Lavinia Chen leads regional HR at Tim Hortons

Lavinia Chen leads regional human resources at Tim Hortons, combining experience in people development with a practical focus on retail operations. Her public professional profile identifies her as Regional Head of HR, while her own recent commentary describes supporting the Singapore and Malaysia markets.

Her work offers a perspective on how a growing food and beverage business can connect recruitment, rewards and career development with the everyday needs of its employees.

Lavinia Chen’s regional perspective

In a recent LinkedIn reflection on speaking at StaffAny’s first HR Happy Hour in Malaysia, Chen highlighted the cultural differences that shape people challenges across Singapore and Malaysia.

She described the value of meeting fellow HR leaders and exchanging ideas about work that improves employees’ experience and helps their businesses progress. That emphasis on local context provides a starting point for understanding her regional approach, rather than assuming that the same practices will suit every workforce.

A background in people development

On her professional profile, Chen describes more than 15 years of experience spanning HR leadership, business partnering, recruitment, talent management, learning and development, and employee engagement.

Her profile outlines work with both start-ups and established organisations, including building HR frameworks, meeting staffing needs and developing high-potential employees. She also identifies employee relationships, career progression and organisational culture as central to her approach.

Together, these areas connect the immediate demands of staffing a business with the longer-term task of developing the people who will lead it.

Turning employee feedback into practical decisions

At StaffAny’s HR Happy Hour on 15 October 2025, Lavinia Chen discussed compensation and benefits as a broader package encompassing wellbeing and work-life balance.

According to the organiser’s recap, her benchmarking approach begins with employee feedback, then draws on external information, conversations with peers and internal comparisons between roles.

She also described a preference for employee referral schemes and discussed incentives for part-time staff who consistently work an agreed volume of hours. On progression, Chen said some employees had moved from crew roles into management in under two years through structured pathways.

People leadership within a growing business

Marubeni identifies itself as the exclusive Tim Hortons franchisee in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Its business overview sets out plans for hundreds of additional locations over the next decade. This wider franchise footprint should not be taken as confirmation that Chen’s responsibilities include Indonesia.

That business context makes recruitment, development and consistent people practices important considerations as operations grow. Chen’s publicly described work offers examples of linking those priorities to employee feedback and progression.

For further context, read WINC Wire’s coverage of employee referrals and internal mobility, alongside Wesley Ling’s HR leadership appointment at Regal Hotels International.

Source notes

Lavinia Chen’s professional profile and featured commentary; StaffAny’s 24 October 2025 event recap; Marubeni’s business overview. This is a leadership profile dated 8 October 2026, not an announcement of a new appointment.