International Women’s Day – Champions of Change: The Diversity Agenda from the C-Suite

Description

Speakers:

César Cernuda
President 
Microsoft, Asia Pacific

As President of Microsoft Asia Pacific, César Cernuda oversees a business that includes 12 subsidiaries in 39 territories and countries, with over 13,500 employees and 100,000 partners. He is responsible for leading the company’s commercial and consumer products, and service and support offerings to meet Asia Pacific’s aggressive consumption of cloud, mobile, big data and social technologies. His key task is to guide Microsoft’s current transformation from a primarily on-premise software business to a mobile-first, cloud-first company.

Prior to his current role, Cernuda was the vice president of Sales, Marketing and Services in Microsoft Latin America. In this role, he was responsible for managing the overall business in the region, including nine Microsoft subsidiaries, and more than 2,000 employees and 80,000 business partners. He drove commercial and consumer marketing strategies, in addition to services and business processes to support Microsoft’s business units and partners. Under his tenure, the Microsoft Latin America Area Headquarters won the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility in 2011 as a result of use of a flexible and effective workplace strategy to increase business and employee success. In 2012, Cernuda was invited to the Microsoft Executive Bench, a distinct honor given to a select number of top Microsoft executives.

Cerunda join Microsoft Spain in 1997, where he led the SMEs group for Spain launching bCentral, an online Web services portal. This was awarded as best product of the year in Spain and best internal worldwide initiative at Microsoft. He has also been part of the Microsoft Business Solutions sales and field operations teams, and the ERP & CRM business.

Cernuda started his career in the banking industry, working on the launch of Banco 21 (currently known as Banco Gallego). He later joined Software AG, where he successfully developed a new business channel for the company’s products and services sales. He also ran the financial sector division for Spain and Portugal.

Cernuda earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from ESIC University in Spain, and completed a Management Development Program (PDD) from IESE Business School at the University of Navarra in Spain. In 2013, he completed the ‘Leadership for Senior Executives’ program offered by the Harvard’s School of Business. Cernuda is an Honorary Patron of Plataforma Solidaria de Asturias, a foundation that helps with the education and needs of a group of children in Bolivia.

Outside of work, Cernuda and his wife enjoy spending family time with their two children.

Hari V. Krishnan
President & Chief Business Officer
PropertyGuru Group

Hari is a seasoned commercial general manager. He brings with him more than 15 years of industry leadership, accelerating brand recognition, customer satisfaction, revenue growth and user growth strategies for technology and consumer internet organisations across Asia Pacific.

At PropertyGuru Group, Hari is in-charge of regional business growth initiatives, with Country Managers and Sales Organizations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia directly reporting to him.

Before joining PropertyGuru Group, Hari was the Vice President & Managing Director, APAC & Japan at LinkedIn, where he led more than 1,000 employees across 10 offices. Prior to LinkedIn, he led the market entry for two hyper-growth Internet companies into Asia and has worked in leadership positions in companies such as Fox Interactive Media, Yahoo! and Cisco.

He sits on the board for U2opia Mobile, a privately-held mobile applications company and the Singapore chapter of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), a not-for-profit organisation focused on fostering entrepreneurship. Hari holds an MBA from INSEAD and an M.S. in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado.

Roland Smith
Senior Vice President - APAC and Managing Director
Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL), Asia 

Dr Smith first joined the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in 2007 as a senior faculty member where he also held the role of the lead researcher for both the Senior Executive Research Initiative (SERI) and the Global Institute for Talent Sustainability (GIFTS). He is also a member of CCL’s organizational leadership and transformation group.

As a leading faculty for the Leadership At The Peak program, he has been heavily involved with initiatives around global talent, global senior executive engagement, high performing teams as well as notable research on the paradoxes of leadership development in Asia, India and South Africa. In addition, Dr Smith is an accomplished author with several books such as “Talent Conversations: What They Are, Why They’re Crucial, And How To Do Them Right” under his name. His past appointments within CCL include being an executive and organizational coach and in leading CCL’s legal sector and professional service practice.

Prior to joining CCL, Dr Smith was President of a national consulting firm in United States, focusing on addressing organizational performance and talent management. He also served as President for a human capital consulting firm, helped transform it into a successful national force with over 1,000 organizational members and clients. His other appointments include serving as a Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award examiner and judge for the Louisiana and Idaho Quality Awards. He was also a faculty member and director of the Quality Learning Project (Center for Educational Research) at the University of Idaho where he focused on issues relating to process improvement, organizational and individual learning, competency identification, human resources, and the implications of trust on organizational performance.

Michael Zink
Head of ASEAN and Country Officer for Singapore
Citi

Michael Zink is Head of Citi’s businesses in ASEAN, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand; as well as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He was appointed to this role in February 2012.

Michael concurrently holds the position of Citi Country Officer (CCO) for Singapore since his appointment in April 2010. Citi has been operating in Singapore since 1902, and has well established business in Corporate and Investment Banking, Private Banking, Commercial Banking and Consumer Banking. With nearly 10,000 employees and several regional hubs, Citi is the largest financial services business in Singapore.

A 28-year Citi veteran, Michael began his career with Citi in New York in 1988 and has held various senior corporate banking and executive management roles for Citi in Africa, Russia and Asia.

Michael is currently Co-Chair of the Financial Services Committee and Member of the board of the US-ASEAN Business Council, and a member of AmCham Singapore’s Board of Governors. He also serves as a council member of The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS).

Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in the USA and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the USA.

An American citizen, Michael has been married to his wife Betsy for 29 years. They have three daughters living in the USA, and a son studying in Northwestern University.


This event is moderated by:

Cecilia Ma Zecha,
Head of External Relations Southeast Asia,
McKinsey & Company 

Cecilia Ma Zecha is Head of External Relations, Southeast Asia, for McKinsey & Company, responsible for designing and implementing the management consulting firm’s reputation-building and strategic communications program in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Prior to McKinsey, Cecilia was Executive Director for Forbes Media in Asia, responsible for content development and programming of Forbes conferences, as well as recruitment and management of speakers, for events such as the Forbes Global CEO Conference and Forbes Forums on Asia’s Power Businesswomen and Next Tycoons. 

A former television anchor Cecilia was a frequent host and moderator at Forbes and other international business conferences. In addition Cecilia led the media brand’s regional public relations and contributed special video interviews for Forbes.com. Prior to Forbes, Cecilia was an anchor and correspondent for CNBC Asia where she was host of Asia Squawk Box, World Market Outlook, Managing Asia, Asia Working Woman and Asian Wall Street Journal On-Air.

Corporate tables are available at a discounted rate of $400 for 10 seats.  Please email Nathan Sivarajah at psivarajah@amcham.org.sg to reserve a table.  EVENT IS FULL!

Knowledge Partner:

This luncheon is generously sponsored by: