Who: Leela Nair
From: OMD International
To: GroupM
Leela Nair has taken over the role of director of talent and development for Singapore in GroupM. With 17 years of experience in the media industry, of which she spent five years in her previous company as managing director, Nair will be responsible for talent, training and trading. Nair is currently setting up a new programme for finding, training and mentoring new talent to fuel the company’s growth in Singapore and across Asia. She will also ensure GroupM’s training programmes are fully leveraged across the existing agency teams. “By combining the role with trading, it will keep me from becoming rusty and too theoretical, and I can still enjoy creating strategies to drive the best deals for our clients,” Nair said.
Who: Ciaron Murphy
From: Nokia Siemens Networks, India
To: Nokia Siemens Networks, APAC
Previously the HR head for Nokia Siemens Networks’ (NSN) global services in India, Ciaron Murphy was recently promoted to the role of HR head for Asia Pacific. His responsibilities include leading the business HR for the services business unit. Murphy will determine organisational capabilities required to execute services strategy and design and execute relevant HR practices for the services business. Currently, the HR challenge keeping Murphy up at night is for his company to “have the right people with the right skills at the right time in the most effective and efficient manner”. Although Murphy has only taken up the role briefly, he is looking to translate key HR activities in NSN into services excellence as a collective organisation and ensuring consistency in leadership with his line managers. Murphy said his favourite HR function is the compensation and benefits component. “It connects all the dots within HR.”
Who: Georgie Antony Chunkath
From: Nokia Siemens Networks
To: Pfizer
Previously the HR head at Nokia Siemens Networks, Georgie Antony Chunkath is now the HR lead for Pfizer’s emerging markets division in Asia. Having worked in the fast-moving consumer goods and telecommunications industries for the past 24 years, Chunkath has chosen to explore the pharmaceutical industry. Chunkath will be responsible for talent management, succession planning and senior leadership development. He is currently working on talent planning for senior roles and retention strategies in the China and India markets. On his favourite HR functions, Chunkath said recruitment gives him “the opportunity to interact with individuals from a variety of backgrounds and very different personalities”. Total rewards is more of an “art” to him as he has to double up as a designer for feasible solutions for the business needs.
Who: Low Khim-Wah
From: Hilti Liechenstein
To: Hilti Singapore
After two-and-a-half years at Hilti’s headquarters in Liechenstein, Low Khim-Wah is now the new head of HR for the Singapore office, as well as the culture and development division for Southeast Asia. Previously leading the HR functions in conjunction with finance, customer service and IT in a corporate service structure, Low is currently focused on HR and supporting business strategies with the appropriate HR initiatives. Working on the culture team camps in the region, Low said this programme will play a key role in helping teams to change their working habits, move towards a common goal and to evolve into high-performing teams. The corporate culture is also Low’s key reason for staying in the company: “I love the energy and passion of our people working here.”
