Jerome Yau
Co-Founder, Hong Kong Marriage Equality
Chief Executive, AIDS Concern

Jerome Yau is co-founder of Hong Kong Marriage Equality and Chief Executive of AIDS Concern. He has years of experience in executive and non-executive roles in the voluntary, non-profit and education sectors, focusing on communication, strategic engagement, policy research and public affairs. Jerome is passionate about advancing social justice and promoting LGBT+ wellbeing and inclusion. He is a strong advocate for building bridges and connecting communities through positive narratives and creating shared value.

Jerome has a strong background of working with different stakeholders, including policymakers, community activists, DEI practitioners and healthcare providers. He has a strong commitment to providing evidence-based services and care so as to enhance people's welfare and wellbeing.

Imogen Short
Managing Director, APAC
Write the Talk

Imogen Short is Managing Director for Write the Talk, APAC, a creative agency that makes transformation work brilliantly for people and their organisations. As part of this, Imogen delivers CPD-accredited narrative training programmes for leadership teams that empower them to influence, engage and inspire more authentically.

Prior to this, Imogen spent 12+ years in strategic communication roles across the world, working closely with CEOs and leadership teams to shape strategy, increase engagement and drive growth.

In 2020, Imogen co-founded Three Wise Sheep Productions to create a new voice for comedy that focuses on telling Fierce Female Stories in new and thought-provoking ways. Her award-winning short film, Sweetcorn, premiered at the BAFTA and Oscar-accredited LA Shorts Film Festival, and her multi-award-winning web series, PIVOT, has been featured in Tatler Asia and The Female Lead.

Imogen is the Founder and Chair of Kaleidoscope, an executive women’s networking initiative that brings people together to share different perspectives on things that matter and to focus on big ideas that change the way we connect and live. She is also an active member of the Women in Business committee at the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

Imogen is a competitive trail runner and avid explorer. She lives by the beach in Hong Kong with her partner and two dogs, Zeus and Achilles.

Matthew Clements
Diversity & Inclusion Manager, Asia & Australia
Herbert Smith Freehills

Matthew is the Diversity and Inclusion Manager for Asia and Australia at Herbert Smith Freehills. Based in Hong Kong, he has previously worked in London, where his role supported the firm's D&I initiatives within the UK, US and EMEA. Matthew works closely with senior leaders and employee networks and increasingly with the firm's clients to deliver the firm's global diversity and inclusion strategy – Leading for Inclusion. He champions the role of business in driving change within the communities in which they operate and accelerating progress through cross-industry collaboration.

Sue Coulter
Head of Group Digital and Analytics
AIA Group

Sue is a professional executive with an extensive track record in leading both business and technology transformational change agendas in a range of financial service organisations across Europe and Asia. She is a proven leader with a strong background of delivery including core banking replacement, customer facing mobile applications and digital distribution applications and tools.

Since joining AIA six years ago as the Head of Group Digital, Sue has been responsible for building Centre of Excellence capabilities across five core areas of Design (UX/UI), Agile, Mobile Engineering, Data & Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, which has enabled AIA to cement and accelerate their position as the leading digital insurer across Asia.

Leveraging the expertise built over the past three years, Sue has led the design and execution of the AIA digital agenda, where a range of market-leading digital experiences and solutions for customers, agents, and distribution partners have been delivered as part of AIA's three-year Technology, Digital and Analytics strategy.

Under Sue's leadership, AIA has been recognised globally for its digital transformation, and in 2021 and 2022, AIA was awarded 'Digital Insurer of the Year' by Insurance Aisa News and 'Digital Insurer Transformation Award' by The Digital Insurer. In addition, Sue was recently named as Insurance Business Asia - Elite Woman of the Year, honouring inspiring female leaders in insurance in Asia.

With AIA's award-winning digital capabilities now in place, Sue's responsibilities were expanded in August 2023 when she was appointed to the new role of Head of Group Digital and Analytics . In this role, Sue will continue to enhance AIA's digital landscape by industrialising the use of data analytics and artificial intellligence, including Gen AI, to enhance and personalise digital experiences for our customers, agents, and partners.

Sue is now looking forward to the next phase of the AIA transformation journey and for her, and her team, to continue to contribute to and enable AIA to achieve its ambitious growth targets as part of the new three-year corporate strategy for 2024-2026.

Chris Howard
Senior Director, Account Management, Asia Pacific
JLL

Chris Howard is a Senior Director in the Account Management group at Jones Lang LaSalle, the global real estate services company, working with regional and global blue chip Account Management clients to deliver their corporate real estate projects and programs of work across the Asia Pacific region. Originally from the UK, Chris has 20yrs of experience delivering operational excellence for the likes of Amazon, HSBC, Bank of America, Citigroup and others in Asia.

Away from projects, Chris sits on JLL’s Hong Kong DEI committee as the Chair for Building Pride - the LGBT+ and Ally employee resource group within JLL. Building Pride’s mission is to create a secure, respected and accepting environment where professionals of all sexual orientations, gender identities and their allies are enabled and empowered to reach their full potential.

Outside JLL, Chris’s interests include rugby, scuba diving and traveling as often as humanly possible with his wife.