Cornerstone International Group Continues Asia Pacific Expansion
October 11, 2016 – Cornerstone International Group, a global executive search and leadership development firm, has named Sonia Vaswani as a managing director in its Hong Kong office. She has more than 15 years in human resource management and is particularly adept at executive search & selection in Hong Kong, China and Asia Pacific.
A seasoned business executive and a professional in recruiting for the consumer, retail & sourcing, technology and digital sectors, Ms. Vaswani was previously with AETG as managing director and with HRNetOne Group. In addition, she has managed a number of human resources related projects which include assessment centers, career counseling, training. She also helps large corporate clients with talent mapping, career transition, and competitor / salary benchmarking.
In the consumer, retail and sourcing industry, Ms. Vaswani has worked with large MNCs and local organizations that include McDonald’s, Yum Restaurants, Jebsen Group, Levi’s, Mast Industries, and Gap Sourcing. In the technology sector, she has worked with MNCs and start-up companies such as Infosys, Cognizant, Yahoo, Tinklabs and Lazada Group.
“We are very pleased to welcome Sonia to the team,” said Simon Wan, chairman and chief executive officer of Cornerstone. “She is a very strong professional with a deep background who will a great asset to our clients in China and Asia Pacific.”
“Asia has become one of the largest continents in terms of growth in the recruiting industry,” Mr. Wan continued. “Especially in Hong Kong there is strong competition for recruitment consultants. Having Sonia will be a great addition to our service capability.
Establishing a Presence In Japan
Over the last several months Cornerstone has made significant additions in Asia Pacific. Just recently, Cornerstone established its first presence in Japan and 17th in Asia with the addition of Human Future, a boutique firm based in Yokohama.
“This is an exciting step for us,” said Human Future managing partner William Liu. “Japan used to be a region by itself for many multinationals but has increasingly become part of a wider market. This new association will give us direct, high-quality global access and greatly benefit our growing Japanese-based businesses and multinational client base.”
Cornerstone Yokohama focuses on executive search assignments within the healthcare, technology, financial and manufacturing sectors. Mr. Liu has over 20 years of HR experience in Japan in various consulting and senior corporate roles. He was formerly HR director of Elekta Japan, a major Swedish medical device company.
“This is an important addition to our presence in Asia,” said Mr. Wan. “Talent acquisition today knows no borders and has become a complex management and organizational challenge. William’s team brings a strong combination of retained executive search practice and HR consulting that will help companies to meet this challenge.”
Just a week after Cornerstone Yokohama was launched it added Atsushi Murata as a director. Mr. Murata is a seasoned executive and professional business consultant in strategic management and learning & development. His experiences include director and advisor at Japan Food & Liquor Alliance, learning & development practice lead at Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting, a senior management role at a human capital group company of IBM, and director at a strategic management consulting firm.
Bulking Up Australian Staff
Meanwhile in Australia, veteran HR director Anna Xu joined Cornerstone Australia to lead its life science practice group in both Melbourne and Sydney. Ms. Xu has a wealth of HR leadership and international experience in the life science sector. She was most recently HR director for Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co. Ltd. Based in Shenzhen, China, Mindray is one of the leading global innovators, developers and providers of sophisticated medical devices. In her role there, she was a key member of the executive team and played an important role in the merger and acquisition of companies in the U.S. and Australia.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media
