BANYAN Tree Holdings’ Ho Kwon Ping will step down from his position as founding chairman of the Singapore Management University’s (SMU) board of trustees on Jan 11, 2023, after 25 years of service.

He will be succeeded by DBS chief Piyush Gupta from Jan 12 next year, SMU announced in a Wednesday (Aug 16) press statement. Gupta has been a member of the university’s board of trustees since this January.

Ho became SMU’s founding chairman after he accepted the government’s invitation in 1997 to create the country’s third university. He worked with former deputy prime minister Tony Tan to define the first principles of SMU, which is Singapore’s first publicly funded autonomous university and also the first modelled after American institutions.

Ho was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 2009 for his contributions to SMU. Under his leadership, SMU has grown from just having a school of business to boasting 8 schools with over 12,000 students and 36,000 alumni.

“I retire now with the deepest confidence that what we put in place over the last 25 years, will be a solid foundation upon which an even bolder, idealistic vision can become reality,” said Ho.

Gupta added that Ho and SMU’s first generation have set “an extraordinary benchmark of success”.

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“In these fast-changing, disruptive times, universities play a key role, not just in leading and shaping thinking through cutting-edge research, but also in training our young people in multidisciplinary ways of problem-solving. SMU excels in these areas with its focus on providing holistic, transformative and integrative education,” he said.