CIPM confirms 26 international speakers and 75 resource persons for World HR Congress 2020

CIPM Sri Lanka, the nation’s leader in human resource management, announced a list of 26 high caliber international speakers in addition to 75 local expert resource persons who have confirmed their participation at the World HR Congress 2020 to be held from 6-8 July at the BMICH.

Considered as the world’s largest conclave of HR professionals, the World HR Congress2020 is organized by CIPM Sri Lanka, and is held under the auspices of the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA) and the Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management (APFHRM). 

“We have an impressive lineup of high caliber international speakers and local resource persons who will be in Colombo to share their insights, knowledge and experiences with the participants of the World HR Congress 2020. In addition to delivering keynotes, these speakers and resource persons will also participate in panel discussions and technical sessions on carefully selected, time relevant topics as well. This will be a great and rare opportunity to interact with these speakers, who are leaders in their own chosen fields, in order to understand different perspectives and the disruptions that affect how we work, live and interact in pursuing organisational goals as well as personal goals related to career and life,” said CIPM Sri Lanka President and World HR Congress 2020 Organising Committee Chairman Dhammika Fernando. 

Leading the list of the international lineup of speakers is Sir Graham Henry – New Zealand Rugby Union Coach and former head coach of the country’s national team, the All Blacks from 2004-2011. Having won the International Rugby Boards Coach of the Year a record five times and many other awards, Sir Graham was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2012. 

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr is the President and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) which is the largest HR professional association in the world with a membership of over 300,000 impacting the lives of 115 million workers. He is a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, and regularly speaks on matters affecting work, workers and the workplace.

Next in the lineup is Peter Cheese – CEO of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD, UK), the professional body for more than 150,000 HR and people development professionals around the world. He writes and speaks widely on the development of HR, the future of work, and the key issues of leadership, culture and organisation, people and skills. He had a long career at Accenture holding various leadership positions culminating in a seven year spell as Global Managing Director for the firm’s human capital and organisation consulting practice.   

No stranger to Sri Lanka, Prof. TV Rao is the Chairman of TV Rao Learning Systems. He was a Professor at the IIM, Ahmadabad and until recently IIMA Society and Board member. He is the Co-founder of the National HRD Network and Academy of HRD in India. 

Chief People Officer – Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team – Paul Mills is the next speaker in the lineup. With over 25 years’ experience in HR, Paul is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD with an MBA from Warwick Business School. He has worked for Ford Motor Company, Siemens plc, Volvo Cars and Jaguar Land Rover in a variety of HR roles. 

Paul is focused on the contribution HR can make towards optimizing an organisation’s performance. 

Dato’ Raiha Azni Abd Rahman – Group HRM, Petronas has been in the HRM fraternity for 35 years. In her previous role as Senior VP of Group HRM, Dato’ Raiha had responsibility for 48,000 employees worldwide. She is passionate in coaching and also a strong advocate of women in the workforce, and was responsible for the establishment of the Petronas Leading Women Network.

The other star speakers in the lineup are Dr. Archana Arcot – Associate VP HR Business Leader-Infosys BPM and Infosys McCamish USA, K. M. Ali – Lead Consultant – Space Business Consulting Services, Sunitha Bhuyan – Violinist and HR practitioner on Wellness, Prof. Danushka Bollegala – Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool, Anthony Thomas – Global HR Expert Middle East/Asia, Claudia Cadena – Founder and Principal Consultant – Thread Advisory, Dr. Kauzo Yano – Fellow, Corporate Officer, Hitachi Ltd., Santosh Bhave – Director, HR at Bharat Forge Ltd., Ritu G. Mehrish – Global Speaker and Executive Coach, Dr. Subrahmanian Muthuraman – Faculty of Business Studies Arab Open University, Oman Branch, Hussain Afeef – Regional Director of Training and Development – LUX Resorts & Hotels, Raj Raghavan – Senior Vice President/Head of HR IndiGo, Prof. Raul Villamarin Rodriguez – Asst. Prof. at Woxsen School of Business, India, Jan Kunigk – Setting Strategy and Executing Successfully, Divya Balraj – Director Talent Acquisition, Dr. Atiur Rahman-Bangabandhu Chair Professor, University of Dhaka, Tom Haak – Director HR Trend Institute, Naveen Kumar – Vice President and Head of HR at JSW Group, Yasantha Rajakarunanayaake – Senior Director, Technology at MediaTek and Eddie Ng – GBS, JP.

The World HR Congress is considered as an ideal platform for Sri Lankan HR professionals to build and develop an extensive network of peers and colleagues in the region and from across the globe for continuous exchange of knowledge and ideas even after the conclusion of the conclave.