AESC Virtual Global Conference 2020

Future-of-work strategist Heather E. McGowan helps leaders prepare their people and organizations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, notable for the rapid advancement of technology in the domain of human knowledge work. Heather gives lucidity to this topic through her illuminating graphic frameworks and powerful metaphors, all backed by deep research. Pulitzer Prize–winning NYT columnist Thomas Friedman frequently quotes Heather in his books and columns and describes her as “the oasis” when it comes to insights into the future of work.
McGowan’s clients range from start-ups to publicly traded Fortune 500 companies, including AMP Financial, Autodesk, Biogen, Citi, Accor Hotels, AARP, The World Bank, and BD Medical. Her think tank is called Work to Learn because McGowan believes that in the Third Industrial Revolution, we learned (once) in order to work and now, in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we will work in order to learn (continuously). Learn more at heathermcgowan.com.

Bart van Ark is the former Chief Economist of The Conference Board. Van Ark has published extensively in leading national and international journals, including the Journal of Economic Perspectives, The Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and Economic Policy. From 2004–2008 he was managing editor of the Review of Income and Wealth. He is also frequently featured in major international business media, including Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business, the Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Michelle Gallaher is CEO of the ASX-listed AI company Opyl (ASX:OPL). She co-founded The Social Science and is co-founder and co-chair of Women in STEMM Australia. After 25 years in biopharma marketing and advocacy, Michelle recognized the emergence and strength of social media as one of the most powerful marketing communication and industry engagement tools since newsprint, founding The Social Science in 2014. Her expertise encompasses healthcare and biotechnology having worked in biotech start-ups, major teaching hospitals, research organizations and pharmaceutical companies throughout her career.
As former CEO of the BioMelbourne Network, Michelle developed an international professional network. An influential advocate who is passionate about small business and entrepreneurship, Michelle champions greater representation of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) leadership roles in Australia to stem the tide of women dropping out of STEMM mid-career. Michelle is also a TEDx Melbourne alumni, an avid blogger and tweeter, and regularly speaks on innovation in Australia and women in leadership. She is keen to encourage more women in STEMM to become entrepreneurs and innovators.

Savannah Maziya is considered one of Africa’s most influential women. Savannah founded Bunengi Holdings in 2004 and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has vast experience in building businesses, across various industries, including broadcasting, mining and financial services, with a focus on Africa. After South Africa was declared a democratic country in 1994, Savannah played the role of special advisor to various government ministers. Savannah’s expertise has made her one of few women to operate in the technical engineering space globally and across Africa. This has resulted in her being invited to sit on various boards. Her work extends to a heavy involvement in philanthropy with a focus on women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and she is recognized as one of the top 100 women globally in STEMM.
Savannah is the only African member of C200, a powerful community of the most successful global women in business, representing companies with more than $1.2 trillion in combined revenue and employing more than 2.5 million people. She currently serves on the boards of Rand Water (the largest water utility in Africa), WBHO (the largest listed construction company in Africa where she is also a shareholder), Sibanye Stillwater (a leading NYSE listed precious metals company), and is Chairperson on the WSP Africa Board (a Canadian listed Consulting Engineering Firm) as well as on the CISCO Africa Board (a Nasdaq listed multinational technology conglomerate).

Sonal Agrawal is the Managing Partner for Accord Group India. Additionally, she serves on Global Management Committee, AltoPartners - Executive Search Worldwide and is a Global Board Member, at The Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consulting firm, (AESC) and is a global v-chair for the Doing Business With India Network at the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO)

Born in East Africa and raised in India, Sonal schooled at La Martiniere College and completed a BSc from Calcutta University, followed by an MBA from the London Business School, UK.

Based in Bombay (Mumbai) in India, she has over 25 years of experience in executive search & selection in India. Accord Group India (www.accordindia.net) was incubated in 1995 and conducts retained executive search for CXO and leadership talent across industries from offices in Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore. Sonal’s core practice areas are Conglomerates, Professional and Financial Services, Private Equity and Boards.

Accord is a founding member of AltoPartners (www.altopartners.com) and Sonal has served the AltoPartners community as an officer since inception. Apart from the roles at Accord, AltoPartners, AESC and YPO, she serves on the group board for the ABC Consultants group. Sonal is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization (www.ypo.org), a peer network of young global leaders in 100 nations.

She was named by the Economic Times as one of the Top 10 Headhunters in India; by BusinessWeek, USA as one of the 150 Most Influential Headhunters in the World, 2008, by Business Today as one the Next 30 Most Powerful Women to watch out for in India, and was awarded Woman Achiever of 2011 – (Professionals) by FICCI FLO.

A frequent speaker on leadership, she has been profiled regularly by leading publications including Business Today, Business India Mint, HT, India Today Woman, Marwar. Sonal also writes a column on career issues in the Mint, an affiliate of the Wall Street Journal in India.

Farah Foustok is the Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Gulf Ltd. based in Dubai. She began working in the investment field in 1994. Prior to joining Lazard in 2014, she was Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of ING Investment Management Middle East from 2008.
Previously, she was the Head of Asset Management at NBD Investment Bank. Farah was a senior fund manager at EFG-Hermes prior to NBD IB, responsible for managing GCC and MENA funds and portfolios. Farah spent five years at Deutsche Bank in London, in Equity Strategy. She has also worked at Morgan Stanley within Equity Sales, followed by three years in commercial real estate advisory in Europe. Farah also has Private Equity exposure through a private venture in Argentina and an internet start-up in the UK.
In 2012 Farah was elected as the chairperson of the board for the UAE Financial Services Association. In 2013, Farah co-founded the first non-profit female mentoring program in the DIFC, Dubai; Reach. In 2015 Farah co-founded and chaired the Steering Committee for the GCC chapter of the 30% club to develop & promote female leadership in the region. In 2019, Farah was awarded International Investment Woman of the Year by Women in Investment Awards, London. Farah is a fellow of the Aspen Institute of Finance.
Farah holds an MBA from Imperial College London and a BSc Hons in Mathematics from King’s College, London.

Angela is an experienced Chair/non-executive director and has a wealth of expertise in governance, strategy, superannuation and investments having served on a range of Australian superannuation funds and related boards for over 25 years.

Angela is Chair of Assemble Communities and Suicide Prevention Australia and a non-executive director at RGA Reinsurance Company of Australia, State Trustees Ltd, Frontier Advisors, and the UN supported global investor group Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). She also serves as an expert advisor on the HESTA Impact Committee.

She is passionate about purpose and responsible investment and as Independent Chair for 9 years to 2018 of the now $50b HESTA Super Fund she actively fostered a strong member focused culture and a commitment to responsible investment. She is also a past President of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) and former Director of 3 other industry super funds.

She holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Business and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) . In 2018 she was honoured with the AIST Trustee of the Year Award for her contribution to Australian superannuation funds.

Molly Q. Ford is Vice President, Global Equality Programs at Salesforce. In this role, she is responsible for shaping and sharing the company’s core value of Equality and evangelizing the Salesforce culture. Prior to making her passion for Equality a full-time job, Molly worked on the award-winning Salesforce Public Relations team. With more than 15 years of Public Relations experience, she was responsible for building awareness for Salesforce Service Cloud, the world’s #1 customer service and support solution. Prior to joining Salesforce, she held positions at major technology companies including Cisco, Check Point Software, IBM and UMAX.

Salvador Mendoza is Vice President, Diversity & Inclusion, at NBCUniversal. He is responsible for the development of short and long-term strategies in the areas of workforce, leadership development, community partnerships and NBCUniversal’s Employee Resource Groups, with a focus on enhancing the company’s diverse and inclusive environment. In addition, he is responsible for building and maintaining partnerships with local, regional and national diverse organizations. Sal is considered an expert in the field of diversity & inclusion and holds several leadership positions in many Advisory Boards, among them, the American Red Cross, the Center for Asian Pacific American Women, The Female Collaborative, and the National Hispanic Corporate Council. Among his many accolades, he has been recognized as one of Hispanic Business Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Hispanics, iConexion Game Changer Award, Imagen Foundation’s Powerful & Influential Latinos in Entertainment, Black Meetings & Tourism APEX Award, the Disability Champion Award and Chicago State University’s Latino Alumni Award.

Jason is global CEO for NTT Ltd. He is a people-first leader, and his open-door policy, fun and personable nature, and authentic leadership style make him a leader we can relate to. He defines his leadership style as “Purpose led - performance driven.”
Jason studied Finance and Economics before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte. After five years at IBM, Jason co-founded a network managed services start up, OmniLink. This was acquired by one its seed shareholders, Dimension Data in 2000, at which time Jason joined its Internet Solutions Division. In 2003 Jason was asked to lead the Dimension Data Middle East and Africa business, subsequently becoming Global Chief Operating Officer in 2010 and was then appointed Global CEO, and a member of the Dimension Data Plc Board, in 2016. In his time as CEO, Jason was successful in significantly improving profitability whilst transforming the company into a platform delivered Managed Service business, that was recognized as a global leader.
In 2019, Jason was asked to be the CEO of the newly formed NTT Ltd, through the merger of 31 individual companies to form a single $11 billion, ICT Services Company, based in London, and operating across 73 countries around the world.
Jason is married with two daughters, is a keen sportsman, nature lover and photographer as well as a mentor to entrepreneurs and start up founders. He is a board member on the SA Golf PGA board, an advisor to SA Chamber of Commerce in the UK and founder/owner of a Technology Investment Company.

John is Chairman of Tesco plc, Barratt Developments plc and Vice President of the CBI, where he was previously President from June 2018 – June 2020. He is Chairman of the Council at Imperial College and is also Chairman and Co-Founder of J&A Mentoring Partners Ltd.

Previously, amongst other senior roles, he was Chairman of London First and a non-executive director at Worldpay, where he was formerly Chairman. He was Chairman of Dixons Retail and later Co-Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director of Dixons Carphone. He was Chief Financial Officer and a Board Member of Deutsche Post DHL, and Chief Executive of Exel, the global supply chain company. He was also previously Chairman of Care UK Health & Social Care. He has been a non-executive director at Royal Mail, PHS Group, the Home Office Supervisory Board, National Grid, Wolseley, Hamleys, 3i and Connell.
His early career was spent with Lever Brothers, Bristol-Myers Company and Fine Fare. John is a graduate and now a Regent of the University of Edinburgh.

Jarvis Sam is Vice President, Global Diversity & Inclusion at Nike Inc. In his current role, he oversees a team of people focused on driving diverse representation, inclusive leader and social justice education, professional development and the ecosystem of promoting and creating a culture of belonging inside and outside of Nike.
In his prior capacity, his team focused on acquiring new talent capabilities for the company and driving large programs, partnerships and initiatives aimed at impacting representation and accelerating the flow of diverse talent pipelines. Additionally, he led Nike’s candidate experience and talent attraction/ employer branding efforts—driving best in class approaches and strategies to amplify the company’s employment voice and obsess the candidate. Prior to Nike, Sam worked as the Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Snap, Inc. and at Google as a Diversity Program Manager.

Lutfey Siddiqi is an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore (Risk Management Institute) and a Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics (LSE IDEAS). He was previously Global Head of Emerging Markets for Foreign Exchange, Rates & Credit at UBS Investment Bank and prior to that, a Managing Director at Barclays Bank in charge of a business-line across Asia Pacific. Lutfey was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012 where he has spoken on the official program at Davos for several years and serves on their global future councils. He is a member of the advisory boards of LSE Systemic Risk Centre, The Centre for Governance (CGIO, Singapore) and the governing boards of UWC Atlantic College and New City College London.

Karen Greenbaum is the President and CEO for the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC). In this position, Karen is committed to helping others realize their full potential and is a strong advocate for diverse leadership. She is a member of The Committee of 200, a global non-profit focused on advancing women in business, as well as a member of the 30% Club, a global group of Chairs and CEOs committed to board diversity. Karen is a regular speaker around the world addressing critical global business issues, including the demand for top executive talent and the value of diverse leadership to drive business results. She is also a Contributor for the Forbes Human Resources Council, where she covers executive talent challenges and opportunities.