Susie Bates

Chief People Officer

Weber Shandwick

Chief People Officer for the Weber Shandwick Collective in Asia, Susie has been living and working across the Asia Pacific region for over 25 years, holding people and HR leadership roles in multinational organizations.

Based in Hong Kong, Susie has been a part of the IPG network since April 2013 having worked across multiple brands during her tenure, overseeing People initiatives across China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and India. In addition to her HR responsibilities, Susie actively developed Weber Shandwick’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Asia Pacific strategy and has leading the initiative for the region since early 2021.

Susie is a seasoned and accomplished practitioner in a variety of HR areas, including strategic manpower planning, employee relations management, dispute resolution, rewards & recognition, innovation, diversity, equity & inclusion, and employer branding, with the ability to align strategic talent initiatives to business goals, often within the context of complex cultural dynamics. Through her career Susie has developed People strategy in a number of industries including healthcare, tech and auto, as well as being hands-on in strategic people initiatives with mergers and acquisitions.

Susie is passionate about creating an environment that encourages employees to grow and develop, whilst staying true to their authentic selves in the workplace. She is a strong advocate for empowerment at all levels within organizations and believes that employees’ true potential is realized when organizational culture supports a bottoms-up “I want to learn from you” leadership mentality. She is a strong advocate of servant leadership in all its many facets and has a strong and highly contagious “can do” attitude.

‘Across the region, our employees consistently demonstrate their sense of empowerment, their joy at belonging, and their never-ending curiosity and desire to grow and expand their knowledge and skills.

How is this demonstrated? 100% through the work.

It’s all – always – about the work and how pure commitment always shines through’