders and teams on emotional intelligence, holds multiple industry credentials in human resources, is a lecturer in the University of California and California State University systems and a course facilitator with Cornell University.

Eklavya Bhave is an experienced Business and technology executive. He currently serves as the Regional Director for Coursera’s Asia Pacific business. He leads a team that is committed to providing equal access to the world’s best education. His responsibilities include driving GTM strategy for Coursera’s enterprise business in the APA region.
Eklavya has close to two decades of experience in Business Development in the technology space. He has held leadership positions in companies such as Citrix, Oracle, Microsoft etc.
Prior to Coursera, Eklavya was the Head of Channels and Alliances for South Asia for Citrix. In this role he was responsible for building and executing business strategy for the region by leading cross functional teams. Eklavya is an Engineering graduate with masters in Management.

Suchita Prasad is a leadership development, talent and change management Expert at McKinsey & Company and leads McKinsey Academy in SE Asia. She helps leadership teams build and strengthen Organizations for the Future and helps develop leaders for the future.

She has extensive work experience with Asian, American and global multinational companies on organizational transformations, redesigning talent systems, leadership and capability building and helping companies embrace change.

Prior to McKinsey, Suchita worked as a HR Business Partner at Hindustan Unilever Ltd, where she led a team of experienced executives in three manufacturing units in a highly unionised setup.
Suchita has also been part of the initial founding team of an online education start-up, the “Fullbridge Program”, founded by HBS Professor Peter Olson.

Suchita is passionate about education and helping people uncover their potential. As the Board Member at Harvard Business School Club of Singapore, she leads the Mentorship Initiative, which annually matches over 250 students from Singaporean Universities and Polytechnics with alumni from HBS and other Partner Schools.

Suchita has an M.B.A. in general management from Harvard Business School (2011), a Diploma in Human Resources from Symbiosis University, India (2007) and a BE in Electronics and Telecommunication (2003) from Mumbai University, India.

Charles Ferguson is General Manager of Asia at Globalization Partners (GP), a human resourcing service that helps businesses to hire anywhere within a few business days, handling complex legal, tax and HR issues, through its Global Expansion Platform™.

Charles has worked with private equity and leading brands in the business enterprise and technology space. He was most recently the group chief commercial officer for Tricor Group, a Hong Kong-headquartered business expansion specialist. The Permira investee company brought Charles in to design and execute global sales, marketing, and product innovation strategy. Prior to Tricor, Charles was president and general manager for Asia Pacific at ADP, a payroll giant.

Before ADP, Charles co-founded ReedHamilton, which focused on talent acquisition to go-to-market strategy across industries. During his corporate career, Charles held senior roles at SAP (2009-2011), salesforce.com(2006-2008), Microsoft (2001-2006) and Intel (1994-2001).

Outside of his corporate life, the US-born Singapore citizen started and managed “Number Five” a jazz club and bistro on the Bund in Shanghai for almost a decade up to 2011.

Charles holds a master’s degree in innovation management from the Helsinki School of Economics at Aalto University, and did his undergraduate studies at Bard College in the United States.

Anandarajah heads the Competition & Antitrust and Trade Practice, leads the Corporate Governance Practice and is a member of the Employment & Benefits, and the Environmental Sustainable Governance Practice. Always a forerunner in niche areas of the law, her key practice areas are Competition and Trade (including consumer protection), with strong secondary practices in Employment, Environmental (EHS), Sustainability, and Corporate Governance, where she has formidable accolades. On Employment Law, she is cited as a leading Employment & Labour lawyer by international peer review legal ranking journals. Anandarajah advises a number of multinational corporations on a regular basis in relation to their employment concerns, including employment agreements, executive compensation benefits payable, including options of differing forms such as ESOPs and LTIPs, health and safety issues, termination and termination benefits, non-compete, restraints, implementing and reviewing employment handbooks and manuals, employment transfer issues, whistleblowing policies and implementation and more. Lauded by clients as having “unrivalled knowledge and understanding of the law and uniquely… able to understand very complicated businesses and their likely reactions” by Chambers Asia-Pacific 2021. 2020 Who’s Who of Leading Lawyers notes that she “earns high praise from peers, who identify her as ‘extremely dynamic, inspiring and sharp’, with clients giving her exceptional praise, deeming her “superbly responsive, very hard-working, solution-oriented and reliable.” Anandarajah sits on various boards, including Building and Construction Authority. Anandarajah was in 2014 awarded the Public Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Masyarakat) which is conferred by the President of Singapore.

Michael is a highly experienced Talent Consultant, having spent a decade and a half in roles encompassing learning & organisational development and talent management. As part of the Professional Services Team at SHL, Michael supports clients in conceptualising and executing talent strategies while leveraging SHL’s best-in-class tools and cutting edge research.

During his 7-year stint with SHL in South Asia, he has led some of the largest assessment and development centre projects for the region, while providing deep insights to clients on streamlining their talent management initiatives. He moved to Singapore in 2019 to support SHL’s South-East Asian clients in deriving business value from their people processes.

Michael not only supports clients with creating custom assessment solutions, but is also involved in designing competency frameworks, advising clients on SHL’s range of online psychometric assessments, and also designs and delivers bespoke training workshops.

Prior to joining SHL, Michael has worked with organisations like Hutchison’s Three, IBM Global Process Services, and Standard Chartered Bank, where he has anchored the design and delivery of bespoke learning interventions targeted at enhancing business results through improved employee performance.

Michael holds a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai. He is also a certified coach by Corporate Coach U and certified in Training Needs Analysis and Evaluating of Training by Langevin Learning Services.

Sophie Guerin is the Head of Diversity & Inclusion, APAC at Johnson & Johnson since 2020. Prior to joining J&J, Sophie was the APAC Head of D&I at Dell Technologies and the Head of D&I for Community Business. She has been living and working in APAC on and off for 18 years.

Sophie is a recognized expert on diversity & inclusion in Asia with a specialty in supplier diversity 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 Co-Chair and founding member of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Singapore Women in Business Committee. She is a founding member of AmCham China Women’s Professional Committee and former member of AmCham Hong Kong Women of Influence Committee. Sophie is also the Founder of Women in International Public Affairs based in Paris, France and a founding member of Global Women Leaders, a female-led philanthropy platform.

She holds a Masters in Public Affairs from SciencePo Paris and a BFA from NYU in East Asian Studies and Theatre

Fabian oversees the International MICE team at Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) and has been in the hospitality industry for seven years. He started his journey in the MICE industry curating recreational corporate activities such as teambuilding and family days, and organising large scale public events like competitive runs.

Since 2018, Fabian and the SDC team have focused on creating unique meeting experiences for international corporate clients. The team boasts a track record of creating magical moments for clients, leveraging Sentosa’s island charm and diverse network of Island Partners (tenants) to put together novel and memorable experiences for guests.

Fabian and the International MICE team were named the “Best Meetings Organiser” at the Singapore Tourism Awards 2020.

Sulaxmi is an employee wellbeing, compensation & benefits and analytics leader with over 10 years of experience in HR including HR technology and HR strategy.

She is currently the APAC HR Director for Herbalife Nutrition managing the wellbeing, talent acquisition, and compensation & benefits portfolio. Prior to this, Sulaxmi was the Head of Talent and Rewards at Digi Telecommunication for 2.5 years where she worked on strategies and implementations of compensation, benefits and talent programs for one of Malaysia’s largest telecommunications companies. Before Digi, she spent close to 2+ years as a Practice Leader in Willis Towers Watson as a business leader where she handled surveys and rewards projects including salary benchmarking, pay range design and HR analytics across multiple industries.

Sulaxmi holds a degree of Masters of Business Administration from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and also an engineering graduate in Computer Science.

Patricia has 10+ years experience in client management, business development and solution selling. Her current role at Wolters Kluwer is focused on managing Corporate and Strategic accounts including the Big 4 accounting firms. Wolters Kluwer Singapore also known as CCH Asia Pte Ltd- the leading provider of information, software and services for professionals in tax, finance, human resources, legal, risk and compliance management. Prior to Wolters Kluwer, Patricia worked at S&P Global Platts – the leading independent provider of information, benchmark prices and analytics for the energy and commodities market in a regional sales manager role.

Halim leads the International MICE team at Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) and has been in the MICE industry for eight years. Halim’s first foray into the MICE industry was in 2013 when he was a corporate sales executive of one of Sentosa’s family-friendly attractions then, the Port of Lost Wonder.

Today, Halim and the MICE team at SDC works closely with partners, such as the Singapore Tourism Board, and Destination Management Companies (DMCs) to attract key international and local business events to Sentosa Island. The team works closely with Island Partners (tenants) to curate bespoke MICE events for corporate delegates, offering novel out-of-the-boardroom experiences and creating extraordinary memories.