First published 27 years ago in 1998, the Fortune Most Powerful Women Asia (MPW Asia) has become the definitive list of top female leaders in Asia.
This not Fortune’s most famous list, and many of us may already be familiar with the Fortune 500 list of companies. Fortune also publishes regular rankings for the Global 500, Best MBA Programs, Great Place To Work and more, on its website.
Female executives from 11 countries in Asia, spanning China, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Australia, are featured on this year’s Fortune Most Powerful Women Asia (MPW Asia). They also hail from a diverse industries across finance, energy, transportation, food & beverage, hospitality and more.
We look at the 9 female business leaders who represent Singapore in the Fortune Most Powerful Women Asia 2024 list.
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#1 Helen Wong, Group CEO, OCBC
The highest ranked Singapore executive, and ranked 2nd overall, is Helen Wong, Group CEO of OCBC.
Helen started her career in OCBC as a management trainee in 1984, and has scaled the corporate ladder over four decades including at HSBC, before being named Group CEO of OCBC in 2021.
#2 Tan Su Shan, Deputy CEO and Group Head of Institutional Banking, DBS Group
The next highest-ranked female executive in Singapore, and 15th overall, is Tan Su Shan, the incoming CEO of DBS Group – once Piyush Gupta steps down in March 2025.
Su Shan joined DBS in 2010 and currently leads its institutional banking, and has also been credited for its expanding consumer banking, wealth management and institutional banking businesses.
#3 Png Chin Yee, CFO, Temasek
Temasek’s Chief Financial Officer, Png Chin Yee is the third Singaporean executive on the list, and ranked 20th overall. Having joined Temasek in 2011, Chin Yee also rose the ladder in-house to her current CFO role.
#4 Jenny Lee, Senior Managing Partner, Granite Asia
Founder of investment platform Granite Asia (post-split from GGV Capital), Jenny Lee, is ranked 33rd overall on the list. Granite Asia’s focus is on investments in Asian start-up and has investment ties to the biggest names in Asia tech, including Alibaba, Didi, Grab, Xiaomi and more.
Granite Asia is also expanding beyond venture capital to asset classes such as private credit.
#5 JoAnn Tan, Senior Vice President Finance and CFO, Singapore Airlines (SIA)
Ranked 56th overall, JoAnn Tan was promoted to CFO of SIA last year – becoming the first female finance chief in the airline’s history. She represents the changing dymanics of the airline industry, where more women are assuming leadership roles.
JoAnn was pivotal in SIA’s post-pandemic recovery, leading efforts to restore the airline’s network and capacity as borders reopened – allowing SIA to capture pent-up travel demand.
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#6 Michelle Cheo Hui Ning, Deputy Chairperson, Executive Director and CEO, Mewah International
89th-ranked overall, Michelle Cheo is the granddaughter of Cheo Peng Hong, who founded the food and agricultural business Mewah International in the 1950s. Michelle is credited with leading the public listing of the family business in 2010, and spearheading its push into the Indonesian market.
Operating in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, Mewah supplies a range of products such as cooking oil, soap, and rice to disributors and consumers in over 100 countries.
#7 Pearlyn Phau, Group CEO, Singlife
Pearlyn Phau, placed 91st on the overall list, spent 18 years at DBS before joining Singlife in 2021 to lead the insurance and financial services group. Singlife is among the largest insurers in Singapore, with major clients that include the Ministry of Defence.
Singlife was launched in 2017 as an insure-tech startup – becoming the first local insurer since 1970 to be licenced by MAS. Singlife acquired Zurich Life Singapore in 2018 and merged with Aviva Singapore in 2022. Today, Singlife is a wholly-owned by Sumitomo Life, which was an early investor, and finalised the acquisition of the firm in 2024.
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#8 Grace Chua, CEO Own Brands and Food Solutions Business, FairPrice Group
Grace Chua is the CEO of Fairprice Group’s Own Brands and Food Solutions division, and is placed 92nd on the overall list. As in-house brands become more important, especially with consumers trying to manage rising cost of living in Singapore, FairPrice is on an expansion drive to beef up its in-house branded products.
Grace Chua joined FairPrice Group in 2017, after a short stint as a founder of an edtech start-up and 14 years of experience with Johnson & Johnson prior to that.
#9 Feon Ang, Managing Director, LinkedIn Asia Pacific
LinkedIn Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Feon Ang, is responsible for expanding and growing the business networking site’s business. Ranked 94th overall, Feon has spent over a decade at LinkedIn, and prior to that spent 13 years at consulting firm, Gartner.
The Asia Pacific region counts 310 million users – just over a quarter of Microsoft-owned LinkedIn’s total users.
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All images from the Fortune Most Powerful Women Asia 2024 List
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