Darina Bockman | Vegan Leaders

Sandra is our Regional Engagement Lead for Australia, Pacific and South-East Asia. Originally from the US, Sandra currently lives in Sydney, Australia and runs a management consulting practice. Her areas of expertise are operations management and corporate strategy with a focus on feasibility studies and returns analyses. She is also the Treasurer of the Vegan Society of New South Wales.

Sandra is passionate about embracing the vegan principles in all areas of her life, and particularly about bridging the gap between being vegan and working in the traditional corporate environment. In her spare time, Sandra enjoys practicing yoga, cooking, gardening and advocating for animal rights.

cockadoodledont — CFO Officer, ROoster iNc

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Stefan GU joins the Vegan Leaders management team from Shanghai, China, as a regional lead for the member engagement strategy in Asia. In addition to cultivating relationships with the Asian Vegan Leaders members, Stefan is in charge of maintaining the global member database.

Stefan works as a recruitment professional at IBM Smarter Workforce in Shanghai. He is fluent in English and Chinese. Vegan since 2014 and following the Buddhist philosophy, he believes that all sentient beings deserve love, and he hopes to echo the benefits of veganism.

Karoly Domok joins the Vegan Leaders management team from Birmingham, UK, as a regional lead for the member engagement strategy in Europe. Karoly will also lead special projects, particularly in the area of corporate initiatives.

Born in Hungary, Karoly works as a manufacturing engineer at Johnson Controls UK with a focus on operational process improvement and strategy implementation. He participated in the Manufacturing Leadership Program in Johnson Control’s Automotive Experience (Adient). Previously, Karoly was a Team Leader at Emerson Process Management’s Fisher valves division responsible for change management and delivering solutions.

Since going vegan in 2015, Karoly has been exploring possibilities to spread the message and change the public prejudice. A keen environmentalist, he also rides his bicycle wherever possible as an alternative to driving or public transport.

Strategic Engagement and Corporate Initiatives Director

Susanne Biro is a senior leadership coach, author and vegan. For 15 years, she has worked internationally with senior level clients, including top physician leaders at the Mayo Clinic, presidents of General Electric businesses, and Vice Presidents at Celgene, Eastman Chemical, Konica Minolta, KPMG, New York Life, Qualcomm, St. Jude Medical, Symantec, T. Rowe Price and numerous others. According to clients, Susanne’s strength lies in her “ability to distill the heart of the matter from the clutter and confusion that surround seemingly complex or difficult decisions.”

Susanne is the co-author of Unleashed! Leader as Coach and she runs a vegan Facebook group called Trying Vegan. She is also involved in Change Makers. Rule Breakers, invitation-only gatherings (held with Sir Richard Branson on Necker Island) of 20+ social entrepreneurs who believe that business can and must be a force for good.

Susanne Biro is a senior leadership coach, author and vegan. For 15 years, she has worked internationally with senior level clients, including top physician leaders at the Mayo Clinic, presidents of General Electric businesses, and Vice Presidents at Celgene, Eastman Chemical, Konica Minolta, KPMG, New York Life, Qualcomm, St. Jude Medical, Symantec, T. Rowe Price and numerous others. According to clients, Susanne’s strength lies in her “ability to distill the heart of the matter from the clutter and confusion that surround seemingly complex or difficult decisions.”

Susanne is the co-author of Unleashed! Leader as Coach and she runs a vegan Facebook group called Trying Vegan. She is also involved in Change Makers. Rule Breakers, invitation-only gatherings (held with Sir Richard Branson on Necker Island) of 20+ social entrepreneurs who believe that business can and must be a force for good.

Judy Scheffel — SVP, Learning and Leadership Development, Bank of America — SVP, Learning and Leadership Development, Bank of America

Judy works in senior leadership at one of the world’s largest bank focusing on HR transformation Initiatives. She has driven change, innovation and transformation in the financial and technology sectors, creating solutions towards improved performance, productivity, corporate growth and profitability. Judy’s initial technology transformation career took her as far as Vladivostok, Russia. She later founded a non-profit to support the education and medical needs of Romanian and Bulgarian abandoned children.

A continuous learner, Judy is currently studying Sustainability at UCLA, adding on to her prior degrees (which include a Doctorate in Organizational Development and Leadership from University of San Francisco as well as an MBA in International Business from Washington University and London School of Business.)

As an activist, Judy is involved with a number of animal rights and vegan organizations including Farm Sanctuary, In Defense of Animals and Vegan Spirituality. On weekends she can be found volunteering at the local Farm Sanctuary, hiking or spending time with her rescued dog.

Arun Rao — Co-Founder, Technology Startup; Formerly Portfolio Manager, PIMCO

Arun is a technology start-up executive, entrepreneur and investor. He is currently launching an Artificial Intelligence start-up using machine/deep learning tools and natural language processing. He previously worked at three investment firms, most recently as a trader and portfolio manager at PIMCO, focusing on mortgage and asset backed securities, high yield bonds, and equities related to housing/building products, industrials, financials, and software. Arun has written for The Economist, and published a book titled A History of Silicon Valley.

In addition to his professional interests, Arun supports animal rights and veganism, socially responsible investing and decentralized education.

Kimberly Howard is the Vice President and Managing Director of Owens Corning Americas Glass Reinforcements. She had held senior leadership positions across several other Owens Corning divisions. Since joining Owens Corning in 1996, Kim elevated through positions in Customer Financial Services, Finance, Operations, Plant Leadership and Strategic Planning. In addition to the US headquarters and several plant locations, Kim also worked at the Owens Corning Belgium and France offices.

Kim had come from the finance and banking background, and she also has owned, managed and sold multiple companies. Kim serves on the Board of Directors of Directions Credit Union, The Toledo Ballet, The American Composites Manufacturing Association, and The Owens Corning Foundation. Kim, her husband and four daughters live in Ohio.

Dave Parramore — Strategic Health Initiatives Director, IBM US Federal; Retired US Colonel

Working at IBM’s US Federal team, Dave—who is a retired U.S. colonel—formulates strategies to “rescue healthcare from pills, procedures and price” through IBM’s cognitive and insight driven solutions. While on active duty, Col. Parramore was the Chief Technology Officer for a $10-billion healthcare organization with over 4 million active-duty, retired and family-member beneficiaries. During his career, he led eight Army medical centers, 27 medical department activities and numerous clinics in the United States, Europe, Korea, and Japan.

In addition, he served as the Health Services Systems Manager (70D) Consultant to the Army Surgeon General. He co-authored the Information Systems subcommittee report for the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors in 2007. Dave is an advocate for healthy living through plant based nutrition, and he and his wife enjoy playing golf together.

Business Development and Sales — Strategic Client Director, Experian Hong Kong

Rebecca Cappelli is a strategic client director at Experian Hong Kong. Over the last 14 years, she has lived in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong working as a Mandarin-speaking business development professional within the financial and E-commerce industry.

Prior to joining the private sector, Rebecca worked as a government relations advisor for the French government and as a Chinese-French interpreter for private, government and commercial affairs. She holds a masters degree in media management and in Chinese language and culture.

Rebecca is currently working on a project to advocate veganism in Asia with key focus on businesses.

Dan Riskin is CEO of Vanguard Medical Technologies and previously has founded, run and sold multiple companies focused on clinical analytics, healthcare services, and medical devices. His products have influenced the care of millions of patients.

Dan is on consulting faculty at Stanford University, as a board-certified surgeon, critical care physician, palliative care physician, and clinical informaticist. His work in data-driven healthcare have been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and other leading media. He served in the Obama Campaign Health Advisory Committee and has testified before the US Congress on medical technology innovation.

As an activist, Dan is engaged as an advisor and mentor to multiple animal rights organizations. He works within industry and policy to support the right of all animals to be treated with compassion.

Sumeet Mahajan - Information Innovation Director — Information Innovation Director

Sumeet Mahajan is the head of Vegan Leaders information innovation, tasked with finding strategies to leverage data and statistics to advance the corporate vegan network. He works at Accenture where he professionally designs, sells and delivers advanced analytic solutions tailored to clients’ business needs. Sumeet has more than 10 years of experience in big data and supply chain analytics. He enjoys his free time with his wife and three dogs, all of whom strive to stay away from animal products.