Head of Corporate
Lee & Lee

Women have helmed Lee & Lee through the years. As the firm celebrates its 60th anniversary during this SG50 year, our managing partner is Mdm Kwa Kim Li. And before her, Mrs Lee Kuan Yew led the firm. Gender has accordingly never been an issue for the firm, and we have long recognized the relative strengths that women bring to leadership positions.

This is true not just for the legal profession. Amongst the boards of listed companies that I serve on, there is an increasing awareness that changes to the gender mix on boards need to be accelerated. The pace of change has indeed picked up and we need to ensure that it is sustained. This can only be in the best interest of the boards themselves as we welcome greater diversity of thought in the boardroom.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-chan-524803182/ 

Managing Director, Online Sales APAC and LATAM
Twitter

Twitter is at the forefront of change in many areas, such as technology, social good and even diversity. We place great emphasis on recruiting, engaging and retaining talented individuals of all types who will drive Twitter’s future. We want the makeup of our company to reflect the vast range of people who use Twitter. Doing so will help us build a products which better serve everyone around the world. 

We’ve recently set company-wide diversity goals. Specifically regarding women, we’re committed to increasing the percentages across the company to 35%, in technology roles to 16%, and in leadership roles to 25%.

Twitter was the first tech company to join the UN Women’s #HeforShe 10x10x10 Impact Initiative because it is aligned with our core values. This ambitious program brings together leading corporations, governments and universities from around the world in order to accelerate the advancement of gender equality. 

SWAT (Super Women at Twitter), is an employee resource group for men and women that exists to support and bolster female leadership,. It focuses on the advancement of female leadership both within Twitter and in the tech industry. 

Other examples of our strong support for women in tech include sponsoring women to attend the Grace Hopper Conference; partnering with UC Berkeley’s Girls in Engineering program to teach 65 middle school girls how to code at our Twitter @NeighborNest; hosting workshops for Code First: Girls in London, and hosting Girls Who Code summer programs in our San Francisco, New York, and Boston offices.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alizaknox 

Executive Chairman
Mun Siong Engineering Limited

With the immerse shortage of talent in the male dominated oil and gas sector; gender diversity to recognise women of equal talent and capabilities has become a pressing issue. As a company that provides plant maintenance works and turnkey projects services for the oil, gas, petrochemicals, energy, chemicals and power industries, Mun Siong Engineering is not insusceptible to the difficulties of finding talented individuals to fill our management positions. 

We motivate and encourage ambitious and capable employees with the correct mind-sets. It is in our interest to design our selection matrices around gender neutral performance indicators which would ensure a conducive company culture for individuals, whether male or female, to have the confidence to reach higher up in the corporate rungs. Being equally talented as the males, women definitely have the desire and ambition to advance in their company.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/woei-fen-cheng-b6a79638/ 

Chief Executive Officer
National Gallery Singapore

Managing Director
Banyan Tree

Managing Director
The RBL Group
Southeast Asia

We in The RBL Group have found through our work with our clients that creating a diverse, inclusive culture today is a business necessity. The changing demographics of consumers and the workforce requires companies to invest in recruiting, developing, and engaging diverse talent as well as building an environment where everyone in the organization flourishes.

Taking an Outside-In approach to this topic, we see rapidly shifting demographics impacting consumers as well as the global workforce. Organizations recognize that their future success requires the ability to understand demographic changes so that they can attract and retain a diverse workforce to serve the needs of their diverse customers.

I encourage all leaders and organizations to fully embrace diversity and inclusion as driver to increase business performance.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/darryl-wee-ba199429 

Head, Family (English) and Premier Segment
Channel News Asia

Women have made great strides in Singapore and we are very lucky here to have full protection under the law and to have the Women’s Charter. However, we are still under represented in business and in boardrooms, and this is not for lack of talent. Whilst I have never felt my gender to be an impediment to my progress in my career, I think women need to better support each other on the path to success. Not only do we need to find women to support women, we also need to find men to support women publicly.  Women hold up half the sky and often do more than half the work at home. We need to be less afraid to speak up and stand up and support each other.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-soon-7824352b/ 

Independent Director, Far East Orchard Limited
Chairman, Mt Faber Leisure Group Pte Ltd

Recent 2014 research data about boardrooms in Singapore has indicated that more action is needed in order to increase the number of women in senior leadership and on boards. It is heartening that BoardAgender, together with the Singapore Institute of Directors are taking definitive action to raise the awareness of the diversity imperative and help women build board networks.

With gender balanced boards being increasingly a topic of discussion around the world and at home, we hope that the continued rhetoric will promote greater recognition of the value of diversity, encourage best practices in board appointments and help to improve the level of representation of women in corporate boardrooms in Singapore.

https://www.fareastorchard.com.sg/board-of-directors-and-management.html 

Executive Vice President
Yale-NUS

Chairman, Keppel REIT
Lead Independent Director of NTUC Income

It’s said that women hold up half the sky. Yet we’re painfully under-represented in corporate board-rooms and c-suites.  There are many reasons why – recruiting practices that focus on old boy’s networks, women’s personal preferences, the notion that diversity on boards doesn’t matter … The fact of the matter is diversity counts. In the corporate world as in nature, the greater the diversity in a system, the more robust the system is.  In an increasingly volatile and competitive world, diversity on boards is a “must have”.

Things have improved. The number of women CEO’s and board members has risen. But we must do more, faster.  

There are many diversity initiatives.  What we need is more personal commitment. We need to reach out and persuade women we know to take up the responsibility of board work. We need to link up these women with the men in our board networks. Unlike men, we women are too shy about introducing our companies to our friends, our friends to our companies. Unlike men, we women have too much compunction about choosing a woman friend over another equally qualified board candidate.

It’s time to take a stand.

If we don’t, on our own heads be it. We shouldn’t complain if one day, half the sky collapses.

https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/4242221 

Board Member, DBS Group Holdings Ltd, DBS Bank Ltd
Non-executive Board Member of Royal Dutch Shell plc

Gender equality is a business imperative and not just a social cause. As we face an increasingly complex and challenging world around us, strength in diversity, leverage from maximising the potential in human capital and uplift from a collaborative culture will make the difference in organisations built to last. I believe that the female talent in our population, nurtured and groomed from a well embedded meritocratic culture stands us out with the potential to forge ahead and compete successfully

Chairman
Blackstone, Singapore

Gender diversity has been talked about for as long as I can remember particularly in western countries so I must say it was disturbing to read the following headlines in the Financial Times earlier this month :

“US women fall behind in the workforce”

It is disappointing that even though the proportion of women in graduating classes from tertiary educational institutions has steadily been increasing , the labour force participation rate of prime age American women has actually fallen in the past decade.

One key factor for this sorry state of affairs is the lack of incentives for women to stay in the workforce after they have children. Not only do organisations need to have family friendly policies such as guaranteed right to paid parental leave and affordable childcare but equally important are the attitudes of employers and fellow colleagues towards female employees when they are in the family way or need to look after young children or aged parents.

This is where BoardGender SG50 Champions of Change can play an important influencing role by engaging members of C-Suites to see the benefits of not only having the right policies in place but also fostering an inclusive and caring culture within organisations. Only then can we hope to stem the haemorrhaging of mid- career female talent and have a larger pool of women candidates for C-Suite and Board appointments.

https://www.blackstone.com/people/gautam-banerjee/ 

Chairperson
Shell Companies, Singapore

Shell has an aspiration to achieve at least 20 per cent of senior positions filled by women globally. Overall, we have been steadily growing the number of women in leadership roles. Our female talent pipeline has also continued to strengthen. But we still have much to do in this area to achieve the desired representation of females in the oil and gas sector, especially in the C-suite.

In Shell, we believe that our workforce needs to reflect the diversity of our partners and customers and the countries we operate in. To be a leading global energy company, diversity and inclusion should not, and cannot, be viewed as a “nice to do”. It must be at the heart of our business plans and processes. Diversity gives us “access”. Access to talent, ideas and opportunities!

We have a multi-faceted approach in improving gender balance in Shell. It includes gender-specific recruitment targets, talent management processes that ensure gender diversity, and women-focused networks and leadership programmes that groom our female employees for leadership succession. This ambition to increase female representation requires commitment from the top to work in tandem with leaders at all levels to achieve the right gender and diversity mix in support of business objectives.

Minister
Prime Minister’s Office and Member of Parliament for Yuhua Single Member Constituency

In this age of fast changing globalised world of business, companies benefit from a board that is as broadly presented as possible. We have seen positive outcomes for businesses when there is greater gender diversity. Women directors can bring to the board perspectives and experiences that represent an increasingly influential consumer group, employee group and stake holder group – women.

https://www.facebook.com/gracefu.hy/ 

Speaker
Member of Parliament, Singapore

https://www.facebook.com/halimahyacob 

Managing Director
IBM Singapore

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetang 

President
Goldman Sachs, Singapore

Diversity is at the core of Goldman Sachs’ culture because it lets us develop better ideas, respond to the needs of clients, and ensure that our people can work at their maximum potential. Our focus areas include advancing gender equality, and we sustain a global effort to increase the number of female business leaders by supporting women in their career growth.

One of the initiatives we have in Asia is the Female Vice President Sponsor program, which ensures that high-performing women in the region have sponsors who will help expand their networks, form an objective view of their potential and encourage stretch assignments.

Our ACCESS program provides female vice presidents in the region with access to local and visiting senior leaders, through private meetings, roundtables or partner dinners. The Women’s Career Strategies Initiative is a six-month, nomination-based development program designed to strengthen the retention and engagement of female associates and help with their successful transition to vice president.

The firm provides flexible work arrangements and other resources including parenting toolkits and maternity mentoring, allowing employees to balance their personal and professional responsibilities.

We also have Women’s Networks in major offices in Asia which host events throughout the year on topics related to gender diversity and career development.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-moo-942781 

Group Executive, Institutional Banking Group
DBS Singapore

I believe that organizations that embrace diversity benefit from the ability to attract, groom and retain talent, regardless of race, gender or religion. Women make up 60% of DBS’ 21,000 workforce and account for 30% of our Managing Director population. We need to encourage all effort to increase the likelihood of women operating in C-suite positions and are in senior management positions so that gender parity for women on boards is a given. I am encouraged that BoardAgender has helped elevate gender diversity on boards into a national business agenda and hope to share my personal experience, help raise awareness, change mindsets and attitudes to support the advancement of senior women leaders into the boardroom.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanette-wong-7b0509122 

President
Henkel, South East Asia

At Henkel, we are convinced that diversity at the workplace, characterized by different ways of thinking and working, is an important value and a competitive advantage. Gender diversity is one of the three key dimensions of Henkel’s Diversity and Inclusion strategy. The other two dimensions are: nationality and age/professional experience.

We have continuously increased the share of women in management positions, from a good 26 percent in 2008 to around 33 percent at the end of 2014. Henkel holds a leading position among DAX 30 companies in this respect. To further consolidate this position, we have set ourselves the goal of increasing the share of female managers at all levels throughout the company by an average of one to two percentage points each year.

While we recognize the necessity of increasing the percentage of women in leadership positions, Henkel is against a fixed female quota. Irrespective of gender, everyone is assessed and promoted based exclusively on their performance and potential.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joerg-raichle-541b3569/ 

Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Law, Singapore

Companies with fair gender representation in their boardroom are generally perceived to perform better than those with little or no women in their senior management.

We are a meritocratic society, and on most metrices, our women perform extremely well. That should be reflected in the boardrooms of companies as well.

https://www.facebook.com/k.shanmugam.page/ 

Chairman
Jurong Port Pte Ltd

Gender diversity in the workforce and in higher levels of management and the boardroom will certainly be accelerated if we remove old prejudices. Diversity in all forms may be harder to manage but harnessed well, will provide a competitive advantage as it reaps a wide spectrum of input so necessary for modern business decision-making.

Jurong Port has always believed in diversity (including gender) in its board composition as well as provided equal opportunities in its management ranks. The port sector has for too long been a male-dominated industry but it is encouraging that more women are making it a career choice. Our responsibility is to make their choice a worthwhile one. We strongly believe we will also be a more successful organisation by embracing gender diversity.

https://www.mapletree.com.sg/Our-Company/Leadership/BOD.aspx 

Managing Partner
Morgan Lewis Stamford

We are in the midst of a sea change at work and in business. Organisations everywhere are recognising the value that women bring to leadership positions and in the boardroom. We need to make this happen more and more.

As a woman at Morgan Lewis Stamford, I am acutely conscious of the challenges working women lawyers face. We go out of our way to address these by providing family friendly initiatives (for both men and women!). Many of this involves flexibility, whether in terms of working hours, working from home, part time work, and sabbaticals. We continue to extend work place mobility for men and women in conjunction with advances in technology.

For both men and women, we have focused on work quality and output rather than hours spent physically behind desks in the office.

Beyond this, we provide mentoring and networking opportunities so that our women lawyers can build their own networks and professional relationships. This is often a neglected area for women professionals.

We continue to look for ways to champion women at work. They bring so much talent, industry, dynamism and thoughtful leadership to our firm and elsewhere.

Chief Executive Officer
Singapore Exchange (SGX)

Singapore Exchange (SGX) has always been a strong advocate of gender diversity and equality, and we demonstrate this commitment within the company as well as encourage our stakeholders including our listed companies to do the same.

At SGX, I am proud to share that women make up more than half of our 721-strong staff, and many of our female colleagues hold vital roles across our various functions, as unit heads, senior managers and team leaders. All our staff are also given equal opportunities and promoted based on their own merit, regardless of gender.

As an exchange, we have also been promoting gender-balanced company Boards, and we lead by example with women directors occupying nearly 20% of our Board seats.

Women have made much progress in the workplace over the past 50 years since Singapore’s independence; if companies across all industries embrace gender diversity, our economy will benefit from the fresh ideas, views and experiences that women can bring to businesses.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/boon-chye-loh-bb541178 

Group Executive, Global Products & Solutions (Asia Pacific)
MasterCard

As a global payments technology company serving more than 210 countries, MasterCard regards diversity as much more than just a corporate priority. It is a business imperative.
Diversity of culture, age and gender has been shown to create a more innovative, flexible and creative workforce, which in-turn aids business growth.
For MasterCard, increasing the number of women in our industry, and creating a culture of inclusion, is not just the ‘right’ thing to do, it is key to our competitive edge, and we are passionately weaving it into the fabric of our operations.

We focus our attention on ensuring our female employees are given opportunities to reach their full potential, with access to mentorship and executive leadership coaching programs that aid professional and personal growth.

The MasterCard Women’s Leadership Network is also the largest and most active Business Resource Group in the organization, and provides a platform for our women executives to interact via events, dialogue sessions and CSR initiatives.

But while we’re continuing to improve the gender balance and culture of inclusion at MasterCard, we know that we also need to help create a pipeline of women who want careers in the technology sector.
Our Girls4Tech program, which debuted at our Indian Tech Hub this year and is rolling out across the region, provides hands-on workshops for schoolgirls to drive their excitement and interest in careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

In addition, MasterCard is committed to supporting of a number of scholarship and work placement programs for women in the region. These include the MasterCard-INCEIF Scholarship for Women, aimed at boosting the pipeline of female talent in the Islamic finance sector, and the MasterCard Scholarship for Women at Singapore University of Technology and Design.

As well as encouraging women and girls to enter the finance and tech professions, MasterCard has long devoted its CSR efforts in Asia Pacific to empowering women. We work with our NGO partners, such as UN Women, Aidha, Mercy Corps and ActionAid – to name just a few – to provide basic financial literacy skills and entrepreneurship programs to women and girls across the region. To date, we have impacted over 200,000 women and girls and we hope to double that by 2020.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-driver-2062103/ 

Managing Partner, Singapore & ASEAN
Ernst & Young

Today’s marketplace is no longer inhibited by traditional views of gender. At EY, gender is a significant part of our diversity management and business agenda as we strive to develop inclusive leaders and an equitable and progressive organization. Our longstanding commitment and strategic focus on women has allowed us to gain momentum and recognition in the marketplace for the benefits it brings to our organization and clients, and at the same time, influence others to share a common conviction on gender diversity and inclusiveness.

Learning to approach our day-to-day work environment with a new lens and creating a truly equitable playing field drives us to be innovative. Inclusive leadership allows us to tap into the diverse talent of our people and truly leverage the power of difference every day. Our employees enjoy flexible work styles, allowing them to meet their personal needs while optimizing their contributions to the company, which in turn has helped us retain the talent we invest in. Furthermore, recognizing and understanding the diversity of our clients has allowed us to form enduring and long-term relationships across borders.

There is more to be done, and we are committed to continue our efforts and learn with like-minded organizations each step of the way.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxlohkw/ 

Managing Director of Ernst & Young Advisory Pte Ltd
ASEAN Government and Public Sector Leader

At EY, the ‘gender imperative’ dialogue is one of our leading global and local inclusiveness priorities. We continue to bring attention to the issue by influencing dialogues on gender parity in leadership roles in both private and public sectors. The tone from the top of the organization, whether business or government, must insist on accountability by leaders at every level, to meet specific and defined goals, while identifying the obstacles for women’s growth to top tier roles. We need to ensure that women are getting the necessary experience and exposure to make them candidates for these critical positions. This will require male champions helping our women pave the path, successful female role models and true invested sponsorship beyond traditional mentoring and support networks so as to create an equitable and gender inclusive pipeline.

It takes courage to lead by example, and question all barriers to help create a truly equitable playing field for women and men. That’s a daily challenge for me. I encourage each of us to question our organizational processes and personal mental models, eradicate unconscious biases and explore creative opportunities to enable women to progress and take on leadership roles in their career journeys.

https://www.istana.gov.sg/Istana/Presidents-Office/Council-of-Presidential-Advisers 

Board Director
NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Ltd

My fellow board members are mostly older gentlemen. Even though many of them are part of the old boys’ club, they have embraced my contribution and outspokenness with much grace. There is a great amount of mutual respect and professionalism on our boards regardless of gender or age. We need more men like these.

Executive Chairman & Group CEO
Hyflux Group

Hyflux employs close to 2,500 employees in nine countries around the world. In Singapore, 21.4% are women – a reflection of the nature of business where our core capabilities are primarily engineering-based.

The Hyflux team is a global and diverse group. Regardless of age, gender or ethnicity, our focus is on recruiting, engaging, motivating and retaining individuals whose skills, aspirations and values are aligned with the company’ strategic vision and core values. We believe in creating an inclusive workplace where our employees are given unparalleled opportunities to develop their careers and capabilities. We reward based on a clearly-defined, performance-oriented compensation system.

We believe that being a woman should not deter her progress in the company. Of our key management committee of five, three of us are women. We also have a number of women holding key positions and responsibilities in legal, finance, treasury, corporate communications, QEHS, purchasing and procurement and business development.

At Hyflux, we provide our women engineers the same opportunities in overseas work experience and have sent a number of them to Algeria for work at our two seawater desalination projects. We also provide equal opportunities to both men and women to further their studies and for training and development.

Managing Partner
Rodyk & Davidson LLP

At Rodyk, we have long had significant representation of women in the leadership of the firm. My mentor, Helen Yeo, preceded me as Managing Partner of the Firm, and led the Firm with great distinction for more than 8 years. One third of our equity partnerships are women. Gender diversity in leadership positions in any organisation is not just good but essential in today’s world – organisations should draw from the full talent pool and also benefit from what may be different perspectives on business strategy and human resources.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-jeyaretnam-s-c-a0b18913 

Chief Executive Officer
SP Telecoms Pte Ltd

The “secret sauce” for any organization is in its people. People create the differentiation, the competiveness of a business and thoughtfulness of a company as an entity.

Just like in life, where a balance of women and men is needed to create meaning, so it is the same in business. Women contribute by bringing different perspectives and adding a different touch to organisations and boards.

At the end of the day, meritocracy is still at the core of choice for boards and senior management positions. However, a purposeful focus on creating a balanced team is key. Many times, many stereotypes do not allow women of caliber to contribute to their appropriate potential. It is great that we are seeing a great awakening of what women can bring to businesses globally.

In all of my career, I am committed to grooming leaders from my team and I pay purposeful attention to women leaders to ensure that they are given the appropriate opportunities to shine.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mhpoh/ 

Joint Managing Partner
Wong Partnership LLP

At Wong Partnership, we value human capital and are focused on attracting and retaining the best talents, whether men or women. Recognising that the legal profession is demanding, we have progressively taken steps to put in place arrangements and schemes to help our lawyers, particularly our female lawyers, to build their career.

Women lawyers make up slightly more than half of our total numbers, thus representing a significant part of our human capital resource. We recognise that women have to juggle several roles in their lives and thus need to be managed differently. We strive to build a culture that recognises talent based on quality and output, as opposed to measuring physical hours in the office. We accommodate women lawyers who request to adjust the pace of their career progression, if they so wish. We have, for example, several female partners who have taken sabbatical leave for family reasons and who have returned to work after their leave. This flexible approach allowed them to prioritise their needs at different stages of their career paths and family plans, while allowing the Firm to retain our talent in the long term.

Our supportive environment has enabled us to retain our female talent and today, approximately half of our partners are women. A number of our female partners hold management or practice leadership positions and are good role models for our next generation of lawyers. We aim to continually implement initiatives that will help us attract and retain all our talent.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-eng-50366319 

Founder of Uyko Advisory
Council Member of SID
Director of Alexander Health Systems

I believe that all organizations must consider and engage the most suitable candidate for a job regardless of ethnicity, religion, age or gender. I am totally convinced that greater diversity within an organization, including at board level, will provide value in serving the interest of all stakeholders.

In my experience, gender diversity will enhance the quality of decision-making, as women will definitely bring a different point of view to the discussion. Ultimately, it should be the best person for the job with no bias towards either gender.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramlee-buang-42b147110 

Group CEO
Eu Yan Sang International Ltd

Eu Yan Sang International has delivered a solid performance in product quality and consumer trust for decades, thanks mainly to our diverse, gender-balanced workforce. The nature of our business requires the hard and soft skills of our people and we believe in investing and developing them to reach their highest potential, regardless of gender. Promotions are based on merit. We have many capable women who have risen to hold key leadership positions. Case in point –Our country managers in China, Hong Kong and Singapore are women. One of our Board of Directors is a woman and is a prominent, respected figure in corporate Singapore. Our diverse Board provides a strong oversight role, and engages and provides guidance to management on all facets of business.

To provide support and to help our female colleagues cope between work and family life, we allow our staff to work from home, have flexible working hours or transfer to a different role. Such initiatives help in retaining our staff. We believe that a workforce with a balanced in gender is a source of competitive advantage and the foundation of value protection and creation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardeu 

General Manager
Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP)

BoardAgender has undertaken a vitally important mission of reducing workplace gender bias and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) is proud to be associated with BoardAgender in its efforts.

Helping women move up the corporate ladder to take on senior leadership positions is important for the advancement of gender inclusiveness. Organisations need to recognise merit wherever it may occur. Gender, and other factors such as age or race, should not limit the extent of an individual’s progression and contributions at the workplace. By providing female employees fair access to jobs, training, career progression, recognition and rewards, will help make female employees more committed, and motivated to work for the organisation, leading to a more productive and engaged female talent pool.

President of Greater China & Asia
Diageo

At Diageo, we champion diversity in the workplace and believe our inclusive culture gives us a competitive advantage to actively shape the future of our company, our partners, and the industry in which we operate.

Within Diageo 44% of our board members are female – the highest in the FTSE 100, 40% of our Global Executives are women and we will grow our leadership to be 35% women by 2020. We have been recognized globally for our commitment and ongoing efforts towards improving gender equality awarded the Opportunity Now Female FTSE 100 Award and the Breaking the Mould Award for diversity and leadership programmes in 2014.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion extends beyond Diageo where part of new 2020 sustainability and responsibility targets we aim to build thriving communities, enabling those who live and work in our communities, particularly women, to have the skills and resources to build a better future for themselves.

In 2012, Diageo launched, ‘Plan W: Empowering Women through Learning,’ a commitment to grow a diverse and inclusive talent base across our company, our industry, in our communities and through our consumers by giving women greater opportunities to learn and develop skills to be able to influence society and the economy. To date we have empowered over 115k women across the world.

While great strides have been taken within Diageo, we aim to further strengthen our diversity policies and practices by building on initiatives such as our women’s networking and mentorship groups, Future Leaders programme and Diageo Leadership Performance Programme internally.

I am honoured to be one of BoardAgender’s Champions of Change continuing the work to positively impact the lives of women, and as a result, the communities around us.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-fischer-1386635 

Chief Executive Officer
NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Ltd

FairPrice’s commitment in developing a “Wonderful Workplace” is anchored as one of our CSR pillars. This commitment extends to our human resource practices, which adheres to the principle of equality and equal employment opportunity. We employ on the basis of merit and adopt a non-discriminatory stance on race, religion, gender or age.

As a signatory of the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices, we provide employment opportunities to a diverse group of job seekers, which includes providing positions in various capacities for women. These positions not only comprise senior management roles but also cater to those who may be looking at part-time roles which facilitate career flexibility.

At FairPrice, we also empower women and all our departments have a female leadership presence. Our flexible working arrangements ensure that we create a family-friendly work environment that supports women who may wish to integrate their work and personal responsibilities. All staff are also entitled to child care leave and child sick leave. They are further accorded with Family Charity leave to either celebrate auspicious occasions with their family or to do charity work and bond with their loved ones. We aim to ensure they are provided with not only competitive remuneration but also a safe and caring environment, a culture of continuous learning, and a roadmap for career development, so that every employee has the opportunity to develop to their fullest potential.

As part of creating a “Wonderful Workplace”, continuous efforts are made to invest and improve the well-being and health of our staff. To support work-life balance, staff are also encouraged to participate in our various CSR initiatives. Along with our strategic partners, we also hold seminars which address parenting issues and help connect parents to each other to form a support network, as well as organizing activities through our Social Recreation Committee where families and children participate in, to balance work and family life.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kian-peng-seah-98b1005/ 

Chairman
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd

While gender is only one aspect of diversity, it is an important one. Experienced women directors bring critical insights to Boards and often approach issues differently to men. This makes for richer discussion, better outcomes and stronger Boards.

Credit: www.diversityaction.sg

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-israel-aa56998a 

Group CEO
PSA International Pte Ltd

At PSA, we embrace gender diversity at all tiers of our organisation.

On our Board and Senior Management teams, we have women leaders offering strategic perspectives and spearheading organisational changes. In the mid-levels, women head up many of our functions in Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources and helm frontline portfolios in terminal operations and commercial. At the service delivery level, we also have many examples of women who are thriving in the dynamic port environment. We believe this diversity across the organisation strengthens PSA and helps us to forge towards our aspiration of being a global champion and the leading container terminal operator worldwide.

At PSA we believe in nurturing and developing talent, and in finding the best person for the job. We holistically cultivate an environment where people embrace the vision, and a culture where people look forward to coming to work, and are highly committed to what they do. Our high staff engagement scores attest to this. We provide opportunities for growth and learning, where men and women are equipped to do their best and excel. In sustaining a winning work culture to excel as a global champion, we believe in supporting our people – to be successful, to pursue their passions with purpose and to lead fulfilling lives.

https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/3641751 

Minister for Social and Family Development
Member of Parliament for Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency

I believe that to address the under-representation of women on boards, we need to look at the numbers beyond the apex. This means looking at the pipeline that feeds senior positions and trying to fix the leakages. For example, some women scale back on their career or stop working due to family responsibilities. We should together create a supportive home and work environment for women to continue working or to return to work, and for those with potential to take on higher responsibilities. The government and both the private and people sectors should continue to provide initiatives such as flexible work arrangements or support services such as child and elder care facilities to enable women to better balance their career and family responsibilities.

Regional Vice President & Managing Director South Asia Pacific
SAS Institute Pte Ltd

Gender diversity should be encouraged on a company’s board as it brings more multi-faceted business perspectives to the company. Women leaders are generally more self-aware, collaborative and empathetic in the way they manage relationships.

At SAS, we recognize our strength comes from the diversity of our employees – whether it is in gender, race or nationality. SAS’ unique culture brings together all types of people. Since our establishment 39 years ago, our values have been centered on a respect for employees. We promote based on meritocracy. We have women leaders in all fields – from R&D, Sales & Marketing to Technical Services and Consulting. We have internship programs that encourage female and the minorities to join the STEM field.

SAS has long been renowned for its employee-centered practices, which have been emulated by some of the top tech companies in the world today. This is why SAS continues to be known as a Great Place to Work across many countries.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yenyentyy/ 

Senior Managing Director-ASEAN
Accenture

Gender diversity is good for business. It ensures that we infuse our workplaces and teams with diversity of views, styles, experiences and perspectives. It has a positive impact on a company’s performance and propels the organisational culture from average to exceptional. At Accenture, over 115,000 or a third of our workforce are women; and providing an environment and culture that empowers women and helping them define success is critical.

Within Accenture, this commitment to help women succeed starts at the top and it is simply the way we do things within the organisation.

However, across many other workplaces there are still barriers for women. BoardAgender’s mission to recognise the growing importance of women talent at work is crucial in breaking down these barriers. As a woman leader and a champion at Boardagender, I feel honoured to be part of a group that is translating beliefs into actions and creating an environment where we help women succeed at the workplace.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lay-lim-teo-698ab0b/ 

Partner
Bain & Company South East Asia

Improving gender diversity in top management and on boards feels like an obvious opportunity for most organisations; yet despite much hand wringing and many public commitments, the stats show that improvement is painfully slow to come by. Much research has been done on why the percentage of women in leadership roles remains so stubbornly low even in organisation where a similar number of men and women enter the ranks every year (the ‘great disappearing act’’ as one of my colleagues call it).

Change needs to start at the top and undoubtedly CEOs and other senior leaders need to devote more personal time and attention to this topic if they want their organisations to improve. Based on research Bain published last year, senior leader need to create a workplace where employees of both genders believe women can progress to senior levels.

Ultimately, actions speak louder than words and it’s about the actual track record of the leader in appointing women to, and sponsoring them in, leadership roles which makes all the difference. The Bain research shows quite clearly that such role modelling from the top is far more important than anything any training or support that organisations provide for women. Straight forward perhaps, but as we all know, the hardest thing is to change behaviours, especially of those at the top of organisations!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/till-vestring-233209/ 

Special Advisor
Institute of Policy Studies

Women have achieved parity with men in Singapore. There are, however, a few areas in which this is not true. One area is the representation of women on our boards of directors, both in the public and private sectors.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, there are many qualified women who are willing to serve on our boards. When I was chairman of NHB, I ensured that women enjoyed parity with men on its board. It can be done provided there is a commitment to do so.

https://www.facebook.com/tommy.koh.752 

Chairman, Singapore Institute of Directors
Independent Director, UOB Bank and Far East Hospitality Trust

Diversity is important for an effective board because it reduces groupthink and uncritical conformity. Board diversity is more than about gender. However, gender diversity is a significant issue as women are clearly and significantly underrepresented on Singapore boards.

The problem lies on both the supply and demand side of the equation. Therefore, the solution needs to address both aspects. One SID’s part, we are stepping up to help increase the pool of board-ready women candidates, to educate boards on the need and means for gender diversity, and to facilitate the appointment of women on boards.

On SID’s own board, 25 percent are women, and they have all contributed significantly to moving the Institute forward.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/willie-cheng-647a0b5/ 

Chief Executive Officer
Human Capital Leadership Institute

With globalization, technological advancement, demographic shifts, changing consumption patterns, and the tilt of economic weight towards Asia, there is an urgent need to ensure a diversity of perspectives in the boardroom.

The Human Capital Leadership Institute was established to build Asian leaders with the ability to lead on the global stage, as well as to develop global leaders with a strong understanding of leading in Asia.

We plan to embark on research that distils insights on how companies operating in Asia have been successful in attracting and retaining female talent in the workforce, and how these organizations have created working environments for women to thrive and build successful careers.

Equally we look forward to collaborating with likeminded individuals and organizations to bring more diverse and female, voices into the boardroom.

If the Asian promise is to be realized, there is no doubt that a strong base of leaders – both male and female – for Asia and from Asia will be required. HCLI plays a unique role in amalgamating and harnessing the wisdom and experience that exists within the business community, government and academic institutions, and consulting solutions providers to collectively address this pressing need.

https://suyenwong.com/ 

Executive Chairman
PwC Singapore

At PwC, we believe that to solve important problems, we need diverse talent.  Diversity is a priority for PwC because we need the best available talent to create value for our clients, people and communities.  We believe gender equality means more choices and opportunities for all. PwC proudly supports BoardAgender.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/oonjinyeoh/ 

Advisor
Nuri Holdings (S) Pte Ltd

Women in Singapore have made significant achievements in various fronts and BoardAgender hopes to encourage and enable more women to contribute their expertise in boardrooms and committees. Women bring fresh perspectives and add value toward improving services and enhancing business decisions in leadership positions. 

Through BoardAgender, I am confident that corporate and community organisations will be able to find even more capable female leaders to be members of their boards and to take up positions at senior levels of their management.