City Dialogues

Professor Lily Kong is the fifth President of Singapore Management University (SMU), and Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences. She was formerly Provost at SMU.

An award-winning researcher and teacher, Professor Kong has received five international fellowship awards including the Commonwealth Fellowship Award and the Fulbright Fellowship Award. She has also won the Robert Stoddard Award from the Association of American Geographers for her contributions to the study of religion. In 2006, Professor Kong was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Silver).

Professor Kong is widely known for her research on urban transformations, and social and cultural change in Asia. In particular, she has published a large body of work on religion, cultural policy and creative economy, urban heritage and conservation, and national identity.

Mr Robin Hu joined Temasek in December 2016 and is currently Head, Sustainability & Stewardship Group. In this role, Mr Hu is responsible for such global functions as Corporate Affairs, Institutional Relations, philanthropy including Endowments and Foundations, and Sustainability policy, solutions and impact investing.

Mr Hu was the CEO of the South China Morning Post Group in Hong Kong since June 2012. Prior to that, Mr Hu was Senior Executive Vice President, Chinese Newspapers Division and Newspaper Services Division of Singapore Press Holdings. Mr Hu also previously served as Managing Director (Global Business) of Singtel NCS Ltd, Regional Director (China) for the Singapore Economic Development Board, and Counsellor with the Embassy of Republic of Singapore (Beijing).

David Dodman is the Director of the Human Settlements Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Development Planning Unit, University College London (UCL). At the IIED, he has developed and implemented wide-ranging research programmes on urban adaptation to climate change.

Working in the fields of urban geography, international development, and climate change, he has contributed to major international reports including the UN Habitat Global Report on Human Settlements. David is currently a Coordinating Lead Author on ‘Cities, Settlements and Key Infrastructure’ for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report.

A pioneer CSR practitioner for over 20 years, Ms Esther An is instrumental in building up City Developments Limited’s sustainability leadership since she joined the company in 1995. She spearheaded the company’s pioneering efforts in strategic sustainability integration, reporting and green financing.

A forerunner in embracing the UN SDGs, Esther became the first Singaporean being conferred 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact. Ms An sits on board several international and local sustainability organisations including UNEP Finance Initiative Property Working Group; World Green Building Council Corporate Advisory Board, GRI Corporate Leadership Group for Integrated Reporting; Asia Pacific Real Estate Association Singapore Chapter Board and Global Compact Network Singapore Management Committee.

Ms Pamela Lee is the Director of the Policy and Planning Division at the National Climate Change Secretariat - Strategy Group (SG-NCCS) that is under the Prime Minister’s Office. She leads the policy and planning team to direct whole-of-government efforts to develop and implement Singapore’s response to climate change, and advance our interests on the international stage.

Prior to joining SG-NCCS, she has held appointments in various ministries. Pamela has experience in a range of domain areas including trade, community care & social support, early childhood development, workplace policy & strategy, and public sector leadership development.

Dr Steve Newman is Banyan Tree’s Group Sustainability Director and the Coordinating Director of Banyan Tree Global Foundation. He oversees sustainability across the Group.

Steve brings a science-based approach to sustainability: developing and driving sustainable social, environmental and operational initiatives, and supporting teams through Banyan Tree Global Foundation. Steve holds a PhD in Ecology, with a background in environmental modelling and climate change, with 20 years of experience in academia, non-governmental organisations and the private sector.

As the sustainability lead for Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, Steve utilises a stakeholder engaged approach to drive the development and growth of sustainability culture and practices to promote stewardship and resilience of natural and cultural heritage through responsible travel.

Bernard Tan is the Country President for Singapore, and the Managing Director for Strategic Projects and International Business Development for the Sinar Mas Group.

Bernard Tan joined the Sinar Mas Group in June 2017. He assumed the role of Managing Director for Corporate Affairs, Sustainability and Global Communications in Asia Pulp and Paper during a transition period (Aug 2017 - May 2018), and relinquished these roles once the transition was completed. In the latter role, he developed a global perspective of the challenges in sustainability in the forestry industry.

Shantanu is Professor of Operations Management at SMU and Associate Dean of PG. Previously, he was Associate Professor of Operations Management at SMU and INSEAD.

His teaching and research interests are in the areas of supply chain management, innovation and new product development, project management, services management, data analytics, design thinking, business model innovation and change management. He has consulted for GSK, IBM, Pepperl Fuchs, MAS Holdings and other firms and consortia, and has served on the advisory board and taught executive development programmes for a number of firms in various sectors.

His research has been published in top business journals in different disciplines.

Shauna Brail is Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Urban Studies Program, and Associate Director, Partnerships & Outreach, School of Cities at the University of Toronto. She is also Director of the Urban Studies Program. As an economic geographer and urban planner, Brail’s research focuses on the transformation of cities as a result of economic, social, and cultural change. Her current research examines disruptions taking place in urban mobility.

Gavin leads government, industry, and community engagements to profile and develop Facebook’s internet investments with a focus on Asia as a high-growth region. Key goals include addressing regulatory barriers while demonstrating Facebook as a responsible investor and community partner as a force for good. He is a member of Facebook’s HQ team managing billion dollar infra assets and renewable energy.

Key examples are Facebook’s first data center in Asia; Asia Pacific subsea cables; tech talent and digital inclusion projects. As a co-opted Councillor at SGTech, Gavin contributes to thought leadership related to tech and startup growth in Singapore and Asia.

Ms Heng joined Temasek Foundation Connects and Temasek Foundation Ecosperity as Senior Director in 2017.

Prior to joining Temasek Foundation, she had more than 20 years of experience in the public sector. She held various senior appointments with the National Council of Social Service, the Singapore Tourism Board and the Media Development Authority of Singapore, managing portfolios including Business and Capability Development, Policy and Strategic Planning, Human Resource, Fundraising and Relations Engagement.

In 2006, she was awarded the National Day Award (Commendation Medal) to recognise her contributions to the Singapore civil service. Ms Heng graduated from the National University of Singapore with an Honours Degree in Statistics.

Winston Chow is an Associate Professor of Humanities at the Singapore Management University’s School of Social Sciences and Office of Core Curriculum. He researches on how cities and settlements affect weather and climate, and how weather and climate impacts on cities. He is a Principal Investigator for the Cooling Singapore project, and was selected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to be a Lead Author for their chapter on “Cities, Settlements and Key Infrastructure” and the “Cities and Settlements by the Sea” paper in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change due in 2021.