Steward Leadership 25 (2022)

Steward Leadership 25

Jointly curated by Stewardship Asia Centre (SAC), the INSEAD Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, WTW and The Straits Times, Steward Leadership 25 (SL25) is an annual listing of the 25 corporate initiatives that have shown steward leadership excellence within the Asia-Pacific region. The list showcases projects or programmes from organisations that have placed forms of stewardship, such as ESG, sustainability, or responsible investing at the core of their strategies and execution and have demonstrated that they can pursue a higher collective purpose without compromising profitability or growth.

To read more about the SL25 initiatives for 2022, click here.

A new way to celebrate businesses creating a collective better future

The Judges

Mr Munib Madni

Founding Panvestor, CEO, Panarchy Partners

Mr Munib Madni from Panarchy Partners is the founding Panvestor and Lead PM of the Global Panvest® Fund, a portfolio of purpose-driven companies.

After 25 years of investing for the likes of Morgan Stanley and Aberdeen, Mr Madni founded Panarchy Partners with a mission to redefine wealth and how it is created. Panarchy Partners has pioneered the Panvesting Philosophy, a natural and required evolution of investing. As a shareholder, to Panvest is to be vested in the four forms of capital (human, social, environmental and financial) that a firm needs and nurtures to deliver on their purpose and still make profits.

Mr Madni has been investing for 27 years. He started his career in Sydney, Australia, with the likes of Equitilink Investment Management and Aberdeen Asset Management where he focused on Australian Equities. In 2005, he moved to Singapore with Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) to broaden his equity focus. He was at MSIM for 14 years and had assignments such as PM Emerging Markets Team, Chief Investment Officer Asia and CO-PM Active International Allocation Strategy. After leaving MSIM in 2018, he founded Panarchy Partners with a strong belief in the philosophy of Panvesting.

Mr Madni has been a student throughout his life. He received a Bachelor of Finance (First Class Honors) & LLB from the University of Technology, Sydney. He also obtained his CFA Designation in early 2000. In 2018, he went back to school to sharpen his skills as a Panvestor and in June 2020, he graduated from the National University of Singapore with an MSc in Environmental Management (MEM).

Tan Sri Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria

Executive Director, APEC Secretariat, Singapore

Tan Sri Datuk Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria is the executive director of the APEC Secretariat based in Singapore, which serves as advisory body, implementation arm and custodian of institutional memory for the 21 member economies that make up the APEC forum.

Dr Sta Maria was a top-level Malaysian civil servant and trade negotiator. As Secretary-General of the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry from December 2010 to July 2016, she oversaw the formulation of Malaysia’s international trade policies and positions. She often took the lead in their implementation as chief negotiator for bilateral and regional free trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Dr Sta Maria played an integral role in Malaysia’s participation in multilateral forums such as APEC, where she often represented her economy during the APEC Ministers’ Responsible for Trade Meetings and the Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meetings. In the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Dr Sta Maria chaired the body that drafted the ASEAN Economic Community 2015 Blueprint as well as the ASEAN Economic Community 2025 Blueprint.

An accomplished academic and writer, Dr Sta Maria’s scholarship has been recognised through awards from the American Academy of Human Resource Development and from the University of Georgia. In 2017, she authored a book about her personal slice of Malaysian heritage and cuisine, called The Smell of Home.

Before 2010, the position of executive director of the APEC Secretariat rotated yearly among officials assigned by the incumbent host economy. Starting in 2010, the appointment was opened to applications from highly qualified professionals who will, when appointed, lead the Secretariat in fixed three-year terms with an option to renew. Dr Sta Maria is the first woman executive director of the APEC Secretariat.

Professor Narayan Pant

Raoul de Vitry d’Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development, INSEAD

Professor Pant works with leaders to improve leadership effectiveness. He directs INSEAD’s senior leadership program – LEAP: Leadership Excellence through Awareness and Practice. The programme focuses on enabling leaders to transform organisations through transforming themselves.

Leaders lead organisations, teams and themselves. For the last several years, Professor Pant has helped leaders manage themselves better. When they do this well, their abilities to manage teams and organisations improve. Developing resilience – the ability to learn from adverse circumstances and emerge stronger – helps leaders manage themselves better. Consequently, much of Professor Pant's recent teaching and writing focuses on how leaders can develop resilience. He helps leaders build capabilities, to weather adverse circumstances, that represent an essential part of an effective leader’s toolkit.

Professor Pant began his career teaching and developing strategy, which helps leaders manage organisations. He has worked at New York University, the University of Alberta (Canada) and the National University of Singapore. He also worked as a strategy consultant with the Monitor Group and his own company, Clean Slate Consulting, before joining INSEAD.

Several years ago, his focus shifted to helping leaders do the things they conceptually knew they should be doing but were not doing today. He now works with leaders in FMCG, financial services, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, retail, and in government and non-profits, to help them lead better. At INSEAD, Professor Pant has been Associate Dean of Executive Education for Asia and Dean of Executive Education for all INSEAD.