17 March 2021

Supported by the Women in Business Committee  

 
Speakers:

Adrian Warr, CEO Hong Kong & Taiwan, & Market Growth Thailand and APAC Head of Employee Experience, Edelman

Nikki Davies, Group Diversity & Inclusion Director, Prudential

Rachel Huf, Managing Director, General Counsel, Asia Pacific, Barclays

 
In celebration of International Women’s Day, the Chamber has brought together a panel to shine a light on the importance of sponsoring women in the workplace and the lasting impact this can have on their careers.

The people around us, and often those we work with, can have the ability to drive our development and career advancement in a big way. Given that women hold just 24% of senior management roles, it is clear that more needs to be done to even the scale. Mentoring is becoming more common in the workplace, but is it enough? Being coached through tough decisions and pay negotiations is valuable, but does that compare to having someone in the room advocating for you and what you're worth? Mentoring at all career stages is important, but in the absence of a sponsor to advocate publicly and in those closed-door conversations, the chances of us balancing the scale become less likely.

Join us to hear first-hand how our panelists advanced their careers and the careers of others through sponsorship and what else can be done to advance women’s careers.

About the speakers

Adrian leads Edelman Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as the newly formed Thailand office. He is a communications consultant whose work in New York, London and Hong Kong with some of the world’s best consultancies has given him experience in corporate, crisis, branding, marcomms, employee engagement, public affairs and digital marketing. 

Adrian has been lucky enough to work with amazing people whose names he will happily drop at the first opportunity, including the leaders of companies like HSBC, Cathay and Mars as well as individuals such as Kofi Annan, Cherie Blair and Princess Christina of Spain.

Over the years his clients have included Samsung, Google, Coca-Cola, Tencent, Pepsi, Cathay Pacific, United Airlines, BAA, Warner Music, CLP, MTR, London 2012, The UN, Wrigley, KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, EY, GE, American Express, ArcelorMittal, DLA, KPMG, and Boston Consulting Group.

Nikki is Group Diversity & Inclusion Director at Prudential, based in the global head office in Hong Kong. An HR professional with over two decades of experience, she has worked in financial services for over 15 years, previously with Credit Suisse in various roles leading Diversity & Inclusion, Campus Recruitment and Talent Development, and prior to this with Morgan Stanley in the Talent Development Team. Before joining large MNCs, Nikki ran her own businesses in the fields of education, training and development. 

Since joining Prudential in September 2020, she has led the Global D&I Council strategy to redefine inclusive leadership behaviors, develop Diversity Acceleration Plans, and outline metrics of measurement and KPIs for success for the global business. She has also led Prudential to inclusion on the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index 2021.

Nikki’s involvement in Diversity & Inclusion started with her involvement in setting up Employee Networks. She was on the founding committee for the Morgan Stanley Women’s Network, Chaired the Hong Kong Women’s Network from 2015 - 2018 and a founding Committee Member of the award-winning Hong Kong LGBT+ Open Ally Network at Credit Suisse. D&I initiatives led by Nikki include strategic development to broaden the scope of diversity beyond gender while strengthening the sense of belonging at Credit Suisse through leading global initiatives including International Women’s Day and Pride. She formulated the bank’s strategy for the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and a global Belonging Communications Campaign. 

Rachel is a Managing Director and General Counsel for Asia Pacific. She is based in Hong Kong. 

She joined Barclays in 2004 as Head of Legal, Hong Kong. In 2011, her remit expanded to include North Asia, and, in 2013 she was appointed Head of Markets Legal, Asia Pacific. In October 2013, Rachel became Deputy Global Co-ordinator for Markets Legal.   Rachel took on her current role in April 2015.  She is a member of the Asia Pacific Executive Forum, the Barclays Group Legal Executive Committee, the Barclays Bank PLC Legal Executive Committee and chairs the Asia Pacific Legal Regional Management Team.

Between 2013 and 2015, Rachel took on additional responsibility as Chair of the Employee Network Groups in Asia Pacific, responsible for managing and leading Barclays’ diversity and inclusion efforts in the region. She was a founding member of Barclays’ Women’s Initiatives Network in Asia Pacific, and is currently the Executive Committee sponsor for Spectrum, Barclays LGBT network.   She is also the Be Well Sponsor for Asia Pacific and is the Sponsor of the Barclays Group Legal Executive Committee Skills for the Future strategic initiative and Legal Professional Mobility Programme.

About the moderator 

Kirti Lad is Executive Director of Meraki Executive Search & Consulting Limited.  She has worked in Executive Search for over 20 years. Kirti is one of the pioneer’s behind the Women's Directorship Programme, a joint-venture with The University of Hong Kong, a corporate governance programme to help women prepare for board responsibilities. Kirti also leads the Meraki Network, an Executive Women's network in the region and is an active member of the Women in Business Committee at the British Chamber in Hong Kong. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Kirti was named as one of the Global Top 50 Diversity Professionals in Industry by the Economist Magazine. 

Pricing

• Member: HK$140
• Non-Member: HK$250

Terms & Conditions

• Reservations in advance are required. Please consider your booking confirmed unless notified otherwise.
• Cancellations must be made in writing 24 hours prior to the event. No shows will be charged.
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