Giving and Receiving: Strategic Giving and Investing in Women and Girls

Ann Putnam Marks is the Regional Partnerships Manager for UNICEF East Asia Pacific Region based in Bangkok, Thailand leading philanthropy and corporate fundraising while also providing strategic guidance for six key markets in Asia. Prior to working in Bangkok, Ann worked at UNICEF USA in New York for 12 years most recently as the Vice President of Philanthropy where she led a multi-million dollar funding project called Let Us Learn to finance girls’ education globally. For 5 years, Ann led UNICEF USA’s Women in Philanthropy initiative alongside J.P. Morgan, resulting in significant revenue for UNICEF’s gender initiatives. Ann also served alongside UNICEF USA’s Chief Development Officer & Executive Vice President to provide strategy for its largest fundraising streams (Individual Giving, Corporate, Philanthropy, Legacy) to raise USD$400 million annually. Prior to UNICEF, Ann worked at NGOs in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Mexico as a human rights Program Officer. Ann earned a B.A. in Anthropology & Spanish Literature from Beloit College in the U.S., and M.A. in International Relations from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Southeast Asia Diamond Leader at Ashoka, committed to leading and building the Everyone a Changemaker world. Nani has been bringing power to women and young people for social justice through her work. She founded PEKKA, an organization focusing on empowering female heads of family, and co-founded JASS, a feminist network championing women’s rights and a movement-building institute for women.

Renyung is a next generation entrepreneur, impact investor, humanitarian and writer. Her work lies at the intersection of business sustainability, experience design and brand development, and she is currently VP, Brand HQ, Banyan Tree Holdings.

In this role, she spearheads the Group’s transformation drive towards developing a digitally-forward ecosystem of brands around wellbeing and sustainability. Having worked intermittently through the business over the last 12 years in various roles in both operations and headquarters, she is distinguished by an ability to apply strategic thinking, empathy and creativity in cross-functional teams to identify and lead critical change projects.

Over the last 6 years, Renyung helped to pioneer the creative and social business landscape in Asia through the establishing of one of the first co-working spaces in the region, the first chapter of Creative Mornings in Asia, and the founding of MATTER, widely recognized to be a leading example for ethical fashion brands. She is also Chairperson of the Lien Fung Colloquium at Singapore Management University, Founding Co-organiser of Creative Mornings Singapore, Council Member of Greendale Secondary School, and a judge and mentor for SIF and DBS-NUS Social entrepreneurship programs.

Emphasizing inclusive leadership through social advocacy, her more recent appointments include Founding Member of the AVPN Gender Network, as well as Business Leader of Red Dot for Pink Dot 2021.

Patsian Low is currently with AVPN as Chief of Staff, working closely with the Chair and CEO to ensure effective planning and execution of strategic priorities. She takes on this role in addition to serving as Advisor to AVPN’s action platform for policymakers across Asia to build stronger and more collaborative social impact funding ecosystems.

Patsian is a driven senior leader who brings over 24 years of cross-geographic and cross-industry experience, offering executive leadership, advisory services, project design/management, and training in social entrepreneurship/social investment, impact philanthropy, corporate social impact and non-profit strategy.

She was previously Senior Vice President and head of DBS Foundation and DBS Bank CSR; prior to that, she was the Director of Philanthropy at Singapore’s NVPC, which promotes and engages philanthropy from different donor sectors. Patsian currently serves on the boards of Artswok Collaborative Ltd, which brings community art to advance social development; and GiveAsia Kindness Foundation, a crowdfunded philanthropic foundation. She is an Advisor to Tri-Sector Associates, a Pay-For-Success incubation and structuring firm. She had also consulted with Johnson & Johnson to implement its new CSR strategy in North Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australia/New Zealand.