Singapore, 11 February 2020 (Tuesday) - The Singapore Management University is pleased to announce that we have appointed three new members to its Board of Trustees with effect from 12 January 2020. Their appointment will be for an initial term of four years. 

The three are: 
(i)    Professor Maxwell Leslie King; 
(ii)    Mr Lim Ming Yan; and
(iii)    Mr Arif Rachmat.

Professor Maxwell Leslie King is an Emeritus Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor in the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at Monash University in Melbourne. Previously he was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Research Training) at Monash University with responsibility for its postgraduate research programs, its student scholarship systems and research assessment. He was appointed as a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor in 2003, the inaugural Director of the Monash Research Graduate School in 1999, Professor of Econometrics in 1986 and was Head of the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics from 1988 to 2000. He was a founding member of the Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies and was the Council’s Convenor from 2007 to 2009.

Despite a significant administrative load, Professor King has always been an active researcher having published over 120 journal articles in his field of econometrics. He supervised 45 Ph.D. students to completion and received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Postgraduate Supervision. In 1997, he was made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and he received a Career Achievement Award from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council in 2009. An international conference on econometrics was held in his honour in Melbourne in December 2016. His CV can be found here.

Mr Lim Ming Yan is the Chairman of Workforce Singapore, a statutory board set up under the Ministry of Manpower to promote the development, competitiveness, inclusiveness and employability of all levels of the workforce.  He is also a member of Singapore’s Future Economy Council and Co-Chairman of its Built Environment Sub-Committee; a board member of Business China and a Council Member of Singapore Business Federation. He sits on the board of Singapore Press Holdings, Central China Real Estate and DLF Cyber City Developers Limited.

Mr Lim was previously with CapitaLand Limited for 22 years and served as President and Group CEO from 2013 to 2018.   He was instrumental in firmly establishing the company’s significant and successful presence in China, including building its Raffles City portfolio.  Under his leadership, CapitaLand’s Ascott Group has also grown to be recognised globally as the leader in the serviced residence business. He obtained a first class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering and Economics from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom in 1985 and attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2002. In July 2015, he was conferred an honourary doctorate by the University of Birmingham.  His CV can be found here.

Mr Arif Rachmat is Director of PT Triputra Investindo Arya where he supervises a private holding company with significant investment in various publicly-listed Indonesian companies. In addition, as a Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Triputra Agro Persada (TAP) Group, he oversees a group of palm oil, rubber and corn plantations of over 250,000 hectares, over 47,000 employees and partnerships of 39,000 smallholders.

He is the Head of Permanent Committee on Food-Agri and Forestry at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN Indonesia), and Chair of Agriculture, Plantation and Forestry at Indonesia Business Association (APINDO). He is also Chairman of Global Agribusiness Alliance and GK Indonesia Foundation and sits on various Boards such as The Nature Conservancy, Endeavour, Centre for Strategic and International studies and Partnership for Indonesia’s Sustainable Agriculture. Mr Rachmat graduated cum laude in Master and B.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. His CV can be found here.

Separately, Ms Chua Sock Koong, Group CEO, Singapore Telecommunications Limited; Mr Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, Chief Executive Officer, Temasek International Pte Ltd; and Mr Zulkifli Bin Baharudin, Executive Chairman, ITL Corporation have stepped down from the Board of Trustees on the conclusion of their respective term of appointment on 11 January 2020. 

“We are very pleased to welcome Prof Maxwell King, Mr Lim Ming Yan and Mr Arif Rachmat to the SMU Board of Trustees. We are extremely honoured to have such experienced and highly recognised leaders join the SMU Board of Trustees. I am confident the Board and management will benefit tremendously from their expertise and insights in their respective fields of expertise. At the same time, I would like to thank the three Board members who have stepped down for their selfless and significant contributions to SMU; all have served for at least 12 years or more with us,” said Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman of the SMU Board.

The Board is chaired by Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings Limited and comprises 19 eminent business leaders, academics, entrepreneurs, and professionals from the public service and private sectors. The full list of Trustees can be found here.