Board of Directors

MR STEVEN JAY GREEN

US Ambassador to Singapore from November 1997 to March 2001. Mr Green spearheaded a number of strategic programmes that greatly enhanced US-Singapore relations in economic development, intellectual property, immigration and national security. He is currently a Special Advisor to the Singapore Government, and is also a director of GIC Real Estate Private Limited, Vistage International, Inc., Knowledge Universe Learning Group, Greenstreet Capital Management, Inc. and Long Haul Holding Corp. and is a Trustee of the University of Miami.

Mr Green is the founder of merchant bank Greenstreet Partners, and a founding partner of Greenstreet Real Estate Partners, a real estate investment company with holdings throughout the United States. Mr Green has 25 years of experience as an international industrialist leading major corporate restructurings and expansions in a host of manufacturing, housing, consumer products, retail and real estate enterprises. He served as Chairman and CEO of Samsonite Corporation from 1988 to 1996 where he oversaw the recapitalisation and subsequent turnaround of the company to a highly profi table business.

In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Mr Green is also active in national civic affairs. He serves as a contributing trustee for a number of community and national charities, including the Children’s Health Fund and the University of Miami Advisory Board. He is also Chairman of the Green Family Foundation.

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MR CHOO CHIAU BENG

Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours), University of Newcastle upon Tyne (awarded the Colombo Plan Scholarship to study Naval Architecture); Master of Science in Naval Architecture, University of Newcastle upon Tyne; attended the Programme for Management Development in Harvard Business School in 1982 and is a Member of the Wharton Society of Fellows, University of Pennsylvania.

Mr Choo is the Chief Executive Officer of Keppel Corporation Limited and the Chairman of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd and Keppel Land Limited. He is also a director of Keppel Energy Pte Ltd.

He is a Board Member of Energy Studies Institute, a Board and Council Member of American Bureau of Shipping and the Chairman of Det Norske Veritas South East Asia Committee. He is a member of the American Bureau of Shipping’s Southeast Asia Regional Committee, Special Committee on Mobile Offshore Drilling Units, Nanyang Business School Advisory Board, Singapore- Guangdong Collaboration Council and Sub-Committee 1 of The Economic Strategies Committee.

He is Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Brazil.

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DR LEE SUAN YEW

MBBS from Cambridge University, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Glasgow.

Dr Lee is a Director of Haw Par Corporation Ltd. He was previously a Director of the Board of Singapore General Hospital, Hotel Properties Ltd and was a past President of the Singapore Medical Council and past Chairman of the National Medical Ethics Committee.

From 2006 to 2009, Dr Lee chaired the Advisory Committee on Chronic Disease Medical Programme (CDMP) on behalf of the Ministry of Health. With the help of the Steering Committee of the CDMP of which he is a member, the chronic disease programme, using Medisave was launched.

Dr Lee was appointed a Justice of Peace in 1998 and was conferred the Public Service Star in 1991 and the Public Service Star (Bar) in 2002 for his contribution towards public service.

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MR TEO SOON HOE

Bachelor of Business Administration, University of Singapore; Member of the Wharton Society of Fellows, University of Pennsylvania.

Mr Teo is a Senior Executive Director and the Group Finance Director of Keppel Corporation Limited. He is the Chairman of Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Ltd, MobileOne Ltd and Keppel Philippines Holding Inc. In addition, he is a director of several companies within the Keppel Group, including Keppel Land Limited, Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited, Keppel Energy Pte. Ltd. and Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment Holdings Pte. Ltd.

Mr Teo began his career with Keppel Group in 1975 when he joined Keppel Shipyard. He rose through the ranks and was seconded to various subsidiaries of the Keppel Group before assuming the position of Group Finance Director in 1985.

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MR YONG PUNG HOW

BA, Ll B and MA of Cambridge University; Ll D (Honorary) of National University of Singapore; PhD (Honorary) of La Salle University of the Philippines; Ll D (Honorary) of Singapore Management University; AMP of the Harvard Business School; Barrister at Law of the Inner Temple and Honorary Bencher; Advocate and Solicitor, Malaysia and Singapore; and Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Management.

Mr Yong was Singapore’s Chief Justice from 1990 to 2006, during which time he was also the President of the Legal Service Commission, the Chairman of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights, and President of the Singapore Academy of Law. Since 1991, Mr Yong has been appointed thrice by the Cabinet as acting President of the Republic of Singapore.

He started his legal career as a partner with Shook Lin & Bok in 1952, serving until his retirement from legal practice as a senior partner in 1970. Whilst in legal practice, he also held a variety of public appointments such as Chairman of the Malayan Public Services Arbitration Tribunal from 1955 to 1960, the Malaysian Industrial Court from 1961 to 1967, and Malayan Airways (later renamed Malaysia-Singapore Airlines) from 1964 to 1969. He was also Deputy Chairman of the largest Malayan bank, Malayan Banking Berhad between 1966 and 1971.

In 1971, Mr Yong founded the Singapore International Merchant Bankers Ltd (SIMBL) and Malaysian International Merchant Bankers Berhad (MIMB), and served as Chairman and Managing Director of both companies. In 1976, he retired from SIMBL and MIMB, and was appointed Vice-Chairman of OCBC Bank. In 1981, Mr Yong was seconded by OCBC Bank to the Singapore Government to form and head the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC). In 1982, he was appointed concurrently the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Deputy Chairman of the Currency Commissioners, and Alternate Governor for Singapore of the International Monetary Fund. He returned to OCBC Bank as its Chairman and CEO from 1983 to 1989.

Before returning to the law in 1989 when he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore, Mr Yong also served as a member of the Singapore Securities Industry Council from 1972 to 1981, as a member of the Provisional Mass Rapid Transit Authority, which planned the MRT, and later as a director of the MRT Corporation which built the MRT between 1981 and 1985. He was Chairman of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation from 1985 to 1989, and in 1987 he became the fi rst Chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies, as well as a director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Mr Yong was conferred the Distinguished Service Order in 1989 and the Order of Temasek (First Class) in 1999. The citation on Singapore’s highest award stated that “as Chief Justice since 28 September 1990, Justice Yong Pung How has made the Singapore Judiciary world class”.

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JEFFREY ALAN SAFCHIK

Mr Safchik graduated with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration (majoring in Accountancy) from Pace University, New York, and obtained a Masters degree in Taxation from St. John’s University, New York. During the course of his career, he attended advanced finance and real estate courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and New York University.

Mr Safchik is also the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Greenstreet Partners. He is also a founder of Greenstreet Real Estate Partners, a company engaged in the business of real estate investment, and is the Chairman of their Investment and Advisory Committees. He is an active member of a number of civic and charitable institutions in Miami, Florida, and is the Chairman of the University of Miami, Department of Pediatrics Children’s Council, as well as a trustee of the Green Family Foundation. He also serves as a director of Knowledge Universe Learning Group, Cardean Learning Group and Long Haul Holding Corp and is the Chairman of the Cardean Learning Group audit committee as well as a director and member of the Knowledge Schools, Inc. and KUE Management, Inc. audit committee and Knowledge Schools, Inc Executive Committee.

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MR MASROOR TAALE SIDDIQUI

Masroor Siddiqui is currently a Partner at TCI Fund Management, a $10 Billion hedge fund. He is responsible for global investments in credit and equities. Prior to joining TCI, Mr Siddiqui was a Managing Director at Canyon Partners, a $15 Billion hedge fund, where he founded their London office and managed the firm’s European investments. Mr. Siddiqui was previously an Analyst and Fund Manager at Putnam Investments, where he was responsible for investments in the utilities, telecommunications and media sectors. Prior to joining the buy-side 8 years ago, Mr Siddiqui spent several years as an investment banker and sell-side analyst primarily at Goldman Sachs and Jefferies & Company. Mr Siddiqui was responsible for the alternative energy and industrials sectors and gained extensive experience in structuring and evaluating investments across the capital structure. Mr Siddiqui has been ranked as an “All-Star Analyst” by Institutional Investor, Greenwich Associates and Reuters. He has been quoted in the Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. Mr. Siddiqui graduated from Yale University with a Master’s degree in Management; he also holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

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MR ALEXANDER VAHABZADEH

BBA in International Business from George Washington University.

Mr. Vahabzadeh is the co-founder and president of SAFANAD based in Geneva, Switzerland. SAFANAD is an international investment firm with a substantial permanent capital base, focused on skill based investment strategies in private equity and real estate.

From 1994 to 2009 he was the co-founder and managing partner of the BV Group. During this time the BV Group built significant private equity and real estate holdings in the US, Europe and Asia. He has developed several successful real estate operating platforms, which have built up significant portfolios of assets in specialized sectors such as government-leased and medical real estate.

Mr. Vahabzadeh is also the chairman of Peracon, the leading software based risk management and transaction management company for commercial real estate. In addition he serves on the advisory board of several venture capital and corporate buyout funds in which his group is an investor.

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PROF NEO BOON SIONG

Neo Boon Siong is Professor and former Dean of the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has also taught at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in the National University of Singapore, and is a Fellow of the Civil Service College and the Singapore Institute of Directors. He was the founder Director of the Information Management Research Centre (IMARC) in NTU and the Asia Competitiveness Institute in NUS. He currently serves as Director on the Boards of OCBC Bank, Keppel Offshore and Marine Ltd, and J Lauritzen Singapore.

He received a Public Administration Medal (Silver) from the President of the Republic of Singapore in the 1999 National Day Honours Awards. He is the lead author of a new book on Dynamic Governance: Embedding Culture, Capabilities and Change which was published and launched by Singapore’s President SR Nathan in July 2007.

Prof Neo is a Certified Public Accountant (Singapore) and holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours) from the National University of Singapore, and MBA and PhD degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He completed executive programs at the Harvard Business School, Sloan School of Management, MIT, and Cornell Hotel School. Prior to joining the University, he held professional and management positions in Hewlett-Packard and Shell Petroleum companies in Singapore.

Prof Neo over the past thirty years has had varied experience in accounting and finance, information systems, strategy, research, business advisory and consultancy, management education, and corporate governance. He is a leading expert in business strategy, process management and organizational change. He has advised many major corporations, facilitated strategy workshops, and led management development programs for global enterprises. He has also served on many government committees reviewing policies and recommending changes relating to economic development, education, human capital, international trade and technology development.

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