The Summit Culture Team

Renee Conklin

EXECUTIVE COACH

With her 15 years of HR and recruitment experience, Renee positions businesses for the future of work by designing and delivering an integrated employee experience (EX) through targeted talent attraction and employee engagement initiatives. 

Based in Asia for over 10 years, Renee is also the Founder of RC HR Consulting, an independent HR consultancy working with financial services and professional services companies in Hong Kong. Previously, Renee held HR roles in Fintech and multiple Investment Banking Houses in New York, Singapore and Hong Kong.  She has a passion for optimizing the human-side of business, to grow organisations in a sustainable, powerful and people-focused approach.

Renee is a certified IECL organizational coach, and is currently in the MBA program at HKUST (Class of 2020).  She holds a certificate in Strategic Human Resources Leadership from Cornell University, and a B.A. from Hobart & William Smith Colleges in the United States.

Key Disciplines:

• Talent Attraction
• Employee Engagement
• Future of Work

When she’s not working, you may find Renee:

• Giving speeches at Toastmasters
• Hiking Hong Kong's great trails
• Practicing yoga

Deno Hewson

PRINCIPAL

Deno has been leading teams, consulting and coaching with leaders globally for over 20 years.  He has a well-defined point of view about what 'better' looks like, and is committed to challenging individuals to elevate their levels of performance. 

His vision for Summit Culture is to enable great coaches and consultants to partner with leaders that are committed to 'doing more, better,' and together, to get stuff done. 

In addition to years of corporate experience in Asia and the Americas leading cross-border teams and functions, Deno has advised a range of firms from startups to blue-chips on organisational redesign, leadership effectiveness and strategy realignment. 

His approach blends straight talk, creativity and resilience.  He attributes this style as much to corporate experience as to his many years spent climbing in the Himalaya and around the world.  His work encompasses leadership development, executive coaching, and regular conference keynote addresses on performance and outdoor adventure.

In addition to graduating with a double major in International Business and Japanese language with First Class Honours, Deno is an IECL-qualified Executive Coach, and licensed in multiple psychometric instruments including DiSC, MBTI, Hogan, and Insights.

A permanent resident of Hong Kong and with over 20 years in Asia, Deno coaches and consults in English and Japanese, and works globally as required.

Away from work, Deno is a qualified Divemaster, licensed for deep technical wreck penetration; and a member of the Association of American Mountain Guides, with over 20 high-altitude expeditions to the Himalaya and Andes to his credit, in addition to first-ascents on rock, ice and mountain routes around the world.

Key Disciplines:

• Executive Coaching
• Leadership Development
• Organisational Design

When he’s not working, you may find Deno:

• Climbing (rock / ice / big mountains)
• Diving (especially wrecks)
• Road biking (slowly)

Queenie Loo

EXECUTIVE COACH

Queenie has years of consulting and coaching experience with leaders, all across the globe.  She has an established track record of helping clients solve business challenges through the lens of creating high performing culture, one that allows individuals and teams to excel and with the targeted behavioral change.

Based in Hong Kong, Queenie has over 20 years of experience working in leading financial institutions such as HSBC and the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ).  Empathy and curiosity are the key drivers for Queenie in digging deep to truly understand her clients’ needs.  Her expertise is in building impactful and measurable learning curricula and global talent programs that are deeply relevant and commercial. 

Queenie is passionate about youth development and cares about the underprivileged.  She has been serving the underprivileged community for over 10 years in Hong Kong.

She is a certified IECL qualified Organizational Coach and has acquired Certified Financial Planner qualifications. 

Key Disciplines:

• Executive Coaching
• Leadership Development
• Sales Leadership and Management

When she’s not working, you may find Queenie:

• Hiking in Hong Kong or trekking overseas (especially to see beautiful mountains)
• Independent Travelling (also as a tour leader to some VERY adventurous places)
• Baking bread (visit her place and usually you can have a piece of freshly baked bread)

Mayumi Mamada

EXECUTIVE COACH

For the past 20 years, Mayumi has been working with clients as a senior Executive Coach, and in designing & delivering high-impact leadership development programs. 

Based in Tokyo, Mayumi has extensive experience working with senior leaders of major Japanese corporations, as well as with a broad array of international firms, in industries from high finance to high fashion. 

Mayumi considers one of her greatest strengths is her cultural agility, gained from working with senior leaders in a diverse range of domestic and international companies.  She quickly understands the key elements at play, asks challenging and appropriate questions to get the heart of the issue, and then works with the client to craft development steps and actions in her own authentic style.   

She is passionate about helping professionals to develop their own coaching skills, and regularly holds workshops with business and community leaders, including Buddhist priests at a major Tokyo temple.

In addition to her thousands of hours of executive development experience, Mayumi is qualified in, and regularly uses, a number of behavioural profiling tools, including MBTI, DiSC, and Insights. 

Key Disciplines

• Executive Coaching
• Leadership & Coaching Development
• Cross-Cultural Agility 

When she's not working, you may find Mayumi:

• Continuing her life-long passion of practicing yoga
• Studying the history of Kyoto, one of Japan's centers of culture & heritage

Doc McKerr

LEADERSHIP CONSULTANT

Doc has been leading teams around the world for almost 20 years.  His grounded approach to practical leadership was developed during his 11 years as a British Army Officer.  His strength is in an ability to embrace change, show resilience in the face of challenge and work in and with different cultures in order to deliver results.

It was this background and his inherent interest in human relationships that led to a focus on individual, team and organisational development.  Doc is keenly interested in the interplay between leadership behaviours and measured results and performance, as well as the impact of change initiatives on overall business strategy development. He has also recently devoted more time to incorporating a 'design thinking' mindset to leadership development.

His passion for continuous learning, people, language and culture spurred him to move to China in 2018 for 18 months to study Mandarin and Chinese culture. He is currently dividing his time between China and the UK.

Doc’s approach is collaborative in a way that encourages alternative thinking and boundaries to be pushed, whilst still being direct enough when required to achieve targets. 

British by nationality, Doc has lived in Afghanistan, Nepal and China and worked globally. 

He is licenced a number of psychometric instruments, including MBTI and TKI.

Key Disciplines:

• Leadership Development
• Individual and Team Performance
• Business Strategy

When he’s not working, you may find Doc:

• Climbing (ice / mountains)
• Trekking (somewhere remote in the mountains)
• Running (plodding)
• Studying mandarin (trying to…again)

Peter Swanson

EXECUTIVE COACH

Peter is a change agent and people strategist, he helps organisations grappling with the challenges of aligning their people resources to ever-changing business strategies and needs.

Peter's expertise have been fuelled by a deep passion and interest in what drives organisational performance and value outcomes, and a belief that liberating your people resource is fundamental to achieving business objectives. 

Having held Senior Executive-level roles in leading commercial and not-for-profit organisations, as well as many years consulting globally, Peter brings sought-after capabilities to Summit Culture's team, particularly in Organisational Design, Leadership, Culture Change, People Strategy, and HR Systems & Processes.

Peter is qualified and skilled in a range of tools and methodologies, including Agile, Leadership profiling, culture and engagement surveys, personality and behavioural profiling, design thinking and innovation methods, and systems and complexity theory and tools. 

Key Disciplines

• Culture Change
• Organisational Design and Change
• Leadership and Team Development

When he’s not working, you may find Peter:

• Out on his mountain bike checking out some steep lines and jumps on his local trails (often crashing!)
• Hanging out and having adventures with his wife and three boys in the hills and mountains of NZ

Cathy Wen

EXECUTIVE COACH

Based in Shanghai, Cathy is a seasoned, ICF-accredited executive coach. She works with leaders from a wide variety of business sectors in both the individual and team coaching spaces, as well as delivering high-impact leadership development programs where the focus is on both potential and performance.

Cathy brings a rare combination of experience to bear - matching her own successful corporate career in North America, APAC and Greater China with coaching insight and empathy that allows her to quickly connect with a diverse range of executives leading through change.   This 'empathetic experience' means she quickly builds trust, thus moving the conversation down into the real issues.

Cathy believes her role as a Consultant and Coach is to authentically help clients identify their core purpose and value so they can achieve sustained transformations in themselves, their teams and their businesses.

In addition to her work with senior leaders, Cathy is passionate about assisting young talents to accelerate their development. Since 2015, Cathy has given her time to mentoring more than 180 MBA students from China European International Business School.

Cathy is qualified in, and regularly uses, a variety of psychometric tools including Hogan and EQi 2.0.

Key Disciplines

• Executive Coaching
• Leadership Development
• Accelerate women in career development
• Mentor junior executives & high potential young talents

When she is not working, you may find Cathy:

• Engaging in activities that allow her to draw inspiration from the beauty of life and people:
  • Yoga, hiking, meditation, travelling
  • Flower arrangement, music, tea & coffee
  • Time with family & close friends

Ronald Wong

EXECUTIVE COACH

Ronald is a seasoned executive who brings to his clients a high degree of insight and supportive challenge.

His background in financial services has equipped him with the resilience and stamina to support senior executives facing unprecedented change.

Ronald’s coaching style is open and pragmatic with an ability to get to the core needs being presented. 

He works with clients on leadership and presence, effective teamwork, navigating change and developing inclusive practices within the Diversity & Inclusion space.  He is especially interested in facilitating change and inclusive leadership within individuals, teams and systems.

Ronald is a past Board Member of a leading children’s charity in Hong Kong and volunteers at various non-profits.

He is a qualified coach (ICF, IECL), and a licenced practitioner in the Lumina Learning and the Kantor Institute Structural Dynamics assessment tools.

Key Disciplines

• Executive coaching
• Inclusive leadership
• Mindset and behavioral economics

When he’s not working, you will find Ronald:

• Spending time with his family
• Drawing inspiration from architecture, design and Stoicism
• Continuing his yoga journey

Katelynne Wong

OFFICE MANAGER

Katelynne is a seasoned and experienced specialist Office and Project Manager. In addition to supporting and managing all aspects of Summit Culture's office operations to ensure both internal and external stakeholders are served, she prides herself on being 'cool under pressure' and having a strong eye for detail.

Based in Hong Kong, Katelynne has over 20 years working in the Management Consulting and Sourcing & Buying industries. She values loyalty, trustworthiness and reliability, and endeavours to give the same in her work. Katelynne comes across as a 'calm but committed' team player......we call her the 'glue that keeps everything together!

Katelynne is a devoted Christian and member of Hope Worldwide, and for over 20 years has been serving the elderly in her community.

She has a degree in Business Administration.

Key Disciplines

• Office Administration
• Project Management & Operations
• Client Interface & Customer Care 

When she is not working, you may find Katelynne:

• Catching up with family and friends
• Watching Netflix
• Hiking (Family walks)
• Traveling