2026 Women in Leadership Forum

On 31 October 2026, Ms. Kanta Singh took up the role as the Head of Office (ad interim), UN Women China Office. She brings more than 25 years of experience advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment across the development sector and United Nations system. Ms. Singh has over ten years’ experience in supporting women-led development within BRICS and G20 processes, and has been a key global advisor to UN Women in its provision of requested technical support to the G20 and to the BRICS Gender Working Group.

Between December 2021 and October 2026, Ms. Kanta Singh served as UN Women Deputy Country Representative in India. She served as UN Women Country Representative ad interim in India from June 2025 to March 2026. From 2019-21, Ms. Singh was a programme manager for UN Women India Country Office on women’s education, skilling, employment and entrepreneurship; prior to that, she was with UNDP India Country Office as a programme
officer for nine years. Ms. Singh has extensive management experience in ensuring corporate compliance with UN Women’s operational rules and regulations, including in guiding the development and implementation of UN Women’s planning and programming tools. She has worked with national and international organizations to advance women’s participation in the formal economy and in sports.

Ms. Singh holds a master’s degree in Sociology. A former national-level volleyball player, Ms. Singh is a Chevening Gurukul Fellow from the University of Oxford.

Associate Professor of Behavioral Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Associate Dean for EMBA Program, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)

PhD, the R.H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland, College Park

Areas of Expertise: Behavioral Psychology, Psychological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Leadership, Motivation, Team Collaboration, Talent Development

Biography

Professor Zhang Xiaomeng is Associate Dean of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, overseeing the EMBA program, and Associate Professor of Behavioral Psychology/Organizational Behavior with tenure in the Department of Management. She also serves as Deputy Director of the Integrative Psychology Specialized Committee of the Chinese Association of Social Psychology, Director of the Research Center for Leadership and Behavioral Psychology, and Academic Director of the CKGSB Juanyong – Women’s Leadership Program. Prior to joining CKGSB, she was a tenured Associate Professor of Management at the Kogod School of Business at American University, the first business school in the Washington, D.C. area.

Her research focuses on the intersection of behavioral science, psychology, and leadership, including individual psychological resilience and organizational resilience, leadership cognition, organizational motivation, team collaboration, talent pipeline building, and the application of behavioral psychology in these areas. Professor Zhang has published articles in multiple world-leading academic journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organization Science, Personnel Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, and Human Resource Management Review.

Professor Zhang has taught Leadership, Principles of Management, Organizational Behavior, Organization and Human Resource Management, Business Policy, and International Business Practices in China. She holds a BA in Economics and Business Administration from Sun Yat-sen University (graduated with distinction) and a PhD in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management from the R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park.

For her outstanding academic achievements, Professor Zhang received the Frank T. Paine Award for outstanding research achievement. She has been named a Highly Cited Chinese Researcher for eight consecutive years from 2019 to 2026, and in 2026 was included in the 2025 World’s Top 2% Scientists list. In 2022, she published Resilience and The Resilience Handbook, both named among the “CITIC Press Good Books of 2022,” and received the “CITIC Press Author of the Year 2022” award. She received the “Science and Education Figure of the Year” award at the “Her Power · 2023 Women’s Influence Awards.” In 2025, the CKGSB Yongyong – Women’s Leadership Program, for which she serves as Academic Director, received the “Women’s Growth and Education Award” from the Global Women’s Expo; the same year, Professor Zhang published Resilience², which received the “2025 Super New Book of the Year” award from JD Books and CITIC Press. In 2026, she launched her new book Light Up Your Inner Universe – A Resilience Growth Handbook, created especially for teenagers and parents.

Niamh (Neeve) has worked continuously at Boston Consulting Group BCG for over 30 years and is a Partner and Director with particular expertise in Strategy, Post-Merger Integration , Change Management and Culture. She is recognised as one of BCG’s foremost global experts on the topics.

Niamh has worked alongside client CEOs, and the senior management teams of many dozens of companies worldwide on a broad range of change and career questions. Her industry experience spans airlines, automotive, biotechnology, charities, consumer goods, energy, food & nutrition, financial services, healthcare, industrial goods, insurance, media, private equity, retail, technology and telecoms. Her geographic footprint covers Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas.

She led the Women@BCG diversity initiative for over a decade and has been the instigator of many of the cutting-edge people policies that make BCG such a sought-after employer today. Niamh has held several leadership positions at BCG including, variously, Topic Lead PMI for EMESA, as well as being the Partner responsible for recruiting of associates, consultants and senior hires from industry as well as MBA and undergraduate programs. In 2025 she was awarded the coveted Top Trainer at BCG award.

At London Business School, Niamh has lectured on several occasions since 2017. She is also a guest lecturer at other leading global business schools including; Harvard Business School, Insead Singapore, IESE Barcelona and University College London.

A sought-after public speaker on the international business conference circuit, Niamh has most recently headlined the 2026 Nordic M&A conference. Niamh has co-authored several business publications and has been widely quoted in the Financial Times and other international business press.

Niamh is also a fully trained executive coach, with qualifications from the Meyler Campbell Mastered Programme and the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. Her Meyler Campbell thesis “Coaching in Times of Crisis” won a distinction for its incisive analysis and practical recommendations and has been the subject of training for the Meyler Campbell coaching community.

Since 2020, Niamh is a Fellow of The Forward Institute – the non-profit leadership organisation working with senior leaders across society to promote responsible leadership.
Outside of work Niamh has three lively 20-something children, is married to an even livelier husband and pursues charitable endeavours in the education and healthcare sectors. She likes to sing as though nobody is listening and dance as though nobody is looking – often at the same time.

Li Xilin is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Before joining CKGSB, she previously served as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Professor Li received her Ph.D. in Behavioral Science and MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2022.

Professor Li’s primary research interests include decision-making and judgment, as well as consumer behavior and psychology. Her extensive research has been published in top-tier international academic journals across various fields, including the interdisciplinary journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), and leading management and marketing journals (UTD 24, FT50), such as Management Science, Journal of Marketing Research, and Journal of Consumer Research. Her work also appears in top psychology journals such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Professor Li has frequently presented at prestigious international academic conferences, including those organized by the Society for Judgment and Decision Making and the Association for Consumer Research.

In 2023, Professor Li was selected for China’s national-level Youth Talent Program for Overseas High-Level Talents as well as the Shanghai Overseas High-Level Talent Introduction Program.

Download CV 

Before September 1, 2024:

Cyrille Vigneron has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Cartier since January 1st, 2016.

Previously, Cyrille Vigneron was President of LVMH Japan (2014-2015) and held various key positions at Richemont (1988 – 2013), including Managing Director of Cartier Europe (2005-2013), President of Richemont Japan (2002-2005) and Managing Director of Cartier Japan (1997-2002).

He started his career at Companie Générale des Eaux before joining Pechiney.

He is a graduate of ESCP Europe.

Born in 1961 in France, a father of four children, Cyrille Vigneron is a music lover and an admirer of Japanese culture translated in the writing and publication of a book, De geishas en mangas: Chroniques du Japon d’aujourd’hui (Editions Albin Michel, 2009).

From September 1, 2024:

Starting from September 1st, 2024, Cyrille Vigneron is taking on the new role of Chairman of Cartier Culture and Philanthropy, after successfully leading Cartier as President and Chief Executive Officer from January 1st, 2016, to 30th August, 2024

Prior to that tenure, Cyrille Vigneron was President of LVMH Japan (2014-2015) and worked for Richemont (1988 – 2013), where he held various positions including Managing Director of Cartier Europe (2005-2013), President of Richemont Japan (2002-2005) and Managing Director of Cartier Japan (1997-2002).

He started his career at Companie Générale des Eaux before joining Pechiney.

He is a graduate of ESCP Europe business school.

Born in 1961 in France, a father of four children, Cyrille Vigneron is a music lover and an admirer of Japanese culture translated in the writing and publication of a book, De geishas en mangas: Chroniques du Japon d’aujourd’hui (Editions Albin Michel, 2009).

Ms. Ira Zaka heads Global Marketing and Communications at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Established in November 2002, CKGSB is China’s first faculty-governed and independent business school. Today, CKGSB has more than 40+ full-time professors, many of whom held tenured positions at leading business schools like Wharton and Yale, and over 20,000 alumni, more than half of whom are at the CEO or Chairman level and, collectively, lead one fifth of China’s most valuable brands.

Since 2010, Ira has enhanced CKGSB’s brand by organizing global business forums, overseeing public relations and social media, and managing partnerships worldwide. She has also enabled CKGSB’s growth in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

A graduate of Princeton University, Ira has spent over 30 years in China, where she has studied and worked for companies like Amazon and Hogan Lovells, primarily managing public relations and communications efforts.

Ira is fluent in Albanian, Chinese and English.