ABOUT THE GOVERNORS

CHAIRMAN

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN

COLIN LOW
President & CEO,
Singapore Investment Development Corporation (SIDC)

VICE CHAIRMAN

Ms. Cynthia Owens is Senior Vice President of Organisation Solutions, a boutique leadership and organisation development consultancy working with some of the world’s leading growth companies.  Cynthia drives the communications and collaboration practice, helping leaders communicate more effectively with clients, employees and partners and helping leaders manage long-distance, virtual and cross cultural teams. Cynthia is one of Asia’s most experienced journalists and media executives. She has worked for The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, CNBC Asia and Wall Street Journal Television.  From 2001-2006, she was Senior Vice President of News and Programming for CNBC Asia. During nearly 2 decades in Asia, Cynthia has been based in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore. She launched the first co-produced TV news programming in China, with Shanghai Media Group in association with Harvard Business School professors. In the U.S., Cynthia covered the U.S. Congress, Wall Street, the economy and the political landscape, from New York, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.  She holds a Master's Degree in Journalism from Northwestern University and is a graduate of Lewis & Clark College in her home state of Oregon.

HONORARY SECRETARY

Ms. Andrea Muller is Chief Executive Asia for Principal Global Investors.  Principal Global Investors is a diversified asset management organization and is a member of the Principal Financial Group.   Prior to this appointment, she was managing director and head of Fitch Ratings Asia-Pacific from January 2005 until June 2008. From 1996-2004 Andrea held various positions at UBS including Managing Director and Head of Asian Corporate Marketing for UBS Global Asset Management, Managing Director and Head of Singapore for UBS Investment Banking and Managing Director and Head of Corporate Advisory for UBS in France. She started her career as a lawyer with Shearman & Sterling and practiced law in both New York and Paris. Andrea earned a BS in International Relations from Georgetown University – School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. and a Masters degree in European Union studies at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium where she studied on a Rotary fellowship. Subsequently, Andrea received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Centre. Andrea has served on the AmCham Singapore Board of Governors since 2007 and was on its Executive Committee since 2008.  Andrea is also Co-Chair of the Chamber’s Women’s Network. She was prior Chair of the Financial Services Committee.

HONORARY TREASURER

A native of Louisiana resident in Singapore since 1997, Mr. Ed Sim is the managing partner of the local office of Appleton Luff, an international trade law firm with other offices in Brussels, Geneva, Warsaw and Washington DC.  He has participated in more than 180 trade remedy proceedings and has served as a free trade agreement advisor to the Singaporean and Thai governments.  He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School and Dartmouth College and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore Law School, lecturing on the law of the ASEAN Economic Community. While attending university, Ed worked in the Office of Vice President George H.W. Bush and the U.S. Treasury Department General Counsel's office.  Ed also serves as a volunteer with the Cub Scouts and SACAC. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER AT-LARGE

Mr. David Fernandez serves as JPMorgan’s Head of Emerging Asia Research team. Before joining JPMorgan in January 1998, David spent five years as a professor of economics at the Johns Hopkins University International Studies School where he taught international macroeconomics. He was named Professor of the Year in 1996. Earlier, he served as an Economist in the Council of Economic Advisers in the administration of U.S. President George Bush. In 1987, he joined the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in its OECD economic research department and in the foreign exchange intervention group. David has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and received a Doctorate in Economics from Princeton University where, as a National Science Foundation fellow, he wrote his dissertation under Ben S. Bernanke. In addition to his work at JPMorgan, David is on the Advisory Board of Chinese University of Hong Kong's Quantitative Finance Program and Singapore Management University's School of Economics.

Mr. Samuel S. Kim is Vice-President ASEAN & Asia Development Markets, Procter & Gamble Asia, with responsibility for marketing and selling of P&G’s leading consumer product portfolio like Pantene, H&S, Olay, SK-II, Tide, Pampers, Gillette, Oral-B, and others.  Sam has worked past 26 years in P&G in different marketing and management positions in the United States, Japan, Korea, and now Singapore.  Sam graduated in the joint-degree program at the University of Pennsylvania & Wharton School of Business with bachelors degrees in political science and management.  While in Korea, Sam served as a Governor of AMCHAM Korea for four years, co-chairing the Personal Care Committee, and working on the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement.  Sam was also elected to the Board of the Korean CEOs’ Association of Multinational Corporations.  Sam has also served on the Board of Directors for Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA).  Sam is also on the Board of US-ASEAN Business Council and chairs the ASEAN Committee.  Sam is currently serving on the Asia Alumni Council for Phillips Academy and also recently joined the Board of Trustees, North Country School, New York.  Sam is married to Jin with three children.

GRACE PARK
General Partner,
Daystar Holdings

Ms. Grace Park is a General Partner at Daystar Holdings. Most recently, Grace was the Managing Director of ASEAN at Medtronic International. She has nearly a decade of healthcare experience in both medical devices and pharmaceuticals - Medtronic and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company - in the U.S. and Asia.  Grace graduated with honors from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she was a four-time All-American in Judo, and served in the U.S. Army for five years, reaching the rank of Captain and serving in the Pentagon.  Grace holds dual masters degrees from Harvard Business School and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.  She arrived in Singapore on a Fulbright Fellowship over seven years ago.

Mr. Dave Peck is President/CEO of Arrow Technologies a Singapore headquartered distributor of capital equipment and process materials for the Semiconductor, Data Storage, Photovoltaic and Nanoelectronics industries. The company is ASEAN and India focused with staff in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Bangalore. In addition to distribution, Arrow consults on various levels within the high-tech electronics sector as well as M&A.  Dave came to Asia in 1975 with U.S. MNC Sprague Electric Company where he held various engineering, manufacturing management and sales positions during his 18 years with Sprague. Since his first posting in Malaysia in 1975, he has lived continuously in Asia specifically in The Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and lastly back to Singapore where he has lived for the past 19 years.  Dave joined AmCham Singapore in 1995 and had been an active member on the Briefings and Scholarship Committees and subsequently served as a member of the Board of Governors from 1998 to 2005 and re-elected in 2009 to present.  He holds an AS from Southern Maine Technical Institute and attended the University of Maine, UT El Paso and holds a BA from University of New Hampshire.  As a business owner Dave is in the “trench”. He knows first hand what the staffing, finance and business issues are for SME’s here in Singapore and in the region.

Mr. Kevin Thieneman is Chairman of Caterpillar China and Caterpillar India, as well as President of Caterpillar Asia.  Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. Based in Beijing, Kevin is responsible for developing and executing an integrated enterprise strategy for the region. In 19 years with Caterpillar, Kevin has held a variety of leadership positions in product development, sales and marketing, and operations. He has been in Asia for 10 years, including assignments in Singapore, Beijing and Hong Kong.  Prior to joining Caterpillar, Kevin practiced law, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, in Chicago, Illinois.  Prior to that, he was a tax consultant with one of the world's largest public accounting firms.  Kevin has been active in AmCham for several years.  He is a member of the Supply Chain Management Committee. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the US-ASEAN Business Council and is the Chairman of their Infrastructure Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Vietnam Committee. Kevin was appointed as alternate member to represent the United States on the APEC Business Advisory Council for a 3-year term. He is also on the advisory board of the Beijing International MBA program at the Peking University (BiMBA), and Great Lakes University in Chennai, India. Kevin is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Business and Duke University School of Law.

JANET YOUNG
MD & Regional Head MNCs Asia,
Bank of America
Merrill Lynch

Ms. Janet Young is head of the MNC business in Asia, which is a key and strategic client segment for Bank of America globally.  She has over 20 years of banking and corporate experience in the region. Prior to joining Bank of America, she had led Marketing, e-Business, and Commercial Banking for HSBC Singapore.  Prior to that, she was the China Treasury Director (based in Shanghai) and Asia Pacific Finance & Treasury Director for a large European MNC.  She was on the Singapore Economic Review Sub-committee on Human Talent Management in 2003.  Since April 2008, she is an independent Director on Spring Equity Investments Pte Ltd as well as a Board Member of Spring Singapore.  She is also a member of the Economic and Research Committee of Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce.  In July 2009, she was invited to join the Resource Panel of the Singapore Government Parliamentary Committee for Finance, Trade & Industry to provide feedback on future growth initiatives for Singapore, and the Budget.  Janet has a Master of Business Administration from Nanyang Technological University (major in Accountancy), as well as a Bachelor of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore. 

Mr. Patrick Santillo is the Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore.  As such, he leads the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service team that is responsible for one of the most dynamic U.S. export promotion programs in the world.  The Commercial Service also opens foreign markets to American products and protects U.S. commercial interests abroad.  Prior to this assignment, Patrick was the Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific and oversaw operations in 13 countries in the region.  Patrick has also served in senior positions in Tokyo, Osaka, Toronto, and Athens, Greece.  He is a member of the Senior Foreign Service and has worked for Commerce for more than 25 years.  A native of Buffalo, NY, Patrick earned his Master’s Degree from the SUNY Buffalo and his Bachelor’s Degree from the American University in Washington, D.C.  He was a Rotary International High School Exchange Student to Japan, and he is an Eagle Scout.  He is a member of the Harley Owners Group (HOG) and he is an avid fan of the Blues.  Patrick is married to Kathleen Troy Santillo, and they have two daughters.