International Women's Day Lunch

Our flagship diversity event of the year, the International Women's Day Lunch, returns to the calendar for 2023 with a 3-course lunch and a stellar line-up of speakers on this year's theme - #EmbraceEquity - for up to 300 guests at the Swissotel.

The event, led by our Women in Business Committee, opens with a welcome glass of champagne, kindly sponsored by The Global Collective.

Our keynote speaker this year is Kateryna Zelenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Singapore, whose address will be followed by a moderated panel discussion including Christine Amour-Levar, Co-Founder Women on a Mission and Founder HER Planet Earth, and Naomi Vowels, Co-Founder and Director of givvable, Godelieve Van Dooren, CEO, Southeast Asia Growth Markets of Mercer and David Jacob, Chief Excutive Officer, Marsh Asia.

Thank you to our Title Partner, and Official Diversity and Inclusion Partner of the Chamber since 2014, Barclays, along with our Supporting Partners, XCL World Academy, Santa Fe Relocation, Mercer, Mott MacDonald, Kennedys Legal Solutions, BT and Elliott Scott HR.

Interested in sponsoring our International Women's Day event? See the ticket options below or contact Lucy or Ashni directly.

Speakers

Kateryna Zelenko

Ambassador of Ukraine to Singapore

Christine Amour-Levar

Co-Founder, Women on a Mission and Founder, HER Planet Earth

Naomi Vowels

Co-Founder & Director of givvable

David Jacob

Chief Executive Officer at Marsh McLennan Asia

Godelieve Van Dooren

CEO, Southeast Asia Growth Markets of Mercer

Her Excellency Ambassador Kateryna Zelenko is a career diplomat.

Prior to her accreditation to Singapore, she served as the Spokesperson of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and Deputy Director of the Communications and Public Diplomacy Department.

Ambassador Zelenko joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 2002.

Her postings abroad include Ukrainian Embassy in the Republic of Austria and Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the International Organisations in Vienna, later, from 2007 to 2011 and from 2014 to 2018 – Embassy of Ukraine in the Federal Republic of Germany, where she was covering culture, press and public diplomacy issues.

In 2018 she returned to Kyiv to work in the Political Department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Her appointment as Ukraine’s MFA Chief Spokesperson followed shortly thereafter.

Kateryna Zelenko obtained her Master in International Relations and Foreign Policy at the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine).

Ambassador Zelenko is married and has a daughter.

Christine Amour-Levar is a French-Swiss-Filipina, Philanthropist, Record-Breaking Adventurer, Best-Selling Author and Human Rights & Sustainability Advisor. She started her professional journey working for Nike across the world and went on to build a global career as a marketing and communications expert and social entrepreneur intent on solving some of the world’s most pressing issues.

A passionate champion of female empowerment and environmental conservation, she founded not one, but two award-winning, non-profit organisations, Women on a Mission (WOAM) and HER Planet Earth, to bridge these two passions. Both take all-female teams on pioneering expeditions —with WOAM empowering and supporting women who have been subjected to violence and abuse, and HER Planet Earth raising funds for underprivileged women affected by climate change. Both NGOs have collectively raised close to 2 million USD to date for organisations that advance the position of women around the world.

Christine is also a Board Member and Advisor to several purpose-led organisations in the Social Impact and Sustainability spaces – with a particular focus on Climate Tech, Impact Investing and Cellular Agriculture.

She published ‘Wild Wisdom – Life Lessons from Leading teams to some of the Most Inhospitable Places in the World’ with Penguin Random House in 2022, and has contributed to international publications such as Forbes, the HuffPost, the Straits Times of Singapore, Thrive Global and the Manila Bulletin Newspaper of the Philippines.

Her speaking engagements have been hosted by INSEAD, Nike, TBWA, Microsoft, Unilever, Credit Suisse, TEDx and more. Being included on Tatler Asia’s Most Influential Impact List 2020, Christine has won multiple international awards including the GGEF Woman Eco Gamechanger Award 2022, the United Women Singapore Gender Equality Impact Award 2020, Woman of the Future Kindness & Leadership Southeast Asia Leading Lights 2020 and the ‘100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World’ Award™.

Christine speaks six languages, has lived on four continents and seven cities, travelled to over 75 countries from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and is currently based in Singapore, where she lives with her husband and four children.

Naomi Vowels is the co-founder and Director of givvable, a data intelligence platform that screens and tracks the sustainability profile of suppliers and supply chians. Working with large companies such as Microsoft, Singtel, Moet Hennessey, BUPA, Mirvac, givvable identifies the actions their suppliers need to take to align with the companies’ sustainability targets and policies, and reports on their performance against these actions.

Prior givvable Naomi was the Chief of Staff (CoS) to the COO of Swiss private bank, Lombard Odier. In her role as CoS, Naomi was heavily involved in supplier contract management and procurement processes of the Bank. She was part of the Bank’s “Rethink Everything’ campaign that focused on sustainability/ESG in the banking sector, impact investing and sustainable operations.

Naomi started her career as an Australian diplomat with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is a certified CPA and Associate of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI). She holds a Masters in Finance from the University of London and a Bachelor of Economics/Arts (French, Spanish) from the University of New South Wales.

David is the CEO for Marsh McLennan Asia, an inspiring leader with over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He oversees insurance broking, risk management and advisory services across 12 countries in Asia, the world’s fastest-growing economic region.

He began his career in 1990 with Marsh in New York, and has held CEO and leadership positions in Marsh Philippines, Hong Kong and Asia, before being named CEO of Marsh Asia in September 2016. David assumed the role of Marsh McLennan Asia CEO in February 2023.

David has led Marsh Asia to outstanding growth as the CEO of Marsh Asia. He expanded the business into key industries with advisory services, grew the region’s colleague base, and harnessed the collective strength of Marsh McLennan to deliver greater impact with our clients, colleagues, and communities.

His role as the CEO for Marsh Asia has also enabled him to do much more for his commitments to making positive strides in issues of diversity and colleague well-being, such as flexible working, mental health support, growing talent and promoting inclusion and diversity in the workplace. In his personal time, he volunteers at the International Justice Mission, a global organisation that protects people in poverty from trafficking, slavery and violence against women and children.

David is a graduate from the University of Arizona.

Based in Singapore where she has lived for the past 15 years, Godelieve van Dooren spearheads the growth and expansion of Mercer in South East Asia’s high growth markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, helping companies navigate the health, wealth and career needs of the fast-evolving workforce in the region.

Her expertise in designing and delivering impactful people solutions empowers Mercer’s clients in their business and workforce transformation as they navigate the realities of a rapidly changing environment.

Prior to this role, Godelieve was the Regional Industries and Solutions Leader for Asia Pacific. She established Mercer’s Employee Benefits Solutions and grew the firm’s benefits benchmarking and design consulting across the region. From 2013 to 2016, she led Mercer’s Career Insights business across eight markets in ASEAN.

In recent years, she has played a critical role in growing Mercer’s Regional Solutions and expanding Mercer’s Human Resources Industry networks comprising of large High-Tech, Life Sciences, FMCG, Chemical, Retail and Hospitality companies – where she worked with leading clients to shape progressive and sustainable HR programs.

Godelieve holds a MA in Law from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.