Please note that lunch will be provided. FWA thanks Prudential Singapore for the kind sponsorship of lunch and venue.

THIS IS A MEMBER AND INVITE ONLY EVENT. To join membership, please click on: link

Role models play an important role in career development. Role models inspire, challenge, motivate and teach us to uncover our true potential and to overcome our barriers.

FWA’s Kopitiam Chat with Female Role Models in Finance features three female role models from Prudential Singapore, sharing their view on career progression, learning points and personal stories.  The format of this event will be lively, personal and educational. The Kopitiam Chat series is part of our flagship FWA Male Champions series where our male champions moderate a panel of women from their organisations.

We hope you will join us in what will be an impactful and exclusive engagement series with excellent networking and learning opportunities.

Event Agenda

Panelists’ & Moderator’s Bios

SHEELA PARAKKAL

Chief Human Resources Officer, Prudential Singapore

Sheela Parakkal was appointed Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at Prudential Assurance Company Singapore (Pte) Limited (Prudential Singapore) effective 1st September 2015.  

As the CHRO, Sheela’s role is to champion the human capital value chain and provide leadership in developing and driving HR strategies in line with business goals to meet the future plans of the company. This includes formulating and working with the leaders on appropriate recruitment strategies, managing the company’s talent and succession planning, reviewing and enhancing the existing reward and recognition schemes and bringing the best in class people practices.

Sheela started her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore as an auditor and qualified as a CPA before moving into a human capital role focusing on business partnership, talent and development, and mobility of its large professional workforce.  After 17 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore, Sheela assumed the role of Group Human Resources Director at Sindicatum Sustainable Resources overseeing HR for its regional operations.  In her last role, she was the Human Capital Leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore Consulting, a regional joint venture in South East Asia.

Sheela holds an MBA (Banking & Finance) from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and is a member of the Australian Society for Certified Practicing Accountants.

ANGELA HUNTER

Chief Customer Officer, Prudential Singapore

Angela is the Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer of Prudential Assurance Company Singapore (Pte) Ltd (Prudential Singapore). She oversees Strategy, Marketing, Product Development and Management, Customer Strategy and Experience, Digital Strategy, and Accident and Health Business.

She was previously the Managing Director of GE Capital in New Zealand, the largest non-bank finance provider in the country. In this role, she was responsible for steering the company’s six business units (Cards, Personal Loans, Insurance, Custom Fleet, Equipment Finance, and Distribution finance). At the same time, she also held the position of Country Manager, representing all General Electric business from a media and Government perspective, as well as chairing the GE New Zealand Business Council which incorporates GE’s finance and industrial divisions.

She has over 20 years of financial services experience and prior to joining GE, she spent 4 years at Citibank Australia where she was responsible for delivering 60 per cent growth in profit. Her previous experience also includes roles at Insurance Australia Group (IAG) and telecommunications companies Vodafone and Optus.

Angela holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney. She has a Certificate IV in Financial Services with Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

LENA TEOH

Chief Investment Officer, Prudential Singapore

Lena Teoh joined Prudential Singapore in January 2017. 

She leads the Investment team in developing the expertise to implement Prudential Singapore’s long-term investment strategies and asset allocation with the aim to maximise the value of investments in assets across the insurance platform.  She will also engage distribution channels and product management teams in areas of investment related advice and business support.

Lena’s career spans over 25 years in the financial services industry comprising corporate banking, investment banking and asset management for the last 20 years. She has strong experience investing in multi-class assets across Global and Asian markets as well as a deep understanding of the macro and micro economic drivers that are crucial to making successful investments. Lena was the Managing Director with Credit Suisse Singapore till April 2016, responsible for steering the tactical asset allocation strategies for the Bank’s Global and Asian-based discretionary and advisory solutions. She was the Asia Pacific Regional Chief Investment Officer for Credit Suisse’s Multi Asset Class Division in Asset Management from 2006 to 2014. 

Lena graduated from the National University of Singapore with a First Class Honours Degree in Biochemistry and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

WILF BLACKBURN

Chief Executive Officer, Prudential Singapore

Wilf Blackburn assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Assurance Company Singapore (Prudential Singapore) with effect from November 2016.  

Wilf is an industry veteran with close to three decades of diverse life insurance experience, having worked in seven Asian countries. 

Wilf joined Prudential Corporation Asia in Hong Kong 2012 and initially led new market initiatives.  This role included overseeing the launch of Prudential's business operations in Cambodia and the establishment of Prudential’s representative office in Myanmar and Laos.  In July 2014, Wilf was appointed as CEO of Prudential Vietnam, and subsequently as Vietnam Country Head.

Prior to joining Prudential, Wilf was with Allianz for over 11 years, where his roles included CEO of their life insurance joint ventures in China, Thailand and the Philippines and Regional GM, Life & Health Insurance for Asia. Before Allianz, Wilf worked in the United Kingdom for three life insurers after commencing his career with a firm of consulting actuaries.

Wilf, a British national, qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (FIA) in 1995. He has an MBA from the University of Bath and a BSc (Mathematics - 1st Class Hons.) from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (his home town).  Wilf has been a postgraduate student at the City University (now CASS), SAID Business School (Oxford University) and Harvard Business School.

Wilf and his wife, Judith, have five children.

RSVP Details:

RSVP by: 18 July 2017.

Members:
FWA members attend free of charge. Please login on the website before registering.

Institutional Members:

Diamond members - Registration at FWA member rates for up to 15 persons per Institutional Member.

Platinum members - Registration at FWA member rates for up to 10 persons per Institutional Member.  

Gold members - Registration at FWA member rates for up to 5 persons per Institutional Member.

Please click 'RSVP Now' and register using your Institutional Codes (please check with your respective coordinators for your Institutional Code).

To join membership, please click on this link 

NO SHOW POLICY

We understand that with busy schedules, there may be times when you cannot make an event after you have registered for it. In the event that you cannot make it to the event, we appreciate that you use our new tool now available to cancel the event. To do so, please login to the FWA website, under “My Account”, select “My Events”, you can cancel the event registration under the “Cancel registration” column. For members that no-show for 3 consecutive events, we regret to inform that you will be barred from attending any FWA events for the next 3 months. We hope you understand this policy as our events are often in high demand and your co-operation will allow those who can and wish to attend our events to do so. 

For enquiries, please contact please contact events@fwasg.org.