Richard WELFORD is one of the founders and the chairman of CSR Asia based in Hong Kong. He is also a professor at the University of Hong Kong and a director of ERP Environment, a UK-based publisher.

Richard has twenty years of experience working in the fields of environmental management and social responsibility. He was one of the early pioneers in developing social audit and reporting methodologies with UK-based organisations such as The Body Shop, IBM and Eastern Electricity in the 1990s. Since then, his work has been increasingly Asian focused as a result of his current position as director of the Corporate Environmental Governance Programme at the University of Hong Kong. He has sat on the Swire Environmental Committee as an external adviser for the past four years and has undertaken consultancy work with a number of leading companies, including the MTR Corporation, Disney, CLP, Nike, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, HP, HSBC, Citigroup and Adidas.

Richard’s work has had a strong emphasis on environmental sustainability and social justice. Richard has worked with Cathay Pacific and the Swire group developing a climate change strategy. He has also worked on policies and implementation plans covering conservation and biodiversity. For Shangri-La Hotels he is developing initiatives not only covering environmental sustainability but also aspects of human rights and local community engagement. He has been an advocate of human rights auditing as a means of ensuring social justice and has undertaken assessments of the Freeport Human Rights audit in Papua.

Stephen FROST is one of the co-founders and an executive director of CSR Asia. He is also an assistant professor at the Department of Asian and International Studies at the City University of Hong Kong. He is in high demand as a speaker internationally, has consulted for numerous companies, governments and multilateral organisations, and is widely published. He is regularly interviewed by local and international media organisations, and he sits on the advisory boards of major corporations and CSR initiatives internationally.

Stephen has been involved in CSR in the Asia-Pacific region since 2000, when he moved to Hong Kong. Since that time, he has focused on issues surrounding supply chains and workplace standards. He has worked with numerous local and multinational companies on a host of other issues, ranging from consulting on the implementation of CSR systems to factory training and stakeholder dialogue.

He developed and taught the first CSR modules in MBA programs in Chinese universities, developed and taught the first undergraduate CSR course in Asia, and along with his co-founder offered the first public training of CSR in the Asia-Pacific. He helped develop an innovative factory training program for Chinese factories, and led a team to develop capacity building for Chinese organizations to deliver service to companies in supply chains. He is a recognised pioneer in CSR in Asia.

Erin LYON is an Executive Director of CSR Asia based in Singapore. Erin is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales, having trained with and worked for the international law firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer both in Europe and Asia. Erin has been working in Asia for over seven years and has lived and worked in Indonesia as well as Singapore.

Erin has advised Asian, US and European companies on Corporate Social Responsibility. Recent clients have included HP, Dell, DHL, Bursa Malaysia (the Stock Exchange of Malaysia), CDL and Singapore Petroleum Company with projects including CSR disclosure, stakeholder engagement, community investment, ISO26000 and sustainable supply chains. Erin has a strong interest in the development of CSR in Asia and has worked with clients to assess the changing regulations and voluntary agreements that are developing in Asia and the impact they have on operations. She also focuses on the development of CSR disclosure in Asia and is responsible for the Asian Sustainability Rating^TM. Erin is also an elected member of the GRI Stakeholder Council.

As well as advising companies and other organizations, Erin is an adjunct at the Singapore Management University School of Law, lecturing in Ethics and Social Responsibility and she has also taught Corporate Governance at SAICSA.

Rikke NETTERSTROM is an Executive Director of CSR Asia based in Malaysia. Rikke has over 10 years multi-sector experience in corporate responsibility strategy, stakeholder engagement and communications. She was responsible for environmental and social issues for two of the world’s sustainability leader - The Body Shop International plc and Novozymes A/S, preparing strategies for over 50 markets globally.

As an investment analyst and a public affairs consultant, she provided advisory services to multinational companies within a range of sectors, including consumer goods, agrichemicals and financial institutions. She has worked extensively throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, delivering workshops at Board and senior management level in China, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the US. Rikke was closely involved in the creation of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil as an Executive Board member, and continues to provide advisory services to companies in the oil palm sector. She holds an MSc in International Business from Copenhagen Business School and postgraduate qualifications from Thammasat University, Thailand.

Leena WOKECK is the Director of the CSR Asia Center at the Asian Institute for Technology (AIT) in Bangkok (CSRACA).

Leena’s expertise is in the area of sustainable development, responsible business strategy, and sustainability reporting. She has worked with sustainability experts, CSR practitioners, and international and civil society organizations worldwide, and advised organizations of various sectors and sizes on CSR strategy development, stakeholder engagement, and reporting processes. Having previously worked for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), she has in-depth knowledge of the GRI reporting framework.

Since moving to Bangkok in 2009, her focus is now mainly on working with companies in Asia and especially Southeast Asia on the implementation of effective and innovative sustainability solutions. Through the unique set up between academia and practice of the CSRACA she leads research projects on cutting edge issues and trends for the role of the private sector in sustainable development in Asia and works on developing and delivering training and executive education programs.

Leena holds an MSc in International Relations and Transnational Governance from the VU Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a BA in International Studies from the University of Birmingham, UK, and has studied Cultural Anthropology and International Law at the University of Cologne, Germany.

Brian Chi-kuen HO is the Director of CSR Asia’s China offices and manages business operations in mainland China. He has extensive experience in handling projects on sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR), and focuses on stakeholder engagement, sustainability reporting and management of corporate-NGO partnerships. Before joining CSR Asia, he worked as a researcher at the City University of Hong Kong and the Assistant Editor of the Hong Kong Journal of Social Sciences. He received his Bachelor of Social Sciences from City University of Hong Kong and a Master of Social Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of South Australia.

Jacqui DIXON is the Director of CSR Asia Hong Kong office, responsible for developing relationships with key clients, business development and leading on consultancy projects especially in the areas of benchmarking, sustainability reporting and carbon auditing. Through her work in various countries she has developed expertise in environmental policy, international development work and CSR. She has worked as a consultant and advisor to: Cathay Pacific, PCCW, CLP, VF Corporation, KPMG, and Oxfam Hong Kong and has carried out training for various companies and organisations. She also oversaw and managed the delivery of the CSR Asia 2007 Summit.

She joined CSR Asia after completing a Professional Masters Degree with Forum for the Future in the UK. During her Masters she completed sustainable development projects in the European Commission, Vodafone, the National Consumer Council and Channel 4. She has lived and worked in South Africa, Spain, the UK, and Nepal.

In 2004 she lived and worked in Nepal co-ordinating a community resource programme and in South Africa she led a youth-focused environmental permaculture project in one of Cape Towns largest townships. Jacqui also holds a BSc Honours Degree in Environmental and Geographical Science from the University of Cape Town.

Jenny COSTELLOE is country director of CSR Asia in Singapore. She has extensive corporate experience, including twelve years of communications roles in the oil and gas sector, which included communicating and reporting CSR activities.

Jenny advises companies and other organisations on CSR, working recently with BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Aviva and Singapore Petroleum Company, amongst others. She has lived and worked in Singapore for several years. Jenny has a BSc in Natural Sciences (Physics) from the University of Bath,UK, a professional diploma in Marketing Communications and is currently studying an MBA at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Beyond work and study, Jenny enjoys travel, foreign cuisine and contemporary art.

Makiko AKABANE is the Director of CSR Asia Japan office. She has over ten years’ in corporate social responsibility in multi-sector and multi-national companies. Specializing in the areas of environmental responsibilities and corporate philanthropy, she has started up CSR sections of four multi-national companies included Starbucks Coffee Japan, salesforce.com foundation, Nikko Asset Management, and LUSH Japan. She has received the President Award from Starbuck Coffee Japan in 2002 and the Award for Excellence in Corporate Volunteering Initiatives from the Sawayaka Welfare Foundation in 2006. Her award winning CSR strategy is featured as successfully integrating CSR into business. She also has experience to launch the CSR sections in Singapore and CSR projects in Thailand, South Korea, and China.

Makiko has a BA in Political Science and a BS in Biology from Waseda University (Japan) and studied in Graduate Schools in the University of California Riverside, Tufts University (US) and Keio University (Japan).

Michelle BROWN is the Director of the European office and based in the UK. She has 12 years of experience in Asia (China and Vietnam in particular) working on sustainable development and over 5 years working specifically with business on these issues.

Michelle has worked as a consultant and advisor for companies and organisations such as the adidas-Group, PepsiCo, CLP, CARE, Procter and Gamble, the Asian Development Bank, Oxfam and the United Nations with projects including impact assessment, stakeholder engagement and ISO 26000. She also works as a consultant with the ILO/IFC Better Work programme in Vietnam. Previous to joining CSR Asia (in 2007) she worked as a Director for international development agencies in mainland China and in Vietnam. With CSR Asia she developed a Community Investment Scorecard to fit with other measurement systems for companies to better understand the impact for the business and the community. Her particular areas of expertise are around monitoring and evaluation and impact assessment and developing strategies which bring both returns for both the business and the community. She is a skilled trainer and facilitator. In addition to her work at CSR Asia is working on a PhD at the University of Hong Kong focussed on CSR and impact assessment in developing countries.

Lisette van RHIJN recently joined CSR Asia in Hong Kong as director of Community Investment. Prior to moving to Hong Kong as an independent consultant, Lisette worked for NCDO, an Amsterdam-based NGO. For NCDO Lisette managed the private sector program, which aims to stimulate the Dutch private sector to engage in innovative sustainable business initiatives in emerging economies. In this capacity she worked with European companies like Rabobank, KLM, Heineken and Akzo Nobel, on impact measurement projects and developed the MDG Scan, an online self-assessment scan for companies to measure their contribution to the MDGs. Lisette has extensive experience in handling projects, organizing and participating in workshops and cooperating with different kinds of companies and organizations.

Lisette holds an Msc in Construction Management and worked previously for five years as Construction Manager for Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steel company. Prior to that, she worked as a construction project manager on several city development projects in the Netherlands.

As director of Community Investment, Lisette will be responsible for CSR Asia’s projects in the field of Community Investment and for the Community Investment Round Table (CIRT). This work will be done in close cooperation with colleagues from all over South East Asia and UK.

Jayanthi NAIDU DESAN is a Senior Consultant in the Kuala Lumpur office. Her experience in the area of governance and sustainability spans government, academia and consulting. At CSR Asia, her role involves advising companies and institutions in realizing their CSR strategies. Jayanthi’s portfolio of work covers companies located in Europe and within the region. She is published in the area and is regularly invited to conferences. Her particular interest lies in bottom of the pyramid strategies and pro-poor policies.

Prior to joining CSR Asia, she was the Executive Director of the University Malaya Malaysian Centre of Regulatory Studies, focusing on regulatory governance. Jayanthi is a lawyer by training and was previously involved in capital market prosecution and compliance.

Jayanthi has a PhD in the area from Queen Mary, University of London and teaches a CSR module on the MBA programme at University Malaya.

Brigit FUNG is the Business Development Manager based in Hong Kong, responsible for nurturing key clients’ relationships, developing new business opportunities, and undertaking consultancy projects and trainings especially in the areas of CSR strategy, reporting and communications. She has a professional background on sustainability, environmental management and knowledge management. She worked as management consultant in numerous projects with government departments, private corporations and NGOs in Hong Kong. Prior to joining CSR Asia, she was a CSR consultant in Shanghai, China.

Brigit holds an MSc in Sustainability, Planning and Environmental Policy with Cardiff University (UK), a BA degree with the University of Hong Kong. She is currently an MBA candidate at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and was the chairlady of CUMBA Corporate Social Responsibility Conference 2009

Mabel WONG is the Community Investment Project Manager, responsible for the Community Investment Round Table (CIRT) and other Community Investment related projects in South East Asia.

Mabel has over 7 years experience in the NGO sector focusing on children’s issues, in particular, children in need of special protection such as street children, children in conflict with the law (juvenile justice) and child soldiers. Her last four years was spent in an Asia-Pacific regional role networking with senior government representatives, NGOs, corporates and UN bodies, providing technical assistance to countries starting up national child protection initiatives.

Mabel holds a BA (Political Science and Psychology) NUS and a MPA (Policy, Public and Non-Profit Program) from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University.

Wei ZHENG is the Senior Project Manager of CSR Asia. Previously he was working for Plan International in China, primarily responsible for implementing Plan China’s corporate-community partnership strategy and advising companies on effective community programs within the China context. Before that, Zheng Wei also worked in EnCana’s CSR project for the capacity building work of local NGOs in Calgary, Canada. Zheng Wei is a fellow of LEAD (Leadership for Environment And Development) and a graduate from the Journalism School at People’s University of China.

Anita WONG is a Project Manager in the Hong Kong office. Anita has extensive experience in managing projects on sustainable development, CSR and capacity building in China and has developed a wide business network with multiple stakeholders. She has been involved in a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded program to help British companies understand local stakeholders in China and in a corporate-NGO partnership programme to improve labour conditions in the Chinese supply chain for brands such as Nike, adidas, and HP. She also manages projects on sustainability in Greater China; including stakeholder engagement and sustainability reporting. She holds a degree in China Business Studies.

Poland LI is a Project Manager in the Guangzhou Office where she is responsible for managing supply chain projects, especially on the Chinese supply chain capacity building. She also conducted non-financial risk assessment for investors in China and worked as a consultant for Chinese factory on social responsibility. Before joining CSR Asia, she was responsible for Social and Environmental Affairs in a factory supplying to the adidas Group.

She is certified SA8000 auditor and safety engineer, and completed IFC’s Labour Academy-Performance Standard 2 Course.

Helen LANGENHORST ROETH is a Project Manager in the Hong Kong office responsible for conducting corporate carbon audits and developing climate change strategies for companies. She is further involved in CSR Asia’s research services on climate change and disaster risk management and in advising companies on environmental matters including EHS reporting.

Helen joined CSR Asia from the UNESCO Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific in Jakarta where she advised organisations and companies in community-based disaster risk management. Before UNESCO she had been working with an Institute of Urban Water Management and the environmental consultancy IFOK in Germany. She has experience working on sustainable water resources management projects in China dealing with the impact of climate change on groundwater resources and had been involved in developing a community water project for a multinational mining company with operations in Africa. During her studies she volunteered for six months at a local NGO in Surabaya, Indonesia, where she helped develop a decentralised waste management system and organise public education campaigns.

Helen is a graduate engineer in spatial planning from the Technical University of Dortmund, Germany.

Gabriel CHONG is a Project Manager based in Malaysia.

Prior to joining CSR – Asia, Gabriel was the Communication Officer at the Malaysia office of Wetlands International (WI). He represented WI at the development of the Malaysia National Interpretation of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Principles & Criteria. He communicated WI’s position and concern on greenhouse gases emissions from palm oil on peatlands through various stakeholder engagement meetings, raised awareness at conferences and exhibitions, and organized technical workshops to engage stakeholders to work towards consensus.

Gabriel has also managed projects addressing social issues ranging from mental healthcare, urban poverty to HIV/AIDS while living in the US, UK and Malaysia. He also taught social work at a Malaysian university, conducted and published research papers. Gabriel took a brief sabbatical from the NGO community and spent two years in the corporate sector.

Gabriel holds a Bachelor in Communications and a Masters in Social Work.

Sharmel ALI is a Project Manager based in Malaysia.

Prior to joining CSR Asia, Sharmel was a Sustainability Consultant working for SD3 Global, a leading London-based sustainability consultancy. Sharmel also has significant private sector experience through his employment with Citigroup (Malaysia) and Carphone Warehouse Plc (UK). He has worked on a variety of sustainability engagements including producer responsibility, sustainability reporting, stakeholder engagement and strategy for clients in the private blue-chip, SME and public sectors. Sharmel has an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London where he specialised in Business and Sustainability and attained a distinction for his thesis on sustainability management systems.

Yoshi KO is the Knowledge Manager in the Hong Kong office, responsible for editing the CSR Asia Weekly, managing the websites under CSR Asia and all IT-related projects in CSR Asia offices. She holds a BSc in Computer Networks, a Diploma in Translation and a Certificate in Education. Prior to joining CSR Asia, Yoshi has worked for the PR and marketing team in the Support Unit of the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) under Education Bureau, the HKSAR Government. She also worked as a Processing Officer for the Funding Scheme for Workplace English Training under the Office of Workplace English Campaign (OWEC).

Vijay RAMANI, a Singaporean who grew up in India, Bahrain, London and Hong Kong before settling in Singapore nearly 20 years back, is the Strategic Partnership Manager. He oversees the CSR Asia Strategic Partnership (CASP) scheme including liaising with partners and promoting the CASP scheme. He is also in charge of managing CSR Asia training events and the monthly CSR briefings. He holds a Bachelor degree in Management.

Sharan BAL is a Project Coordinator in the Hong Kong office.

Sharan is an Indian who has lived in England, the U.S., Hong Kong and Canada. Her involvement with NGOs in these countries has focused mainly on child refugees and orphans. Sharan has a background in social work, in which she facilitated free and non-judgmental support groups for survivors of sexual assault at a community centre in Montreal. She was also trained to promote and educate on diversity issues such as gender, queer positivity, trans-inclusiveness, HIV & AIDS discrimination, and is an advocate for their inclusion in workplace policies.

Sharan has CSR experience in a range of projects for a diverse client network, which includes investors, companies, NGOs, and research providers. Sharan has worked on benchmarking projects for clients in the telecommunications industry, the apparel and footwear industry, and the NGO sector through involvement with the Oxfam Hang Seng Index Survey. She has also coordinated stakeholder engagement for clients such as PCCW, Swire Pacific, and Swire Properties. Sharan has contributed to research reports aimed at tracking the emerging CSR trends in Asia, and has conducted ESG sector research for potential investors in Vietnam.

Sharan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and International Development Studies from McGill University.

Chris YE is a project coordinator of CSR Asia Guangzhou office. Graduated from School of English for International Business in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, she has rich experience on bilingual translation and event organization. With more than one year working experience on CSR, she has been involved into various projects covering stakeholder engagement, supply chain capacity building, CSR education, sustainability reporting, non-financial risk assessment, CSR awareness promotion, and so on. She also manages the Guangzhou CSR Salon, a platform for regular communication on specific CSR topics shared by the local community.

Rohayu RAMLI is the Office Manager in the Kuala Lumpur office, responsible for administrative and support services for the company. Ayu joined CSR Asia from BioX, an international CDM and Biodiesel Group, and has worked in the hotel management industry administrating projects and human resources activities. Currently she is pursuing her study in a part time basis to enhance her knowledge that can be utilized in her career and for self development.

Rex WONG is the Event and Administration Coordinator based in Hong Kong office, responsible for coordinating CSR Asia's monthly briefing session - CSR Wednesday in Hong Kong. He also provides administrative and support services to the company directors and staff. He holds a bachelor degree in Business and Management, a higher diploma in International Business and a diploma in Business and Administration.

Scott LAM is the office administrator based in the Hong Kong office responsible for administrative and support services for the company. Scott joined CSR Asia from the manufacturing and trading industry. He also works part time as an editorial assistant for four ERP academic journals.