Ravi Bhatia is the CEO of Gilbert Tweed India, an executive search firm with its home office in New York City and a significant presence across India. He is an active member of the American Chamber of Commerce and several other business roundtables. Prior to taking up the executive search profession a decade ago, Ravi was on the Board of Corp Health Products, a large Agro Chemicals Company and later was the India representative of Gaco Systems Ltd. Canada. He has over 30 years of managerial and professional experience in the chemical industry having worked with the Tata, Nitro Nobel and Dow Chemical companies. As part of his social responsibility, Ravi takes up the adoption of financially underprivileged children for their education and other needs. An early supporter of the Strategic Links initiative, he has accepted a key leadership role in India and is positioned to advance the movement in other countries as well.
Mirjam Dikken, a Dutch citizen, has twelve years of work experience with multinational companies, including roles as process engineer, manufacturing improvement engineer, training manager, executive recruiter and manager of human resources training and development. She has also set up a Human Resources Department for a manufacturing company, and has handled executive recruitment and selection while on the staff of a multinational HR firm. Mirjam, who has lived in India for three years, has served as a volunteer with Strategic Links India since mid 2006, developing the Job Links program, the role of Career Development Services Manager, and conducting research related to employment opportunities for foreigners living in India. She is currently developing the manual for starting additional chapters of Strategic Links. Mirjam holds a MS Degree in Chemical Engineering and a MA in Organizational Psychology.
Catarina Granryd has more than fifteen years of business experience, serving as a consultant and manager for several companies in Europe and Africa. A specialist in Supply Chain Management, she has worked with a wide variety of clients to identify and implement performance improvements with the help of information technology. Active in the Strategic Links initiative for more than two years, she completed her contract as the founding t Executive Director of Strategic Links India in December 2007. In this role she spearheaded the marketing campaign to recruit the initial set of organizational members and individual members and to manage the Delhi-based pilot program. She intends to continue to assist the new Executive Team with marketing and strategic planning activities, focused primarily in Delhi. A Swedish citizen, Catarina holds a MS Degree in Applied Mathematics, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. She has lived in India for four years.
Barbara Barrett Foster is the President of Phoenix Initiatives, Inc., a US-based company that undertakes community and property development projects and provides a variety of consultative services. She is also the founder of the Strategic Links initiative. Educated as a sociologist with broad expertise in training and organizational development, she has lived and worked in Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Romania and India. Her experience has included more than 20 years working in the fields of housing and urban development - eight years with the US Agency for International Development and seven years with Technical Support Services, Inc., an international consultancy practice. She has also led five nonprofit organizations over the course of her career. In addition to serving as the Managing Trustee of Strategic Links Trust, she is an advisor to the Centre for Urban Governance, Administrative Staff College of India. She has lived in India for four years, previously in Delhi and now in Hyderabad.
Jerome Sauvage, UNDP India’s Deputy Director for Operations, is an international development professional with a dual practice in Crisis Prevention/Recovery and Human Resources Management. He has lived in India for four years. His postings with UNDP have also taken him and his family to Vietnam, Cambodia, Madagascar and UNDP’s headquarters in New York City. In the aftermath of the December 2004 tsumani, he established the first UN Tsumani Recovery Team in Chennai. Jerome is also responsible for supporting the UN Spouse Network (LESA). He believes that the traditional attempts to solve spouse employment challenges have been largely ineffective and that the Strategic Links initiative provides a creative way to respond to the career needs of UN spouses. As an HR professional, Jerome also believes that a successful program in India could have global implications and reach through collaboration with the UN’s network of offices around the world.
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Ireen Branders, Director, Delhi Chapter, is a native of Belgium who moved to India in 2007. For the previous seven years she lived and worked in Singapore, where she handled sales and marketing accounts with DHL and EGL Global Logistics. Trained as educator, Ireen entered the world of marketing and corporate sales in 1990. She is fluent in English and Dutch with conversational skills in French and German.
Tony Chapman, Director, Public Information, is an Australian citizen who has lived, worked and travelled extensively throughout Asia over the past 20 years. Tony’s experience in media and broadcasting as state bureau chief for both the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), as media liaison officer for State governments in Australia, as well as various stints abroad in Japan and India has helped him develop great insights into packaging and communicating information to diverse target audiences.
Helene de Clercq, Manager, Career Development Services, Chennai, is a nurse with more than ten years of experience in social nursing and preventive medicine. She has served on a team of psychologists, medics and social workers, whose role was to provide specialist assistance in the kindergarten and elementary school environments. A Belgian citizen, Helene has lived in India for a year and previously resided in Mexico. She is fluent in Dutch, English and French.
Patricia Dominguez, Manager, Career Development Services, Delhi, and Job Links System Manager, is a Spanish citizen with eight years of professional experience as an HR Consultant, working in the fields of recruitment and selection, head-hunting, training and public relations. She holds a MA in Human Resources Management and is fluent in her native Spanish and English, with a speaking knowledge of French.
Ninna-Marie Hogedal, Manager, Membership Services, Chennai, a native of Denmark, holds degrees in Education and Social Work and has 15 years of professional experience. She has worked with kindergarten and elementary school children and has also taught in the special needs field. Prior to coming to India in 2007, Ninna lived for 2 years in Spain. She speaks Danish as her mother tongue, but is also fluent in English.
Linda Lollini, Manager, Membership Services - Individuals, Hyderabad, has worked in the fields of International Trade and Customer Services, dealing with clients in the Middle East, Turkey, Egypt, Argentina, Cyprus and Malta. A French citizen, Linda has lived in Spain, Scotland and England, and moved to Hyderabad in August 2007. Linda is fluent in French, English and Spanish and also volunteers as a sports teacher at the International School of Hyderabad.
Jennifer Moore, Director, Chennai Chapter, has lived in India for over seven years, first in Delhi and now Chennai. Her professional experience includes ten years in the automotive industry with a large multinational corporation, working with clients throughout Europe, in Asia, the Americas and South Africa. A founding member of Strategic Links India, she holds a MA in Engineering and an MBA. She is a British citizen, fluent in English and Italian, with a working knowledge of German, French and Hindi.
Jennifer Passey, Manager, Membership Services, Delhi and Membership Records Manager, is a US citizen with experience working in nonprofit organizations, including membership associations. Prior to coming to India in 2007, she served as a legislative associate at the Entertainment Software Association where she tracked legislation, monitored issues, conducted research and led a grass-roots initiative.
Shah Pedersoli, Director, Corporate Membership Development, is an attorney from the USA who has served as Adjunct Professor at Osmania University College of Law (Hyderabad) and at the City University (Bellevue, Washington, USA). As an Assistant State’s Attorney in Chicago, Illinois (USA), she had a wide range of experience in the areas of business and contract law, domestic violence and information technology. She has also been involved in corporate social responsibility and fund-raising.
Maria A. Quintana, Manager, Career Development Services, Hyderabad, is originally from Ecuador and has lived in Germany, England and the USA before moving to India in January 2008. Maria has worked as an administrative specialist and an inspections and audits coordinator liaising with key clients internationally to help them develop and improve their operating procedures as well and improve the quality of customer products.
Fiona Silva, Director, Hyderabad Chapter, is a Singapore citizen with a background in Anthropology, specialising in Migration and Diaspora issues. Her professional experience covers both the profit and non-for-profit sectors as she has lived and worked in Germany for 7 years, as a researcher and consultant in the commercial sector and as a counsellor for migrants and refugees for an international charity. She is also an English Language trainer and speaks fluent German, Malay and basic Hindi.
Hannah Wanyoike, Manager, Membership Services - Organisations, is a nutritionist by profession and comes from Kenya, where she worked in schools and in the health sector. Later on she moved to the US and Canada, where she worked in the sales and marketing field as well as in Social Services as a counsellor for children with developmental disabilities. Hannah speaks fluent English, Swahili and Kikuyu, and conversational French. |
