CEO
Holmes & Marchant Asia

Holmes & Marchant are proud to have developed the BoardAgender positioning, brand, name and identity. We worked closely with the Working Committee through a rigorous branding process to ensure that the importance and intent of BoardAgender’s work was appropriately and clearly articulated through a strong and resonant brand.

Gender balanced business, and diversity throughout the workplace is a key business imperative for Holmes & Marchant. As a Singapore based agency, working throughout Asia with some of the world’s biggest and best known brands, it is essential that we reflect the society we – and our clients’ consumers are part of, in both gender and race terms.

Over 50% of our senior team are women, bringing balance to the organisation and to our work, strengthening our knowledge and experience base to better serve our clients.

Creativity and innovation is our lifeblood, and they need diversity of views, experience and insight to flourish.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/addison-james-272a06a/ 

Managing Director
Korn Ferry

The world is waking up to the potential and power of women – as consumers, as leaders and as a growing majority of the talent pool. In Korn Ferry’s line of work in the talent management space, we’ve seen a growing demand for female board candidates across the globe as companies start to recognize that homogenous leadership teams can be less equipped to do business in an increasingly complex business environment and successful boards should reflect the markets and customers they serve.

As Asia continues on its growth path, I have no doubt that the whole issue of board diversity and composition will accelerate as companies recognize that the most effective boards will be the ones that are international, and with more functional, sector and gender diversity.

Korn Ferry has also embarked on an annual board diversity study in the Asia Pacific region. Partnering with the National University of Singapore Business School, this study is into its fourth year and the latest report is conducted across 10 major economies. Our efforts are directed towards improving the overall effectiveness of organizations by introducing diversity from different angles through continued research on the performance effects of diversity.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-yi-5b835523/ 

CEO and Co-Founder
Alpha Biofuels

As a fast growing startup company in the clean technologies market, there are many instances in Alpha Biofuels’s history where we have to make decisions which affect the long term benefits of the company.

Having an experienced person who is willing to listen and understand our passion for doing what we do and also constantly providing us very timely advice is definitely a plus. Perhaps it is the innate quality of a woman that allows the contrarian views to be heard and considered while not dampening the team’s creativity and courage to continue exploring ideas.

As we continue to grow and expand, we recognize that a diversity of views is very important. As such we are keenly aware that having diverse views and arguments from our board members is important to ensure that we chart out a path that is unique to us.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allanlim/ 

Annie Koh is Vice President for Office of Business Development and External Relations at the Singapore Management University (SMU) with effect from June 2012.

An Associate Professor of Finance, Annie also holds the position Academic Director of The Financial Training Institute (FTI), Center for Professional Studies (CPS), International Trading Institute (ITI) and Business Families Institute (BFI) at SMU – NB.

It’s timely that BoardAgender has taken on this important agenda item – having greater diversity and representation of women at board levels.

At Davos in 2011, a recent study by BCG mentioned that whilst women are the ones influencing more than 70 percent of the household buying decisions and therefore exerting great impact on business – we are still not seeing sufficient recognition of their contribution at board level.

The time has come for more of us to make a difference in driving for greater diversity at board representation as it makes for sound business sense- businesses like countries can be sustainable only if there’s inclusive growth.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-koh-064114/ 

Managing Partner of Duane Morris & Selvam LLP and Selvam LLC

Duane Morris & Selvam LLP is the Asia associate of Duane Morris LLP, an international law practice. It actively supports the Duane Morris Women’s Initiative that recognises the unique attributes women bring to the practice of law. The Women’s Initiative facilities the interaction and exchange of ideas, fosters and expands business opportunities for women in the practice, to fully utilise their talents and to provide legal services of the highest quality.

As the influence and impact of women grows in the law, as in other professions, we can see the change in women’s status being shaped by their achievements. We are committed to working with high-achieving leaders of both sexes, in the law and in business, to advance our goal of providing the best legal advice across national and cultural lines, to all types of businesses.

https://www.duanemorris.com/attorneys/arfatselvam.html 

Senior Client Partner
Korn Ferry

At Korn Ferry, we design, build, attract and ignite talent. Since our inception, clients have trusted us to help recruit world-class leadership. Today, we are a single source for leadership and talent consulting services to empower businesses and leaders to reach their goals. We are a strong believer in diversity and inclusion, with a Workforce Performance, Inclusion & Diversity team working with many of the world’s leading organizations to help them maximize human potential.

Korn Ferry has also embarked on an annual board diversity study in the Asia Pacific region. Partnering with the National University of Singapore Business School, this study is into its fourth year and the latest report is conducted across 10 major economies. Our efforts are directed towards improving the overall effectiveness of organizations by introducing diversity from different angles through continued research on the performance effects of diversity.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvind-mathur-0137a84/ 

Chairman of South East Asia
Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is committed to creating an inclusive environment consisting of the very best and brightest talent from the widest possible range of backgrounds and experiences. With a strong focus on gender equality, we sustain a global effort to increase the number of senior women business leaders by supporting women in their career growth.

Our senior women’s initiative encapsulates a broad range of programs including a Women Partner Advocacyprogram whereby women partners meet to discuss promotion prospects of women managing directors and high-potential vice presidents, and reaffirm this vital pipeline with division heads.

To ensure that high-performing women have sponsors who will help expand their networks, form an objective view of their potential and encourage stretch assignments, we also rolled out the Female Vice President Sponsorprogram across Asia.

Our ACCESS program provides female vice presidents in Asia with access to local and visiting senior leaders, through private meetings, roundtables or partner dinners.

Addressing the industry-wide challenge of women leaving at a faster rate than men at a mid-point in their career, we launched the Returnship program in Singapore in 2011. The program provides women re-entering the industry with an opportunity to sharpen skills essential for returning the workplace.

Our Flexible Work Arrangements, Parenting Toolkit and Maternity Mentoring program help create a women-friendly work environment and support women with integrating their work and personal responsibilities.

Last but not least, our Women’s Networks host events throughout the year in different markets keeping gender diversity at the forefront of our minds.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooks-entwistle-56330847 

Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer
Fixed Income Asia Pacific

Singapore Branch Manager Credit Suisse AG
Investment Banking

Our international team of employees with diverse backgrounds is a key competitive advantage for Credit Suisse in today’s global business environment. To deliver the best possible service to our clients and to work together effectively across our regions, we require people with different culture, perspectives and wide-ranging experience.

Diversity provides us with richer insights and a better understanding of evolving client needs. The promotion of diversity and inclusion is therefore an integral part of our corporate strategy.

Gender diversity remains a key focus at Credit Suisse. We run programs to attract talented female professionals to our company. Our ongoing efforts to support the advancement of women are also reflected by our various initiatives ranging from training awareness, mentoring and role model program, equal job and promotion opportunities, internal & external networking as well as work life balance support.

In 2011 we were the key sponsors of the ‘Women Leaders of New Asia’ conference in Singapore. This year, also in Singapore, we are the Presenting Sponsor for the Forbes Forum: Asia’s Power Business Women. This forum is dedicated to understanding what is top of mind for women leaders today.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chienchien-wong-756a199 

President and CEO of Ascendas

I believe that striking a balance between work and family is important.

Today, companies have taken a more family-friendly approach towards providing a conducive environment for all its employees. At National Gallery Singapore, we’ve placed significant emphasis on creating an inclusive and family-friendly workplace for our employees through benefits such as flexible work arrangements and family leave allocated to spend time with their children or aged parents. Such flexi-hours and leave benefits apply to the men as well so that they can share equal responsibilities at home. By ensuring that the Gallery provides a supportive environment that caters to the employees’ family needs, they are able to focus on their careers and excel in their role.

Everyone looks for a supportive environment and unparalleled opportunities to develop one’s careers and capabilities. Hence, we strive to ensure that the Gallery provides the opportunities for our employees to grow and develop individually, regardless of gender, to help achieve both their personal and organisation goals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/siak-ching-chong-b9a41532/ 

CEO
Keppel Corporation Limited

People are our core assets and the Keppel Group actively grows the capabilities and capacities of our worldwide manpower and talent pool. We adopt a holistic approach towards hiring, developing and motivating our employees, and aligning our workforce with a common set of core values to influence behaviour and shape the corporate culture of our operations across the globe.

Keppel attracts and retains talented, capable women in all our businesses. Even in traditionally male-dominated industries like offshore and marine engineering, I am pleased that there are many women in the Group’s leadership ranks, and from my personal experience, the gender diversity has enriched our perspective and decision-making.

CEO & President
EDBI (EDB Investments)

Being Asia’s premier investor of globally competitive businesses, having a gender balanced workplace is important to EDBI. Women bring different insights and experiences, and thus provide a more holistic perspective to the organisation’s activities, in particular, in the decision making process.

At EDBI, we have a gender balanced workforce, including within our senior management ranks. This is consistent with one of our organisation’s core values – “Respect”, which means respect for the individual and their views, regardless of gender, race or age. From my experience, the work environment is enhanced when there is strong respect and inclusiveness, leading to even greater performance of the organisation!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/swee-yeok-chu-16b5715 

Group CEO
Singapore Telecommunications Limited

Partner
Latham & Watkins

Latham & Watkins is a full-service international powerhouse with internationally recognized practices in a wide spectrum of transactional, litigation, corporate and regulatory areas.

With more than 2,000 lawyers across our 31 offices in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US, Latham is one of the world’s premier business law firms advising clients across a number of practice areas and industries in more than 100 countries.

Latham is strengthened enormously by the diversity of our lawyers, paralegals and staff, who throughout the world comprise a rich mixture of men and women of different races, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, cultures and primary languages. Our commitment to diversity and equal opportunity enables us to draw from a remarkable wealth of talent to recruit and retain the best lawyers and create one of the world’s leading law firms.

For more than five years, Latham has been running it’s Women Enriching Business (WEB) program, a two-pronged initiative designed to promote women in business by creating broader networks and productive business relationships to attract and invest in the long-term success of women. Many of our offices across the globe host events geared toward women in business as well as internal programs focusing on mentoring, education and increasing the visibility of women role models throughout the firm. Our WEB initiatives provide networking opportunities, increased visibility on the variety of roles of women in business and address the interest of clients and business leaders committed to working with a more diverse law firm.

Latham WEB is a proud sponsor of the Fortune 100 Most Powerful Women Conference, The New York Women’s Foundation, National Association of Women Lawyers, National Association of Women Judges, Women in Law Empowerment Forum and Working Mother Media. Latham was also ranked in MultiCultural Law magazine’s “Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity” and “Top 100 Law Firms for Women” and awarded “Best Law Firm for Women” by Working Mother magazine in 2009.

CEO
Drew & Napier LLC

Organisations which do not operate on merit handicap themselves. Drew & Napier is what it is today because it is gender blind. For that reason, and as far as I can remember, Drew has always had women in leadership positions professionally and among our top executives.

They have comprised, and continue to be among, those recognised by the market as superb lawyers. One has gone on to become a highly respected High Court Judge. Another, a Senior Counsel, is a Member of Parliament who was also the Deputy Speaker of Parliament. The other women on Drew’s Board and those who are fast rising are high achievers who have displayed an amazing ability to balance their very heavy professional responsibilities with their roles as wives and mothers. Drew is run by women: they head up Administration, Finance, IT and Public Relations.

https://www.davindersinghchambers.com/ 

Managing Director
Senior Relationship Management
Barclays Bank

Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, we operate in over 50 countries and employ over 140,000 people. By providing large corporate, government and institutional clients with a full spectrum of solutions to their strategic advisory, financing and risk management needs, our clients can benefit from access to the breadth of expertise across Barclays.

Women’s Initiative Networks – known within Barclays as WiNs – is the largest employee networking group with a global community of 2,600 members. It has been established across various divisions and businesses to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

WiN is dedicated to enhance our work environment with the goal of attracting, developing and recognizing women at all levels and career trajectories. Through various development and leadership programs, WiN aims to empower women to develop to their fullest potential by helping them navigate and leverage available resources.

In 2011, Barclays has received recognition from The Times Newspaper as one of the top 50 places in the UK where women want to work, for the fifth year running. In addition, we also won the 2011 Advancing Women in the Workplace Award from Opportunity Now, an accolade which recognises organisations that aid the recruitment, retention and development of women in the workplace. The honour celebrates the progress made by Women’s initiatives Networks across Barclays.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-ho-88893220/ 

Managing Director
Channel News Asia

I think it’s important to have more gender diversity, not because it’s a PC thing, or just because women form half the population, and very likely half the working population in Singapore. It’s important because women’s perspectives on issues are shaped by the myriad of roles they play in society. From being mothers, wives, daughters and sisters to breadwinners today, women lend valuable insights which will contribute to more inclusive decision making by companies.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-soon-7824352b/ 

Immediate Past President, Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations and Chair, Women’s Register

To ignore the talent of half of one’s population does not make sense. Women obviously determine the spending patterns of almost the entire household, plans for the activities within her home, aside from coping with her own work / career and her aging parents and her growing kids.

Women make an ever increasing percentage of the tertiary student population and they often excel in their studies and thereafter in the workforce. We need to learn to tap on this emerging force and deal with them and help them fulfill their aspirations.

Women multitask well and have the ability to be very meticulous and consistent in their work. I say, harness these attributes, as the world cannot ignore the fact that there are many more well educated and capable and willing women who will step up to the challenge and responsibility of being on boards.

We need to work with the men, our sons and husbands so that they know that we can work hand in hand for a better future as we definitely complement each others’ strengths and bring a more balanced viewpoint to the board table and the home front.

Associate Professor and Associate Director, Centre for Governance, Institutions & Organizations, NUS Business School

Dr. Marleen Dieleman is associate professor and associate director of the Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations (CGIO) at NUS Business School in Singapore. She holds a Ph.D. from Leiden University and a master degree in business administration from Rotterdam School of Management, both in The Netherlands.
Marleen teaches corporate strategy and her research interests are in Asian family businesses -in particular in Indonesia- and in the governance of Asian firms.

She has published widely on these topics, including articles in academic journals, books, book chapters, cases and reports. Her work is featured regularly in international media such as the Financial Times and she is a frequent invited speaker on governance in Asia. Marleen also teaches in various executive education programs and has extensive consulting experience.

Marleen is vice president of the Association of Dutch Businesspeople, committee member of Family Business Network Asia in Singapore, and an advisor to BoardAgender.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marleen-dieleman-b1b246/ 

Managing Partner of Egon Zehnder International in Singapore

Egon Zehnder International is a global and equal partnership comprising individuals of different cultures, ethnicities and beliefs, across 63 offices in 37 countries. We believe diversity is a critical factor behind the success in our firm and have been very active in promoting diversity within the firm and through our work with clients around the globe.

Specifically, we seek out individuals with different perspectives, a fresh approach to solving business problems and who are inclusive team players to join our firm. We are also committed to providing our clients with advice and solutions that mirror our own belief in the value of diversity, through applying the firm principles of meritocracy and diversity as the basis on which we assess and select leaders for organizations.

Global initiatives that we have undertaken to promote diversity include our long-time collaboration with the European Professional Women’s Network and the Deauville Women’s Forum, as well as our sponsorship of the Financial Times Global Women CEO ranking.

Personally, I have been helping to forward the cause of diversity through my engagements with clients, in my work with Board-level executive and non-executive director searches, and broader advisory work. I am actively seeking to bring more Asians and women onto the boards of global companies. Everyday in my work, I build and maintain
relationships with executives of diverse backgrounds and cultures and always seek to keep refining our search and assessment approach to help my clients in leadership selection and development.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-yew/ 

President & Founder of 77th Street Singapore

There should be no gender discrimination in any matters. In business as in many other things, capability is of the essence and may the person with the right capabilities climb the corporate ladder.

Men and women often have different perspectives and see things differently and thus a boardroom should be inclusive and should include leaders of both genders and have diverse opinions, inputs culminating in decisions where more views are considered.

In 77th Street Pte Ltd, our Board of Directors and managerial staff consist of more women than men not by intention, but by recognition of these board members and managerial staff on the basis of meritocracy.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elim-chew-tv-4375391/ 

Chairman
Great Eastern Holdings

At Great Eastern, we value our people resources and recognise that they make the ultimate difference in the success of our business. Over the years, we have put in place programmes to help our employees realise their full potential. We recognise and value the importance of gender diversity in the workplace. Women offer different perspectives, experiences and skills which, when combined, help in facilitating decision-making on a more holistic level.

In Singapore, women are increasingly more educated and also more active in the workforce. Many are suitably qualified for senior positions and can contribute significantly when given the opportunity. Within the Great Eastern Group, women make up about 65% of our workforce. It will be a waste if we do not continue to harness our female talents to create real and sustainable value for the company.

At Great Eastern, we believe in empowering our women customers. We offer the most comprehensive suite of financial and protection products to meet their needs and enable them to be financially independent. Since 2006, we have been sponsoring an annual run for women which attracts over 10,000 participants.

Minister, Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs

In this age of fast changing globalised world of business, companies benefit from a board that is as broadly presented as possible. We have seen positive outcomes for businesses when there is greater gender diversity. Women directors can bring to the board perspectives and experiences that represent an increasingly influential consumer group, employee group and stake holder group – women.

https://www.facebook.com/gracefu.hy/ 

Vice President of Cisco

t’s a fact of human nature: When we feel included, and we are appreciated for who we are, we work to our
fullest potential.

Every day at work, our people come in contact with a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and points of view. This interaction not only leads to better products and services, but better people, better business-decisions and better work-culture.

Our human network, based on equal opportunity, inclusivity, flexibility and trust creates a collaborative environment
that provides value through greater creativity and industry innovation while further developing our capabilities.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/irving-tan/ 

Managing Director
IBM Singapore

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetang 

Managing Director
Microsoft Singapore

By providing access to technology, Microsoft strives to help all people realize their potential. Diversity and inclusion are core values to our business imperatives. We promote diversity at every level within our organization and strive for inclusiveness in everything we do. We believe that employing top talent from all groups within our communities—from many backgrounds and with varied experiences—helps us to better serve our customers and gives us a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

As a female leader in today’s technology industry, I look for ways to encourage young talents to participate and leverage the opportunities with technology. I believe that it’s important for them to not only understand technology but also the impact that they have on businesses and customers. I was lucky to have mentors who showed me this. I have worked with very smart technology people who took the time to sit down and explain things in a way I could understand them.

Empowering women to take leadership roles in technology is a critical step to strengthening the long-term commitment to developing female talent in our industry. In our industry, as we think about inspiring young women to enter IT careers, we need to come up with creative ways to keep them engaged. The technology landscape is changing so quickly, it’s sometimes tough for people to keep up. Good mentorship, direction and leadership are critically important.

But, there is also great reward! I love my job because it helps me to stay on top of technology and on the forefront of enabling possibilities.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-sn-tan/ 

President
Henkel, South East Asia

At Henkel, we are convinced that diversity at the workplace, characterized by different ways of thinking and working, is an important value and a competitive advantage. Gender diversity is one of the three key dimensions of Henkel’s Diversity and Inclusion strategy. The other two dimensions are: nationality and age/professional experience.

We have continuously increased the share of women in management positions, from a good 26 percent in 2008 to around 33 percent at the end of 2014. Henkel holds a leading position among DAX 30 companies in this respect. To further consolidate this position, we have set ourselves the goal of increasing the share of female managers at all levels throughout the company by an average of one to two percentage points each year.

While we recognize the necessity of increasing the percentage of women in leadership positions, Henkel is against a fixed female quota. Irrespective of gender, everyone is assessed and promoted based exclusively on their performance and potential.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joerg-raichle-541b3569/ 

CEO
Petra Foods Limited

At Petra Foods, through a balanced gender workforce, with key women executives at the helm in vital areas such as quality, technology, operations, human resources and finance, we take pride in our passion and ability to deliver premier quality cocoa ingredients and branded consumer confectionery to our global customers amidst increasingly intense competition.

Petra Foods’ corporate culture is underpinned by our codified values comprising, our “willingness to go the extra mile”, “sensitivity to others” and “respect” for the individual, which our women colleagues are adept at melding and creatively driving to lead us to greater performance and success.

https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/6919587 

Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and
Ministry of Transport

For good decision-making, it’s important for teams and organisations to have a range of views. Diversity allows people to think more holistically and to vary their problem-solving methods. By including women, especially in leadership positions, organizations also avail themselves to a much wider pool of talents, thereby enhancing their ability to succeed.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephine-teo-104054184/ 

Managing Director
SAP Singapore

Diversity in the workplace is no longer an option or a nice to have. It is a competitive imperative. Study after study proves that having a diverse mix of experiences and perspectives leads to better strategic decision making, increased innovation and better corporate governance.

Our employees are integral to the success of our business. Their talent, expertise and skills drive everything from how we develop products and manage our supply chain to how we connect with customers and collaborate with partners. Recruiting and retaining the best people is a key competitive advantage, and we strive to create a supportive, inclusive and motivating work environment where all employees can flourish.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellytan2/ 

Managing Director / Group CEO
ComfortDelGro Corporation

At Comfort DelGro, we believe in finding the best person for the job. It is about ability, conviction and passion– and never about gender, age or race.

This conviction is one that we have always upheld, and always will. It applies not just to our Staff and Management, but to our Board as well.

Executive Director
Human Capital Leadership Institute

With Asia fast becoming the biggest market in the global economy, companies are increasingly setting up and expanding their businesses in the region. They will require individuals with the relevant cultural and business knowledge, skills and leadership qualities to lead their operations across Asia. At the same time, we know there is a serious shortfall of such talent in the region. Statistics from multiple research and white papers have pointed to the stark fact that there is a dearth of women in the workforce across many countries in Asia, especially at the management and executive levels.

HCLI, with its mandate to be the global talent and leadership hub to generate innovative talent management ideas, practices and strategies for Asia from Asia, plans to take this agenda forward in various ways. We plan to embark on research on how companies operating in Asia have been successful in attracting and retaining female talent in the workforce, how these organizations have created working environments for women to thrive and build successful careers, and for them to compete on a level ground with their male counterparts. At the same time, we will profile successful female leaders in Asia and hope that their stories can inspire others to strive to achieve to do as well as, if not better, than their male counterparts. These research findings will be published and disseminated to a broader audience through our biannual publication, HQAsia.

We believe that the future of Asia to a large extent depends on how well we are able to harness the untapped talent pool in the female workforce and the ability of organizations and countries to cultivate women leaders to supplement and complement the males in leadership roles.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chee-wei-kwan-bb877836/ 

CEO
National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre

As the CEO of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) and the President of the Centre for Non-profit Leadership (CNPL), I would like to see more women on non-profit boards. While we do not have exact figures, we do know that non-profit boards are still dominated by men, even though women form majority of the workforce in charities in Singapore.

Women comprise about 43% of members serving on American non-profit boards, even while women made up only 16% of those serving on S&P500 company boards. So the potential for more women to sit on non-profit boards is large.

Non-profit boards represent a great opportunity for women to engage at the highest level of leadership in driving the mission, vision, strategy, resource development, change management and social impact. I encourage women to take up the challenge of sitting on non-profit boards. Sign up with CNPL’s Board Match programme. The programme has helped fill 130 non-profit board or committee positions since 2009, with 45 of them comprising of women professionals. CNPL is committed to continue our efforts to increase the number of women placed under Board Match.

https://asiaphilanthropycircle.org/laurence-lien/ 

Managing Partner
Rajah & Tann LLP

Rajah & Tann actively promotes gender equality and diversity, and recognises that it is only in our interests to do so. There is no reason why we should not harness the strength, balance and well-roundedness of a well diversified workforce and leadership team.

Almost 4 in 10 of our partners are female. For a profession that remains male dominated, particularly in dispute resolution work, this is a very healthy showing indeed. Further, female partners and senior management professionals lead, or are heavily involved, in many key aspects of management, such as the setting of management policies and directions, human resource, training, and business development.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/eng-beng-lee-7605a192/ 

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Stamford Law Corporation

We are in the midst of a sea change at work and in business. Organisations everywhere are recognising the value that women bring to leadership positions and in the boardroom. We need to make this happen more and more.

As a woman at Stamford Law, I am acutely conscious of the challenges working women lawyers face. We go out of our way to address this by providing family friendly initiatives (for both men and women!) for which Stamford Law has won many awards. Much of this involves flexibility, whether in terms of working hours, working from home, part time work, and sabbaticals.

For both men and women, we have focussed on work quality and output rather than hours spent physically behind their desks in the office.

Beyond this, we provide mentoring and networking opportunities so that our women lawyers can build their own networks and professional relationships. This is often a neglected area for women professionals.

We continue to look for ways to champion women at work. They bring so much talent, industry, dynamism and thoughtful leadership to our firm and elsewhere.

Chairman
Shell Companies in Singapore

As the CEO of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) and the President of the Centre for Non-profit Leadership (CNPL), I would like to see more women on non-profit boards. While we do not have exact figures, we do know that non-profit boards are still dominated by men, even though women form majority of the workforce in charities in Singapore.

Women comprise about 43% of members serving on American non-profit boards, even while women made up only 16% of those serving on S&P500 company boards. So the potential for more women to sit on non-profit boards is large.

Non-profit boards represent a great opportunity for women to engage at the highest level of leadership in driving the mission, vision, strategy, resource development, change management and social impact. I encourage women to take up the challenge of sitting on non-profit boards. Sign up with CNPL’s Board Match programme. The programme has helped fill 130 non-profit board or committee positions since 2009, with 45 of them comprising of women professionals. CNPL is committed to continue our efforts to increase the number of women placed under Board Match.

Country Head
ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants)

There has been a growing focus on the benefits of including more women as board members to facilitate better decision making and greater innovation.

ACCA believes that gender diversity on boards and senior management makes good business sense. As ACCA’s international footprint develops, the composition of our governing Council has become increasingly diverse with members from 20 countries with females making up nearly 40% of our council members, in addition to having a female Chief Executive at ACCA.

To encourage more female representation on boards and senior management, stakeholders need to continue to ensure family-friendly policies and practices to support the recruitment and career progression of female talents.

More importantly, a broader mindset change needs to happen for equitable share of parenthood responsibilities.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/soo-yee-leong-928bb721/ 

Senior Advisor, Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts
Former Minister, Prime Minister’s Office

In the fast-changing and increasingly globalised market-place that we are in, adaptability, perceptiveness, attention to detail and the ability to network are critical attributes. In many situations, women are well-placed to manifest such attributes.

The absence or under-representation of women will therefore limit the realisation of an organisation’s true potential. Organisations that make it a priority to ensure that female employees are given opportunity to contribute, of not excel, and their due recognition will do well.

Ensuring gender diversity is not just about being politically correct; it’s all about enabling an organisation to do its best with whatever talent it has.

Managing Director and Head Global Transaction Business, APAC
Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank believes that “diverse teams are winning teams”. For us, diversity in its broadest definition- cultural, gender, ethnicity, or age – is not simply the right thing to do but also core to a successful business strategy. It’s about attracting and retaining the best talent – and women are core to that equation. It’s about awareness of different styles and needs. It’s about ensuring that we understand our clients’ diverse perspectives and their needs. It’s about being a great place to work.

Part of being a great place for women to work is providing tailor-made programs adapted to their needs across the spectrum. To this end, we support initiatives such as maternity coaching, flexible work arrangements, and child-care benefits; facilitate women’s networks and mentoring; and offer targeted programs to support women at the senior management level.

One specific example is Deutsche Bank’s annual ‘Women in Asian Business Conference’, which shines the spotlight on female business leaders in Asia. Furthermore, top-performing women may be chosen to participate in the “Accomplished Top Leaders Advancement Strategy” program, in which they are provided the opportunity to work directly with a member of Deutsche Bank’s Group Executive Committee.

At Deutsche Bank, diversity councils led by senior leaders are instrumental in driving diversity: our APAC diversity council is chaired by our regional Chief Executive Officer, Robert Rankin, who personally takes ownership for diversity and is committed to not only increase representation of women in the workforce but also in the key influential positions in the Bank.

Diversity isn’t just good -it’s good business.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-robins-2b523713/ 

CEO, CWT Group

CWT is a leading logistics and integrated commodity service provider with global footprints in close to 50 countries. The men and women of our diversified workforce the world over are unified by a shared vision in ‘connecting world trade.’ They form the nucleus from which we innovate, build relationships and grow the business.

As an equal opportunity employer, CWT hires and promotes people based on merit and performance, regardless of the gender. Although the nature of our industry is traditionally male-dominated, we are seeing more and more women taking on logistics roles and rising through the ranks.

At CWT, I have the privilege of working with some of the most talented women the industry has ever produced. We have placed them in management roles based on their strengths and capabilities, and they have delivered, contributing towards the progress and growth of the CWT Group. Moving forward, we will continue to adopt an open and positive view in creating and enabling a gender balanced business organization.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pok-yen-loi-668b0672/ 

President
Financial Women’s Association of Singapore

Low Chin Loo has been in the financial industry for over 20 years, a specialist in foreign exchange and interest rates. Over the span of her career, she worked for two major banks, DBS Bank and BNP Paribas. She is a firm believer and strong advocate of supporting women in the workplace. She chaired BNPP’s MixCity SEA the first internal association that championed women in SEA. She has been leading Financial Women’s Association of Singapore since 2011.

Under her leadership, membership of the FWA reached new heights and the association gained significant recognition for its work in empowering women to success in both their professional and personal lives through its growing flagship events and award-winning mentoring program. She now focuses her time on non-profit and advocacy work and contribution to the community.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chinloo 

President of Singapore

Thanks to the good work of BoardAgender, there is now greater visibility and publicity regarding the benefits of a gender-balanced business in Singapore.

People are increasingly aware that gender-balanced business represents not only greater inclusiveness but also greater diversity in terms of perspectives and expertise on Boards. It is a win-win situation – that of empowering women to contribute their leadership expertise as well as enabling organisations to engage the best talents and capabilities available, regardless of gender.

I applaud the passion and commitment of BoardAgender, and look forward to their future initiatives.

https://www.facebook.com/halimahyacob/ 

Chief Executive Officer
Singapore Exchange

Singapore Exchange (SGX) is a strong supporter of equality, both within and without the company. Equal opportunity is enshrined in SGX and I am pleased to say that we are fairly well balanced with women making up 56% of our 600-strong staff. Women have held and continue to hold key roles within SGX, both as senior managers as well as team leaders.

We also welcome and support efforts to increase gender balance across all organizations. As an exchange, we encourage efforts toward gender-balanced company Boards.

I personally believe that women in the work-place bring unique ideas, insight and experiences. As a manager, I am all for providing my staff with as many opportunities as possible, regardless of their gender, as long as I am convinced these opportunities will help them grow and develop as professionals.

Past President
Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations

The proof is there – gender diversity improves corporate profits. The balance on boards that have women and men well represented definitely have the edge in better market information, outreach and understanding which informs customer, competitor and staff relations.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/malathi-das-5b368121/ 

Member of Parliament, West Coast GRC
Global Head, Priority & International Banking, Standard Chartered Bank

There is an increasing focus on improving the gender balance of corporate boards amongst key nations and corporations, with several making significant steps towards achieving more gender-diverse boards. The business case is clear. The drive for more women on boards is more than having access to a wider talentpool, or achieving egalitarian ideals.

As Mothers, Wives and Influential Consumers, women bring unique talents, skills and experience to the boardroom, and their perspectives help the corporation achieve competitive advantage.

Women here have equal access to excellent education – many are highly-qualified Professionals, Managers and Executives, whose considerable talent must be tapped. There is a body of research which suggests that companies with a strong representation at the Board level and in top management roles are also the companies that perform best.

In this increasingly competitive world, it is more urgent than ever for organisations to achieve the right gender balance in their human resources, from the frontline to the Board, in order to secure every opportunity for strategic advantage.

https://www.facebook.com/FooMeeHar.MP/ 

Head of ASEAN, Citi
Citi Country Officer, Singapore

At Citi, our people drive our success. Women, at all levels of our organisation, have added to the richness and depth of our conversations with our clients and employees. It is our belief that as women gain more prominence in business, the influence of their experience, understanding and sophistication will continue to spread throughout our organization, all the way to the boardroom.

Having greater diversity in senior management promotes true meritocracy, which is the foundation of a collaborative leadership team seeking to serve the best interests of all stakeholders.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-zink-b9610816/ 

Chief Executive Officer
Sentosa Development Corporation

Women play an integral role in the Sentosa family. 36 percent of our workforce are women and some now hold positions in traditionally male dominated roles like security (our Sentosa Rangers), bus captains, life guards, landscape architects and engineers.

Today, 40 percent of Sentosa’s executive leadership are women and are key contributors of the Sentosa story. Indeed we treasure every member of our leadership team for their contribution to Sentosa’s culture of Energy, Passion and Fun, and for the influence they bring to bear on our corporate thinking and decision-making.

In Sentosa, we want our People to feel valued and respected. We believe that a balanced life of work and play will reap benefits for all of our employees, which will in turn shape Sentosa’s success. We support pro-family initiatives that help the Sentosa team balance their wider commitments and obligations.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-barclay-3b033833/ 

Former Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports

Women in Singapore have made significant achievements in various fronts and BoardAgender hopes to encourage and enable more women to contribute their expertise in boardrooms and committees. Women bring fresh perspectives and add value toward improving services and enhancing business decisions in leadership positions.

Through BoardAgender, I am confident that corporate and community organisations will be able to find even more capable female leaders to be members of their boards and to take up positions at senior levels of their management.

Co-Founder, IncuVest Pte Ltd and Valuair Ltd
Executive Advisor, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre
Alt Director, Mulberry Group PLC

The enlightened companies have focused on getting the right talent and the right experience for their boards. And as a result we are seeing more gender diversity in leadership positions and boardrooms. Things are definitely moving in the right direction. But we must keep up the momentum and BoardAgender plays a critical role in this.

I have had the privilege of working with people who understood the need for a woman to balance work with family, and they gave me tremendous opportunities to contribute and progress in my career. It’s therefore an honour to support a cause which promotes equal opportunity and advancement based on merit.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-foong-302173/ 

Director of NTUC Fairprice and several SGX listed companies

My fellow board members are mostly older gentlemen. Even though many of them are part of the old boys’ club, they have embraced my contribution and outspokenness with much grace. There is a great amount of mutual respect and professionalism on our boards regardless of gender or age. We need more men like these.

Managing Partner
McKinsey & Company
South East Asia

Oliver Tonby is the Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company, South East Asia (a complex encompassing McKinsey’s offices in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines). Oliver brings the strategic focus and insights gained over 15 years of consulting across Europe, the United States and Asia to McKinsey’s work with clients across a range of sectors in the region. He has deep expertise in ASEAN markets, having served some of South East Asia’s largest companies.

Since joining McKinsey in 1997, Oliver has worked in multiple industries including Energy and Materials, Industrials, Private Equity and High Tech. He has served individual ASEAN Governments, and a range of government and government-linked agencies across the region.

Some of Oliver’s major projects have included:

• Leading the transformation of an Asian national energy company into a global champion over a five year transformation program
• Supporting multiple acquisitions, ranging from USD 500 million to 10 billion
• Redesigning the organization and governance of a major Asian private conglomerate
• Improving operational performance of one of Indonesia’s largest listed companies
• Supporting governments in the region enhance their regulatory frameworks

Oliver has significant experience in developing local companies into regional and global champions and is passionate about the potential of Asian companies as entrants to the global market place. He has spoken widely on these issues, including to business councils. He has been an active participant in the World Economic Forum (WEF) East Asia. He holds an MBA with distinction from Insead and MSc in Biochemical Engineering from the Norwegian Institute of Technology. Prior to joining McKinsey, Oliver worked for Shell International and Norsk Hydro, as well as serving in the Norwegian army.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-tonby/ 

Group President & CEO
Hyflux Ltd

Hyflux employs close to 2,300 employees in seven countries around the world. Of this number, 28% are women – a reflection of the nature of business where our core capabilities are primarily engineering-based.

The Hyflux team is a global and diverse group. Regardless of age, gender or ethnicity, our focus is on recruiting, engaging, motivating and retaining individuals whose skills, aspirations and values are aligned with the company’ strategic vision and core values. We believe in creating an inclusive workplace where our employees are given unparalleled opportunities to develop their careers and capabilities. We reward based on a clearly-defined, performance-oriented compensation system.

We believe that being a woman should not deter her progress in the company. Of our key management team of eight, two of us are women. We also have a number of women holding key positions and responsibilities in legal, finance, purchasing and procurement, business development, membrane production and energy and infrastructure development.

At Hyflux, we provide our women engineers the same opportunities in overseas work experience and have sent a number of them to Algeria for work at our two seawater desalination projects.

Every year, our Annual CEO Award rewards outstanding staff for their contributions to the company. Last year, two of the six recipients are women. We also provide equal opportunities to both men and women to further their studies and for training and development.

Founder and President
Social Innovation Park Ltd

Humanity, thy name is diversity!

Let’s join hands to build a more inclusive, sustainable and better world.

Executive Vice President
Southeast Asia and Australasia
Unilever

At Unilever, we believe that diversity and inclusion is a critical element of our long-term growth strategy through which we strengthen our company, maximize our shareholders’ investment, and prepares us to lead in the 21st Century.

In recent years, Unilever has increased its focus on gender balance and it is one of the key business goal and commitment for our Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman. It is that commitment that continues to drive our ability to identify and develop the best talent, create an inclusive culture where our workforce can thrive.

We have implemented several initiatives notably our inspiring women role models, mentoring, and agile flexible working to engage our workforce. We are seeing good results, with improvements in the number of women in senior positions and the overall diversity of future talent. The number of women in senior positions increased from 23% in 2007 to 28% at the end of 2011. Forty percent of our managers are women, but we need a continuous improvement to reach our target of 50/50 gender balance workforce in 2015.

We, at Unilever are committed to gender balance in the workplace and I am delighted to be part of the BoardAgender 100 Champions.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-ter-kulve/ 

Managing Director
Motorola Solutions Asia Pacific

In Motorola Solutions, our people are our most valuable assets. We are a global organization and our workforce reflects the diversity of the markets in which we operate. We strive to build a diverse talent pipeline; bringing different perspectives, ideas and skills together to drive innovation in our solutions, enabling us to delight our customers around the world.

We firmly believe that embracing a diversity of individuals, opinions, cultures and abilities has generated a strong competitive advantage for us. This longstanding culture of diversity is directly linked to our company purpose and is evident in our leadership. By creating a more inclusive workplace, we can foster among our employees, an active contribution of their knowledge, skills and work experiences to achieve their fullest potential in the company for the company.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/teck-moh-phey-99904a2/ 

Senior Counsel & Managing Partner
Rodyk & Davidson LLP

At Rodyk, we have long had significant representation of women in the leadership of the firm. My mentor, Helen Yeo, preceded me as Managing Partner of the Firm, and led the Firm with great distinction for more than 8 years. One third of our equity partnerships are women. Gender diversity in leadership positions in any organisation is not just good but essential in today’s world – organisations should draw from the full talent pool and also benefit from what may be different perspectives on business strategy and human resources.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-jeyaretnam-s-c-a0b18913 

Chief Executive Officer
Deloitte Singapore

At Deloitte, we value our people as our most precious assets and we believe in investing and developing them to reach their highest potential …. regardless of gender. Promotions are based on merit and at Deloitte Singapore, we have many capable women who have risen to become partners and directors and are holding key leadership positions.

We do understand, though, that during certain phases of their lives, some women may feel the pressures of juggling their careers and their families especially when their children are young. Unfortunately, some have been forced to resign as a result of this.

To provide support and to help them cope during such challenging times, we have introduced work-life integration initiatives to help our people harmonise work and family commitments. Among other things, these allow our staff to work from home, have flexible working hours, opt for a reduced work portfolio, take sabbatical leave or transfer to a different role. This gives them the flexibility to move their career faster or slower according to their priorities at the time. Most importantly, such initiatives help in retaining our staff, especially ladies, who could then go on to develop professionally and assume bigger roles as they continue to be nurtured and developed in Deloitte.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-yuen-07966319/ 

Chief Executive Officer
DBS Group Holdings & DBS Bank

As the centre of economic activity shifts towards Asia, perhaps the single biggest challenge to our growth is the availability of talent. It is ironic, then, that the financial services industry continues to ignore one of the largest available talent pools at senior levels… women! The truth is that the burnout rate among women as they move up the ranks is very high, especially as they approach the C-suite, and a lot more can be done address this issue.

I am pleased that DBS’ track record in this regard is actually quite good. Our ambition is to become a leading Asian bank and as we grow in the region, we believe in nurturing and developing talent; in attracting, grooming and retaining the brightest and the best, regardless of race, gender or religion.

On the gender front, we have a host of family friendly policies that are supportive of the needs of working women. These include flexible work arrangements including part time and flexi hours. More importantly, we have a culture that allows women to down-shift their career during the critical child rearing years, and then get back on the fast track when they are more ready to do so.

Today, women make up nearly 60% of DBS’ 15,000-strong workforce. They are well-represented at the senior levels, in both business and staff roles. Women account for 30% of our Managing Director population as well as the Group Executive Committee, the bank’s most-senior decision-making body. Our Institutional Banking business, which accounts for over 50% of our global P&L, is helmed by a woman and so is our wealth management business. Our CFO, Group Head of Human Resources and Group Head of Strategic Marketing and Communications are all women.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/piyushguptadbs/ 

Group Chief Executive
SingHealth

Healthcare is an industry that attracts a high percentage of female employees. At SingHealth, we have close to 16,000 female employees in the Group, which makes up more than 80% of our staff strength. At KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital alone, almost 90% of our 4,000 employees are women. Many assume clinical leadership and management responsibilities. Whether in medical, nursing, allied health, administrative or ancilliary capacities, our female employees contribute greatly to the Group’s growth, patient-centric mission and pursuit of excellence.

Working alongside these individuals has inspired me personally and professionally. Women have shown that there are no limits to the positive impact we can make in the lives of others. As our female employees take on multiple roles as career professionals, in the family and community, we strive to help them achieve work-life harmony through family-friendly initiatives, job re-design and flexi-work programmes. For those who had been away from the workforce to raise their young children, we avail return-to-work training for them.

At KK Hospital, these have proven successful in helping our female employees juggle their roles. And we are gratified by the industry recognition of our HR practices in Quality Work Life and Employee Health and Wellness.

Associate Professor at the NUS Business School at the National University of Singapore and a recognized authority on corporate governance in Asia

With the increasing recognition that board decisions must better reflect wider stakeholders’ interests, the different perspectives of women with the necessary skills and experiences will be invaluable to companies. I have therefore been outspoken about the need to improve board diversity, including gender diversity, and have conducted research into gender diversity on boards.

When I was co-chairman of the Singapore Corporate Governance Awards, I helped to introduce a board diversity award to recognise listed companies which have incorporated diversity into their boardrooms.

At a time when there are increasing concerns about directors sitting on too many boards and not spending enough time in overseeing and guiding management, it is disturbing that companies are not doing more to tap into the wider pool of potential directors, including the large numbers of women who have considerable experience in business and other relevant areas.

In boards and committees I have served on, I have found women to be valuable contributors to decision-making and to provide diversity in viewpoints that may otherwise be lacking.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuen-teen-mak-88b34a15/ 

Dean, Faculty of Law
National University of Singapore

No law school serious about excellence can ignore half the population. That’s true at all levels, including our students, faculty, and leadership. It also includes the people whom our graduates serve in the community. Women are still under-represented in government and at the highest levels of the legal profession – including legal academia.

But NUS Law offers role models such as two former deans and leading scholars in areas ranging from public law and family law to intellectual property and environmental law. They are being succeeded by a rising group of younger scholars who will increase the number of women in top positions, much to the benefit of NUS Law and the wider community.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonchesterman/ 

Ambassador-at-Large
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Women have achieved parity with men in Singapore. There are, however, a few areas in which this is not true. One area is the representation of women on our boards of directors, both in the public and private sectors.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, there are many qualified women who are willing to serve on our boards. When I was chairman of NHB, I ensured that women enjoyed parity with men on its board. It can be done provided there is a commitment to do so.

Managing Partner
Wong Partnership LLP

At Wong Partnership, we value human capital and are focused on attracting and retaining the best talents, whether men or women.

Recognising that the legal profession is demanding, we have progressively taken steps to put in place arrangements to help our lawyers. These comprise the “Flexible Working Arrangement Scheme”, which provides for flexi-hour and telecommuting work schedule and the “Discounts and Privileges Programme”, which offers family-friendly privileges, including attractive discounts and benefits offered by childcare centres located within the financial district.

Women lawyers make up slightly more than half of our total numbers, thus representing a significant part of our human capital resource. We recognise women have to juggle several roles in their lives and thus need to be managed differently. We strive to build a culture that recognises talent based on quality and output, as opposed to measuring physical hours in the office. We accommodate women lawyers who request to adjust the pace of their career progression, if they so wish. We have, for example, several female partners who have taken sabbatical leave for family reasons and who have returned to work after their leave. This flexible approach allowed them to prioritise their needs at different stages of their career paths and family plans, while allowing the Firm to retain their talent and contribution for the long term.

Our supportive environment has enabled us to retain our female talent and today, approximately half of our partners are women. A number of our female partners hold management or practice leadership positions and are good examples for our next generation of lawyers. We aim to continually implement initiatives that will help us attract and retain all our talent.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-eng-50366319/ 

Regional CEO, Singapore and SEA
Standard Chartered Bank

At Standard Chartered, we strive not only to be the employer of choice for female employees but also the bank of choice for female customers and a force for good in the community. We believe that addressing gender diversity is key to economic development and growth.

Over recent years, the Bank has increased its focus on gender diversity within the organisation with a specific focus on developing women at middle management level. Initiatives have included a signature women’s leadership programme, mentoring, women’s networks and exposure to female senior leadership as role models. The Bank has also worked to increase the opportunity for flexible working to retain quality employees who may be interested in alternative working arrangements.

We are also pleased to be associated with two valuable pieces of research conducted by Community Business together with Cranfield School of Management on the topic of women on boards in Hong Kong and India. These reports were published in order to raise awareness around gender diversity at the board level and encourage business leaders to think about the compositions of their boards so that they may more accurately reflect their marketplaces and stakeholders. They acknowledge the progress that women have already made in terms of reaching the most senior positions in leading companies in Hong Kong and India, and are intended to act as a positive agent of change, encouraging more companies to welcome women into their boardrooms.

CEO and Founder
OSIM International

We have always had an open mind in terms of staff selection, focusing on intangible skills, besides tangible knowledge, regardless of gender. As a CEO, I have always said that it is all about meritocracy – that it does not matter if a person is male or female, as along as they are driven and show high eagerness to pursue the goals.

Almost every General Manager and Assistant General Manager in our country offices is a woman. It would seem that today’s women appear hungrier, more eager, and more meticulous, than men.

As a retail company focusing more on female shoppers, it does makes a lot of sense to have female drivers, and it is always good to have a gender balanced business. Most jobs today do not require physical strength, and so more women have entered the work force as well as managerial and leadership positions.

But women must be prepared that they still have an important role to play which the man can’t.

Physical work and domestic affairs can be shared, but a woman’s love and nurturing – eg., her role as mother – cannot be replaced by a man. While many women are able to juggle between work and household, few men are willing to be ‘house-husbands’. These are issues women have to be prepared to face.

Chairman and CEO
Southeast Asia
Morgan Stanley

At Morgan Stanley diversity is an opportunity – for our clients, our people and our Firm. By valuing diverse perspectives we can better serve our clients while we help our employees achieve their professional objectives. A corporate culture that is open and inclusive is fundamental to our role as a global leader constantly striving for excellence in all that we do.

Our Employee Networking Groups advance the Firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, bringing together employees with similar goals and interests to foster the exchange of ideas, professional and business development and relationship building.

Advancing and retaining talented women at Morgan Stanley is a key business priority for the Firm and we are pleased to have a number of initiatives in place including our regional women’s committees which are instrumental in driving forward initiatives and providing networking opportunities for women at Morgan Stanley.

Executive Director, SIM Board of Directors
NTUC First Campus Cooperative

So why should support for our women not extend beyond the family and home to the workplace and into society at large when women are after all equal stakeholders when viewed from all perspectives? It is quite obvious that everyone is crying out for something more than just cold hard economic growth if that does not bring about happiness in life.

I believe that women would bring that essential complementary perspective for holistic decision and policy making at all levels in all spheres that would help make this a better world for all. That is the perspective of “feelings” beyond cold hard facts – after all the human being is not just logically hardwired but very much a creature with emotions.

Women have the natural giftedness that make them a competent change management agent as they can exude empathy and muster support at the emotional level for a given cause.

General Manager
Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP)

In TAFEP’s work we are seeing an increasing number of employers that have already realised the tangible business benefits in proactively adopting fair and inclusive employment practices. Being able to effectively attract and retain women allows organisations to widen their potential pool of talent while increasing innovation and creativity, resulting in new ideas, new products and better ways of doing things.

TAFEP is happy to be recognised for its support of BoardAgender’s efforts to raise awareness of the importance of reducing gender bias in business.

Group Chief Executive Officer
OCBC Bank

As OCBC expands overseas, we recognise the importance of attracting talented individuals so as to stay competitive. We embrace diversity in our workforce – hiring employees of different ethnicities, backgrounds and creeds, irrespective of gender, and empowering our employees to maximize their potential.

I believe this is one of the key pillars for our continued success.

An employee’s performance is in no way assessed based on gender or ethnicity; only his or her competency and character count. There are no positions in OCBC reserved for men, or for that matter, women. Our people programs are based on merit, tangible contributions and the individual’s fit with our culture and values. All employees who measure up, women included, will have promising careers with us because we are committed to helping them succeed.

Therefore, no one in the organisation is or should be surprised by the number of women taking up senior executive positions and board seats at OCBC; that number will continue to rise, and with good reason.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/samueltsien/ 

CEO, Asia
Aon Risk Solutions

Aon is the leading professional services firm advising companies on Risk and People issues, and as a professional services firm talent is naturally our primary asset.

Our “Unmatched Talent” program ensures that women launch significant careers at Aon. To prepare them for success, we have established the Centre for Women in Leadership, which helps women progress apace. Today Aon stands among the leading global corporations in promoting women within the organisation.

A few facts highlight Aon’s vision and desire to be the choice of destination for female talent in the industry:

Women managers/execs – 43%
Women among top earners – 32%
Women hires in 2010 – 55%

The Women’s International Network (WIN) is one of several Business Networking Groups established by Aon to promote the development of Aon’s diverse talent pool. WIN provides a global community for working women seeking mentorship, professional and personal growth, workplace flexibility, and visibility. It also serves as an advocate and a voice to senior management for the issues most critical to the careers of our female employees. Each month, we feature the remarkable accomplishments of one of our female colleagues from around the world in our internal leadership magazine.

Recently Aon was named among the 2011 Working Mother 100 Best Companies based on an extensive survey that assesses the usage, availability and tracking of women’s programs, as well as the accountability of managers who oversee them. Seven areas were measured and scored for the 2011 initiative: workforce profile, benefits, women’s issues and advancement, child care, flexible work, parental leave and company culture.

We at Aon are committed to promoting women participation in management boards and I am delighted to be part of the BoardAgender 100 Champions.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeep-malik-31337a12/

Partner
Bain & Company

Women in the workplace stage the greatest disappearing act up the corporate ladder. In many countries, over half of university graduates starting work are women. Unfortunately, every year—and at every management rung—they disappear. Over the years, companies have learned to recruit women, but progress on gender parity is hampered by retention and promotion. The end result: just 3% of US Fortune 500 CEOs and 5% UK FTSE 100 Board of Directors are women.

The issue of gender parity is a top priority for us at Bain & Company. We recognise that with a scarce talent pool, managing gender parity is not a luxury but a necessity for our continued growth and success. To understand the hurdles in the path to parity up the ladder, Bain & Company recently conducted a worldwide survey, in association with the Harvard Business Review, on “Gender Parity in the Workplace.” The research showed that despite the best of intentions and numerous expensive one-off initiatives, gender parity initiatives are just not working in many organisations.

Based on this research, we believe that bold, new approaches are required to bring women back to the leadership track: Companies need to make gender parity a top priority and then to tackle it with a systematic approach:

• Make gender parity a visible priority with real commitment and resources behind it
• Be inclusive in the design and communications of gender parity programs, but ensuring accountability is with line leadership
• Measure and monitor gender parity (current state and ongoing progress) throughout the leadership pipeline
• Embrace and “de-stigmatize” flexible career models for all employees

We practice what we preach. At Bain Southeast Asia, over half of our recruits are women and we are committed to grooming them into generations of strong women leaders. Our firm’s leadership, starting right at the top with our global MD, closely measures and monitors our progress on gender diversity. We have set a specific goal for getting 2X more women in our leadership team in the next 3 years. Women are offered tailored coaching and mentoring to help them achieve their full potential. We also strongly encourage our people to “build their own Bain” – to customise their individual career paths. Sabbaticals, flex time or part time opportunities, transfers to another global Bain office, externships outside of Bain, are options widely available to all our staff. Many of our people, both men and women, have taken full advantage of these opportunities to balance their personal and professional needs over the course of their careers.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/seow-chien-chew-96a30a4/

Managing Director
Yum! Restaurants International
Asia Franchise Business

For us at Yum!, diversity is not a target – it’s a way of life and a way of doing business. Everyone can and does make a difference in our organization. Our core values as defined in the How We Win Together2 principles – Believe in all People – underscores the importance of actively seeking diversity in others; believing everyone has the potential to make a difference; and coaching and supporting every individual to grow to their full capacity.

As a global company, Yum! is definitely committed and supportive of advancement of women into leadership roles. We have been increasing the representation of women among our key talent and decision makers. Our diversity best practices covers 3 key areas; recruitment, development and inclusive culture. We participate in female professional networks and associations and in the US, we are among the first and largest supporters of the Women’s Foodservice Forum and the Multicultural Foodservice and Hospitality Alliance. We also ensure we leverage on female employees in the recruitment and selection process. All of our brands also have leadership initiatives focused on high-potential diversity talent, and all leaders serve as mentors. Making progress in diversity is a business priority and the work of everyone in our system.

At our Asia office, more than 30% of our female staff holds managerial positions. In our Leadership Team, our Director of Supply Chain Management, Nancy Xu, has an excellent track record as a senior leader in her area of expertise. She has held leadership roles in multinational organizations where she has been very successful in negotiating global contracts.

We have many other dynamic women holding key positions such as Yasemin Okur from Turkey in Pizza Hut Marketing, Stephanie Lee from Malaysia in Design & Construction, highly experienced Restaurant Operators such as Lily Lee and Carol Loo, Senior Technical Managers Tan Hwee Ching & Eva Wang – just to name a few, are all Singaporeans.

All these talented women leaders make Yum! Asia FBU a beacon for diversity across Asia. We’ve found that a diverse team makes for better problem solvers and creates a richer culture for all of us to enjoy.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharth-varma-1533a5176

Chairman & CEO
SC Global Developments Ltd

Women play a significant role in SC Global. They are represented at all levels of management including our highest level at the Board of Directors. Our Company’s practice is to seek out and hire and promote the best staff based on their abilities and merit. As a result, the roles occupied by women in the Company comprise about 40% of our overall staff and 45% of our senior management positions, which is higher than the national average of close to 30%.

The contributions by women in both senior management and board level positions have helped steer the Company to the achievements it has made in its short ten year history. Their capabilities, insight and dedication have contributed positively to making SC Global a leading player in the luxury property sector.

I believe that women will continue to play an integral part of our operations. As the Company enters into its next decade, I am certain that the role of women in our organization will continue to grow and hold a meaningful role at all levels.

CEO, Global Yellow Pages

On the basis of my experience both in the corporate and community sector, I believe board diversity is a strength for any organization. I hope in the future that my daughters have the same opportunities that I have had to make a contribution.

Senior Director and Legal Counsel, Government Relations
Asia Pacific Region, eBay Inc.

eBay, by any standard, is a fairly young company. We have just celebrated our 15th anniversary last year. For the longest time, eBay was led by a woman – and a really successful one at that. Meg Whitman grew our company from a scrappy start-up in San Jose to a multi-national with operations across the globe. It is in our DNA that we have always employed a diverse global workforce. As we compete globally for talent, the leadership in the company has come to the recognition that we need to formalize and also evangelize our strong belief in the need to have a diverse workforce and get more women into our leadership rank.

So, in the beginning of this year, eBay launched our Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) where we invited more than 200 of our women colleagues who are Directors and above to San Francisco for the WIN Summit. Over three days, the group networked, heard from outside speakers and participated in workshops and panel discussions. And they identified actions that they and the company can begin taking to build greater career opportunities for women and enable eBay to build a more diverse global leadership team.

On their return, these women leaders have launched WIN groupings for the women in our various local offices where they can provide mutual support. I have the honor of working with one of my women leaders, Judy Chang who runs our PayPal Government Relations portfolio for the region, to kick-off the women’s network within the Asia Pacific Government Relations Team. It is a reflection of the diversity in our company that my Team actually consists of slightly more than 50% women.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenliew/

Asia-Pacific Managing Partner
Ernst & Young

At Ernst & Young, we believe a diverse and inclusive culture in the way we operate enables our people to achieve their potential, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, background and other characteristics. It also enables us to deliver high quality service to our clients, create competitive advantage and drive market leadership.

Today, women make up 60% of our 2,000-strong workforce in Singapore and about half of our professional staff worldwide. We recognize that women play an increasingly vital economic role and have implemented supportive programs to enable women to thrive. This includes our local flexible work arrangement program that that allows women the option of balancing their immediate career and personal obligations through a mutually viable work arrangement. Other women programs globally include the Pathways to Meaningful Partnership training course, Professional Women’s Network, and Women’s Partner Leadership Alliance Network, which encourage the visibility of emerging female leaders and promote the outreach of our women initiatives.

Some of the accolades we have garnered worldwide include include Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”; Australia’s Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency “Employer of Choice for Women list”; Great Place to Work Institute’s “Great Companies to Work for Women in Mexico” and USA’s Working Mothers “100 Best Companies”.

Our influence in advocating inclusiveness and diversity extends beyond our organization, and we have invested in building related thought leadership reports and promoting these to our clients and the community. To this end, our flagship Groundbreakers and Globalization report series provide our clients and public with leading research on the impact of women, diversity and inclusiveness on business success, and our leaders are speakers at many women leadership conferences.

A champion of diversity and inclusiveness, we continually work to create an environment where our people feel valued and are supported to perform their best.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-phan/

Partner in Charge
Jones Day Singapore

Jones Day is committed to promoting diversity in the workplace and, in 1987, established a Diversity Task Force which meets monthly to set priorities, determine strategy, and communicates critical information regarding local office issues and firmwide diversity initiatives, including both gender and race issues.

I am proud to be one of ten women who run an office or a region for Jones Day – which is almost a third of Jones Day’s worldwide office network. Women are also in charge of two global practice groups and make up a quarter of the firm’s Management Committee. This is a phenomenal statistic for an international law firm.

Consistently over the last several years women have made up over 50% of both Jones Day’s summer associate program and their newly qualified attorneys, planting seeds for a strong future of gender diversity at Jones Day.

https://www.jonesday.com/en/lawyers/j/sushma-jobanputra?tab=overview 

General Manager SEA
Servcorp

Servcorp is the world’s leading provider of virtual & serviced offices, established in 1978 and with over 130 locations worldwide. Since inception Servcorp has championed the promotion of women as one of the founding principles of the business and owes much of its success to this strategy.

We continuously groom and promote women from administrative roles into management and senior management positions, often in countries where this is culturally challenging.

Our development of female executives within Servcorp is not limited to sales and operational roles but crosses over into areas such as IT , property management and finance which have traditionally been roles predominately held by males.

Having been fortunate to have benefited from Servcorp’s policy towards women I am extremely keen to ensure women in other organizations, as well as my daughter in the future, overcome some of the barriers which still exist in boardrooms and business’s generally.

Group CEO
PSA International Pte Ltd

At PSA, we embrace gender diversity at all tiers of our organisation.

On our Board and Senior Management teams, we have women leaders offering strategic perspectives and spearheading organisational changes. In the mid-levels, women head up many of our functions in Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources and helm frontline portfolios in terminal operations and commercial. At the service delivery level, we also have many examples of women who are thriving in the dynamic port environment. We believe this diversity across the organisation strengthens PSA and helps us to forge towards our aspiration of being a global champion and the leading container terminal operator worldwide.

At PSA we believe in nurturing and developing talent, and in finding the best person for the job. We holistically cultivate an environment where people embrace the vision, and a culture where people look forward to coming to work, and are highly committed to what they do. Our high staff engagement scores attest to this. We provide opportunities for growth and learning, where men and women are equipped to do their best and excel. In sustaining a winning work culture to excel as a global champion, we believe in supporting our people – to be successful, to pursue their passions with purpose and to lead fulfilling lives.

https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/3641751

Senior Vice President, Applications Asia Pacific
Oracle Asia Pacific

Oracle’s diversity vision starts with cultivating an environment that is inclusive of all employees. Individual differences present us with opportunities to examine business issues from varying perspectives. Incorporating the! sedifferent viewpoints gives us greater agility and creativity. The result is a workforce unified by common goals yet strengthened by uncommon outlooks.

Oracle Diversity specifically focuses on supporting women in the workplace. We strive to balance the representation of women at Oracle with their availability in the general workforce. Our current goals include increasing female representation in a number of job groups and providing opportunities for professional development, advancement and promotion. This environment is cultivated through many different practices, including partnerships with external organizations that provide development opportunities, workshops, and networking events for women.

Gender diversity should be encouraged on a company’s board as it brings more diverse business perspectives to the company. Women leaders are generally more self aware, collaborative and empathetic in the way they manage relationships.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yenyentyy/

Country Managing Director, Accenture Singapore
Managing Director, Accenture ASEAN

Gender diversity is good for business. It ensures that we infuse our workplaces and teams with diversity of views, styles, experiences and perspectives. It has a positive impact on a company’s performance and propels the organisational culture from average to exceptional. At Accenture, over 115,000 or a third of our workforce are women; and providing an environment and culture that empowers women and helping them define success is critical.

Within Accenture, this commitment to help women succeed starts at the top and it is simply the way we do things within the organisation.

However, across many other workplaces there are still barriers for women. BoardAgender’s mission to recognise the growing importance of women talent at work is crucial in breaking down these barriers. As a woman leader and a champion at Boardagender, I feel honoured to be part of a group that is translating beliefs into actions and creating an environment where we help women succeed at the workplace.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lay-lim-teo-698ab0b/ 

Chairman
KPMG Singapore

KPMG values the contribution of all of its people, regardless of race, religion or gender. It similarly hires on merit, based on the potential of the individual to contribute to the firm.

We run our fair share of programmes to encourage diversity and gender neutrality, and our efforts have been recognised by the Ministry of Manpower’s Work-Life Achiever awards for 2006-2010, and the firm’s inclusion by Working Mother magazine in its top 10 list of the 2011 Best Companies for Women’s Advancement.

In our management group in Singapore, we have equal proportions of both male and female professionals. Our commitment to diversity serves us well. It widens the pool from which we draw our talent, and expands our ability to support our people realising their potential.

In an ever more complex society, the question of providing support has gone far beyond the question of supporting working mothers. Our experience is that in the light of fast changing social trends and expectations, this commitment also requires regular reinvestment.

What is therefore far more important is the fostering of the right attitudes. Our commitment to diversity is based on a respect for the choices that our people make in their personal lives, and support from the firm for their personal development beyond their professional lives.

We want our people to see their fellow professionals not just as workmates, but as human beings with lives outside of work that are important and interesting.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/saichoytham

President, UN Women (UNIFEM) Singapore
Managing Director, Templebridge Investments

UN Women (UNIFEM) globally works toward gender equality and women’s empowerment in developing as well as developed countries.

Whilst in developing countries, our focus is mainly on providing girls with the same level of education as boys and ensuring fair pay and access for women into formalized and informal jobs; in developed countries, we recognize one of the main issues as that of top level employment positions still going to men to an overwhelming degree.

We hope that companies and management in Singapore will duly recognize the benefits and importance of allowing fair access for women into the boardroom. To truly believe this – and to ultimately act on it.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/trina-liang-900415104/

Regional CEO
ING Asia

Diversity is high on the agenda at ING. We believe a diverse, inclusive workforce makes us better at what we do. We have set concrete targets, and we openly measure and report our progress annually.

Implementing gender diversity in senior management is a core pillar supporting our ambition to be an employer of choice and our business principle of treating our employees fairly. Today, women make up 15% of the ING Management Council. By 2015, the target is 33%. The idea is not to just have more women in senior roles for the sake of gender diversity alone; senior appointments at ING are still made based on performance and ability, but what we do is actively manage and develop female talents in a structured purposeful manner, for example, by investing in programs such as the Inclusive Leadership Journey (ILJ). The ILJ aims to accelerate the development and career of about 50 talented women across ING towards senior leadership roles. Singapore hosted 43 of these women in November 2010 for a global leadership workshop and networking event. Eight of them are based in Asia, and two from Singapore. The program emphasizes personal development, so women can increase their visibility and strengthen their network within ING.

We also activate global initiatives to groom younger mid-level female talents. Our management board identified a special diverse group of younger talents to join the ING International Conference this year as “Wildcards” with the specific mandate to be willing and able to challenge the ING Management Council and push innovation within the bank. The intent of this type of initiative is to identify and grow the internal pipeline so that ING will have the flexibility and capacity to staff our future senior positions from within.

In Asia, close to 37% of our staff who are Vice-Presidents, Directors and Managing Directors are women. Five out of the 18 members of the Asia management team who report directly to me are female – that’s 28%, which is a good foundation to build on. The bottom-line is: we don’t have enough women in higher management yet. My personal experience has been that having strong female voices at the table gives us a broader and better range of ideas, perspectives and debate. This can only be good for the company.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaughn-richtor-05b36491/

President, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa
MasterCard Worldwide

In recent years, we have seen increasing recognition for gender equality and women’s empowerment around the world. It is indeed heartening to note that women have made enormous strides in society.

MasterCard’s research on women’s advancement has shown that while more women have access to job opportunities and tertiary education, there is still room for improvement, especially when it comes to women taking top positions in government or business. Women’s advancement starts at the basic level – from fostering confidence in girls through education, to giving women skills development and regular employment opportunities. These are the essential building blocks to further empowerment, financial independence and leadership.

At MasterCard, our corporate social responsibility platform in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa focuses primarily on improving the quality of life for women and children through educational and economic empowerment opportunities. We do this by supporting a broad range of women’s and children’s causes through scholarships, educational programs and various sustainability programs. It is in the same spirit that we are collaborating with UN Women Singapore on Project Inspire: 5 Minutes To Change The World, a year-long project aimed at engaging youth to empower disadvantaged women, in celebration of MasterCard’s 25th anniversary in Asia and the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.

At MasterCard, we focus our attention to ensure our female employees are given opportunities to reach their full potential, with opportunities for professional and personal growth through mentorship and executive leadership coaching programs. The MasterCard Women’s Leadership Network is the largest and most active Business Resource Group in the organization, and provides a platform for our women executives to interact via events, dialogue sessions and CSR initiatives.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickybindra/

Director of the Asian Business Case Centre at the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

As a member of the baby boomer generation in Singapore, over the decades I witnessed with great pleasure the growing confidence and capabilities of Singaporean women in the world of work. Across diverse occupations and in a wide range of job roles, women here have contributed their share and more to the development of our economy and society. So it is surprising that the proportion of women in senior leadership positions and in the boardroom trails behind this reality.

I believe that this will change as every organization will find that it needs to tap on all talent, man or woman, and draw on all modes of leadership available to deal with the complex issues and dynamics of today’s workplace. What is also exciting is that conventional perceptions and beliefs regarding corporate leadership will have to give way to new modes of thinking about this.

Singapore women confident in themselves and their potential as leaders will play a key role in the re-definition of what makes a good corporate leader in the 21st century.

Executive Director (Asset Management), Pan Pacific Hotels Group
Executive Director, Dou Hua Restaurants Pte Ltd
Founder & Chief Operating Officer, St Gregory Spa Pte Ltd

Success lies in teamwork, so both the roles of men and women in an organisation are complementary. In hospitality, even though there are roles that are traditionally male-dominated, I have often found women are equally up to the task.

A woman’s perceptive nature enables her to feel the pulse of an organisation accurately. They are therefore able to assess issues meticulously and communicate their objectives effectively.

Hiring is however still based on meritocracy and the right fit. As an employer, I have learnt to tap on the different strengths of my staff to bring out the best in each of them. Regardless of gender, I believe if you sincerely care about the welfare of your staff, they will in turn care about your business and work well together as a team. This is the kind of working environment I strive to maintain.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/weiling-wee-2b861698/

Chairman
Singapore Institute of Directors

As the acknowledged national association of corporate directors which is committed to the promotion and development of best practices in corporate governance among companies in Singapore, the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID) is keenly aware that effective boards are crucial to achieving this objective. Boards must not only comprise competent individuals with the relevant experience, knowledge and skills and the ability to commit time and resources to properly understand the businesses of the Company and the markets in which it operates in order to add value through ensuring the development of effective long term strategies and achievement of strategic goals, they must also comprise the necessary board diversity.

In this regard, we believe gender diversity in boards to date has not been given sufficient attention. While SID remains gender neutral and is a strong advocate of a meritocracy regime it is also our belief that a more balanced gender distribution of directors would, among other factors, add to board effectiveness. Women have a different physical and emotional make-up from men and often provide different perception of issues and different viewpoints which are invaluable to board discussions and the quality of board decisions.

Women are currently under-represented in boards all over the world except in a few Nordic countries and the percentage at less than 10% in Singapore can in our view be significantly improved without compromising the principle of meritocracy. We hope more women executives, professionals and academics will make themselves available so as to increase the pool of women directors here and help redress the current imbalance over a reasonable period of time.

“Diversity is important for an effective board because it reduces groupthink and uncritical conformity. Diversity is more than about gender. However, gender diversity is a significant issue as women are clearly and significantly underrepresented on Singapore boards. The problem lies on both the supply and demand side of the equation. Therefore, the solution needs to address both aspects. One SID’s part, we are stepping up to help increase the pool of board-ready women candidates, to educate boards on the need and means for gender diversity, and to facilitate the appointment of women on boards.”

https://www.linkedin.com/in/willie-cheng-647a0b5/

Managing Director, South East Asia & India
Bulgari South Asian Operations Pte Ltd

As a working mother with 2 young children, I can understand the challenges of the modern working woman in today’s society – juggling an amalgam of varied roles at the domestic front while placing top focus in business priorities. And it is because of these multi-faceted roles which women undertake, there is an unspoken underlying streak of resilience and tough-mindedness in working mothers.

I applaud the causes of BoardAgender to take on the issues of gender diversity and representation at the board levels; based on statistics, Singapore is lagging behind most developed nations, there must be a relentless push for more companies to evolve in ensuring leadership in all sectors reflect the diversity of society, while at the same time, cultivating the talents and perspectives of women into the boardroom.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wei-ling-wong-10106b141/

Senior Vice President, Southeast Asia
DHL Express

As an organization active across the globe, with around 470,000 employees worldwide, DHL’s workforce is as diverse as our customer base. We place a high value on managing diversity professionally and on a working environment that does not discriminate against employees on the basis of their nationality or ethnic background, gender, religious or personal beliefs, age or disability.

Diversity management is an essential and integral element of our employment policy and firmly rooted in our Code of Conduct and corporate culture.

Our gender equality initiatives include management development programs, mentoring schemes, a professional women’s network and a focus on flexible working for all employees. DHL also has a dedicated “Women Returning to Work” program to support female employees returning from maternity leave.

In 2010, 36.5% of our global workforce were women and the proportion of female managers at the senior level was 14.6%.

At DHL, there is no set quota for women in senior positions, which just goes to show why, among many women in the logistics industry, DHL remains the employer of choice.

Our corporate strategy advocates a strong guiding principle – respect and results – through which we unite our employees all over the world to remain the logistics company for the world.

Executive Chairman
PwC Singapore

At PwC, we’re committed to helping our people – with all of their varied backgrounds and experiences – to build a rewarding career and achieve their full potential. Women represent over half of the global workforce within the PwC network at the recruitment stage. Seventeen per cent of our partnership globally are women, with higher numbers in Asia Pacific, and the number continues to grow. Diversity and inclusion is a value of PwC and it has helped to bring the network, employees, our stakeholders and clients closer together.

In PwC Singapore, we are committed to ensuring women have equal opportunities to build highflying careers. They are well represented in our Singapore Leadership Team. We have women in senior positions heading regional management roles and they are positive role models in juggling career and family.

Women playing pivotal roles in the corporate world are being celebrated. Although we have come a long way, I firmly believe that more can be done to increase women’s participation through a supportive environment.

We invest significant resources in programmes that benefit our female talent. We are focused on developing leadership accountability for diversity, an inclusive culture and awareness of issues that often get overlooked. These include an embedded coaching and mentoring culture, networking sessions, flexi-work plans for young mothers and providing equal career opportunities when they are considered for promotions, training and secondments. For example, in 2013, we celebrated International Women’s Day with the theme “Gender, generational, and leadership: supporting the millennial woman craft her career”.

At PwC, we are proud to count some of the world’s brightest and most talented women among our female leaders.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/oonjinyeoh/