Head of Consulting, Malaysia & Singapore
As the Head of Consulting for DDI's operations in Singapore and Malaysia, Kulwant is responsible for helping our clients achieve a well-designed talent strategy which leads to measurable business results. Prior to joining DDI, Kulwant was with Mercer for five years as the Asia Pacific business leader for HR Effectiveness and double hatted as Talent Management leader, ASEAN. Kulwant’s passion in leadership development started over 20 years ago as a young Lieutenant at the Office Cadet School training and grooming budding young cadets to be future military leaders. Kulwant also held line roles as a Training and HR manager before venturing into the HR consulting industry. Besides designing and leading major consulting assignments with organizations across Asia in the areas of talent assessment and leadership development, Kulwant also engages senior HR and C-suite leaders early on in their thinking process before embarking and implementing any talent management program.
Kulwant’s core expertise lies in translating business strategy into human capital and talent strategy; cross-cultural leadership integration for western MNCs expanding into Asia; helping Asian companies develop global leaders; designing and delivering mid- to senior-level leadership development programs and coaching for performance.
Career Highlights
- Kulwant’s passion in developing leaders first started over 20 years ago when after graduating as a Lieutenant in the Armed Forces, his first military assignment was as Senior Instructor training officer cadets.
- He was also a Training Manager for a hospitality chain before becoming their HR Manager.
- His key career highlight was when he was appointed Managing Director Asia for Renaissance Worldwide (strategy and HR technology consulting) at the age of 34. He was based in the US for two years as Director, Global Solutions after Renaissance’s acquisition by Cedar Group, Inc. before returning to Singapore to try his first stint at entrepreneurship.
- Prior to DDI, Kulwant spent over five years in Mercer where he held various portfolios such as Regional APAC Business Leader for HR Effectiveness and Talent Management Leader, ASEAN. As one of the initial pilot group of certified facilitators by Mercer, Kulwant led various regional and global leadership programs as Chief Faculty and has trained over 300 leaders (‘C’ suite, GMs, BU and functional heads) in countries such as Germany, Slovakia, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. When Mercer first officially started its Talent Management segment in 2010 (one of four segments under its Human Capital practice), Kulwant was part of an eight-person global team representing Asia to help develop Mercer’s global leadership consulting services.
Education and Credentials
- MBA, University of Chicago (Booth School of Business)
- Bachelor of Science (Honors), Management, University of London
- Diploma, Civil Engineering
- Certified facilitator, Mercer Delta (now Oliver Wyman Group’s Executive Leadership Center)
- Certified and accredited facilitator for MBTI, Hogan Leadership Series (HPS, HDS, MVPI), Hogan Developmental Feedback and Hogan Business Reasoning Inventory
- Trained in Miller Hieman and Scottwork’s Advanced Negotiating Skills
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