SID MEMBERS’ GALA EVENING
30 NOVEMBER 2023
MARINA BAY SANDS
WELCOME SPEECH BY SID CHAIR YEOH OON JIN
Guest-of-Honour Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for National Development
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
A warm welcome to all our members, supporters and partners. And thank you for joining us tonight at this Members’ Gala Evening as we celebrate a significant milestone – the 25th Anniversary of the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID).
As we celebrate our 25th Anniversary, it is time for us to honour the past, appreciate the present and envision the future together.
During this Silver Jubilee year, we launched the SID Governance for Good Alliance, our flagship Board Readiness Programme for aspiring directors and the SID Accreditation Framework. In addition, we also organised special editions of the SID Directors Conference, Golf Tournament and Fellows Evening, amongst the many events and activities so as to strengthen the directorship community and corporate governance ecosystem.
This Gala Evening caps an exciting and memorable year for SID. And we are very pleased to see so many of our key stakeholders here tonight, comprising members of SID, members of our Governing Council – both past and present, SID Fellows, and Partners, Volunteers and Supporters, and not forgetting our Regulators.
As the national association for company directors in Singapore, our mission is to help transform boards and empower board directors to be champions of good governance.
Some of you may be familiar with the building blocks of SID:
• Advancing thought leadership and advocacy
• Building competencies and capabilities
• Connecting and strengthening the CG ecosystem
In the spirit of these fundamental building blocks, I would like to frame this evening’s programme with another set of A-B-Cs:
Appreciation for our members & partners, Building the Future for SID and Celebrating with our members & key stakeholders.
Honour the Past
First and foremost, I want to express my deepest appreciation for the hard work and
dedication of many generations of Council members, Committee members, and Staff members. Their unwavering commitment and dedication have been the driving force behind SID's success over the past 25 years.
Tonight, we are also very honoured to have with us some of the founding members of SID, including Chew Heng Ching, John Lim Kok Min, Andrew Ang, Giam Chin Toon and Teng Cheong Kwee, among others. We also extend our deep gratitude to our Honorary Fellows, Past Chairs and Past Council members for their significant contributions to the Institute.
Let us take a moment to acknowledge our members, some of whom have been with SID since its inception. In the spirit of acknowledgment, we recently launched commemorative pins to mark significant membership milestones of 5, 10 and 20 years.
Eligible members will soon receive these pins by post to commemorate your dedication to SID over the years.
A heartfelt thank you also goes out to our partners, who have supported us over the past 25 years. Indeed, we treasure your contributions that have helped us strengthen the CG ecosystem.
Special recognition goes to our Gala Dinner sponsors, both Gold and Silver, without whom this celebration would not be possible. Let’s take a moment to express our gratitude through a round of applause.
[NOTE: Our Gold sponsors are CLA Global, CDL, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, NTUC Enterprise, PwC and Singapore Pools; Silver sponsors are Allen & Gledhill, BDO, Del Monte, Rajah & Tann, SGX, TÜV SÜD PSB and WongPartnership]
I would also like to extend my thanks to the Executive Team led by Terence Quek and Edwin Lee for their tireless efforts in steering SID towards excellence. Your hard work and dedication are truly commendable and much appreciated.
Building the Future
Envisioning the future (for the next 25 years) is a crucial aspect of our journey. SID remains steadfast in its commitment to transforming boards and empowering directors to be champions of good governance.
In pursuit of this mission, we are focusing on three key areas for the coming year:
1. Increasing our Membership:
We aim to diversify and expand our membership base, ensuring that SID represents the wider Director community including Listed companies, private enterprises, family businesses, startup companies as well as statutory boards and not-for-profit organisations as we believe the need for effective leadership and good governance applies equally well to all of these entities.
2. Accreditation Programme:
We are very focussed on uplifting our directorship community and make SID’s accreditation programme mainstream. Professional accreditation and recognition of director competencies is pivotal in elevating governance standards across all sectors. To this end, accreditation must be widely recognised and accepted. And we are heartened that within the first month of our pilot launch, more than 700 of our very experienced members have taken up our invitation to be accredited.
3. Deepening our Partnership ecosystem:
Strengthening relationships with our key partners is vital to multiplying our reach and impact. For instance, the Board Readiness Programme was co-developed with 20 of our partners, primarily professional services firms, most of whom are here tonight.
Just a couple of weeks ago, we launched the prototype of SIDgpt, a generative AI-powered contextual search engine for matters pertaining to directorship and governance in Singapore. This we have NCS to thank for as our partner.
Partnerships are important to us, which is why we are grateful to DPM Lawrence Wong for helping us launch the SID Governance for Good Alliance, a collective of 100 key stakeholders in our ecosystem who champion good governance and support for SID’s work.
A big thank you to all our partners past and present. Together, we can achieve more, and SID is committed to fostering collaborative initiatives with our key partners so as to amplify our impact on the CG ecosystem.
Celebration
As we gather here to commemorate our 25th anniversary, let us not only celebrate the achievements of SID but also the bonds that tie us together as a Director community.
Tonight is not just about looking back at how far we've come but also about celebrating the camaraderie among our members, friendships old and new, and to the memories that we create tonight as one SID community. It is through these connections that we strengthen the very fabric of our Institute.
In the spirit of Doing Good, I’m happy to share that SID will be rallying the directorship community to support the fundraising efforts of ComChest, specifically, to fundraise for the Community Capability Trust (CCT) managed by ComChest. The CCT, set up by the Ministry of Social and Family Development and National Council of Social Services was created to drive capability and capacity building within the social service sector.
Over the next 10 years the CCT will support the sector's needs by focusing on 6 capability-building areas including enhancing board capabilities.
As one directorship community, I hope that we can raise at least $25,000 in this 25th anniversary year. I’m excited to share that the Chair of ComChest, Mr Chew Sutat, who is present here tonight, has pledged in his personal capacity to match dollar-for-dollar up to the first $25,000 raised. Thank you Sutat for your generosity, for encouraging our members to give back to society, and also for your strong support of SID.
You will find on your table a donation card detailing how you can contribute to this good cause. I encourage each of you to scan the QR code and make a donation. Together, as the director community, we can make a meaningful difference.
And on this high note, as we celebrate tonight, let’s remember the importance of growing as a Director community and being champions of good governance.
May the next 25 years for SID be filled with even greater achievements, stronger bonds and a continued commitment to excellence in the CG space.
Thank you, and now it is my privilege to invite our Guest-of-Honour Minister Indranee Rajah, to say a few words.