Our Team

Vishal Surtani is a manager of digital Marketing & communications, based in Hong Kong. He is responsible for increasing the organisation's digital and social media presence across all platforms, as well as contributing to the overall marketing and communications strategy.

In previous roles he was tasked with building social media marketing strategies and implementing them. Prior joining Community Business, Vishal worked in startup companies running online paid advertisements. He has also worked on building brands without running paid ads online. 

A graduate from the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, Vishal holds an MBA degree majoring in Marketing.

Yee Lin Ng is a Consultant for the Consulting and Training team at Community Business. She is responsible for consulting and training design and delivery, as well as client relationship management.

Well equipped with over 30 years of work and life experience, Yee Lin seeks to coach and motivate the next generation of thought leaders by enriching their personal growth and heightening their professional value. She is an PCC certified coach with many years of executive leadership experience. Prior to joining Community Business as a consultant in C&T, she was based in Shanghai for 10 years and worked in a creative agency in branding strategy and project management with global brands. Actively involved with ICF Singapore’s Community of Practice for Team Coaching and Outreach & Coaching for Community, she holds a Mentor role with Asia Institute of Mentoring, Singapore Halogen Foundation’s Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and Hong Kong Kids4Kids' Action For A Cause. This is her path of giving forward and to build a highway of hope.

She is most grateful to have a healthy mind, a healthy body and the opportunity to continue her passion in discovering the beauty of engagement and interpersonal relationships.

Yee Lin holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics and Political Science, National University of Singapore. She is also a certified CSM, CAL-E, CAL-T and CAL-O with Scrum Alliance. She is native in English and fluent in spoken Mandarin and Cantonese.

Sarah is the Programme Associate for the LGBT+ team at Community Business and is based in Hong Kong. She is responsible for supporting Community Business’ LGBT+ campaign and programmes.

Prior to Community Business, Sarah worked at Midnight Blue as a student intern, an NGO supporting Hong Kong male sex workers, and was responsible for newsletter publications and content creating for social media. She is also a co-producer of a Cantonese podcast show, Gyakutenitoru, discussing Hong Kong social issues through literature, movies and music. She provides technical support for recording sections and sound engineering.

Sarah is a graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology. She is native in Cantonese, fluent in English and Mandarin. Her preferred pronouns are she/her.

Blake (he/him) is the Programme Associate for the LGBT+ team at Community Business, based in Hong Kong, and is responsible for supporting Community Business’ LGBT+ campaigns and initiatives.

Prior to Community Business, Blake worked in various roles related to human resources, administration, fitness training, and customer service. He studies part-time at the University of Hong Kong and holds a BSc in Risk Management and Business Intelligence from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, graduating with First Class Honors. He is fluent in Cantonese, English, Mandarin and has a beginner level of Spanish.

Sumit is the Programme Associate at Community Business, based in India. His work mainly revolves around supporting campaigns and initiatives of the organisation.

Prior to Community Business, Sumit has worked as freelance consultant in the field of Gender and Sexuality, Youth, SRHR. He has experience in facilitating trainings and developing modules on these topics. He has also been into film making and has directed short films based on sexual minorities.

He is an India Lead for SAYAN which is an international network for Gender and Sexual Minority.

Sumit is fluent in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and English. He loves to explore different places and cultures.

Shalini is the founder of Community Business Limited and the organisation’s CEO until mid-2009.  She has advised many companies on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Asia, diversity and inclusion, work-life balance and corporate community investment.  She has conducted extensive research and written numerous publications on these subjects and is a sought after speaker in Hong Kong and globally. 

Over the years, Shalini was awarded several accolades due to her work in these subjects.  They include the “Chief Executives Commendation for Community Service” by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2005, “Asia 21 Young Leader” by the United States’ Asia Society and the “35 under 35” list by UK based World Business in 2007.  In 2008, Shalini was awarded an MBE from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II for services to CSR in Hong Kong.  In 2009, she was honoured by the World Economic Forum as a Global Young Leader. 

In addition to Community Business, Shalini is the founder of The Zubin Foundation, a charity devoted to patient safety and quality of care in hospitals, racial integration and special education needs of local non-Chinese speakers.  She is also founder of HospitalAdvisor, a social enterprise to empower patients with information and to celebrate hospitals that put patient care at the centre of their services.

Catherine is a former Allen & Overy Partner, who worked in the firm's London and Hong Kong offices for over 20 years advising on a wide variety of finance-related matters. She was heavily involved in the firm’s social responsibility and pro bono activities, as the Hong Kong office Pro Bono Partner and a member of the firm’s Global Foundation Executive. Catherine also led a number of initiatives relating to the mentoring and training of staff across all aspects of their work. Catherine is an Ambassador for Crossroads Foundation, Board Vice Chair of The Zubin Foundation and has a consulting role with Allen & Overy as Head of Social Impact, Hong Kong.

Catherine has been involved with Community Business Limited since its inception, providing pro bono legal services and signing up Allen & Overy as the first member of Community Business. She held the position of Deputy Chair of the Community Business Leadership Team from January 2005 to March 2012. Catherine was invited to be part of the Board of Directors of Community Business in January 2011 and was appointed Board Chair in September 2022.

Catherine is involved in projects supporting access to justice and rule of law in a number of areas, including helping displaced people, fighting online child exploitation and human trafficking, and supporting migrant workers. At Allen & Overy, she is able to bring together teams of lawyers, professional support staff, alumni and clients to share their knowledge and experience on international projects, as well as focusing on local communities. In her broader work in the NGO community, Catherine encourages collaboration between a range of diverse stakeholders to bring new and original ways of thinking to the challenges faced by those seeking access to justice and to address a broad range of social needs.

Paul Choi is Managing Director and Group Head of Human Resources at the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), where he strategises and oversees all aspects of talent management practices, policies and operations for the organisation. He is a member of the HKEX management committee and reports to the Group CEO. Paul has over 30 years of international experience.

Prior to joining HKEX, Paul was managing director in the Human Capital Management (HCM) division of Goldman Sachs in Asia and the Head of Goldman Sachs University and Talent Branding for Asia Pacific region. Paul worked at a number of multinational organizations including Accenture, JP Morgan and Industrial Bank of Japan in cities including Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York and London.

Paul has been recognised with an “LGBT Inclusion Champion Award” by Community Business in 2016 for his thought leadership in driving LGBT inclusion in the workplace and advocating LGBT equality in the community. Paul has significantly contributed to winning the bid for Hong Kong to host International Gay Games in 2022. Paul is also a core member of Hong Kong Marriage Equality, and one of the Hong Kong Golden Circle members of Human Rights Watch.

Previously, Paul was on the HR Advisory Board of The Women’s Foundation, and provided pro-bono Strategy and Business Planning consulting services to non-profit organisations including The Women’s Foundation, CareER and Youth Diabetes Action.

Helen is a Partner and Head of Employment, Asia at DLA Piper. Helen has been a lawyer for nearly 20 years, having previously worked in Hong Kong, New York and London advising clients on the full spectrum of contentious and non-contentious employment matters. She is heavily involved in her firm’s pro bono and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including being involved in the firm’s international gender balance network, sitting on the Asia ESG committee and co-leading the firm’s international initiative on treating people fairly. 

Helen’s legal practice similarly involves working with employers to help them address key topics for their workforce across Asia around promoting mental wellbeing, diversity, implementing training and development and roll out of policies. Helen and her team also provide pro bono support to charities who are working in areas such as housing, asylum seekers, sustainability, human rights and LGBT+ issues.

Kishore is a director at Greater Asian Advisors Ltd., a professional services firm in Hong Kong where he focuses on helping North American companies enter the Greater China Markets.  Previously, he was a founding shareholder in the ICS group of companies, which were sold in 2012 to a Dutch based group.  During his 22 years at ICS, his responsibilities included the management of their trade and commercial services divisions, as well as providing advice to a number of the firm’s private clients on taxation, corporate structuring, accounting, regulatory and trust related matters.  He has also successfully assisted a broad range of overseas clients in their Greater China expansion strategies.  Prior to joining ICS, Kishore worked in the Leveraged Buyouts department at Citibank Canada and subsequently, in the Mergers & Acquisitions department at Burns Fry Limited.

Kishore currently sits on the Board of the Richard Ivey School of Business in Hong Kong and he is also an advisor to the CEO of Hospital Advisor Ltd., a HK based social enterprise.  Kishore is the past President of the Rotary Club of Hong Kong South and the former Chair of the Indian Resources Group.

Kishore has been involved with Community Business since its inception, and was Board Chair from then until August 2022.

Kishore holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor’s degree from McMaster University.