Joining the ranks of world's most influential headhunters
KATHRYN Yap is a headhunter with panache. The elegantly dressed Singaporean is also an opera lover, speaks several languages - English, French, Mandarin, Thai, as well as several dialects - and she paints too. Her eclectic experience, including a double major in French and biology, probably explains why she is such a formidable headhunter.
In January, Ms Yap, who is CTPartners Asia Pacific managing partner, made it to BusinessWeek's Top 50 list of the world's most influential headhunters.
Ms Yap specialises in technology/media and telecommunications and biotech/pharmaceutical/life sciences. She is also a member of the firm's operating committee and managing partner of the firm's Singapore office where she leads a team of professionals dedicated to assisting clients in these industries.
She oversees activities concerning assignments for global teams and coordinates with peers in key business centres throughout the world to ensure high levels of client service. In addition, Ms Yap maintains an active search practice where she has successfully completed assignments for chief executives, chief financial officers, chief operating officers, chief investment officers and members of boards of directors. She has recruited executives for most senior operations and functional roles and has also worked with clients in a variety of industries who desire to establish or expand their presence in the region.
A search professional with more than 12 years of search experience in the Asia-Pacific region, Ms Yap has been the managing director of two other recruitment firms. Most recently, she was with Russell Reynolds Associates.
Ms Yap's corporate experience includes being regional head, Asia, for CUNO Filtration Asia Ltd. Earlier she started her career with Scitech Medical Products Pte Ltd.
She graduated from the University of Oregon with a double major in biology and French. After receiving a master's degree in microbiology from Oregon State University, she became a researcher with the Oregon Microbial Ecology Lab.
Ms Yap is a member of the Who's Who in the Asia Pacific Rim and is a frequent speaker at business and academic forums.
This article was first published in The Business Times on May 21, 2008
