Sias CEO David Gerald says leadership succession ‘finalised’ with refreshed management committee

[SINGAPORE] David Gerald, founder and chief executive officer of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or Sias, said on Tuesday (Nov 11) that a succession plan has been set in place regarding the organisation’s leadership.

In his speech at the Sias Investors’ Choice Awards and Members’ Night 2025, the CEO mentioned that seven younger professional men and women came forward, at an annual general meeting three weeks ago, to “offer their services to the small investors”.

“The management committee has now been refreshed and rejuvenated. And leadership succession has been finalised,” he said.

More details will come at an appropriate time, he added.

The 81-year-old has led the organisation for over 26 years, since June 1999, based on information from his LinkedIn profile.

In 2010 and 2018, he was appointed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to the Singapore Corporate Governance Council in charge of reviewing the Corporate Governance Code.

Previously, Gerald was an advocate and solicitor at Gerald David and Associates for six years, before serving as senior magistrate and Singapore’s state coroner at the Subordinate Courts..

In his speech, he also said that despite the central role that Sias has played in advancing minority interests for over a quarter of a century, it is not without critics who seek to “cast doubt on (its) efforts”.

This comes as some claim that independence is lacking as Sias works “with companies” instead of against them, he explained.

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He also noted that some of Sias’ “tangible” achievements included pushing for CPF Investment Scheme investors to be allowed to attend annual general meetings and compelling profitable companies that do not pay dividends to explain their behaviour to shareholders.

Sias has also been questioning boards and senior management of about 250 companies on their financial performance, corporate strategy and corporate governance practices. “About 80 per cent of the companies (who were) questioned responded,” noted Gerald, who is also the association’s president.

Working with MAS on stock market revitalisation

Gerald highlighted MAS’ announcement of the second phase of its Equity Market Development Programme in July, and how Sias would consult the central bank on proposals to “enhance investors’ ability to seek recourse for losses suffered from market misconduct”.

“These proposals are expected to focus on facilitating civil recourse, enhancing the ability of retail investors to initiate civil actions, addressing difficulties such as high legal costs and organising large groups of affected investors,” he added.

Such an initiative at full flight would represent a major improvement with regard to retail investors being empowered to take class action, said Gerald.

“For too long, small investors have had to endure what Sias terms ‘the tyranny of the majority’, which is basically having to endure corporate actions designed to benefit the few to the detriment of the many,” he shared.

The event was graced by guest of honour, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, with former president Halimah Yacob, who is also chancellor of the Singapore University of Social Sciences and chief patron of Sias, and Sias’ honorary chairman Daniel Teo.

Of the 37 winning listed companies, 12 are part of the Straits Times Index, while 11 are in the 50 components of the iEdge Next 50 index.