Management
Team
Meet the team
Avvanz’s business Founders
Avvanz’s business is founded and led by an extremely experienced management team with decades of global experiences in the area of employee lifecycle management. The founders are Kannan Chettiar, Jan Espino and Alvin Caga.
Kannan Chettiar
CEO and Co-Founder
Kannan is an award-winning Global Leader with 27 years of experience in the Technology and Human Capital sectors spanning Asia, EMEA & Americas. Kannan’s Technopreneurship has earned him “Executive of the Year – Human Resources Technology” award which is an extremely prestigious Management Excellence award from Singapore Business Review. Kannan has held management and leadership positions in First Advantage, Dell Computers, Future Electronics, Arrow Electronics (NY-listed), Farnell Group (London-listed), e2open (IBM-backed), and i-Sprint Innovations (Acer-backed). Kannan is also a Certified International Trainer with very high ratings from Fortune 500 Clients and an accredited Strength Scope Practitioner. Kannan regularly delivers Thought Leadership talks and Masterclasses in the region and constantly offers insights and perspectives in mainstream newspapers and trade publications. Kannan is proficient in several languages – he speaks fluent English, Tamil, elementary Mandarin, Malay, and Thai. An engineer by training, he holds an Honours degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and an MBA from the University of Birmingham in the UK. Kannan holds an Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment as well.
Alvin Caga
Co-Founder
Alvin has more than 13 years of entrepreneurial experience focused on business development, sales & marketing and operations. He co-built Vanguard Screening Solutions and developed it to become the top background screening provider in the Philippines. His sharp business acumen has helped craft Avvanz and other businesses including Vanguard Workforce Mobility and Tirta Resorts Management Group operate on top of their respective industries. Prior to these, Alvin has a wealth of experience in handling top-notch customer service clientele with multinational companies in the fields of Business Process Outsourcing, IT Services, and Supply Chain Management. Alvin holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (Major in Computer Applications) from De La Salle University – College of St. Benilde.
Jan Espino
Co-Founder
Jan is also co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Vanguard Screening Solutions which is a sister company of Avvanz in the same group of companies. He has led Vanguard’s growth from a three-person startup to one of the biggest background screening companies with around 250 employees serving more than 300 companies mainly in the Philippines. Jan has been in the Background Screening industry for more than 10 years, including his stint as the Regional IT Leader of First Advantage Asia-Pacific. Prior to that he has spent almost 9 years with the San Miguel Group, mostly with its IT subsidiary, SMITS, Inc., where he held various positions in Portfolio Management, Customer Support, Technology Planning and Network Management.
Siang Tan
Managing Director for Asia
Born and bred in Singapore, Siang is a consummate Sales professional having honed his skills with work experiences in FMCG with Fraser & Neeve and Unilever early in his career. Next came stints in IT sales leadership at Jebsen & Jessen and Dimension Data along with dives into entrepreneurship including F&B and most recently, cross border payments partnership with WeChatPay. Siang holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Curtin University in Australia.
Marcellus Solomon
Director-Business consultancy
A seasoned business leader with a proven track record of driving strategic growth and delivering exceptional customer outcomes. With over a decade of experience in various leadership roles, his deep understanding of the local market and industry will be instrumental in mapping out Avvanz’s development and expansion.
Marcellus brings a wealth of experience in the background screening industry, having spent more than 12 years in the field. In his previous role, he played a pivotal part in tripling India’s revenue, establishing a global capability center with over 1000 employees, and ensuring operational excellence. He also demonstrated a commitment to innovation, developing product and service enhancements to improve the candidate and customer experience.
Prior to joining Avvanz, Marcellus held a variety of leadership and sales positions at prominent companies such as HireRight, First Advantage, Quest Diagnostics, Kelly Services, and ManpowerGroup.
Marcellus holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Osmania University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from VJIM, and has also completed a one-year Executive program in General Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Christy Lim
Head of Finance and Strategy Execution
A finance professional with 15 years of experience in analysis, financial management reporting and control. Christy’s qualifications include MBA in Corporate Finance from Nottingham Trent University, UK; and she graduated with BBA (Distinction) in Finance & Real Estate from University of Oklahoma, USA.
Prior to joining Avvanz, she has held executive roles and had diverse working experience and exposure in MNC across USA, Malaysia, and Singapore in oil and gas (CGG), chemical (Lanxess), manufacturing (Wearnes) and services industries (JPMorgan Chase & Co.).
Jhoann Alberto
Senior Operations Manager
Jhoann has extensive experience in handling both operations and client success teams during her 10 years of experience in the background check industry. She is a graduate of Business Administration major in Office management at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Prior to her role as the Senior Operations Manager, she was involved and has led various departments including Finance, Vendor Management, and client care.
A professional with over a decade of expertise in the Background Screening Industry who is innovative, goal-oriented, and committed. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Office Administration and presently manages Operations, Client Success, and Vendor Management, three cross-functional divisions. Her skills contribute to ideas for ongoing team and product development to ensure better service quality, and she keeps Operations, Client Success, IT, and Sales in sync with a fierce desire for providing safe and secure hiring for your company.
Denisse Aisah Pangilinan
Head Of Human Resources
A passionate HR-person dedicated to creating positive corporate culture and employee experience that promote continuous business growth and cultivate customer obsession. With more than 7 years of experience in HR and people operations, Aisah worked with international companies focused in customer service, talent acquisition, employee engagement, learning, and collaboration. She is a graduate of Business Administration major in Human Resources at Saint Louis University and currently taking up Master in Business Administration. After achieving the national certification in Human Resources Associate in the Philippines as a topnotch, Aisah has been certified as a Mental Health First Responder – advocating mental wellness not only in the workplace, but also in the community.
Michael Santos
IT Manager
Mike has more than 18 years accumulative work experience in IT such as network, system, system development and Project Management . He is a graduate of Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineer (ECE) with extensive training in Azure System administration 101 and 104, AWS, VMware Administration, Wireless, OSP, Network administration, Data Center Administration and IT Project management.
Management Team
