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Minister Grace Fu
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Republic of SingaporeMs Grace Fu graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours), and subsequently obtained a Masters of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore. She spent the early part of her career in the private sector and last held the position of Chief Executive Officer, PSA South East Asia and Japan, where she was responsible for the business performance of PSA’s port terminals in Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Japan.
In 2006, Ms Fu joined politics and was appointed to various Ministries, including National Development, Education, Information, Communications and the Arts, Environment and Water Resources, and Foreign Affairs.
In 2015, Ms Fu was appointed Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Leader of the House.
In July 2020, Ms Fu was appointed Minister for Sustainability and the Environment.
In January 2024, Ms Fu concurrently assumed the responsibility as Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations.
In the same month that year, Ms Fu was elected as President of the Singapore National Olympic Council.
Ms Fu enjoys an active lifestyle, which includes running, yoga, and hiking. She is married with three sons.
Serene Gay
Group Country Manager, Regional Southeast Asia at VisaSerene Gay is the Group Country Manager for Regional Southeast Asia. In this role she is responsible for overseeing Visa’s business across the markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei. She also serves as a member of Visa’s Asia Pacific Leadership Team.
Serene joins Visa with more than 20 years of payments experience, of which 17 years were with Citi where she held several regional and market leadership roles across Singapore, Thailand and China.
Her most notable roles are Managing Director for Cards and Loans Business in both China and Singapore where she led the business through digital transformation in view of the market disruption. She also developed strategic collaboration work with leading Fintechs. Serene has also held several functional lead roles which include digital banking, marketing and data management. She was also the Chairperson for Citi Women’s Council in Singapore.
Outside of her experience in Citi, Serene worked in GE Money in China in a JV setup to launch its first co-brand product. She also spent two years as the Asia Pacific Lead for Managed Services, MasterCard Advisors, heading a team which focused on digital, marketing and card management services.
Serene is based in Singapore and has two daughters. She enjoys traveling and discovering new experiences with her family.
Toyin Ope
Head of Inclusion and Diversity at VisaToyin serves as the Head of Inclusion and Diversity for Visa Asia Pacific. In this role, she is responsible for developing and delivering the Inclusion and Diversity strategy for 18 countries across Asia Pacific. Toyin leads strategic initiatives to promote a diverse and inclusive corporate culture across Visa. Her expertise lies in understanding regional and local market challenges and implementing tailored programs to ensure that every employee feels a sense of belonging valued and empowered to participate.
Toyin joined Visa in 2021 from Shell where she led various Inclusion and Diversity, Social Impact and Strategy projects in North America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia over her 14 years of experience. Toyin started her career as in Finance and commercial strategy roles and went on to lead several strategic Inclusion and Diversity projects with Governments and industry partners -with a goal to improve diversity and local national representation in STEM careers and STEM education.
Toyin earned her master’s in education from Harvard University and MBA from Queen’s University in Canada after graduating from University of Manitoba in Canada.
Kaylee Kua
Executive Director of Daughters Of TomorrowKaylee Kua is the Executive Director of Daughters Of Tomorrow (DOT), a Singapore-registered charity with IPC status. As a pioneer member of DOT, Kaylee has spent over eight years in various capacities – Eldercare Program Manager, Systems and Integrated Project Manager. Kaylee oversees the overall strategy for DOT's programs, staff, expansion, and execution of its mission. These include programme planning and management, community and corporate outreach and advocacy, fundraising, donor management, as well as volunteer recruitment and management. She also oversees the delivery of all DOT programs and services, working to maintain and improve quality.
She leads the team at DOT to improve the social and economic mobility of the lower 20th percentile of women population in Singapore and delivers this through the strengthening of DOT's relations with its ecosystem of partners to create more opportunities and promote inclusive workplaces for women.
Kaylee holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Materials Science from the National University of Singapore. In 2023, Kaylee was one of two Singaporeans selected for the US Embassy Community Solutions Programme, a four-month professional development program for global community leaders.
In her free time, Kaylee finds joy in exploring the depths through diving, riding the waves with wakeboarding and fostering mindfulness through yoga. Kaylee also has a deep passion for issues pertaining to climate change and sustainability.
Rahul Daswani
Deputy Director of Digital Industry SingaporeAt DISG, Rahul works on building Singapore’s tech ecosystem, by helping scale promising local tech startups through innovation, skill development and market expansion. He is also the lead for the HeForShe Singapore, the United Nations Solidarity Movement For Gender Equality, and is part of the Lean In Singapore leadership team.
He was previously the Head of People for Open Government Products (OGP), GovTech Singapore’s experimental unit focused on creating a more progressive workforce and workplace. The processes and policies he designed and implemented were used across the government, especially in the ICT and resulted in a 20% increase in employee ratings on overall experience, fairness, openness, and growth and development.
Rahul is a co-founder of okayornot.sg, a scenario-based tool to start open-ended conversations about race in Singapore and advisor to Moxy, a platform for women to share anonymous, detailed feedback about their workplaces to drive tangible change.
Rahul is the Singapore country representative, an executive coach, author and faculty for the Center for Asia Leadership, regularly conducts workshops and speaks on topics including DEI, adaptive leadership, futures thinking, and the future of work across Asia.
Rahul is the only male advisor to Candour Global, a DEI strategy and communication consulting firm which authored one of HBR’s all time most read articles, ‘Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome’.
Anna J. Breimer Bharati
Managing Director of The Breimer GroupAnna J. Breimer Bharati is an expert in leadership development and supports aspiring, emerging and seasoned leaders to get ready to lead in a world full of disruption. She specializes in leadership power skills, a spectrum of skills that ranges from problem solving and strategic thinking to growth mindset and managing high performing teams.
She works with a range of clients, mainly hyper growth and technology companies like Google, Amazon, Bytedance, Grab, ShopBack and various fintechs, but also established players like FairPrice Group and StandardChartered. She has worked and lived across continents including Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East and has helped leaders from over 30 different countries. She has had over 20,000 participants in her training programs and workshops.
Previously, Anna was a Senior Expert - Associate Partner with McKinsey & Company, where she was based out of Singapore to lead their People Analytics in Asia. An architect by training, Anna began her career in the construction industry, responsible for innovations with the Jan Snel Group, a modular building player in the Netherlands.
Anna has guest lectured at notable institutions such as National University Singapore, INSEAD, Nanyang Technological University, Marshall School of Business and ESSEC, where she taught about People Strategy, Leadership, and Organizational Behavior.
Anna holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Master of Science with honors in Architecture from Delft University of Technology, where she minored in Technology in Sustainable Development. She was voted Most Promising Student of The Netherlands in 2006. Anna has completed the core coaching curriculum for the International Coaching Federation (ICF) as well as the Executive Group Coaching Practicum by the Kets De Vries Institute in London.
Anna is a Dutch citizen and Singaporean Permanent Resident. She resides in Singapore with her American husband and three children.
Sammy Elazab
Sales Director of Samsung AdsWith a passion for business and sales leadership spanning 17 years, Sammy’s focus has always been on fostering diversity, inclusion, belonging, and equity within teams. As a coach and leader, he empowers his team members by equipping them with the necessary skills and providing coaching to drive high performance and engagement.
Sammy’s leadership philosophy is based on collaboration and inspiration. He helps individuals recognize their purpose and value within their roles, and build motivated teams who deliver exceptional work and embrace continuous growth. He prioritises honesty, transparency, integrity, empathy, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. These core values guides his professional approach, create a positive and inclusive work environment, and help achieve outstanding results.
Sierin Lim
Associate Professor (Bioengineering) at Nanyang Technological UniversitySierin Lim is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU). Her research group focuses on repurposing nature-derived materials by designing and engineering biological entities for applications in health and the environment. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). She founded the Biomedical Engineering Society (Singapore) Student Chapter in 2009, co-founded Women@NTU in 2018 and Society of Women Engineers Singapore in 2021, of which she is the Vice President (Academic). She is also leading the Ministry of Education-funded Promotion of Women in Engineering, Research, and Science (POWERS) programme. She is currently serving as the Associate Dean of Global Partnerships at the NTU Graduate College.
Uma Thana Balasingam
Social Leader. Founder of Lean In Network, SingaporeUma Thana Balasingam is the founder of Lean In Singapore, LeanIn.Org was founded by Sheryl Sandberg to empower women to achieve their ambitions. Lean In Singapore, founded in 2016, is a community of over 7000 women, men, and others who come together to be inspired, empowered, and educated, focusing on driving gender diversity in the workplace.
She was Vice President & General Manager – Partner & Commercial Organization, Asia Pacific & Japan at VMware where she was led the regional plan and revenue attainment, in addition to the execution of route-to-market strategy with VMware’s ecosystem across 48 markets.
She was recognized in CRN’s The Most Powerful Women of the Channel global list and Singapore’s Top 100 Women in IT and LinkedIn’s Top 10 Voices in Gender Equity.
Liyana Sinwan
Board Member at PPISLiyana Sinwan is a lawyer with the Disputes Resolution team at K&L Gates Straits Law. Liyana’s niche area of practice is family law, and she handles both the civil law and Syariah law systems.
Prior to specialising in family practice, Liyana was exposed to a wide range of practice areas including civil and commercial litigation, and criminal matters. She has acted for several high-profile clients, including an international hotel brand and a multinational construction company. She has represented clients in the Singapore Court of Appeal as well as at the Syariah Appeal Board.
Liyana is passionate about giving back to the community. She is presently serving on several Boards and Councils, including the Board of Governance of PPIS.
Yvonne Mak
Chairperson at YWLC; Associate at Withers KhattarWong LLPYvonne Mak is the Chairperson of YWLC's 8th Executive Committee, leading the organisation and steering its strategic direction. She has volunteered with YWLC since 2017, and was previously YWLC's Strategy & Partnerships Director (7th Executive Committee) and Recruitment Director (6th Executive Committee).
In her professional work, she is an arbitration and litigation lawyer at Withers KhattarWong LLP, practicing in the areas of corporate and commercial dispute resolution. She has acted for and advised clients in cross-border and domestic disputes across industries, with particular experience in shareholder disputes. She also sits on the Public and International Law Committee of the Law Society of Singapore, and on a subcommittee of the ICC Singapore Arbitration Group.
Caren Tso
Government & International Relations Manager at Elevandi; Director of Mentorship at YWLCCaren Tso is a policy professional with diverse interests at the intersection of technology, finance, and society. She currently works as the Government and International Relations Manager at Elevandi, where she fosters strategic partnerships between the public and private sectors to drive meaningful dialogues within FinTech and innovation. Previously, Caren worked at Twitter and Airbnb, shaping their online content policies for a safer internet.
Outside of her professional work, Caren is passionate about building a supportive community for young female leaders. She currently serves as the Director of Mentorship at YWLC's 8th Executive Committee, leading YWLC's flagship mentorship programme.
Chandini Manoharan
Head of APAC Telecommunication at MetaWith a distinguished career in the tech industry, Chandini leads global digitization projects in the supply chain sector, bringing a wealth of experience to the forefront. Beyond the standard 9-to-5, she scales heights professionally and literally. As an accomplished mountaineer, Chandini has conquered peaks across Nepal, Southeast Asia and Africa, embodying resilience and determination. A passionate advocate for women's empowerment, she actively contributes to education and leadership initiatives in the community.