The Summit Culture Team

Siru Heino

A commercially-oriented, culturally aware professional coach (PCC) and leadership development facilitator, Siru is passionate about promoting positive change in people, whether as individuals or in teams.

She combines her professional and business expertise with her transformation from business executive to executive coach, in order to advance individual and organizational awareness, effectiveness and performance.  Siru’s coaching experience reflects a depth and diversity of industry and geography, including clients in supply chain, fashion, entertainment, higher education, oil & gas and FMCG from across Asia, Europe and USA.

Her objective as a thinking partner is to facilitate - and at times challenge -  practical and sustainable change by holding a space for deeper exploration, awareness and clarity. She considers people holistically and works with executives to enhance their authentic leadership style and enable greater impact. Understanding different personality styles, as well as aspects of neuro-leadership and mindfulness are embedded into her way of working.

Prior to transitioning to leadership development, Siru had a successful career as a Head of Branding in the coffee industry, leading multi-cultural teams across Finland, the Baltic Countries and Russia. Siru was born and raised in Finland, received her MBA in the UK and has lived in Hong Kong since 2008.

In addition to her MBA and being a PCC-qualified executive coach, Siru is qualified in a number of psychometric tools, including DiSC.

Key Disciplines

• Executive Coaching
• Leadership Development
• Team Effectiveness and Performance

When she is not working you will find Siru

• Practicing yoga or playing golf for physical, mental and spiritual renewal
• Deepening her own learning by attending workshops
• Traveling

Deno Hewson

Deno has been leading teams, consulting and coaching with leaders globally for over 20 years.  He has a well-defined point of view about what 'better' looks like, and is committed to challenging individuals to elevate their levels of performance. 

His vision for Summit Culture is to enable great coaches and consultants to partner with leaders that are committed to 'doing more, better' and together, to get stuff done. 

Further to many years leading cross-border teams and functions across Asia and the Americas, Deno has also advised a range of firms from startups to blue-chips on organisational redesign, leadership effectiveness and strategic realignment. 

His approach blends straight talk, creativity and resilience. He attributes this style as much to corporate experience as to the decades spent climbing in the Himalaya and around the world.  His work encompasses leadership development, executive performance coaching and regular conference keynote addresses on performance and outdoor adventure.

In addition to graduating with a double major in International Business and Japanese language with First Class Honours,  Deno is an IECL-qualified Executive Coach, and licensed in multiple psychometric instruments including DiSC, MBTI, Hogan, and Insights.

A permanent resident of Hong Kong and with over 25 years in Asia, Deno coaches and consults in English and Japanese, and works globally as required.

Away from work, Deno is a member of The Royal Geographical Society and the Director of Expeditions for the Hong Kong chapter of the Explorers Club.  He holds numerous technical scuba qualifications and has been involved in multiple explorations inside deep, historically significant shipwrecks.  He has participated in more than 20 high-altitude expeditions to the Himalaya and Andes, and is credited with first-ascents on rock, ice and mountain routes around the world.

Key Disciplines

• Executive Performance Coaching
• Leadership Development
• Organisational Development & Design

When he’s not working, you may find Deno:

• Climbing (rock / ice / big mountains)
• Diving (especially wrecks)
• Road biking (slowly)

Tania Léger

Based in Singapore, Tania is a seasoned, ICF-accredited executive coach. 

With 25 years of professional experience, Tania has coached leaders from over 150 global companies while living and working in Singapore, China and The Philippines.

Her passion for intercultural encounters brought Tania to intercultural coaching, where she works with leaders on areas such as communication, psychological safety, management styles, implementing change or negotiations.

As an Integral Coach, Tania also loves to bring leaders deeper into their reflection, promoting alignment between mind, body and heart to reach authentic growth.

In addition to individual and team coaching, Tania facilitates programs on intercultural adjustment and global team collaboration.

Tania is qualified in, and regularly uses, a variety of psychometric tools including coaching with the iEQ9 Integrative Enneagram personality profile and the Dilemma Reconciliation model by Dr. Fons Trompenaars

Key Disciplines

• Executive Coaching
• Leadership Development
• Integral Coaching (growth through integrating mind, body and heart)
• Intercultural Coaching 

When she is not working, you may find Tania:

• Guiding at the National Museum or at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore
• Engaged in a multilingual conversation with one of her three daughters
• Skiing or trekking in the Swiss mountains
• Reading books about spiritual development
• Meditating in nature

Mayumi Mamada

For the past 20 years, Mayumi has been working with clients as a senior Executive Coach, and in designing & delivering high-impact leadership development programs. 

Based in Tokyo, Mayumi has extensive experience working with senior leaders of major Japanese corporations, as well as with a broad array of international firms, in industries from high finance to high fashion. 

Mayumi considers one of her greatest strengths is her cultural agility, gained from working with senior leaders in a diverse range of domestic and international companies.  She quickly understands the key elements at play, asks challenging and appropriate questions to get the heart of the issue, and then works with the client to craft development steps and actions in her own authentic style.   

She is passionate about helping professionals to develop their own coaching skills, and regularly holds workshops with business and community leaders, including Buddhist priests at a major Tokyo temple.

In addition to her thousands of hours of executive development experience, Mayumi is qualified in, and regularly uses, a number of behavioural profiling tools, including MBTI, DiSC, and Insights. 

Key Disciplines

• Executive Coaching
• Leadership & Coaching Development
• Cross-Cultural Agility 

When she's not working, you may find Mayumi:

• Continuing her life-long passion of practicing yoga
• Studying the history of Kyoto, one of Japan's centers of culture & heritage

Doc McKerr

Doc has been leading teams around the world for almost 20 years.  His grounded approach to practical leadership was developed during his 11 years as a British Army Officer.  His strength is in an ability to embrace change, show resilience in the face of challenge and work in and with different cultures in order to deliver results.

It was this background and his inherent interest in human relationships that led to a focus on individual, team and organisational development.  Doc is keenly interested in the interplay between leadership behaviours and measured results and performance, as well as the impact of change initiatives on overall business strategy development. He has also recently devoted more time to incorporating a 'design thinking' mindset to leadership development.

His passion for continuous learning, people, language and culture spurred him to move to China in 2018 for 18 months to study Mandarin and Chinese culture. He is currently dividing his time between China and the UK.

Doc’s approach is collaborative in a way that encourages alternative thinking and boundaries to be pushed, whilst still being direct enough when required to achieve targets. 

British by nationality, Doc has lived in Afghanistan, Nepal and China and worked globally. 

He is licenced a number of psychometric instruments, including MBTI and TKI.

Key Disciplines:

• Leadership Development
• Individual and Team Performance
• Business Strategy

When he’s not working, you may find Doc:

• Climbing (ice / mountains)
• Trekking (somewhere remote in the mountains)
• Running (plodding)
• Studying mandarin (trying to…again)

Rob Piazza

For over two decades, Rob has been providing high-impact development solutions for leaders and teams in Japan. 

Rob recognized a significant opportunity within the areas of leadership, team dynamics and organizational development while working for a traditional Japanese company early in his career. Fueled by a desire to drive positive change in these areas, he made a deliberate shift into the field of learning and development. His mission: to assist both domestic and international companies in Japan in cultivating their people, enhancing their culture, and optimizing their organizations for success in an ever-changing and competitive business environment.

Throughout his career, Rob has held extensive roles as both an external consultant and as an internal learning and development leader. This dual perspective provides him with a comprehensive understanding of learning, team dynamics, and organizational development from both inside and outside viewpoints. His internal leadership roles span the finance, fashion retail, and pharmaceutical industries, each presenting distinctive challenges and opportunities for growth.

Whether catering to new graduates seeking foundational skills or senior executives navigating intricate leadership challenges, Rob brings a pragmatic approach to every consulting engagement, ensuring that strategies are not only innovative but also firmly rooted in practical applicability.

Rob can deliver program in both English and Japanese, and regularly utilizes tools such as MBTI and LEGO Serious Play in his programs.

Key Disciplines

• Leadership Development
• Team Effectiveness
• High Potential Development
• Organizational Development

When he is not working, you may find Rob:

• Doing photography
• Playing Airsoft
• Enjoying the outdoors with his wife and dogs

Peter Swanson

Peter is a change agent and people strategist, he helps organisations grappling with the challenges of aligning their people resources to ever-changing business strategies and needs.

Peter's expertise have been fuelled by a deep passion and interest in what drives organisational performance and value outcomes, and a belief that liberating your people resource is fundamental to achieving business objectives. 

Having held Senior Executive-level roles in leading commercial and not-for-profit organisations, as well as many years consulting globally, Peter brings sought-after capabilities to Summit Culture's team, particularly in Organisational Design, Leadership, Culture Change, People Strategy, and HR Systems & Processes.

Peter is qualified and skilled in a range of tools and methodologies, including Agile, Leadership profiling, culture and engagement surveys, personality and behavioural profiling, design thinking and innovation methods, and systems and complexity theory and tools. 

Key Disciplines

• Culture Change
• Organisational Design and Change
• Leadership and Team Development

When he’s not working, you may find Peter:

• Out on his mountain bike checking out some steep lines and jumps on his local trails (often crashing!)
• Hanging out and having adventures with his wife and three boys in the hills and mountains of NZ

Cathy Wen

Based in Shanghai, Cathy is a seasoned, ICF-accredited executive coach. She works with leaders from a wide variety of business sectors in both the individual and team coaching spaces, as well as delivering high-impact leadership development programs where the focus is on both potential and performance.

Cathy brings a rare combination of experience to bear - matching her own successful corporate career in North America, APAC and Greater China with coaching insight and empathy that allows her to quickly connect with a diverse range of executives leading through change.   This 'empathetic experience' means she quickly builds trust, thus moving the conversation down into the real issues.

Cathy believes her role as a Consultant and Coach is to authentically help clients identify their core purpose and value so they can achieve sustained transformations in themselves, their teams and their businesses.

In addition to her work with senior leaders, Cathy is passionate about assisting young talents to accelerate their development. Since 2015, Cathy has given her time to mentoring more than 180 MBA students from China European International Business School.

Cathy is qualified in, and regularly uses, a variety of psychometric tools including Hogan and EQi 2.0.

Key Disciplines

• Executive Coaching
• Leadership Development
• Accelerate women in career development
• Mentor junior executives & high potential young talents

When she is not working, you may find Cathy:

• Engaging in activities that allow her to draw inspiration from the beauty of life and people:
  • Yoga, hiking, meditation, travelling
  • Flower arrangement, music, tea & coffee
  • Time with family & close friends

Katelynne Wong

Katelynne is a seasoned and experienced specialist Operations Manager. In addition to supporting and managing all aspects of Summit Culture's office operations to ensure both internal and external stakeholders are served, she prides herself on being 'cool under pressure' and having a strong eye for detail.

Based in Hong Kong, Katelynne has over 20 years working in the Management Consulting and Sourcing & Buying industries. She values loyalty, trustworthiness and reliability, and endeavours to give the same in her work. Katelynne comes across as a 'calm but committed' team player......we call her the 'glue that keeps everything together!

Katelynne is a devoted Christian and member of Hope Worldwide, and for over 20 years has been serving the elderly in her community.

She has a degree in Business Administration.

Key Disciplines

• Office Administration
• Project Management & Operations
• Client Interface & Customer Care 

When she is not working, you may find Katelynne:

• Catching up with family and friends
• Watching Netflix
• Hiking (Family walks)
• Traveling