Contributors
Joshua Secrest
He is the Vice President of Marketing and Client Advocacy at Paradox where he focuses on supporting retail, restaurant, hospitality, healthcare and service industries transform how they hire. Prior to joining Paradox, he led global talent and talent acquisition teams for some of the world’s largest and most recognizable brands. During his time at McDonald’s Corporation, he was head of global talent strategy and global talent acquisition where he helped build and launch McHire, the hiring solution enabled by Paradox in over 13,000 restaurants, as well as the world’s first voice initiated application in partnership with Paradox, Google and Amazon. He also spent over 13 years at Abercrombie & Fitch Co. where he led various HR functions including global talent acquisition, philanthropy and home office development.
Kathryna Manalo
Kathryna Manalo is the International Markets Director of the Potato Corner International Markets Group. She brings with her 27-years experience in strategic business development in various verticals: International franchise management, Consumer food service, Information Technology (ERP), Telecommunications and Retail & Consumer Banking. Graduated from St Scholastica's College in Manila with a degree in Marketing. She pursued her studies earning a Master in Business Administration at Ateneo de Manila Graduate School of Business and recently earned her Master in Entrepreneurship in the same Graduate School. She is also a Certified Franchise Executive. She spearheaded the opening of Singapore as the brand's international hub in the global market. Under her leadership in the International Markets Group, she expanded the global presence of Potato Corner in the Americas (Canada – British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba), EMEA (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom), Asia (Myanmar and China) and Oceania (New Zealand and Western Australia). Today, Potato Corner has over 1400 stores across 5 continents in 15 countries.
Madhav Nayak
Madhav leads Marketing for KFC’s Greater Asia region, which includes top global markets such as Japan and Indonesia amongst others. In this role, he looks after Brand Strategy, Consumer Insights, Calendar Planning, Ecommerce, and Media strategy, with accountability for competitive sales growth for the region, alongside franchisee partners. Madhav is passionate about building distinctive brands that make people’s lives more enjoyable and less complicated – and believes in the power of creativity and technology to achieve these goals. Prior to Yum!, Madhav’s experiences spanned Unilever and Facebook (now Meta), covering large businesses with Global and APAC footprints. At Unilever, he led the Global Fabric Care business with responsibility for topline and bottomline delivery, market share growth, and the innovation and communication program. At Facebook, he led Global Brand Partnerships for consumer goods categories, enabling some of the world’s leading brands to bring alive best-in-class marketing on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger platforms. Madhav holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA in Marketing. He is based in Singapore.
Michael Bruce
Michael Bruce is the regional director of operations, Asia Pacific, at American Dairy Queen Corporation (ADQ). In this role, he oversees operations at nearly 700 DQ restaurants in eight countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Maldives, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. He joined ADQ in 1997 and has held roles in franchise development, operations and marketing in Europe, the Middle East, South America and in the U.S. Michael was promoted to his current role in 2017, and resides in Bangkok, Thailand. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations and media production from Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi, where he was a member of Alpha Phi Omega and the Rotaract Men's Club.
Mohamed Salim
He is a hybrid communications strategist with over 20 years of experience in creative and media strategy. He oversees strategy for Dentsu’s media practice helping shape the strategic media thinking on an array of brands including Pizza Hut, foodpanda, Traveloka, Heineken, Diageo, Mondelez and UMobile. Previously he worked as a creative brand strategist at FCB Kuala Lumpur and McCann Singapore where his experience included making KFC more popular. As a true student of life, Salim builds the library of his mind absorbing cultural stimuli through books, music, movies, art, design and anything and everything that is interesting.
Nick Tiernan
He co-founded Boost Juice Malaysia in 2009 with his wife Dr, Soraya. The Group (Vitality Holdco Pte Ltd) now owns the Boost Juice brand rights for Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia & Philippines. The Group currently owns and operates 330+ Boost stores across the region.
Prior to Boost Juice, He worked for Accenture (1999-2009) as a Senior Management Consultant, in London.
He worked with global retail clients, successfully managing and delivering business changes on a multimillion-dollar scale
Rachel Lee
She prides herself to be an unwavering advocate of inclusivity and empowerment. Her mission is to empower individuals to thrive in an ever-evolving world, ensuring that businesses not only succeed but also become beacons of positive change. With her career spanning diverse sectors such as hospitality, real estate, and food services, she earned a reputation for her visionary approach to talent management and development. She has built HR functions from scratch and transformed established functions to deliver the workplace of the future. Her journey is a clear demonstration of HR transformative power when guided by a passionate commitment to a people-first culture. She enjoys driving the evolution of HR practices and leaving an indelible mark on the businesses and professionals she touches.
Rakesh Agarwal
He is a Partner with KPMG Management Consulting and leads the Supply Chain & Procurement in ASPAC and Digital Transformation practice in Singapore. He has over 22 years of professional experience mainly leading large multi-year Business and IT Transformation projects within ASEAN.
