Sudesh Thevasenabathy

Sudesh Thevasenabathy brings with over 25 years of experience specialising in customer experience, process efficiencies and change management across multiple industries including telecommunications, consumer products, manufacturing, banking, healthcare tech, insurance and D&I in Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Sudesh is currently Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Asia at Manulife based in Hong Kong responsible for driving the DEI agenda across the region for employees and customers. At Manulife, Sudesh focusses his efforts on the workforce, workplace, community and the business to ensure inclusion is embedded across the organisation and beyond. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his work in the areas of customer experience and DEI across Asia.

Shifting his career towards his passion for inclusion, Sudesh won the 2019 Hong Kong Ally Award by Community Business and was named 2019 Global Top 50 OUTstanding Role Model (Involve.org) through his work on inclusion. Sudesh was recently named an honouree of the 2024 Diversity List by The Zubin Foundation to be considered for future government board participation. He is a true believer and advocate of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and with customers, and actively works and speaks in supporting inclusion of all forms be it disability, race, gender, sexuality and multi-generational employees in various forums around the world.

He recently helped Manulife win Best Diversity Initiative by Hong Kong Business Excellence Awards and Excellence in D&I by HKIHRM. He’s also council member of ESF’s Jockey Club Sarah Roe School in Hong Kong, Board Member of SENsational Foundation and Board Director of New Global Normal. Sudesh also jointly co-chairs the Inclusion Collective with South China Morning Post, and the Kwun Tong Collective.

Sudesh is an Electronics and Computing engineering graduate and is Six Sigma, Lean and Human Centered Design trained. A change agent at heart, he is passionate about delivering the best inclusive and sustainable experience possible for employees and customers at every level of any organisation.

My sustainability goals for 2024:

1. Promote inclusive workplaces by encouraging companies to adopt comprehensive DEI policies that foster a culture of inclusion
2. Enhance Educational Opportunities with focus on creating equitable access to quality education for all, particularly for underrepresented groups
3. Support Community Engagement and Representation by encouraging active participation and representation of all community members in decision-making process