Jolina (Mallari) Kahn, MBA
Jolina (Mallari) Kahn, APF, MBA, is Partner and Chief Futurist at Management Strategies and Cofounder of KahnDo Solutions, bringing nearly 25 years of international expertise in human resources, strategic foresight, and organizational transformation. A human-first futurist, she is dedicated to unlocking human potential, shaping thriving cultures, co-creating innovative strategies, and helping leaders and organizations navigate uncertainty to build inspiring futures.
At Management Strategies, one of the Philippines’ premier consulting firms, Jolina has been a Partner and Chief Futurist since April 2022, also heading People and Culture. She co-defines the firm’s strategic business directions and leads the Strategy and Foresight practice. She designs, facilitates, and manages multiple high-impact engagements for key clients, primarily multinational companies and large local conglomerates, focusing on Strategy, Foresight, Leadership, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Well-being, and Executive Enablement.
Prior to becoming Partner, she served as a Consultant with Management Strategies from March 2019 to April 2022, delivering programs and interventions for the firm’s clients.
Jolina is the Cofounder of KahnDo Solutions, which became a business unit of Management Strategies in July 2024. She currently serves as Cofounder and Senior Consultant since July 2024, a role she transitioned into after serving as Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer from March 2019 to June 2024. KahnDo Solutions, cofounded with Jak Kahn, is a human resources consulting company focused on “Building the Workforce of the Future, Today.” It ignites organizational success through strategic HR partnering, offering Fractional HR, Strategy, People Development, and Gamification programs and interventions for a diverse range of companies, from startups to global large-scale organizations.
Jolina’s extensive corporate background includes significant leadership roles at major global companies. She spent nearly seven years at Microsoft, where her roles included HR Director for the Philippines twice, most recently between March 2014 and January 2015, where she was responsible for people strategy and agenda, and HR Business Manager for Asia Pacific between September 2011 and September 2013, a regional headquarters role based in Singapore leading key HR programs across Asia Pacific.
Before Microsoft, Jolina dedicated almost seven years to Unilever, holding progressively senior HR positions. She was a pioneer HR Business Partner for Marketing and R&D for Asia, Africa, the Middle East & Turkey (AsiaAMET)/South East Asia between 2007 and 2008, based in Thailand. In the Philippines, she was one of the first HR Business Partners for Shared Services from 2005 to 2007. She served as HR Operations Manager for the Foods Division between 2004 and 2005, where she led the HR process integration following the acquisition of Best Foods.
Her early career at Unilever included roles in Organizational Development in Indonesia and leading Recruitment and Placement and Learning and Development in the Philippines, starting as a Management Trainee in July 2001 and being confirmed seven months ahead of schedule.
More recently, Jolina was with Optum (a UnitedHealth Group company) for over three and a half years. She served as Senior Talent Business Partner for Optum Global Operations between 2018 and 2019, leading Talent Management and Development for more than 40,000 workers globally, primarily focusing on Asia Pacific.
Prior to this, she was the Senior Director of Human Capital and Head of Human Resources for Optum in the Philippines between 2015 and 2018, overseeing HR for more than 12,000 employees. She also briefly served as HR Director for Equis Development Pte. Ltd. in the Philippines in 2015), where she established and led the HR function to support the development of renewable energy infrastructure.
A passionate advocate for future-thinking, Jolina has been an active Association of Professional Futurists (APF) member since June 2022. Her work as a Professional Futurist centers on Applied Strategic Foresight, aiding organizations in developing their business strategies by leveraging futures and foresight tools.
Since October 2022, she has co-hosted the Kahn of Worms podcast with her husband, Jak Kahn. The podcast explores current, popular, controversial, or simply interesting topics with subject matter experts and unique perspectives. Jolina has also contributed to academia as a Professor at the AHLEN Institute—Philippine School of Interior Design, teaching Art Appreciation to college students between 2019 and 2024.
Jolina earned her Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Innovation from Hult International Business School in 2024, where she was distinguished as a Hodges Scholar Top 1% of the graduating batch, served as a Student Association Representative, and was a Hult Ambassador. She earned a double degree, a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Psychology, and a Bachelor of Science in Commerce, majoring in Marketing Management, from De La Salle University in 2001.
During her undergraduate studies, she was a The Outstanding Coeds-The Outstanding Young Men Awardee, Council Chairman of the Union of Catholic Student Councils, Student Council President, and Presiding Chairman of the Honors Society. Her commitment to lifelong learning is further demonstrated by a Certificate Course in Organizational Leadership from Harvard Business School (2022) and a Certificate Course in Design Leadership for Business from Parsons School of Design – The New School (2018–2019).
She also holds certificates in Interior Design from the Philippine School of Interior Design and QC Design School and Design Psychology Coaching from The Spencer Institute. She is an ECD Emotional Stakeholder Practitioner and an ECD Emotional Culture Practitioner.
Jolina has lived and worked in Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Singapore and has covered markets across Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, the US, Brazil, Ireland, and Puerto Rico. Her industry experience spans Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Information Technology, Renewable Energy, Private Equity, Business Process Outsourcing, Health Care, Consulting, Market Research, E-commerce, Advertising, Distribution, Marketing Services, Digital Content Creation, and Manufacturing.
She is also a designer who incorporates Design Thinking into her approach. She helps leaders build design thinking skills. Her academic background includes a Certificate of Design Leadership for Business from Parsons School of Design—The New School, which covered Design Thinking Fundamentals, the Economic and Social Context of Design, Design Leadership and Management, Design and Innovation for Sustainable Business, and Futures and Foresight.
Her appearance on the Byte-sized HR podcast to discuss “Emotional Culture in the Workplace” highlights her focus on the human element, exploring its impact on team performance, psychological safety, and leadership practices, including how to balance traditional KPIs with emotional metrics.
Her participation as a panelist at the PRSP National PR Congress on “brand reputation as shaped by multiple stakeholders outside of brands themselves” indicates an application of foresight (understanding external influence) and a human-centered view (stakeholders) to strategic communication and brand management.
Similarly, her role as a speaker in a webinar on “Essential Employee Care and Culture Matters When Hiring and Working with Filipino Employees” emphasizes the practical application of her HR and human-first perspective in a specific business context.
Read Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) Congress ventures “into the unknown”.
Jolina was coauthor of The Future is Paradox: A White Paper on the Future of Work.
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