Dr Michele Sagan is the founder and CEO of Optimal Insight, an Asia-Pacific consultancy that brings together strategy, people, and technology to future-proof organizations for what is coming next. She is passionate about shaping the future of work and building human-centric organizations where people and performance genuinely thrive—and has spent twenty-five years doing exactly that.
With a PhD in the Future of Work from the University of Nottingham and degrees from the London School of Economics, her career spans the UK and Malaysia. She has held senior roles at PwC Southeast Asia, the Asia School of Business in collaboration with MIT Sloan, and the Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre, and has earlier experience at CIMB, HSBC, and UBS Warburg.
Her client base includes Fortune 500 companies and stretches across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the USA, and the Middle East. They consist of global multinationals and leading institutions such as Prudential, BASF, CEVA, ONE, Axiata, EPF, AirAsia, Indian Railways, the Central Bank of Malaysia, CIMA, AICB and the US Embassy, among many others. She has coached thousands of leaders and has spoken at international platforms including The Economist and the Financial Times, as well as appearing on radio and television across the region.
Through Optimal Insight, Michele and her team work with boards, executive teams, and CHROs to design human capital strategies, to deliver leadership programmes and to provide organizations and individuals access to proprietary technology platforms to navigate the future of work.
Her work has been recognized across academia, business, and thought leadership—including as a Malaysian HR Icon, Malaysian Women Leader, Insight250 Top 250 Global Thought Leaders, PeopleHum Top 50 HR Leaders, Asia HRD Congress Movers and Shakers Award, and one of the Top 10 Voices to Follow in Malaysia.
