Leading private and social enterprises for over 25 years in multilateral, culturally diverse environments, Virginia is passionate about bringing to life innovations that impact our society.

Virginia has a demonstrated track record of securing strategic partnerships between corporations, governments, and non-profits to deliver on social impact projects. She started her career in telecommunications, building satellites, and the distribution of free-to-air television across 60 countries in Asia.

Seeing the uptake firsthand, Virginia focused on education, believing that investing in people is the key driver for impactful change. Bringing together diversity and crossing cultural divides is a pathway to create Shared Value in our world, aligning purpose with profit.

After serving on the board of several educational institutions, Virginia is now a member of the Board of Directors of the Adecco Group Foundation in Switzerland a social innovation lab, incubating and accelerating new solutions in the world of work.

Olivia is responsible for formulating and implementing strategies in delivering on the 3 social and environmental objectives in building an inclusive, innovative and sustainable organisation and communities that MTR serves. Before joining MTR, Olivia was the Group Head of Diversity & Inclusion for the Swire group and has held various management positions in Cathay Pacific Airways and Swire Properties.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

I hope that everyone can realise their abilities to support environmental and social changes within their sphere of influence to ensure Hong Kong is recognised as an open and inclusive international city.

Leading private and social enterprises for over 25 years in multilateral, culturally diverse environments, Virginia is passionate about bringing to life innovations that impact our society.

Virginia has a demonstrated track record of securing strategic partnerships between corporations, governments, and non-profits to deliver on social impact projects. She started her career in telecommunications, building satellites, and the distribution of free-to-air television across 60 countries in Asia.

Seeing the uptake firsthand, Virginia focused on education, believing that investing in people is the key driver for impactful change. Bringing together diversity and crossing cultural divides is a pathway to create Shared Value in our world, aligning purpose with profit.

After serving on the board of several educational institutions, Virginia is now a member of the Board of Directors of the Adecco Group Foundation in Switzerland a social innovation lab, incubating and accelerating new solutions in the world of work.

Samuel KWONG is the General Manager – ESG of Chinachem Group with over 25 years of experience in sustainability with multinational conglomerates covering businesses including sports & entertainment, food & beverages, aviation, hospitality, real estate, retail, shipping & infrastructure developments. He is a director of HKIQEP, past Chairman of CIWEM HK & former director of HKGBC & HKBEC. Sam is an engineer by training with bachelor and master degrees from The University of Hong Kong and a master degree of environmental engineering from ENTPE, France, MBA degree from the Chinese University Hong Kong and a degree of laws from the University of London.

Ms. Veronica Sze is the Director of Corporate Affairs for Nestlé Hong Kong, overseeing the company’s public affairs, corporate communications, media relations and Creating Shared Values (CSV) strategies for all business units. She is also the Sustainability Lead for the company with responsibilities including working closely with local teams to achieve various sustainability goals, developing and implementing community-wide recycling campaign, driving comprehensive stakeholder engagement and internal communications. She joins the group in 2010.
Prior to this, she has worked at a global communications consultancy, pharmaceutical industry association, media outlet and university, which granted her extensive experiences in driving policy change, stakeholders’ outreach and CSV.
Ms. Sze received a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Philosophy and two LLB degrees.
She is currently Committee Member of Hong Kong Supplier Association and Hong Kong Health Food Association.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Looking forward to seeing more corporates committing to reduce their impact to the environment while sustaining their business development growth, and together bringing a net zero future in Hong Kong.

Olivia is responsible for formulating and implementing strategies in delivering on the 3 social and environmental objectives in building an inclusive, innovative and sustainable organisation and communities that MTR serves. Before joining MTR, Olivia was the Group Head of Diversity & Inclusion for the Swire group and has held various management positions in Cathay Pacific Airways and Swire Properties.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

I hope that everyone can realise their abilities to support environmental and social changes within their sphere of influence to ensure Hong Kong is recognised as an open and inclusive international city.

Leading private and social enterprises for over 25 years in multilateral, culturally diverse environments, Virginia is passionate about bringing to life innovations that impact our society.

Virginia has a demonstrated track record of securing strategic partnerships between corporations, governments, and non-profits to deliver on social impact projects. She started her career in telecommunications, building satellites, and the distribution of free-to-air television across 60 countries in Asia.

Seeing the uptake firsthand, Virginia focused on education, believing that investing in people is the key driver for impactful change. Bringing together diversity and crossing cultural divides is a pathway to create Shared Value in our world, aligning purpose with profit.

After serving on the board of several educational institutions, Virginia is now a member of the Board of Directors of the Adecco Group Foundation in Switzerland a social innovation lab, incubating and accelerating new solutions in the world of work.

Tina is the Group Head of Philanthropy and leads the Swire Group Charitable Trust (Swire Trust), which is part of the Swire group established in 1816. The Trust supports initiatives in Hong Kong on Education, Marine Conservation and the Arts.

Tina led the TrustTomorrow initiative, which celebrated Swire’s 150th anniversary in Hong Kong through the Group injecting an additional $150 million to the Trust. This initiative has supported over 60 inspirational projects that aim to bring lasting benefits and positive change to the community through. Under her leadership, TrustTomorrow has expanded the Trust’s scope of grant-making to connect the portfolio with operating companies in Swire, as well as mobilising Swire staff in volunteering for the TrustTomorrow NGO partners, delivering over 50 events engaging over 1,000 staff per year. Tina has 15 years of experience in grant-making and charitable foundation management.

Fiona Cumming is the Executive Director at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Hong Kong (SPCA) and joined in February 2022. In her role, she is responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction of the organisation.

Before the SPCA, Fiona spent 20 years at Goldman Sachs Asia L.L.C and she progressed through a number of different roles. With her extensive experience in bringing clarity to complex situations, Fiona is now leading the SPCA to modernise and refocus the 100+ year old organisation to meet future challenges, enabling it to meet its mission for the next decade and beyond. Her goal is to build a sustainable, forward looking SPCA which possesses the agility to evolve and adapt to a rapidly changing world.

Fiona and her family are the proud owners of their beloved mixed-breed dog, Luna and cats, Truffle and Toffee. All of which were adopted as rescue animals.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Since I joined SPCA I have been promoting the importance of incorporating sustainable ways of working such as focus of waste minimization through a quest for a ‘paperless’ SPCA, increasing recycling and reuse across our operations by upcycling of newspapers, towels etc. Our new centre in Tsing Yi will have solar panels and will be awarded a silver award by the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC).

Dr. Lamrad is the Head of Sustainability at Jardine Matheson. Nadira is a corporate responsibility and sustainability practitioner with rich experience advising large multinationals on sustainability and social responsibility strategies, corporate responsibility and sustainability communications through targeted disclosures and reporting, developing relevant governance structures, planning and facilitating stakeholder engagements, improving ESG performance, and identifying performance gaps and action plans to address them.

Surali (Su) is responsible for defining and driving the execution of the HSBC Wealth and Personal Banking strategy in Hong Kong, enabling key strategic initiatives including owning the Sustainability and Inclusion agenda across the business. With over 16 years of experience with HSBC, Su has held a number of senior market, region and global roles in Retail Banking, Private Banking & Wealth, Commercial Banking, Operations & Risk Management.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Enabling our customers and staff to discover their own ESG priorities and support HSBC to be a banking partner that enables our customers and staff members to achieve their sustainability and inclusion ambitions.

Young-Sook is a value-driven, resilient and collaborative business leader delivering in a complex and matrixed organisation.

16 years in EY across multiple geographies, she is currently the Asia-Pacific Financial Services Talent Leader with 10,000 professionals and a key member of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Team. She is solution-oriented, highly inclusive, empathetic team leader, culturally intelligent, a trusted advisor, an inspiring public speaker and a qualified coach.

A strong believer of the three principles of sustainability (people, planet and profit), she has integrated sustainable practices by being a strong advocate of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Well-being and Social Equity, while strategically aligning to organizational objectives. Her focus is on driving behavioural change via learning programs, influencing mindsets and preparing employees to address sustainability in all aspects of the business world.

She is also a Board Member for Love21 in Hong Kong.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

My personal goal is to foster a more inclusive and equitable work culture where everyone feels a sense of belonging and can be themselves at work.
I am keen to see a world where there is less poverty, hunger and drastic weather patterns, so this year, I will participate in more volunteering programs that have a positive impact on the community and environment and I will encourage my team to do the same.

Leading private and social enterprises for over 25 years in multilateral, culturally diverse environments, Virginia is passionate about bringing to life innovations that impact our society.

Virginia has a demonstrated track record of securing strategic partnerships between corporations, governments, and non-profits to deliver on social impact projects. She started her career in telecommunications, building satellites, and the distribution of free-to-air television across 60 countries in Asia.

Seeing the uptake firsthand, Virginia focused on education, believing that investing in people is the key driver for impactful change. Bringing together diversity and crossing cultural divides is a pathway to create Shared Value in our world, aligning purpose with profit.

After serving on the board of several educational institutions, Virginia is now a member of the Board of Directors of the Adecco Group Foundation in Switzerland a social innovation lab, incubating and accelerating new solutions in the world of work.

Johnny joined the ICTI Ethical Toy Program as the General Manager of Asia Operations in February 2017. Promoted to the Chief Operating Officer in 2022, he is responsible for overseeing the operations of the organization globally.

Before joining the Ethical Toy Program, Johnny worked at Decolav, a US-based design house of high-quality furniture and bathroom products, where he was the Managing Director of Asia Operations. Prior to this, he was the Senior Sourcing Manager at Lowe’s Global Sourcing Hong Kong Ltd. Johnny started his career working for Johnson Electric for five years managing the production for Home Appliances products. He brings a wealth of leadership and operational management experience to the Ethical Toy Program team, gained from his 22 years working in the international manufacturing industry .

He received a Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Victoria in Canada and a Master of Science in Engineering Management at the City University of Hong Kong.

Being a Gen-Y and a father of two children, Garrick is aspired to bring happiness and fulfilment to the future generations. He believes it is fundamental for every individual and every business to do good and create shared values for the community.

His experience covers social innovation, sustainability, change management and intrapreneurship, hospitality and real estate asset management, and youth development.

He currently works with a private conglomerate to integrate sustainability across various aspects of operations, target to demonstrate and advocate for the Creating Shared Value (CSV) model to all businesses.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

To encourage more businesses to incorporate social impact measurement to enhance transparency.

Accountability is paramount when it comes to doing good and creating shared values to all.

Vincent joined Hartley McMaster as CEO & Director (APAC) to steer and shape the application of Operational Research (Applied Mathematics) for the firm’s APAC clients. A significant part of his passion in this role is in helping executives embrace the creative use of mathematical models to find optimal solutions to highly complex problems involving multiple moving parts from across their value chains.

Vincent’s involvement with ESG is tied closely to his work with clients to optimize their investment planning and resource allocation strategies, particularly for regulated utilities and other asset-intensive industries. This includes the optimization of USD$20 Billion in infrastructure investment plans across the UK gas network and the quantitatively-derived regulatory justification for a pilot conversion of existing gas pipelines for hydrogen use.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

I hope to see Hong Kong companies go beyond ESG reporting and start to incorporate ESG measurements into their investment planning approaches.

Katherine brings over 20 years of professional experience, with a multi-sector career spanning private banking, offshore wealth management, UK Government and international nonprofit. Katherine is passionate about real estate, sustainable development and poverty alleviation. She has been involved with the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong since 2019 and is a member of the General Committee, Real Estate Committee and is Chair of the Social Sustainability Committee.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

I would like to see the private sector and the Government of the HKSAR working together to advance the city’s progress towards sustainability and achieving the UN SDGs

Kathryn Weaver is an employment law partner at Seyfarth Shaw, an AmLaw 100 full-service international law firm. She heads up the Asia Pacific employment practice and has over 15 years’ experience in advising on employment law matters for multinational employers. She is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion and regularly advises clients on their DEI strategies, as well as delivering client training, drafting articles and speaking at conferences on the topic.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

For Hong Kong to adopt the mantra of “refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle” and for the Government to legislate for, and dedicate more resources to, improving sustainable practices.

Édouard Blanchard is a Founding Partner of Humans Matter, a cognitive design company with a mission to develop individual and collective ability to act.

He has spent 25 years in the transformation and business consulting industry, leading and empowering multinational corporations and organizations in their transformation journey, from business strategy to mindset and cultural shift, from capacity and soft skills development to organization redesign.

A true sustainable change agent, Edouard believes that a successful transformation is first and foremost a matter of accompanying the people leading and living through it.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

We are witnessing a fresh restart of Hong Kong, attention and effort being focused on changing behaviors for more sustainable ones.

At Humans Matter, we are committed to support and equip transition leaders with the relevant meta-skills and mindsets they need to pursue their sustainability missions.

Ajay Manissery Konchery is the Group Head of Diversity and Inclusion at the Swire Group. He is a native of Kerala, India. He served in multiple HR Director roles based in Southeast Asia, India, the US and Hong Kong and spent 21 years in Colgate Palmolive before joining Swire. Ajay holds master’s degrees in Psychology and HR Management and is a published, award winning poet.

Fanny Lau has more than 20 years’ experience in human resources sector, including external consulting and in-house HR partitioning. She was the consultant and provided advisory services to hundreds of corporates in different areas, not only in day-to-day HR operation management, but also organization development, recruitment, performance management, learning & development, etc. She also had corporate and strategy planning experiences and led M&A projects. Not only in Hong Kong, she also worked in the mainland China, Singapore, Vietnam as well as leading projects in Southeast Asia.

She joined the Human Resources Department at New World Development in 2020 and currently she is taking care of HR Transformation, HR Business Partner, Culture, Talent Acquisition, Compensation & Benefits and Learning & Development Teams. Throughout different projects initiated from the group level, she works closely with different business units in New World Group.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

I personally hope to see more practical initiatives can be successfully implemented in Hong Kong, including less plastics, more recycling activities, etc. Corporates can take more aggressive approach and influence the society as a whole. In addition, we can also be more proactive to take care of employees’ wellness mentally and physically.

Tim has twelve years of APAC recruitment experience and over this time has managed diverse teams specialising in Sales & Marketing, Retail, Professional services, FMCG, B2B, Travel / Tourism, Ecommerce, Fin-tech, Construction, Property, Engineering and Manufacturing recruitment. Tim now leads the Hays Sustainably practice, recruiting mid to senior level roles within the Sustainability and ESG space across Asia.

His success has come from executive search assignments where he has successfully placed some of the region’s most influential sustainability leaders. As organisations map out ambitious sustainability targets, Tim and his team are well geared up to identify great talent to assist companies accelerate towards these goals, through strategic talent acquisition.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Hong Kong to prioritize sustainability by closing the green skills gap and fostering a workforce that is equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to implement sustainable practices across all industries. As without gtreat talent, none of our environmental and social ambitions will be realised.

Dawn is the Head of Collaboration and Sustainability Lead at Black Dog Consultants. She is also known as the ‘Green Dog’ by others for designing sustainability-themed learning solutions that focus on shifting behaviours and developing mindsets to explore new approaches to sustainability across all levels of organisations. She is a Vice Chair of the British Chamber of Commerce’s Social Sustainability Committee.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Increasing others’ awareness of sustainability opportunities (as well as challenges) to ignite behavioural change to discover new solutions and approaches.

Anita Lo is the General Manager of IETP, a specialist responsible sourcing program. She is responsible for overseeing the Asia operations, monitoring the development & implementation of a robust Supplier Certification, advancing a wide range of capability-building programs to drive supply chain sustainability, and leading scalable worker wellbeing initiatives.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

1. Engage more businesses to foster collaboration in the supply chain on worker well-being and decent work to mitigate labour risks & create better lives for workers

2. Showcase Family-Friendly Factories as scalable and adaptable for suppliers from all sizes & sectors

3. Promote worker voice through IETP’s scalable Worker Helpline service

4. Empower businesses of all sizes to report on their environmental impact

Maggie Ma is General Manager – Corporate Communications, Hang Lung Properties, where she drives its corporate and sustainability communications strategies as well as community investment programs in Hong Kong and mainland China. She also oversees the Company’s corporate branding, government relations and issue management.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

To promote diversity and inclusion in the community through youth empowerment and volunteering programs.

Karen Ng is Deel’s Regional Head of Expansion and Market Lead for Singapore, Hong Kong, ASEAN, and India. She is currently driving expansion, and oversees Deel’s business development across Asia, Greater China and India.
Karen is a people manager and business leader with over 15 years of business development experience across technology and hospitality sectors. Prior to joining Deel, she was Regional Head of Commercial at HReasily.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

ESG talent is in short supply and high demand globally. We aim to facilitate seamless hiring for businesses to find the right talent anywhere in the world in order to advance ESG agendas globally.

Raised in India & moved to HK in 2013 to manage sales for APAC, Pooja considers herself a flexspace expert after her 14 years’ experience in flex industry. Pooja completed her Masters in HKUST in 2016. Single when she first arrived in HK & now a mother of two beautiful girls, Pooja is the Sales Director and Enterprise Champion in her current profile at IWG. Pooja has worked in two of the best flex operators IWG & Wework.

Driving demand & selling flex as a solution has been keeping her up to feet everyday in the Enterprise Role in IWG.

She loves speaking to corporates about the Hybrid solution they have implemented in their business & how Covid & Flex has changed the dynamics of the way employees work.

In 2009 her largest deal was 12 desks for revenue of £144K & in 2022 it was 143 desks worth £3M. This shows the knowledge she has gained from her experience in the past 14 years with the rise of flex industry.

Reading about AI & crypto is what Pooja is doing to keep up with the Gen Z.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Besides trying to go paperless, using sustainable transport and be mindful of saving energy at work and at home wherever possible Poojas main sustainability goal is educating atleast 15 large corporates to realise the impact they will have on the environment by opting a hybrid workplace solution so that they don’t need to occupy a large traditional space of where only 50% or even less% of their workforce come to office every other day.