Sonny has a uniquely balanced exposure in the public and private sectors over his 34-year career span. He served 12 years at the Singapore Economic Development Board, involved in the promotion of foreign direct investments, research & development and advanced technologies; formulation of incentive and manpower policies, and long term strategic plan for the manufacturing sector.
He later joined the private sector (Visa International and Deutsche Morgan-Grenfell Securities) where he honed his commercial acumen with the multi-nationals in the areas of marketing, business analytics and equity research. He spent another 12 years with the Fraser & Neave Limited (then top-20 listed conglomerate with business in properties, food & beverage, brewery and publishing/printing). At F&N, his responsibilities included strategic planning and visioning for the group, and developing new businesses through mergers & acquisitions. After F&N acquired the once-listed Times Publishing Limited and privatized it, Sonny took over the rein of managing the $240m printing business with 9 plants and over 2,000 employees spread across the Asia Pacific. [The F&N Group was later acquired by a Thai property group and the business was demerged into F&B and Properties, 2 separately listed companies. The property arm (Frasers Properties Ltd) went on to grow strongly in the region and has also spun off its investment properties into 4 listed REITs.]
In 2014, Sonny took up the challenge of helming the newly inaugurated REIT Association of Singapore as its first CEO. He built up its membership, pioneered various programmes to serve member REITS; represented the association to work with regulatory agencies to improve operating environment for REITs through engagement with the regulators on policies, laws, regulations and guidelines; promoted awareness and understanding of REITs to the general public; supported government’s efforts to grow the REIT industry. He developed extensive network with developers and REIT-aspires in the Asian region during the period.
Sonny retired from the REIT Association in Aug 2017 and currently runs his management consulting business (Wysdom Advisory) focusing on mergers and acquisitions service. He has been teaching adjunct at the Singapore Management University in its Masters of Applied Finance course since 2013. He is also a trainer/instructor at the Civil Service College specialized in topics on economic development, industrial policy, investment promotion strategies, Singapore’s tripartism model etc. He sits on the board of Yeoman Capital, a mid-sized fund management company.
Sonny obtained his Bachelor of Technology degree (Honours) in Industrial Engineering and his MBA from Massey University in New Zealand. He is multi-lingual in English, Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia.
