Ms Andress Goh was Managing Director, Global Co-Head and Head of Singapore office Allianz Capital Partners GmbH (ACP) – Fund Investments until end-2021.

 Prior to working for ACP, Andress was employed at the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (Special Investments) in London.

 She started her career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore where she worked on the China and North American desks and was posted to Germany as First Secretary/Deputy to the Ambassador and was also a Singapore delegate to the United Nations in New York.

 She also served as Centre Director for the Singapore Economic Development Board in Frankfurt, where she helped German businesses set up in Singapore.

 Andress holds an MA from the University of Oxford in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Apart from MEI, Andress is also on the board of the education company XCL, and will join the SSO Board in September 2024.

Mr Anthony Teo Soon Chye, in his international business and advisory experience, served as a Senior Advisor of EcoPower; Managing Partner of Asia at The Enhancement Partners II LLC of Huston; Executive Advisor of Asia Inc; Managing Director of Euro Group International; and as Publisher of Asian Business.

Prior to his current portfolio, he served as an Independent Director and the Lead Independent Director of Innovalues Ltd. since June 1, 2005; Independent Director at the Greenship Holdings, a subsidiary of Paris-based Jaccar Holdings; and as Vice Chairman of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

In the recent past, he was in the troika of president, provost and chief administrative officer to corporatise NTU, with its Trustees, through the Cabinet, Senate & Administrative Committee to reposition its strategic technological mission and to encompass a new age medical school in venture with Imperial, endowed by the Lee Foundation. He was awarded a visiting fellowship and Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques by Cambridge University and the French Government, respectively.

Mr Teo is devoted to comparative strategy, social psychology of leadership and governance across tri-lateral spheres of corporate, public and NGO arenas; and the emerging public policy implications of UniverCities. He recently published a book called “UniverCities: Strategic View of the Future from Berkeley and Cambridge to Singapore and Rising Asia (Volume 2)”.

Mr Teo is the Emeritus Board Member of the Global Harvard Business School Alumni Board of Governors in Boston and conference provost for the 1997 & 2004 HBS Global Leadership Forum respectively in pre-handover HK & post-WTO China at Shanghai. He is also the Founder of the Harvard Singapore Foundation and is an Advisor to HBS Alumni Club of HKSAR. He addressed international conferences at Technical University of Munich, QS Asia Pacific Professional Leaders’ in Education in Manila, amongst others.

He holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from the University of Singapore.

Born in Singapore in 1950, Eli Manasseh Benjamin is better known in the fashion lifestyle industry as Nash Benjamin, the outspoken Chief Executive Officer of F J Benjamin Holdings Ltd.

The younger brother of Frank Benjamin, Founder and Executive Chairman of F J Benjamin Holdings Ltd., Nash joined the Company in the late 1960s where he was involved with the sales and marketing for brands like Amco and Lanvin. In the years that followed, Nash assisted his elder brother and carried the vision which Frank had for the Company.

Prior to his current position as Chief Executive Officer of the Group, Nash held the post of Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operations Officer of the Group since 1994.

Over the years, Nash was involved in the growth of our business in North Asia and S.E. Asia where he was involved in acquiring additional franchise brands and played a major role in the growth of the business in Indonesia through Associate company partnering Saratoga, a P/E firm in Indonesia.

Nash’s achievements at F J Benjamin and in the industry were recognized in November 2007 when he won the prestigious Ernst & Young Lifestyle Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 award. In 2008, Nash also won the Chief Executive Officer Award at the Singapore Corporate Awards in the category of companies with a market capitalization of less than $300 million.

Nash is currently the President of the Jewish Welfare Board in Singapore since 2020.

Fazlur Rahman is currently with Maybank Singapore, bringing over 20 years of experience spanning various sectors including government, real estate, banking, financial advisory, investment, and client-relationship management. His career began with the Singapore government statutory board under the Ministry of Trade & Industry, and he has since worked with international firms, specialising in business development, client relationship management, and leadership. Fazlur is particularly noted for his expertise in promoting cross-border investment and business opportunities, with a focus on the Middle East and Islamic Finance.

Fazlur has been instrumental in fostering relationships between Singapore and the Middle East, significantly contributing to the promotion of Singapore in the region. In 2008, he was invited by Masraf Al Rayan, a Qatari-listed Islamic bank, to work in Qatar, underscoring his expertise and reputation in the field.

Beyond his professional achievements, Fazlur is deeply committed to community service. He serves as the Chairman for the Racial and Religious Harmony Circle at Kembangan-Chai Chee under the Ministry of Community, Culture & Youth (MCCY). Additionally, with his extensive experience in Waqf (Endowment) and Islamic charity, he was appointed by Minister Masagos Zulkifli to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) Advisory Panel for Wakaf Masyarakat Singapura (Endowment for Singapore Muslim Community). Fazlur’s dedication to both his professional and community roles highlights his leadership and commitment to fostering growth and harmony in diverse sectors.

Singapore’s non-resident representative to the Palestinian Territories
Former Senior Parliamentary Secretary

Mr Hawazi Daipi is a former Senior Parliamentary Secretary and currently serves as Singapore’s non-resident representative to the Palestinian Territories.

Mr Hawazi has broad experience in education, journalism and union work. He worked as a teacher from 1978 to 1983 before joining Singapore Press Holdings as a journalist. When he left journalism in 1997, Mr Hawazi was Berita Harian’s Special Assistant Editor.

He Subsequently joined the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) for five years where he was Director of the Internationals Affairs Department and Executive Secretary of four unions.

In 1996, Mr Hawazi was elected as an MP for the Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) and was re-elected in the GRC in 2001, 2006 and 2011.

At the community level, Mr Hawazi has served as Chairman of the Malay Language Council, Singapore and as Chairman of the Sembawang-Nee Soon Town Council.

Mr Kevin Cheok joined the Singapore Foreign Service in 1996.

He served as First Secretary in the Singapore Embassy in Berlin from 2000 to 2003, as Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of Singapore to the United Nations (New York) from 2005 to 2008, and as Deputy High Commissioner at the High Commission of Singapore in Kuala Lumpur from 2008 to 2011. Mr Cheok was Singapore’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand from 2019 to 2023 and to the Kingdom of Cambodia from 2013 to 2016.

Mr Cheok has held various appointments in the Ministry’s headquarters, including as Director-General for Southeast Asia I, and Deputy Director for Malaysia and Brunei in Southeast Asia Directorate. He was also Senior Director/Infrastructure in the Ministry of National Development from July 2016 to June 2018.

Mr Cheok graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Lafayette College, United States of America in 1991. He obtained a Master’s Degree (International Affairs) in 1996 from Columbia University, United States of America.

Mr Cheok was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2018. He is married to Mdm Low Hui Ching.

Khadijah Alattas is a banking and investment professional who worked with three major banks in the US, and Europe, as well as a large regional bank based in Singapore, for many years.

Her work covers business development and generation of pipeline opportunities from corporate and institutional clients in Singapore and the South and South-east Asia regions. She also spent four years in a Singapore-based bank, covering business development for clients in the Middle East with a focus on the GCC.

She currently represents a GCC-based family office for their investments in Singapore and South-east Asia. As Director and Group Representative, she develops pipeline opportunities for investments, directs, reviews, and approve these, as well as managing ongoing investment performance, risks, and returns.

Khadijah jointly founded the not-for-profit organisation “Arab Network @ Singapore” with a small group of like-minded Singaporean Arabs from different professional backgrounds in 2010. AN@S is a volunteer-led organisation whose mission is to serve the less fortunate through its core pillars of education, humanitarian, and cultural/heritage initiatives.

AN@S has collaborated with MEI for several talks, musical performances and exhibitions.

Mr Ngiam Shih Chun is the Deputy Secretary (Policy) at the Ministry of Home Affairs. He oversees policy, planning, international cooperation, research and statistics, legal and psychological services.

He was the Chief Executive of the Energy Market Authority from 2018 to July 2024, where he developed and implemented Singapore’s strategies for electricity imports, hydrogen and national gas procurement. He also established and oversaw the development of generation capacity at Meranti Power Pte Ltd.

Mr Ngiam was the Deputy Secretary (Industry) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry from 2012 to 2018 where he helped shape Singapore’s industrial and economic policies.

He has held various appointments in the Emeritus Senior Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Ministry of Education.

Mr Ngiam is currently the Deputy Chairman of Yellow Ribbon Singapore and sits on the Board of Gambling Regulatory Authority, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, National Gas Company Pro-Tem Board, Singapore Nuclear Research Institute, Singapore Anglican Community Services and the Middle East Institute (NUS).

He holds a Bachelor of Science (Mechanical Engineering) degree from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, and a Master of Science (Financial Engineering) degree from National University of Singapore.  He was a Sloan Fellow at Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA, in 2006 and attended the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard University, USA, in 2024. Mr Ngiam was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2016 and the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 2024.

Hock-Hai Teo is Provost’s Chair Professor of Information Systems. He served as the Head of the Department of Information Systems at the School of Computing, National University of Singapore from August 2008 to June 2015 and as Vice-Dean, Corporate Communications from August 2007 to August 2008. His current research interests focus mainly on Health Informatics, open innovation, and IT artifacts that are geared towards improving individual decision-making, health outcomes and educational outcomes. Dr. Teo has published broadly in journals such as the ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interactions, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Information Systems Research, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, and Information and Management and has presented at numerous international conferences, including the International Conference on Information Systems. He is currently serving or has served on the editorial boards of Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Information Systems Research, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and MIS Quarterly. He has won numerous best paper award at conferences and was also the winner of the MIS Quarterly Reviewer of the Year (2004) award.