Temasek appoints 3 external hires to senior management, including MTI perm sec Gabriel Lim

SINGAPORE investment company Temasek will appoint three new external hires, including a permanent secretary, to senior leadership roles over the next two months.

Gabriel Lim, who is currently permanent secretary for policy at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), will join Temasek on Oct 1 as its joint head for corporate strategy. He will retire from the public service on Sep 1 after 24 years in service.

Thanking Lim for his “dedicated service”, Chan Chun Sing, Minister-in-charge of the Public Service, said that he had served “with distinction” in various ministries.

“I would like to express our appreciation for Lim’s leadership and outstanding contributions to the public service,” he said in a statement from the Public Service Division on Monday (Aug 5).

Meanwhile, corporate veteran and entrepreneur Eng Aik Meng will become joint head of Temasek’s portfolio development group on Sep 1.

Dinesh Khanna, managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), will also be appointed to this role in mid-October. Khanna and Eng will join Juliet Teo, who has been serving in the role since 2020.

Temasek said on Monday that the new appointments are part of its constant efforts to strengthen its leadership. Under these efforts, it develops and rotates its leaders internally to deepen their knowledge and exposure for leadership positions.

“We also augment our internal teams with external hires who bring complementary and differentiated capabilities,” added Temasek.

Supporting the Temasek 2030 strategy

Gabriel Lim will partner Lim Ming Pey, who currently heads Temasek’s corporate strategy team, to support the implementation of the Temasek 2030 strategy. This is a 10-year road map to construct a “resilient and forward-looking portfolio” for Temasek.

In his role, Gabriel Lim will implement ways to differentiate Temasek from its peers, and strengthen its position with partners and key stakeholders.

Lim, who has been permanent secretary at MTI since April 2019, also served as permanent secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information, which is now known as the Ministry of Digital Development and Information.

He was also the principal private secretary to former prime minister Lee Hsien Loong from 2011 to 2014, and held various positions across various ministries, including health and defence.

He is currently on various boards of directors, including CapitaLand Investment, the National Research Foundation and St Joseph’s Institution International.

His experience in strategy development and stakeholder management in the public sector, as well as his engagements with the private sector, make him a good fit for the role, said Lim Ming Pey during a briefing to the media last week.

“He has extensive experience in various portfolios dealing with high-level strategy formation. His network with both public and private sectors (makes him) a very suitable candidate to work in this function,” she noted.

She added that the decision to hire him was based on his work experience, particularly in MTI, where he had many engagements with the public sector and across different industries.

“Gabriel is known to us and many of our portfolio companies. His past work in strategy development and stakeholder engagement will be very relevant for Temasek,” added Chan Wai Ching, chief corporate officer of Temasek.

In recent times, there have been permanent secretaries such as Desmond Kuek and Neo Kian Hong, who served in Temasek-related entities after they left the public service.

Kuek is the executive director and chief executive of Temasek Trust. He was permanent secretary at the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment from 2010 to 2012.

Neo Kian Hong, former group chief executive of SMRT, served as permanent secretary at the Ministry of Education (2013 to 2017) and Ministry of Defence (2017 to 2018).

New hires to develop Temasek’s portfolio

The two new hires for Temasek’s portfolio development group – Eng and Khanna – will engage and partner Temasek’s portfolio companies in their growth, innovation and transformation journeys. These companies account for about 40 per cent of Temasek’s portfolio value. The group will work with the companies to increase their shareholder value and pursue initiatives that uplift their value.

Eng is a corporate veteran and entrepreneur with more than three decades of experience in the healthcare and maritime industries.

He is group chief executive and co-founder of investment platform TE Asia Healthcare Partners. He was previously group chief operating officer of healthcare provider Fortis Healthcare International, where he oversaw international businesses and led post-merger integration programmes.

Before joining the healthcare industry, he was in the maritime industry, where he was president of American President Lines, a shipping subsidiary of Neptune Orient Lines.

Eng also sits on the board of investment firm 65 Equity Partners and airport services provider Sats.

Temasek said it was hiring Eng for his “strong business and operating experience”, as well as his “proven track record” working with private-equity investments that have generated consistent returns and shareholder value.

Khanna has been with BCG since 2002, where he held several senior leadership positions, including head of BCG Singapore and private equity for the Asia region. Before that, he co-founded ActiveKarma Ventures, a fitness startup in India.

Lim Ming Pey said the macroeconomic environment will be very challenging for all companies. Companies’ management and boards will have to consider how they position themselves in such an environment.

“(But) once they are decided, I think there is a role for Temasek to come in and partner and engage them. We think there’s a lot of work to be done collectively as a group,” said Lim.

Apart from its external hires, Temasek said it will continue to rotate and expose its leaders across different sectors and functions so they gain exposure to strategy, investment and institutional decision-making.

Said Dilhan Pillay, chief executive of Temasek: “We want to provide our next-generation leaders with the same opportunities to learn and stretch themselves in various appointments and responsibilities. This is crucial in ensuring that Temasek stays agile and adaptable in an era of unprecedented global challenges.”