Registration & Networking

Organiser’s Welcome Address

Chairperson’s Opening Remarks

OPENING KEYNOTE
The CHRO as a Value Architect in Malaysia's Skills-Based Economy

• Shift from 'Jobs' to 'Skills': Focus on adopting a skills-based approach to workforce planning, moving away from rigid job descriptions.
• Driving Internal Mobility: Utilizing skills data to map employee capabilities to new internal roles and career pathways, enhancing talent fluidity.
• National Talent Alignment: Supporting national priorities like TVET and upskilling (as highlighted in Budget 2026) by building a future-ready, highvalue skills pipeline.

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP DIALOUGE
Navigating Global Complexity - Geopolitics, ESG, and the CHRO’s Mandate

• Integrate geopolitical risk into talent attraction and retention.
• Align people strategy with ESG and sustainability goals.
• Elevate the CHRO's role in enterprise-wide risk management.

Panelists:

Datuk Dr Nora A Manaf, Former Chief Human Capital, Maybank and Chairman and Board Member MGA – MBSB Group

Fireside Chat: Building a Data-Driven People Function for Predictable Business Outcomes

• Leverage People Analytics and predictive AI for insights.
• Measure the ROI of HR programs (L&D, well-being, etc.).
• Utilize data to improve retention, performance, and strategic decisions.

Panelists:

Anuradha Katyal, Group Chief People Officer – Axiata

Tsu San Tham, Chief People Officer – IJM Corporation Berhad

Morning Tea Break

Fireside Chat
The Total Well-being Strategy—From Mental Health to Financial Resilience

• Implement a holistic strategy covering physical and mental health.
• Address technostress and psychological safety in the digital age.
• Introduce programs for employee financial wellness (e.g., Budget 2026 implications).

Panelists:

Nicholas Thooi, Chief People Officer – BonusLink

Toshiharu Sakata, HR Director, ASEAN – SC Johnson

Panel Discussion: AI Governance and Ethical Deployment in HR

• Establish human-centric guardrails for AI use in HR processes.
• Mitigate bias and discrimination in AI-driven talent decisions.
• Ensure compliance with digital ethics standards and data privacy laws.

Future Proofing: The New People Strategy for Gig and Hybrid Workforces

• Seamlessly manage a blend of full-time, remote, and gig workers.
• Restructure compensation and benefits for contingent labor.
• Adapt to the evolving Gig Workers Bill and social protection expansions.

Lunch & Networking

INTERACTIVE ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION GROUPS [60 MINS]

Ask the experts and have your say! Structured to maximise interaction and in-depth focus on a topical subject matter, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a roundtable of their choice, which has close relevance to their area of expertise and/or scope of responsibility. We will conclude with a 15mins sharing session, where each Roundtable Leader will present key highlights and takeaways from the group discussion.

Panel Discussion: Building a Culture of High Accountability and Radical Candor

• Design a performance system that drives genuine ownership.
• Equip managers with tools for providing candid, constructive feedback.
• Establish mutual accountability between leaders and employees.

Panelists:

Amanda Oh, Group Chief Human Resource Officer – PPB Group Berhad

Afternoon Tea Break

Fireside Chat: Upskilling Malaysia's Workforce for AI and Digital Fluency

• Make strategic investment in AI-related training and literacy.
• Build internal learning ecosystems for rapid capability scaling.
• Leverage government incentives for digital skills development.

CLOSING PANEL DISCUSSION
The CHRO Manifesto for 2026 – People, Purpose, and Profit

• People: Articulating a human-centric strategy that prioritizes employee well-being, skills mastery, and equitable growth.
• Purpose: Defining the CHRO's role in linking talent strategy to organizational mission, ethical governance, and societal impact.
• Profit: Outlining the future manifesto for HR to drive measurable business value, sustained profitability, and strategic agility.

Closing Remarks & End of Conference

Registration & Coffee

Session 1: Transformational Multi Generational Leadership: Today's Leadership Engagement Blueprint

• Deepdive into the state of our workplaces and world and the wider context we are working within.
• Introduction to the Empathy Deficit and its impact on the bottom line
• Examine the scale and impact of global loneliness on workplaces and the world.
• Highlight the cost of disengaged employees ($8.2 billion annually) and the role of organizational empathy and leadership in countering this trend.
• Connecting sustained multi-generational engagement to improved performance.
• Dialogue and Audience Engagement

Morning Tea Break

Session 2: Listening Led Leadership and Its Impact

• Introduction to Listening Led Leadership and its power
• Why Listening will change your workplace.
• Highlight the benefits of highly engaged teams (21% more profitable, 17% more productive).
• A review of whether leaders have the tools they need to communicate effectively with four generations of employees, addressing their diverse needs and drivers for performance
• Exploration of the reasons behind the need to belong and the consequences of lacking a sense of belonging.
• Participation Exercises and Audience Engagement

Networking Luncheon

Session 3: The Open Room Listening Methodology

• Participatory Session introducing critical Listening Tools and Expandable Gateway practises for HR leaders
• Dialogue and Discussion surrounding Listening Led Leadership - troubleshooting, opportunity assessment

Afternoon Tea Break

Session 4: The Role of Neuroscience in Inclusion & Belonging

• Explore the innate power of the brain, emphasizing empathy as a hardwired capability.
• Learning how neuroscience can nurture trust, elevate belonging, and lead to health improvements.
• Investigate the Parasympathetic Cogs and their activation to foster authentic connection and inclusive well-being.
• Introduction to neurolinguistics in leadership.
• Empathy Mapping Exercise for the HR Leader to leverage back in the workplace

Summary, Q&A and End of Workshop

Registration & Coffee

Opening & Context

• Kick off by unpacking why artificial intelligence now tops the HR agenda and set the day’s goals

Session 1: Understanding AI & Large Language Models

• Discover what AI and LLMs are, explore practical tools you can already access, and pinpoint the HR domains where they add the greatest value

Session 2: Maximising AI for Productivity

• Explore useful AI helpers and learn when to rely on text assistants, image generators, and audio- or video-creation, simple automation to boost individual and team efficiency

Morning Tea Break

Session 3: AI-Powered HR Practices

• See how AI addresses real HR pain-points—recruitment, engagement, coaching and performance management—and discuss how to tailor each use case to your own organisation

Networking Luncheon

Session 4: Ethics & Governance

• Examine common pitfalls around bias, privacy and employee trust through a focused case study, then agree on practical guard-rails to keep deployments ethical

Session 5: Designing an AI-Ready HR Strategy

• Explore the key decision factors, leadership buy-in steps and change-management principles that turn ideas into an actionable roadmap

Afternoon Tea Break

Session 6: Future-Proofing the HR Function

• Explore the trends that matter—agentic AI, multimodal tools, internal skills marketplaces—and outline realistic up-skilling priorities and tool selections to keep your HR function ahead of the curve

Session 7: Closing & Commitments

• Capture one practical takeaway to apply in the coming week

Summary, Q&A and End of Workshop