[SINGAPORE] Veteran public servant and economic heavyweight Philip Yeo made headlines on Tuesday (Jul 15), when news broke that he was retiring from City Development Limited’s (CDL) board of directors.
This comes some months after a high-profile dispute between the property developer’s executive chairman and group chief executive officer.
Yeo, 78, will leave the board of CDL on Jul 31, after a 16-year tenure.
His prolific career spans more than four decades of public service – as detailed in the 2016 biography Neither Civil Nor Servant: The Philip Yeo Story – including as the chairman of Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB).
Once dubbed by the media as the “economic tsar of Singapore”, Yeo has been credited with building up the Republic’s economy.
Beyond public service, his private-sector appointments include seats on the boards of more than 20 companies, including Malaysian conglomerate Sunway and Singapore-listed groups Indofood Agri Resources and QAF, the food manufacturer and distributor behind the Gardenia brand of bread.
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Here are five things to know about Yeo.
1. He had an early interest in engineering
Growing up, Yeo attended St Joseph’s Institution. There, he led the aero-modelling club, spending time – in his own words – “making, flying and crashing model planes”.
This interest carried on to university, where he studied industrial engineering at the University of Toronto in Canada on a scholarship. He also had an appetite for the written word early on, and he cites reading as his sole hobby from childhood.
After his graduation in 1970, he joined the civil service. While the Public Service Commission posted him to the Ministry of Finance’s Budget division, he requested to be transferred to an engineering role – which landed him in the Ministry of Defence (Mindef).
2. He spent four decades in public service
From 1970 to 1985, Yeo took on various roles in Mindef, including permanent secretary for logistics, defence research and development (R&D), and defence industries.
From 1981 to 1987, he chaired the National Computer Board, a forerunner of the Infocomm Media Development Authority.
He served at EDB between 1986 and 2006, as executive chairman and, later, executive co-chairman.
He was also chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research from 2001 to 2007, and a special adviser for economic development in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2007 to 2011.
In an open letter to public service officers, Yeo reflected on his extensive career and described his time in public service as memorable and fun.
3. He helped create Jurong Island
Yeo steered EDB from established fields to new business areas of internationally exportable services and high-tech industries during his time there.
Among his contributions were the development of Singapore’s information technology, semiconductor, chemical industries, and biomedical sciences sectors.
He also led the construction of the Republic’s chemical cluster, as well as the creation of Jurong Island, which involved reclaiming seven islands.
The man-made island off Singapore’s south-western coast is a 3,000-hectare chemical production centre, where more than a hundred international companies conduct refining, production and chemical manufacturing activities.
It has drawn more than S$50 billion in investments since it opened in 2000.
4. He built up the biomedical scene
Yeo is also credited with building up Singapore’s biomedical sector. He spearheaded the development of Biopolis, an R&D campus that brings institutes, researchers and private-sector players together.
The complex, which opened in 2003 in one-north, put Singapore’s biomedical sector on the map by attracting international talent – in turn enriching the domestic research community for biomedical sciences.
Yeo recruited top researchers from around the world to work at the hub. He also had 1,000 PhD candidates in fields such as biomedical science, physical science, and engineering trained locally and abroad.
5. He backed chairman in CDL dispute
Yeo was appointed to CDL’s board as a non-independent director on May 11, 2009.
In a public feud this year, Yeo took the side of CDL executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng against his son Sherman Kwek, who is the group’s CEO.
On Feb 26, the elder Kwek accused his son and a group of directors of an “attempted coup” as well as corporate governance lapses after they hastily appointed two new directors to the board earlier that month. These directors were Jennifer Duong Young and Wong Su-Yen.
In response, the younger Kwek said that the primary reason for the dispute was “a very serious issue of corporate governance” involving Dr Catherine Wu, an adviser to his father. He added that Dr Wu had a “long relationship” with the CDL executive chairman, interfered with matters beyond her scope, and wielded “enormous influence”.
The conflict escalated with father and son gearing up to meet in court, as the younger Kwek roped in top litigator and Senior Counsel Davinder Singh to represent him.
The matter was subsequently settled after Dr Wu resigned from her role as an adviser to CDL unit Millennium & Copthorne Hotels.
Kwek Leng Beng dropped his lawsuit on Mar 12, saying that all board members had agreed to set aside their differences, purportedly for the greater good of the company. However, signs of lingering conflict remained at CDL’s annual general meeting on Apr 23.
There, Yeo urged shareholders to reject the re-election of four directors – including Young and Wong. Although his call received applause, the resolutions were all passed.
In its bourse filing on Jul 15 announcing Yeo’s retirement, CDL said there were no unresolved differences in opinion on material matters between Yeo and its board of directors.
