News

April 2018 – Singapore  – Pedersen & Partners, a leading international Executive Search firm with 56 wholly owned offices in 52 countries, together with Software AG, a global leader in digital transformation co-hosted Women in Technology - Diversity & Inclusion Breakfast Session at Marina Mandarin Hotel. 

The roundtable gathered a stellar team of Asian female leaders from key technology organizations to network and share different aspects of diversity and inclusion. In particular, we highlighted our intended focus of promoting career progression within the corporate business environment for women - seeking to eliminate traditional stereotypes of a woman’s role and cultural differences in our society today across Asia.

Attendees included Vice Presidents, Managing Directors and Business Unit heads, HR Directors from IBM, SAP, Infor, RiverBed Technology, Salesforce and Software AG. The roundtable was moderated by Anneliese Schulz, the Vice President at Software AG Asia and Joanne Chng, Client Partner at Pedersen & Partners.

During a very productive two-hour session we discussed promoting gender diversity in the workplace, a more diverse boardroom, the role of a mentor or 'internal sponsor' in one's success, cultural differences and the meaning of success for females in their leadership journey.

According to Women in Business 2017 survey conducted by Grant Thornton, just one in four senior roles globally was held by a female last year. In Singapore, we fared better than the global average, with females accounting for 30% of senior roles, up from 26% in 2016. However, at the board level, Singapore is second to last among major international centres when it comes to gender diversity.

Concluding the round table we decided to organize such sessions on a bi-quarterly basis and include both male and female leaders. To solididfy their commitment, the participants agreed to host this event on rotation basis and aim to invite industry influencers, CEOs and HR practitioners to work on industry-wide standard to promote diversity & inclusion in Asia.

”What a great opportunity to network with such elite selection of female leaders in Asia! I am grateful for being part of this together with Joanne Chng of Pedersen & Partners and am excited about our partnership and commitment to increasing diversity and inclusion in Asia,” – stated Anneliese Schulz, Vice President at Software AG Asia.

“An amazing breakfast roundtable! I was delighted to see the spontaneous engagement within the group, the networking among our guests and the commitment to further drive diversity and inclusion in their respective companies,” – concluded Joanne Chng, Client Partner at Pedersen & Partners.

Anneliese Schulz is the Vice President at Software AG Asia incl. China. After joining the company in Germany in 2011, Anneliese transitioned to Asia–Pacific where she worked across business management and sales in Tokyo and Singapore. With over 10 years of experience in the ICT industry, she has transformed Software AG Asia & China to a growth region on the back of her passion for empathetic leadership and developed key customer relationships through partnering in the area of digital transformation engagements.

Joanne Chng is a Client Partner at Pedersen & Partners based in Singapore covering Asia Pacific. Ms Chng has over 15 years' worth of experience in senior level Executive Search in the Advanced Technology, Financial Services Technology, Telecommunications, FinTech/Payments and FMCG sectors for global brands across APAC. She pairs this track record with 10 years of enterprise sales experiences in the IT industry. Ms Chng has in-depth understanding of the technology landscape and an extensive recruitment background in both cutting edge technology and emerging enterprise solutions for corporate customers.

Pedersen & Partners is a leading international Executive Search firm. We operate 56 wholly owned offices in 52 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia & the Americas. Our values Trust, Relationship and Professionalism apply to our interaction with clients as well as executives. More information about Pedersen & Partners is available at www.pedersenandpartners.com

If you would like to conduct an interview with a representative of Pedersen & Partners, or have other media-related requests, please contact: Anastasia Alpaticova, Marketing and Communications Manager at: anastasia.alpaticova@pedersenandpartners.com