Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards 2016 Judging Chairs

The Stevie Awards are delighted to announce the eight distinguished professionals who will chair the judging committees of The 2016 (3rd annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are the only business awards program to recognize achivement in innovation in the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region.

The eight committee chair selections are based on the categories that will be judged and the language in which nominations were submitted. Judging chairs helped to form their committees, each of which will be comprised of 5-20 other executives. 

Winners in this year's Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards will be announced on
April 20. Judging took place through April 17. Winners will be celebrated at an awards banquet in Sydney, Australia on May 27.  Tickets are on sale now.

Here are this year's final judging committee chairs.

APPS/WEBSITES/LIVE EVENTS/ANNUAL REPORTS & PUBLICATIONS

CHAIR:
Margaret Manning, OBE, CEO and Founder
Adelphi Digital Consulting Group, Singapore

Margaret Manning is the CEO and Founder of Adelphi Digital, a U.K. digital consulting company trading mostly in Asia Pacific. It was set up through an MBI of the Singapore and Australia offices of Reading Room, one of the UK’s largest digital agencies.  The company now has offices in Australia, Thailand, and Singapore and works with clients from the USA, the Middle East, and across the Asia Pacific region. Clients range from large multinationals such as Fuji Xerox and BHP Billiton to boutique brands such as Banyan Tree and Anantara.

Outside of work, Margaret Manning adores red wine, and is a self-confessed geek.  Her fascination with programming and gaming started at University, and now manifests as a deep and unbreakable bond with her iPad.  Margaret’s lifelong pursuit of online gaming, a degree in psychology (specializing in artificial intelligence), and a management-consultancy background with PwC, have together led Margaret to a special interest in online communications. She particularly enjoys exploring how new forms of communication are changing the way business works in fundamental ways and sees the increasing acceptance of agile business is one clear example that the old ways are changing.

In June 2015, Margaret received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her services to export to Singapore and the wider Asia-Pacific region. She remains committed to helping SMEs from any region to expand both nationally and internationally.   In Margaret’s own words: “I was lucky enough to have great mentors over the years and it’s a favor I would like to pay back to young business leaders.”

COMPANY/MANAGEMENT/HUMAN RESOURCES

CHAIR:
Kuldej Sinthawanarong, CEO
JARKEN, Bangkok, Thailand

Kuldej Sinthawanarong is CEO of JARKEN group of companies, a multi-disciplinary design and professional business. Over the last fifteen years, Kuldej and his team have grown JARKEN into an international, multiple award-winning consultancy through his core competency in creativity and top-notch design expertise. JARKEN is now one of Thailand’s top architectural, interior design, and branding agencies. The firm aims to become the first ever design-driven organization to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Kuldej has maintained an unwavering attitude toward the design and construction of buildings during his career in construction and architecture. While his later projects may show more refinement than his earlier projects, he clearly authored both as they are based on the same design concepts. His consistency and dedication are admirable in the ever-changing fashion trends of modern architecture. He now shares this passion with his staff as he expands his creative business into the marketing and branding professional service industry.

Kuldej loves his work, adores his family, and feels very lucky to have such a great team around him. He told us: “Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try, and once you have achieved your success, it should be seen.”

CUSTOMER SERVICE

CHAIR:
Stephen Gill, President
Stephen Gill Associates, Bang Kruai, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Stephen Gill is an experienced, award-winning international business development consultant and company director with a strong engineering background, having gained much of his experience at senior management or board level.  His active involvement in Asia began more than a decade ago when he was brought in to turn around a struggling joint-venture company in Shanghai.  He has experienced at first-hand the highs and lows of doing business in China and, more recently, in Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific.  Stephen now spreads his time equally between Asia Pacific and Europe, with bases in Bangkok, and Nottingham, UK. 

With a focus on helping individuals to excel, and organizations to grow and thrive, Stephen is a trusted advisor, mentor and strategist to executives and businesses.  Stephen is a high-profile figure in the refrigeration engineering field, serving as President of the Institute of Refrigeration. As a refrigeration expert consultant, Stephen has worked on many prestigious projects around the globe.  He is known for providing energy-efficient, sustainable cooling solutions that are practical and affordable.  Stephen won two Gold Stevies at the 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in Shanghai for a refrigeration industry awareness poster campaign. These posters have since been translated into 8 languages. 

Stephen is a regular contributor to business and technical magazines and books, as well as a conference speaker.  He has an MBA from Loughborough University and an LLM (Business Law) from De Montfort University.

Stephen is honored to have been appointed Chair of the Customer Service Judging Committee. As he told us: “The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards bring focus to the sheer passion, energy, professionalism, and fun of doing business in the region.”

MARKETING/CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC RELATIONS

CHAIR:
Jimmy Lam, Group Chief Creative Officer
LEO Digital Network, Shanghai, China

In January 2016, Jimmy joined the LEO Digital Network as Group Chief Creative Officer. He also started Jimmy+Amber Communications, a hot shop creating media-neutral ideas integrated with technology to provide creative business solutions to brands and products, as a member company of the group.

From 2012 to 2015, Jimmy was Vice Chairman and Chief Creative Officer for DDB China Group, where he took the group's acclaimed creative achievements to an even higher level. In the same year, Jimmy was honored at the China Communications Leadership Forum as one of the 20 most influential marketing communications leaders, for his contribution in setting high creative standard as well as nurturing young talent for the industry.  In 2014, Jimmy was honored by the China 4As as Ad Person of the Year. In 2015, Jimmy was a Direct Lions jury member at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, and was Jury President of Brand Content & Entertainment and Sports Marketing for the 2015 Cristal International Awards.

Since 2005, Jimmy has been appointed as President of the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival, and is one of the four founders of the LongXi International Chinese Creative Awards, and Chief Editor of the Longyin Review Magazine. Between 1995-1999, Jimmy took a sabbatical to get his fix as a TV commercial film director. As one of the most awarded creative directors from Hong Kong, Jimmy was the first Hong Kong creative invited to judge at the Cannes International Advertising Festival.  Jimmy started his career as a Chinese-language copywriter, rising through the ranks in seven international advertising agencies in Hong Kong and China to become Asia Pacific Executive Creative Director, Greater China Chairman, and Creative Advisor to Dentsu Inc. in Tokyo. Author of three Chinese language books on advertising, Jimmy is frequently invited to speak at industry forums and universities in China and Hong Kong, and to be their curriculum advisor.

Jimmy graduated from the Hong Kong Baptist University in 1976 and has been named one of 40 most distinguished alumni by the School of Communication. Jimmy was born in Hong Kong and is currently based in Shanghai.

NEW PRODUCT & PRODUCT MANAGEMENT/INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

CHAIR:
Danny Maher, CEO
Opmantek, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia

Danny Maher is the CEO of Opmantek, a multi award-winning Australian Software Company operating in the field of Infrastructure Management and IT Audit. Danny is an industry-recognized, professional commercializer of innovation with over 25 years experience in the IT industry in technical, sales and marketing, management, and executive roles. 

Opmantek products are used by over 90,000 organizations across 130 countries worldwide. With a new software implementation occurring every 6 minutes, Opmantek is one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies in the world. Opmantek was named Australian ICT Exporter of the year in 2014 and has been the Queensland ICT exporter of the year for the past 2 years. Danny won the Gold Stevie for Australian Executive of the Year in the 2015 Asia Pacific Stevie awards.

Danny is a passionate supporter of the IT industry, serves on a number of Boards, and is an Angel Investor.  He was the only executive investor in the NetStar Group - alongside VC’s Allen and Buckeridge and Baring Private Equity Partners - where he founded the managed service business in Sydney, growing it to service customers in 42 countries across the globe. During this time Danny traveled extensively through Asia, designing and establishing new businesses and partnerships. NetStar was acquired by Logicalis in January 2011. Danny has held executive management and senior engineering roles for companies including IKON in Washington, DC, U.S.A., UBS Warburg in London, U.K., ICL in the U.K., and The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Australia.

Danny enjoys the beach, restaurants, and is an owner of a number of successful racehorses with the Gai Waterhouse stable. 

KOREAN JUDGING COMMITTEE

CHAIR:
Beom-Seok Seo, Ph.D., Professor of Advertising & PR
Se-Myung University, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea

Beom-Seok Seo has been Professor of Advertising & PR at Se-Myung University since 1995, and began his academic career as a Lecturer in Advertising & PR at Chung-Ang and Kyung-Hee Universities in 1985.

In addition to being Chair of the Korean Judging Committee in the 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, Seo has also been Chief Judge for the Best Product of the Year Awards for the Kyungin Daily for the past 9 years; and for the Maeil Advertising Awards, run by the Maeil Economic Daily, for the past 12 years.  He has been a member of several academic and professional boards and committees, and has published numerous books on advertising, including most recently “The History of Korea Advertising” in 2015

Between 1997 and 2010, Seo was a consultant to a range of companies including Welcomm Publicis Advertising Agency, Seoul City Marketing, Media Bank Co. Ltd., Daehan Pulp Co. Ltd., and Dawoo Cables.  From 1981 to 1990, Seo was Deputy Manager, Advertising and Director of Marketing at LG Chemical Ltd.    He has a Ph.D. in Advertising from Kyung-Hee University and an M.A. in Advertising & PR from Chung-Ang University.

JAPANESE JUDGING COMMITTEE

CHAIR:
Hideki Saito, Director
Contemporary-Tech, Inc., Tokyo, Japan

Hideki Saito is a director at Contemporary-Tech Inc. Working exclusively in temporary staffing since 1970, he has become one of the most experienced individuals in the industry in Japan. His approach to matching both skills and personality in order to improve staff retention and work enjoyment has been a welcome contribution to society.

齋藤秀樹は、株）コンテンポラリーテック社長で、1970年代から人材派遣一筋に歩んできた業界の生き字引的存在。人と会社を単にスキルから結び付けるのではなく、相性（あいしょう）面からもマッチングを提案し、気持ちよく働ける場所を提供することで社会に貢献している。

CHINESE JUDGING COMMITTEE

CHAIR:
Dr. Richard Huzhaoyang, Senior Editor
China Advertising, Shanghai, China

Dr. Richard Huzhaoyang is a Senior Editor at China Advertising. With more than 18 years experience working in telecom engineering, media, and marketing, Richard has run projects for Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, and Dutch Satellite TV, and has more than 2,000 apps published on the CMAC platform.  During the Beijing Olympics, Richard contributed to programming for CCTV and Dutch National TV. He continues to work for Korea KBS and MOT, and carries out research for the video industry through the Global Communication Research Institute. Richard has a Ph.D. from Jiaotong University in Shanghai.

胡朝阳:

通信、媒体、营销专家；

上海交通大学博士；

全球传播研究院研究员；

中国广告高级编审；

博士师从全球顶级传播营销大师美国南卡罗莱纳大学广告与公共关系系主任R.W.教授，业始于跨国公司WPP，强于项目运作，有全球资源和运作视野，曾完成“上海大众代理评估”、“华中车展策划执行”、“荷兰国家电视台奥运节目策划”、“台湾南宝品牌策划”、“可口可乐世博宣传推广策划”、“家在苏州整体策划”、“法制公园”、”江苏园艺博览会”、影视节目策划等一系列重大项目，富有责任心和开拓精神，精通英语，有很强的策划、管理和组织能力，曾访问过二十多个国家，有开阔的国际视野，熟悉本土化操作，有极强市场开拓能力和沟通能力，在业界有超强的人脉关系，参与国家重大项目多项，成果丰硕。