The long-awaited moment is almost here – the Women Leadership Award winners will be announced on June 5th.
The WLA is the longest running international award in China for women leaders, and was the only such award for over a decade. The WLA 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. The WLA recognizes leadership in women (and men) from all nationalities and across all industries.
After careful consideration of all completed nominations, the independent WLA Jury has selected the following professionals to be our WLA 2020 Finalists!
Read more about these incredible finalists, and get your ticket to the awards ceremony now, as seats are limited!
Business Leader of the Year
Joanna Hutchins is currently the Global CEO at Cowan brand and design consultancy. As an Asia Pacific branding pioneer, Joanna has helped global, regional and local brands realize potential in the ever-evolving Asia context, the fastest-growing consumer markets in the world.
In her 25-year long career, Joanna has accumulated extensive experience in innovation, brand development, brand strategy, brand design, and advertising communications. She joined Cowan in 2018, having worked previously at Dragon Rouge as CEO, Greater China for 5 years and at Unilever for 12 years as Global Brand Director in overseeing skincare new product development and brand marketing across more than 38 countries.
Joanna is American and spent the first 10 years of her career in advertising in NYC, working at Ogilvy, Grey & Publicis. In her current role, Joanna leads Cowan’s 7 offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Vietnam, Sydney, Melbourne and London and personally stewards Cowan’s long-term partnerships with ambitious consumer branding companies including Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Danone, Vitasoy, Unilever, Vinda, Yili Dairy, The Coca Cola Company and Johnson & Johnson.
Further, in the span of her career, thanks to her strategic acumen, purposeful creativity, and inspirational leadership, Joanna has led award-winning brand communication and design teams to take home Cannes awards, Pentawards, Brand Marking Awards and brand AMA EFFIES. In 2013, Joanna was named as one of “China’s 50 Top Marketing Leaders” by the ANA and the Internationalist Magazine. Joanna holds degrees in Journalism and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business and in January 2020, completed a Masters in Strategy and Innovation and Oxford University’s Said Business School.
Business Leader of the Year and Entrepreneur of the Year
Taiwing Tian is the Managing Director and co-founder of PR agency Switching-Time, China’s premier PR and Communications Agency within Fashion, Lifestyle, Luxury and Beauty, with marquee clients like LVMH, Pernod-Ricard, adidas, L’Oreal Group and Victoria’s Secret. End 2019, the agency was appointed Greater China PR-Agency of the Year by Campaign.
Taiwing founded the agency in 2012 after an impressive career in international agencies. Taiwing has quitely and consistently delivered strong results and built the trust with her team and her clients in every single role she ever took on. She started at wellknown local PR agency Liquid Element, where she quickly was promoted to Account Director. She left for French top experiencial marketing agency Auditoire in 2008, where she swiftly rose through the ranks, being promtoted to Business Director and then General Manager in 2010, a position she held for two years with strong results. She then left to found Switching-Time together with one other business partner. Taiwing was educated in Switzerland with a major of hospitality where she learnt the best of what service is. Her personal interests include fashion, traveling, skiing and spending time with her many friends.
Entrepreneur of the Year
Lu Guo is Founder and CEO of Ushopal Group, one of the fastest growing brand management group, specialize in niche GenZ focused luxury brands in beauty. Lu was VP, Digital and Ecommerce at Johnson & Johnson. Before JNJ, Lu lead brand and operation strategy, channel and ecommerce for VF Corporation. Her experience in branding and retail is also enriched by leading Supply and Logistics planning for Asia, managing hyper-complex supply chain planning for Anheuser Busch InBev, and cross-continent project management as project leader for strategy powerhouse The Boston Consulting Group. Lu was ranked by Manager Today Magazine as one of the Top 100 Managerial Talents in China in 2013, recognized as a leader who is known for her capability to drive rapid growth and innovation 0 to mega. Lu was cited in VF 2012 annual report and Wall Street VF Investor report for her outstanding effort in building digital excellence as a competitive advantage. Her successful business achievements and case studies were also cited by The Economist magazine for innovative and powerful brand building via digital in China. Lu received her MBA from Wharton.
Young Business Leader of the Year
Olivia Cotes-James was born in New Zealand, but raised in Britain, after graduating from the University of Leeds in 2013, she decided to pursue a career in Hong Kong, starting work at a luxury marketing agency. Like many Western women, she was disconcerted by the lack of availability of tampons in HK. She discovered that many local women preferred pads but had many questions about tampons. Olivia started to run informal sessions for her network, a way to share information and bust myths.
In 2016 she relocated to Shanghai and continued holding informal gatherings, she also began to research the ingredients used to make period care. It was then Olivia discovered something that would change not just her professional journey, but her relationship with her own body. Olivia had always suffered from irritation during her period, but she had put this down to something “normal”, given it happened every month, regarding these symptoms as part of how her body behaved during menstruation. But through research Olivia discovered that the majority of big brand period care is made with non-organic cotton, grown with aggressive chemical pesticides and fertilizers, which are not removed during manufacturing. Equipped with this knowledge, Olivia switched to organic and the change was instantaneous. The irritation disappeared immediately. For Olivia, the path was clear- educating women on tampons wasn’t enough, she wanted to develop and launch a brand of organic cotton period care that is actually good for our bodies as women and equips us with knowledge so we can make informed choices about our menstrual health. And so LUÜNA was born! Olivia has quit her job, founded the company, sourced & brought to four markets a range of organic cotton products and a reusable cup, fundraised a seed round of 1million USD from investors, donated over 10,000 period products to women and girls in need and held over 500 events in Mandarin, English & Cantonese, aimed at breaking the taboos on menstrual health and equipping women with a new understanding of our bodies.
Young Business Leader of the Year
Anita Shiwen Lai was born and raised in Chengdu, China and pursued her higher education in America. Graduated with a Master’s degree in Management from the University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom and a Distinction of Dissertation in Events Marketing, she has been actively involved in the events planning industry over the past 5 years, ranging from commercial activities to business delegation meetings and visits.
As an entrepreneur, she is currently running her own startup business Chengdu Food Tours(CDFT), where she loves to use food as a vehicle to promote her hometown Chengdu Sichuan. In only three years, CDFT has hosted more than 3000 individuals from all over the world to experience the best food scene and culture in Sichuan, as well as been mentioned in numerous world-scale medias such as Forbes, Condé Nest Traveler, New York Times and South China Morning Post.
As a woman professional, Anita deeply understands the struggle and challenges as a female entrepreneur. Therefore, she founded SheLeads with her partner in 2018, which is an empowering platform and a professional network for all women at workplace in China. By introducing the concept of mentorship to the local community, she hopes to use this international network to help connect more female professionals for their career development and personal growth. Now SheLeads community are established in Chengdu and Kunming, with more than 900+ active members from over 30 different industries.
Social Contributor of the Year
“Evelyne Bischof, specialist in internal medicine, AI, digital health, with a research focus on oncology, preventative and precision medicine, biogerontology, and gerontooncology. Deeply passionate about next-generation medical technology, and the applications of AI for biomedical research and practice, digital health and innovative technology. Practicing medicine and performing translational research in Switzerland, the US, and China. A Harvard- and Columbia-trained physician, author of over 40 peer-reviewed papers and frequent speaker at scientific and medical conferences, with a demonstrated history of working in the medical practice industry on international and cross-cultural level. Author of over 75 peer-reviewed papers, speaker at scientific and medical conferences (over 100 so far).” But behind all this, here is a personal biography which is as much important, as it has shaped who I am and helped me engage in the social and volunteering work, as well as has shaped me as an empathic doctor and mentor. I was born in poor conditions, as an only child, to Polish, hard-working parents (father was a simple tailor, mother was a help to accountant) who did not have the benefit of enjoying education. Both sides’ grandparents were farmers. I would spend most of my summers in the village, without running water and a toilet in the woods. And I would not have it any other way. To this day, returning to these villages reminds me of the humbleness and importance of simplicity and modesty.
Social Contributor of the Year
Alizée Buysschaert: I was born and raised in Belgium, where I grew up outside most of my time. My parents both love the outside, and from a very young age I was involved in gardening, discovering insects and animals (never allowed to harm them, even spiders). I was also raised with a father who is an incredible amateur cook, and bought healthy organic food years before everyone started to do it. The outdoor and movement has always been part of my life, even throughout my high school years up until I reached university. I studied at a Business School in Brussels, and then went on to follow a masters in Fashion Design and Luxury Management in London, where I was introduced to ‘sustainable luxury’. From there I went on to study and research the Circular Economy, which at the time was a freshly commercialized concept. When I got to Shanghai, a megacity in China, a world away from what I had known for 20 years before. That’s when it daunted upon me how much the connection with the natural world was lost, and far I was from when I grew up (literally and figurately). I started changing my habits and improve my impact on the environment, word got out, I was asked to share more, then was approached by F&B businesses to host events, then was asked by companies to share and then provided waste-reducing practices and strategies within the companies and schools. Besides my work, I am someone who is always in movement, whether that’s through chasing intellectual challenges and learning new things about myself or physical challenges like running a marathon, spinning 5000 hours a year, or drive across the world.
Innovator of the Year
Clara Davis is a creator based in Shanghai, working at the intersection of food and stories. Clara is the founder of Unravel, a Shanghai-born storytelling platform that produces monthly, curated live shows in addition to workshops and special projects with partnering companies, schools, and organizations. She is the co-founder of creative food and beverage agency Taste Collective, who has helped global brands such as Impossible Foods, Seedlip, and Carman’s tell their brand stories in China. She completed a dual degree master’s program with The London School of Economics and Fudan University in Global Media and Communications, and hails from the east coast of the USA.
Innovator of the Year
Dr. Renata Thiebaut has lived in China for 14 years where she implements and enhances e-commerce strategies for global brands as well as advising governments on digital transformation. In addition, having deep legal knowledge enabled Renata to provide with better
solutions especially within the cross-border e-commerce business, always prizing for transparency and international standards required by her clients. She is also engaged in mentoring masters students. She joined Harvard University (Leadership and Development Lab) in 2018, and teaches at Alibaba Business School and Emlyon.
HeforShe Man of the Year
Murat Askin is a graduate of Glion Institute of Higher Education with a degree in Business Administration, and his leadership experience has covered 5 countries, including Switzerland, Turkey, United States, United Arab Emirates and China. He has been a senior hotel pre-opening leader for 5 properties, including the pre-opening Front Office Manager & Executive Housekeeper for the flagship JW Marriott Marquis Dubai and most recently as the pre-opening Director of Rooms for The Shanghai EDITION. He has also been selected as a pre-opening taskforce training leader for The Sanya EDITION, The Hollywood EDITION and The JW Marriott Marquis Shanghai in 2019.
HeforShe Man of the Year
Le Wagon China is the global leading coding school for creative people and entrepreneurs with branches in Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen. Thibault Genaitay launched Le Wagon China in 2016 with the aim to help students, business executives, and people from all walks of life turn their creative ideas into tech products, start their own companies or work for fast growing companies.
Thibault Genaitay is a programmer, mentor, tech enthusiast, and has 15 years of experience in digital marketing and software development. He is also a constant guest speaker at universities like Tongji University, Conde Nast Center, ESSCA Shanghai, etc.
Congratulations to all finalists, as well as to the many incredible nominees!
This year, the winners, including the WLA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, will be announced at the IPWS Women Leadership Awards Ceremony, a celebratory and festive evening event at Cotton’s in the heart of Shanghai on Friday, June 5th, 2020.
Buy your ticket here!
We invite the finalists together with ALL nominees and everyone in the IPWS community to celebrate another incredible year of the Women Leadership Awards, and to join us at the WLA Ceremony.
Our warmest congratulations to the finalists, and good luck in the next step of the process!
WLA Nominations Sponsor
For the fourth year in a row IT Consultis is the exclusive sponsor of the WLA Nominations.
We are delighted to work with the IT Consultis (ITC) team who has gone above and beyond to ensure a smooth experience for all applicants. IT Consultis will manage the technical side of the entire nomination process, right up until the announcement of the winners at the WLA Ceremony, on June 5th.
IT Consultis is a leading independent digital production company, empowering the most ambitious brands on their digital transformation in China and across other Asian markets. With a team of 80 experts in three countries, ITC leverages martech, e-commerce and omnichannel solutions to maximize client’s ROI.
IT Consultis was established in 2011 and in only 8 years, it has rapidly expanded to 3 offices in Shanghai, Singapore, and Ho Chi Minh City, while working with some of the largest brands in the world including GAP, Zara, Porsche, Decathlon, Swatch, Leica and many more. The company serves both B2B and B2C clients.
ITC invests every year into selected NGOs to help them make a difference and was proud to help IPWS during the nomination process for the Women Leadership Awards in 2017, 2018, 2019 and is delighted to support IPWS again in 2020.
Visit it-consultis.com to learn more about the IT Consultis team and their services or contact Aurelien the Co-Founder at aurelien.rigart@it-consultis.com or aurelien-r on WeChat.
