Singapore’s Inspirational Leaders

Tham Loke Kheng was appointed Mediacorp CEO and Board Director on 1 September 2017. An industry veteran with extensive media experience, especially in content and marketing, Loke Kheng has spent her career in the media industry, steering the growth of pay television and broadband as well as holding senior management and leadership roles in leading Asian operators in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Prior to joining Mediacorp, Loke Kheng was Head of NOW TV, the largest pay TV operator in Hong Kong, and before that, President of Taiwan Broadband Communications and Head of Content and Marketing in StarHub. With her current appointment in Mediacorp, she comes full circle to the same organisation, then known as Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, where she started her career as a fresh graduate in 1988.

Loke Kheng graduated from National University of Singapore. She is married to a Singaporean and has two children.

Samuel Tsien was first appointed to the Board on 13 February 2014 and last re-elected as a Director on 28 April 2017.

Pang Lim is one of Koufu’s founding shareholders and was appointed to the Board in 1996. Pang has over 28 years of experience in the F&B and food service management industries. He has been and continues to be instrumental to our Group’s continued success and growth.

Pang is responsible for the overall management and operations of the Group, setting and executing the strategic directions and expansion plans for the growth and development of Koufu, including sourcing for investment opportunities to promote and drive the Group’s business growth.

Pang’s deep industry experience and business leadership have been widely recognised – he was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Rotary Club of Singapore and the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises in 2004. He was awarded the Public Service Medal by the Prime Minister’s Office of Singapore for his commendable public service in 2010 and 2014 respectively, and recognised by the Ministry of Education for his contribution and support in the education field in 2012 and 2016.

Olivia Lum is the Executive Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer. She heads the Board’s Investment Committee and is a member of the Nominating Committee.

Ms Lum started corporate life as a chemist with Glaxo Pharmaceutical and left in 1989 to start up Hydrochem (S) Pte Ltd, the precursor to Hyflux Ltd. Managing the Group for 25 years now, Ms Lum is the driving force behind Hyflux’s growth and business expansion, and is responsible for policy and strategy formulation as well as corporate direction.

A former Nominated Member of the Singapore Parliament, Ms Lum is currently a member of the Singapore-Tianjin Economic & Trade Council, the Singapore-Jiangsu Cooperation Council, the Singapore-Zhejiang Economic & Trade Council, the Singapore-Oman Business Council and the Singapore Business Federation Council. She also sits on the boards of International Enterprise Singapore, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd and Singapore Mediation Centre.

Ms Lum has received many accolades for her entrepreneurial achievements including the Nikkei Asia Prize for Regional Growth 2006, the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 and the Financial Times ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business Award 2011 for Entrepreneurship.

Lim Kok Thay is a board executive and Chairman of Genting Group, a casinos, resorts and palm oil multi-industry company with a market worth of almost US$40 billion.

He is second son of the billionaire Lim Goh Tong, the company’s founder. Currently he is the CEO & Chairman of Genting Group, having almost US$ 40 Billion while his family alone has a net worth of US$ 4.5 Billion.

Lim is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Genting Berhad, the holding company of the Genting Group. This multi-industry company consists of leisure & hospitality, power generation, oil palm plantations, property development, biotechnology, and oil & gas business activities. Aside from that, he is also the co-founder of Genting Hong Kong Limited, formerly known as Star Cruises Limited.

Koh Wee Seng serves as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Aspial Corporation Limited. Mr. Koh is responsible for the strategic planning, overall management and business development of Aspial. He established, led and transformed Aspial Corporation Limited from a traditional goldsmith into a modern and well established jewelry brand and company in Singapore. He has also successfully led Aspial’s diversification into the property and financial service businesses. He has also been the Non-Executive Chairman at Maxi-Cash Financial Services Corporation Ltd. since April 2008, Chairman of AF Global Limited since April 2015, and Non-Executive Director of LCD Global Investments Ltd. since March 2015.

Founded in 1970 as a traditional jeweller, the company has since grown to become the biggest contemporary jewellery group in Singapore. Aspial’s jewellery brands include Aspial, Lee Hwa Jewellery, Goldheart Jewelry and CITIGEMS. The property arm, World Class Land, has property development projects and investments in Singapore, Australia and Malaysia. Aspial owns over 80% of public listed Maxi-Cash Financial Services Corporation Limited

Forrest Li is the chairman and CEO of Sea, an online gaming, e-commerce and digital payments company. It has three brands under its umbrella: online gaming service Garena, e-commerce business Shopee, and e-payment company AirPay. He is the world’s second person to become a billionaire as a result of the online game Garena Free Fire.

Loh Chin Hua is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Keppel Corporation. He was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in January 2014, after having served two years as Chief Financial Officer of the Company. He is also Chairman of several companies within the Keppel Group.

Mr Loh joined the Keppel Group in 2002 and founded Alpha Investment Partners, the Group’s private fund management arm, where he served as Managing Director for 10 years. Before this, he was the Managing Director at Prudential Investment Inc, leading its Asian real estate fund management business.

Charles Wong, the Chief Executive Officer of Charles & Keith, first started the business back in 1996, in a small store at Amara Shopping Centre. Since then, the business has grown to hold its own against the big boys with more than 300 stores worldwide. It has also attracted the attention of French luxury giant Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), who now owns 20% of the company.

Like many young business school students, Siu Rui Quek had ambitious corporate aspirations, but when a scholarship gave Siu Rui a chance opportunity to live, work, and play in Silicon Valley for one year, everything changed. Finding himself at the epicentre of the tech startup world, there as no way Siu Rui was going to return to investment banking in Singapore.

After learning as much as he could working first-hand with Stanford University startups, Siu Rui and his Silicon Valley housemates-turned-co-founders returned to Singapore and entered a local hackathon. Hungry to launch their own tech startup, they would eventually go on to win Startup Weekend Singapore in 2012 and their business idea would go on to become Carousell, Asia’s hottest mobile startup that’s now set to disrupt the way we buy and sell online.

Today, Siu Rui is Carousell’s CEO, but his path to success wasn’t without its challenges. Siu Rui shares some of the ups and downs behind the building and eventual launch of Carousell, including the difficult conversation he had with his parents when he informed them that he wouldn’t be accepting a corporate position anytime soon.