Our People

Associate Professor Simon Tay is Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. He is concurrently a tenured Associate Professor, teaching international law at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law.

His book, Asia Alone: the Dangerous Post Crisis Divide from America (Wiley 2010) was well reviewed in the Economist, Financial Times and regional media. His commentaries feature regularly in regional newspapers. Professor Tay is also a prize winning author with five books of stories and poems. In 2010, his novel City of Small Blessings was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize. He recently published a collection of short stories titled “Middle and First”.

From 1992 to 2008, he served in a number of public appointments for Singapore. These included serving as Chairman of Singapore’s National Environment Agency; and as an independent Nominated Member of Parliament (1997-2001). In 2006, Professor Tay received a National Day Award.

Chen Chen Lee is an Advisor (Diplomacy) to Asialink at the University of Melbourne. She is also a Senior Fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, the country’s oldest think tank and founding member of the ASEAN-ISIS network of think tanks. Prior to this, she held the role of Policy Programs Director with the SIIA from 2015-2019. From 2010-2014, she headed the Strategic Planning and Coordination Division at the ASEAN Secretariat, reporting directly to the Secretary-General of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Chen Chen has worked in the public policy and international development sector for over a decade. She has written and published articles on ASEAN’s centrality, Southeast Asia’s digital economy, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, haze and climate change in ASEAN, green finance and sustainable infrastructure, etc. She is also a consultant to the ASEAN-Australia Counter Trafficking. Chen Chen has lived and worked in Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.

Nicholas Fang graduated from Oxford University with a Masters in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He joined Singapore’s oldest think tank, the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, in 2010. He is currently director, security and global affairs, at the institute, which has been ranked top local think tank, and among the best in Asia and the Pacific over the past 10 years. In that capacity, he has represented Singapore in several Track 1.5 fora, including the Japan-Singapore Symposium and the China-Singapore Forum. His key focus areas of research include security and defense, information, influence and interference operations, and the rising threat of misinformation across the globe. Nicholas started his working life as a journalist and has worked at The Straits Times and regional broadcaster CNA. Nicholas was appointed Nominated Member of Parliament in February 2012, and served a two-and-a- half-year term where he focused on issues pertaining to international affairs, media, defense and security, and sports.

Oh Ei Sun is a Senior Fellow at Singapore Institute of International Affairs. He was a Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests include the political economy of Southeast Asia and international relations, particularly those involving China.

Previously, Ei Sun served as Political Secretary to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. He was also senior research fellow & lecturer in various public and private universities in Malaysia, China, Australia and the United States.

Ei Sun has also been an avid commentator and columnist on politics, economics and current affairs for various international media, and a frequent speaker at high-level international forums.

Ei Sun was Administrative Officer at the International Telecommunication Union, and scientific & legal consultant to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, both in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ei Sun is a Justice of the Peace (JP) of Sabah, Malaysia, and also a council member of the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association. He founded and serves as president of Ma-Zhong (Malaysia-China) Friendship Association Sabah, Malaysia.

Ei Sun earned his degrees in law and policy, business management, mechanical and aeronautical engineering, as well as German literature, all from the University of California, USA.

Mr Tony Chew is Executive Chairman of Asia Resource Corporation which has diversified business interests in the Asian Region. He is also Chairman of Macondray Holdings Pte Ltd, Alliance Asia Holdings Pte Ltd, and board member of Heineken Myanmar Limited, Grand Royal Group International Co Ltd, Myanmar Supply Chain & Marketing Services Co Ltd, Cycle & Carriage Automobile Myanmar
Co Ltd and KFC Vietnam Company.

Companies which he founded or led include Pepsi-Cola Vietnam, KFC Vietnam, JetStar Asia Ltd, Myanmar Airways International, Pepsi-Cola Philippines, Del Monte Pacific Ltd, RHB-Cathay Securities, Sterling Tobacco Corporation, Hua Feng Paper Mill, International Beverages Trading Company (Myanmar), Cycle & Carriage Automobile Myanmar Co Ltd, Heineken Myanmar, etc. He also served on boards of SGX companies including Keppel Corporation, Keppel Tat-Lee Bank, Keppel Bank, CapitaLand Commercial and Del Monte Pacific.

In Singapore, he plays an active role in promoting regional businesses, having served as Chairman of Singapore Business Federation, Network Indonesia, Vietnam Business Club; Board Member of Singapore Trade Development Board, Economic Review Sub-Committee on Entrepreneurship & Internationalization, Regional Business Forum, and ASEAN Business Advisory Council. He was also Member of the Economic Strategies Committee, National Productivity and Continuing Education Council, and founding Chairman of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore.

He is currently Co-Chairman of ACCORD Employers & Business Council, Board Member of Singapore Health Services, Member of Economic Research Institute for ASEAN & East Asia Governing Board, Chinese Development Assistance Council Board of Trustees, and Advisor to Singapore Institute of International Affairs. He was conferred the Singapore National Day Meritorious Service Medal (2013), Public Service Star (2008) and Public Service Medal (2001), as well as NUS Outstanding Service Award 2011, SG50 Outstanding Chinese Business Pioneers Award (2015) and SBF Appreciation Award 2017.

Dr YEO Lay Hwee is Director of the European Union Centre in Singapore. She is also Council Secretary at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, Adjunct Fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Senior Associate at the Centre for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Adjunct Faculty at the Singapore Management University and teaches part
time at the National University of Singapore.

Lay Hwee sits on several Advisory Boards including Centre for European Studies at the Australian National University, KU Leuven’s Master in European Studies Programme; Leiden Asia Centre in Leiden University: Asian Vision Institute (Cambodia) and the Student Think Tank for Europe-Asia Relations. She is also a member of the Scientific Committee of a multi-year research project on “Trends in Global Governance and Europe’s Role” (TRIGGER) led by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) (https://trigger-project.eu/)

Her research interests revolve around comparative regionalism, multilateralism and governance networks. She has written extensively on issues pertaining to Asia-Europe relations in general, and specifically on the ASEM process and EU-ASEAN relations. She participates actively in various research networks, and contributes regularly to policy dialogues and academic workshops. Her most recent book which she co-edited with Professor Tommy Koh is on ASEAN-EU Partnership: the Untold Story.

Adam Rahman is the Head of Corporate Affairs for Citi in Singapore. In this role, Adam oversees all internal and external communications, reputational risk management and government relations functions. He is also responsible for raising the brand profile of Citi and developing the thought leadership strategy of the firm in Singapore. He also serves on a number of management committees including the Country Management Committee, Country Coordinating Committee and the Country Business Risk and Control Committee. Reporting directly to Citi’s Head of ASEAN and Citi Country Officer for Singapore, Adam is part of the ASEAN Management Committee.

Outside of Citi, Adam is actively involved in the area of public service. He serves as a District Councillor of the South East Community Development Council (SECDC) of Singapore which aims to assist the needy and enable greater understanding amongst various communities. In addition, Adam serves on the Board of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (www.iras.gov.sg). Adam is also a Council Member with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA). Adam is also on the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and on the Advisory Board of the National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Previously, Adam has also served on the Board of the Health Sciences Authority (www.hsa.gov.sg) and chaired the Branding and Marketing Outreach Working Group of the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore (IBF) and was on the IBF Standards Committee.

In August of 2008, Adam was awarded the Public Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Masyarakat) by the President of the Republic of Singapore as a national recognition of his contributions to the community. In November 2015, Adam received the Public Service Star (Bintang Bakti Masyarakat) from the President for rendering valuable public service to the people of Singapore. In April 2018, Adam was appointed as a Justice of Peace by the President (https://www.pmo.gov.sg/Justices-Peace).

Gautam Banerjee is a Senior Managing Director and Chairman of Blackstone Singapore. Gautam served as Executive Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Singapore for nine years until his retirement in December 2012. He spent over 30 years with the firm in various leadership roles in Singapore, India and East Asia.

Gautam’s roles outside of Blackstone include serving as an independent director on the Boards of Singapore Airlines Limited, Singapore Telecommunications, Piramal Enterprises Limited and GIC Private Limited.

During his nearly four decades in Singapore, Gautam has worked closely with the not‐for‐profit sector, statutory boards, educational, art and cultural institutions. He is currently a term‐trustee of SINDA, Chairman of the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise (raiSE), pro‐chancellor of the National University of Singapore and a board member of the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA). His former roles have included being a member of the Legal Service Commission, a board member of the Economic Development Board (EDB), the National Heritage Board and a member of the Governing Boards of the School of the Arts and Yale‐NUS college.

Gautam was a Nominated Member of Parliament in Singapore from 2007 to 2009 and was awarded the Public Service Medal by the Singapore Government in 2014.

Mr Bhaskaran is a Partner of the Centennial Group, a strategic advisory firm headquartered in Washington DC. As Founding CEO of its Singapore subsidiary Centennial Asia Advisors, he co-ordinates the Asian business of the Group which provides independent economic research on Asian political and macro-economic trends for investment institutions, government agencies, multilateral institutions and companies with interests in Asia, leveraging off 40 years of studying Asia.

Mr Bhaskaran is also Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore where his main interests are in analyzing macro-economic policy frameworks in Singapore.

Prior to Centennial, Mr Bhaskaran held senior positions at Societe Generale’s Asian investment banking division where he supervised Asian economic and investment strategy analysis and was a member of the Executive Committee, in charge of Asian equity research. In 12 years with the firm, Mr Bhaskaran helped to establish its business presence in Southeast Asia and in South Asia while also helping to develop the firm’s highly-rated equity and economic research. Prior to that, Mr Bhaskaran worked for the Singapore government, supervising a team that prepared strategic political and economic assessments of Asia for senior Singapore government officials.

Mr Bhaskaran holds a range of other positions. In terms of public service, he served as Chairman of a high-level government committee reviewing the regulation of moneylenders in Singapore in 2014-2015. He is also Member of the Competition Appeals Board, Singapore. In addition, he is a Member of the Regional Advisory Board for Asia of the International Monetary Fund; Council Member, Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA); and Vice-President, Economics Society of Singapore.

Mr Bhaskaran also serves on the boards of several companies whose businesses span the ASEAN region including CIMB Investment Bank (a subsidiary of CIMB Bank, Malaysia’s second largest bank and which operates across ASEAN), Japfa Ltd (listed in Singapore) and Luminor Capital.

Mr Bhaskaran was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge University where he earned an MA (Cantab) and at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he obtained a Masters in Public Administration. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Mr Gerald Ong Chong Keng is Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of the PrimePartners Corporate Finance Group and a Director of Metro Holdings (listed on the SGX-ST).

Mr Ong has more than 25 years of corporate finance related experience. He has held senior positions at various financial institutions including NM Rothschilds & Sons (Singapore) Ltd, the DBS Bank Group, Tokyo- Mitsubishi International (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Hong Leong (Malaysia) Group. During his time with these institutions, Mr Ong’s duties encompassed the provision of a wide variety of Corporate Finance services including advisory, M&A activities and fund raising exercises incorporating various structures such as equity, debt, equity-linked and derivative-enhanced issues.

Mr Ong has been appointed as Honorary Consul for Liechtenstein in Singapore. He has also been recognised as an IBF Distinguished Fellow and sits as a member of various MAS led committees. He is also a Council Member of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs ('SIIA'). He is an alumnus of the National University of Singapore, University of British Columbia and Harvard Business
School.

Mr Ho Tong Yen is the Director of Group Corporate Communications at Keppel Corporation and concurrently CEO of Keppel Care Foundation. He was previously CEO of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co Ltd from 2011 to 2015. Before that, he held various positions in the Singapore Government, including Press Secretary to then Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong in the Prime Minister’s Office and was concurrently a Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. He had also served as a diplomat at the Permanent Mission of Singapore to the United Nations in New York and the Singapore Trade Office in Taipei.

Mr Ho has a BSc (Economics) from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Master in Public Management from the National University of Singapore. He was a Lee Kuan Yew Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University and a Lien Ying Chow Fellow at the Nanyang Technological University. He is also a Director of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra Company Ltd and a Council Member of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

Professor Tan Tai Yong is President and Professor of Humanities (History) at Yale-NUS College. Prior to becoming president, he served as the College’s Executive Vice President (Academic Affairs) overseeing the academic and co-curricular aspects of the liberal arts experience at Yale-NUS College, including all faculty matters and academic affairs. President Tan was previously the Vice-Provost (Student Life) at the National University of Singapore, in charge of student matters and residential living. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and was concurrently Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies. He was appointed as the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS)’ 6 th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore, and has been a member of the Singapore Social Sciences Research Council since 2016. He is Honorary Chairman of the National Museum of Singapore and Chairs the National Collection Advisory Panel. He is the recipient of two National Day awards – Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2009 and the Public Service Medal in 2020.

Cheryl Chen is the Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability for Asia Pacific at S&P Global. She leads the efforts in the region with S&P Global Foundation grant programs and partnerships and corporate ESG practices. She was previously Vice President, Head of Corporate Citizenship for Citi Singapore and has more than ten years of experience in corporate citizenship and
cross-sector partnerships.

She serves as a District Councilor with the South East Community Development Council since 2014 and is currently an advisory committee member of the National Youth Fund of Singapore and management committee member of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation. Cheryl is part of the pioneer cohort of Obama Foundation Leaders: Asia-Pacific program, a one-year leadership development and community engagement program that seeks to inspire, empower, and connect leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region.

Cheryl graduated with a Double Degree in Bachelor of Science (Economics) and Bachelor of Business Management (Major in Finance) from Singapore Management University (SMU), and obtained the Master of Social Science at SMU in 2015. She lives with her husband and two sons in Singapore.

Eu-Lin leads the Sustainability & Climate Change practice where she helps clients strategise, implement, report and obtain assurance across a range of Environmental, Social and Governance issues.
This includes but not limited to in the areas of carbon measurement, decarbonisation and net zero pathways, climate risk assessments, Sustainability Development Goals prioritisation, green and sustainable finance, sustainability strategy and sustainability reporting. She has worked in London and Singapore and served clients across financial services, government, real estate, marine, oil and gas, consumer, resources and telecommunications. Her experiences are across advisory, audit, governance and risk management.

Eu-Lin is a Singapore Chartered Accountant and graduated with a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University. She is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Eu-Lin is an accredited Carbon Tax verifier and serves on committees in the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment.

Eu-Lin serves on not-for-profit boards where she is a board member and Audit & Risk Committee Chairman of a healthcare related board and board member and Audit & Risk Committee Chairman of an international school. She is also the board member of an Institute of Higher Learning where she sits as an Audit Committee member and the Deputy Chairman of its business school.

Philip Kwee is the Chief Operating Officer of Pontiac Land Private Limited, a privately-owned real estate company based in Singapore. The company owns a portfolio of prime assets in Singapore,
Australia, United States of America, and the Maldives.

Prior to joining Pontiac Land, Philip was a consultant with McKinsey & Company, and also worked for Singtel. He has a Master of Arts (Law) from the University of Cambridge. Philip is also a Board
Member of Capella Hotel Group.

Satya is a Partner with KPMG in Singapore.   He is the Global-Co Head of Public Transport and leads the Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare sector in Singapore and Indonesia. He has over 25 years of experience advising both Governments and private sector clients in Asia and the Middle East.

Prior to joining KPMG in 1995, Satya worked with MNCs in Asia and the Middle East.  He is a Chartered Accountant and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Heinrich Jessen is chairman and principal partner of Jebsen & Jessen, a diversified South East Asian industrial group. He is also partner and director in the five independent business groups that make up the Jebsen & Jessen Family Enterprise.

Heinrich started his career as a tropical biologist before joining the family enterprise in 1995. In Jebsen & Jessen he has worked as group director - environment, health & safety, general manager of two of the group’s packaging companies and regional managing director of its material handling joint venture MHE-Demag. He has been chairman of Jebsen & Jessen’s executive board since 2010.

Heinrich is a member of the Eastern Asia Review Commission of Air Liquide International. He is also a member of the Yale University President's Council on International Activities and a member of both the Steering Committee and the Dean’s Leadership Council of the Yale School of the Environment. He is Past Chairman of the Young President’s Organization Intercontinental Chapter and has previously served on the boards of the Singapore National Employers Federation, the United World

College of South East Asia, the Parkinson Society Singapore and the Singapore Environment Council. He was awarded Singapore Businessman of the Year in 2016. Heinrich earned a B.Sc. from George Washington University and an M.E.M. from Yale University.

K V Rao, holds a Masters in International Business from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, India. He has worked in diversified industries and enterprises, in leadership positions, including a stint with the Singapore Civil Service as a Director with International Enterprise Singapore. He is specialized in International Business, and has an experience that covers 40 countries in the developed and emerging markets, with a focus on Asia.

He is currently the Resident Director – ASEAN, for Tata Sons Private Limited, promoter of the Tata Group. Concurrently, he serves as Board Member & Chairman of several Tata Regional Subsidiaries. He is active in community work, arts and industry bodies.

Company Boards :-

• Chairman of Trust Energy Resources, Tata Power International, Tata Capital and Tata Capital Advisors in Singapore
• Chairman (President Commissioner) of PT Tata Motors Indonesia and PT Tata Motors Distribusi Indonesia
• Board Member of Tata International, Tata Chemicals International, TML Holdings (Tata Motors), Qubit Investments (Tata Industries), World-One Development Company and World-One (Sri-Lanka) Projects (Tata Housing) and Life Insurance Corporation in Singapore, amongst others

Public Bodies, Industry Platforms :-

• Term Trustee, Board of Trustees SINDA (Singapore Indian Development Association) focused on community development, and served as Vice President of the Executive Committee till 2021.
• Member Board of Advisors – Singapore Institute of International Affairs ( SIIA)
• Chairman of CII-IBF (Confederation of Indian Industry India Business Forum, Singapore Office)
• Vice Chairman of the South Asia Business Council of the Singapore Business Federation, apex industry body of Singapore
• President of SIFAS (Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society)
• Served as Member of Board of Advisors of SICCI –
• Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry till Dec 2020.

He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, 2011 award from his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, India.

He is a blogger, speaker, and has a keen interest in Indian Classical Music. Mr. Rao is a Singaporean and has lived in Singapore for 25 years, blessed with two sons and spouse is an Electronics Engineer and senior IT professional.

Oon Jin was the Executive Chairman of PwC Singapore before his retirement following a 38-year career with PwC. He was a key member of the firm’s Leadership Team for more than 15 years and had led the firm through key growth milestones. Oon Jin also chaired several of the firm’s regional joint ventures such as PwC SEA Consulting and PwC SEA Corporate Finance.

He was also a member of the PwC Executive Board for the CaTSH firm, which comprises the PwC firms in Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In addition, Oon Jin was a member of the PwC Strategy Council, which comprises leaders from the largest 21 firms in the PwC global network.

Oon Jin serves as the Chairman of Singapore Land Authority (SLA). Oon Jin is currently the Vice Chairman of Singapore Business Federation and an Independent Director of Singapore Exchange Limited. He was previously a board member of Jurong Town Corporation (JTC), Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and National Arts Council (NAC).

In addition, Oon Jin serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Nanyang Business School as well as a member of the Corporate Governance Advisory Committee, which was set up by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He was a Council Member of Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

He was previously the Vice Chairman of the Singapore Institute of Directors, past Council Member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and past Chairman of the Auditing & Assurance Standards Committee of ISCA.

Oon Jin has continued to support the non-profit sector over the years. He is currently a board member and audit committee chairman of Kidney Dialysis Foundation. He also serves on the board of Governors for the Lien Foundation. He was previously on the board of Shared Services for Charities.

Suu Wei is the Asia Pacific Public Policy and Economic Graph Director at LinkedIn and is focused on forging partnerships with governments and other organizations across Asia Pacific to bring LinkedIn’s unique insights to life and create economic opportunities for members in the workforce. He engages with national and local governments, industry associations, academia and other stakeholders to shape the policy environment and help LinkedIn grow its business in Asia Pacific. He is also an Independent Director of MSI Global Pte. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary and commercial arm of the Singapore Land Transport Authority that provides land transport planning and management solutions. Suu Wei co-chairs the Government and Regional Affairs Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore to drive thought leadership and contribute to impactful programming for the Chamber.

Prior to LinkedIn, Suu Wei was the Government Relations Director at PayPal and was responsible for providing strategic counsel and program support for PayPal’s business. Before this, he was responsible for regulatory compliance matters for Eurex Clearing Asia and served as a deputy director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, focusing on financial market development in Singapore. He also completed a broad range of stints with Citi in public sector sales and business development, debt capital origination and corporate credit analysis. Before joining Citi, Suu Wei was responsible for corporate investments and strategic planning in shipping and logistics. He started his professional career as a member of the Singapore Administrative Service with the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore to formulate public policies in maritime transport and enterprise
development.

Suu Wei holds a Bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Tokyo in Japan and an MBA degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the US with a double major in Finance and Management. He speaks fluent English, Mandarin, Japanese and Cantonese.

Jerry is the Founder and Chairman of Bank Jago. Before this, he spent over ten years as CEO of Bank BTPN, which he transformed from a small pension bank to the 7th largest bank in Indonesia and a leader in mass market and digital banking in SE Asia. His 35 years of experience in financial services began at Citibank, and subsequently include senior leadership roles at Bank Central Asia, Bank Danamon, and Astra Financial Services. Following the Asian financial crisis, Jerry was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, a government task force established to restore the banking industry back to normalcy.

He sits on the Board of Trustees for the SymAsia Foundation in Singapore, World Wildlife Fund in Indonesia, Blum Center for Developing Economies at the UC Berkeley, the Advisory Board of the Jackson Institute of Global Affairs at Yale University, and most recently, the Global Advisory Board of the McIntire School of Commerce at University of Virginia.

Jerry graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. He has attended multiple Executive Management programs, including those at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School, and is also an Eisenhower Fellow.