XA Podcast 030 | How To Secure Your First Board Position | Su-Yen Wong And Howie Lau | Governance Series

Are you a senior tech executive wondering how to level up with a board position? Why would they appoint you? And what would be the expectations, risks and rewards once you actually make it onto one? Find out in this latest instalment of the XA Governance Series.

Discussion Topics: How to Secure Your First Board Position

• How they secured their first board role
• Career stages when they took their first board position
• What it takes to be a good board member
• Why a board might onboard someone with no prior experience
• How to find companies that might want your expertise on their board
• Preparing to be a good board member
• What’s the compensation going to be like?
• How to determine whether you are doing well

Transcript: How to Secure Your First Board Position

Belinda Ong: Welcome XA committee and SID members. Today is the third instalment in our series on startup board leadership and governance. This series is brought to you as part of the collaboration between the XA Network and the Singapore Institute of Directors.

Reza Behnam: Thank you Belinda for setting the stage and good afternoon, everyone. As you may recall, in the second episode, we covered board structures within startups. Today’s session will focus on exploring paths to becoming a Board of Directors. We will discuss various avenues and approaches that a qualified technology leader or operator may wish to consider if they intend to serve as a Director of a company. While we’re focusing on the technology leader as the focal point here, I suspect much of the discussion will be relevant to non tech operators as well. Joining the discussion today we have the pleasure of hosting two seasoned experts. We have Su-Yen Wong and Howie Lau. Su-Yen is Chairperson of the Singapore Institute of Directors and she serves on the boards of several listed companies, family businesses, high growth startups and government linked organisations, both in Asia as well as North America. She Chairs or is a member of various nominating remuneration and audit committees, and she brings experience in business strategy, human capital development and organisation transformation. She’s a lead Independent Director at Yoma Strategic Holdings and a Board Director at First Resources CSE global and IMGA. She’s also an adjunct professor of leadership at the National University of Singapore Business School, and an active member of the Young Presidents Organization and Women Corporate Directors. Welcome Su-Yen.

Su-Yen Wong: Thank you. Glad to be here.

Reza Behnam: Howie Lau is Managing Partner of Corporate Development and Partnerships for NCS Group with oversight over marketing, communications, partnerships, M&A, ESG, and government relations. Prior to this role at NCS, he was the Assistant Chief Executive of Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore, a government agency responsible for the technology, telco and media industries, as well as Singapore’s digital economy. He was previously the Head of consumer business and Chief Marketing Officer at StarHub, and Corporate Vice President of Corporate Development at Lenovo. He serves on a number of boards and advisory committees and graduated from NUS. He has been recognized as IT leader of the year in 2020, by Singapore Computer Society and received the Philip Kotler Marketing Excellence Award in 2018, and NUS Outstanding Alumni Award in 2009. Welcome Howie.

Howie Lau: Thanks, Reza.

Reza Behnam: Great, let’s dig in. Su-Yen, and Howie I think it’s appropriate to ask you to take us through the story of how you first secured your initial Board Director role. Su-Yen, would you like to kick us off?

Su-Yen: Sure, happy too. Thanks Reza. Actually, the funny thing is, I actually turned down the first couple of board roles that came my way. And the reason really was that I didn’t feel that the fit was right. And therein actually lies a huge lesson for me, which was around choosing the right board to serve on. But in any case, when I finally said yes, to one, it was actually with great forethought, because it was for the National Kidney Foundation, which at the time, was still trying to recover from some of the challenges that have faced. Long story short, I mean, I think that experience really taught me not to shy away from difficult situations, but at the same time to go in with just a real attitude of learning from what really is now a very professionally run board. And to really learn from some of the best that were on the board table. So that’s my story.

Reza Behnam: And how did you come across that opportunity? It sounds like it’s a nonprofit. That was a nonprofit. Correct Su-Yen?

Su-Yen: Yes, it’s a nonprofit that actually is Singapore’s largest nonprofit in terms of the reserves that they have. I put up my hand to the Center for nonprofit leadership. Because I was curious about board roles. It was a curiosity. I didn’t really know much about board roles. And I said, Well, this might be interesting. I’m going to give it a try. And that’s really how the first couple of roles came. And then eventually the National Kidney Foundation roll came about as well.

Reza Behnam: Thanks a lot Su-Yen. Howie, how about you?

Howie Lau: It looks like Su-Yen and I have slightly different, very different starting points because Su-Yen entangled the first couple, I jumped at the first one. I didn’t really know what it was. But when it came, I was like, and it was for university was NUS-ISS. And I think you were going to ask me how I got I think because the IT industry is small. And I have always been involved with the National Association for IT Singapore Computer Society. And I got a call and said, Hey, look, we’re looking for a new board member for the organisation, would you like? And before the question ended I said, Yes. Because there was this like, hey, it’s pretty cool, it is my first board. But I think the learning like Su-Yen I got in. And I really started to panic, because I didn’t know what was expected. And the constant ringing in my head was how can I add value? Because it became very clear that it’s not just a label that you put on yourself, but it’s a responsibility to bring some value. So Su-Yen I took the other path. I was an eager beaver and then had to learn the hard way.

Reza Behnam: So maybe, how are you just following up on what you just said? Do you remember what that first experience was like for you and how it perhaps was different than your expectations going in?

Howie Lau: I think back then the little bit I understood about the board was that it was meant to go into being an advisor of sorts. But as I went in, I realised that from all the other board members, because I think the board was well run, because they were staggered membership or staggered tenure, you realise that every one of the board members was actively leaning in to contribute to the NUS-ISS. So at that point in time, I was thinking very hard, what is the value that I could bring to be helpful for that board and the management. So the expectation, it was just purely advisory, I think it has to be double click. So the learning for me is that it goes beyond just saying a couple of things. But being actively involved in knowing the business, and actively thinking and participating in the conversation so that you’re able to contribute. I think the other thing that I wasn’t prepared for was the amount of homework that you needed to do, because the board deck will come and the board deck will be packed. And obviously the expectation was everybody went for the meeting having read every other line and every other appendix, except for me. And then I realised that if you want to be effective, then there’s a lot of time committed beyond just the meeting time.

Reza Behnam: Su-Yen how about you what were your expectations versus what you got at the National Kidney Foundation?

Su-Yen Wong: So having been in operating roles, on the management side of things, that was really my only sort of frame of reference. So I guess I didn’t really know what to expect. And when I went, and I think this is true for anybody who joins the board for the first time, by definition, you’re the newest person on the board, because you’ve just joined the board. And so everyone on the board, there was already ahead in terms of understanding the organisation, understanding the issues. So I felt like in the beginning stage it was really important for me to do a lot of homework to really get up to speed. And this is true till today, for every single new board that I joined, right, every single new board requires that same learning curve, to understand the business and the issues to know the people. But what I got from the experience was number one, the value of and actually the joy of learning something, or a business or an industry, it was very, very different. And then second was besides the learning, I observed a lot. And I’ve come to appreciate that every board is different, the dynamics are different. And that comes from trying to understand the relationship between the board and management, management with each other, the board members and each other. So I would say that I didn’t go in with any particular expectations. But my experience was really around learning and observing.

Reza Behnam: And Su-Yen, and Howie give us a little bit of context as to sort of when you got involved in your first role in terms of where were you in your career in terms of operating experience and other things.

Su-Yen Wong: I started I guess what people would call relatively early I was in an Executive role. I was running the region, and this was something that I was doing, I guess in contemporary terms, you would call it a side hustle, or a gig on the side. And the reason for that really was because I thought it would be beneficial for me to start learning sooner rather than later. I think the traditional view of board directors is changing. The traditional view is sort of, okay, you finish your executive career. And then this is your quote unquote, retirement job. But I don’t think that holds true anymore. Yes, of course, there are people who fit that mould, but they’re equally a lot of people who start the board journey a lot sooner, and I guess I fell into that category.

Howie Lau: I am still in that category of still having a day job and the side hustles with the board. So that’s where I started. And that’s where I still am, and I think beyond the usual balance in terms of time and allocation, and all that is constant learning on multiple fronts, because different boards have different dynamics, different considerations. For example, I think, kind of related to Su-Yen’s earlier point, this science centre board, I am now in my sixth year, and we just woke up to a couple of new ideas. And they are trying very hard to learn. Whereas you’ve been around for a while you kind of know all the acronyms, the terms is lot easier. And we’re playing our part to try and help the new ones get up to speed as well, because I think the learning curve is steep with any joining of any board. For me, I started with having a day job, it was a side hustle. And right now, it still remains the same to me.

Reza Behnam: Howie sort of on that point, I guess, being a Board Director is a fancy and glamorous title, and a sign of accomplishment that let’s face it. So beyond the fancy title, and the acknowledgment is this the right role for every type of experienced operating leader in your view? Or are there specific types that would be more of a natural fit?

Howie Lau: There may be a view that, hey, look, the board role is when you retire, and it’s going to be a cushy four meetings a year, you get nice lunches, say a couple of intelligent sounding things. And then you get perhaps a little bit of allowance. I think the context has changed tremendously, because the level of responsibility and accountability on the border ecosystem has increased tremendously, largely because the industries have changed, the pace of industries have changed. So I don’t think it’s a fit for everyone. In fact, I think a number of folks do now evaluate board offers more judiciously, because you want to be able to step in, be able to bring value, be able to make discerning and well informed recommendations. But it’s not a simple job, as some might perceive it to be, because there could be a perception that this is something you finished at the end exactly, a career is something to tail off and still remain engaged. I know a couple of friends asked me that when he says, you know, I’d like to get into board I say why Oh, something to pass my time. It’s no longer that. So I would say it doesn’t fit everyone because the amount of responsibility is a lot higher.

Su-Yen Wong: I would concur with Howie’s points. And I would add that, as a Director, be mindful about the risk, the personal risk that you’re liable for, whether it’s jail time, or fines, this is real. And regulators are, I think increasingly, taking a stricter line. Of course, every jurisdiction is a little bit different. So that’s another dimension. But I think it’s not something that you want to go into lightly you go into it, because it’s something that you want to do. And because you want to contribute to the company, you want to help its performance, you want to make sure that company is doing the right thing and so forth. But no, definitely I agree with Howie we don’t do it, because it just seems like a nice thing to do. There are a lot of other nice things to do that probably require less work and also reduce the amount of liability that you personally have to take on.

Howie Lau: Yeah, if you Google or ChatGPT Directors responsibility and implications, you probably find a lot of case studies. I think there was one in Australia that is still ongoing, where there is a scrutiny of whether the Boards the actual due diligence, instead of just trusting the management report. So it’s a very great line. Because if you’re not able to trust the management report then to what level of due diligence do you need to go to so that could set a new benchmark in terms of what Directors responsibility would be.

Su-Yen Wong: Yeah, I think also we should be, maybe just make a point that there are lots of kinds of organisations that have boards. So obviously, the duty of care is different. I mean, there is a duty of care regardless of what organisation it is, but the regulations and legislation requirements are different if you’re a listed company, if you compared to being a charity, obviously, if you’re on the board of a startup, again, it’s different, the dynamics are quite different. So I think very often we sort of have this mindset that we’re only talking about listed companies. But that’s also not true. In fact, for charities, because you taking public funds, there’s equally just as much scrutiny to make sure that the funds are being used responsibly.

Reza Behnam: Yes, in one of the episodes, I think it was the second episode, we talked about sort of a board director’s role being sort of hands off operationally, but nodes in right being able to smell anything that might be going on that could be improved, or could cause a liability for the company and the Directors. So that seems to be like you need to have a stronger sense of smell these days with the number of things that the board is responsible for.

Su-Yen Wong: Yeah, I would agree with that. And plus, I mean, to Howie’s point earlier, part of it’s just that the pace of change is immense, which just means you have to run really fast to keep up.

Reza Behnam: So let’s bring it to the crux of the topic. Let’s say I’m an experienced tech operator, and I’ve done my internal reflection and decided that I want to jump into a Board Director role and commit the time and the hours that it requires. Why would anyone want to hire me to sit on their board if I’ve never done it before?

Su-Yen Wong: Well, I would say that if I pull back and look at organisation’s overall, whether it’s a large company, a listed company, a medium sized company, or a charity, almost every board has this huge knowledge gap in terms of digital and tech. So you talk about digital literacy of boards and that’s a huge gap that needs to be closed. So, I think if you’re coming in from a tech leader perspective, you can add value, because you can provide that perspective, again, tech is very broad. So of course, it depends on the specifics, you know, a company at FMCG is going to need something very different from an industrial company and so forth. But there is a huge need for any organisation to be levelling up. And therefore, by extension, the board’s to also be levelling up in terms of digital savvy.

Howie Lau: Maybe just adding to that if you look at it from a demand standpoint, you can form a view in Singapore that the demand has gone up for a few reasons. One is purely from a regulatory standpoint, the new amendments to the nine-year rule means that there will be more boards going out there to say, members that have been hitting the nine years, I now need to refresh. So that would drive some incremental demand. Secondly, related to Su-Yen point is that increasingly, boards are recognizing the need for increasing the digital portion. Because the world, whether you’re in tech, you’re in financial, you’re in retail, you’re in farming tech has become a core element. And even if it’s not tech as an opportunity statement, tech as a defensive statement in the area of cyber as part of your enterprise risk management will become front and centre. So the demand goes up because of that as well, especially for folks that are able to bring their digital know-how and digital caution to the board. And I will say the third is that increasingly, we’re seeing boards recognizing the value of data diversity. I’m sure you read reports that hey, look, there’s perhaps too many boards without diversity, whether it’s from a gender standpoint or from another perspective. But increasingly, we’re seeing what’s going like, hey, look, we do need to start building a more diverse box. And I think that increases demand as well.

Reza Behnam: Thanks, Howie. So if I were to paraphrase it, it sounds like there’s two buckets of companies that might be interested in me as a tech technology operator, one sort of the traditional companies, which might need some digital quotients on their board to really understand how to either be offensive or defensive as how we mentioned. And then obviously, the tech set of companies or technology companies who might want my expertise as somebody who’s been either a CTO or CMO or CE excel at an operating company for a while. But I still want to double click on this how, as a first time, prospective board member, how would I go about finding a company that would want somebody without board experience? How do I find that fit? Su-Yen, would you like to take a crack at that question?

Su-Yen Wong: I think the first thing is to get yourself prepared. It’s quite a big personal risk to just think that Well, I can just slide into a board role. So I think it’s important to think about board roles as sort of professions unto themselves. So you wouldn’t just go into a new profession without any form of learning, right? So invest in your learning, take some professional development programs and learn about what it takes to be a board director SID has loads of those, so that you bring in that foundational understanding of what does it takes to be on a board so you’re not going in green. So that helps the board to de risk because the board now says, okay, this person has been through a number of foundational core modules, they understand governance, they understand Directors duties, they understand the financials, the accounting, they understand strategy, understand all these different components. So by bringing this person in, even if they don’t have work experience, I can feel comfortable that they at least understand what it’s going to take. So I would say that’s probably the first step.

Howie Lau: You do need the muscles and those muscles don’t come naturally. The second part is visibly there you have muscles, because it’s not natural that people know that you have muscles. So we have different ways. One is obviously I’ll do a plug for SID as well, you know, get plugged into the professional network because that’s where the compositions are for directorship professional memberships all of this comes in. The nature of the world today’s everyone looks at your LinkedIn. Everyone recognizes your LinkedIn hopefully is a n plus one and not an n plus five. So that part has to be built up properly. Getting that profile built to external events, to speaking opportunities to other ways where you build up visibility of the muscles. If I flip it the other way around, where and how the boards think about choosing. One is that, obviously, they want to find folks that have the muscles. Because every board is worried that if I bring, let’s say, how we are and he doesn’t know the basics of governance, he doesn’t add value, that’s a liability for the entire board. So typically, the boards will go to, sometimes to organisations like SID to say, you know, can I leverage your board advisory service to find out who’s out there, or very senior board positions for large cap, they will go to a SID firm. And if you’re not in their Rolodex, they’ll probably look for you online somewhere as well. And then third is also by reputation and word of mouth. And it still happened quite a fair bit, because folks will go like, hey, look, we have two IDs that are up for renewals, guys, do you have a recommendation, then everyone goes back to their memory banks to see who I have met recently, that might fit the role.

Su-Yen Wong: And I think just to underscore another point that Howie made, which is, what some boards do is they actually list their board openings with SID, which then broadcasts that to its membership base. So to be very specific so if you’re a member, and you see these listings, and you say, Well, that looks like an interesting company, I think I have the skills to be able to contribute, then you can apply for those specific roles. So that’s how the supply and demand get matched up.

Reza Behnam: Thanks, Su-Yen. So it seems like there are mainly two factors. One is preparedness, which is what you started talking about Su-Yen, and the other one is visibility. Howie, I think you touched on this. And I guess one of the other methods that came up on the previous podcast was getting involved in an advisory capacity as a preparation for board capacity almost as a stepping stone. Have you seen that workout well Howie?

Howie Lau: Yes, because it does kind of signal that you are ready, and then you have the muscles. And in a way those could be lower, slightly lower entry points. But I think I will just maybe add that the expectations or responsibility is similar, perhaps the personal liabilities and all that may be lesser as compared to a board position. But I will suggest that it’s not necessarily one or less liability. In fact, you do need to understand the space well to contribute but advisory roles to help as well.

Reza Behnam: So Su-Yen once I actually got a board role, how would I prepare for my first board role? And when would this preparation ideally commence?

Su-Yen Wong: Sometimes, that journey takes a while. It’s not like just flipping the switches I want to board in the next week, or boar shows up but I think if you lay that foundation, so that learning takes a while, and then you build your network within the community, that also takes a while you build your visibility, as Howie mentioned, and then you eventually get into perhaps a smaller board or smaller organisation. And then you work your way over time, to maybe a more complex organisation, and then eventually, maybe to a listed company. So it’s a pathway, right? Think about it. Think about it as just like any other profession, as a tech leader, you didn’t get there overnight, right? You’ve built your skill sets and experience over some period of time. I think it’s very much the same with directorships if you think about it as a profession, it’s a 10, 15, 20-year journey. So start in the foundational stages, and then build up the experience portfolio because a lot of board work is experiential. It’s a little bit like, if you’re a lawyer, you can understand the law. But the application of the law really depends on a number of cases that you’ve seen and enough variety of situations so that you actually know how to interpret the law, for example. So it’s a bit the same at board directorship you know, you can have all the book knowledge which is an important fundamental starting point, but the application of a knowledge really is experiential. So that’s part of what takes that time to sort of build-up that experience portfolio. So never too early to start that process.

Howie Lau: Maybe I can just share a personal conversation I had because in one of my earlier organisations, I attended a board meeting and a wise man sat next to me and said a couple of things, because he wanted to introduce me to the different board members in that company. He says watch the next three hours of board meetings, you will find three categories of board members. Category number one, which is the highest category is the work adding board members because they will ask for more information, ask for more follow ups, asking a lot of work adding. Then the second category that may overlap with the first category is what he calls the HOV category. So I say what is the HOV category? He says, Oh, this set of board members like to hear their own voices. So they will say something. It doesn’t matter what they say they will say something even if it’s like Chairman, I really concur with what you just said. And then goes to repeat what the Chairman said, then the third category is the one that says these are the ones to learn from, because these are the ones that are not work adding, not HOV, but value adding because they’re really thinking they’ve done their homework. And they do want to take this seriously and add to it. The last little bit at the end of the meeting, the wise man said to me that, did you notice that the less they know, the more strategic sounding the question is? Because it’s easy to ask for a strategy or make a strategy comment if you don’t really know the details of it it’s a lot easier to say Lisa, thank you for the presentation. In my years of experience, I think it is time to really innovate and innovate hardware optionality. Thank you. That’s generally a sign that this is probably a HOV Director. So they’re stuck with me. So when I take on boards, I constantly ask myself, am I just saying something because I want to mark my attendance or am I really trying to lean in to add some value to it.

Reza Behnam: Thanks, Howie. I’m not going to say I completely concur with you. So actually, moving on, what kind of a sort of compensation should I expect as a first time board member? Or should I be expecting any compensation? Su-Yen.

Su-Yen Wong: It really depends on the nature of the organisation. Again, think about this as a long journey. So if you start up a nonprofit organisation, chances are you’re serving pro bono. If it’s a social enterprise, you might get a little bit and then the compensation tends to be directly related to the complexity of the organisation. So if you’re going with a very complex organisation, high risk, so financial institutions, Director compensation tends to be higher in those organisations. So it’s really dependent on what the organisation is. And of course, if you’re advising a startup, obviously, there’s probably very little cash and maybe some equity involved. So it’s very hard to generalise. I would say that Director fees, however, are not at a level that you want to do because of the fees. You do it because again, it’s an organisation that you buy into a division, you want to help transform it, and so on and so forth. And when you add on the potential risk that one takes, again, you’d have to sort of take the fees out of that equation a little bit. The majority of Singapore listed companies are small and mid-caps, and at small and mid-cap level, somewhere between 40 to 60 to 80,000 per year, somewhere around there would be your SID survey figures.

Reza Behnam: Thanks, Su-Yen. Howie, how do I make sure I’m doing a good job at my first board role? Are there benchmarks or standards that I should be shooting for? And how do I know if I’m actually achieving those benchmarks or standards?

Howie Lau: I think the starting point is choosing correctly, the ones you can join, because I wouldn’t repeat them by jumping in the first one, I’ll probably be a lot more vicious like Su-Yen, to say, can I really value it in that board, based on my experience, if I can’t, then it’s probably not. And then second is to get the training ahead of time. And then it could be as simple as just going to some online courses to get that going. And the ability to really understand that business and industry would be helpful, because then you can bring your experience together what’s happening in the industry to bring something constructive, something that you can value add to the conversation, I would suggest that obviously the first couple of board meetings, read the board materials at least two times, because it will take you a while to really understand the nuances as well. And then I think the third one is that whatever opportunity you have to start building a relationship with the other board members do grab it as a new board director, because the board dynamics is going to be important, the management dynamics is going to be important. The earlier you get opportunities because sometimes you go to meetings, and you just go straight into the agenda without having an opportunity to really understand each other. So finding opportunities to really catch up even beforehand would be useful.

Su-Yen Wong: Completely concur of everything that Howie just said I would add two points. One is that when you join a board, while your value add may be along a particular dimension, whether it’s tech or human capital or sustainability, let’s say you have a particular area that’s value adding, that’s great, but recognize that when you’re on the board, you’re actually accountable for the organisation as a whole which means that it doesn’t matter whether you’re comfortable with financials or not you have to be comfortable with Financials. So you have to look at the enterprise across the board across all the functions which you may not necessarily have had a lot of exposure to so that comes back to learning. So make sure you level up on that. The second thing I would say is that on a board, effectiveness of an individual director is not just about the knowledge that you have. That’s sort of the table stakes. The second dimension is then how do you actually convey your possession? How do you influence? How do you persuade? What are different mechanisms that the board makes decisions together? And that is much more, not just what you know, but how you go about it. Sometimes you see Directors who are technically very strong, but if they’re unable to actually use the power of influence, because that’s all boards, boards are all by influence, you don’t control anyone, right? Then they actually are unable to value add in the way that they potentially could.

Reza Behnam: Thank you, Su-Yen. So not just about the expertise, but about broad knowledge of various things you need to know as a board member, but also how to influence the other board members as well as the management team, I assume.

Su-Yen Wong: Exactly.

Reza Behnam: Great. Thank you so much. Again, my name is Reza. It’s been a pleasure being your host Howie & Su-Yen.

Howie Lau: Thanks Reza, thanks everyone.

Su-Yen Wong: Thanks, everybody. Bye.

Our Guest: Howie Lau & Su-Yen Wong

Howie Lau is the Managing Partner, Corporate Development, & Partnerships of NCS Group. He brings years of deep experience and thought leadership in the Info-Communications and Technology (ICT) sector. Prior to joining NCS, he was the Assistant Chief Executive, Media & Innovation Group, at the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), which is in charge of developing Singapore’s technology, telecommunications, and media businesses, as well as developing technology capability. Prior to joining IMDA, Howie served as StarHub’s Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Consumer Business, as well as Lenovo’s Vice President of Corporate Development. He has over 25 years of corporate development, business leadership, and marketing experience with Lenovo and IBM in Asia Pacific, China, India, and Latin America. Howie is a member of several advisory committees and boards, including the Singapore Institute of Directors’ Governing Council and the Science Centre Singapore’s board. He was recognized as IT Leader of the Year 2020 by the Singapore Computer Society and received the Philip Kotler Marketing Excellence award in 2018.

Su-Yen Wong is the chairperson of the Singapore Institute of Directors, and she serves on the boards of several public, private, membership, and not-for-profit organizations in Australia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, and the United States. She was honored to be named in ‘Financial Times’ Agenda Directory of Top 100 Board Candidates With Pay-Setting Skills a few years ago – to date, the only individual from Asia to be included on the list. She chairs or serves on numerous nominating, remuneration, and audit committees, and she has expertise in business strategy, human capital development, and organizational transformation.She serves as the lead independent director at Yoma Strategic Holdings and on the boards of First Resources CSE Global and IMGA. She is a professor of global leadership at the National University of Singapore and a member of Duke University’s Executive Education Faculty. She has also been a guest lecturer/speaker at programs hosted by IESE Business School (Spain), INSEAD (France), IPADE Business School (Mexico), Singapore Management University, and Yale University (USA).