Ms Claire Chiang is the Senior Vice President responsible for the strategic direction, management and operation of Banyan Tree and Angsana Galleries. She is also the Chairperson of the Banyan Trees Global Foundation. In 2010, she assumed the roles of Chairperson, China Business Development and Chairperson, Human Capital Development Task Force. Ms Chiang has served two terms as a Nominated Member of Parliament and is the Director and Non-Executive Chairperson of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Chairperson of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund. She sits on the Global Governing Board of the Caux Round Table as Vice-Chair for Asia.

Chua Hong Koon is the Publishing Director at World Scientific Publishing Company. Hong Koon has more than 30 years of publishing experience working with major publishers like Pearson and Oxford University Press. He has published many types of books, from children’s books to assessment and reference books, school and higher education textbooks, trade and professional books, also Christian books. Hong Koon served as an Exco member of the Singapore Book Publishers Association for several years. He is currently an executive member of the National Book Development Council of Singapore. He has a Science degree and also a Law degree.

Mr. R Ramachandran has long been associated with the promotion of reading, writing, publishing and library development in his previous appointments as Director, National Library, Deputy Chief Executive, National Library Board and subsequently Secretary — General International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). He has been a member of the National Book Development Council of Singapore since 1969, serving in various capacities as Hon. Secretary, Vice-Chairman and Chairman.

As a banker with 27 years of experience, Karen held senior management positions in coverage and corporate banking before leaving the industry in 2019. Karen started her career with DBS Finance and subsequently UOB where she held various positions in corporate banking and risk management. In 2004, Karen joined BNP Paribas as Vice President. She was appointed Managing Director and Head of corporate coverage in 2010, where she set up the bank’s China and Japan desk. In BNP Paribas, Karen was also an active ExCo member of the bank’s diversity initiative, Mixcity, promoting diversity and women rights within the organisation.

Intan Azura Mokhtar is Associate Professor in the Business, Communication and Design Cluster, and Deputy Director of Community Leadership and Social Innovation Centre (CLASIC) in the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). She has more than 20 years of teaching experience and has taught University courses related to social innovation and context, change management, school and community leadership, and educational technology and policies. Intan was also a legislator in the 12th and 13th Parliament of Singapore. She was the Deputy Chairperson of the Singapore Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Education, and member of the GPCs for Manpower and Transport, from 2011-2020.

An engineer by training, Inderjit worked for Texas Instruments Singapore for 13 years, last holding the post of Director of Operations. He started his entrepreneurship journey at age 37, founding his first technology Unicorn company, United Test and Assembly Center. Inderjit was 4 term Member of Parliament of Singapore and served as Deputy Government Whip, Chairman GPC for Finance and Trade & Industry Ministries and was instrumental in shaping policies in Support of entrepreneurship, start-ups and for SMEs. He is the President of the Global Startup Committee of the World Business Angel Forum. He was previously a Board Member of the Nanyang Technological University.

Associate Professor Tan Chee Lay received his PhD in Oriental Studies from Cambridge University. A recipient of the Young Artist Award, Singapore Youth Award (Culture and the Arts) and numerous literary awards such as the Singapore literature prize, he is currently Deputy Head of Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group at NIE, NTU, helping to oversee the Chinese, Malay and Tamil Divisions. A founding member of the multilingual Poetry Festival Singapore and the Singapore Student Bilingual Literary Award, he had been the judge for Cultural Medallion, Golden Point Award, Singapore Book Prize, and SEA Write Award. A prolific writer of various genres, he has published almost 30 books of academic writing, poetry, children’s picture books, short stories, and prose.

Geraldine Teo-Zuzarte, holds a PhD in Early Childhood Education and is passionate about the development of children, especially those in their Early Years. A seasoned speaker, she has presented papers in conferences and workshops both locally and internationally. Having been in the field of Early Childhood Education for over 30 years, Geraldine held multi-portfolios from classroom teaching to faculty appointments to overseeing the professional development of almost 3,000 ECE educators including pioneering a child study centre, which was recognized by ECDA as Outstanding Centre for Teaching and Learning and was awarded Distinction for the Early Childhood Agency Development’s Innovation Award. Geraldine has deep theoretical and practical knowledge on ECCE and has been called upon to support national initiatives, including being appointed into the first batch of ECDA Fellows. An experienced ECE practitioner and leader, Geraldine has inspired and nurtured many young entrants to the ECCE sector and many young ECCE leaders today were her students.