Our Events 2022 DIAN Conference: What's Race Got To...

Description

In light of the issues being faced by business and society and calls for more targeted and relevant interventions, the theme for our 3-day 2022 DIAN Conference will be centered around Race and Culture- The conversation in Asia. An exploration of the experience of racism within Asian markets, translating the community/cultural experience into a workplace priority and opportunity. Outlining the findings of Community Business’ research, “Race & Culture”, the programme seeks to illustrate the role of business, the connection between corporate and community cultures and the ways through which we can and should respond to social inequity, notably racism, through active and constructive challenge. 

In the 3-Day 2022 DIAN Conference 1, each day focuses on looking into the following themes: 

Day 1: What is Racism in Asia 

Day 2: How Asia Differs, What the Experts say 

Day 3: What Corporates May Do 

Plenary Sessions (Unlimited Seats) 

Day 1 – 26 April 
Opening Remarks and CB’s Exploration of Race and Culture in Asia | 10:30am - 11:20am (UTC+8) 

How can we address race if we cannot agree what Racism in Asia is? | 11:30am - 12:30pm (UTC+8) 

Speaker: Peter Mousaferiadis

Racism in Asia: Its Real – A Lived Experience | 2:00pm - 2:45pm (UTC+8) 

Speaker: Talha Muhammad 

Defining ‘Racism’ for an Asian Conversation | 3:00pm - 4:30pm (UTC+8) 

Day 2 – 27 April 
The Case for Addressing Racism in Asia | 11:30am - 12:30pm (UTC+8) 

Speaker: Sandy Chan

Day 3 – 28 April 

Addressing Racism in Asia, Why Should Business Respond? | 10:30am - 11:15am (UTC+8) 

Speaker: Ricky Chu

Understanding the workforce and informing a response to racism, having the data to make informed decisions| 2:00pm - 3:00pm (UTC+8) 

Speakers: Michael Walmsley, Karan Sharma, Hong Tran 

Satellite Sessions (Limited Seats) 

Day 2 – 27 April 

Responding to Racism in Asia| 10:30am - 11:15am (UTC+8) 

Speaker: Tom Verghese

Creating People-First Responses to Racism |  2:00pm - 5:00pm (UTC+8) 

Speakers: Kate Okrasinski, Clara Aparisi

Day 3 – 28 April 

Uncovering Racism in your organisation. | 11:30am - 12:30pm (UTC+8) 

Race and Culture- A guide to having Conversation in Our Time | 3:15pm - 5:00pm (UTC+8) 

Speaker: Dimuthu de Silva


Link to Brochure

With an agenda presented in a mix of formats, participation will suit a variety of audiences across the three days of the conference. DIAN Member companies are encouraged to think creatively about who the best attendees may be, and consider if ERG representatives, D&I Council members, senior leaders, internal influencers and others outside the DE&I space will benefit from participation.  

If you are interested in joining any of the sessions email us on dian@communitybusiness.org . 

Get in touch to register: dian@communitybusiness.org)

This event is for DIAN members only.  
If you would like to learn more about DIAN or to join, please click here or contact us. 

 

Event Speakers

Clara Aparisi

Learning and Process Design Lead, MakeHK

Clara is a coach, process and capability designer that builds partnerships between people, teams, and organisations. She has international experience across Europe and Asia building and delivering transformative learning and development initiatives that are both holistic and democratic.

Dimuthu de Silva

He/Him

Director of DE&I, Community Business

Dimuthu de Silva is the Senior Manager, Consulting & Training at Community Business. He is responsible for consulting, training design and delivery, client relationship management and the daily operations of the C&T team. Prior to joining Community Business, Dimuthu was a consultant in Learning & Development and HR, with over twelve years in banking, financial technology, KPO and BPO, hotels & tourism and education industries. He has experience in end-to-end learning design and delivery, HR systems delivery, general consultancy and policy development around people, culture and organisational development. He is also an active researcher of social inclusion, representation and participation of marginalised communities and speaks at conferences and forums frequently. Dimuthu was born and raised in Sri Lanka and completed his higher education in Malaysia. He has worked in Sri Lanka and the South Asian and APAC region on assignments. Dimuthu has an MBA in International Business from Anglia Ruskin University, MSc in International Development Management from University of Nottingham and is a certified TESOL/TEFL trainer. He is also an accredited DiSC trainer from Wiley and Sons, USA. Dimuthu is fluent in English and Sinhala.

Hong Tran

Partner, Mayer Brown

Hong Tran is a partner of Mayer Brown and is a Co-Firm Practice Leader of the global Employment and Benefits Group. He advises employers on compliance with employment, discrimination and privacy legislation. He also advises on strategic labour force issues including the structure of employment relationships; risk management in the employment and discrimination context; the introduction of changes to employment arrangements; the handling of union relations; and recruitment, disciplinary and termination issues. He is experienced in handling employment disputes, discrimination and privacy complaints/issues. He represents employers engaged in legal proceedings at the various court levels from the Labour Tribunal through to the Court of Final Appeal. He also advises employers in responding to investigations by the Labour Department, Equal Opportunities Commission and the Office of the Commissioner for Personal Data Privacy. 

He has been ranked as Band 1 lawyer in employment Hong Kong Law by Chambers Asia Pacific (2017-2021) and a "Leading individual" in employment law by Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2015-2022). He has been recognised by Who's Who Legal (2015) as being among the world's leading lawyers for employment and labour practice in Hong Kong. He was named as one of the "pre-eminent practitioners in the world" and "one of the world's leading lawyers" by Guide to the World's Leading Labour & Employment Lawyers (2011). He was also named a Leading Asia Law Labour & Employment Lawyer by the Asia Law & Practice Survey (2008). 

Hong has contributed to leading employment and discrimination law textbooks "Chitty on Contracts, Hong Kong Specific Contracts" Chapter 7, "Employment Law and Practice in Hong Kong" Chapters 3 & 5 and "Discrimination Law and Practice in Hong Kong" Chapters 4 and 7 (and Co-General Editor). 

Hong is co-Chair of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong People Forum and a member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce Manpower Committee. He Chairs Mayer Brown's Diversity and Inclusion Committee in Asia. 

Karan Sharma

APAC Head of Talent & Diversity, Citi

Karan Sharma is the APAC Head of Talent and Diversity at Citi since Sep’19. He supports the talent management, performance management and DEI practices for the bank across its 17 markets in APAC. 

He has 16+ years’ experience in a variety of Talent, Learning, Leadership Development and Diversity roles in Asia. 

Prior to joining Citi, he spent 12 years with JP Morgan, wherein his last role was to lead the firm’s Talent Management, Diversity & Inclusion and Learning agenda for APAC. He has held a variety of regional talent, DEI and leadership development roles, based in Hong Kong and India. He is a certified coach and has experience in leveraging psychometric tools to develop stronger teams and thought leaders. He believes in diversity of thought being a key element for developing an inclusive culture. 

Kate Okrasinski​

Managing Director, MakeHK

Kate is a strategic design specialist and executive coach. She has helped clients to embed Design Thinking into their organisations and apply it to solve complex business and human challenges. She integrates leadership development, co-creation techniques, and agile practices to drive innovation while enabling cultural and organisational transformation

Peter Mousaferiadis

CEO, Culture Infusion

Peter Mousaferiadis has spent over three decades working in the cultural & creative industries. In 2002, he founded the internationally recognised organisation Cultural Infusion, which builds global harmony through intercultural action within education, ICT & the arts. Peter has had a career which spans conducting and directing and producing large scale international and intercultural productions for a range of clients including Parliament of World Religions, United Nations, and directed 9 Australia Day Concerts. Peter is repeatedly called upon as a thought leader of culture as a driver of peace. 

In 2002, Peter founded Cultural Infusion to foster an appreciation of cultural diversity throughout Australia and the world. Cultural Infusion’s education program “Discovering Diversity” is delivered to more than 350,000 students annually. By harnessing the power of art, education, technology and multimedia, Cultural Infusion consistently delivers creative services, events, workshops, training courses, consulting services and has produced a range of digital acclaimed resources. In 2013, Sound Infusion which helps to discover diversity through creation of music was a winner of the United Nations Alliance of Civilization Intercultural Innovation Award. In 2019, following 5 years of research and development, Peter launched Diversity Atlas a world first data analytics tool able to provide comprehensive insights into the extent and type of cultural and demographic dimensions of diversity. Diversity Atlas is now being used by think tanks and a range of multinationals and intergovernmental agencies to map their global workforce. Peter is the Chair of the Lahore International Conference on Culture, a Global Trustee of United Religions Initiative, a Salzburg Global Fellow and admitted to the Asia Peace Innovators Forum. In 2017, Peter was issued with the Peace Ambassador Award from the Center of Peace Studies (Sri Lanka). 

In 2021, Peter was awarded the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award Silver Medal from the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation and the United Nations Global Compact’s Business for Peace Initiative. The award recognises individuals for their contributions to peaceful and inclusive societies. 

Ricky Chu

Chairperson, Equal Opportunities Commission

Mr Ricky CHU Man-kin took the helm as Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) from 11 April 2019 till now.

Mr Chu joined the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1978 as an investigator and rose through the ranks to become the Acting Director of Corruption Prevention. In 2010, he joined the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) as its Secretary-General.

Mr Chu re-joined the ICAC in 2016 as the Director of Investigation until his retirement in 2019, when he was awarded the Hong Kong ICAC Medal for Distinguished Service (IDS).

Mr Chu graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor Degree in Social Science. He also holds a UK law degree.

Talha Muhammad

Project Officer, Zubin Foundation

Project Officer, Zubin Foundation

Talha is Project Officer at Zubin Foundation providing skill base STEM and Computer literacy training to Ethnic Minorities and Currently working at The Zubin Foundation as Project Officer working closely with Ethnic Minority youth providing job consultancy and skill base training for Employment. He has 5 years of experience, providing social service to Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong.   

Talha was born in Pakistan and moved to Hong Kong as a student, where he completed secondary school education.  He switched to full-time work and part-time studies to finance his education and support his family.  Talha completed Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Business Studies from the University of Greenwich majoring in Event Management. He has always had an interest in helping the community and serving the unserved, therefore, while he was studying, he started working with various NGOs and gained experience in Ethnic Minorities service in Hong Kong. He has represented his community in various public speaking events to voice Ethnic Minority views and concerns. He is also interested in music and entertainment, and frequently uploads music covers and makes vlogs on his YouTube channel. 

Tom Verghese

Founding Principal, Cultural Synergies

Dr Tom Verghese is a consultant, speaker, executive coach, and the founding principal of Cultural Synergies. He has many years of global consulting expertise and extensive involvement working with a diverse range of multinational, national and local organisations. He works as a trusted adviser with numerous global leaders. Tom’s integrity, creativity, enthusiasm, and energy have received strong praise from leaders and teams around the globe. 

He is the author of 4 publications, the most recent being ‘Cultural Agility- A Practical guide to putting Cultural Intelligence into Action’. A passionate educator, consultant, father, student, and coach, he brings a broad perspective of East and West to life as well as a refreshing candour to his client interactions. Of Indian origin, born and raised in multi-ethnic Malaysia, Tom came to Australia as a student.