Gender diversity, tenure length remain governance gaps among STI company chairpersons

[SINGAPORE] Of the 30 companies on the Straits Times Index (STI), just two are chaired by women.

This begs the question: Is Singapore falling behind when it comes to gender diversity in the upper echelons of leadership?

To be sure, such under-representation is not unique to the Republic, industry watchers tell The Business Times.

Sacha Tong, head of secretariat at the Council for Board Diversity, said that the percentage of women board chairs is “disproportionately low”, hovering between 8 and 10 per cent globally.

Mak Yuen Teen, accounting professor at the National University of Singapore Business School, sees the under-representation of women as a broad global trend.

The corporate governance advocate noted that the percentage of female chairs among Australia’s ASX100 is 14 per cent, and the rate among companies on the UK’s FTSE350 is also under 20 per cent.

Singapore’s blue-chip barometer comes in at about 7 per cent, but this is across a relatively smaller pool of firms compared with the larger global benchmarks.

The two women chairs of STI companies are Koh Choon Fah of Frasers Centrepoint Trust ( FCT ) and Teo Swee Lian of CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust ( CICT ); both are chairpersons of the trusts’ managers.

Koh is a notable figure in real estate, joining FCT as a non-executive independent director on Oct 1, 2019. She was later nominated chairperson in late 2023.

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Teo spent over 27 years at the Monetary Authority of Singapore until 2015. She was then appointed independent chairperson of the board in 2019 of CapitaLand Mall Trust, and continued as chair after its merger with CapitaLand Commercial Trust to form CICT.

Elsewhere, chairpersons of well-known companies in the US include Mary Barra of General Motors and Julie Sweet of professional services firm Accenture. Both are also CEOs of their respective companies.

Singapore still lags

Historically, women have been largely absent from the chairperson’s seat in Singapore-listed companies.

Notable rare examples include Chew Gek Khim, who has been chair of Straits Trading since 2008, and Sats chair Euleen Goh, who served in the role from 2016 to 2024.

Prof Mak said that the trend may be more prevalent in Singapore due to a later start in board diversity efforts and a high concentration of founder-controlled companies, where the chair is typically a male founder or his male successor.

Emily Poon, CEO-designate of the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), said the “relatively low” number of women chairs “reflects a combination of factors: numbers, history and culture”.

She added that this stems from a limited talent pool within male-dominated boards and the slow leadership turnover inherent in traditional, family-owned enterprises, which are predominantly male.

But the move in 2022 by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) – to mandate that companies disclose their board diversity policies – pushed many firms to look beyond the “old boys’ club” for leadership.

Tong of the Council for Board Diversity observed that progress has been made on the board front. “We have come a long way,” she said.

In 2015, the proportion of women-held directorships at the top 100 SGX primary-listed companies was just under 10 per cent. By 2025, that proportion had grown to 25 per cent – without legislation or gender quotas.

Tenure and succession

But gender is not the only corporate governance gap, industry watchers say. Long tenures are another issue they are watching out for among chairpersons.

Poon said that founder-led and family-owned companies “may contribute to this pattern”, with founders staying on as non-executive chairs for extended periods.

Examples of such chairs include Lim Kok Thay from Genting Singapore , Kuok Khoon Hong from Wilmar International and Kwek Leng Beng from City Developments Ltd .

Poon pointed out that chairpersons are appointed after substantial careers in business, public service or professional practice, where they have accumulated broad experience, perspective and credibility.

“These qualities are highly valued in the boardroom and naturally mean chairpersons tend to be older than CEOs,” she added.

On what could explain the long tenures of some, Prof Mak said that they may be major shareholders or related to major shareholders, which could explain why they are “entrenched” in their position.

This is likely the case when the chairperson has significant ownership, or if the combined equity of connected parties such as family members and subsidiaries grants them permanent control that is difficult for other investors to challenge.

Bridging the gap towards diversity

Two chairpersons of STI companies also serve as chair at other organisations.

Peter Seah is chair of Singapore Airlines and DBS , while Samuel Tsien is chair of Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Jardine Cycle & Carriage .

“It’s a combination of how the chair role has traditionally been defined and how experience on boards and leading organisations is accumulated over time,” Tong noted. “Chairmanships tend to come after many years of board and committee leadership experience.”

Prof Mak said that this “tendency to appoint older establishment figures, some of whom chair more than one big company and have stayed on for a long time, does limit the opportunities for other capable directors – male or female – to be appointed as chairs”.

But he pointed out that it is not about encouraging more women to step up to the position. Rather, it is about how companies are appointing chairpersons and the percentage of female directors who have the necessary experience and qualities to be chair.

SID’s Poon noted that nomination committees have an important role to play through “more intentional” succession planning.

“In Singapore, we have generally adopted a principles-based approach rather than prescribing fixed tenure limits for board chairs,” she said. What matters most, she added, is “not tenure in isolation, but whether the board continues to benefit from effective leadership, sound judgement and independent oversight”.

“This also includes assessing female directors for chairperson readiness early, providing opportunities to lead board committees and developing leadership potential systematically.”