Women and Youth in Tech

Mr Chan Chun Sing was appointed Singapore’s Minister for Education on 15 May 2021. He is also Minister-in-charge of the Public Service since 1 May 2018. Mr Chan drove Singapore’s economic and industrial development as Minister for Trade and Industry (MTI) from 1 May 2018 to 14 May 2021. At MTI, he ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, as well as deepened international cooperation on the digital economy.

As Deputy Chairman of the People’s Association from 1 October 2015 to 14 May 2021, he oversaw national efforts to foster social cohesion. From May 2015 to May 2018, he was Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and expanded the Labour Movement network to represent all working people in Singapore.

Prior to NTUC, he served as Minister for Social and Family Development (2013-2015) and Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (2011-12). He was also Second Minister for Defence (2013-15) and Minister of State for Information, Communications, and the Arts (2011-12).

Serving with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) from 1987 to 2011, Mr Chan held various appointments including Chief of Army. He left the SAF to run in the 2011 General Election and was elected Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency.

An SAF (Overseas) and President’s Scholarship holder, he graduated with First Class Honours in Economics from Christ’s College, Cambridge University, UK. He was also awarded the 1998 Distinguished Master Strategist Award by the US Army Command and General Staff College. In 2005, he completed the Sloan Fellows Programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship.

H.E. Dr Anindito Aditomo is Head of the Agency for Standardization, Curriculum, and Assessment in Education at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Indonesia. He took office in 2021 and prior to his current position, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Education and Policy Studies in Jakarta. Furthermore, he was also a Research fellow at the Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education in Germany from 2018 to 2020. He was a part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Surabaya until 2021.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel believes that the future belongs to the connected. She works to promote greater opportunity, accessibility, and affordability in our communications services in order to ensure that all Americans get a fair shot at 21st century success. She believes strong communications markets can foster economic growth and security, enhance digital age opportunity, and enrich our civic life.

From fighting to protect net neutrality to ensuring access to the internet for students caught in the Homework Gap, H.E. Jessica has been a consistent champion for connecting all. She is a leader in spectrum policy, developing new ways to support wireless services from Wi-Fi to video and the internet of things. She also is responsible for developing policies to help expand the reach of broadband to schools, libraries, hospitals, and households across the country.

Named as one of POLITICO's 50 Politicos to Watch and profiled by InStyle Magazine in a series celebrating "women who show up, speak up and get things done”, H.E. Jessica brings over two decades of communications policy experience and public service to the FCC. Prior to joining the agency, she served as Senior Communications Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, under the leadership of Senator John D. Rockefeller IV and Senator Daniel Inouye. Before entering public service, Jessica practiced communications law in Washington, DC.

H.E. Jessica is a native of Hartford, Connecticut. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University and New York University School of Law. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two children.

H.E. Erika Kuročkina is Vice-Minister of the Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania, responsible for the defense industry and innovation, digital policy, innovation in the public sector and public procurement policy. She took up her duties from April 2023. Before taking up the position of Vice-Minister, she served Adviser to the Minister of the Economy and Innovation and was engaged with building an open data ecosystem in the public sector; also, she was a Government team member working on changing the legal approach towards private and public data centres, the use of the cloud technology and the creation of the Digital embassy; she also worked with initiating the digital entrepreneurship programme.

Before joining the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation, H.E. Erika Kuročkina worked as Chief Official of the Finance Department at the Vilnius City Municipality Administration and was engaged in international activities with various EU projects. In 2014, she obtained an MA in Public Policy Analysis from the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University; in 2012, she received a BA in Political Science from the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University.

Shazina Zaini is a senior developer at IoT security startup MicroSec. She works with a team of embedded systems, full-stack developers, mathematics, and machine learning geeks to make enterprise-grade security for low-power, low-bandwidth devices achievable and easy to manage.

Akanksha Jagawani is the Co-Founder and CEO of SixSense.ai, a pioneering Deep Technology company based in Singapore. With a background in mechanical engineering from IIT Gandhinagar in India and research at esteemed institutions including A*STAR, Akanksha kickstarted her career as an Automation Software Engineer at Altair Engineering. Recognizing unmet needs in manufacturing, she ventured into startup leadership after guiding digital product design teams at multi-million dollar ventures. Her journey culminated in co-founding SixSense.ai, where she merges visual AI to revolutionize manufacturing decision-making.

Hon Gaspard Twagirayezu currently serves as the Minister of Education. Prior to his appointment, Mr Twagirayezu was the Minister of State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education. Before joining the Ministry of Education, He held policy and strategy analysis positions at the National Council for Science and Technology and the Office of The President. Mr Twagirayezu also taught STEM subjects in secondary schools. Minister Twagirayezu is a graduate of Oklahoma Christian University, where he earned a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering.

Allyne, a recipient of the Singapore Digital Scholarship, is currently in the SMU-CMU Fast Track program. She is pursuing a Bachelor’s in Information Systems at SMU and is set to start a Master's in AI and Innovation at CMU this fall.

With a deep passion for AI, especially in Natural Language Processing, Allyne has been actively involved in a range of activities, such as research, hackathons, and internships, all aimed at enhancing her skills in AI solution development. Looking ahead, she is excited to delve deeper into multimodal and trustworthy AI, with the goal of making significant contributions and leading the AI sector in Singapore.

Annabel Lee heads the ASEAN public policy team at Amazon Web Services (AWS). She has spent over 15 years in the telecom and technology policy sector and has deep subject matter knowledge on digital policy issues, including privacy, cybersecurity, and emerging technology, from both the industry and government perspectives.

Dorothy Yiu is the Co-Founder and CEO (International) of EngageRocket, the first venture-backed people analytics software company in Asia. Dorothy brings over a decade of experience in human resources, technology, and business strategy.

Before EngageRocket, Dorothy was the Regional Head of Operations for Gallup, a global analytics and advisory company where she oversaw the execution of over 100 large-scale consulting projects globally.

Dorothy holds two degrees from Singapore Management University under the Lee Kong Chian Scholarship. She was also NTT’s Women of Future nominee in 2022 and was named SG Digital Leader by IMDA in 2024.

Jane Sun is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Trip.com Group Limited, a leading global travel services company. Ms Sun joined the company as Chief Financial Officer in 2005, and subsequently served as Chief Operating Officer and Co-President, before she was appointed to the position of CEO in 2016.

Among the various awards and recognition, Ms Sun was named one of Fortune’s Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for consecutive years, and was also named in the Forbes World’s Most Powerful Women List. Ms Sun received an Asia Society Asia Game Changer Award and was appointed a member of the Asia Society Board of Trustees. Forbes named her one of the Emergent 25: Asia's Latest Star Businesswomen and one of the Most Influential and Outstanding Businesswomen in China. Ms Sun was among Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business. During her tenure at Trip.com Group, Ms Sun also won the Institutional Investor Awards for the Best CEO and the Best CFO.

Before joining Trip.com Group, Ms Sun was head of the SEC and External Reporting Division of Applied Materials, Inc. from 1997. Prior to that, she was an audit manager at KPMG LLP in Silicon Valley, California. Ms Sun earned her Bachelor’s degree (High Honours) from the business school of the University of Florida, and completed her Master of Laws (LLM) degree at the law school of Peking University.

As Chief Technology Officer, John Churchill is responsible for leading Dyson’s global engineering efforts in problem-solving and pioneering a new generation of Dyson technologies. John brings with him over 20 years of experience. Since joining as a graduate in 2001, he has played an integral role in the development of over 50 products and technologies spanning different categories including floorcare, environmental care, professional, and robotics. He also led the transformation of Dyson’s floorcare category from concept to mass production across Dyson’s research, design and development sites in the United Kingdom and Malaysia.

Ng Kuo Pin was named CEO of NCS in August 2019. In January 2021, he was appointed to Singtel’s Management Committee. Together with his team, he leads NCS in executing its new vision, one that is committed to advancing communities by partnering with governments and enterprises to harness technology and bringing people together to make the extraordinary happen. As a leading technology services firm, NCS aims to accelerate growth and build up a strategic presence in the Asia Pacific region.

Prior to joining NCS, he had a 25-year career at Accenture and spent nine years living and working in Beijing and Sydney. He started as an analyst in 1994 and was made partner in 2006. Between 2006 and 2018, he held several senior leadership roles within the global Communications, Media and Technology (CMT) operating group as Head of CMT Singapore, Head of CMT Greater China, and finally as Head of Consulting for CMT Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East.

Kuo Pin currently sits as a Board Member in the National University of Singapore Institute of Systems Science (NUS-ISS). He was elected as Globe Telcom’s Non-Executive Director in October 2021 and serves as Member of the Globe Board Executive and Finance Committees. He is also a council member of the Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council.

Kuo Pin holds an Honours Degree in Engineering (Electrical and Electronics) from the Nanyang Technological University.

Lee Chew Tan is the Group Chief Commercial Officer (Market Development) and President Smart City & Digital Solutions of ST Engineering, a global technology, defense, and engineering group. She is also a member of the Group’s Executive Committee.

Prior to ST Engineering, Lee Chew led the ASEAN public sector business in AWS and held various leadership positions with Hewlett Packard Enterprise globally, last serving as their Senior VP of global Hybrid IT Sales and Category Management based in Palo Alto, California.

Lee Chew is also appointed as the President for the Women in Tech Chapter at the Singapore Computer Society, serves on the Board of Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore and volunteers as the Vice Chairperson on the Board of the Singapore Heart Foundation.

Matthew Driver is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Services Officer for Mastercard Asia Pacific, responsible for the development and management of Mastercard’s services portfolio including Mastercard Advisors Consulting, Data & Analytics, Test&Learn, Loyalty, Managed Services, Innovation Management, as well as Cyber and Intelligence, Fraud & Risk Solutions.

Matthew joined Mastercard in 2002 as he graduated from Columbia and London Business Schools. He has held roles of increasing seniority in London, New York and Singapore. Most recently he was chief client officer, Citibank, for Mastercard based in Purchase NY responsible for managing all aspects of Mastercard’s global relationship with the world’s largest credit card issuer and payments bank. Prior to that, Matthew was the division president of Southeast Asia, the gm of Global Accounts Asia Pacific, gm of ABN AMRO relationship, and vp of Account Management (London).

Before Mastercard, Matthew enjoyed a career in consulting, financial services and analytics working at Edengene, American Express, operating companies within WPP plc and Westpac Banking Corporation.

Matthew is a former male champion of the Singapore Financial Women’s Association and was the UN HeForShe executive leader of the year for Singapore in 2016. He was also a recipient of a Global Pioneer Award from NTUC Singapore as part of their U Future Leaders program in 2017.

Matthew was previously vice chairman of the Financial Services Committee of the US ASEAN Business Council, an advisory board member of the Singapore Management University’s Lee Kong Chiang School of Business, and of MercyCorps Asia Pacific.

New Zealand born; Matthew is a Singapore citizen. He is married to Patricia and they have five grown up children.

Professor Sun Sun Lim is Vice President, Partnerships & Engagement and Professor of Communication and Technology at Singapore Management University. She has extensively researched the social impact of technology, focusing on technology domestication by families, future of work and AI ethics. She has over 100 academic publications including Transcendent Parenting: Raising Children in the Digital Age (Oxford University Press, 2020) and articles in top journals like Nature, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication and Big Data & Society.

Professor Sun is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and Singapore Computer Society. From 2018-2020, she was Nominated Member of the 13th Parliament of Singapore, raising issues such as governance of big data, priorities in digital literacy education, and digital rights for children. She is an honoree of the inaugural Top 50 Asia Women Tech Leaders Award 2024 and Singapore 100 Women in Tech 2020 list and is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and the Singapore Computer Society.

She frequently offers her expert commentary in international outlets including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg, Guardian, Scientific American, South China Morning Post and writes a monthly technology column in Singapore’s largest circulation broadsheet The Straits Times. She has won eight awards for excellent teaching.

Wee Wei Ng is the market unit lead for Southeast Asia. Before assuming her current role, Wee Wei looks after the Singapore business and served as the leader of the Health and Public Service Group in SEA. In addition to her leadership roles, she also held the position of Public Service and Citizen Services lead for Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Notably, Wee Wei is renowned for her profound insights and instrumental contributions to sustainability initiatives, including launching the Singapore Innovation Hub – aimed at bringing together across industries to develop smart urban solutions that address the complex challenges of sustainability, foster environmental stewardship, and enhance the quality of life for communities.

Vaishali Rastogi heads BCG’s global Technology, Media, and Telecommunications business (TMT). She brings deep experience in driving technology-led transformative change and growth in both local and global businesses. As global head of TMT, she covers both the incumbent businesses but also the ‘growth tech’ players – tech disrupters in multiple industries that are scaling rapidly. Vaishali remains deeply passionate about diversity and inclusion, and mentoring young talent, including women in tech. She has published several thought leadership pieces offering insights into women in tech, both in Southeast Asia and globally. She has been recognized by multiple organizations over the years for her DE&I efforts and was recognized as one of the top 25 Technology Leaders in Consulting globally.