Leo Yip
Head, Civil Service, PS (PMO, PMO (STRATEGY) AND NSIC), Singapore
Leo Yip joined the Singapore public service in 1982 as a police officer. He holds degrees from Cambridge University, Warwick University and Harvard University.
In 2000 he was appointed Principal Private Secretary to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew till 2002 when he joined the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) as Deputy Secretary. He served concurrently as Chief Executive of Singapore Workforce Development Agency from 2003.
Mr Yip was appointed Permanent Secretary of MOM in July 2005. He was concurrently appointed Deputy Chairman of the EDB in 2008 and became full-time Chairman from 2009 to 2014.
Mr Yip was appointed Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in December 2014 and was concurrently appointed as Permanent Secretary (PMO and NSIC) in 2016. Mr Yip relinquished his MHA appointment on 1 September 2017 to become Head, Civil Service and PS (PMO, PMO (Strategy) and NSIC).
Peter Ong Boon Kwee
Chairman of Enterprise Singapore, Senior Economic Advisor, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore
Mr Peter Ong Boon Kwee was born in Singapore. He was awarded the Colombo Plan Scholarship to pursue his Bachelor of Economics at the University of Adelaide, Australia and graduated with first class honours. He graduated top of his Masters in Business Administration class at Stanford University, USA, in 1993, and is a Henry Ford II and Arjay Miller Scholar.
Mr Ong was appointed Chairman of Enterprise Singapore following the announcement of the merger of International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and SPRING Singapore. As Chairman of Enterprise Singapore, Mr Ong drives efforts to grow stronger Singapore enterprises by supporting them to build new capabilities and internationalise.
In January 2018, Mr Ong was also appointed Senior Economic Advisor at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, where he provides strategic advice on economic strategies and policies as well as champion efforts to enable robust enterprise growth.
Mr Ong retired from the Administrative Service on 1 September 2017. Prior to his retirement, Mr Ong was Head of Civil Service, a position he held since 2010. In 2016, he was also concurrently appointed as Permanent Secretary – Strategy, at the Prime Minister’s Office, where he oversaw the PMO Strategy Group to support the Prime Minister and his Cabinet in establishing priorities and strengthening strategic alignment across government.
Mr Ong also previously held the positions of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; the National Security Intelligence Co-ordination Secretariat; Ministry of Trade and Industry; Ministry of Transport; and Ministry of Defence. Other previous postings include stints at Temasek Holdings – a Government investment holding company; the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology; and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Mr Ong currently sits on the Boards of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship. He was conferred the (Honorary) Knight of the Most Distinguished Order Of The Crown by The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Malaysia XIV on 2 June 2012, an award which carries the title “Tan Sri”. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the President of Singapore in 2010.
Sir Suma Chakrabarti
Former President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), United Kingdom
Sir Suma Chakrabarti, born in 1959 in West Bengal, India, is the sixth President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Sir Suma has extensive experience in international development economics and policy-making, as well as in designing and implementing wider public service reform.
Prior to the EBRD, he held the position of Permanent Secretary at the British Ministry of Justice and was its most senior civil servant. Prior to this, he headed the UK’s Department for International Development, also worked in the late 1990s in the UK Treasury, and in the early 2000s in the Cabinet Office.
After studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford, Sir Suma took a Masters in Development Economics at the University of Sussex. He also holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Sussex and East Anglia, Bucharest’s University of Economic studies and Kazakhstan’s 25th Anniversary of Independence Medal.
Matthias Freundlieb
Deputy Director-General, Federal Chancellery, Germany
Matthias Freundlieb is Head of Directorate 11 (Personnel – the Federal Government; Administration) and permanent Deputy Director-General 1 (Central Services; Home Affairs and Justice) at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin since 2010. He holds the position of the Federal Chancellery’s CIO as well.
Prior to this, he held numerous positions at the Federal Chancellery since the early 90s like Head of Directorate 12 (Cabinet and Parliament, Federation-Länder Matters, Sport) from 2005 to 2010 and Deputy Head of Division for Cabinet and Parliament Matters between 1995 and 1998. Except in the Chancellery, he has years of experience in parliamentary work as research assistant of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in German Parliament, first subject specialist for legislative work on abortion issue from 1991 to 1994 and Head of Office of a Parliamentary Secretary from 1999 to 2005.
Mr Freundlieb started his career in the Public Service as a subject specialist for legislation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Between 1987 and 1990, he served as General Manager of then newly founded German-Italian Centre for European Excellence “Villa Vigoni” on Lake Como, Italy.
In addition, he performed various consultancy missions for governments and parliaments abroad, i. a. in Romania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Colombia, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Mr Freundlieb is a fully qualified lawyer with a Law Degree from University of Bonn. He completed his legal clerkship in Cologne, Aachen and Sydney, Australia.
H.E. Alicia dela Rosa-Bala
Chairperson, Civil Service Commission, Philippines
ALICIA dela ROSA-BALA is the Chairperson of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the central human resource of the government. She is also the Chairperson of the following: Board of Trustees, Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP); Career Executive Service Board (CESB); and Scientific Career System Council , 66th-67th (FY 2020-2021) Executive Council of Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA).
Prior to her appointment, she was the Undersecretary for Policy and Plans of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). She also served from September 2012 to September 2015 as Deputy Secretary-General for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Chairperson Bala was appointed as the country’s first child rights representative to the ASEAN Commission for the Promotion and the Protection of the Rights of Women and Children in 2010. She was also the first elected head of the first session of the Commission on Social Development, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UN-ESCAP) in 2008.
Chairperson Bala received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of the Philippines Institute of Social Work and Community Development, Diliman, Quezon City and her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Centro Escolar University, cum laude.
Gert Jan Buitendijk
Secretary-General – Ministry of General Affairs, The Netherlands
Gert-Jan Buitendijk was born in 1967 in Strijen, the Netherlands. After graduating high school, he studied Political Sciences at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, specialized in International Affairs, and Politics and Business.
Since May 2017 Mr. Buitendijk is Director-General for Employment at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. He is responsible for policy in the areas of employment, labour conditions, labour law, pensions, occupational safety and health, childcare, macro-economics and international affairs.
After graduating in 1992 from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam Mr. Buitendijk worked several years for the university. In 1995 he started his career in the capital of Dutch government The Hague as a policy advisor at the Ministry of Finance, where he successively worked for the Inspectorate for the Budget, the department of Finances Public Bodies and the interdepartmental department for Reduction Administrative Burden. In June 2006 he started as financial director at the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. In 2009 he became Director Public Administration and Democracy. A year later he became Director-General for Governance and Kingdom Relations. From the beginning of 2016 until April 2017 he was at the same ministry Director-General for Governance and Housing.
From 1998 until 2006 Mr. Buitendijk combined his work in The Hague with a political function as alderman in the Dutch municipality of Strijen.
Mikhail Pryadilnikov
Head, Center of Competence for Digital Government Transformation; and Deputy Director, Analytic Center for the Russian Government, Russia
The Analytic Center for the Russian Government provides on-demand information analytics and expert support for departments; and as Deputy Director, Mikhail Pryadilnikov is responsible for strategic management, regional development, SME support, public administration and investment climate reform.
Mikhail has also recently been appointed as Head, Center of Competence for Digital Government Transformation, a top-level unit with a particular focus on government digital services established to support public sector organizations in managing their digital transformation programmes.
He previously served as the director of the Department for Strategic Planning, Government Programs and Investment Projects at the Ministry of Economic Development. Prior to joining the federal government, he worked for Moscow city government as the Head of Economic Policy and Development.
Mr Priyadilnikov studied economics and philosophy in the USA and was awarded a PhD in government and political science by Harvard University. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and a Visiting Lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Before joining the civil service, he spent 10 years as a consultant at the World Bank in Washington DC, working in the Middle East and North Africa unit on anti-corruption and civil service reforms in Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, and the West Bank & Gaza.
Kok Kee LIM
Senior Vice President, Government Engagement, Asia Pacific, Mastercard
As Mastercard’s regional lead for government engagement, Kok Kee leads the team that partners with government agencies across the Asia Pacific region to accelerate their digital transformation agendas. In this role, he is responsible for bringing Mastercard’s products, services and ecosystem capabilities to bear to solve for the challenges that governments face today across a range of areas spanning financial inclusion and inclusive growth, citizen service efficiency and government operational excellence.
Kok Kee started his career with Mastercard’s consulting arm, Advisors, where he covered business development in Southeast Asia, working with financial institutions and merchant partners on a range of strategic, commercial and operational initiatives. Thereafter, he was tapped to lead the Strategy and Program Management Office for Mastercard in China, to help drive Mastercard’s business expansion in the market.
Prior to joining Mastercard, Kok Kee held several leadership roles at Visa and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Kok Kee holds a Master of Philosophy degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in the United States.
Joyce Dimech
Permanent Secretary, Ministry for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government / Ministry for Research, Innovation and the Co-odination of Post Covid-19 Strategy, Malta
Ms Joyce Dimech joined the Public Service in 1986, holding various positions within the Ministry for Gozo and the Office of the Prime Minister ever since. She had several positions within different sections of the Ministry for Gozo, including Education, Care for the Elderly, and EU Affairs.
In 2004 she was appointed Director Customer Services, ably leading this major public service directorate in Gozo. In March 2013 she was appointed Permanent Secretary within the Ministry for Gozo and in April 2014 she was appointed Permanent Secretary (Strategy & Implementation) within the Office of the Prime Minister. In July 2020, Ms. Dimech was appointed Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government. In November 2020 she was also appointed Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Research, Innovation and the Co-Ordination of Post Covid-19 Strategy.
Ms Dimech received her Bachelor of Arts and Diploma in Management from the University of Malta.
Mohammed Ataba Sani-Omolori
Clerk to the National Assembly, Nigeria
Mohammed Ataba Sani-Omolori is Clerk and Chief Administrative and Accounting Officer of Nigeria’s National Assembly and Head of the country’s Legislative Service. His responsibilities include coordinating and supervising all National Assembly resources, processing passed bills and putting them before the President, and coordinating all interactions with foreign bodies and parliaments. He also Chairs the National Assembly Management Tenders Board.
Prior to his time at the National Assembly, Sani-Omolori was a Clerk in the House of Representatives between 2010 and 2016. He has also held roles as the Director of the Legal Services Department and Legal Officer at the National Electric Power Authority, and in his early career, gained experience in private law firms and as the legal representative for the Ajaokuta Steel Company. He began his career as a teacher, specialising in English and social studies, and was once private secretary in the Ebira Traditional Council’s Office of the Chairman.
Sani-Omolori obtained a Bachelor of Law in 1983, and is a member of the International Bar Association; Commonwealth Lawyers Association; and the African Bar Association among others.
Alex Chisholm
Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary (Cabinet Office), United Kingdom
Alex Chisholm became Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary for the Cabinet Office in April 2020. Prior to that he was the Permanent Secretary to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
His previous roles in UK government include:
Permanent Secretary, BEIS 2016 to 2020
Joint Permanent Secretary, BEIS 2016 to 2016
Permanent Secretary, DECC 2016 to 2016
Chief Executive of the Competition and Markets Authority 2013 to 2016
Hannah Cameron
Deputy Commissioner, State Services Commission, New Zealand
Hannah joined the SSC in April 2018, having previously held the role of Deputy Chief Policy Officer at the Ministry of Health.
Hannah came to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in 2004, in search of a home where she could continue to work at the centre of policy-making and democracy, but also have easy access to the great outdoors. She found Island Bay, Wellington, and has not looked back since. She believes that New Zealand can be a wonderful place to raise a family, and is frustrated that not all New Zealanders have equal access to a safe and fulfilling life.
Hannah has worked in the New Zealand public service for 14 years in government departments that also include the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice and Department of Internal Affairs. During that time, she has worked on policy issues as varied as family violence, organ donation, special education and medicinal cannabis, building a strong network of colleagues across government.
Hannah grew up in Nottingham, has a MA in social and political sciences from the University of Cambridge and spent the first part of her career in London as part of the UK Government’s Fast Stream programme.
Benjamin Chiang
Asean and Singapore Government & Public Sector Leader, EY (Knowledge Partner)
Benjamin is a Partner in Ernst & Young’s Consulting practice in Singapore and is the Government & Public Sector Leader for Asean and Singapore. He has over 20 years of experience serving clients in the government and public sector and leads the regional Future Cities team to deliver smart city transformation projects across Asean. These digital transformation projects bring together multi-disciplinary capabilities across digital, technology risk, analytics, strategy, people, and customer experience to enable customer-centric service journey transformation.
Benjamin currently serves on the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountant (ISCA) Investigation and Disciplinary Panel, and previously served as Chairman of ISCA’s IT Services Advisory Panel, the Board of Directors for the Singapore Chapter of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), and Association of Information Security Professionals (AISP).
https://www.ey.com/en_sg/people/benjamin-chiang
Samir Bedi
Asean Workforce Advisory Leader, EY (Knowledge Partner)
Samir is EY Asean Workforce Advisory Leader, with extensive consulting experience in helping organizations to develop business strategies linked to people-organization dynamics across Southeast Asia. He has worked on numerous competency, performance and rewards design and implementation projects for public-, private- and third-sector clients.
His experience covers all aspects of human resources consulting, ranging from organization structuring and manpower planning to job redesign and the future of work. Other areas include creating differentiated reward programs, developing a high-performance culture, integration of performance and reward and talent programs, as well as HR process review and audit.
https://www.ey.com/en_sg/people/samir-bedi
Peter Pogačar
Director General – Public Sector Directorate, Ministry of Public Administration, Slovenia
Peter Pogačar was born on 13 November 1973 in Ljubljana. He holds a Degree in Law from the University of Ljubljana and has passed the bar examination.
He started his professional career at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities as an adviser to the Slovenian Government focusing on the development of supplementary pension insurance within the first major pension reform.
In 2004, he became Director of the Pension Insurance Department where he was in charge of the pension funds managed by the Capital Fund. From 2009 to 2015, he was Director General of the Directorate for Employment Relationships and Rights Deriving from Employment. During his mandate, he conducted and successfully concluded drafting of the pension and labour market reforms that came into force in 2013. In the international field, he was a key partner of the OECD and the European Commission in the dialogue on guidelines and monitoring of adopted measures in view of the recommendations from the Ministry.
In 2015, he was appointed State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities where his main responsibility was regulation of labour market and social security systems in Slovenia.
In September 2019, he was designated Director General of the Public Sector Directorate at the Ministry of Public Administration and Chief Government Negotiator for negotiations with public sector. His mission is modernization of public sector in Slovenia.
Peter Pogačar regularly gives lectures or participates as a key speaker at numerous international and national events focusing on the pension system and labour market and is co-author of several publications on pension and labour market legislation.
Lord Nick Herbert
Commissioner, The Commission for Smart Government
The Rt Hon Lord Herbert of South Downs is a Member of the House of Lords and Chairman of the Commission for Smart Government, Countryside Alliance, The Project for Modern Democracy, the Global TB Caucus and the Global Equality Caucus. He served as Shadow Minister for Police Reform, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under David Cameron’s leadership.
Ng Chee Khern
Permanent Secretary, Smart Nation and Digital Government, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore
Mr Ng Chee Khern is Permanent Secretary for Smart Nation and Digital Government in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). In this role, he leads the government’s efforts in driving the development of digital enablers for citizens and businesses, and applying digital and smart solutions to improve the lives of citizens in a Smart Nation.
Mr Ng was previously Permanent Secretary (Defence Development) in Singapore’s Ministry of Defence with a portfolio ranging from defence research and technology, to capability development and acquisitions, to defence administration. He was concurrently 2nd Permanent Secretary in Singapore’s Ministry of Health from August 2014 to February 2016 where he oversaw the overall operations, emergency preparedness and capacity building for the public healthcare sector in Singapore.
He is the Chairman of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) board, and a Director of the board of CapitaLand Mall Trust Management. Mr Ng also serves as a board member of both the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Changi Airport Group (CAG).
Mr Ng was enlisted in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1984 and served in the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). Throughout his military career, Mr Ng held various appointments, including: Commanding Officer, 149 Squadron; Commander, Tengah Air Base; Director, Joint Operations and Planning Directorate; Chief of Staff (Air Staff). He took over as the Chief of Air Force in March 2006. After leaving the Air Force, Mr Ng was appointed as the Director of the Security and Intelligence Division in September 2010.
Mr Ng was a recipient of the President’s Scholarship and Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1985. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Second Upper Class Honours) and a Master of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. He also graduated with a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University.
Jacqueline Poh
Deputy Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office Strategy Group, Singapore
Jacqueline is Deputy Secretary in Prime Minister’s Office Strategy Group, which leads and organises the Public Service to develop and implement the strategic priorities of the Government. These include economic strategies, social strategies, marriage and parenthood policy, urban development and liveability strategies as well as technology and security. She also oversees the National Population and Talent Division and the Centre for Strategic Futures
She was the founding Chief Executive of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore until 2018. Jacqueline was previously Managing Director of the Infocommunications Development Authority, GovTech’s predecessor organisation, and has held key positions in the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defence.
Ian Shugart
Clerk of the Privy Council, Canada
Biography to be updated soon.
Caleb Deeks
Programme Director, Civil Service Modernisation and Reform, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom
Biography to be updated soon.
Henry Kattago
Strategy Director, Government Office of Estonia, Estonia
Biography to be updated soon.
Dr. Sanjeev Chopra
Director – LBS National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, India
Biography to be updated soon.