Ms Lee Kwai Sem, Chief Executive of CEL
Ms Lee was the Assistant Director of Staff Development at the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) prior to her secondment to CEL as Chief Executive.
Ms Lee joined SPS in 1984, holding multiple staff and command positions. She was appointed Superintendent of the Changi Women’s Prison in 1995 before taking on the role of Head of Programme Branch in 2000. In her capacity then, Ms Lee oversaw the policies and implementation of prisoners’ rehabilitation programmes.
In recognition of her dedication to service at the Prisons Department and the nation, Ms Lee was conferred the National Day Awards – Pingat Berkebolehan (The Efficiency Medal) and Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Gangsa) (Public Administration Medal (Bronze)) in 1997 and 2005 respectively. She was also awarded the Home Team Achievement Award by the Minister of Home Affairs in 2005 for her significant role and involvement in the Yellow Ribbon Project. This aimed at improving the effectiveness of rehabilitation of ex-offenders in Singapore by engaging the community, co-ordinating member agencies’ activities and developing rehabilitation initiatives for ex-offenders.
Ms Lee graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science degree.
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Mr Tan Kah Wee, Director of Operations, CEL
Mr Tan, Director of Operations at CEL, has more than 16 years' experience spanning business development, sales and marketing in the private sector.
He has held managerial positions in multi-national companies such as SingTel (then known as Singapore Telecoms), Philips, Siemens, and Delnorth Asia. His career has also taken him overseas to England, Taiwan and Shanghai for eight to twelve months at a stretch.
In 2009, Mr Tan joined the public sector as Manager of Public Communications with the National Council on Problem Gambling, under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. There, he spearheaded a successful public education campaign that reached more than 380,000 Singaporeans in three months. With his business acumen and affable personality, he also built and maintained good relations with key government, religious and private organisations.
An engineer by training, Mr Tan graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1989 with a BEng (Hons) in Electrical & Electronics Engineering.
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Mr. Chua Chin Kiat, CEO/Executive Director, Aetos Security Management Pte Ltd
Mr Chua is the Executive Director and CEO of AETOS Security Management Pte Ltd, a position he assumed in November 2007. Having graduated from the University of Aston with first class honours on a President-cum-Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1975, Mr Chua joined the Singapore Police Force in 1977 where he held senior roles at the departments of Manpower, Operations and Criminal Investigation, as well as Director of Operations at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
As Director of Prisons from 1998 to 2007, Mr Chua helped transform the organization into an exemplary prison system led by the vision “Captains of Lives”. Mr Chua was also a Board Member of the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE) which works with Singapore Prisons to rehabilitate inmates. He co-chaired the Community Action for the Rehabilitation of Ex-offenders (CARE) Network, bringing together the likes of the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association, Singapore Aftercare Association, National Council of Social Services and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
For achieving sustainable results in the rehabilitation of offenders, Mr Chua was awarded the Public Administrative Medal (Gold) in 2005 and the International Management Action Award presented by Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Singapore and SPRING Singapore in 2002.
Professor Chong Tow Chong, Provost, Singapore University of Technology and Design
Professor Chong Tow Chong is the founding Provost of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As SUTD’s founding Provost, Prof Chong plays an instrumental role in steering the strategic development and operationalisation of SUTD, including the varsity’s educational curriculum, pedagogy, faculty recruitment, research progammes, industry collaboration, international visibility and campus development.
Prior to his current appointment, Prof Chong was the Executive Director of Science & Engineering Research Council (SERC) of A*STAR and Executive Director of the Data Storage Institute (DSI). His portfolio included maintaining the strategic oversight of the seven research institutes under SERC and spearheading the Science & Engineering research agenda to develop capabilities to support the current and future needs of Singapore’s industry. These capabilities included basic sciences, devices, to systems and applications in areas such as electronics, info-communications, chemicals, healthcare, wellness and aging, sustainable development, high value manufacturing and innovative services.
Prof Chong has spent much of his professional career teaching and doing research in semiconductor materials and devices, processing technologies and optoelectronics. He is also active in the international research community and serves as member of Technical Program Committees of key conferences in his field of research.
Concurrent to his appointment in A*STAR, Prof Chong held a dual appointment as a Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in NUS. He authored and co-authored more than 350 publications in international refereed journals, presented more than 25 invited talks and registered 23 patents.
Prof Chong received numerous educational and research awards such as the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in the National Day Awards in 2004 and the Teaching Excellence Award from the NUS Engineering Faculty in 1994.
Prof Chong received his Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering (B.Eng) from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering (M.Eng) from the National University of Singapore. He also graduated with a Doctor of Science (ScD) in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was awarded the President’s Scholarship and the Japanese Government Scholarship for his undergraduate studies and the NUS Overseas graduate scholarship for his graduate studies. He also attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.
Mdm. Chua Foo Yong, Managing Director, Singapore Media Academy
Currently Managing Director of Singapore Media Academy (SMA), Madam Chua Foo Yong is one of Singapore’s most experienced broadcast personalities having joined broadcasting at Radio Television Singapore in the 1960s. Her career spans forty years where she was producer and presenter for radio and TV programmes covering news, current affairs and entertainment.
She is best remembered for having led the first commercial Chinese radio broadcast and the expansion of radio stations from five to 12 in the last 10 years as MediaCorp Radio CEO.
Madam Chua was appointed CEO of MediaCorp TV in 2002 which later merged with SPH to consolidate Singapore’s free-to-air TV stations under one roof. She later took on the role of Executive Vice President & Head at MediaCorp’s Group Business Development (Greater China/ Media Academy) and thereafter, Executive Advisor to the then Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of SMA from 2006 to 2008.
Madam Chua also serves as Chairman of Manpower Skills and Training Council under Workforce Development Agency, Board member of the Council for Third Age under the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports and steering committee for APEC Singapore. Most recently, she assumed the post of Managing Director of the Media Continuing Education and Training Centre for the creative Industry.
Mr. Gregory Vijayendran Ganesamoorthy, Partner, Rajah & Tann LLP
Gregory Vijayendran is a partner in Rajah & Tann LLP, specialising in civil and commercial litigation. Aside from his legal expertise, Gregory has had a long-standing direct involvement in various Voluntary Welfare Organizations for more than 15 years. He was a founding member and Vice President of the Childrens’ Cancer Foundation (then known as Working in Aid of Leukaemic Kids) from 1992-1995, organizing Camp Rainbow and is presently serving as the President of Club Rainbow (Singapore) and is on the Board of Singapore Cord Blood Bank Ltd.
In 2005, he served on the Resource Panel for the GPC for the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports. Over the years, he has provided valuable advice to governmental institutions, various individuals and groups including for the start-up of new volunteer initiatives and Volunteer Welfare Organizations.
Mr. Kwok Wui San, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Kwok Wui San is a Partner with the China, Singapore and Hong Kong firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers ("PwC"). He has been with PwC for more than 17 years, since graduating from the Queen's University of Belfast. A Singapore Public Accountant by profession, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and is a Certified Public Accountant with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore. He is PwC Singapore's Partner in charge of auditor independence matters, and leads the regulatory advisory services unit under his firm's Financial Services Industry Practice.
Mr Kwok is currently serving as a Member of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants ("IESBA") of the International Federation of Accountants ("IFAC"), the global organisation for the accountancy profession. He had served as the technical advisor to the Ethics Sub-Committee of the Public Accountants Oversight Committee in the drafting of Singapore's current Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for Public Accountants. He also helped draft the current Guidance to Auditors on Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing issued by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore. He is today actively promoting good compliance practices and fair treatment of customer standards among financial institutions.
Dr Jennifer Lee, Senior Consultant, Ministry of Health, Chairman, Agency for Integrated Care
She is Chairman of Eu Yan Sang International Ltd and the External Review Panel for the Quality Assurance Framework for Universities. She also serves on the Boards of NTUC Fairprice Cooperative Ltd, the Health Sciences Authority, and Bumrungrad International Ltd (Thailand).
Dr Lee was the Chief Executive Officer of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital from 1991 to 2004. An ardent advocate of work-life effectiveness, she put in place work practices that earned the Hospital three consecutive Family Friendly Firm Awards. She was founding Chairperson of the Employer Alliance on Work & the Family from 2001 to 2004.
Before joining KK Hospital, Dr Lee was the Chief Operating Officer of Singapore General Hospital and had served in the Ministry of Health in various portfolios, including Personnel, Public Relations and Health Legislation.
Dr Lee has been active in public and community service and was a Nominated Member of Parliament from 1999 to 2004. She is a past president of the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations and of the International Women’s Forum (Singapore), and at various times had served on the boards of the Tsao Foundation, Mercy Relief Ltd, and The Substation.
Dr Lee graduated with a medical degree in 1976 from the University of Singapore, and obtained her Masters in Business Administration from the National University of Singapore in 1986.
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Mr. James Tan Chan Seng, President, COSEM (Co-operative of SCDF Employees)
Commissioner James Tan began his career with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Ministry of Defence, holding different levels of command before being appointed Commissioner of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1992. He has been recognized for his significant contributions to the enhancement of Singapore’s fire safety standards.
In the last 17 years, Commissioner Tan helped revamp the requirements in the fire code by introducing safeguards such as the Self Regulation Scheme to ensure fire safety standards in commercial and industrial buildings, advocating the use of Fire Safety Engineering methods for buildings. He also worked closely with the National Fire and Emergency Preparedness Council (NFEC) to promote fire safety education.
Beyond the development of fire fighting concepts such as pioneering the introduction of the water-mist fire fighting in Singapore, Commissioner Tan also established a special capability with SCDF to mitigate potential bomb and chemical attacks in the new post 11 September 2001 security landscape.
Commissioner Tan also established the Cooperative for SCDF Employees (COSEM) which offers fire and life safety products and services to the general public and businesses whilst enlisting the expertise and experience of retired staff as second career opportunities.