Up the ranks: May 2008

Who Lynette Lim
From Sentosa Leisure Group
To Singapore Sports Council

The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) has appointed Lynette Lim as its chief of organisation development, with effect from early March. Lim brings a wealth of HR experience having worked at Citibank N.A., Merrill Lynch (Singapore), UBS Walburg and Sentosa Leisure Group. In her new role, Lim will spearhead SSC's drive to become a high performing outfit by maximising the full potential of its human capital. Lim says the key to developing a high performing outfit begins with aligning all staff by creating an effective line of sight by "bringing the big picture to the ‘small screen' in the context of every employee's world."

Who Yvonne Yeo
From Lubrizol Southeast Asia
To Asia Pacific Breweries

Yvonne Yeo is Asia Pacific Breweries' (APB) new director of group human resource. She will be heading the human resources department in her new role. Her portfolio with the APB Group in the Asia Pacific region, includes overseeing human resources planning and management, organisational development, compensation and benefits as well as industrial relations. Yeo was previously the regional human resources director for Lubrizol Southeast Asia for 12 years prior to her current position. Yeo will focus on maintaining APB's human capital. She says, "My top priority in APB is to ensure that we have suitable tools to retain, attract and develop our valued personnel in order to ensure the continued success of our organisation."

Who Stephanie Nash
From Microsoft US
To Microsoft Singapore

Stephanie Nash has replaced Fernando Esquivel as Microsoft's new HR director, Asia Pacific. With two years at Microsoft US headquarters and eleven years at BHP Billiton under her belt, Nash brings with her a breadth of experience across the human resources functions. Nash says her new appointment is an opportunity for her to accelerate Microsoft's programmes and initiatives in the region. She says: "We [will] identify those key initiatives and people-related priorities that we believe are imperative to accelerating and enabling us to meet our overall goals and objectives in this region." And as part of that effort, Nash plans to build short term and long term plans "to address and bridge the gap between where they are today and where they want to be".

Who Paul Sakrzewski
From Ingram Micro Inc.
To SAP Asia Pacific Japan

SAP has appointed Paul Sakrzewski as vice president of human resources for the Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region. Based in Singapore, he will assume responsibility for SAP's human capital strategy, collaborate with HR shared services and HR centre of excellence. Sakrzewski will drive and execute HR solutions to meet the company's rapid growth requirements across all aspects of its business in the APJ region. Prior to this position, he held senior HR roles with Ingram Micro Inc. and BOC Group. Sakrzewski feels that winning the competition for talent will ensure SAP's continued success in the marketplace. For his first project, he plans to focus on talent development and on "building an environment which empowers all employees to broaden their skills and maximise their potential."