Researcher & Associate Forum 2020: Building Resilience in Executive Research

Tom has an MSc in Psychological Coaching and a BSc in Psychology; his approach as a trainer, a coach, and a thought leader is informed by science and the latest L&D developments. He is a skilled Executive Coach and provides supportive yet challenging coaching on topics such as leadership, decision-making, and driving high performance.

Tom also previously worked in people development for financial services, which gives him an essential insight into the needs of our clients. During his time at Working Voices he has created some of our most innovative courses: Leading Through Change, Boosting Productivity, Navigating Office Politics and Building Resilience to name just a few. Tom has also helped to run large-scale programmes for participants in some of the top financial services institutions, from graduates to senior leaders.

Mr. Holmes' executive search career spans over 20 years and six countries, where he has undertaken general management searches across a range of geographies and industries including: industrial, consumer and healthcare. Prior to his current position, he was the Office Managing Director for Korn Ferry's Seoul office for 10 years.
Previously, Mr. Holmes was a consultant with Carre, Orban & Partners which merged with Korn Ferry in 1993 where he initially focused on the consumer goods and healthcare sectors. After the merger, he broadened his practice to cover transnational search work across a range of industries in Northern Europe. Mr. Holmes has served as a resident consultant in India, Russia, Singapore and South Korea, where he was responsible for growing the Firm's business.
During his four years as the Country Manager in Russia, Mr. Holmes successfully made Korn Ferry the leading executive search firm in the Russian market, while personally undertaking assignments throughout Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, principally in the Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Subsequently, he managed the Firm's offices in Mumbai and New Delhi for three years as Country Head of India. After that, he led the ASEAN healthcare practice from Singapore before moving to Seoul.
A British citizen, Mr. Holmes holds a bachelor's degree of science (with honours) in geology jointly offered by the University of Greenwich and the University of North London.

Louisa Wong, a Harvard Business School graduate, is the founder of Asia's largest executive search firm, Bó Lè Associates, which was acquired by Recruit Group, the world's fourth largest and Japan's largest HR service provider, Bó Lè has a well-established network with 15 wholly-owned offices across Asia, and is No. 1 in China and Indonesia, and also in the top three in Malaysia and the Philippines. In 2012 Louisa acquired Global Sage which is a global executive search firm specialised in financial services and expands Global Sage into China and SEA and other industry coverages. Honesty and humility are Louisa's hallmark of success, inspiring loyal employees and gaining trust from the world's top business leaders. Louisa has more than 30 years of recruiting experience, specializing in CEO searches particularly in the sectors of Finance, Consumer and Manufacturing. She was recognized with the prestigious Hall of Fame Award from Recruitment International in 2014, and cited by BusinessWeek as one of the "50 Most Influential Search Consultants in the World" in 2008. Her views on important HR trends are widely recognized. She has written numerous opinion articles for and granted interviews to journalists from international media such as BBC Radio, Fortune magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and Time magazine, Bloomberg, CNBC, and Cable TV. A passionate philanthropist at heart, Louisa created Giving Hand in 2008, a non-profit organization with a focus on facilitating corporate giving. Giving Hand also provides seed capital, management support to NGO start ups. Louisa started her career in executive search after completing prolific stints in finance and strategic planning, first with J.P. Morgan, and then at Alexander's Department Stores in New York. Prior to founding Bó Lè Associates in 1996, she was Managing Director of Russell Reynolds in Hong Kong. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. degree from the University of Toronto.

As an experienced recruitment and sourcing expert with over 20 years in the industry, Laura Stoker serves as Director of AIRS and Global Learning. In this role, she leads AIRS sourcing research and course development. Joining AIRS in 2000 she's had the opportunity to train recruitment professionals all over the world on topics such as internet recruiting and social media sourcing. Laura is a subject matter expert in these areas and she has been a frequent speaker at numerous global conferences including SourceCon, SHRM, ERE, and the Sourcing Summits (SOSU). Laura spent a year studying German at the University of Tübingen in Germany and received her bachelor's degree from Colorado State University - Pueblo.

Michael Harrington is the Managing Director of the Mintz Group’s Mumbai office, and he oversees the firm’s activities in South Asia. He has been a corporate investigator for more than a decade and specializes in cross-border intelligence and fact-gathering for sensitive pre-transactional and dispute-related investigations. Michael has managed hundreds of matters around the globe and conducted fieldwork in a dozen countries across Asia while based in the firm’s Mumbai and Hong Kong offices.

Prior to working in Asia, Michael was part of the firm’s practice group that conducts Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-corruption investigations globally, and he frequently worked on matters in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He vetted third parties in these regions on behalf of multinationals across several sectors and researched the backgrounds and relationships of aid recipients for international organizations. Formerly based in New York and Washington, DC, Michael has also conducted background checks on companies and individuals in the United States.

Michael has an MBA from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a BA in international affairs from The George Washington University.