Up the ranks: Freddie Chow to exit role as Sanofi's APAC chief talent officer

Having been with the Sanofi Group for more than 25 years, Freddie Chow, chief talent officer for Asia Pacific, will be leaving Sanofi at the end of this year to pursue other opportunities.

Speaking to Human Resources, Chow said: "I have spent 25 years with Sanofi and the journey has been rewarding in terms of my knowledge, experiences and the impact I have made for the organisation and our people. I have reached a point where I believed I have ticked all the boxes within the full spectrum of running a HR operations and aligning to a growing business. It is time for me to move on and do something different."

As he embarks on the next stage of his career, Chow shares that he plans on doing some free-lance training and executive coaching.

He explained: "As I am 55 year old now (age is just a number), I feel I have gained enough knowledge and experiences to share with people outside of Sanofi and I plan to do this as a free-lance basis. I would also want to reward myself by having more personal time for my family and taking holidays.

"I would like to do some leadership training and executive coaching, which are areas close to my heart. If there are interesting HR projects that can use my knowledge and experiences, I would love to embark on them."

When asked about the number one talent concern in Asia Pacific at the moment, Chow said: "On the challenges for talent, they are always around building a credible and realistic succession plan, having concrete development plans to stretch the talents and accelerate their development and last but not least the need to take risk with our talents."

ALSO READ: Q&A with Freddie Chow, Sanofi

An announcement letter by Sanofi's Peter Goethuys, chief talent officer and head of HR DCV GBU,  revealed that in his most recent role as chief talent officer, Asia Pacific, Chow was initially focused on the career planning, development, and succession planning of the senior leaders in Asia/JAPAC/China. During the past year Chow position has evolved to a more corporate role, with a focus on senior leaders' executive assessments and development. With his departure at the end of the year, the role will be based in Paris in the future, and a nomination will follow in due time.

Chow first started in materials management in IA before embarking on his HR career. During his long HR career, he not only played a key role within the HR function but also provided strong support to the business, notably for the China organisation where he spent 13 years in Shanghai as head of HR, China and as regional HR for Asia Pacific, before moving into his current role as chief talent officer, Asia Pacific.

READ MORE: The Futurist: “Gone are the days of an HR generalist,” says Sanofi

Photo / Provided