Xero Asia Awards 2024: Judging process

Meet our panel of judges featuring respected association leaders in the Asian accounting and bookkeeping industry and members of the Xero Asia leadership team.

The Xero Asia Awards 2024 judges

Pulkit Abrol, Director, ACCA Asia Pacific

Pulkit Abrol is the Director for Asia Pacific at ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), the global body for professional accountants. Based in Singapore, he leads the regional development agenda, guiding teams to build the global accountancy profession by connecting with businesses, governments, educational establishments, and opinion leaders.

Pulkit has a diverse leadership background spanning finance education, consumer goods, and telecommunications. His career has taken him across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, India, and China, where he has developed a deep understanding of different markets and business environments.

A passionate advocate for organizational diversity, economic empowerment, inclusion, and business value creation, Pulkit actively contributes to discussions on these topics. He is known for his thought leadership in promoting sustainable development, particularly within the context of finance and accounting. His insights often focus on the integration of sustainability standards and the importance of supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to achieve broader economic goals.

Samantha Chan, Country Head, CA ANZ Singapore

Samantha is currently the Singapore Country Head for Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ). Her role involves driving strategy, relevance and supporting members in Singapore as well as maintaining international affiliations with our counterparts around the world. Apart from her role as Singapore Country Head, she also leads the sustainability area for CA ANZ in Asia.

Samantha began her career working for a Big 4 Accounting firm in Australia. She then specialized in corporate taxation advisory in the banking industry working for an international bank across the regions of Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. She studied the Bachelor of Commerce and is a Fellow member of CA ANZ.

Koren Wines, Managing Director, Xero Asia

Koren Wines brings over two decades of global business expertise to her role as Xero's Managing Director for Asia, a position she assumed in 2022. In this capacity, Koren spearheads Xero's expansion efforts throughout Asia, collaborating closely with customers, strategic partners, key financial institutions and governmental entities to deliver value to SMEs across the region.

Commencing at Xero in 2017, Koren has had a significant impact in various executive roles, from establishing the global sales enablement function and an ePMO, to leading WorkflowMax (WFM) as its global general manager,

Prior to her tenure at Xero, Koren served in numerous executive roles at Aconex and then as Chief Operating Officer at DCCS Australia, amongst other roles. Her extensive professional background encompasses leadership roles in marketing, sales, customer experience and business transformation, across Australia, the Middle East, and Asia.

Koren holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Psychology) from Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, and is based in Singapore with her husband and family.

Derek Tang, Head of Enterprise, Xero Asia

Derek Tang is the Head of Enterprise at Xero Asia, and is well known within accounting circles in Singapore, having spent the last 10 years working with accounting firms, accounting professionals, and accounting bodies.

Derek joined Xero as a senior account manager in 2018, and oversaw the rapid and successful adoption of Xero in Singapore. He has since moved into various roles including managing the consulting and sales teams. More recently, he's been involved in managing enterprise partners in Asia, while overseeing the partner success function. Prior to joining Xero, Derek spent more than four years with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA), and was part of the ISCA CFO Committee and ISCA Young Professionals Advisory Committee.

Sarah Foo, Head of Sales, Xero Asia

Sarah Foo is the Head of Sales at Xero Asia, and is passionate about helping accountants and SMEs embrace new technology and prepare themselves and their clients for the future.

Prior to Xero, Sarah held roles with KPMG in Shanghai, Singapore, Auckland and Hong Kong in indirect tax and technology. Sarah has over 18 years’ accounting and technology experience gained across the Asia-Pacific region. She is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) and a member of Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA).

Sarah was the chair of CAANZ Hong Kong Overseas Regional Council in 2021 and a councillor from 2017 to 2022. Following her relocation back to Singapore in 2022, she commenced a three-year term serving as a councillor on the CAANZ Singapore Overseas Regional Council and is the co vice-chair in 2024.

The two-step judging process

The judges of this year’s Xero Awards bring a wealth of experience and industry knowledge to the selection process; and our two-step judging process guarantees that applications receive the attention and consideration they deserve.

Step 1

All nominations are initially reviewed by a panel of internal judges, which is composed of Xero sales and marketing leaders with a deep understanding of the industry and the partner community. They score each application and put forward their recommendations to the official judging panel.

Step 2

The final judging is done by external industry specialists. These judges score the recommendations from the application committee. The finalists and winners are selected through the scoring system.