George Yeo – Keynote Speaker

George Yeo is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore, and the Founding Patron of its Asia Competitiveness Institute.

Mr Yeo was with Kerry Group in Hong Kong from 2012 to 2021. He was Chairman and Executive Director of Kerry Logistics Network from 2012 to 2019.

From September 1988 to May 2011, he served 23 years in the Singapore Government, and was Minister for Information and the Arts, Minister for Health, Minister for Trade & Industry and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Mr Yeo studied Engineering at Cambridge University on a President’s Scholarship, graduating with a Double First in 1976, and became a Signals Officer in the Singapore Armed Forces. After graduating from the Singapore Command and Staff College in 1979, he was posted to the Republic of Singapore Air Force. He graduated with an MBA (Baker Scholar) from the Harvard Business School in 1985. He was appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Air Staff (1985-1986) and Director of Joint Operations and Planning in the Defence Ministry (1985-1988), attaining the rank of Brigadier-General.

Mr Yeo was Member of the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See in 2013-2014 and the Vatican Council for the Economy from February 2014 to July 2020.

Mr Yeo is a member of the Board of Trustees of Berggruen Institute on Governance, International Advisory Panel of Peking University, Senior Advisory Council of Beijing Forum, International Advisory Board of IESE Business School, International Advisory Council of China’s Eco Forum Global Guiyang, International Advisory Board of Japan’s National Graduate School for International Policy Studies (GRIPS), International Advisory Committee of Mitsubishi Corporation, Global Advisory Board of MUFG, the External Advisory Board of the European University Institute’s School of Transnational Governance and the Board of Governors of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation.

He is also an Independent Non-Executive Director of AIA Group listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Pinduoduo listed on NASDAQ and Creative Technology listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. He is an advisor to Brunswick for its Geopolitical Initiative, Singapore’s V3 Group, Huawei International Pte Ltd in Singapore, Winning International Group and a small start-up called Plantonic.

He is a Patron of LASALLE College of the Arts and the Eurasian Association, and Advisor to the Sun Yat-Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall. Mr Yeo was the Conference Chairman of the Singapore Summit from 2012 to 2016.