Agenda

Binesh Menon, a distinguished learning enthusiast, currently heads Learning & Organisation Development for Asia Pacific at Emerson. Over two enriching decades, his experience spans leadership roles in diverse geographies, spearheading workshops that impacted over 25,000 individuals in 14 countries. He demonstrates his commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by establishing and leading the Asia Pacific DE&I Council for his organisation.

Binesh’s remarkable contributions to talent development led to his recognition as one of Asia’s top 25 influencers by World HRD Congress, alongside acknowledgments from the National Training & Development Congress and HRM Asia.

Being a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner, Binesh harmoniously blends traditional talent development strategies with unique elements of depth psychology, championing Carl Jung’s works and dream analysis to unlock unconscious potential. Binesh’s methodology involves understanding the unconscious elements that drive behaviour and performance in the workplace. By incorporating Jungian concepts, he focuses on aspects such as archetypes, the collective unconscious and individuation, which can help in identifying and nurturing the innate potential within each employee.

Binesh’s professional journey includes successful tenures at powerhouse companies like Tata and John Deere. He has added value to multiple learning forums in India, UAE, Malaysia, and Singapore with insightful presentations. With his diverse experience and proven leadership acumen, Binesh stands as a poignant figure in the HR and development space.

Amor Villalon, a seasoned HR leader with over 20 years of experience, has successfully driven transformative initiatives in leading organisations, such as Wyeth, Microsoft, Fujitsu, Brightstar, SM Investments and FairPrice Group. With a strong foundation in psychology and advanced studies in management and organisational development, Amor specialises in strategic HR, talent management, leadership development and change management. Her expertise spans diverse industries, including pharmaceuticals, technology, retail and investments.

Amor is a certified executive and leadership coach, leveraging her skills to develop high-potential talent and foster a culture of excellence. A passionate advocate for employee well-being, Amor has volunteered extensively to support overseas workers. Currently leading talent management, organisational development, and learning and development at FairPrice Group, Amor is committed to driving business success through people strategies.

Sunil, a key member of the leadership team at Stewardship Asia Centre (SAC), spearheads research and advisory endeavours at the nexus of sustainability, talent and leadership. Previously, as Asia Pacific Head of Research at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), Sunil directed research and advisory initiatives across the region. His tenure from 2014 to 2016 at the Human Capital Leadership Institute saw him lead global Asian leader research initiatives.

A graduate of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, Sunil has over 25 years of experience in research and advisory. He has authored several research studies on the future of work, sustainability, board leadership, Asian leadership, and the future of HR.

Mai Chinh Duong is currently the Regional Learning & Development Head for Siemens ASEAN, and partners with senior leaders and their teams to co-create curriculum that helps them to develop organisational capabilities, including agility and leadership. The aim is to build a continuous learning culture to enable transformational change and growth.

In Chinh’s 22-year career as a HR professional in the technology industry, she has gathered experience and expertise that spans across business HR, organisational learning, culture change, and talent and leadership development. She has worked across diverse teams and delivered on strategic priorities, and is passionate about helping people learn, develop and fulfil their potential.

David brings close to 30 years of expertise in corporate learning, digital learning transformation, lifelong learning strategies, leadership and organisational development, HR management, and pre-opening / start-up functions. In David’s new role, he leads the HR Development team to support the career development and capability building for the team of this newly setup campus that focuses on developing a systemic population and preventive healthcare model for 1.5-millon residents across Central North of Singapore, with the vision of adding 15 million years to healthy life.

Formerly at NHG Cares Institute, David was responsible for setting up a learning network of providers across the health, social and healthcare ecosystem with the aim to develop and promote thought leadership in community care, as well as facilitate exchanges towards capability building of a future community workforce. David was also at the Centre for Healthcare Innovation in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, responsible for the transformation of digital learning to enable the healthcare workforce, through new learning pedagogies, and a 10-year digital transformation roadmap in learning.

Before that, at BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, David spearheaded its Asia Pacific Learning Campus, the first outside Germany that focused on developing leaders across Asia. At Frasers Centrepoint Limited (now called Frasers Property), he enhanced and strengthened leadership capabilities of its three core businesses, Frasers Centrepoint Homes, Malls, and Frasers Hospitality. He also brings more than a decade of hospitality experience in service excellence, quality assurance and hotel pre-openings with Conrad Hotels and Mandarin Oriental.

David holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Massachusetts, a Diploma in Human Resource Development from Singapore Institute of Management, and is an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Professional Certified Coach (PCC).

Joyce Tse is a certified trainer, coach and consultant for psychometric tools. With vast experience in learning and organisational development across diverse industries, she is recognised as a regional and global leader.

Currently serving as the Head of Learning & Organisational Development – Asia Pacific at OMRON Asia Pacific, Joyce exemplifies her commitment to inspiring growth by spearheading initiatives in talent development, talent management, and critical organisational topics like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, driving positive change throughout the region. Additionally, Joyce plays a key role in OMRON’s global leadership development efforts, focusing on cultivating a robust and diverse pipeline of global leaders.

Currently the Head of Global Learning & Development – South Asia & Japan at Micron, Arthur is endowed with 27 years of diversified working experience. He has more than 20 years’ experience in management roles across different functions (Talent Management, Learning and Leadership Development, Organisation Development, Training, Recruitment, Sales Management and Marketing) in different geographies within Asia Pacific, and industries (recruitment, telecommunication, pharmaceutical, agriculture and microelectronics).

Being agile, Arthur has many years of leadership experience in both commercial and HR under his belt, moving from being a Pharmaceutical Sales Representative to Head of Sales to Marketing to Corporate Training to L&D to Talent and Leadership Development to Organisational Development.

Shailaja is a global HR leader with significant experience in leadership and people development, well-being and DEIB. Having worked across Consumer Goods, Pharmaceuticals, Information Technology, Financial Services and currently as the Group Head of Learning, Development & DEIB for a leading private healthcare company; Shailaja brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that builds sustainable organisations and people.

People Sustainability is a passion for Shailaja. She truly believes that a sustainable organisation needs to care for its people; through developing them, looking after their well-being and providing an inclusive climate. Challenging the status quo, asking provocative questions to create reflective spaces comes naturally to Shailaja. She is a thought leader, speaker and active champion, both within organisations and in society; energising an ecosystem of like-minded individuals and agencies to create systematic solutions.

A student at heart, Shailaja was awarded a Distinction from INSEAD Singapore for her Master’s thesis on the ‘Impact of Stereotype Threat & Performance of Minority Groups in Organisations’ in 2018. She has recently been featured on news media Channel 8, talking about Organisation Well-being.

Saurav Atri is a global leader in learning, human performance and growth, with over 20+ years of experience in various industries and regions. As the Director of Global Learning at Manulife, he is responsible for making learning the driver for individuals, teams and organisational development for more than 34,000 employees worldwide.

Saurav manages two global portfolios at Manulife: New Ways of Working that includes strategy and deployment education and Development on Generative AI, Agile, Human Centred Design Thinking and Functional Learning globally for over 38,000 employees. He leverages his expertise in human behaviour, employee engagement and strengths-based development to help Manulife achieve its business goals and vision.Saurav manages two global portfolios at Manulife: New Ways of Working that includes strategy and deployment education and Development on Generative AI, Agile, Human Centred Design Thinking and Functional Learning globally for over 38,000 employees. He leverages his expertise in human behaviour, employee engagement and strengths-based development to help Manulife achieve its business goals and vision.

Before joining Manulife, Saurav was an Executive Leadership coach, senior workplace consultant and subject matter expert at Gallup, where he advised and coached CEOs, CHROs, and other senior leaders on how to maximise human potential and performance. He also facilitated learning and development programs, trained over 10,000 managers, 3,000 coaches and 1,000 leaders, and won multiple awards for his excellence and impact. He was an ICF certified ACC coach and a senior Gallup course leader. Saurav’s mission is to help people and businesses upgrade through purposeful learning and growth.

Jane Lai is Head of Capabilities Development & Reskilling, Talent & Development at United Overseas Bank Limited. She leads UOB’s core curriculum team that is responsible to drive upskilling, deep skilling and reskilling initiatives and efforts (more affectionately known as “Better U”) in the Bank. Together with her team, Jane focuses on development initiatives that nurture UOB employees to become well-rounded, principled yet innovative bankers – Empowered to drive the Bank’s vision of “Building the Future of ASEAN”.

Prior to this, Jane was leading the LearnTech, program management and training operations team at UOB. With years of experience in training and development, Jane is a learning specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the banking industry, skilled in training consultancy, as well as learning program design and management.

Dani is Co-founder and Principal Analyst for RedThread Research. She has spent the majority of her career writing about, conducting research in, and consulting on human capital practices and technology.

Before starting RedThread, Dani led the Learning and Career research practice at Bersin, Deloitte. Her ideas can be found in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, CLO Magazine, HR Magazine, and Employment Relations.

Dani holds a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University.