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Rahayu Mahzam
Senior Parliamentary Secretary at Ministry of Health and Ministry of LawMdm Rahayu Mahzam is the Senior Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Law. She has been a Member of Parliament representing the Jurong GRC since September 2015. Prior to her appointment as Parliamentary Secretary in September 2020, Mdm Rahayu was a lawyer, specialising in family law.
Mdm Rahayu is passionate about supporting residents in need and developing opportunities for people to come together to help one another. She has introduced many social programmes in Bukit Batok East, to help families, support students and uplift women.
In Parliament, Mdm Rahayu has championed the interests of the special needs’ community, youth development, as well as efforts to empower women and preserve a strong, multi-racial and multi-religious community.
As Deputy Chairperson of the REACH Supervisory Panel, Rahayu is closely involved to get feedback from the public on national policies and issues. She also contributes nationally through other committees, including the OnePeople.SG Executive Committee and the National Youth Council. She was one of the co-chairs leading the efforts of the Conversations on Women’s Development and the Singapore Together Alliance for Action to tackle online harms, especially those targeted at women and girls.
Khairah Rahim
Assistant Honorary Secretary at PPISNur Khairah Abdul Rahim is passionate about creating a more equitable world and has been an active volunteer for the past 15 years. When she’s not busy matching world-class talents to marketing projects as Co-Founder and Director of startup Independents.ai, she dedicates her time to serving as General Manager of a charity that supports children with cancer and also serves on the board of the Singapore Muslim Women’s Association (PPIS) as their Asst Honourary Secretary. Khairah was also part of the founding committee and has chaired the Young Women’s Leadership Connection.
Lionel Wee
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at National University of SingaporeLionel Wee is Provost’s Chair Professor in the Dept of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He is a linguist and works mainly on language policy, new varieties of English and general issues in pragmatics and sociolinguistics. His recent books include The Singlish Controversy (2018, Cambridge University Press), Language, Space and Cultural Play: Theorizing Affect in the Semiotic Landscape (with R. Goh, 2019, Cambridge University Press), and Soft Power, The Korean Wave and Sociolinguistics (with N. Samosir, forthcoming, Routledge). He is currently working on a book about the use of automation in communication.
Stacey N Lacy
APAC Chief Information Officer and Head of Operations & Technology at CitiStacey N Lacy is Managing Director at Citi, where she is the Asia Pacific Chief Information Officer and Head of Operations and Technology, with teams spanning 14 countries across Treasury and Trade, Securities and Fund Services, Markets, Wealth Management, and Personal Banking.
Stacey’s career at Citi spans 25 years, joining as a Management Associate in Hong Kong in 1996. Since that time, Stacey has spearheaded various leadership roles from operations management to project and program management, and leading the shared service centers for Guangdong, China, and Singapore. More recently leading the operations and technology delivery for Singapore and ASEAN; and for Citi’s high net worth clients across the region.
Stacey is a passionate leader on talent, diversity and inclusion. She was recognized as a Fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Banking & Finance in 2016 and holds a Bachelor & Master of Arts in Economics from Boston University. Stacey and her partner, Ian, are proud parents to three children - Michael, Benjamin and Abigail.
Sher-li Torrey
Founder and Director of Mums@WorkSher-li Torrey is the founder & director of Mums@Work (Singapore), which was started in 2010. Trained in various personality profiling tools, she has more than 20 years of corporate experience. Formerly heading the postgraduate team at the Office of Career Services at the Singapore Management University (SMU), she has held various roles in different industries.
In 2010, following the birth of her daughter, Sher-li started Mums@Work (Singapore) – a social enterprise that supports women. A point of information source for women looking at flexible work arrangements and/ or starting their own business, Mums@Work is a career portal that supports more than 50,000 women. In 2016, she started a subsidiary of M@W, Career Navigators – with a focus on bringing women back into the workforce in full-time roles. Through this subsidiary, partnerships with more than 150 MNCs have been established.
In 2021, Sher-li launched “Singapore:40-over-40. Inspiring Women”- an annual initiative to highlight 40 women in Singapore, over the age of 40, who have started a business, restarted a career, changed career paths or created a social giveback project. Designed to champion against ageism and gender bias, this project was launched in March 2021 and will be run bi-annually.
As founder of Singapore’s first flexible work career portal, Sher-li has spoken to various organisations and local media on Diversity & Inclusion topics, as well as HR-related issues. She is a frequent speaker and article contributor to press and TV on topics related to new work environment, employment trends and diversity hiring. As a trained career coach, Sher-li continues to support the different Singapore universities and polytechnics in career-related projects for their fresh graduates. A mother of 2 school-going children, Sher-li strongly advocates a work environment that thrives in allowing employees to have better work-family integration.
Sher-li will be moderating the panel discussion.
Gee Keow Tan
Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Community and YouthMs Tan Gee Keow is the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. The Ministry aims to build a more cohesive and vibrant society, and to deepen the sense of identity and belonging to Singapore.
Prior to this, Ms Tan was the Deputy Secretary of Strategy Group in the Prime Minister’s Office. She had also served as the Deputy Secretary (Policy) at the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, and before that in various government agencies such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defence, the Central Singapore Community Development Council, Public Service Commission Secretariat and the Ministry of Finance.
Ms Tan graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. She obtained her Masters of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and a Master of Science in Management at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Ms Tan is also Chairman of Singapore Sports School, a Board member of the Civil Service College (CSC) and a member of Singapore Totalisator Board (Tote Board).
Dawn Lim
Executive Director of DesignSingapore CouncilAn experienced leader in business development and strategy, Dawn stepped into the leadership role at DesignSingapore as Executive Director from 1 May. Prior to this, she helmed Singapore’s global leadership ambitions in Commercial & Professional Services at the Economic Development Board - Singapore’s lead economic agency. In this role, she engaged and attracted the world’s leading organisations in the consulting, accounting, marketing and advertising, as well as engineering services and logistics sectors. She has a proven track record of working across private and public sector partners to negotiate deals and deliver major strategic initiatives and investments.
She also formerly headed EDB’s European team to advance Singapore’s business engagements with Fortune 500 companies across a wide range of industries, bringing in more than US $1 billion in investments annually. Under Dawn’s stewardship, the Singapore EDB established its first office in Switzerland. Previously, she headed EDB’s logistics industry team in Singapore.
Dawn also spent several years at port operator PSA honing her skills in the shipping industry while serving as chief of staff to the CEO and global account commercial manager for top shipping lines. She holds a BSc from Georgetown University and an MSc from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. One of her proudest moments was sharing the Singapore development story as part of Stanford GSB’s Lowkeynotes speaker series. (You can catch it on her LinkedIn)
Dawn is also a Design Economy Ambassador to the UK Design Council – the only Southeast Asian and female to be represented. She is a design thinker, swing dancer, and a better baker than a cook. She is a mentor with the Halogen Foundation as well as an advisor to a start-up, MagicPort. Often found bobbing along to jazz, she also easily breaks out into classic oldies and boyband tunes when the occasion calls for it. If she could, she’d take her senior adopted dog, Mi Gua, everywhere.
Ling Anne Hsieh
Managing Director and Co-founder of Project Green RibbonLing Anne, mental health advocate and person in recovery, has developed a strong passion for social work in the area of mental wellness that stems from her personal struggles in life. She co-founded and is currently serving as the managing director of Project Green Ribbon, a purpose-driven organisation dedicated to lend support to those struggling in life and provide a platform for the unheard to be heard. She hopes to provide the help that she did not get and send the message that no one is alone in their journey.
A former sexual assault survivor, Ling Anne spent years on the streets and in girls' homes. Having struggled through teenage pregnancy and thoughts of suicide, she sought help and turned her life around by managing her depression. Today, she wears many hats as a counsellor, mentor, life coach, youth protection and rehabilitation specialist, devoted wife and mother of 3.
Sierin Lim
Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Nanyang Technological UniversitySierin Lim is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU). Her research group focuses on the design and engineering of hybrid nano/microscale devices from biological parts for applications in health and the environment. Specifically, her Bioengineered and Applied Nanomaterials Lab (BeANs Lab) uses protein cages as the building blocks and a platform for formulation and delivery of active molecules to the skin. Her lab also explores the utility of protein cages to enhance contrast in imaging atherosclerotic plaques. In her Molecular & Cellular Bioengineering Lab (MCBe Lab), she leads a program in engineering PETase to up-cycle plastic waste to oil, cellulose, and cannabinoids using cyanobacteria, cellulose bacteria, and yeast.
She is currently serving as the Associate Dean of Global Partnerships at the NTU Graduate College. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
Sierin is championing community developments at NTU and in Singapore, particularly women in STEM initiatives. She founded the Biomedical Engineering Society (Singapore) Student Chapter in 2009, Women@NTU in 2018, and Society of Women Engineers Singapore in 2021 of which she is the Vice President (Academic). She is the chair of Promotion of Women in Engineering, Research, and Science (POWERS) program which she co-founded in 2020. In 2013 she received the L'Oréal-UNESCO Singapore for Women in Science National Fellowship and in 2020 the Inaugural Singapore 100 Women in Tech List. She’s a STEM Ambassador for Girls2Pioneers section of the United Women Singapore.
Sylvia Xiao
Digital Transformation Lead at CitiSylvia is the digital transformation lead for Citi’s TTS Operations team based in Singapore, covering ASEAN markets. She is responsible for rollout of digital solutions that help improve productivity, scalability, and create value for clients.
Having worked in 4 of our geographies, she appreciates the importance of Diversity at Citi, and is actively involved in DE&I initiatives across APAC and especially enjoys mentoring young talent and entrepreneurs. She holds a Bachelor of Int. Studies & Bachelor of Laws from the University of Technology, Sydney. Prior to joining Citi, she was a Criminal Defense lawyer in Sydney.
Sylvia is the vice-chair of LiveGreener, the employee engagement pillar of our ESG Taskforce. She has been passionate about sustainability since her time with UN University of Peace in 2015.
In her spare time, she can often be found at the beach, or in the mountains.
Toby Sunderland
Managing Director, Asia Head of Securities Services Technology at CitiToby Sunderland is the Global Head of Securities Services Technology Engagement and Implementations and Asia Head of Securities Services Technology.
He is responsible for providing leadership to the SST organization both Globally and in Asia. Toby owns the relationship with the senior Global and Asia Business stakeholders and ensures service coverage for all key platforms. He leads the Project, Programme and Business Analyst teams globally for SST.
Toby has been living in Asia for the last 10 years – all in Singapore.
Toby rejoined Citi in 2018, coming from Standard Chartered bank, where he was managing the Product Development, and latterly, the Technology Programme Delivery functions for Securities Services globally.
Before that, Toby was the APAC Head of Securities Services (Investor and Issuer) Technology Services at Citi, based in Singapore. Prior to Singapore and while in the UK, he held various roles within global financial institutions managing Securities Services technology functions.
He is passionate about Formula 1 and Golf.