The Human Resources Leaders' Summit [GALLERY]

Sunshine, poolside cocktails, facilitated networking and a conference with some of the most senior HR professionals from around the region and further afield - this was the inaugural Human Resources Leaders' Summit!

This summit, held in Phuket, Thailand, at the beautiful Cape Sienna Hotel, saw more than 50 senior HR leaders chosen to join Human Resources for this exclusive invite-only event aimed at enabling top level mindshare on the issues and challenges which concern those who sit at the head of the function.

Held across May 26-28th, the conference saw delegates attending from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines, India and Europe to discuss topics such as the role of the modern CHRO, HR transformation 2.0, talent management strategy, how HR technology is changing the function, and much more.

Day one started after all the delegates made their way to Phuket (and we should note, there was no indication that the current coup was underway. The island remained peaceful and safe during the duration of our stay) with a networking function at the Plum Restaurant at Cape Sienna.

On this opening night, we were not only treated to two presentations by Syed Ali Abbas, CHRO at Pacnet, on "Being the CHRO" and Simon Cariss, chief innovation officer at PageUp People on harnessing HR technology - but also to a magnificent sunset.

Check out the photos from day 1:

[gallery link="file" ids="28193,28194,28195,28196,28197,28198,28199,28200,28201,28202,28203,28204,28205,28206,28207,28208,28209,28210,28211,28212,28213,28214,28215,28216"]

On day two, after a sleep in and a quick visit to the gym, pool or spa facilities, the delegates gathered in the hotel's conference room to kick-start a full day of keynote presentations and panel discussions.

The day begun with an engaging presentation from Navid Nazemian, global HR business partner at Roche, who discussed exactly what HR transformation 2.0 means, and shared a number of HR transformation lessons which can be applied from "the high seas" for the future of HR. Following this, Victor L. Magdaraog, vice president at DDI - one of our gold sponsors for this event - talked about stability amidst diversity and the need to be able to adapt as an emerging leader in ASEAN.

Srikanth Chandrashekhar, HR director of APAC SSO & operations at Bombardier Transportation; Karen Cariss, CEO at PageUp People, and Syed Ali Abbas of Pacnet then joined editor Rebecca Lewis on stage for a panel discussion on what the future holds for HR leaders in Asia.

After a delicious lunch at the Poolside Restaurant, Madan Nagaldinne, head of HR APAC at Facebook, took the stage to discuss how to build and communicate a killer EVP, and the importance of social media in HR.

The second panel on "answering the leadership conundrum" followed, featuring Victor L. Magdaraog of DDI; Lau Yin Cheng, cluster director, human resource and organisation development and cluster at Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and Rajesh Rai, chief people officer at Eicher Motors.

Google then took the stage, with Ajit Nambiar, head of compensation APAC & EMEA talking the room through some of the company's compensation strategy for maintaining a competitive edge.

The fantastically informative day ended with a final panel on defining and maintaining a unique people culture - featuring Madan Nagaldinne from Facebook, Syed Ali Abbas from Pacnet and Tim Thanapaet, head of human resources at American Express Thailand - and a wonderful presentation on optimising regretted losses by Professer Robert  Hooijberg, professor of organisational behaviour, associate dean and member of the management team from IMD.

Following the conference, all delegates were treated to an evening of dinner and drinks on the sunset deck by the pool, thanks to platinum sponsor, PageUp People. A roving magician veered in and out of delegates wowing people with his slight of hand tricks, and cocktails with bright blue ice cubes were consumed with delight before dinner was served as the sun went down.

Check out the photos from day 2:

[gallery link="file" ids="28217,28218,28219,28220,28221,28222,28223,28224,28225,28226,28227,28228,28229,28230,28231,28232,28233,28234,28235,28236,28237,28238,28239,28240,28241,28242,28243,28244,28245,28246,28247,28248,28249,28250,28251,28252,28253,28254,28255,28256,28257,28259,28258,28260,28261,28262"]

The final day opened with a real insight into the Millienial mindset and what these young professionals want from the workplace, thanks to Ragi Singh, vice president, HR and admin SEA at Viacom International Media Networks.

This was followed by a panel discussion on big data, HRMS and HR cloud, and how these technologies are changing the way the HR function works. Sitting on this panel was Karen Cariss from PageUp, Navid Nazemian from Roche, Ravi Ramanthan, head of HR technology at Standard Chartered and Denis Tournesac, president APJ at NGA Human Resources.

The day's proceedings concluded with a final panel on winning the talent war with Srikanth Chandrashekhar from Bombardier, Ragi Singh from Viacom and Sarah Leighton, consultant from Charterhouse.

Check out the photos from day 3:

[gallery link="file" ids="28263,28264,28265,28266,28267,28268,28269,28270,28271,28272,28273,28274,28275,28276,28277,28278,28279,28280,28281,28282,28283,28284,28285"]

A gorgeous lunch by the pool concluded the conference, which was overall an amazing success thanks to those who took the time out to speak, participate and join us in Phuket.

We also could not have put this summit together without the support of our wonderful sponsors: Platinum sponsor PageUp People, gold sponsors DDI and IMD, silver sponsors NGA Human Resources and Charterhouse and our event partner, Cape Sienna Hotel.

Thanks to everyone who made the first ever Human Resources Leaders' Summit such a raging success!