The Coaching

The coach is an experienced and senior-level businessperson from McKinsey, Cartier or INSEAD’s network who commits on a voluntary basis. Each coach brings their individual experience and know-how to the table to guide the finalists in their preparation for the Jury presentation and then to assist the Laureates with the essentials of running a business and keeping it thriving. For all concerned, it takes energy, drive and a sincere interest in business and people, for mutually rewarding results. Meet some of our coaches here.
Yoonmi Eom
Engagement Manager McKinsey Seoul office INSEAD MBA class of 2005
Yoonmi Eom is an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, based in Seoul. Since joining McKinsey, she has served clients for their variety of issues in strategy and marketing, including growth strategy, globalization, corporate portfolio strategy as well as marketing capability building and sales force effectiveness. Her industry of interest includes high-tech and consumer/retail. Yoonmi has an MBA degree from INSEAD. She loves traveling, reading, writing, and cooking, and lives in Seoul with her husband and a one-year-old daughter.
Marc Coluccio
General manager / Founder, Exposed Skin Care INSEAD MBA class of 2010
Marc is a business executive with more than 10 years in B2B & B2C strategy, product development and sales experience, and running fast-paced, high growth, early stage companies in the high-tech and consumer goods industries. Recently Marc founded and led 2 companies to successful market positions.
Dianne Hankerson
Founder & Managing Partner, Crossroad Consulting Group
Dianne Hankerson is the Founder and Managing Partner of CCG, an organization development and executive coaching consultancy. She has extensive experience in performance and competitive differentiation processes emphasizing ethical leadership, alignment and governance. She also serves as an advisor to C-suite executives and holds a Master’s in Organization and Human Resources Development
Florian Schmieg
INSEAD MBA class of 2009
Florian studied business information systems and holds an MBA from INSEAD. He started his career in investment banking, and worked at Siemens as commercial manager for a business segment and in Venture Capital. Currently, he is a Volunteer Consultant withTechnoServe in Uganda.
Eugene Kwon
Senior Manager, LG Electronics, Korea INSEAD MBA class of 2005
Eugene is a senior manager at LG Electronics and currently a leader of the advanced product planning for LCD TV. Prior to LG Electronics, she worked for McKinsey & Company for three years, where she gained experience of multiple growth strategies for overseas markets with a focus on emerging countries, e.g. Africa, India and consumer electronics/heavy industry. Eugene has MBA degree from INSEAD, France.
Rachel Ong
Engagement Manager, McKinsey London
Rachel Ong is an Engagement Manager in McKinsey & Company's London office - having started as a business analyst in the Singapore office. Since joining McKinsey in 2005, Rachel has served primarily clients from the financial services sector, with a focus on business building topics in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Yumi Yazawa
Senior Product Manager Marketing Department Cartier Latin America & Caribbean
Born & raised in Caracas, Venezuela of Japanese-Venezuelan decent, Yumi Yazawa joined Cartier Latin America & Caribbean as Senior Product Manager in 2007. Directly responsible for implementing Jewelry and accessories product strategies and guidelines across the LAC region, she also leads the product management team overseeing all product lines. Yumi holds degrees in International Business Law as well as Fashion Design & Marketing.
Dr. Angela Spatharou
Associate Principal, McKinsey & Company London
Dr. Angela Spatharou is an Associate Principal with McKinsey & Co. in London and a leader of the McKinsey Healthcare Practice. She has extensive experience serving pharmaceutical, private equity and public sector healthcare clients, especially in the English NHS. She is a founding member of McKinsey’s Women’s Leadership initiative and chairs a London charity on children’s education issues.
Madhu Rajesh
INSEAD MBA Class of 2008
After several positions across the FMCG, Luxury, Retail & Tourism and Non-for-Profit sectors that built up her extensive international commercial expertise, Madhu Rajesh took over a position as Business development Director at Vital regeneration, a non-profit working in London’s most deprived neighborhoods. She joined the INSEAD MBA in 2008 where she was co-President of the Women in Business Club. Since the creation of the Awards, she has coached 3 finalists.
Cathy Cheung
INSEAD MBA Graduate
Cathy Cheung is a recent INSEAD MBA Graduate. Cathy has had extensive experience working in asset management prior to INSEAD, and most recently was responsible for creating and executing marketing communications strategies at Lazard Asset Management in its New York headquarters.
Lisa Sun
Associate Principal, McKinsey Washington
Lisa is an Associate Principal in McKinsey & Company’s Washington, DC Office. Since joining the firm in 2000, she has worked with clients in the retail and consumer packaged goods sectors on both strategic and operational issues.
Audrey Irawan
INSEAD MBA Class of 2010
Audrey Irawan is an MBA student at INSEAD. Prior to INSEAD, she was a manager at Morningstar, overseeing project management and product development for financial data feeds in the US and Canada. Audrey also has previous experience in market research and data analysis. She has lived in Indonesia, Singapore, the US and France.
Christophe Y. Maincourt
Regional President, Cartier Latin America & Caribbean
After several positions at Christian Dior and Cartier Far East, Christophe Maincourt became CEO of Les Must de Cartier International in Miami. In 2000, his responsibility was extended to Regional President Cartier Latin America & Caribbean. At university, he co-founded a company selling surfing equipment. Christophe has been a coach for two years.
Nicole Ehrbar
Assistant Vice President, Public Relations, Cartier North America
After several positions at LVMH, Keri Levitt Communications and Nike Communication in New York, Nicole Ehrbar became Assistant Vice President of Public Relations at Cartier North America. She has coached four Finalists since the creation of the Awards.
Tong Sarochinee Paweenawat
INSEAD MBA Class of 2010
As an offshore engineer with Schlumberger, Tong Sarochinee was responsible for exploration projects in the North sea. After four years, she was designated as a Field Service Manager in Songkhla, Thailand. She then decided to pursue her MBA at INSEAD in January 2010.
Claudia Harris
Engagement Manager, McKinsey London Office
Claudia is an Engagement Manager in the London Office of McKinsey. She originally joined the firm as a Business Analyst in 2002 where she worked primarily in healthcare and retail. She then left to spend a year working in the healthcare team of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit. Since then she has completed her MBA at Harvard and rejoined the firm where she is now focused on consumer goods. She lives in London. Her undergraduate degree was in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford.
Anoop Nebhnani
INSEAD MBA Class of 2010
Anoop Nebhnani is experienced in advising global chief executives and private equity firms on growth, optimization and turnarounds. He has strong exposure to and connections across most industries. He is an avid golfer, sailor and traveler.
Xavier Rezgui
Assistant to the CEO for Southern Europe, Bertelsmann Arvato Services
INSEAD MBA class of 2009
Xavier is bicultural, grew up in 3 continents, studied and worked in Europe and Asia. He started his career at HP as a Product Manager. He then became an entrepreneur as the co-founder and manager of Atlanteam, a retail chain focused on online video games with outlets located in city centres and airports. He has extensive experience in media, video games, high-tech, retail and venture capital.
Coralie de Fontenay
General Manager Europe, Cartier Fragrances
Born in Paris, Coralie de Fontenay, 37, graduated from HEC in 1995, was nominated in 2010 as the General Manager of Cartier Fragrances of Cartier International where she has held numerous positions since joining the company in 1995.
Ariadne Oliveira
Global Marketing Manager, Reckitt Benckiser
Marketing professional born and raised in Sao Paulo, decided in 2005 to leave Brazil to pursue the MBA dream. After INSEAD, decided to pursue the dream of working in Global Marketing. Currently lives in London with her family (motherhood was also a dream). Believer in the powerful combination of intuition and persistence.
Martin Gatins
Senior Vice-President, Cartier North America
Martin Gatins has spent the last 16 years with Cartier North and South America in a number of positions from regional manager to Senior Vice President of Wholesale in North America. Martin has been a mainstay in the management of the watch and eyewear business in these markets.
Jessica Tan
Principal, McKinsey & Company
Jessica Tan is a Partner with McKinsey & Company, based in Singapore and she has mainly worked with financial services companies in North America, SE Asia and Greater China, on key topics ranging from business strategy development, organization development, and operations/IT transformation. Jessica is an active public speaker at several conferences in Asia on topics related to Women in Business, Banking, and Technology. One of her recent engagements was sharing McKinsey’s research on “Women Matter” with PrimeTime, a Singapore professional women’s organization.
Joseph A. Mitchell, MD
EM, McKinsey & Company Boston
Joseph Mitchell is a consultant with McKinsey and Company in Boston, where he works with pharmaceutical and medical products manufacturers, payors, and healthcare providers. Prior to joining McKinsey, he attended medical school and trained in Urology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He also completed an NIH-sponsored fellowship in Prostate Cancer at UCSF. He serves on the Board of Directors of the March of Dimes in Massachusetts and NextStep, a translational research foundation focused on degenerative neurologic disease. Joe lives in Cambridge with his wife, Vivian, and 2-year-old son Alex.
Lena Henry
Principal, McKinsey & Company London Office
Lena Henry is a Principal at McKinsey & Company, based in London. She is a leader of McKinsey's Consumer Goods and Retail practices in Europe. In these industries, she mostly assists companies across EMEA with go-to-market strategy, performance transformation programmes, and pricing opportunities. She leads Women's Recruiting for the McKinsey Women EMEA initiative. Lena has a BA degree in Engineering from the Ecole Centrale Paris, an MEng in Structural Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Abraham Papakirillou
Director, Latebooking, Athens
Before starting his own business, Abraham worked as a Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in Athens, participating in international projects and business development in finance & banking, energy, retail, and e-commerce. Prior to INSEAD, he was a Senior Surveyor with Lloyd's Register in London and Naval Architect with Privatsea projects.
Blair Bartell Brindley
Director of Media Relations, Cartier North America
Blair Bartell Brindley joined Cartier almost five years ago as the Director of Media Relations for Cartier North America. Previously, she worked at Public Relations agencies in New York for more than ten years including DeVries Public Relations and Manning, Selvage & Lee handling fashion, beauty and consumers accounts.
Christophe Poilleux
Regional Director, Cartier Latin and Central America
After attending business school in Paris, he moved to Australia and then to Switzerland working for different companies. In 2000, he joined Cartier Miami as Sales Manager for the Caribbean, then Regional Sales Manager for Latin America. In 2008, he became Regional Director for Latin and Central America.
Sumit Dutta
Principal, McKinsey & Company Mumbai
Sumit Dutta, Principal, McKinsey & Company, Mumbai, has 11 years experience in High-Tech and Telecommunications. He is part of the Regional Telecommunications leadership, with extensive experience in strategy development and operations. He holds a B.Tech Degree in Electronics and Communications from IIT, Madras, and an MBA from IIM, Bangalore.
Jacques Halpérin
Partner, B-management, Brussels
Jacques’ core skills include finance, treasury, consumer products and retail, brands, transition management and European and US markets. Thanks to his fair understanding of investors’ expectations, he successfully coached two Finalists of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards.
Maria Carolina Romero
Business Consultant
Maria Carolina was born in Colombia and currently lives in Switzerland. Her experience includes working with big corporations, non-profit organizations and start-ups. As a business consultant, she has experienced building governance models for Boards, facilitating strategic planning and establishing best practices in order to build strong administrative policies and processes. She has also been involved in fundraising activities in these organizations.
Marianne Kopf
Founder & Managing Partner, VAIGA, Switzerland
Marianne is an independent consultant and executive coach working in various business environments, from international corporations to medium sized industries and non-profit organisations, in Europe and Asia Pacific. Her focus and interests are in sustainability issues and corporate social responsibility, collective intelligence and psychology of organisations, change management and life transitions.
Sha Sha
Partner, McKinsey & Company
Ms. Sha Sha is a Partner with McKinsey and leads the Automotive & Advanced Industry Practice in Greater China. She has extensive experience in the growth strategy, innovation and investment advisory. Besides consulting work, she has been frequently invited by CNBC and Oriental TV as a featured guest on business programs, as well as a passionate mentor to local entrepreneurs. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in International Economics from Beijing University.
Sophie Díaz
Managing Director, Cartier Mexico
Sophie Díaz, of French and Spanish ancestry, graduated from ESIC Madrid in Marketing and started her career working at the Cartier marketing department in Spain in 1998. Transferred to Mexico in October 2003, she was Marketing and Communication Director, then Retail Director. Since August 1st, 2010, she is Managing Director of the Cartier Mexican subsidiary.
Vangelis Kassotakis
Marketing Director, Cartier Ltd
Vangelis joined Cartier in 2002. After working in Greece and Turkey, he moved to London in 2008 to become Marketing Director for Cartier Ltd. He previously obtained his MBA from RSM, served as Paratrooper at the Army Special Forces and travelled the world, working in Germany, Canada and Central & Eastern Europe.