Mike Chilman

Managing Partner, Head of Asia, Energy & Commodities

Mike is the Managing Partner of Principal and Partners, Head of Asia and co-founded Principal Search in 1997. Based between Singapore and London, he is responsible for developing and maintaining the Asia time zone business, specifically across trading, origination and analytics, dovetailing this far eastern intelligence into the UK and US businesses to produce a truly global talent mapping and tracking capability. He is also responsible for all aspects of the firm’s strategic development and expansion.

Prior to this, Mike worked in investment banking, specialising in global equities, fixed income, commodities and currency arbitrage. He started his career in UK retail banking where he joined straight from college on a graduate rotation program.

Giles Krempels​

Director, Head of Commodities Asia (excluding China), Energy & Commodities

Giles is a Director and Head of Commodities, Asia, sitting within the Energy & Commodities Practice at Principal & Partners, is responsible for the origination, execution and delivery of APAC front office Sales and Trading, Commodity Finance, C-suite and senior-level search services. He brings over a decade of experience managing core client relationships in Asia, executing senior mandates and growing the Asia business.​

His focus is across both physical and financial commodity markets and utilities including oil & refined products, natural gas, LNG, power, emissions, base & precious metals, coal, freight and agricultural products. In addition, he also provides consulting services, organisational structure advice as well as competitor intelligence and compensation reports. Giles has extensive knowledge and experience across the energy, commodities and natural resources sector, leveraging on his expertise in searches and global projects for a client base that includes trade houses, oil majors, banks, hedge funds, utilities and shipping conglomerates.​

Prior to joining Principal & Partners, Giles was a Director of commodities search firm in Singapore. Giles started his career as a European Equities & Bonds trader in London before moving to Singapore where he worked in a boutique wealth management firm. He successfully built a substantial portfolio of private clients during his time there before moving into commodities search.​

Peter Yang

Senior Consultant, Energy & Commodities

Peter is a bilingual Consultant working within the Energy and Commodities practice at Principal Search. He has a global geographic focus, however his particular strengths lie in the EMEA and APAC markets. Peter’s clients include Investment Banks, Oil Majors / Refiners, Smelters, Trading Houses, Utilities and Global Corporates and his track record consists of placing senior professionals across commodity trading, sales, origination, c-suite, structuring, fundamental and quantitative analytics, commodity linked financing, operations, risk, legal and compliance.

Peter holds an MSc in Risk and Stochastics from London School of Economics and Political Science and a BSc in Mathematics, Statistics and Optimisation from Imperial College London. Peter speaks fluent Mandarin and English.

Joanna Zhao

Director, Head of Legal & Compliance, Asia

Joanna is a Director and is responsible for the group’s Legal and Compliance practice, with a particular focus in Asia.

Over the years, she has built an extensive track record in placing associate to partner level lawyers into reputable US firms, UK firms, EU firms and Chinese firms in the Asia Region. She also assists lateral movement into financial institutions and fast-growing companies’ legal and compliance teams.

Joanna graduated from the National University of Singapore and is bilingual in Mandarin and English.

Kaye Lee

Consultant, Energy & Commodities

Kaye is a multilingual Consultant working within the Energy and Commodities practice in the APAC market of Principal and Partners. She has over 10 year of global recruiting experience including managing stakeholder relationships, executing global searches across various levels and functions, providing strategic market insights around competitors, compensation, talent market, diversity, and recruiting process. Kaye has built her network in industries such as Oil Majors, Investment Banks, Aerospace Engineering, and Technology. Partnering with clients to secure top talent from the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Kaye holds a BSc in Psychology from Saint Louis University. She speaks English, Mandarin, and Filipino.

Nathalie Chieng

Senior Researcher, Energy & Commodities

Nathalie is a Senior Researcher sitting within the Energy & Commodities Practice at Principal & Partners. Based in Singapore, her role involves the strategic management of talent relationships, conducting comprehensive searches across various organisational levels, delivering invaluable market insights, and implementing effective recruitment strategies. Prior to Principal & Partners, her experience includes recruitment in the financial services industry, with a focus on hiring mid to senior level professionals. Nathalie has established robust connections with global Investment and Corporate Banks, Asset Management firms, Hedge Funds, Fintech companies, and Digital Banks.

​Nathalie holds a Masters in Accounting from Monash University and a Bachelors in Accounting and Finance (Honours) from the University of West Bristol. She is fluent in English, Mandarin and Bahasa Melayu.