Asia Advisory Panel

A programmer by training and a venture capitalist by profession, Aaron founded his first startup at the age of 13, and has already sold two companies before turning 21. He is currently the founder and CEO of Carro, an automotive marketplace. Prior to Carro, Aaron spent close to five years with Southeast Asia’s leading venture fund, Singtel Innov8 Ventures. He subsequently relocated to the United States and started Block71 San Francisco and the firm’s operations there before returning to Singapore in 2015.

He also represented Singapore in international programming competitions globally and was formerly awarded IT Youth of the Year. Aaron graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BSc from Singapore Management University’s School of Information Systems, and subsequently accepted a scholarship from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore to study Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University where he graduated with an MSc.

Tan Chong Meng is the Group Chief Executive Officer of PSA International, a leading global port group with port operations in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Latin America. He heads PSA’s Senior Management Council, the executive team responsible for making key decisions Group-wide.

Chong Meng joined PSA on 1 October 2011, bringing with him a wealth of experience in managing the complexity, diversity and breadth of a global business. Together with his management team, he is responsible for the overall performance of the PSA Group and provides strategic direction on growing the company’s value through maximising assets, developing PSA port positions and engaging global business partnerships.

Outside the PSA Group, Chong Meng serves as a non-Executive Director on the board of the National University Health System (NUHS) and also a Board Member of IE Singapore.
Before joining PSA, Chong Meng served as the Executive Vice President, Global Commercial, Shell Downstream, of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. He led six global businesses – many of which are world leaders engaged in the marketing and sale of fuels, lubricants and specialty products to commercial customers vis-à-vis Aviation, Marine, Industrial, Land Transport, Construction and Liquefied Petroleum Gas. A global leader with more than 20 years of experience in Shell, Chong Meng worked in USA, Europe, China and Singapore, holding various senior leadership positions. His responsibilities spanned from management, sales, marketing, trading, refinery operations, customer service to merger & acquisitions. Besides keeping a sharp focus on business growth and profitability, Chong Meng is equally balanced in people development, having spent many years leading the Asian Talent Council within Shell to effectively grow and promote Asian talents within the company.

Prior to Shell, Chong Meng had also worked in various positions with Singapore’s Ministry of National Development for five years.

Member of Boards of Directors, Barry Callebaut, ams OSRAM, OCBC Bank, Jardine Cycle & Carriage; Senior Advisor, TA Associates; Senior Advisor, Singapore Institute of Management, Singapore

Yen Yen TAN (1965) joined the Board of Barry Callebaut in 2020.

Her executive career spans more than 30 years of senior level executive positions at multinational technology and telecom companies. Yen Yen’s last executive role was President Asia Pacific of Vodafone Group. She was previously Regional Vice President and Managing Director of Asia Pacific (South) for SAS Institute. Prior to joining SAS, Yen Yen was Senior Vice President of Applications for Oracle Asia Pacific and Vice President and Managing Director for Hewlett-Packard Singapore (HP).

Yen Yen has over ten years of independent board experience in several public companies in Singapore and Europe. She is currently a director of Singapore Press Holdings, ams OSRAM AG, OCBC Bank, Jardine Cycle &Carriage Ltd and InCorp Global (non public). Yen Yen also volunteers as a form of giving back to Singapore and currently holds several independent advisory positions where she can contribute to causes close to her heart, for example STEM education, sports excellence, a vibrant startup ecosystem and gender diversity. For her contributions and distinguished services to Singapore, she was appointed Justice of the Peace in 2018 by the President of the Republic of Singapore. Yen Yen helps to promote STEM education as the non-executive Chairman of the Singapore Science Centre and a member of the Board of Advisors of the National University of Singapore’s School of Computing. Yen Yen plays an active role in Singapore’s infocomm industry. She mentors early stage startups through her startup fund TNF Ventures.

Yen Yen has a degree in Computer Science from the National University of Singapore and an Executive MBA degree from the Helsinki School of Economics.

Chairperson, Singapore Institute of Directors; Adjunct Professor, National University of Singapore Business School; Independent Director – First Resources, Nera Telecommunications, NTUC First Campus, Yoma Strategic Holdings, Singapore

Ms Wong Su-Yen is a Fellow and Chairperson of the Singapore Institute of Directors. She is an experienced independent director who has served on the Boards of several several public, private, and not-for-profit organisations in Australia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, and the United States.

An accomplished multicultural business leader who has lived and worked globally, her perspectives are shaped by a unique blend of experience at the board and C-level in technology, business, and organisation development.

Ms Wong is a professional speaker who engages audiences globally on leadership and the future of work. She is an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore where she teaches Global Leadership, and member of the Executive Education Faculty at Duke University.

Previously Ms Wong was CEO of the Human Capital Leadership Institute, Chairman for Marsh & McLennan Companies (Singapore), and Senior Partner and Managing Director, Southeast Asia at Mercer. Earlier, she was Asia Managing Partner for the Communications, Information & Entertainment practice at Oliver Wyman. Ms Wong holds a B.A. (summa cum laude) in music and computer science from Linfield
University, and an M.B.A. from the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina. She is an avid adventure traveller and has ventured to some of the most remote parts of the world, including Antarctica and Timbuktu.

Executive Chairman, YTL Corporation Berhad, Malaysia

Malaysian, male, aged 67, was appointed to the Board on 6 April 1984 as an Executive Director and was the Managing Director of the Company from April 1988 till June 2018 when he was redesignated as Executive Chairman. Tan Sri Francis studied at Kingston University in the United Kingdom, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (Hons) Degree in Civil Engineering and was conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering in 2004. In July 2014, Tan Sri Francis was conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from University of Nottingham. He became the Managing Director of YTL Corporation Berhad Group in 1988 which, under his stewardship, has grown from a single listed company into a global integrated infrastructure developer, encompassing multiple listed entities ie. YTL Corporation Berhad, YTL Power International Berhad, YTL Hospitality REIT, Malayan Cement Berhad and Starhill Global Real Estate Investment Trust.

He was the Managing Director of YTL Power International Berhad, and YTL Land & Development Berhad until 29 June 2018 when he was redesignated as Executive Chairman of these companies. He is also the Executive Chairman of Malayan Cement Berhad, which is listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad. He is the Executive Chairman and Managing Director of YTL e-Solutions Berhad. He is also the Chairman of YTL Starhill Global REIT Management Limited, the manager of Starhill Global Real Estate Investment Trust, a vehicle listed on the Main Board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST). Tan Sri Francis is the Executive Chairman of YTL Cement Berhad and Pintar Projek Sdn Bhd, the manager of YTL Hospitality REIT. He is the Chairman of private utilities corporations, Wessex Water Services Limited in England and Wales, and YTL PowerSeraya Pte Limited in Singapore. Tan Sri Francis is also an Independent Non- Executive Director of The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, and is a director of YTL Industries Berhad. He also sits on the board of trustees of YTL Foundation. He also serves on the board of directors of Suu Foundation, a humanitarian organisation committed to improving healthcare and education in Myanmar.

He is a Founder Member of the Malaysian Business Council and The Capital Markets Advisory Council, member of The Nature Conservancy Asia Pacific Council, and the Asia Business Council, Trustee of the Asia Society and Chairman for South East Asia of the International Friends of the Louvre. He is also a member of the Advisory Council of London Business School, Wharton School and INSEAD. He is the first non-Italian board member of the historic Rome Opera House and helped fund its restoration to keep it from closing. He served as a member of the Barclays Asia-Pacific Advisory Committee from 2005 to 2012. Tan Sri Francis was made a board member of Global Child Forum by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf in May 2016.

He was ranked by both Fortune and Businessweek magazines as Asia’s 25 Most Powerful and Influential Business Personalities and one of Asia’s Top Executives by Asiamoney. He won the inaugural Ernst & Young’s Master Entrepreneur in Malaysia in 2002 and was named as Malaysia’s CEO of the Year by CNBC Asia Pacific in 2005.

In 2006, he was awarded the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and in 2019, received the Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). Tan Sri Francis received a prestigious professional accolade when made a Fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers in London in 2008. He was the Primus Inter Pares Honouree of the 2010 Oslo Business for Peace Award, for his advocacy of socially responsible business ethics and practices. The Award was conferred by a panel of Nobel Laureates in Oslo, home of the Nobel Peace Prize. He also received the Corporate Social Responsibility Award at CNBC’s 9th Asia Business Leaders Awards 2010. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership in Regulated Industries at the 7th World Chinese Economic Summit held in London in 2015. He was also awarded the prestigious Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night Award at the 2016 Celebrity Fight Night in Arizona. In 2017, he was honoured with the Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Contribution at the Kuala Lumpur Mayor Tourism Awards. This was in recognition of his efforts in the transformation of Kuala Lumpur into one of the top shopping and tourist destinations in the world. He was named CEO of the Year at the Asian Power Awards in 2017. The Japanese Government bestowed upon him the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, in 2018 and in the same year the Italian government conferred upon him the honour of Grande Officiale of the Order of the Star of Italy.