Leadership Perspectives
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Tammie Tham: Curiosity Beyond Cybersecurity
After a quarter century in cybersecurity, the entrepreneur and board director is embracing new challenges while bringing technological rigour and business perspective to the boardroom.
Over the past decade, cybersecurity specialist Tammie Tham has watched her domain expertise move from the periphery of board discussions to the centre of strategic deliberations. “Six to eight years ago, it was an IT topic that was visited once in a while on board agendas. Today, cybersecurity, technology and AI have become a mainstay,” says Tham whose board portfolio spans a range of sectors, including household names iFAST, Mediacorp, SMRT, NKF and the Charity Council.
This shift has only heightened the relevance of her quarter-century experience helping organisations defend against Trojan horses, ransomware and phishing attacks. “As a board director, I bridge the gap by supporting management in ensuring their organisations remain resilient in our very digital world,” she shares of her role today.
What makes her particular expertise even more sought after is her ability to ground technical insights in business realities, drawing on firsthand experience as a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader who has navigated the full business lifecycle.
As founder of cybersecurity systems integrator Accel Systems & Technologies, Tham built and scaled a successful business that would eventually become part of what is now Ensign InfoSecurity, one of the region’s largest cybersecurity firms and a Temasek Holdings subsidiary.
Good Cop Against Bad Actors
Her entry into the industry, at a time when cybersecurity had yet to become the term we know today, was driven as much by curiosity as by opportunity. In the late 1990s, while working for car rental firm Avis, she watched the dotcom boom unfold and decided she wanted in.
An introduction to a local tech startup led to a role in sales and business development, giving her a front-row seat to cybersecurity’s emergence as a critical business function. Subsequent stints at IBM and British Telecom broadened her industry experience and laid the groundwork for her entrepreneurial leap.
Identifying a gap in the market, she founded Accel Systems & Technologies in 2012. “I saw an opportunity,” she recalls, “and we were very blessed.”
A successful exit followed in 2018, when Accel was sold and became part of Ensign InfoSecurity. What was meant to be a two-year commitment to support the transition turned into six and a half years. “I was enjoying myself so much that I stayed on.”
What energised Tham was not just the pace of change, but a sense of purpose. “This is one of those professions where you are really moving the needle because the threat landscape is always evolving. There are new bad actors every week,” she says. “As a service provider, we help clients protect their business, assets and reputation. When we do our job well, the client has peace of mind. They can sleep well at night. I found it interesting and meaningful,” she says.
In 2018, she was tapped to join the board of the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), her first directorship after years volunteering with various industry bodies to strengthen the sector. “It was my first formal board role. I believed I would learn a lot and at that point I also felt a responsibility to contribute. Singapore was talking about its Smart Nation ambition, and I wanted to help advance the ecosystem. If there’s no cybersecurity, you won’t be very smart, truth be told.”
A Voice of Rigour
Today, Tham’s board portfolio spans organisations in broadcasting, transport, finance and the non-profit sector.
“I know I tick the boxes: I’m a female, I’ve expertise in cybersecurity and I’ve started a business. What matters is that I am contributing. And when you are renewed for another term, it’s always for a good reason – that you are contributing. I enjoy making a difference.”
When, inevitably, the conversation turns to the debate around diversity appointments, she offers a broader perspective. “Diversity is more than representation. It’s about bringing together people who offer diverse views and experiences. That avoids group think. In the boardroom, fresh perspectives are so important to helping management.”
“My job is to provide independent oversight, ensure good governance, question assumptions, and improve the quality of the decision-making. You have to ask the right questions to ensure that management has clarity of thought and is not blindsided.”
She likens the role to hovering in a helicopter. “I have to stay at the right altitude, so that management has the space and time to execute and solve problems.” That includes issues relating to cybersecurity, technology and AI – areas where fellow directors frequently draw on her expertise.
“I think I give the boards I serve on confidence that these issues are being examined with the right level of rigour. You don’t need every board member to be a technologist, but I do feel every board needs at least one.”
Having successfully built and exited her startup, and since stepped away from a full-time executive role, Tammie Tham, now an Advisor at SimplifyNext, also relishes spending time travelling with her family.
Simplifying the Next
In 2025, the same year she concluded her board appointment with SIT, Tham stepped down as CEO at Ensign InfoSecurity. Her (early) retirement from an executive function came with a characteristically candid update on LinkedIn: “Having dedicated the past 24 years of my life to cybersecurity, I would like to spend what’s left in me exploring everything non cyber!”
One new “love” is SimplifyNext, where Tham serves as advisor. The technology consultancy helps organisations work through automation, artificial intelligence and digital transformation. She shares that its latest investment is an industrial grade robotic dog that can be sent into construction sites for inspections.
“Cybersecurity is a large part of who I am, but I no longer want it to define everything that I do moving forward. It’s time to get out of my comfort zone and do something different,” she shares.
In addition to travelling for pleasure, one recent example was her work guiding the Charity Council’s new cybersecurity guide for charities. Adapted from the Singapore Institute of Directors’ cyber resilience guide for boards, it distils a complex and often daunting subject into a practical, accessible resource for the sector.
Asked if she would consider taking on other professional commitments, Tham leaves the door open. What matters is that it sparks her curiosity and offers an opportunity to contribute meaningfully.
In many ways, it is a philosophy reflected in the advice she gives aspiring directors: “I’m not kidding when I say to take a board appointment very seriously. You have real fiduciary duty to all the stakeholders. Your heart has to be in the right place. And it can be a lot of work.”
A rojak isn’t great just because you’ve thrown the pieces together