Singapore has earned its reputation as one of Asia’s leading centres for innovation. From artificial intelligence and enterprise technology to aviation, sustainability, and digital commerce, the city-state continues to influence how industries evolve across the region.
Behind that progress are leaders who do more than manage organisations. They build companies, develop talent, solve complex problems, and openly share the lessons they learn along the way. Increasingly, many of these conversations take place on LinkedIn, where professionals offer practical perspectives that extend far beyond company announcements.
The Top 10 Voices in Singapore (2026) celebrates individuals whose expertise continues to shape business, technology, and society. They come from different industries and backgrounds, yet share one common quality: a willingness to contribute meaningful ideas backed by real-world experience.
Highlights
Verena Siow
Regional President, Asia Pacific, SAP
Few executives understand enterprise transformation across Asia as comprehensively as Verena Siow. After nearly 15 years at SAP and multiple leadership roles, she now leads the company’s Asia Pacific business as Regional President, overseeing customer success, business transformation, and regional growth across one of the world’s most dynamic technology markets.
Her journey spans Southeast Asia, Indochina, and the Asia Pacific, where she has progressively taken on larger regional responsibilities. Before assuming her current role, she led SAP’s APAC Business Suite strategy, driving the company’s AI First and Suite First initiatives to accelerate cloud adoption and long-term customer value.
Earlier in her career, Siow built new markets across Asia from the ground up, developed regional sales operations, and secured multimillion-dollar enterprise software agreements with major corporations. Over nearly three decades in the fast-paced industries, including telecommunications, healthcare, and utilities, across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas, she worked alongside global partners, customers, mentors, and teams, building her own capabilities as a transformational leader.
As organisations continue investing in AI and digital transformation, Siow offers practical insights shaped by years of executing enterprise and organizational change strategies across diverse Asian markets. She firmly believes in APAC’s unique strength, rooted in the diversity of perspectives. As an advocate for inclusive leadership, continuous learning, and growth, she is an inspiration and role model for early talent and a trusted partner in the AI era, helping customers navigate transformation, accelerate innovation, and create lasting impact.
Yangshun Tay
Co-founder, GreatFrontEnd
Yangshun Tay has become one of Singapore’s most respected software educators by building resources that millions of engineers rely on every day.
After spending more than five years at Meta, where he rose to Staff Engineer, Tay helped lead the development of meta.com, bringing together more than 30 engineers across 10 teams to unify Meta’s global ecommerce platform serving customers in over 20 countries. He also created the server-driven framework that became Meta’s standard approach for CMS-powered React websites, supporting products across Meta’s ecosystem.
His influence extends well beyond Meta through open source. Tay created Docusaurus v2, now attracting around 60,000 GitHub stars, while his Tech Interview Handbook has surpassed 130,000 stars. His Front End Interview Handbook has earned more than 43,000 stars, and his Blind 75 interview guide has become one of the industry’s most widely used coding interview resources.
Today, through GreatFrontEnd, he continues helping engineers sharpen practical frontend skills with structured learning built from years of real-world engineering experience.
Chua Ching Hock
General Manager, International Projects, Changi Airports International
Singapore’s reputation for having the world’s most awarded airport has been built by professionals who understand that every passenger experience depends on hundreds of operational decisions. Chua Ching Hock is one of those professionals.
With 18 years of airport management experience, Chua now leads and drives international projects at Changi Airports International, helping airports around the world to strive for the operational excellence, service standards, and commercial strategies that have made Changi Airport an international benchmark.
His career at Changi Airport Group spans major milestones in Singapore’s aviation development. He oversaw Seletar Airport as the General Manager, led airport operations across Changi, and played a key role as part of the Terminal 4 (T4) team in delivering T4’s Fast and Seamless Travel programme, including automated check-in kiosks, bag drops, and biometric passenger processing. His work also included implementing the world’s first contactless check-in solution during COVID-19.
Beyond airport management, Chua regularly shares practical leadership lessons drawn from aviation, speaks at international industry conferences, and conducts lectures through Changi Airport’s own Learning Journeys programme. His perspective offers a rare look inside one of Singapore’s most globally admired industries.
Sean C.S. Chiao, FAIA
Group Chief Executive Officer, SJ Group
Sean C.S. Chiao has spent more than three decades shaping cities, infrastructure, and the built environment across Asia and beyond. Today, as Group CEO of SJ Group, he leads a global organisation of approximately 16,000 specialists working across more than 40 countries, spanning architecture, engineering, sustainability, digital technology, and asset management.
Before joining SJ Group in 2023, Chiao spent over 25 years at AECOM, where he served as Global Business Line Chief Executive for Buildings and Places and previously as President for Asia Pacific. Throughout his career, he has overseen major operations across Greater China, Southeast Asia, India, Australia, and New Zealand while contributing to landmark masterplanning projects, including Kuala Lumpur’s River of Life, Bonifacio Global City in Metro Manila, and Jinji Lake in Suzhou Industrial Park.
Beyond project delivery, Chiao continues championing sustainability, innovation, and talent development. He has introduced programmes that strengthen technical excellence within SJ Group while also serving on advisory bodies at Harvard University, FIDIC, and the Singapore University of Technology and Design. His perspective reflects how thoughtful leadership can shape cities that are more resilient, connected, and prepared for future generations.
Jeffrey Paine
Founding Partner, Golden Gate Ventures
Few investors have shaped Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem as consistently as Jeffrey Paine. As Founding Partner of Golden Gate Ventures, he has helped build one of the region’s leading early-stage venture capital firms, managing more than US$300 million in assets and backing over 75 companies since its founding in 2012.
Paine has spent more than a decade identifying high-potential founders and emerging technology trends across Southeast Asia, with a growing focus on artificial intelligence. Beyond investing, he is actively developing data-driven prediction models to improve startup selection while sharing practical insights on fundraising, venture capital, and AI with founders around the world. His recent work explores how AI is reshaping venture investing, startup economics, and Southeast Asia’s next wave of innovation.
His contributions extend beyond Golden Gate Ventures. Paine serves as a Global Impact Fellow with the Edmund Hillary Fellowship and previously spent eight years as Regional Director of Founder Institute, helping expand one of the world’s largest startup accelerator networks across Southeast Asia, China, and Australia. Recognized with the Founder Institute Director Award for Greatest Ecosystem Impact, he continues to champion founders building globally competitive companies from the region.
Mathilda Dsilva
Chief Executive Officer, Ocean Purpose Project
Mathilda Dsilva has become one of Singapore’s strongest advocates for the blue economy by combining environmental science, community action, industry expertise, and practical innovation. From a victim of ocean pollution herself, she has turned this crisis into an award winning family run social enterprise converting ocean pollution into solutions.
As CEO of Ocean Purpose Project, she leads initiatives that explore coastal resilience, blue carbon, seaweed bioremediation, and new approaches to converting ocean plastic into valuable resources, including hydrogen and carbon nanotubes. Her work brings together researchers, government agencies, corporations, and local communities to develop solutions that balance environmental protection with long-term economic value — a unique distinction for the granddaughter of a fisherman and port worker
Dsilva’s work has earned international recognition. She has spoken at COP27, the G20 Indonesia Summit, and the United Nations Ocean Conference, while also receiving the Murdoch Distinguished Alumni Award and recognition as a 2 time Earthshot Prize nominee. Earlier in her career, Mathilda was known as a Singapore Idol singer turned current affairs documentary producer with ChannelNewsAsia, going on to become Mediacorp’s 1st Head of Community, Starhub’s head of Community on social media, and driving viral sustainability for DBS, generating the DBS Foundation’s Social Enterprise Grant 2019 highest organic regional submissions to date.
From her eco beach office on the shores of her hometown, Pasir Ris, Singapore, Dsilva demonstrates how innovation, technology, and community partnerships can work together to address some of the region’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Ee Ling Lim
Co-founder and CEO, Wavesparks
Few people have contributed as extensively to developing Asia’s next generation of entrepreneurs as Ee Ling Lim.
As Co-Founder and CEO of Wavesparks, formerly Young Founders Summit, she has helped build a platform that supports aspiring founders through accelerator programmes, mentorship, and regional networks. To date, she has led or overseen more than 80 startup programmes globally while implementing over 15 entrepreneurship programmes specifically for young founders across Asia.
Before focusing full-time on entrepreneurship education, Lim spent six years at 500 Global, where she eventually became Executive Director of Market Launch. There, she led global teams delivering startup and innovation programmes across Asia, the Middle East, Eurasia, and North America while working closely with governments, corporations, investors, and startup ecosystems. Earlier still, she built nearly a decade of experience in investment banking, executing billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions alongside equity and debt capital market transactions.
Her broader contributions include serving on Singapore’s National Youth Council and the board of raiSE, while earning recognition such as Singapore 100 Women in Tech and Bett Asia EdTech 10. Lim continues to champion entrepreneurship not simply as business creation, but as a long-term investment in Asia’s future innovators.
Hsien-Hsien Lei
Chief Executive Officer, AmCham Singapore
Hsien-Hsien Lei has built a career connecting business leadership with public policy, healthcare, and community development.
Since becoming CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore in 2019, she has led one of the country’s largest international business associations, representing nearly 700 companies across diverse industries. Having previously served as both Board Governor and Co-Chair of AmCham Singapore’s Healthcare Committee, she brings more than a decade of institutional leadership to one of Singapore’s most influential business networks.
Her work extends well beyond the business community. Lei serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, sits on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Advisory Board, and is Vice President of the Precision Public Health Asia Society. She also contributes to the nonprofit sector through her board role at talentTrust.
Having lived across Asia, Europe, and the United States, Lei offers an international perspective on leadership, healthcare, and economic collaboration. Her work demonstrates how businesses, institutions, and communities can work together to strengthen Singapore’s role as a trusted global hub.
Laurence Liew
Director of AI Innovation, AI Singapore
As artificial intelligence moves from experimentation to enterprise adoption, Laurence Liew has played a central role in preparing Singapore’s workforce for that transition.
As Director of AI Innovation at AI Singapore, Liew oversees national initiatives that help organisations develop AI capabilities through talent development, industry partnerships, and applied innovation. He has been instrumental in expanding the AI Apprenticeship Programme (AIAP), one of Singapore’s flagship efforts to develop AI engineers, while also leading LearnAI, which provides structured AI education for professionals across different sectors.
Beyond talent development, Liew works closely with government agencies and industry to accelerate responsible AI adoption. His contributions include co-authoring the Singapore AI Readiness Index, advising the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), and participating in international AI standards through ISO committees. Over the years, he has worked with more than 100 organisations to help translate AI from research into practical business applications.
Liew’s work reflects Singapore’s broader ambition to become a trusted global AI hub by investing not only in technology, but also in the people and governance needed to support its long-term growth.
Bernard Leong
CEO and Co-founder, Dorje AI; Founder, Analyse Asia
Bernard Leong has built a career at the intersection of technology leadership, artificial intelligence, and knowledge sharing, making him one of Singapore’s most recognised voices in the region’s innovation ecosystem.
Today, he leads Dorje AI, advising organisations on AI strategy and digital transformation. He held regional roles as the Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in ASEAN and Vice President, Airbus Aerial in the Asia Pacific, and held the role of Head of Digital Services and Post Office Network in Singapore Post and Group Chief Information and Digital Officer in Woh Hup. In his corporate roles, he has managed above US$40M revenue run rate businesses and business and operations teams of at least 500 people.
In his early career, he was a research scientist at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, home of the Human Genome Project, and was a former startup founder with one exit, where he sold his startup to Tech In Asia, which was in turn acquired by SPH Media.
Leong is equally well known as the founder and host of Analyse Podcast, one of Asia’s longest-running technology podcasts. Since launching the show in 2014, he has produced more than 525+ episodes featuring over 275 founders, investors, researchers, and technology leaders, generating 0.45M subscribers on YouTube and 10 million downloads worldwide. His conversations have featured influential figures including Chris Miller, Benedict Evans, and Yat Siu, offering deep insights into technology, business, and the future of innovation.
Alongside his work as an angel investor as part of the XA Network Southeast Asia and Adjunct Associate Professor in NUS Business School and Institute of Systems Science at the National University of Singapore, Leong continues to bridge academia, industry, and entrepreneurship. His ability to translate complex technologies into practical business perspectives has made him a trusted voice for executives navigating the AI era.
More Than Influence: Why These Voices Matter for Singapore’s Next Chapter
Singapore’s success has always been driven by people who are willing to build, experiment, and share what they learn. The professionals featured in this year’s Top 10 Voices in Singapore (2026) come from different industries, but they share a common commitment to advancing ideas that create lasting impact.
Whether they are leading AI adoption, strengthening entrepreneurship, transforming infrastructure, advancing sustainability, or enabling digital commerce, their work reflects the ambitions of a nation that continues to shape the future of Asia.
Following these voices is about more than keeping up with trends. It is an opportunity to learn from leaders who are solving real-world challenges, influencing industries, and contributing to conversations that will define the years ahead.
Editorial Note:
This feature is independently curated by the NewInAsia editorial team and is not a paid or sponsored listing. We research professionals using publicly available information, primarily LinkedIn, and conduct an editorial review based on factors such as expertise, consistency of public contributions, engagement quality, professional credibility, and relevance to the featured topic. This is a curated editorial feature, not a definitive ranking.
Highlights
Read the Chinese article here.
