Topic: Diversity

Manisha Tank

Charismatic, dynamic and intellectually curious, Manisha Tank is a highly experienced emcee and moderator, who leverages warmth and empathy to serve the needs of clients and engage audiences, eliciting insight from panellists in an authoritative manner.

With 25 years of broadcast experience as a news anchor and correspondent, at Reuters, the BBC and CNN International, she’s adept at riding minute to minute adjustments, following time cues and navigating fast paced, in-depth, often deeply technical conversations in live situations. Over those years Manisha has interviewed hundreds of CEOs, founders, policy experts, A-List celebrities and political leaders, on a wide range of topics, from geopolitics to business and entertainment.

Increasingly, her work focuses on Net Zero transition, digitalisation and new technologies for enterprise transformation including blockchain, artificial intelligence and cloud and she is a regular face on Singapore’s high-profile conference and event circuit. Concurrently she is the host of various podcast series for a range of blue chip clients including Standard Chartered CCIB and Accenture.

In November 2023, Manisha hosted Earthshot +, a part of The Earthshot Prize’s first ever Earthshot week, hosted in Singapore, as well as commanding the 7000 + seat festival stage at the world renowned, Singapore Fintech Festival, for which she has been the host for five years.

Manisha is also an angel investor in companies focused on achieving The United Nation’s SDGs, with a personal passion for gender equality, rural development and sustainable transition technologies.

René Carayol

Rene Carayol is one of the world’s leading executive coaches, working with some of the Fortune 500’s and FTSE 100’s top Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and their executive teams.

He speaks with the authority and confidence of the expert and leader who has seen and experienced it all before. René draws much from his own unique experiences as Managing Director at IPC Magazines and serving on a variety of boards including Pepsi, IPC Media and the Inland Revenue.

Rene Carayol has acquired a reputation for providing first-hand advice and support for a series of successful CEOs in the Fortune 500, FTSE 100 and all around the world. Many may claim to have worked at the ‘sharp end’ with CEOs, but in actual fact very few have. He has worked closely with Jim Yong Kim (President, The World Bank), Antony Jenkins (CEO, Barclays Bank), Mario Greco (CEO, Generali) and Maria Ramos (CEO, Absa Bank). Hardly any can match his sustained track record of success.

The CEO is the most important and most challenging job in the business. On day one, it is all brand new to the incumbent, and there is no one around to show them what needs to be done. It is the role that rarely has an appropriate job description and even rarer is there any form of handover. It is, without a doubt, the toughest job in the world but with the right team around them everyone flourishes.

As the world of work faces a period of transformation, driven by the increase in racial and social awareness, our CEOs and our businesses have to meet the demands of a new generation that places Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) at their hearts. Recently we have seen an increase in interest for Rene Carayol to address both ‘Leading Through a Crisis’ and cultural transformation brought by the Black Lives Matter movement. This provides leadership teams with straightforward, compelling advice and guidance to inspire change and improve their own corporate culture.

From sitting in the boardrooms to coaching world leaders, René’s extensive experience in business has provided him with case studies and stories from the frontline. There are exciting adventures, emotional anecdotes, and enough C-suite drama to excite any audience. René delivers learning wrapped up as unforgettable stories told by a master storyteller. You will want to hear them again and again.

René specialises in delivering performances that show precisely how contemporary leaders can electrify a crowd through a passionate and authentic connection. He demonstrates just how captivating an emotionally intelligent approach can be. He is never about theory – it is all about actions and behaviours that we can adopt that will make us more powerful when we come together. Everyone remembers how his sessions made them feel. René is an accomplished visiting professor at Cass Business School. His critically acclaimed latest book, ‘Spike – What are you great at?’, enables all of us to unleash our inherent strengths and realise our true potential. As René says, “If you accept your limitations, you go beyond them”.

Miniya Chatterji

Miniya is CEO of Sustain Labs Paris, an enterprise with offices in France, India, New Zealand, U.A.E, that establishes and manages new institutions and assets that profoundly move the needle towards a sustainable future.

Notably, in the UAE, Sustain Labs works as an integrated team with the Dubai World Trade Centre to set up a new institution to move the private sector in the UAE towards net zero emissions as well as establish GITEX Impact. In India, under Miniya’s leadership, Sustain Labs has established India’s first climate university, offering undergraduate, masters, Ph.D degrees, and executive education programs in climate studies. It has also established a state of the art Climate Lab, which is the first of its kind in India as well. In India, Sustain Labs' annual flagship ranking of India's Most
Sustainable Companies is published each year since 2020. Also in India, Sustain Labs founded in 2018 and runs the Anant Centre for Sustainability and the Anant Fellowship for Climate Action. During the pandemic, Miniya initiated and led a coalition of corporate and government partners to establish 28 COVID hospitals across 5 states in India.

Miniya is also Adjunct Professor at SciencesPo Paris, where she teaches since 2016. Miniya is on the Steering Group for Sustainability United Nations Global Compact India, and the World Steel Sustainability Expert Group. She is a member of the Global Alliance on Climate Change and Education that was launched at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai. She is also on the team of the Social Credits initiative, and a member of 100 Women in Hedge Funds.

She is a Jury Member for the Million Dollar Global Teacher Prize, The World’s Best School prize, and a Jury Member for The Circulars Award at Davos. She is on the Board of The School of Collective Intelligence at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco, and of the Institute for Democracy 2I in Prague, besides other organisations. She serves as the elected President of the SciencesPo Alumni Community in India.

Miniya is also the author of the best seller Indian Instincts - essays on equality and freedom in India (Penguin Random House, January 2018). The book is about the social consequences of economic growth in India. It emphasises that the institutions such as government, corporations, religion, that were created by us now limit our freedom. AIndian Instincts was launched and distributed in Switzerland, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. The Bengali language edition of the book was published by Sampark Publishing House in 2021. The French language edition of the book was published by Penguin Random House in April 2020.She is a contributor to the Harvard Business Review and a columnist for the The Indian Express, and The Pioneer newspapers.

Miniya is a Member of the Parliament of Francophone Writers, as appointed by the Government of France and convened by Minister Leila Slimani.

Miniya was Chief Sustainability Officer 2014 - 2017 for Jindal Steel and Power, a USD 3.8 billion business conglomerate whose main interests are in steel, power, infrastructure. At the company Miniya led the following departments - Environment, Energy Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, R&D, Health & Safety, Brand Management, as well as JSPL’s 7 schools, 5 community colleges, and 3 universities. She also oversaw a television company and news website owned by the promoter. Her role at JSPL was to ensure long term, holistic, and strategic growth of the company.

Previously Miniya worked at the World Economic Forum in Geneva 2011 - 2014. There Miniya managed Middle East, North Africa, South Asia regions for the Young Global Leaders community. She was part of the World Economic Forum’s leadership team for the Middle East summit as well as the India summit. She curated working groups, task forces, panel discussions, at the World Economic Forum’s regional summits as well as at the World Economic Forum’s annual summit in Davos where she moderated sessions as well. Miniya was also a Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum.

Alongside, Miniya is also the founder of The Stargazers Foundation, a not for profit organization that works for improving education and health for women in India.

Earlier, for a few years Miniya was managing two Hedge Funds of $200 million AUM at HSBC in Paris. She was investing in a portfolio of 30 Hedge Funds. Prior to that, she worked in the research team for Hedge Funds at JP Morgan in Paris.

Miniya started on her investment banking career at Goldman Sachs in London in 2007.

Previous to investment banking, Miniya worked in politics from 2002 to 2005 in France as Policy Analyst at Fondapol founded by Jerome Monod, the Chief Advisor to President Jacques Chirac. She worked closely with Jerome Monod and President Jacques Chirac on subjects related to development. She led the mission to organise President Jacques Chirac’s official visit to India in 2006. She also wrote speeches for both Jerome Monod and President Jacques Chirac.

Miniya has a PhD and DEA from SciencesPo Paris, and a B.A. from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. She has Executive Management certificates at The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, INSEAD, and at Columbia University. She was a PhD fellow at Harvard University and Columbia University in New York, and is a Global Leadership Fellow of the World Economic Forum.

In 2019 Miniya was awarded as India’s most influential business leaders of the year under 40 years of age by Business World. In 2018 she was bestowed the award of ‘Most influential Sustainability leader in India’ at the India Sustainability Leadership Summit and Awards. In 2016 she was awarded by the Navoothan Foundation for her personal social commitment. She has also been awarded the prestigious CSR India award 2016 for corporate social responsibility. In the same year, Miniya’s contribution to the field of sustainability was the cover story of Business World
Asia.