Events for Aspiring Women Directors
DAC BoardAgender SG50 main

DAC-BoardAgender SG50 Champions of Change Luncheon

6 May 2016, friday

DAC BoardAgender SG50 main

DAC partnered BoardAgender to hold a networking luncheon with BoardAgender’s SG50 Champions of Change. The SG50 Champions of Change comprises a group of influential leaders across industries in Singapore to ensure that the issues of gender diversity and representation at senior levels of the corporate world are elevated on the national business agenda.

We were honoured to have the following Champions join us at the luncheon:

  1. Euleen Goh, an independent director of Capitaland, DBS, SATS and Royal Dutch Shell. She is also non-executive board member of Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd and a Trustee of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs Endowment Fund.
  2. Goh Swee Chen, Chairperson of Shell Companies in Singapore. Concurrently, she is Vice President, Lubricants – Asia Pacific. She is also a Board Member of Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, Advisory member of NUS MEM Program and a Member of the Singapore National Climate Change network.
  3. Simon Israel, Chairman of Singapore Telecommunications Limited. Mr Israel is also a Director of CapitaLand Limited, Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited and Stewardship Asia Centre Pte. Ltd. He is also a Member of the Governing Board of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the Westpac Asia Advisory Board.

The luncheon provided a relaxed environment for the Champions to freely share their experience as board directors as well as get to know the board-ready women.

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Key Takeaways

  1. Actively network and make it known that you want to be considered for board roles.
  2. When approached for a board position, candidates should conduct due diligence to establish whether there is an organisational fit – what can you contribute? How you can make impact/contribute?
  3. Have a perpetual curious mindset – to ask questions and probe where necessary.
  4. Board members should have on-going dialogues with executive management. It is important to be transparent and not have hidden agendas.
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The SG50 Champions
euleen goh no pin sq

Euleen Goh Independent Director, Capitaland, DBS, SATS and Royal Dutch Shell

Ms Euleen Goh is a non-executive board member of Royal Dutch Shell plc, CapitaLand Limited, SATS Ltd, DBS Group Holdings Ltd, DBS Bank Ltd, Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd and a Trustee of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs Endowment Fund. She also chairs the Board of her alma mater, Singapore Chinese Girls’ School and the Board of Governors of NorthLight School as well as DBS Foundation Ltd.

Ms Goh is also the Rector of Cinnamon College, National University of Singapore. This is a nonexecutive role, working with the College Master to set strategic directions for the college.

A Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, she also holds further professional qualifications in banking and taxation. Ms Goh is also a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors.

Ms. Goh held various senior management positions in Standard Chartered Bank, travelling widely throughout the Group’s operations in the course of her duties. She retired in March 2006 after some 21 years with the Bank. Amongst her various roles with the Bank, she was Group Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking Sales and latterly, as Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore.

She has also held non-executive appointments on various boards including Singapore Airlines Limited, Aviva plc, Singapore Exchange Limited, MediaCorp Pte Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank Thai pcl and Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad. She is the former Chairman of Singapore International Foundation, International Enterprise Singapore and Accounting Standards Council, Singapore as well as a former member of the Management Advisory Board of the NUS Business School.

Ms Goh was named as Her World Woman of the Year 2005. She was awarded a Public Service Medal for her contributions to the Financial Services sector in the same year and a Public Service Star for her work with the Accounting Standards Council in 2012. In May 2013, she was appointed a Justice of the Peace.

Goh Swee Chen

Goh Swee Chen Chairperson, Shell Companies in Singapore

Goh Swee Chen has been Chairperson of Shell Companies in Singapore since October 2014.

Concurrent to her country chair role, Swee Chen is also Vice President, Lubricants – Asia Pacific, a role she undertook since 2011.

Swee Chen joined Shell in 2003 and was with Procter & Gamble and IBM before this. A global leader, she had lived and worked in Singapore, Malaysia, Netherlands, Australia, USA, Japan and China. She spent a large part of her career in global roles, leading significant businesses with multinational teams. Swee Chen has a diverse professional background having spent her career in IT, Real Estate, Business Improvement and running large P&L businesses.

Other than chairing the Shell Companies in Singapore, Swee Chen also chairs/sat in the Board of several Shell Joint Venture in China and Saudi Arabia. She is also a Board Member of Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, Advisory member of NUS MEM Program and a Member of the Singapore National Climate Change network.

She graduated with a B.Sc. from Victoria University and an MBA from Chicago Booth. Swee Chen is married with three children.

20150325 Diversity Action Committee Members Mr Simon Israel

Simon Israel Chairman, Singapore Telecommunications Limited

Mr Simon Israel, 62, was appointed Chairman of Singapore Telecommunications Limited (“SingTel”) on 29 July 2011. He has been a Director on the SingTel Board since 4 July 2003. Mr Israel is also a Director of CapitaLand Limited, Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited and Stewardship Asia Centre Pte. Ltd. He is also a Member of the Governing Board of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the Westpac Asia Advisory Board.

Mr Israel was an Executive Director and President of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited before retiring in July 2011. Prior to that, he was Chairman, Asia Pacific of the Danone Group. Mr Israel also held various positions in Sara Lee Corporation before becoming President (Household and Personal Care), Asia Pacific.

Mr Israel is the former Chairman of Asia Pacific Breweries Limited, Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation and the Singapore Tourism Board. He is also a former Director of Fraser and Neave Limited and Neptune Orient Lines Limited.

Mr Israel was conferred Knight in the Legion of Honour by the French government in 2007, and awarded the Public Service Medal in Singapore’s 2011 National Day Awards.

He holds a Diploma in Business Studies from The University of the South Pacific.