Last night on May 29th, IPWS hosted the Women Leadership Awards Ceremony at the Langham in the heart of Shanghai.
At the event, we finally announced and celebrated the winners of the 15th annual Women Leadership Awards (WLA), one of the longest running international awards for women leaders in China.
This year, IPWS received many nominations for the seven categories of the 2021 Women Leadership Awards. The independent WLA Jury generously volunteered a significant amount of their time to review every nomination and select two finalists for each award category.
Following the finalist selection, the Jury convened for a full-day interview process where each finalist was present or called in from abroad for an interview.
Congratulations to all the finalists and winners!
2021 Women Leadership Award Winners
Business Leader of the Year
Hongfei Zheng, President, Cargill Animal Nutrition China
Entrepreneur of the Year
Cheri Xiaoyu Wang, CEO, Shanghai Li An International Freight Forwarding Co. Ltd
Young Business Leader of the Year
Ashley Dudarenok, Founder, ChoZan & Alarice
Social Contributor of the Year
Seema Ahluwalia, Chairwoman and GM, Mifanmama
Innovator of the Year
Linian Li, Country Manager of Modern Water and VP China Business of Deep Verge
HeforShe Man of the Year
Emmanuel Dean, CEO & Founder, BOOMI
Lifetime Achievement Award
Jerrie Ueberle, Founder and Chairman/Managing Partner, The World Academy for the Future of Women
Business Leader of the Year
Hongfei Zheng
President, Cargill Animal Nutrition China
Hongfei Zheng is currently President of Cargill Animal Nutrition China. She leads a team of 2000+ employees and manages a $1B animal feed and nutrition business in China. She led the team to grow the business by 50% in a year and doubled earnings. Before her role at Cargill, she served as Vice President, Strategy, Knowledge & Insights for Coca-Cola in Greater China and Korea from 2018-2020 and was responsible for corporate strategy and business planning, consumer and competitor insights & intelligence as well as M&A and alliance. She successfully built Coca-Cola’s 2025 Greater China strategy.
Prior to Coca-Cola, Hongfei worked at Cargill Greater China as Head of Corporate Strategy and Development from 2016-2018. She is a member of Cargill China’s leadership team and has worked closely with global CEO, executive team members and board members to develop APAC and China strategies and investments and has successfully established five-year strategies for Cargill China, leading multiple investments and acquisitions.
Hongfei also previously worked at Hilti Ltd., a European engineering solution company as Head of Oil & Gas and Chemical Business in China from 2013-2016, and Marketing Director of APAC. She successfully managed to double the business income and triple profit growth in two years. Before that, Hongfei worked at Bain & Co. for eight years as a case team leader and board manager, offering strategy consulting services to multinational and Chinese enterprises.
Hongfei obtained her Bachelor and Master of Economics degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with a Master at Ecole Centrale de Lyon Diplôme d’Ingénieur France and an MBA from INSEAD (France).
Entrepreneur of the Year
Cheri Xiaoyu Wang
CEO, Shanghai Li An International Freight Forwarding Co. Ltd
Cheri Wang, Founder and CEO of Coshipper, a Supply Chain and logistics company servicing Ecommerce sellers across the world. Involved in China’s Ecommerce ecosystem since the age of 17, Cheri has extensive experience in Global Ecommerce and Consumer product supply chain, including the founding of her own global logistics company, Coshipper, in 2018.
Coshipper ranks 1st among Amazon’s recommended Global Logistics Service Providers, serving cross-border sellers around the world. Cheri has over 10 years of product experience, 8 years of cross-border e-commerce experience, and 4 years of logistics experience. Cheri obtained her Masters in Luxury Brand Management at Polimoda in Italy, and worked for Prada.
Young Business Leader of the Year
Ashley Dudarenok
Founder, ChoZan & Alarice
Ashley is a renowned China marketing expert, entrepreneur, bestselling author and vlogger. She’s a LinkedIn Top Voice in Marketing, a Holmes Report Top 25 Innovator, and made Thinkers50’s Radar Class of 2021 as a China digital marketing and trend guru.
She’s the founder of a China-focused social media agency Alarice and China insights and digital training company ChoZan. Her top-rated YouTube business vlog, Ashley Talks, covers the China market, consumers and social media. She’s also an active supporter of women in business and is the creator of the self-development program FIRE. Ashley is a contributor to Jing Daily, TechNode, The Next Web, the SCMP, Forbes and has been interviewed by the BBC, Bloomberg, CGTN and CNBC.
Social Contributor of the Year
Seema Ahluwalia
Chairwoman and GM, Mifanmama
As a philanthropist and International campaigner, Seema works closely with various International healthcare foundations/hospitals, NGO/ONGO and corporates to help prevent avoidable Blindness by designing programs for prevention, treatment and smooth rehabilitation. Her vision is to see Blindness prevention as a movement in societies, starting from infancy stage or earlier, as Statistically Blindness is the most neglected disability in the world and largely irreversible.
She has been actively participating in various workshops, as speaker in German and Amcham business chambers in Shanghai, and contributes by knowledge sharing for reshaping CSR strategies, as due to her corporate background, it is easier to comprehend CSR needs of organizations. In March 2018 her Project illumine – an eye care outreach program has been a recipient of AMCHAM Beneficiary Charity 2018 as best children welfare focusing on education and health benefits. Continuing to Amcham, under her leadership Mifanmama was awarded as best CSR from German chambers under the category of “passion and potential”.
As an automobile engineer with 25 years of working experience in automotive and engineering with companies like Volvo JV , Tata, Spire etc. Currently she manages her own technical and strategic consulting companies in Shanghai & HK to increase bilateral growth amongst India and China for various EV and engineering industries. She is part of the business delegation with Indian consul general and also is a panelist on various topics of EV value chain.
Innovator of the Year
Linian Li
Country Manager of Modern Water and VP China Business of Deep Verge
Linian Li is managing and developing Modern Water’s business in China and formulating the company’s strategy. She has double master degrees, MBA in Natural Resources Energy & Environment from University of Alberta, Canada and Master in Management, Grande Ecole Programme from EDHEC Business School, France. An executive with more than ten years of management experience in sales, marketing, business development, project management, corporate strategy, personnel, P&L and general management in international companies, including JCDecaux, GM Europe GmbH, Carat, Rouse & Co., International. A self-motivated strategic thinker with determination and effective leadership skills, she possesses extensive real life experience in the business and social cultures of Asia, Europe and North America.
Linian Li has worked as EDHEC and University of Alberta Ambassador for ten years since 2010, organizing various alumni events and building the EDHEC brand in China. She is passionate about public welfare and alumni activities, building platforms and helping others create value. Take the latest donation as example, the EDHEC Shanghai Alumni Association, together with the united public welfare foundation, launched a campaign to help fight the epidemic, raising money to purchase various supplies in short supply and distribute them to the affected areas in February 2020.
Linian Li is the Executive Committee Member of British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai and sponsor of Small & Medium Enterprises Focus Group. She organized British Chamber Mentor Walk and was a Mentor to help young females.
She also sponsored multiple graduate programs such as the 2019 Practice Track project with Bath University Engineering Management master students and 2020 Meet the Future Liverpool Boot Camp.
HeforShe Man of the Year
Emmanuel Dean
CEO & Founder, BOOMI
Born in Indonesia, Emmanuel Dean was never really known as a sustainable person, but after graduating from college (Colgate University, US) in 2018, he was guilt-tripped by his sister to go into sustainability. She simply asked him, “”why are you still using a plastic toothbrush?” Little did he know, this single question would lead to the founding of BOOMI.
After graduating, he had no job, no goals, no mission, and really no idea. All he knew is that he wanted to go to Shanghai, China. So purely out of gut feeling, he decided to fly to Shanghai to start his career.
Today, Emmanuel is the CEO and Founder of BOOMI, one of China’s first sustainability platforms. BOOMI is currently home to 50+ local, credible, and eco-friendly brands with over 200 products covering people’s sustainability needs. Our mission is to empower people to make a difference every day. Prior to BOOMI, Emmanuel worked as a research analyst in a block-chain company called Red Pulse but left the company in 2019 to pursue his entrepreneurial dream.
Emmanuel loves to go to networking events and to listen to founders’ stories. He is highly passionate about entrepreneurship and advocates for dreaming big, starting small, and starting NOW! In his downtime, he loves playing board games and has a collection of over 30 games.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Jerrie Ueberle
Founder and Chairman/Managing Partner, The World Academy for the Future of Women
Jerrie Ueberle is the Founder of the World Academy for the Future of Women (WAFW), a program of Global Interactions, Inc., a non- profit organization whose purpose is to connect international professionals to share best practices, research, and technologies that will further worldwide communication and understanding.
Jerrie served as President of the Sias University Foundation Board, and a consultant to two major U.S. Department of Education Projects of National Significance, the U.S. Manpower Project and the Comprehensive System for Personal Development. She was employed by the Chicago Board of Education, Clinics, Schools, and the Arizona Department of Education.
Jerrie has received the World Network of Entrepreneurs Award for Global Community Service and the Women’s International Network Leadership Award.
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists! And a huge thanks to the 2021 WLA contributors!
IPWS had the pleasure and honor of having the invaluable support of incredible and inspiring individuals and organizations, who contributed their time and ideas to the 2021 Women Leadership Awards!
We are grateful to our master of ceremonies, keynote speaker, jury members and WLA Representative Organisations.
Thank you for everyone who joined us for the ceremony, and for those who were with us in their thoughts!
About the Women Leadership Awards
As a non-profit organization run by a volunteer Board of Directors, IPWS strives to bring high-value, professional development events to women in Shanghai.
In addition to organizing nearly two events per month, IPWS is committed to recognizing women in the community who have made an impact and created change within their industry or for the community, as well as male leaders who empower women.
By recognizing and celebrating these women and men, we hope it inspires and encourages others to create change and forge new paths.
The WLA is the longest running international award in China for women leaders, and was the only such award for over a decade.
The award recognizes professional women who have emerged as leaders in their field. As leaders, these inspiring women – and since 2016, men supporting women – have made a marked difference in our community and have forged paths for others to follow.
2020 marks the 14th year of the Women Leadership Awards.
2021 Women Leadership Awards Partners & Sponsors
