Mr. J Y Pillay
Date of Appointment as Distinguished Honorary Member: 18 April 2008
Born: Malaysia, 30 March 1934.
B.Sc (Hons), Imperial College of Science & Technology, University of London, 1956.
Previous career
Administrative service of the Government of Singapore (1961 – 1995), rising to permanent secretary, in 1972. Served in ministries of finance, defence and national development, and as Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. Chairman of Singapore Exchange Limited (Nov 1999 – Dec 2010). Chairman of Tiger Airways Holdings Limited (29 July 2011 – 31 July 2014).
Secondary appointments in the public sector were the chairmanship of government companies including Development Bank of Singapore (1979 – 1984); Singapore Airlines (1972 – 1996); Temasek Holdings (1974 – 1986); and Chairman of the Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance (2002 – 2007).
Member of the Council of Presidential Advisers of the Republic of Singapore since 2001, and Chairman since 02 Sep 2005; Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights since 15 Jul 2003; Member of the Securities Industry Council since April 2011, and Chairman since Jan 2012; Rector of College of Alice & Peter Tan, National University of Singapore since 01 Jul 2011; Member of the Board of the Financial Information Authority(AIF), Vatican City State since 5 Jun 2014; Member of Singapore Management University since 15 May 2015, and Chancellor since 15 Sep 2015.
Mr. Hsieh Fu Hua
Chairman, Board of Trustees, National University of Singapore
Date of Appointment as Distinguished Honorary Member: 19 October 2011
Mr. Hsieh Fu Hua serves on the boards of several non-profit and business organisations. He chairs the National University of Singapore and the WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature (Singapore) Limited. He is currently also a member of the National Research Foundation’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council.
He has co-founded several charities, especially in the area of mental health. He was previously President of the National Council of Social Service and Chairman of the Stewardship Asia Centre, the National Gallery Singapore, the Singapore Business Federation Foundation Limited and the National University Health System.
In business, Mr. Hsieh is the Chairman of Eastspring Investments Group Pte Ltd, GXS Bank Pte Ltd and Aureus Group Pte Ltd. He is also a board director of GIC Private Limited and adviser to the PrimePartners Group, which he co-founded.
Mr. Hsieh started his career in merchant banking and capital markets in 1974 when he joined Morgan Grenfell Asia Holdings upon graduation, eventually rising to head the organisation. He subsequently served as Group Managing Director of BNP Prime Peregrine Group Hong Kong, CEO of Singapore Exchange, President of Temasek Holdings and Chairman of Tiger Airways Holdings, United Overseas Bank and Asia Capital Reinsurance Group respectively.
Mr. Hsieh is an alumnus of the NUS Business School.
Mr. Liew Mun Leong
Founder & Principal Consultant, Building People Consultancy
Date of Appointment as Distinguished Honorary Member: 3 June 2010
Liew Mun Leong started his career in 1972 as an engineer during the early days of the Ministry of Defence. He went on to work on the Changi Airport project, building its first Runway and ended up as the Chief Airport Project Manager in the development of Passenger Terminal 2. After Changi Airport, he was posted to Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research (SISIR) as its Chief Executive. He concurrently acted as the Chief Executive of National Science of Technology Board (NSTB), the forerunner of A*Star.
He left the public sector after 22 years to join the private sector, heading L&M, a public listed specialist engineering construction group. He then went on to start his real estate career heading Pidemco Land which later merged with DBS Land to create CapitaLand Group, with him as its founding group CEO. He retired from active employment in 2013 at 67 after 17 years leading CapitaLand, which under his leadership had become the largest real estate company in SE Asia by market capitalization. He continued his corporate leadership as active chairman of Changi Airport Group and founding chairman of Surbana Jurong Group.
He retired his active chairmanship in 2020 and formed his business management consultancy company “Building People Consultancy Pte Ltd” and has been actively running the firm as its Principal Consultant.
At present he has also been appointed CEO of the Gelephu Mindfulness City development project in Bhutan.
During his career he was appointed Registrar of the Professional Engineer Board and was elected President of International Standard Organization (ISO). He was chairman of Temasek Polytechnic for 10 years. He was also appointed Provost Chair Professor (Practice) in NUS Business School, Engineering Faculty and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, all on a Pro Bono basis. He was awarded the National Day Meritorious Service Award by the President of Singapore and conferred France’s highest civilian and military award – National Order of the Legion of Honor. During his private sector career, he received numerous awards and accolades including Outstanding CEO in 2006, CEO of the Year 2007, Asia’s Best Executive and Best CEO in Asia (Property) in 2008.
Liew Mun Leong wrote regular Sunday emails depicting business management lessons from life experiences to his colleagues and friends for more than 20 years. These were progressively published into five books centered around the theme of “Building People -Sunday emails from the CEO”.
Mr. Lim Chee Onn
Chancellor SMU
Date of Appointment as Distinguished Honorary Member: 1 July 2008
Mr Lim Chee Onn chairs the Singapore-Suzhou Township Development Pte Ltd. He was appointed to the Council of Presidential Advisers as an Alternate Member in January 2008, and as a Member since April 2017. He is also Chancellor of the Singapore Management University, Chairman of the Lien Ying Chow Legacy Fellowship Council, Nanyang Technological University, and Senior Adviser to the University of Glasgow in Singapore. He is also a Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (Asia) Ltd. Mr Lim’s previous board directorships included Keppel Corporation Limited’s Executive Chairman from January 2000 to December 2008 and the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Board Member from January 2004 to May 2018. Mr Lim until 31 Jul 2019 was Senior International Adviser to the Ascendas-Singbridge Group which invests in, develops and manages overseas integrated cities and provides sustainable urban solutions adapted from Singapore’s successful development experience.
Mr Lim graduated with First Class Honours in Naval Architecture from Glasgow University, earned his Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University, and was conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Engineering by Glasgow University.
He started his career in the Civil Service and was elected Member of Parliament from 1977 to 1992, Secretary-General NTUC from 1979 to 1983 and concurrently Minister without Portfolio, Prime Minister’s Office from 1980 to 1983.
Mr Lim was conferred the Distinguished Service Order by HE The President, Republic of Singapore in 2007, Commander, Order of the Crown, by HM King Albert II, Kingdom of Belgium in 2008, and The Order of Nila Utama (With High Distinction) by HE The President of the Republic of Singapore at the National Day Awards 2019. Mr Lim is an Honorary Citizen of Suzhou, People’s Republic of China, and Seoul, Republic of Korea. He is married with 3 children.
Mr. Piyush Gupta
Chairman, Singapore Management University
Chairman, Mandai Park Holdings
Date of Appointment as Distinguished Honorary Member: 20 February 2025
Piyush Gupta was Chief Executive Officer and Director of DBS Group from November 2009 to March 2025. Under his leadership, DBS underwent a significant and successful transformation, being named Best Bank and Best Digital Bank in the world on several occasions, as well as one of the top ten transformative organizations of the 2010 – 2020 decade by Harvard Business Review.
Prior to joining DBS, Piyush had a 27 year career at Citigroup, where his last position was Chief Executive Officer for South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Singapore Management University, and Chairman of the Mandai Park Holdings Board. In addition, he sits on the board of Singapore’s National Research Foundation and is a member of the Ministry of Trade and Industry Singapore – Future Economy Advisory Panel. Piyush is a term trustee of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). Previously, he has been a member of the Singapore Emerging Stronger Taskforce, aimed at defining Singapore’s future in a post-Covid world, the UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Board of Institute of International Finance, and the McKinsey Advisory Council.
Piyush has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, India and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad.
Piyush was awarded the Public Service Star by the President of Singapore for his meritorious services to the nation in 2020. He is a recipient of the 2023 Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, the highest honour conferred by the Indian Government on the country’s diaspora.
Piyush was named one of the world’s top 100 best-performing chief executives in Harvard Business Review – 2019 edition of “The CEO 100”. He was named Global Indian of the Year by the Economic Times in 2021, Singapore Business Awards’ Outstanding Chief Executive of the Year in 2016, and Singapore Business Leader of the Year by CNBC in 2014.
In his personal capacity, Piyush takes a keen interest in nature, and is a Co-Chairman of the BirdLife International Advisory Group.
