CELEBRATING “DIVERSITY IN HRTECH” — SINGAPORE
#IWD2020
New & diverse perspectives breed creativity. That’s why the need of the hour is to have a diverse workforce to trigger INNOVATION at the workplace. And in VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) times such as these, we need to constantly remind ourselves to recognise those organisations that value diversity and celebrate those brave-heart individuals that bring in the much needed diverse-thinking & innovation to the workplace.
While the Human Resources function in SINGAPORE celebrates a large female demographic, the microcosm segment of HRTech in the country still has a long way to go. We felt it our obligation to celebrate the success of these women professionals and entrepreneurs’ leading the pack in HR Technology.
We put together a list of these women in the Singapore HRTech space to bring them the recognition they deserve. This compilation is not exhaustive, but it is only our effort to encourage more diversity in the HRTech space.
Rosaline invested $5M of her savings and borrowed another $5M to build CXA. Now CXA has hundreds of thousands users across 20 countries in Asia and has been awarded Insurtech of the Year, Top CEO, Global Innovations in Healthcare, Asian Human Capital Leadership Award, Asian Insurance Innovations & HR Vendor of the Year for Corp Wellness and Comp & Benefits. Rosaline supervised P&G factory lines in Iowa; worked at Bankers Trust on Wall Street; launched two dot-com start-ups; and grew Mercer Marsh Benefits’ 14 APAC countries 800% over 8 years. She is a graduate of UCLA Cybernetics & Columbia Business School.
Dorothy was the Regional Head of Operations for Gallup before she took the plunge to co-found EngageRocket. She hails from an entrepreneurial family with both parents having run businesses all their lives. In early 2016, she decided to leave consulting and start EngageRocket to solve problems faced by the Human Resources function, but with real-time data and technology. She is a Double Degree holder from the Singapore Management University.
So-Young Kang is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about maximizing human creative potential. She is Catalyst & Founder of award-winning Transformation Design (TD) firm Awaken Group that integrates strategy, leadership & innovation to design experiences that catalyze change. So-Young Kang is also the Founder & CEO at Gnowbe, a pioneering transformational learning platform. In 2014, she was selected by WEF to be a Young Global Leader. Her experiences also include McKinsey & Co, Citigroup and teaching in Japan. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA with honors from the University of Pennsylvania.
“I think that self-doubt is what’s holding back any entrepreneur from success. If you believe in a business idea or a cause that is strong enough, you will naturally move the universe to make it work. As an entrepreneur, regardless of gender, many a time you experience self-doubt. Starting, growing and scaling your business takes a lot of time, energy and mental strength which both men and women must be prepared for”, Sharon’s quote in entrepreneur.com. Sharon has more than 15 years of business advisory experience in major MNCs across IT, Oil & Gas, Private Equity and Professional Services industries (including at KPMG, GE & TELUS Intl). She is a Chartered Accountant with an MBA from Manchester Business School.
Pip has worked in Senior Pan-Asia HR roles across various industries, from start-up’s to MNC’s, experience which has shaped her views on the HR function. She has broad experience formulating HR strategies that align workforce evolution to business growth and profitability, designing and implementing HR programs, and supporting the implementation of new HR practices. Over the last 5 years, Pip has been researching and speaking about Future of Work and the role HR needs to play in finding synergy between Humans & Technology within organisations. She holds an EMBA from Kellogg-HKUST, a Master of Science in HRM, a PGD in Strategy and Innovation from Oxford University’s Säid Business School.
Grace Kerrison is a seasoned business leader with 20+ years experience working across Canada, Australia and Asia. Prior to joining Pymetrics, Grace held senior roles at Telecom NZ, Cisco, Microsoft & LinkedIn. Throughout her career, Grace has incubated and taken to market new products and business groups, and at the same time has gained a reputation for developing high performing teams. In leading people, she believes that teams need to be diverse and inclusive and buy-in to a shared purpose to achieve high performance.
Nicole found her calling in HR, particularly when learning that enterprises still had much room for improvement in their HRM policies and methods. After a successful career at a major bank, Nicole saw the potential of technology in the HR sector. She left the banking industry and set up Rewardz with Sudhanshu Tewari. Now she works with organisations to build holistic, tech-driven employment benefits platforms and corporate wellness programs, with the end goal of making work life more enriching for both organisations and their staff in a big way. She is a graduate from University of Canberra.
Tulika started her career in Management Consulting and Banking, but later found her calling in Recruitment. She has extensive experience in starting up, growing & turning around international recruitment firms. In her previous roles, she has been ED of Michael Page as well as MD — Asia for Hudson Global. Her deep understanding of the Recruitment market led to the inception of Snaphunt, an AI-driven recruiting platforms that helps companies hire talent for a skill and culture fit. She is also the author of Alice in Corporateland, a book on Career Success published by Penguin.
An Electronics Engineer, Nina spent her initial career as a business manager in IT firms ICL and Steria. Her entrepreneurial spirit then her to start leading executive search firm, Nastrac Group in 1997 and subsequently steered its expansion into Finland, London, Singapore, US & Canada. X0PA AI was founded in 2017 to disrupt their own traditional search business and pivot to a SaaS based AI, ML platform. She is a winner of prestigious awards like Female Business Personality of the year, Singapore, 2016, The European World Finance — Entrepreneur of the Year 2016; Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 to name a few.
This compilation can be accessed from the “Resources” section in hrtech.sg
This report is purely based on secondary research and information available in the public domain. There are certain limitations in terms of information availability and hence has been delivered on a “best effort basis”.
About hrtech.sg: We are a Singapore-headquartered HRTech Advisory firm, striving to create the greatest possible value for enterprise clients by matching the right HRTech solutions to address their business and talent challenges. After all, enterprises that focus on HRTech as part of their transformational agenda are creating sustainable economic value and better workplace experience for their employees. As Talent Advisors and HRTech Advocates, we work in tandem with our clients to identify the right HRTech solution that addresses their needs. During the entire journey with the client, we always ensure that all aspects of the CHRO’s transformation agenda are kept in mind”.
