The Visionaries

Every great story begins with its people, and SMU’s journey is no different. Our roots were laid by a pioneer team of visionaries — individuals who dared to dream of a different kind of university.

In the late 1990s, Singapore was ready to reimagine its higher education landscape. Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, then Deputy Prime Minister, foresaw the need for a university unlike any other in Singapore — a bold new institution, distinct from NUS and NTU, with a focus on management and business.

Bold visions need courageous leaders to bring them to life. Dr Tan saw this potential in Dr Ho Kwon Ping, a distinguished entrepreneur and founder of Banyan Group. Dr Ho accepted the challenge and took on the role of SMU’s founding chairman in 1997, a position in which his entrepreneurial spirit laid the groundwork for a university designed to think beyond borders and push boundaries.

The pioneer SMU Steering Committee, led by Dr Ho, was a collective of remarkable individuals, each entrusted with a critical role. From defining the University’s vision and mission to shaping its teaching pedagogy, financial frameworks, and legal foundations, this committee worked tirelessly to turn bold aspirations into reality.

In July 1999, SMU welcomed its first president, Professor Janice Bellace, then Deputy Dean of the Wharton School. Embarking on a transformative two-year tenure, Prof. Bellace set the stage for SMU’s future success, establishing key foundations that allowed the university to thrive. Her contributions didn’t end there—she continued to lend her expertise to SMU in numerous capacities, becoming an enduring figure in its evolving story.

As one of SMU’s founding faculty members, Professor Tan Chin Tiong played an instrumental role in shaping the university’s early years. Now a Professor Emeritus of Marketing, Prof. Tan focused on faculty recruitment, the creation of SMU’s graduate and research programmes, and its institutional development. His leadership extended further when he was appointed SMU’s first Provost in 1999 and later served as Deputy President from 2007 to 2009.

The Trailblazers

A pioneering vision needs bold believers to bring it to life, and for SMU, those believers were its first cohorts of students. They were trailblazers who took a leap of faith, choosing a new University that was still finding its footing but filled with promise and ambition.

These early students didn’t just embrace the innovative spirit of SMU — they embodied it. Through their hard work and resilience, they found success in fields spanning business, technology, sports and beyond. As graduates, they carried the SMU flag to the world, proving that the SMU could create leaders ready to make a difference.

Lim Kexin (BAcc 2005) is lead tax partner of PwC Singapore's Entrepreneurial and Private Business tax practice. Kexin was the youngest council member in the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants’ history. She was former council member of Singapore National Youth Council and Senior Member of the Global-Asia Family Office Circle, and first alumna appointed on SMU Board of Trustees.

Karl Mak (BSc Econ 2013) and Adrian Ang (BBM 2013) are Co-Founders of Hepmil Media Group, a trailblazing digital content powerhouse in Southeast Asia, known for its dynamic creator network and innovative in-house content creation that resonates with Gen Zers and millennials.

Nadir Zafar (BBM 2004) runs the Singapore Leaders Network, a national movement backed by the Economic Development Board that prepares Singaporeans for global leadership roles. He is concurrently Chief Experience Officer at the Human Capital Leadership Institute. Dr Zafar previously served as Chief Operating Officer at an edtech unicorn based in UAE and as a Board Member of a London-listed education company.

Duc Pham (BBM 2019) was awarded the ASEAN Undergraduates' Scholarship in 2015 by SMU. He began his career as an investment analyst in several major financial institutions. In 2021, he co-founded ed-tech company Marathon Education to make after-school learning more accessible in Vietnam. He is presently building another startup, the Southeast Asia Institute of Technology, which aims to provide digital, accessible computer science higher education to Vietnamese and Southeast Asian undergraduates.

Yong Wui Chiang (EMBA 2015) was a recipient of the SMU Warriors Scholarship. Formerly Army Chief Knowledge Officer, he took on the role of Director, Strategic Planning in the Ministry of Communications and Information. He is now Chief Executive Officer, Parkway College of Nursing and Allied Health.

Sun Xiushun (DBA 2022) is the Founder and Chairman of Winning International Group and the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Guinea in Singapore. He leads a diversified conglomerate with operations in shipping, maritime transshipment, mining, and infrastructure development. Winning is now co-developing the Simandou Iron Ore Project, the world’s largest greenfield mining venture.

Li Zhen (CKGSB-SMU DBA 2025) is the Chairman and CEO of Gotion, a leader in new energy battery manufacturing, he also holds the positions of Chairman, Hefei Gotion High-Tech Power Energy Co., Ltd; Executive Director, Nanjing Gotion Holdings; Hefei Gotion Holdings; Vice President of Anhui Association for Science and Technology.

Vanessa Paranjothy (BSocSc 2012) co-founded Freedom Cups, which provides women from underserved communities with reusable menstrual products. She was on the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list, Tatler's Generation T list, and received the Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development Work representing Asia. Vanessa was also one of the 12 inaugural Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University.

Mohamed Irshad (BBM 2014 & MCM 2020) is the Founder and President of Roses for Peace, a non-profit organisation that aims to foster social harmony in Singapore. He was awarded the President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Award and the MUIS50 Inspiring Youth Award in 2018. He served as a Nominated Member of Parliament in 2018 and is now the Head of Corporate Affairs for ASEAN at Tata Consultancy Services.

Yip Pin Xiu (BSocSc 2017) is Singapore’s most decorated Paralympian – a six-time Paralympic gold medalist and four-time World Champion, with two world records. She was a Nominated Member of Parliament to the Singapore Parliament in 2018. And in 2022, Pin Xiu was awarded the President's Award for Inspiring Achievement.

Shanti Pereira (BAcc 2021) holds the 100m, 200m and 400m national record, and 200m SEA Games and Asian Athletics Championships record. She won Singapore's first Athletics medals since 1974 at the Asian Games 2023, with a gold medal in the 200m and a silver medal in the 100m event. The same year, she was named Asia's #1 Ranked Woman in the 200m.

Kimberly Lim (BAcc 2023) is a national sailor winning medals at the 2017 Princess Sofia Regatta, 2018 and 2023 Asian Games. She was the first Asian to qualify for the medal race in the 2021 Olympic Games. With her partner (Cecilia Low), the pair became the first Singaporean sailors to participate in a medal race in the Olympics and finished 10th in the 49erFX class, the best result in sailing for Singapore then.

Ryan Ang (BAcc 2024) is a professional golfer. He debuted at the 2022 Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam and finished 8th individually and 4th in the team event. He was part of the two historic Singapore teams that finished 2nd at the Asia Pacific Team Championships 2022 and 21st at the World Amateur Team Championships, achieving Singapore’s best-ever results at both events. Most recently, Ryan came in 4th at the Western Australia PGA event.

The Pillars

Behind every great institution are the brilliant minds that drive its purpose forward. At SMU, the faculty stand as pillars of excellence, combining world-class research, professional expertise, and a passion for teaching. SMU faculty are mentors and thought leaders who ignite curiosity and nurture potential in every student they teach. Beyond the classroom, their research addresses societal challenges and creates meaningful impact on the communities they serve. SMU’s faculty continue to shape the next generation of leaders and transform lives to create sustainable futures.

Associate Professor Andree Hartanto, Associate Professor of Psychology (Education). He was named Rising Star in 2024 by the Association for Psychological Science (APS), which recognises researchers whose innovative work has already advanced the field and signals great potential for their continued contributions. To date, he has published more than 80 high-quality, peer-reviewed journal articles in these areas together with his students.

Associate Professor Yangfang (Helen) Zhou, Associate Professor of Operations Management. She received Best Publication Award from INFORMS, a professional association for operations research and management science in 2023. She was on Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List from 2014 – 2021. Among her many awards are Best Research Presentation by a Junior Faculty or a Doctoral Student, Workshop on Analytics for Business, Consumer and Social Insights (BCSI), and Yellow Roadway Corporation Scholarship, Tsinghua University (Top 3%).

Associate Professor Aurelio Gurrea-Martínez, Associate Professor of Law; Lee Kong Chian Fellow. He is Head of the Singapore Global Restructuring Initiative and co-chair of the SMU-Cambridge Roundtable on Corporate Insolvency Law. His academic work has been cited by courts and regulators from several jurisdictions and published in leading academic journals. He received the 2016 Rising Star of Corporate Governance Award by the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School and was named ‘Cross-Border Insolvency Academic of the Year’ by Global Restructuring Review in 2024.

Professor David Lo, OUB Chair Professor of Computer Science; Director, Information Systems & Technology Cluster; Director, SMU Centre for Research for Intelligent Software Engineering. In 2023, Prof Lo was recognised as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery , the largest professional organisation for computing, also renowned for issuing the Turing Award, the ‘Nobel Prize’ in Computing. Prof Lo was one of four researchers from Asia to receive this honour in 2023, and the fourth academic in Singapore to receive this recognition.

Professor Winston Chow, Professor of Urban Climate; Pillar Lead (Urban Infrastructure), SMU Urban Institute; Lee Kong Chian Fellow. Prof Chow is the first Singaporean Co-chair to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, as well as a member of its Task Group on Data Support for Climate Change Assessments. He has been a Principal Investigator for the multi-institute Cooling Singapore initiative since 2017.

Professor Steven Miller, Professor Emeritus of Information Systems. Prof Miller was the Founding Dean of the SMU School of Information Systems from 2003 to 2016, and SMU Vice Provost for Research from 2012 to 2020. He has written extensively about AI applications in Singapore, as well as a book of regional industry case examples called Working with AI. He continues to consult and advise in Singapore’s public and private sectors.

Professor Lily Kong, SMU President; Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences. Prof Kong was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2006 and Public Service Star (Bintang Bakti Masyarakat) award in 2020 at Singapore’s National Day Awards. In 2020, Forbes recognised her as one of 25 outstanding female leaders in the Asia-Pacific region in the Asia’s Power Businesswomen list, and Stanford University identified her as the world’s top 1% of scientists in the field of Geography. In 2024, she was conferred the Royal Geographical Society Victoria Medial and elected as a Foreign Fellow of the Geographical Society of China for her research in urban transformation and social cohesion within Asia.

Professor Annie Koh, Professor Emeritus of Finance (Practice). Prof Koh was previously SMU Vice President for Business Development; V3 Group Professor of Family Entrepreneurship; and Academic Director of Business Families Institute and International Trading Institute. She chairs the Asian Bond Fund 2 supervisory committee for the Monetary Authority of Singapore and is on Singapore’s Customs Advisory Council, among many advisory roles in the private sector. She received the Singapore Public Administration medal in 2010 and 2016, and the Adult Education Prism Award in 2017.

Professor Archan Misra, Vice Provost (Research); Lee Kong Chian Professor of Computer Science; Institutional Official for Research. Prof Misra is a Distinguished Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards and recognition for his research internationally.

Professor Paulin Straughan, Professor of Sociology (Practice); Dean of Students; Director, Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA). Prof Straughan’s research focuses on Sociology of health; well-being and Ageing, and work and Family. She is Principal Investigator of several projects commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Affairs and AI Singapore in these areas. Prof Straughan served as a Nominated Member of Parliament from 2009 to 2012 and received the Public Administration Medal in 2010. In 2018, she was appointed Justice of Peace by President of Singapore, Halimah Yacob.

Professor Lim Sun Sun, Professor of Communication and Technology; SMU Vice President, Partnerships and Engagement. In 2024, Prof Lim received the Top 50 Asia Women Tech Leaders Award. She has extensively researched the social impact of technology, with over 100 academic publications. Prof Lim was a Nominated Member of Parliament from 2018 to 2020, where she advocated for clear AI governance guidelines, data sharing to promote societally relevant research, more support for women in tech and digital rights for children.

Professor Cheng Qiang, Professor of Accounting; Former Dean of SMU School of Accounting (2015 – 2024). Prof Cheng is an award-winning researcher and teacher, having published over 30 articles in leading journals, including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and Journal of Financial Economics. He was an editor of The Accounting Review and Council Member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and is currently on the Research Committee of the American Accounting Association.

Professor Phang Sock Yong, Professor of Economics; Celia Moh Chair Professor of Economics. Prof Phang has served as consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and various government organisations in Asia on projects involving land, housing and infrastructure policies. In Singapore, she previously served as board member of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Land Transport Authority, the Public Transport Council, the Competition and Consumer Commission, and the Energy Market Authority.

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