Prof Sum Yee Loong
Professor of Accounting (Practice)
Singapore Management University (SMU)
Yee Loong is currently Professor of Accounting (Practice) at the Singapore Management University. He was formerly Tax Partner in Deloitte & Touche Singapore (1987- 2011). Yee Loong has specialised in taxation since qualifying as an accountant in the UK and has over 30 years of experience in Singapore Taxation and International Tax Planning.
Yee Loong had been nominated on several occasions as one of the top 10 leading Tax Advisers in Singapore by International Tax Review. He was also featured as one of the World’s Leading Tax Advisers in the Legal Media Group 2011 Guide to the World’s Leading Tax Advisers.
He holds a Master degree in Taxation and Public Finance, and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants of the UK, a Chartered Tax Advisor of the Chartered Institute of Taxation in the UK, a Chartered Accountant of Singapore and an Accredited Tax Advisor.
Yee Loong is the Honorary Technical Advisor (Tax) to the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, Board Member of Tax Academy of Singapore, Council Member of the Professional Education Council of Singapore Accountancy Commission, Board Member of SCTP, Board Member of the IRAS and Council Member of the National Arts Council.
Mr Irvin Seah
Executive Director
Group Research, DBS Bank
Irvin Seah is the Executive Director for Economics and Currency Research at DBS Bank in Singapore. He joined DBS in 2006 and he is currently in charge of the macroeconomic coverage of Singapore and ASEAN economies. Apart from supporting the bank’s investment strategies and advising DBS clients on macroeconomic issues, his opinions are often featured in the media. Irvin is also the Chairman for the Research Sub-Committee within the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), as well as a committee member for the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI).
Mr Seah began his career in the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry, as a government economist under the Economist Service Scheme. In his career with the Ministry, Mr Seah was deeply involved in a wide range of government policies, including the restructuring of the Singapore economy under the Economic Review Committee (ERC), 2001-2003. Irvin was also a trade economist as well as a trade negotiator for the Singapore government. Beside economics and trade policy research, he was also involved in the WTO and several FTA negotiations.
Fluent in Mandarin, Irvin holds a Master of Business (Applied Economics) degree from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Panel Moderator:
Mr Chris Woo
Board Member
Singapore Chartered Tax Professionals
Accredited Tax Advisor (Income Tax)
Besides being a board member of Singapore Chartered Tax Professionals and an Accredited Tax Advisor in Income Tax, Chris is also the Tax Leader for PwC Singapore and PwC Myanmar, and, a member of PwC Singapore’s leadership team and PwC Asia Pacific’s tax leadership team.
His wealth of tax knowledge gained from over 30 years of experience has honed his expertise, particularly in Mergers & Acquisitions tax needs of strategic, financial and private equity clients from Asia, the United States and Europe. He also has extensive experience in providing tax structuring and planning for acquisitions including management and leveraged buy-outs, and divestments. This extends to global, regional and Singapore targets in a wide array of industries. During his career, Chris has also worked in the M&A tax team in the London office of PwC UK.
In addition, Chris has also led many regional and global projects in various industries to maximize long term value and tax efficiency for multinationals engaged in realigning their global business structures, supply chains and intellectual property holdings. This is especially to seek the alignment of tax, legal and operating models to achieve sustainable financial and operational benefits during business transformation. He has also led various transformation and digital projects to achieve greater tax compliance , governance and controls.
Chris also brings with him practical industry experience as he was the international tax director for the General Electric Company based in the US and Singapore.
Other Panel Speakers:
Mr Kurt Wee
President
Association of Small & Medium Enterprises
Kurt has a career spanning 20 years in the investment and private equity industry. He is invested in medical and biotechnology fields of stem cells and small cells research. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Celligenics Pte Ltd, a biotech spin-off from A*STAR. He also serves as a director for a number of private and public companies.
Kurt is the President of the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (ASME) and a council member of the Singapore Business Federation where he chairs the SBF SME Committee. Kurt also serves on the executive council of Singapore Children’s Society, where he has chaired the Fundraising Committee since 2008.
He also serves in a number of committees in various government ministries and academic institutions.
Kurt was appointed as a Justice of The Peace by the President of the Republic of Singapore in April 2018.
Mr Ted Tan
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Enterprise Singapore
Mr Ted Tan is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Singapore, the government agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry responsible for championing enterprise growth.
Mr Tan plays an important role in industry and enterprise development, and establishing strategic partnerships to help start-ups and enterprises grow into globally competitive companies.
Mr Tan was the Deputy CEO of SPRING and IE Singapore. He is currently the Chairman of IPI and SEEDS Capital, Board Member of Advanced Remanufacturing Technology Centre (ARTC), Singapore Management University Academy, Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) Ventures Ltd and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). He is also a member of the Committee for Private Education (CPE) of SkillsFuture Singapore.
Mr Tan spent 18 years in the private sector and held senior positions including CEO and Managing Director of U.S. and UK companies. Before joining the public sector, he was involved in mergers and acquisitions and instrumental in the public listing of a Fintech company.
Mr Tan graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration. He is an alumnus of the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School.
Mr Tan was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2012 by the Singapore government.
