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HR job moves from Dyson, DKSH, AIA and more

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– with inputs from Jerene Ang and Aditi Sharma Kalra.

Here are the major promotions and job moves in the world of HR.

If you’ve been promoted or if you’ve moved to a new company, send us your profile and photo and we will announce your news here – just email [email protected].

HR practitioner appointments

DKSH Smollan Field Marketing calls on Cyl Lin as HR Director

International retail solutions brand, DKSH Smollan Field Marketing (DSFM) has welcomed Cyl Lin as Human Resources Director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, effective January 2020. Most recently, she was the Head of Human Resources, Asia for Logicalis.

Based in Singapore, her key priorities at DFSM are to develop an APAC HR strategy in view to focus on compliance, accelerating business growth and sustenance, and providing employees with developmental and career growth opportunities.

With more than 15 years of HRM experience in regional roles across Asia Pacific, Lin has acquired experiences across various industries including life sciences, technology, and oil & gas. She has provided strategic HR leadership in matrix organisations across cultures and regions to unlock potentials through nurturing high feedback and high-performance cultures.

Anne Scanlon joins SmartBear as Chief People Officer

SmartBear, an IT company that delivers tools for ensuring quality software delivery, has added Anne Scanlon to the company's executive leadership team as Chief People Officer.

Scanlon is responsible for leading the company's global HR function, including employee and culture development, talent acquisition, and retention and change management. She has more than 20 years of experience leading HR at various high-growth companies.

"As we continue to grow globally and prioritise employee engagement, Anne will be incredibly valuable in helping us to succeed,"said Justin Teague, CEO of SmartBear. "Anne’s leadership and expertise will further accelerate the HR initiatives underway by our team."

Anne joins SmartBear from Aptus Health, a subsidiary of Merck and Co., Inc. where she was the Chief Human Resources Officer. Previously, she held global HR leadership roles at ACI Worldwide, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and EMC. She specialises in building and sustaining a positive employee experience as well as developing strategic partnerships with executives to help scale and support company vision.

Anne has a bachelor's degree in business operations and a master’s degree in HR from Northeastern University, as well as a master's degree in business administration from Syracuse University.

Dyson welcomes Anika Grant as Global HR Director, Markets

Effective January 2020, Dyson has appointed Anika Grant as Global HR Director, Markets.

Grant is also currently a Board Advisor at Ecosystm, a digital technology research and advisory firm, and AwanTunai, an Indonesian based Fintech, providing insights on talent, culture and organisation effectiveness.

Most recently Senior Director HR at Uber, Grant led a Global HR Business Partner team for Uber's Core Business. Over the last three years of hyper-growth she has had accountability for growing a global team of strategic HR business professionals while scaling HR operations to meet the fast-growing requirements of the business, with a distinct focus on people and culture.

Prior to Uber Grant was the APAC HR Director at Accenture, where she led a team of 500 HR professionals, and was responsible for all HR service delivery across eight markets.

She has also previously lectured at the Sciences Po University in Paris on International Human Resources Management and has been a guest lecturer at Singapore Management University's OBHR curriculum.

A global leader in HR, Grant has amassed more than 20 years’ business experience, along with a passion for people and developing their talent. She has served in a diverse range of roles across Sydney, London, Paris and Singapore – helping clients as a talent and organisation consultant, leading a global centre of expertise crafting internal talent strategies, running large, multi-market HR operations and as global HR business partner.


HR solutions provider appointments

AIA Singapore appoints Delon Choo as CEO of AIA Financial Advisers

Delon Choo has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of AIA Financial Advisers (AIA FA), with effect from 23 December 2019. In this role, based in Singapore, he will be responsible for overseeing and managing the continued development and growth of AIA FA, helping to provide customers with more choices and greater accessibility for financial advice.

Bringing with him more than 15 years of experience in the insurance industry, Delon has played key roles in local and regional functions, ranging from BD to strategic implementations. More recently, Delon held the position of APAC Head of Distribution Strategies at Chubb Life (regional office), where he provided strategic oversight on all distribution channels across its business units in Asia.

Adobe welcomes Simon Dale and Anil Chakravarthy

Adobe appoints Simon Dale as Managing Director in SEA

Priya-Feb-2020-Simon-Dale-Adobe-MD-provided-resized-lead-copy

As of January 2020, Adobe has appointed Simon Dale as Managing Director of its Southeast Asia (SEA) business operations.

In his new role, Dale will be responsible for leading Adobe's accelerated growth and delivering exceptional customer experiences across its Digital Experience (DX) and Digital Media for Enterprise (DME) business units.

Joining Adobe with over three decades of professional experience in the technology sector, Dale previously held senior roles at MapR and a 16-year tenure at SAP where he established and scaled new businesses across the region.

Commenting on this, Paul Robson, President, International at Adobe, said: "I'm delighted to welcome an executive of Simon's calibre to the Adobe team and am confident that his leadership will have an immediate impact on growing our SEA business as well as delivering the best possible experiences for employees and our customers.

Dale added: "I’m excited to be working closely with Adobe’s customers and partners on this journey."

Adobe appoints Anil Chakravarthy to lead its Digital Experience business

Adobe has appointed Anil Chakravarthy as executive vice president and general manager, Digital Experience, effective January 2020. In this role, Chakravarthy will lead Adobe’s Digital Experience business, reporting directly to Adobe president and CEO Shantanu Narayen.

"We’re delighted to welcome Anil Chakravarthy to lead Adobe’s Digital Experience business. He’s a transformational leader with a track record of innovation and driving strong growth," said Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO, Adobe.

Chakravarthy, added: "I’m excited for the opportunity to join an exceptional team with market-leading technology to grow Adobe’s strong and loyal customer base."

Chakravarthy joins Adobe from Informatica, where he served as CEO since January 2016. Under Chakravarthy’s leadership, Informatica successfully transitioned to a private company following a $5.3 billion buyout and delivered significant innovation and product releases to its thousands of customers across the globe. During this time period, Chakravarthy shepherded Informatica’s move into cloud and subscription services.

 Samantha Ghiotti joins Singlife as Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Singlife, Singapore’s challenger insurer has announced that digital financial services veteran, Samantha Ghiotti, will join as its Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective 7 January 2020. The appointment comes as Founder and CEO, Walter de Oude strengthens Singlife’s leadership team and prepares for expansion across key markets in Southeast Asia.

With more than 20 years of international experience as executive, investor and entrepreneur, Ghiotti will be taking on responsibility for the growth of the business in Singapore in its effort to reshape finance and unlock the potential of money for Singaporeans.

Singlife Founder and CEO, Walter de Oude, said of the appointment: “With Singlife’s ambitions for rapid regional expansion across Southeast Asia, requiring more of my time, Samantha’s leadership and experience brings a new strength and bandwidth to the firm in allowing us to realise these ambitions while successfully delivering on our Singapore opportunity.”

Prior to joining Singlife, Ghiotti was a Partner at Anthemis Group, a leading fintech venture investor and held several senior commercial and digital roles in some of the world’s largest financial institutions including American Express, First Data, and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Puis Soontaree Hadkaew is now HR Manager at OYO Thailand

Indian hotel chain OYO has brought onboard Puis Soontaree Hadkaew as Human Resources Manager for its Thailand arm, since January 2020.

She moves on from CREA, where she was previously head of HR for about a year, and has HR roles in Yum! Brands, TMB Bank, Unilever, and KPMG.

She brings with her a background in the consumer goods, hospitality, Internet industry, and is skilled in negotiation, analytical skills, HR consulting and deferred compensation and laws.

Hadkaew holds a Mini Master in Human Resources Management focused in HRM, OD, Compensation and benefits, a law background from Chulalongkorn Mahawitthayalai, hospitality management from Dust Thani College.


If you’ve been promoted or if you’ve moved to a new company, send us your profile and photo and we will announce your news here – just email [email protected].

Photos / providedLead image / 123RF

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