Global Speakers

Audrey is someone who takes pride of her Singaporean roots (even way before Crazy Rich Asians went viral!). After graduating from Singapore Management University, she took some time to experiment varied roles in sales, operations and marketing. It didn’t take her too long to find that her passion lies in being an Administrative Professional as well as giving back to community.

In over 10+ years, Audrey has created value out of her administrative support role and partner with her manager to scale diversity, culture and community engagement within the organization.

During her VMware stint, she was double hatting as an EA and Foundation lead for 2 years, and loved every opportunity to partner with employees/volunteers and charities. Subsequently, she bagged the Executive Assistant of the Year 2015 organized by Singapore’s Page Personnel.

That led her to joining Google/YouTube as an Administrative Business Partner (ABP). She has been on the role for 3 years and is loving every moment shaping the YouTube APAC family-like culture with her managers. All thanks to the YouTube family nominations, she managed to be one of the ten global ABPs to take home the “Google’s Admin Superhero 2017 Award”.

Some of the things that Audrey absolutely loves doing when she is not at a cafe sipping coffee or listening to music on YouTube is traveling, zumba and continuously working on her yoga crow pose!

Executive Assistant of the Year 2015

Topic:

Award Winning EA Case Study: How to Exceed the Expectations of Your Boss and Your Colleagues on a Daily Basis

Carlo leads the FCM Travel Solutions business development teams in Asia, increasing sales across the region to its highest levels in FCM’s history. Born in Belgium, he is a British citizen with an Italian background and has lived in numerous countries across Europe and Asia. In his previous company, Rosetta Stone, he was responsible for the corporate sales division across EMEA. He then moved to Japan to manage the sales and marketing teams, before leading the company’s expansion across the rest of the APAC region.

Topic:

Corporate Travel 2020 Vision: Providing Your Company With the Perfect Travel Experience

Christine is an experienced EA with over 17 year of experience in the Oil & Gas & Hydrocarbons, Digital Enterprise, Telecommunication, and banking industries. She holds a strong knowledge of business operations, and hold both a bachelor degree and masters of business administration.

She has a diverse experience across several functions including: supporting top management, finance, merger & acquisitions, sales, training management, project coordination, customer support, resourcing, and office management.

She worked in multiple geographical areas, in different regions, and has been exposed to different cultures & languages.

Topic:

How to Prepare for the Arrival of a New Boss

Topic:

Workshop A: Task Automation and Productivity with Technology Masterclass for EA/PAs

Clarice joined Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest maker of consumer packaged goods, with multiple billion-dollar brands in 2011, as Executive Assistant to Vice President. She possesses extensive experience in the administrative field in the consumer goods industry, working with multidisciplinary, multicultural and geographically dispersed teams. Clarice is also highly-efficient in managing large events, negotiating win-win deals with external parties, and producing results in highly volatile environments. In one of her projects, she was tasked to oversee the office-sourcing and renovation project for her business unit. She strongly believes in building long standing relations across multiple stakeholders and is highly-passionate in coaching and mentoring others with similar goals. Ever since she became a mother, Clarice takes on an active role in staying connected with like-minded women, supporting each other on this journey as a highly-effective working mother.

Clarice is married and a mother of one son, and a daughter on the way. Spending time with her family and friends, travelling and working those Zumba moves are some of her favorite activities.

Topic:

The Art of being a Highly-effective Executive Assistant

Sandrine is an accomplished Business Turnaround Executive with over 20 years of corporate experience working with multinational companies and medium sized enterprises in global markets. She is an expert in organizational development, operations and strategic planning, as well as financial management and corporate finance. She is a big picture strategist and fearless leader with exceptional management skills, strategic agility and business acumen. Solid cross-industry background and experience with demonstrated ability to apply acquired knowledge across sectors.

A trusted advisor and liaison, adept at developing highly effective strategies to drive growth. Proven capacity to work effectively with a wide range of diverse teams and business groups in multicultural environments.

Topic:

The Executive Perspective: What Sets a Great EA Apart From the Rest? And How to Improve Professional Relationship with Your Boss

Page Personnel Top 10 Singapore EA of the Year 2013

Topic:

Developing Powerful Inner Circle: Why Developing your Inner Circle is a Crucial Part of Success in All Areas of Your Life, Not Just Work

Abigail Vasantha is Executive Personal Assistant to the Global Chief Development Officer of AccorHotels, a leading hotel group with more than 4700 hotels worldwide.

With over 11 years’ experience in a very challenging role in an extremely busy industry (the group opens, on average, one hotel per week in Asia Pacific) she is self-motivated and has a strong commitment to the goals of the business. Abigail has a vast range of responsibilities including executive support, event management, travel arrangements, roadshows and much more. She is an outstanding ambassador for the group and works tirelessly to manage the demands of AccorHotels’ development team.

When she is not behind her desk, Abigail enjoys nothing more than spending time with her two children and does yoga on a regular basis. She has a double diploma in business administration and private secretarial.

Topic:

Executive & EA/PA Panel: How Outstanding EA/PAs Add Value to Their Organizations

Joanna is the C-Level Executive Assistant at iPrice Group Sdn Bhd, a role she took in 2017 and was quick to add on the position of Head of Administration within 6 months of joining the Company.  She has over 15 years of EA/PA work related experience gathered from local and multinational companies based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia serving a both local and foreign CFO, Senior Vice Presidents, Vice Presidents, CEOs, Presidents and Chairmans of companies from various industries.

In her current capacity at iPrice, she supports both the Co-Founders and C-Level Executives in a very exciting and fast-paced e-commerce industry, an industry she intentionally wanted to experience as its currently the most relevant industry to be in.

Prior to iPrice Group, Joanna spent 8 years supporting the CEO & CFO of Gold Coin Group, a multinational agribusiness company which was part of the Zuellig Group then.  This role enabled her to connect with 7 countries around Asia of which the experience has enriched her in many ways.

And before that, she spent a full 5 years with Volvo Cars Asia Pacific supporting the Vice President of Marketing which was responsible for 8 countries in Asia including Australia & New Zealand. This role provided Joanna a tremendous amount of experience globally as the role required her to travel and meet her peers around the globe and this has taken Joanna to many cities around the world such as Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, Madrid, Shanghai, Sydney and Bangkok among others.

A very detailed-oriented and forward planning person, Joanna sets very high standards for herself to ensure that she does the job right and on-time. She strives to adapt to new environments fast which is a very critical skill in current times. If you were to ask her bosses or colleagues to describe her, the most common words that would be used would be funny, efficient, reliable, trustworthy and has high integrity.

Topic:

Executive & EA/PA Panel: How Outstanding EA/PAs Add Value to Their Organizations

Ervina is the Executive Assistant to the President Industrial of Schaeffler Asia Pacific and Managing Director of Schaeffler Singapore.  Ervina joined Schaeffler in 2016.  She has diversified experience, with over 15 years in manufacturing, operations and commercial sectors in multinational corporations and with the U.S. Embassy in Singapore.

Ervina is mainly responsible for business support (e.g., Asia Pacific Board meetings, Singapore Board of Director meetings, business reports, customer meetings and event management).  She also supports the Industrial, Compliance and Internal Audit teams – ranging from Manager to Vice President levels – in their daily operational, administrative and onboarding of new employees.  Ervina is also the Acting Office Manager since Dec 2018, after the office relocation.

Prior to Schaeffler, Ervina served as Executive Assistant and Commercial Assistant at the U.S. Commercial Service in the U.S. Embassy in Singapore.  In this role, she supported U.S. companies doing business in Singapore through “matchmaking” meetings with local companies, trade associations and government agencies.  She also organized networking events, VIP visits from the U.S. Government, and prepared briefing books/memos for the U.S. Ambassador’s meetings locally and abroad.

Detailed-oriented and customer-focus, Ervina sets very high standard for accuracy and optimizes her daily work through knowledge sharing and teamwork.  A strong believer of work-life balance, she enjoys learning new languages, cooking dinner, DIY home projects, and travelling.

Topic:

Managing Multiple Managers & Bosses

Ade brings with her more than 25 years of experience in senior managerial support and administrative skills in planning, organizing, customer service & operations knowledge with Fortune 500 companies such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever & the most attractive employer – Singapore Airlines Limited. Ade is 100% Indonesian, born and bred in Jakarta. As with many women today, Ade juggles her time between work & managing two teenagers, a boy and a girl. Her personal philosophy is ” Be positive, chase your dream and dream high”. For the last 3 years, she has been working with Danone SA (Top 10 World’s Largest Food & Beverage Companies) as an Executive Assistant for Chairman Asia.

Topics:

• Interactive RoundTable Series – Roundtable 4: Strategies for communicating your value to leadership and expanding responsibilities
• How to Perform Collaboratively and Effectively Across Generations

Erin has 7 years of experience in the EA industry and has expertise in supporting senior executives in the IT, sales and digital marketing space. She is also working towards a Bachelor of Psychology in her spare time and has a unique interest for human resources and work culture.

Topic:

Executive & EA/PA Panel: How Outstanding EA/PAs Add Value to Their Organizations

&

Working with Different Personality Types: Communicating with Impact

With more than 10 years’ global experience in Singapore, London and Sydney behind her, Renee has worked across many different cultures and industries including Financial Services, ICT, Hospitality and Education. In her present role at AIS, Renee has evolved her position into a proactive capacity rather than in the reactive one which has enabled her to help drive the Executive team into being less urgent in their thinking and more deliberate and intentional in their decisions. She has also championed the opportunity to align both the Academic and Operations teams to create a cohesive working environment.

Renee thrives on helping the other school secretaries reach their potential, using her strong coaching skills to continually encourage them and create their own career path. Other personal development initiatives run by Renee include giving regular workshops on email and calendar management which has helped align staff with the best practices in personal and business administration.

Her passion for health and fitness has helped drive a fantastic wellness program for in excess of 500 staff across the school, emphasizing the need to take care of yourself before you take care of others, whether that be in the classroom with students or in your personal home life.
Renee has a background in fashion design (Advanced Diploma from East Sydney TAFE). Starting her business, Farquhar, four years ago she enjoys adding a creative outlet to her already busy schedule. Her passion for fashion and print gives her unique insight into what aspirational personal presentation in the workplace looks like and how to achieve it.

Topic:

The Diplomatic EA: Spotting Potential Conflict, Learning How to Defuse It and Knowing the Strategies to Use When Confrontation Is Unavoidable

Shanniel is equipped with 8 years’ experience as an Assistant to Managing Director and C-level Executives in high paced environments. She has been exposed to various industries such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Asset Management and now in Villeroy and Boch, the longest history manufacturer of ceramics for sanitary and tableware. She is the Executive Assistant to the Managing Director and CFO, and HR Director of APAC and office manager. Shanniel communicates with and manages multiple stakeholders on a daily basis including the team in Singapore as well as some key personnel across APAC and in HQ at Mettlach, Germany. She is a resourceful individual equipped with problem solving and organizational skills.

Topic:

Executive Assistants as Project Managers: How to Manage Multiple Projects and Multi-Task Effectively

Theresa is an experienced Executive Assistant with over 15 years of experience. She has a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnology, FMCG, and construction industry. She is skilled in events management, complex travel and calendars management, support to C-level leaders, SAP and Microsoft Excel. She is a passionate team member and is often the go to person for her executives and team. Theresa has a Bacherlor’s degree from University of Bradford in Business Management and a Diploma in Civil Engineering. She believes in giving back to the community and charity holds a special place in her heart. She hopes to spend more time on charity work.

Topic:

Interactive RoundTable Series – Roundtable 3: Tools for Having Difficult Conversations and Resolving Conflict in the Workplace

Steve Dawson is the owner of Coach – Steve Dawson, a Singapore registered business which helps corporate people to present their data and innovations in boardrooms, ballrooms and on television. He is the face of football, mixed martial arts and general sports news throughout Asia, anchoring the premium content at ESPN, Star Sports and Fox Sports since 2004.

Previously, he worked for 11 years as a taxation professional in London & Singapore and 5 years as a full-time print and broadcast journalist with Singapore Press Holdings (The Straits Times & Channel i News).

He is also the author of books: Alex Yoong: The Driver’s Line in 2010 and How To Be The Greatest Like Muhammad Ali in 2012, both published by Marshall Cavendish.

Topic:

Powerful Presentation and Facilitation Skills to Run Effective Meetings

A veteran of the technology industry, Jacinta spent over 20 years building and managing geographically diverse teams inside some of the world’s biggest and most successful tech companies. She has held strategic and leadership roles across Sales, Marketing, Business Development and Service Delivery, witnessed first-hand how team performance and individual excellence drive tangible business results.

During her tenure at Microsoft & Dell, Jacinta traveled extensively from developed to emerging markets, lived in Shanghai, Toronto, Penang and Singapore. She is known as a creative, versatile and resilient leader who delivers results consistently. To Jacinta, she is deeply grateful for these experiences that shape her worldview, provide her with the cultural dexterity to connect authentically with a rich spectrum of people, to make a positive impact.

Jacinta specializes in coaching high performing leaders and teams to maximize excellence, results, potential and well-being. She blends her rich corporate experience with holistic wellness in an approach that is simple, effective and practical.

Jacinta is a Certified Solutions-Focused Coach, International Coach Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Certified Change Management Practitioner and Certified Nutritionist Consultant (CNC). She is also a Certified Executive Coach and Certified TEAM Coach at Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching.

Topic:

Generate Energy for Peak Performance and Wellbeing (Closing Keynote)

Richa is PAGE PERSONNEL Associate Director for HR, Secretarial & Office Support, Sales & Marketing divisions- She Danish by nationality, Flipino/Spanish mother and Norwegian/Indian father. Born and raised in Denmark, moved to Switzerland for Undergraduate and then proceeded to London for a Masters degree. She is currently based in Singapore and with Page Personnel since Jan 2011 – now. She has been a part of the setup, growth and re-build of 3 different disciplines and manages a team of 13 people.

Topic:

Technology Masterclass: Time-Saving Tips for Ultimate Productivity

Juraidah has more than 10 years of experience in Singapore and Dubai. Her experience includes supporting C-level executives in large multi-national companies like Heinz and IQVIA. She is multi-lingual with fluency in English and intermediate knowledge of Arabic.

At IQVIA, she supports 3 Vice-Presidents. Strong organization skills and effective communication are key for her to manage concurrent duties and projects in fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. She has worked with 75 different nationalities and this opportunity has groomed her to be highly versatile, adaptable and adept at working with diverse individuals at all levels in an organization.

Juraidah believes that nothing is impossible because there will always be a solution for every problem “I-M-Possible”.

Topic:

Interactive RoundTable Series – Roundtable 2: Tips to Managing Your Time, Dealing with Interruptions and Saying NO to Unnecessary Stuff

Dominic is an author and international transformation coach and speaker on the topics of emotional intelligence, leadership, culture transformation and resilience.

In 2006, he co-founded EQ Strategist with a mission to help create workplaces that inspire people to realise their highest potential. Since then, his work has touched the lives of thousands of people across more than 100 organisations and 11 countries in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions.

Prior to his present vocation, Dominic was a senior operations manager for IBM Australia and VP of Product Development at grapevine Technologies. He is happily married and a proud father of 3 children he considers his greatest teachers.

Topics:

Finding Your Voice to Handle Challenging Situations, Manage Adversity and Excel

&

Unleashing the Power of Influence: Leadership Development for Executive Assistants

Cindy Tien is a seasoned speaker, trainer and coach in personal branding, emotional quotient and social intelligence. She has worked with global MNCs and corporate clients from diverse industries including banking and financial institutions, property developers, luxury and retail, government agencies and universities. Cindy believes that everyone has the potential to be an authentic personal brand, and takes pride in helping individuals elevate their ability to influence and connect with people through their appearance, behaviour and communication skills. With more than a decade of global sales experience in the advertising, financial and travel industries, Cindy is able to interact well with people across all levels, understand corporate needs, and deliver effective solutions to meet client requirements. Prior to her corporate career, Cindy travelled the world with Singapore Airlines as a flight attendant for 6 years, during which she acquired an appreciation for high standards in service excellence and managing perceptions through visual communication.

Cindy’s motivation stems from her immense interest in the study of human behaviour. Her client-facing roles over the past 20 years have led her to believe that a well-lived life is one that reflects true confidence in self and focuses on developing human connections, to attain success and happiness. A lifelong learner, Cindy is certified in Image Management, Behavioural Consulting and Emotional Intelligence. She is sought after as an authentic, fun and edgy influencer who brings results to the table. Cindy is a professional member of Asia Professional Speakers Singapore (APSS), Association of Image Consultants International (AICI) and Primetime’s Keynote Asia’s Women Speakers.

Topic:

Post-Conference Workshop B: Sharpening Your Visual Brand in The Modern Business Era

Christiana is an experienced Executive Assistant supporting few executives: EVP, Managing Director, APAC & VP, Managing Director. Her experience can be demonstrated with history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. Skilled in Event Management, Corporate Communications, Management, and Marketing. Strong administrative professional with a Advance Diploma focused in Business Management from Kaplan Singapore.

Topic:

Interactive RoundTable Series – Roundtable 1: How to Manage Your Bosses and Work Well with Multiple Executives