Langham Hotels International (LHI) has appointed Vivian To as Director of Public Relations (Asia) to drive awareness of the luxury hotel group as it expands in Asia.

Ms To is a seasoned public relations professional with comprehensive experience in media relations, event management, publicity and promotions.

Working in conjunction with the public relations teams in Asia, Ms To will develop strategic publicity campaigns to maximise media coverage for the group's operating hotels and new properties in Hong Kong, China, Thailand and India.She will also be responsible for driving exposure in key Asian feeder markets.

Ainslie Cheung, Director of Public Relations, International said:The next couple years will see a rapid expansion of the group in Asia with several new hotels in the pipeline.Vivian will build on the growing presence of our brands in the region, and further promote the luxurious
and stimulating hospitality our hotels offer.

Ms To started her career as a TV journalist and news anchor. She was with the MTR Corporation before joining the LHI.

Towers Watson, a leading global professional services company, announced that Mark Saunders has been appointed managing director of the company's Hong Kong office. Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt completed their merger to form Towers Watson on 1 January, 2010.

In his role, Mark will have overall responsibility for Towers Watson's business in Hong Kong and to ensure the delivery of quality and effective people, financial and risk solutions to clients. Previously, Mark served as a Principal of Towers Perrin and Managing Director of the Risk Consulting & Software Business in Asia and built it to a market-leading position.

Towers Watson is committed to bringing broader, deeper, more comprehensive services to our clients, said Bob Charles. Mark's understanding of the Hong Kong business environment and culture and his leadership skills and strong client focus make him a perfect fit for the job.

Consistent with our vision of global market leadership, our aim is to secure Towers Watson as the undisputed leading consulting company in Hong Kong, said Mark Saunders. The combination of our two companies provides us with a strong market leading presence here in Hong Kong in our business of helping organisations improve performance and achieve successful results.

Mark has been working in the insurance industry since the 1980's and in Asia since 1989. He moved to Hong Kong in 1994. Before joining Towers Perrin in 1997 he was Hong Kong based CEO and Executive Director Board Member of international life insurance operations of a UK-parented insurer including their joint venture insurer in Korea.

He has been involved in more than 150 actuarial appraisals of economic value assessments of Asian insurers. Mark is widely regarded as a leading practitioner in economic value determination, Mergers & Acquisitions and IPOs of insurers in Asia having provided the Actuarial Expert Opinion in many major deals..

Mark has been the Appointed Actuary for ten insurers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam. He performs mentor roles for Appointed Actuaries new to the role in Asia and carries out peer review of Appointed Actuaries duties for seven insurers in India. He has provided Independent Actuary opinions for High Court sanctioned insurance business transfers and successful Expert Witness testimonials in the Court of First Instance in Hong Kong.

Mark undertakes memberships of numerous insurance-related, actuarial, regulatory and professional Committees across the Asia Pacific region and in individual countries. He is a regular facilitator of training sessions and speaks at and chairs conferences and seminars as well as authoring numerous articles and papers relating to the Asian insurance industry.

Mark is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (UK), a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India, a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (US), a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of Hong Kong, a Fellow of the Singapore Actuarial Society and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries of Thailand. He has both a BSc (Honours) degree and Post Graduate Certificate of Education in Mathematics from Manchester University, UK.

MasterCard Worldwide today announced the appointment of Hai Ling as General Manager, Greater China, MasterCard Worldwide commencing January 1, 2010.

As General Manager, Hai will hold overall responsibility for all aspects of MasterCard operations in Greater China with the objective of building the business and promoting the MasterCard brand. Focusing on corporate positioning and customer advocacy, he will be responsible for providing direction and insight to achieve business targets for Greater China. His core responsibilities will include forging closer business alliances with customers, enhancing MasterCard brand awareness and promoting the usage and acceptance of MasterCard cards.

Prior to joining MasterCard, Hai was the Head of Partnership Business and Co-brand Marketing with PCCC, a joint venture company between HSBC and Bank of Communications. He was instrumental in developing and managing merchant partnerships in the areas of co-branded credit cards, installment loans and preferred merchants.

Hai's career spans across the globe. He worked with Bank of America in the U.S. in Product Development and Customer Insights, where he spearheaded innovation through new products, markets and channels and leveraged research and development to create insights-driven marketing and product innovation.

During his career with Booz Allen & Hamilton and A.T. Kearney in both the U.S. and China, Hai has also consulted clients in financial services to launch new products and improve business processes.

Hai graduated from the College of Saint Rose in New York and obtained his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.