Women Empowerment Programme
OUR MENTORS
Agnes KY Tai, PHD
Agnes is Director of Great Glory Investment Corporation and Senior Advisor of iPartners Holdings Ltd. She is a Council member of World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Climate and Nature Governance, Trustee of Chapter Zero Alliance (host of Climate Governance Initiative and Chapter Zero UK), Supervisory Board member of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Steering Committee member of Climate Governance Initiative Hong Kong Chapter, Expert Review Panel member for the MTR Corporation sustainability reports, Council member, Publishing Board of Magazine member and Deputy Chair of the training committee of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors, faculty of Competent Boards, board member of Hope of the City, and advisory council/committee member of GARP (HK), Delhi Management Association and BlueOnion.
Her board training in English, Putonghua and Cantonese spans all 5 continents. She is Adjunct Professor of HKU in Sustainability Leadership and Governance and lecturer of CUHK in Sustainable Finance and Sustainability Strategy courses, judge for HKMA FinTech competition, Climate Governance Awards and Benchmark Awards, a frequent speaker and author.
In her 45 years of serving the financial community in China, Hong Kong SAR, the USA and Australia, she has established and managed asset management/investment companies, consultancy practices, and new business units within major financial institutions, including co-Founding Peregrine Asset Management (Hong Kong) in the early 1990’s. She held senior roles at Bank of America, Citicorp, Westpac Banking Corporation, Mingly Corporation, Shanghai AJ Trust and Investment Company, Cupola Capital Limited, Booz & Company, Yaozhi Asset Management International, Arta TechFin Corporation, BlueOnion, Bai Xian Asia Institute, Habitat for Humanity, Centreon Technology, and Great Glory Strategies. She was a board or advisory committee member of various international non-profits organizations.
She holds a Climate & Nature Designation certificate from Competent Boards, a Sustainability and Climate Risk certificate and a Financial Risk Manager certificate from Global Association of Risk Professionals, a Board Oversight of Responsible AI certificate from Boards Impact Forum, an ESG Investing certificate from CFA UK, a CAIA certificate from Chartered Alternative Investment Association, and a Palladium Kaplan-Norton Balanced Scorecard certificate. She was a Responsible Officer in regulated activities 4 and 9 licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.
Agnes has a PhD from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with dissertation titled “Do carbon risks matter for Hong Kong equity prices?”, an MBA from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business, a BSc (Honors) from Roosevelt University in USA and is a graduate of the Stanford University Senior Executive Leadership Program and the 2011 Stanford Directors’ College.
Gill Meller
Past President, The Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute Legal and Governance Director, MTR Corporation Ltd
Ms Gillian Meller FCG HKFCG(PE) is MTR Corporation Ltd’s Legal and Governance Director. Ms Meller is responsible for overseeing the Company’s legal, company secretarial, insurance and risk management functions and a central procurement and supply chain function. She is also responsible for leading the Company’s assurance function with the aim of providing a strengthened second line of defence across key risk areas of the Company and for leading MTR’s overall ESG strategy.
Ms Meller graduated from Hertford College, University of Oxford and obtained her postgraduate qualifications in law from The College of Law in the United Kingdom. She is qualified to practise as a solicitor in Hong Kong and England and Wales.
Ms Meller is a Vice Chairman of the Legal Committee of The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, a Vice President of The Chartered Governance Institute, a Past President of The Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute, and an Independent Director of Hong Kong, China Rugby. She is also a member of the Listing Committee of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Ltd.
Funmi Ekundayo
Funmi Ekundayo is an Alumna of the Harvard Business School. Funmi holds a Bachelor of Law degree and Master of Laws degree from the University of Lagos Nigeria. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) where she also serves as a member of the Governing Council. Funmi is the Immediate Past President and Chairman of the Governing Council of ICSAN (2023-2025), the first female to hold the position in over 57 years of the Institute’s history. During her tenure as President, Funmi laid a solid foundation of unprecedented growth, impact and enduring legacies for ICSAN.
With over 29 years working experience, Funmi began her career with the Law Firm of Bentley, Edu & Co (in association with IRVING & BONNAR), where she spent close to a decade in Law practice. Thereafter, she progressed her career in the capital markets and financial services sector, working at different times at Sterling Asset Management & Trustees Limited, United Capital Trustees Limited and STL Trustees Limited from where she was head-hunted as Assistant General Manager, Business Development to reposition STL Trustees’ business development trajectory, and rose through the ranks to become the MD/CEO of the Company.
Funmi has distinguished herself in her area of core competence as a seasoned capital market practitioner and Trust specialist engaging in the structuring of complex Legal, Financial and Trust instruments. Under Funmi’s leadership, STL Trustees has been repositioned into one of the leading Trust Companies in Nigeria. Currently, the Company has successfully evolved into a full-fledged Investment Banking Firm comprising of Trusteeship, Asset Management and Investment Banking businesses and Funmi serves as the Group Managing Director of the group entity, STL Capital Group Limited.
Funmi is a Past President of the Association of Corporate Trustees of Nigeria. At different times, Funmi served as the Honorary Treasurer and Vice President of the Corporate Secretaries International Association (CSIA). Funmi is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria; Chartered Institute of Directors; Institute of Investment Advisers and Portfolio Managers; Association of Enterprise Risk Management Professionals. She is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), the global professional body for Securities & Investment practitioners.
Funmi is an Alumna of the Lagos Business School (Chief Executive Programme) and the IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain. At the national level, Funmi served as a Non-Executive Board member of the National Investor Protection Fund; she also served as a member of the National Savings Strategy Scheme; while at the Sub-National level, Funmi served on the Technical Committee of the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority. Funmi is the Publicity Director of the Women in Finance Nigeria (WIFng), an association focused on promoting financial empowerment and financial literacy for women. Funmi currently sits on the Board of some reputable Corporate Entities in Non-Executive capacity.
Datuk Suseela Menon
Datuk Suseela is the Immediate Past President of MAICSA. She was President of MAICSA from October 2020 to Jun 2022, leading the Institute right through the MCO.
She was first elected to the Council in June 2017 and was elected as the Deputy President of MAICSA in July 2018. She has served and continues to serve on several committees of the Institute. She was the Chairman of the Transformation & Re-branding Committee, where she played a leading role in the re-branding exercise undertaken by the Institute. She is currently Chairman of the Editorial Board and Deputy Chairman of the Thought Leadership Committee.
She served as Executive Director of UMW Corporation, having risen to that position from the ranks of Group Secretary. It is noteworthy that she was the first lady female Executive Director in the Group. The UMW Group is a prominent public listed company, with diverse businesses in heavy equipment, exclusive Toyota distributorship in Malaysia, and auto parts manufacturing. Datuk Suseela sat on the Boards of several companies in the UMW Group, including the Perodua group of companies. Her 30 years’ of working experience encompasses company secretaryship, corporate communications, branding, corporate governance, investor relations, IT, property, and administration.
She is currently a shareholder and Director of Goodlabs Medical (M) Sdn Bhd, a company that supplies medical products to government and private hospitals in Malaysia. She also does consultancy work for companies that require her expertise.
Datuk Suseela still finds time to fulfil her passion for social and community work. In this respect, she served as the first-ever lady female President of the All Malaysia Malayalee Association, as a Disciplinary Committee member of the Bar Council, and as Advisor of several charitable organisations. She takes fitness programmes seriously and is a keen badminton player. Datuk Suseela was conferred the Panglima Jasa Negara (PJN) in June 2014 by His Royal Highness, the King of Malaysia.
Mercy Wanjau
Mercy is a Kenyan leader with over 20 years of experience in law, regulation, and governance. She is currently the Secretary to the Cabinet of Kenya, a position she has held since October 2022.
She began her career as a commercial lawyer, working for both private firms and the Kenyan government. She has gained a reputation for her expertise in the technology sector, and has played a key role in shaping Kenya’s regulatory agenda for ICT.
In 2019, Mrs. Wanjau was appointed as the Acting Director General of the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). In this role, she oversaw the development and implementation of policies that helped to make Kenya a leading digital hub in Africa. In recognition of her distinguished and outstanding service in the ICT sector, she was feted with the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) in 2020.
She has also served on a number of boards and advisory committees, including the Taskforce for the Development of a Data Protection and Privacy Framework for Kenya, which culminated into Kenya’s Data Protection Act of 2019.
Mrs. Wanjau is a graduate of the University of Nairobi and the University of Cape Town. She has contributed as an author to publications by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She is also an Eisenhower Fellow.
CS (Dr.) Mamta Binani
Dr. (h.c.) Adv. Mamta Binani is the National Past President of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) for the year 2016 and she relinquished the office of President on 19th January, 2017. She is the in the illustrious history of the Institute of 54 years.
She was practicing as a Company Secretary for over 21 years and was a senior partner of Mamta Binani & Associates, having offices at Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Guwahati. She is now practicing as an Advocate and is also a consultant on restructuring, corporate and legal matters. She is a registered Insolvency Professional. She is the first insolvency professional in the country, to be registered with the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India.
She has been bestowed with various medals, certificates and awards including the prestigious D.L. Mazumdar’s Silver Medal and Mauji Ram Memorial Award and Tejaswini Award (2010), the “Bharat Nirman Awards” in the year 2010 for “Excellence in Professional Services” (the first Company Secretary to have received this prestigious award), the KKMERS award for excellence in profession and also the ‘Hello Kolkata’ award for exemplary work in social sector. She has been chosen as ‘The Most Admired Global Indian 2020’ and her story has been featured in the anniversary edition of ‘Passion Vista’, a business magazine and she has been conferred with the Insolvency Law Award Winner (India) for 2020 by the International Advisory Experts and Asian African Leadership Awards in Legal & Professional Services.
She is the first Indian to have been endowed with the prestigious award of ‘IWIRC Women of the Year in Restructuring (Asia) Award, 2021’. She has been the awardee of the ‘AsiaOne Women Empowerment Principles Leadership Awards 2020-21’ and was felicitated at the 15th Edition of Asian Business & Social Forum 2021, Awards & Business E-Summit, on 26th October 2021 at Emirates Ball Room, Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai.
Cindy Wong
Executive Director, Deputy Company Secretary, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited
Joined Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited in April 2021 as the Deputy Company Secretary (Executive Director) to lead a team 4 strong technical experts to serve as business and governance advisor to the SCBHK Board and management on the governance framework and latest governance trend. In addition, Cindy also acted as the conduit with the HK regulator for the listing matters of Standard Chartered PLC (stock code: 02888).
Seasoned company secretarial and governance leader with more than 25 years of solid experience with reputable financial institutions, including state-owned and long standing local banks. Prior to joining SCBHK, Cindy worked in JP Morgan, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, Hang Seng Bank Limited and Chong Hing Bank Limited.
Transformed from a sole contributor to people leader, with strong belief to bring out people’s potentials through collaboration.
Irene-Marié Esser FAcSS
Professor of Corporate Law and Governance, Corporate and Financial Law Subject-Head, Dean of the Graduate School, College of Social Sciences, Senior Advisor, Centre for Corporate Governance, Institute of Directors, Extraordinary Professor: Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University.
Professor Irene-marié Esser is a Professor of Corporate Law and Governance in the School of Law at the University of Glasgow and Dean of the Graduate School, College of Social Sciences. Since 2020 she is an Extraordinary Professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa and also a Visiting Professor at the National Law University Jodhpur, India.
She has been in academia for 15 years and was admitted as an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa in 2005. In South Africa she was Professor and Co-Subject Head of Corporate Law at UNISA until March 2013, when she relocated, with her family, to Edinburgh, Scotland.
Irene-marié obtained her LLB at Stellenbosch University (2001, first in her class), her LLM at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland (2003) and her LLD at UNISA (2008). She was the Company Law Convener for the UK Society of Legal Scholars for 3 years, until 2021. She currently teaches Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility and Company Law at the University of Glasgow and supervises postgraduate research students in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Her research spans doctrinal and empirical approaches, covering the UK, EU and South Africa in the field of corporate governance, company law and corporate social responsibility.
Professor Esser is a member of the PRI Academic Forum as well as the Sustainable Market Actors Network & Daughters of Themis: International Network of Female Business Scholars. as well as the Sustainable Market Actors Network & Daughters of Themis: International Network of Female Business Scholars. Professor Esser acted as an External Consultant to the King IV Committee on Corporate Governance in South Africa.
Prof. Esser received the prize (with the co-author) for the best article published during 2016 in the Journal of Contemporary Roman Dutch Law for ‘Shareholder Protection in Terms of the Companies Act 71 of 2008’.
Professor Esser has presented a 3-5-day workshop at the University of Johannesburg on Board Governance since 2009. She is an examiner at ACCA on their South African Business law module. She is also on the editorial board of the European Business Law Review. Prof Esser is part of the Corporate and Financial Law research group