ExCo Profiles

LAURENCE ANJORAS

Secretary General & Co-Founder Of Europe Chapter

Laurence is living in The Netherlands, mother of 2 girls (10 and 8 years old), and currently owning and managing ANN EVA. ANN EVA specializes in advising commercial organizations with science-based metrics to support their efforts in making their product portfolio and processes sustainable, using the Solvay Sustainable Portfolio Management (SPM) Methodology as a corner stone.

Laurence has 26 years’ experience of leading remote multi-cultural and functional teams in the Chemical industry. She has worked as a Corporate Sustainability advisor, supporting Business Units in segmenting and assessing their product portfolio with regard to Group sustainability objectives. Further, she also fulfilled global functions mainly in Sales and Marketing of ingredients intended for use in Life Sciences.

Laurence holds a bachelor degree in German literature and history and a Global Executive MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management/Erasmus University in The Netherlands. (OneMBA program in collaboration with UNC-Kenan Flagler University –USA, FGV -Brazil, EGADE - Mexico and Xiamen University -China).

Mother of two girls, Laurence strongly believes in women economic empowerment as a social stability factor and enjoys sharing the journey with women willing to discover and unleash their potential.

BELINDA XU

Chief Operations Officer

Belinda is responsible for leading the team to provide training and consulting management services for auto companies, such as Volkswagen, BMW, Honda, Volvo, and so on. Mainly to provide marketing planning, promotion strategies, develop product knowledge training material for launching new cars. She has been focused on the automotive industry for more than 16 years. As a partner of SELF-company, she feels very lucky, "Our company’s growth just to adapt to the development of China’s automotive industry, so that we have more opportunities to provide the most professional services in the automotive industry. I would like to share my knowledge and experience with more friends, also have the opportunity to learn from each other and grow together".

Belinda Iives in Shanghai and enjoy traveling, discovering and learning new skills. This program of enlightening another person’s life always gives her happiness and motivation to her future.

KEN NG

Chief Technology Officer

Ken is highly respected in his field for his expertise and extraordinarily perceptive approach to his work. In 1993, he graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Since then, he has accumulated more than 25 years of outstanding experience in document imaging under his belt. As Pre-Sales Manager, Projects Solution Service Manager, and Technical Specialist, he has led numerous prominent document imaging projects for governments/banks/insurances /educations of the Greater China Cluster. Located in Hong Kong, Ken currently leads the KODAK Alaris Information Management Division as Asia Pacific Asia Pre-sales Manager.

Experienced in working with different sectors and people from all over the world, Ken believes in equal opportunities for everyone. His vision has also made him a capable leader in his field.

JANICE CHENG

Finance Manager And Treasurer

Janice is the Finance Manager of Shure Asia Ltd. and has been working in this company for 9 years. The headquarter of her company is in US with offices around the world and their products are selling around the world too. They have products like microphone, earphone, headphones, professional audio system and conferencing systems. For Asia region, my company has offices in HK, China (Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu), Singapore, Korea and Japan.

Janice has experiences on different areas of accounting including financial reporting, management reporting, financial analysis, variance analysis, budget, audit, fixed assets, Japan accounting.

KENNETH MEI

Chief Relationship Officer

Ken has the overall responsibility of Kodak Services for Business in the Asia Pacific Region, serving Fortune 500 customers of their document management and business process management needs, focusing on the government and financial sectors.

With over 30 years of enterprise software experience working in ECM (enterprise content management) and BPM (business process management), Ken has held senior positions in development, marketing, product management, technical consulting and international sales with global corporations including Wang Laboratories, Eastman Software, eistream, Global 360 and Saga Technologies.

With Ken’s years of experience in the professional fields, he realizes and believe the strong unique capability of women’s contribution and would like to realize those full potential.

Julia Yalalova

Assistant Relationship Manager

Julia is a result-oriented professional with over 6 years’ experience in global business development, innovation, technology, and trade operations in Ireland, Russia and China. Her Bachelor's is in linguistics and translation, her Master's and Ph.D. is in Economics and Business from Harbin Institute of Technology (top-9 university in China, top-200 in the world). She has lived in China for 9 years, and is fully proficient in Russian (native), Chinese (major, HSK-6) and English (major) and have a profound understanding of Western and Eastern cultures.

Since the early childhood, Julia has a curiosity and deep passion about constant learning the new things. She welcomes any opportunity to support the personal rapid growth and stay keen about new technology and digital advancements, innovation trends and products to progress in embracing the chance to build bridges between people of different cultures.

Apart from this, she is a very artistic and innovative person, her friends would say that Julia is the one who energizes others for action. Her boss and colleagues would say that she is a self-disciplined, outgoing person and a natural problem solver.

Julia can see that many young women are lack of proper support and guidance while building their careers. She believes that by joining such strong community of inspiring and talented people like GWC, she can bring essential contribution to uplift these women to help them fulfill their full potential.

EVELYN LI

Business Intelligence Officer

Evelyn Li is passionate about putting creative business ideas into practice. After obtaining a bachelor and master degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University, she co-founded Qingflow with her schoolmates and is also the CTO of Qingflow now. Qingflow is a Non-Coding BPM development platform on which non-technical users can build their own systems through quick learnings. With this platform, Evelyn and her colleagues have helped many companies in China to build up their information systems in the past 5 years. She enjoys the busy but meaningful entrepreneurial life, and also makes time for reading and workouts.

Evelyn has encountered many difficulties and had a lot of pressure in the process of starting a business - “Not everyone has the opportunity to realize their career goals, especially for women in China”, she thinks. She believes that what GWC is doing is very meaningful, so she is delighted to be part of this global driving force to promote diversity, and encourage more women to fight for their career dreams against social challenges.

LYDIA LIU

Admin and Operations Officer

Lydia is always passionate about helping and inspiring women. During her internship at Women's Federation in Chongqing, she has seen women who were suffering to maintain the basic level of living, and had the opportunity to visit several successful women who were dedicated to helping others. Inspired by this experience, she strongly believes that every woman has infinite potential and what they need is more opportunities as well as support from the whole world, which is consistent with the mission of GWC. This is the main reason she joined GWC.

Lydia is an enrolled undergraduate student at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. At university, she is the president of Table Tennis Club and has developed skills and experience in administrative and operational matters. She is fully convinced that she can learn and grow a lot by working at GWC.

Lilas Koo

Assistant Operation Officer

Lilas comes from an academic background in international affairs, having worked towards where she is today with her accumulated experience. She is French of Chinese descent fluent in English having lived in Asia for many years. She has realized that women at any age, but especially in mid-career, may need the chance to bridge a gap in their personal lives or bridge a gap in the working world to reach their next step leading towards the top. She is passionate about human capital and the potential for everyone to lifelong skills development. As the pandemic has hit women the hardest everywhere pushing their participation in the workforce at its lowest since decades, she believes that now is the time more than ever for any organisation to focus on women and their value at work.

Her time is now.

Eric Chen

IT Officer

Eric has 6 years of software development experience and 4 years of software project management experience. Now he is working in kodak Alaris as Solution Consultant for 9 years.

With extensive experience in solution integration, document management and BPM, and also has some research on RPA, Eric is always very curious about new things and new technologies. He always believes that Women can hold up half the sky and Women enjoy the same rights as men in the political, economic, cultural, social and family.

SABRINA COURTOIS

Continuous Learning Officer

Based in Belgium, Sabrina is a Teaching and Research Assistant in CSR and Sustainable Development in Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. She holds a Master degree in Business Engineering with Magna Cum Laude from Louvain School of Management and is currently pursuing a PhD in Management Sciences.

Sabrina has a keen interest in education, sustainable development and women empowerment, developed through her multiple volunteering experiences and collaborations with NGOs, as well as in her current research. Sabrina also took part in numerous summer schools in prestigious European universities where she became experienced in working with people with diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences. In her last year of Masters, she spent one year abroad in The Netherlands, studying consulting, sustainability and IT management and working as an intern at ANN EVA, where she learned about Global Women Connect while she was working with Laurence Anjoras, Secretary General.

Following her support of GWC as a Secretary General Officer, Sabrina became Continuous Learning Officer, willing to further advance one of the most important values of GWC. Through her participation in GWC, Sabrina further pursues her vision, willing to provide all actors with lifelong learning opportunities to be fully prepared to face tomorrow’s challenges and ensure a safe, inclusive and peaceful future.

Mandy Lai

Assistant Operation Officer

Mandy is based in Hong Kong and is currently working as an Human Resources Manager in a global organization. Her expertise includes global HR management, talent acquisition, organizational development, succession planning, employee engagement, process improvement, and corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Apart from her work, she has been working with various non-profit organizations to promote youth empowerment and women engagement in the local community for 10 years.

She is interested to join GWC because she was a mentee of the GWC Global Mentoring Program before. She found the values in this program and hopes to encourage more young people to join this program for their personal or professional development in the future. She is also willing to contribute back to the GWC community and hopes to create positive impacts in the world.

Omu Obilor

Assistant Continuous Learning Officer

Omu who is Nigerian and lives in Nigeria, mother to a young man, is an international speaker, trainer, and coach. She currently runs a company called Thrive With Omu.

Holding a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering, Omu started out as a founding member of the John Maxwell Team. She then grew her business internationally and built her networks through Business Network International where she is an Executive Director and National Trainer.

Out of passion, she is involved in several charities amongst which is The Children Living With Cancer Foundation where she sits on the Board of Directors.

Meanwhile, being an ardent learner, Omu holds certifications in Lifestyle and Wellness, Emotional Intelligence, and Brain Health. She is extremely passionate about women's development and empowerment and enjoys sharing and mentoring women to maximize their potential.

Kathy Zhu

Assistant Continuous Learning Officer

Kathy is a professional manager with 9 years working experiences in consulting & strategy position in corporate. For personal life, she has an 8-year-old son and loves to travel & study wine during free time. She was educated for Bachelor & MBA degree in ECNU, CEIBS and HEC Paris and used to be the Chapter of Women leadership club when she was in CEIBS. Impressed by GWC's mission & value, she would like to continue to share and help women to develop themselves & release potential in different stage of life, meanwhile learn & grow in the community.

IVY CAI

Marketing Officer

Ivy shares her passion and initiatives with the GWC Marketing Committee Team, responsible for creating promotion campaigns and supporting the brand building development for the Gemstone Women Circle Mentorship Program and GWC as a whole.

During her time as an undergraduate in the University of Nottingham China, she met and was inspired by the Founder of GWC at a women entrepreneurship networking panel, and from then on decided to do more things for women. More specifically, she has been developing thoughts and experiences to empower women in business.

Ivy is from Sichuan and is pursuing her master degree in Hospitality Management at Kyoto and Cornell University. She believes GWC would be the best place to achieve her vision of engaging in the mutual learning with other women all over the world.

JOHANNA YAO

Marketing Officer

As a student at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Johanna started to explore her career passions as soon as she was admitted to university. She developed an interest in marketing in her first year, after assisting the promotion of the university to multiple provinces at the university’s Admission and Career Development Office, and participating in organizing the university brand promotion with members in student organization. Through these experiences, Johanna developed her knowledge of marketing in China and became enthusiastic about communicating inspiring ideas to a greater audience.

Johanna is passionate about the activities that empower women and promote diversity. While attending summer sessions at UCLA, she had a chance to be exposed to a very diverse community where people from different cultures support each other. Johanna decided to do something for diversity and inclusion, which corresponds with GWC’s core values. She believes that GWC would make an evident difference and motivate others to be the best version of themselves.

EURUS CHEN

Marketing Assistant

Eurus is a firm believer in continuous learning and is keen on both personal and professional development. With a strong passion for pursuing a loved career rather than a simple job, she also lives with a growth-minded motto: “work till 80”. Majoring in international business and management at university, Eurus is interested in building up the business model and developing her business mindset. In the year 2020 - 2021, she had been the president of Nottingham Chinse Debating Society, leading in several activities and competitions. This experience further boosts her leadership and management skills. During her undergraduate study, Eurus attended the annual Female Leadership Forum held by GWC and this ignited her interest in joining GWC to further leverage her power to support females around the globe for diversity & inclusion and continuous learning.

Eurus has long been interested in the art market and she has been exploring the method to empower females or those passionate young artists with potential by new business models. Keeping up with GWC, Eurus believes that we could all empower ourselves and make the world a better place.

REBECCA FENG

Assistant Marketing Officer

Rebecca is responsible for social media campaigns and operations of GWC’s global events and programs. Currently a student of International Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, she devotes her leisure time to support GWC in her passion to contribute to women potential.

Born happily in a Chinese family with high education opportunity, Rebecca realized that not everyone has access to the same opportunities. During her volunteering work in Sri Lanka, she met many girls who were abandoned at a women’s welfare home. When the girls were asked about their dreams, they kept silent. Rebecca believes that these girls have untapped potential but need more opportunities. She joined GWC in order to help more girls to develop their potential.

Rebecca is keen on taking challenges, new roles or initiatives for continuous learning and also to add value to others.

EMMA GARDEPHE

Assistant Marketing Officer

Passionate about intercultural communication, and connecting with individuals and diverse communities, Emma feels empowered by GWC’s mission and efforts toward supporting and encouraging women to harness their great potential and spread inspiration. In 2019, during Emma’s first year in Shanghai, she attended GWC’s Female Leadership Forum. It was at this forum that Emma saw just a glimpse of GWC’s powerful network of strong female leaders and aspiring change-makers.

Emma is ecstatic to have the opportunity to work with the Marketing Team, using digital platforms to uplift the voices of GWC’s incredible members and assisting with programming and events. Prior to joining the marketing team, Emma worked on digital and brand strategy in local and City government in New York and at a Social Media agency in Chicago. Much of Emma’s interest in marketing started when she majored in Advertising at the University of Texas. Emma is proud to join a team that is focused on reaching females all over the world and promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

ABOUT US

FULL SCREEN INTRO

LAURENCE ANJORAS

BELINDA XU

KEN NG

JANICE CHENG

KENNETH MEI

Julia Yalalova

EVELYN LI

LYDIA LIU

Lilas Koo

Eric Chen

SABRINA COURTOIS

Mandy Lai

Omu Obilor

Kathy Zhu

IVY CAI

JOHANNA YAO

EURUS CHEN

REBECCA FENG

EMMA GARDEPHE

About Us

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