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Gan Siow Huang
Minister of State for Education and ManpowerMs Gan Siow Huang is the Minister of State for Education and Manpower. She is the Member of Parliament for Marymount Single Member Constituency.
Siow Huang is a member of the National Jobs Council that oversees the development of job opportunities and skills training for Singaporeans amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. A strong advocate for the SkillsFuture movement, she is part of the Future Economic Council that drives the growth and transformation of Singapore’s economy for the future.
Prior to joining politics, Siow Huang was a military officer in the Republic of Singapore Air Force. She became the first female Brigadier General in the Singapore Armed Forces where she led the development of smart airbases and commanded daily operations of the largest formation in the Air Force.
After more than 25 years of military career, she joined the Labour Movement as Deputy CEO of NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute, a private company that provides career guidance, job-matching and skills upgrading services.
Siow Huang graduated from London School of Economics and Political Science with a Bachelor of Science (Economics) degree in 1996. She attained Master in Business Administration from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010.
She volunteers with Girl Guides Singapore and was formerly Chief Commissioner of the organisation. She also mentors young women as part of the Young Women’s Leadership Connection mentorship programme. She is married with three daughters.
Andrea Chong
Founder & Director of DC CreativeAndrea Chong is fashion and lifestyle influencer. She is also the founder and director of the social media advertising company, DC Creative Pte Ltd, which has a sizeable presence on Instagram and YouTube and runs thedcedit.com.
Andrea is well-known for her much sought-after collaborations with fashion and beauty partners such as Superga; Love, Bonito; and The Closet Lover. She also fronts and creative directs campaigns for brands such as H&M; Lululemon; Warehouse; Goldheart; Chanel Beauty; UOB Lady's Card; Capitaland; Takashimaya; Shopee; and KrisShop.
Andrea is also a mother to a 1-year-old son, and was motivated by her motherhood experience to start parenting platform, Tiger Moms Club. The aim is to bring together new mothers and provide them with a one-stop information resource to address the questions that they may have and create a supportive community.
Patricia Quek
Managing Director, Sector Head Singapore, Malaysia & GFIM (SG) of UBS AGPatricia Quek currently leads Global Wealth Management in Singapore, Malaysia & GFIM SG teams. Prior to this, she led the Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) Indonesia & Singapore teams & incepted the Global Family Office (GFO) team for SEA. She has been the WM Healthcare sector lead since 2010 and the WM SEA Sustainable Finance lead since 2020.
Patricia joined UBS in 1996 and has more than 25 years' experience delivering integrated solutions across wealth management, investment bank and asset management to Billionaires, UHNW clients, global family offices, private and public listed companies. She brings with her extensive knowledge of global financial markets, investments, corporate advisory services, family advisory services and knowledge of regulations in key operating markets. She sits on the management committee responsible for location decisions.
Patricia is an IBF Fellow and an active industry contributor. She is actively engaged with Wealth Management Institute (WMI) Singapore on upskilling talent in the industry, sits on the GFOC panel and serve on PBIG workgroup.
Patricia leads the UBS Women’s Initiative, focusing on increasing our gender diversity which enables our businesses to innovate and thrive as we better understand and relate to the needs of our clients. Through this initiative, she is focused on 2 aspects; ensuring that UBS continues to enable more women to build sustainable and successful careers with us and increasing the representation of women at senior management levels. At the same time, be an advocate to women investors to encourage them to actively engage in financial decisions that will help them feel more confident about the future.
Patricia is also part of the Financial Women Association’s Female Champions’ initiative to engage women to champion and support women seeking success on both the professional and personal fronts and be firm supporters of gender diversity & inclusion in their workplaces and society at large.
Trina Liang
Managing Director of Templebridge InvestmentsTrina Liang is a fund manager for a US5bn global asset manager, focused on renewable energy investing in Asia. She is Singapore’s current representative to the G20 for Women, appointed by Singapore’s Ministry of Finance.
She is the current President of Women in Sustainability and Environment (WISE) Singapore. She is past president of UN Women Singapore (2011 to 2019) and the Financial Women’s Association Singapore (2004-2006). And the past vice president of the Singapore Council of Women’s Organizations (2014 to 2018) and co-lead of BoardAgender (2016-2018).
In 2021, her new board appointments include World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) and SPCA Singapore. She also serves on the boards of the Community Foundation of Singapore, Singapore Repertory Theatre, United Women Singapore and Victoria Junior College.
Past board appointments include Sentosa Development Corporation (audit); Singapore Institute of International Affairs (member), National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC, member).
In 2014, she was appointed Chairperson of the Philanthropy in Asia summit organized by NVPC. From 2015 she was appointed co-chair of the President of Singapore’s Volunteer and Philanthropy Awards (PVPA). She together with her husband set up the Lin Foundation in 2016. In Nov 2018, she and her husband were named Forbes Asia’s 2018 Heroes of Philanthropy. Tatler’s Philanthropy award. In Aug 2018, Harper’s Bazaar Singapore named her on their Power List. In Nov 2018, Tatler awarded her the Philanthropy Award,
She was voted Woman of the Year (Business & Finance) by Women’s Weekly in 2006 and Her World’s Most Inspiring Women under 40 in 2010. She was named both Straits Times’ 50 Young Singaporeans to Watch (2004) and 20 Women to Watch (2006).
She has worked as a speechwriter and strategist in political campaigns notably: the nail-biting 2011 Presidential elections representing Dr. Tony Tan (President of Singapore 2011-2017) and Minister Lawrence Wong's (Singapore’s Finance Minister) 2015 landslide election campaign.
Viveka Kalidasan
Technology Development & Commercialization Lead at A*STAR IBBViveka has been recognized as the top 100 Women in Technology in Singapore. As an Innovator and Technopreneur, she develops and commercializes patient-centric deeptech medical devices with a spotlight on FemTech. Viveka has invented wireless sensing (WiSe) surgical sutures that can detect post-operative complications having deep within the body, in a real-time manner. This work has gained wide recognition and published in the highly prestigious journal, Nature Biomedical Engineering (nBME). She has her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, NUS.
Currently, she is the Technology Development and Commercialization Lead for Translational Biophotonics Lab, Institute of Bioengineering and Bioimaging (IBB), A*STAR. She spearheads the commercialization of biophotonic technologies with femtech use- cases. The technologies that she develops are aimed to empower and improve the wellbeing of women of different age groups. She is the Co-Lead of A*STAR Diversity Working Group and the Diversity Champion of IBB. As the co-lead and champion, she spearheads various activities to ensure an inclusive, especially gender inclusive and safe ecosystem in A*STAR.
Viveka believes in empowerment through education and mentorship. She is a mentor to startups, venture creation programmes and aspiring talents. She founded The Edify Project, to empower more talents and organizations through innovative mentorship strategies. She also runs programs to promote Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education among girls.
On a lighter side, she is a fitness freak, a globetrotter, a bookworm, an amateur equestrian and a light political observer. One can connect with Viveka via LinkedIn, coffee, tea or much easier, a smile.
Vivian Lim
Co-founder, Director of Women In AsiaVivian is a community builder and license holder for TEDxSingapore. She was part of the co-founding team at TEDxNTU, where she curated years of Ideas Worth Spreading since 2011. Building communities has always been her passion, and she believes in curating impactful ideas and conversations that matter for our society.
She is also the co-founder of GEN (Rebranded from Women In Asia) where her work focuses on building a new roadmap to a more equitable society that embraces diversity and promotes inclusivity. She hopes to change the current narratives and build more contextualized case studies for a more equitable future- starting from Asia. She was also selected as an Obama Leader in 2019, one of the 200 leaders on a year long program under The Obama Foundation Leaders: inaugural Asia-Pacific Program. Representing Singapore, she was chosen for GEN’s work on gender-related issues in the region. In 2020, she was recognised by Gen.T (Tatler) as one of the 400 leaders of tomorrow in Asia leading change and social impact. Her work in building inclusive communities and bridging gender equality has been featured by the publication as well. She has also been recently recognized by NTU as an Outstanding Young Alumni.
Vivian will be moderating the panel discussion.
Abam Mambo
Employment Lawyer and Global SpeakerAbam Mambo is the Managing Director of workplace consultancy, BelongingIQ. With experience in employment law, corporate compliance and workplace investigations, she has advised the C-suite, management and HR on diversity and inclusion, fair employment practices, speak-up culture and all aspects of the employee life cycle.
Abam applies her proprietary Belongingness Quotient (BQ) model to help organizations increase engagement, improve performance, embed diversity and inclusion, and boost retention, in order to create a workplace where every employee can feel a sense of belonging . She calls it the I.D.E.A.L.S. workplace.
A captivating speaker, Abam has spoken in over 25 cities to organizations like the World Health Organization, Microsoft, GSK, Deere, and Yara. She’s held Regional Director roles in Legal and Compliance at Microsoft and GSK, and has lived and led teams in North America, Africa and Asia.
She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where she served as a contributing editor for the Michigan Law Review, and received her BA, summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota -Twin Cities, she is admitted to practice in the Minnesota and US supreme Court Bars.
Alan Ho
VP of International Marketing at DataStaxAlan Ho is currently VP of International Marketing with DataStax and an adjunct faculty in Singapore Management University. He is a marketing veteran with over 20 years in the Information Technology industry who has held both APJ and Global roles in Global MNC. Through the years in the tech industry, Alan has been supporting diversity movements and academic initiatives with resources available from his work in tech. He is a believer that tech and education reduce barriers to equal opportunities.
Christine Amour-Levar
Founder of Women on a Mission (WOAM) & HER Planet EarthChristine Amour-Levar is a French-Swiss-Filipina Philanthropist, Adventurer, Author and Human Rights Advocate. She has built a global career as a Marketing & Communications Expert and Social Entrepreneur intent on solving some of the world's most pressing issues. A passionate champion of female empowerment and environmental conservation, Christine co-founded Women on a Mission (WOAM) and founded HER Planet Earth, two award-wining, not-for-profit organisations that take all-female teams on pioneering expeditions, as a way to support worthy causes. HER Planet Earth's primary objective is to raise awareness and funds for underprivileged women affected by climate change, while WOAM aims to empower women who have been subjected to violence and abuse.
Christine is also an active Board Member and Advisor to several purpose-led organisations in the Social Impact, Fintech and Cellular Agriculture spaces. As a Writer she has contributed to international publications such as Forbes, The HuffPost, the Straits Times of Singapore, the Manila Bulletin Newspaper of the Philippines, etc., and has had speaking engagements with INSEAD, Nike, TWBA, Microsoft, Unilever, Credit Suisse, TEDx, and more.
Being included on Tatler Asia's Most Influential Impact List 2020, Christine has won multiple awards including the United Women Singapore Gender Equality Impact Changemaker Award, a Women of the Future Kindness & Leadership Southeast Asia Leading Lights 2020, and the '100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World' Award™.
Corinna Lim
Executive Director of AWARECorinna Lim is a women's rights activist, a lawyer and an entrepreneur. In 2010, she was appointed as the first Executive Director of AWARE, where she led the transformation of AWARE from a volunteer-led group into an award-winning charity. She has been a passionate advocate of women's rights for most of her adult life, advocating on issues such as gender violence and support for marginalised women. Before taking on a full-time role in AWARE, Corinna practised law for more than 10 years. She was also a co-founder and CEO of a legal technology business. Corinna has a Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University and is a Fulbright Scholar. She graduated with an LLB from the National University of Singapore and was called to the Singapore Bar in 1988.
Caren Tso
Revenue Policy Specialist at TwitterCaren is a policy professional working in the online trust and safety tech industry. Her interests lie within the impact of technology in shaping our social interaction, and the role of safe business practices to mitigate risk and harm to online users.
Caren is also passionate about gender equality and women’s empowerment. She has been an active member with YWLC and works on facilitating meaningful conversations around this area.
Outside of work, Caren engages in active hobbies and teaches yoga part time. She is a certified Hatha Yoga and Barre instructor.
Caren is the Programmes Lead for YWLC IWD 2022 and will be moderating the fireside chat.