Board of Directors

Guiding the way, igniting potential, and forging success.

Board of Directors

Mr Koh Poh Guan
Chairman
Mr Eugene Paul Lai Chin Look
Deputy Chairman
Mr Derek Lau Tiong Seng
Board Member
Mr Gan Chee Yen
Board Member
Mr Sarjit Singh Gill, SC
Board Member
Mr Reuben Lai Yuen Tung
Board Member
Mr Lee Sooi Chuen Philip
Board Member
Ms Tan Seok Hoong @ Mrs Audrey Liow
Board Member
Mr Woo Tsung Yuan, Francis James
Board Member
Mr Woo Tsung Yuan, Francis James
Board Member
Mr Lim Chin Hu
Board Member
Ms Tan Seok Hoong @ Mrs Audrey Liow
Board Member
Mr Koh Poh Guan
Chairman

A banker for more than 43 years, Poh Guan has extensive experience in SME and large Corporate banking across the full spectrum of industries and businesses in Singapore and the region.

He is currently an executive director of United Overseas Bank and a board member of UOB Nominees (2006) Pte Ltd. He is also a member of the Finance Committee at The National Kidney Foundation.

Poh Guan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the National University of Singapore.

Mr Eugene Lai
Deputy Chairman

Eugene is currently Chairman of Boardroom Pte Ltd and non-executive director of PARAGON REIT Management Pte Ltd, the manager of a REIT listed on SGX. He has extensive experience in private equity, investment banking and business, including as Managing Director & Co-Managing Partner of Southern Capital Group, where he was from 2007 to 2022, Managing Director of JP Morgan, CEO of The Ascott Group Limited and Managing Director of the Carlyle Group Asia. Eugene has served on the board of several SGX-listed companies as well as non-profit organizations.

Eugene holds a Masters in Christian Studies (cum laude) from the Biblical Graduate School of Theology, a Master of Laws from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Laws (first class honours) from The London School of Economics & Political Science, London University.

Mr Derek Lau
Board Member

Derek joined Heliconia as CEO and Board member in April 2013. Prior to Heliconia, Derek was the Managing Director, Investment, with Temasek Holdings. In his 10 years tenor with Temasek, Derek headed the Industrials Cluster and also served as country head in Vietnam looking after investments in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

Derek has more than a decade of experience in investment banking before joining Temasek. He specialized in mezzanine debt, project finance, leveraged buyout and private equity investments.

He is currently a Board member of CSE Global Limited (CSE) and Kallang Alive Sport Management Co. He is also a member of ISEAS-Yusok Ishak Institute’s Board of Trustee and a member  of the Listings Advisory Committee of Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX). Derek holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the National University of Singapore and graduated with Honours (Upper).

Mr Gan Chee Yen
Board Member

Chee Yen is a Board Director of Nomura Singapore Ltd, Surbana Jurong Pte Ltd and Singapore Post Limited.  He is also Chairman and Board Director of V3 Capital Investments Pte Ltd and an Independent Member of the Investment Committee of Mapletree Japan Investment Country Private Trust.

Chee Yen was previously the Co-President and Executive Director of Pacific International Lines (Private) Limited, where he was a key member of the leadership team to execute the successful turnaround of the business before he retired in August 2022. Prior to that, he was CEO and Executive Director of Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte Ltd (‘FFH’). He was Chairman or Board Member of several of its overseas portfolio companies, including being a Board Commissioner of Bank Danamon Indonesia from 2003 to 2019. Prior to FFH, he was Co-Chief Investment Officer, Senior Managing Director, Special Projects and Head of China Market at Temasek International Pte Ltd. He joined Temasek in May 2003 as Chief Financial Officer and progressed to serve in various investments roles as a member of the senior management team. The investment clusters he led included the Financial Industry portfolio and the Transportation and Logistics portfolio, before he took on the role of Co-Chief Investment Officer where he anchored several successful investments.

Chee Yen holds a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from National University of Singapore and is a Chartered Accountant (Singapore) of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants. He also attended Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development in September 2001.

Mr Sarjit Singh Gill, SC
Board Member

Sarjit is a Senior Partner of Shook Lin & Bok. He was appointed a Senior Counsel in 1998 and has more than 40 years of experience in a broad range of litigation and arbitration matters, with a special focus on corporate and commercial disputes, banking-related disputes, shareholders’ disputes, professional negligence and fraud. With more than 40 years of experience, Sarjit is also involved in many domestic and cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters.

Sarjit is a board member of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and has served on the Board of the Central Provident Fund from 2012 to 2018. He is a member of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Panel of Arbitrators, Life Imprisonment Review Board, The President’s Pleasure Review Board and Long Imprisonment Review Board.

Sarjit is widely recognised as a leading lawyer for dispute resolution, international arbitration and restructuring and insolvency by a number of legal directories including Chambers Global/Asia-Pacific, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, IFLR1000, Best Lawyers Singapore, The International Who’s Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers and PLC Which Lawyer. He is noted as a distinguished practitioner in dispute resolution and restructuring and insolvency in and is recognised as a ‘local dispute resolution star’ in Singapore by . He is further noted as one of Singapore’s top 100 lawyers in Asia Business Law Journal’s A List 2019.

Mr Reuben Lai Yuen Tung
Board Member

Reuben is currently the CEO and Co-founder of Arkadiah Technology. 

Reuben was previously the Head and director at GXS Group – Digibank JV between Grab and SingTel. He was also the head of Grab Financial Group, and grew it into a leading regional fintech unicorn.

At Grab, he was responsible for setting up new ventures, including Grab for Business, Grab Ventures, Grab Rentals and leasing. 

Before joining Grab, Reuben co-founded a med-tech start-up. Prior to that, he drove corporate strategy and business development at The Walt Disney Company, and was also a consultant at Bain. 

Reuben holds an MBA from INSEAD, MSc in Industrial Engineering from National University of Singapore and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.

Mr Lee Sooi Chuen Philip
Board Member

Philip joined the Board of Heliconia in August 2019, he is currently the Vice-Chairman of Global Banking in HSBC Bank. Philip is also a Board Director of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd, SPH Media Holdings Pte Ltd and Savills Plc.

He has over 35 years of banking experience, having been the Country Head and CEO of both JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank Singapore operations. He has also worked for CS First Boston and Citigroup in New York and Hong Kong. Earlier, he was also an Industrial and Systems Engineer for Pepsi-Cola Group in California. Philip previously was a council member of the Singapore Government’s Institute of Banking and Finance and Chairman of its Investment Committee.  He was also previously the Chairman of the Singapore Government’s Health Promotion Board and a former Board Director of Land Transport Authority of Singapore.

Philip holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California and a Master’s in Business and International Finance from the Stern School of New York University.

Ms Tan Seok Hoong @ Mrs Audrey Liow
Board Member

Audrey is a Board Director of Venture Corporation Limited and Hyphens Pharma International Limited.

Having spent 30 years with the Nestlé Group, Audrey has in-depth experience and international background in marketing, management and operations in the food, nutrition, health and wellness industry. She retired in May 2018 as Chairman and CEO of Nestlé Indochina Region. Audrey previously served as a Director on the Board of Nestlé ROH (Thailand) Ltd. She also held various senior commercial and leadership roles in Singapore, China, Switzerland, and South East Asia within the Nestlé Group.

Audrey holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the National University of Singapore (NUS). In 2014, she was awarded the Outstanding Science Alumni Award by NUS in recognition of her accomplishments and contributions. She has also attended the Leadership Program at London Business School, Executive Development Program at IMD and the Berkeley-Nanyang Advanced Management Program.

Mr Francis Woo
Board Member

Francis is Chief Corporate Officer / Managing Director at 65 Equity Partners, focused on investing in Asia and overseeing the corporate functions of the firm.

Francis joined 65 Equity Partners from global asset manager, Eastspring Investments, where he was Chief Financial Officer and a Board Director. He was, concurrently, a Senior Advisor to TPG and an appointed board director to an investment. Prior to Eastspring, Francis was Managing Director at TPG, where he focused on private equity investments in Southeast Asia, and was Chief Financial Officer for Asia overseeing the firm’s profitability and investment performance. Francis spent over 11 years in investment banking in New York and Singapore, having last worked at Credit Suisse as Co-Head of Corporate Finance for Southeast Asia.

Francis holds an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a BBA from the University of Michigan.

Mr Lim Chin Hu
Board Member

Chin Hu has over 30 years of experience in the technology industry. He started his career with Hewlett Packard & was MD for Sun Microsystems Singapore. He was CEO of Frontline Technologies & British Telecoms South East Asia.

Chin Hu previously served as a board member of Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), SiTF (Singapore IT Federation), IT Standards Committee, National Infocomm Manpower Council, Singapore Institute of Directors, Telstra Corporation (Australia), Keppel DC REIT, Personal Data Protection Advisory Committee and Citibank Singapore Ltd.

Since his retirement from full time executive work in 2011, Chin Hu has been involved actively in serving various companies including listed companies Kulicke & Soffa Inc and Singapore Exchange & Singapore Technologies Ltd; non-listed companies G-Able (Thailand) Ltd and Certis Cisco Security; MOH entities Singapore Health Services, IHIS and ALPS.

Chin Hu holds a Bachelor of Science from La Trobe University, Australia. He attended management courses at INSEAD and UCLA. He is a Fellow of Singapore Institute of Directors and was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2022.