Piyush Gupta, tech entrepreneurs top LinkedIn's Power Profiles list

Singapore

DBS chief Piyush Gupta, as well as entrepreneurs Roger Egan III (who co-founded online grocer RedMart) and Darius Cheung (head of property portal 99.co), have topped LinkedIn's 2016 Singapore Power Profiles.

This is a list of the most-viewed local professionals on the business social networking site. Unveiled on Monday, it comes as social media is said to play an increasingly major role in a business leader's influence.

Maximilian Bittner (of e-commerce group Lazada), Virender Aggarwal (of India-based software company Ramco Systems) and Krystal Choo (of social travel startup Wander) are among the other chief executive officers (CEOs) to have made the list.

The 2016 LinkedIn Singapore Power Profiles comprise 45 professionals across five categories: CEOs, tech, finance, marketing and advertising, and human resources. It marks the third edition of the showcase since it was launched here in 2013; the list was not compiled in 2014.

Olivier Legrand, LinkedIn vice-president for the Asia-Pacific and Japan, said: "In the increasingly digitally-connected world we work in, the ability to influence has never been more important to achieving success."

He added that this was particularly true in smaller economies such as Singapore, which are "successful due to their status as regional and global hubs for business".

The Business Times understands that DBS's Mr Gupta is a first-time entrant to the Singapore Power Profiles list, which has traditionally been dominated by tech professionals or executives from global companies.

In 2014, Mr Gupta was appointed a "LinkedIn influencer", becoming one of just over 500 global LinkedIn members who are regarded as among the world's foremost thinkers, leaders and innovators.

There are over 100 million LinkedIn members in the Asia-Pacific, and some 450 million globally. In South-east Asia, the audience is 18 million, including more than a million in Singapore. LinkedIn does not share specific view numbers for each of the profiles, labelling those as "member data" and "confidential information".

In the tech category, taking top spots here are Tan Hooi Ling (co-founder of ride-hailing app Grab), Hari Krishnan (president of PropertyGuru) and Stephanie Wheeler (chief of staff at Hewlett Packard Enterprise).

In finance, Neal Cross (chief innovation officer at DBS), Sanjoy Sen (managing director of retail banking for the Asia-Pacific at ANZ) and Roy Teo (head of the fintech and innovation group at the Monetary Authority of Singapore) lead the pack.

In marketing and advertising, one of the most-viewed profiles belongs to Loren Shuster (chief commercial officer of LEGO Group), and in human resources, Jean-Michel Wu (of McCann Worldgroup Asia-Pacific).

Matt Sutton, CEO of digital advertising firm Adknowledge Asia, told BT: "LinkedIn is the go-to platform for professionals to publish and network today. It is essential for establishing thought leadership, connecting with talent or customers, and staying tuned-in to commercial happenings."

He added that business leaders should not get "left out of the conversation" on the platform and ensure they are having "meaningful exchanges" with their networks.

LinkedIn, founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman (former chief operating officer at PayPal), in 2011 filed for a listing [14][/14]on the New York Stock Exchange. It was acquired by Microsoft for some US$26.2 billion in June; the transaction is expected to close by end-2016.