Rajeev Peshawaria

Rejecting platitudes and theoretical models, Rajeev combines 22 years of global Fortune 100 experience with research-based insights to provide unique and practical approaches to personal leadership, ethics and governance, sustainable business growth, and stewardship. A sought-after speaker and consultant, he is CEO of Stewardship Asia Center, Singapore, and President of Leadership Energy Consulting, Seattle WA, USA.

Author of the Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestseller Open Source Leadership (McGraw Hill), Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders (Simon & Schuster), co-author of Be the Change (McGraw Hill) and a regular contributor for Forbes, he constantly challenges conventional wisdom on leadership, management, stewardship, sustainability, and corporate governance. He has pioneered unique practical concepts such as Leadership Energy and Emotional Integrity for personal growth, the Brains-Bones-Nerves model for enterprise leadership, and the Steward Leadership model for driving sustainable business growth. His latest book Sustainable Sustainability (Penguin Random House) questions the effectiveness of ESG and other sustainability frameworks and offers Steward Leadership as a stronger new alternative to find profitable solutions to existential challenges such as climate change and socio-economic inequality.

A high-energy inspirational speaker, Rajeev provides speaking, coaching, consulting and advisory services to corporate and public sector clients globally; and serves as guest faculty at leading business schools in the US, Europe and Asia. He is a sought after international speaker and has been widely featured in international media platforms such as CNN, Bloomberg TV & Radio, National Public Radio (NPR), Harvard Business Review, CNBC, Fast Company, Leader to Leader, American Management Association (AMA) magazine, Leadership Excellence magazine, The Times of India, Straits Times, Business Times, and many more.

Prior to joining SAC and starting LEC, he was CEO of the Iclif Leadership & Governance Centre. Formerly, he has been Chief Learning Officer of both Coca-Cola and Morgan Stanley, and has held senior positions at American Express, HSBC and Goldman Sachs. At Goldman, Rajeev helped found Pine Street – the firm’s acclaimed leadership academy – and headed Pine Street for Europe and Asia. In his early career, he was a banker and currency trader.

Ananth Lazarus

Ananth’s experiences span 33 years and he has held several senior executive positions at Microsoft, IBM and Compaq among others.

Ananth is a technology executive with deep expertise in General Management, P&L, Sales & Marketing, and has helped burgeoning tech companies break new ground in Asia Pacific and achieve scalable and sustainable growth.

He has diverse experiences across roles, geographies and cultures in the Asia Pacific region. This coupled with his entrepreneurial streak has ensured his success in leading breakthroughs and driving turnarounds.

Ananth spearheaded the biggest APAC channel ecosystem transformation at Microsoft post serving as their Managing Director for their Malaysia subsidiary with over 200 people. Ananth has helped in transforming many a technology company apart from garnering deep expertise across Enterprise, Commercial, SMB’s and start-ups. Today he also helps technology companies land, launch and scale in APAC leveraging the power of the ecosystem.

His passion for leadership and people has been core to his success and growth and he has built strong and agile leaders throughout his career. Ananth also coaches leaders and future leaders as they grapple with massive changes that are sweeping the world. He is known to build winning teams.

Fiona Jones

Fiona Jones has over 25 years’ experience working for leading global brands in Australia, the USA, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Her career combines deep leadership assessment and development expertise with broad commercial and strategic roles.

Former roles include Vice President of Learning and Development at Nike Inc. and Head of Global Retail at Vodafone. She has worked alongside CEOs and C-suite leaders to effect major culture change, prepare future leaders for transition and advise on strategic talent moves. Her specialism is designing outcome-driven learning experiences to enable exponential growth – for the individual, the business and the community.

A qualified executive coach, Fiona uses a range of psychometric tools and feedback to gain a 360 perspective unique to each leader whom she coaches, always with a focus on positive and impactful change.

José I. Leyún

José brings over 37 years of business leadership experience spanning banking, FMCG and executive search to LEC. He began his professional career in the banking sector in 1983. After several senior management positions in different leading financial Institutions (Bankinter, Continental Bank, B Santander and Argentaria) his last position in banking was CEO of the international network of Argentaria (USA, Latin America, Europe and Asia) with headquarters in New York, leading a 25-country coverage presence. After his experience in banking, he held Managing Director and General Manager roles in consumer and food service organizations.

Since 2001, José has been a leader in the global executive search industry and has executed hundreds of searches in a wide range of industries. Formerly CEO of the Amrop Partnership SCRL and Chairman of Amrop’s global Executive Board, he also has significant experience in Leadership Assessments. Having assessed hundreds of senior managers throughout his career, he was the Global Head of Amrop’s Leadership Assessment Practice from 2009 to 2015.

With a proven track record of exemplary professional service, José is a trusted advisor to the Boards of a range of international clients. He has been a member of several Executive Boards and acted as Chairman for many years in different bodies.

José holds a Bachelor of Science in Law and Economics from ICADE as well as a degree in Management Development from IESE. He is ACC certified in Executive and Team Coaching by ICF (International Coaching Federation). Certified in Sinergology (Body Language) and HOGAN assessment tools, he has attended executive development programs at IMD (Switzerland, 2011).

Eddie Ahmed

Adnan (Eddie) Ahmed is Founder & Managing Partner of ITI Ventures, a Strategic Management Advisory Company focusing   on disruptive shifts across Fintech, Insurtech, Biotech, Cleantech and Digital Media in the Middle East and Asia.ITI is  global in nature, encompassing operating executives with multicultural and multinational experiences who focus on solving strategic challenges and specific pain points. ITI helps organisations grow and expand the top line though product expansion, market penetration, and new partnerships. ITI   helps assess inefficiencies and enhance the bottom line by suggesting practical,  implementable solutions and advising on organisational structure and talent management,  including secondment of interim executives. When ITI believesthe companies they advise are  prime for growth, we selectively introduce them to strategic investors. 

Eddie personally advises a select group of clients ranging from early stage, to growth, to more  mature companies. His focus is on helping leaders and entrepreneurs manage challenges that  typically emerge due to transformational changes in the business model, technological  innovations, and expansion into new markets. Eddie serves as a personal mentor to founders  and CEOs in many instances, while also advising on operational efficiency, brand  management, and navigating the ever changing geopolitical landscape impacting firms  globally. 

Prior to founding ITI, Eddie was the Chairman, President and CEO of MassMutual International  LLC, overseeing MassMutual Financial Group’s international investments in a portfolio of  companies, including insurance, venture investing, and insurance technology. 

Before joining MassMutual in 2015, Eddie spent most of his career in global financial services  at Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Mitsubishi UFG, in roles spanning Banking, Technology,  Operations, and Human Resources located in New York, London, Boston, Tokyo, Sydney and  Hong Kong. 

Eddie is a Senior Advisor to Nippon Life Asia Pacific and is currently on the Advisory Board of  NPX Capital, a Korea and Los Angeles based private equity company (since Oct. 2019); the  Advisory Board of Essenlix Corporation, a Princeton US based biotech firm (since Nov. 2020);  and the Advisory Board of the Chinese University of Hong Kong EMBA School. 

Prior to these board assignments, Eddie was a Non-Executive Director on various boards,  including Yunfeng Financial, a HK-listed wealth manager, and of YF Life, its life insurance  subsidiary (2018-2023); Nippon Wealth Insurance in Japan, a subsidiary of Nippon Life (2018- 2021); Temasek Management Services, Singapore (2010-2018); Human Capital Leadership  Institute in Singapore (2017- 2019); Bank Handlowy, Poland and Citibank Turkey (2012-2015). 

Eddie holds a BSc in Computer Science, a BA in International Relations, and an M.B.A., all from  Tulane University in the US.

Sangeeta Bansal

Sangeeta is firmly grounded in the business world, with an MBA from IESE (Barcelona), a Ph.D. in Organizational Management from Rutgers University, and several years of banking and shipping experience. In 2003, she moved to teach graduate business school at Manhattanville College in New York. While developing curricula and teaching courses on globalization, foreign trade, and planetary sustainability, Sangeeta was led towards the appreciation and subsequent pursuit of higher consciousness in global business. After many years of dedicated practices and training, she followed her heart to become a mindfulness and meditation teacher, believing that all change comes first from within oneself. Since 2013, she has trained several groups across the globe in the techniques of stress reduction, compassion cultivation, befriending the inner critic, mindful eating, improving motivation, forming healthy daily habits, reducing procrastination, enhancing emotional intelligence, raising happiness, and finding true life purpose.

Sangeeta is a sought-after mindfulness and breathwork coach – and her clients include Princeton University, New York University, Hong Kong International School, Rye Country Day School, The Wainwright House, Deloitte, and Stripe, amongst others. She is certified to teach mindfulness by DotB and Koru, and has completed courses in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (UMass), Compassion Cultivation (Stanford), in Emotional Intelligence (SIYLI, Google), Changing Belief Systems (Byron Katie), Mindful Eating (Thich Nhat Hanh) and several others.

Shahrukh D Marfatia

Currently, Shahrukh is the Director, WhiteCrow Research, Asia Pacific & Corporate Advisor Independent Non-Executive Director, Currimjee Jeewanjee & Company Ltd, and Currimjee Industries, Mauritius, and Chairman of both HR & O Committees; Member, Nominations & Remuneration and Governance Committees Advisor, Energy Strat Asia, and August One Board Advisor, Make A Wish Foundation, Singapore & Chair, HR Committee Coach & Mentor to leaders in Business and Not for Profit organisations.

Shahrukh is a senior Business executive with 40+ years’ experience including at the C-suite for over 15 years as a Regional & Global CHRO with world class organisations like Shell, Nokia, Compaq Computer/Digital Equipment Corporation, Bank of America, HSBC, Hoechst etc. in India, Mauritius, Indonesia, Singapore, and China where he has worked and lived in.

At Shell, as the Global HR VP of Global Commercial (a Fortune 50 Company based on Revenues, if a standalone company) and a member of the Global Leadership team, Shahrukh drove Business success on the Financials, Operational, Customer and Employee metrics successfully for over 7 years. He has led Business turnarounds and Growth programmes, led Strategy, Visioning workshops, enhanced employee engagement and HR effectiveness, Performance Management, Top level Talent Management, Leadership Development & Retention, and Succession Planning at the C-suite.

Shahrukh has through his corporate career improved business competitiveness, and led major integration and divestment projects, driven major Change Management and Organisation Effectiveness initiatives at the Global & Asia Pacific levels.

Shahrukh, who is most passionate about the power of Mentoring as a great development methodology was the Global Sponsor for Mentoring as a key Development intervention at Nokia. He has trained Business and Not-for-Profit Executives to be more effective Mentors and Coaches for the past 20 years.

Based in Singapore, his home, he continues to mentor senior executives and leaders on personal, leadership and business growth.

Vikram Bapat

A Chartered Accountant, CPA, Certified Leadership Assessor and Coach, Vikram brings over 30 years of people and business leadership experience in the spectrum of Corporate and International Taxation to LEC. Having moved to consulting from the corporate sector in Finance functions, Vikram played key leadership roles as a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India, where he led multi-national client relationships and engagements. His initial learning of consulting ropes was with KPMG in India.

As a known thought leader on the subject of Special Economic Zones, he was privileged to be invited by the Latin American Free Zone Conference held in Punta Cana, The Dominican Republic in 2010, to speak on India’s Special Economic Zone regime and was provided the honor of an audience with the Hon’ble President of The Dominican Republic, H.E. E Fernandez.

Whilst at PwC, Vikram was nominated to participate in PwC’s global leadership program “Genesis Park” as a Partner mentor to influence large teams of multi-country potential leaders from the PwC network. This experience made him reflect his career goals and resulted in him pivoting from finance to leadership development.

To pursue his vision to catalyze human potential and unleash ethical leadership, he founded CONIFERLEAD, an assessment and development boutique, in 2014.  He was also a Partner at Grant Thornton India LLP leading the Culture Transformation practice.

Vikram strongly believes in setting aside time to pursue his interests in mid altitude trekking and river expeditions that he undertakes every year. Vikram is also a keen FERROEQUINOLOGIST – a train enthusiast and collector of model trains. When not outdoors, Vikram pursues his study of trains and of history, particularly military history. Vikram feels strongly about climate change and animal welfare.

Anand Pande

Anand has Thirty years leadership experience in setting up, building and transforming businesses in Banking, Centres of Excellence, Private Equity, Fintech & Strategy Consulting in Asia/ Middle East & Europe.

Set up / Scaled businesses for ANZ, Citi & RBS. Turned around business for private equity. Past Advisor Bain & Company engaged in banking transformation projects in Asia & Europe. Past Advisor Fullerton Financial Holdings. (FFH, 100% Temasek subsidiary). Board positions in FFH investee companies in India and Middle East. Member Audit/Risk/ IT/ NRC/ CSR committees. 

Deep local insight with extensive market connectivity in Asian markets worked in China, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore. Senior leadership roles with P&L responsibilities in transaction banking at RBS, Citi, ANZ. Global Head of Trade for RBS with P&L responsibilities for 38 countries. Group CEO Amba Research, India (Moody’s). Consulting in Europe/ Middle East/ Asia as Founder of Growth Paradigm Partnership, a Singapore based boutique financial services consulting firm.

Core skill sets in setting up and turning around businesses, underserved and unbanked market segments, digital & data analytics and risk & governance. 

Anand graduated from IIT-BHU, India with a BTech (Hons) in Electrical Engineering. He is a MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, India. Has attended multiple executive education programs at Harvard Business School & is an Alumni of Columbia Business School.