Elizabeth Martin-Chua

Asia-wide HR Expert and Author
(Former Senior Vice President of Greater China and Asia Philips Electronics)

Elizabeth has been labeled as ‘inspirational’, a ‘thought leader’ and a ‘role model’ and has been amply recognized and rewarded by the HR profession. Whilst in the employ of Philips she won in

• 2005: The Robert Walters Award for Best HR Director
• 2006: The Best HR Team Award (the HR shared services of Philips Singapore established by her)
• 2007: The Convergys Award for Outstanding Contributions to HR.

Experience

More than 30 years with Philips, her experience spanned the globe. She had assumed many responsibilities in different parts of the world.

• Head of Philips Singapore HR function for more than two decades,
• Head of HR for the Philips global audio business with centers in Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore in the mid 1990s
• Founder and Chairman for the Asia Talent Pool for a decade, 1997-2006
• Diversity and Inclusion Champion for Asia Pacific from the mid 1990s and for this function had to work with many counterparts in the US
• Her last assignment was as Senior Vice President of Philips China responsible for the HR function and also HR Head for Asia from 2006-2008. Philips China, in 2008 had a headcount of 18,000.

Past and present involvement and qualifications

• 2002 Member, CPF Work Group under the Singapore Economic Restructuring Committee
• 2004 Member, Singapore Wage Reform Task Force and co-chairperson for the Electronics Sectoral Group.
• 2005 Member, Business Continuity Council.
• 2006 to date Member, Singapore Symphony Orchestra Management Committee
• 2007 Member, Singapore WDA’s Taskforce to certify HR professionals.
• 2008 Founded her own Management Consultancy, Elizabeth Martin Associates.
   

Presently, Elizabeth is located in Singapore. She is the author of “Maximizing Human Capital in Asia – From the Inside Out.”

Mark Sparrow

Managing Director
Kelly Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd

Mark Sparrow has over 14 years of experience in the recruitment industry. As the Managing Director for Singapore, he is responsible for leading and driving all of Kelly Services operations, growing and expanding its business and investment opportunities in Singapore, managing the
corporate functions and its Professional and Technical divisions, including Kelly Selection, Kelly Scientific Resources (KSR), Kelly IT Resources (KITR), and Kelly Engineering Resources (KER). Prior to his current role, Mark began his recruitment career with Kelly Services in London in 1995.

He thereafter moved to a specialist professional services recruiter Harrison Willis, where he developed a specialization in the accountancy space. This change saw Mark’s career accelerate and diversify over a period of 12 years with the group (which was acquired and later demerged to become Hudson Global Resources), giving him the opportunity to lead and build practices across the UK in Procurement, Management Consultancy, and Interim Management.

In his last position in Hudson UK, Mark was appointed as Managing Director of the Banking practice, and a member of the UK operating board in 2004. He was later appointed as the Country Manager for Singapore in 2006 where he ran a large multi-disciplined business for 2 years.

Gyan Nagpal

Regional Head of Learning & Development – Asia Pacific
Deutsche Bank

Gyan is a14 year learning and development professional who is deeply invested in understanding talent dynamics within the Asia Pacific region. A student at heart, his pet subjects include organisation culture, generational shifts, business strategy and leadership practices across industries in the region.

A large part of Gyan’s current role in Deutsche Bank is focused on strengthening the link between progressive people practices and organizational strategy. He started his career in line management roles and has formal education in the fields of Financial Management, Economic Systems, Management Sciences and Hospitality Administration.  

Henry Quake

Chief Executive Officer
Council For Third Age

Henry joined Council for Third Age as its Chief Executive Officer since its founding in May 2007. His first career was with the Singapore Armed Forces. He retired in 1997 after serving 25 years in the SAF. His second career was in healthcare and education as Chief Operating Officer of a healthcare group where he managed both local and regional operations in Indonesia and China and later as CEO of an e-learning education and training company before moving on to his third career in semiconductor in 2003. Here he served as the CEO of the technology training arm of an IC Design Technology Group and Group Chief Operating Officer and later as Board Director and President of a software design centre in Bangalore, India.

He was also an active grassroots volunteer for 12 years (1984-1996). He was awarded the Public Service Medal National Day Award in 1993.
 

Olivia Tay

Chief Human Resource Officer
National Healthcare Group

Mrs. Olivia Tay is a Human Resource practitioner with many years of experience in MNCs and a public-listed electronic manufacturing company. She joined healthcare in 2001 and assumed her current position as Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) of NHG in May 2006. As CHRO, she has overall responsibility in the formulation, review and implementation of HR policies to support NHG’s mission.

Stanley Tok

Vice President, Human Resources
MediaCorp

Stanley Tok is presently Vice President, Human Resources in charge of MediaCorp’s entire TV Cluster and its Group Sales & Marketing Cluster. His TV business units are responsible for all the major TV channels 5, 8, and U, as well as niche channels such as Okto, Suria and Vasantham. His Studios Production units churn out a wide range of drama and variety favourites such as The Ultimatum, Little Nonya, Campus Superstar, Red Thread and Singapore Idol.

In his HR career, Stanley has covered the full spectrum of Human Resources Management activities including Manpower Planning, Rewards and Benefits, International Assignments, Competency Development, and HR Information systems. His experience spans the Local, Regional and Corporate HR arena with both Singaporean and Multinational corporations.

Among the diverse industries that Stanley has worked in include the British chemical company ICI, shipping giant Neptune Orient Lines, international express and logistics company TNT, and well-known cable TV broadcaster ESPN STAR sports