BOARD OF ADVISORS

Francois Guibert – Chairman of Board of Advisors
François Guibert is retired since 1 May 2016 but was until this date the Executive Vice President of STMicroelectronics and President of the Company’s Greater China and South Asia Region. Guibert has led ST’s operations in Asia Pacific since 2006; his responsibilities were expanded to include Greater China in 2010.

Guibert joined Thomson Semiconducteurs, a predecessor company to STMicroelectronics, in 1981, after three years at Texas Instruments. He was appointed Director of Semicustom Business for Asia Pacific in 1987 and later became President of ST’s Taiwan operations. Guibert also held senior positions in Corporate Business Development and Investor Relations. In 2005, he was promoted to Corporate Vice President, Emerging Markets.

He has chaired, the EU-ASEAN Business Council from its foundation in early 2014 and sat on boards at EuroCham in Singapore for 10 years (and as president for 2 years) until May 1st, 2016. He was a board member at the EDB (Singapore Economic Development Board) for 2 terms from February 2009 to February 2014 and was the chairman of the its finance committee during the last 2 years of his mandate. Guibert also chaired the Board at Veredus Laboratories, ST’s Singapore-based life-sciences subsidiary. Guibert was decorated Knight of the National Order of Merit in France in 2009.

François Guibert was born in Beziers, France, in 1953, and graduated with a degree in Electroni Engineering from Ecole Centrale Marseille, France.

Andrew Chong – Member of Board of Advisors
Andrew Chong has over thirty years of experience in the fields of strategy, management, marketing and engineering in Asia Pacific.

He currently serves as a member of the Future Economy Council (FEC) chaired by the Minister of Finance of Singapore and on the Manufacturing Sub-committee. He has been an active Council Member of the Singapore National Employer Federation (SNEF) since 2014 and chairs the external review panel for the Polytechnic Quality Assurance Framework (PQAF). He is a Board Member of the Ministry of Manpower’s Workforce Singapore Agency (WSG), serves on the Board of Advisors for the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA), serves on the Board of Governors of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and is active on the board of social enterprises in Singapore.

He has been an Advisor to the Board of Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific since August 2017 after stepping down as President and Managing Director; a role he had since 2010. He successfully steered the business in Asia Pacific from demand fulfilment through demand creation to business creation by developing the technical, management and organisational capabilities of the company.

Andrew believes in creating sustainable business success through organisational and employee development. He was conferred a Medal of Commendation at the 2017 May Day Awards for promoting good industrial relations and initiating workers’ training and skills upgrading programmes.

Andrew received his Bachelor of Electronics Engineering in 1987 and his Master of Business Administration in 1993 from the University of Adelaide in South Australia.

CC Ku – Member of Board of Advisors
Mr. Chung-Chiang Ku is currently the General Manager of MediaTek Singapore Pte Ltd. responsible for overall operations of MediaTek Singapore.

Mr. Ku was previously Head of R&D Division at MediaTek Singapore leading wireless RF development of 3G cellular and wireless connectivity products from 2005 to 2008. Mr. Ku served as Senior Manager of RF division at MediaTek Headquarters in Hsinchu Taiwan from 2000 to 2005, responsible for RF chipset development and applications for MediaTek mobile platforms.

Prior to joining MediaTek in 2000, Mr. Ku held various positions at Electronics Research & Service Organizations (ERSO) and SoC Technology Center (STC), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Hsinchu Taiwan since 1995, developing advanced RF technology for direct broadcast satellite, ISM band radio and other diverse wireless applications. Mr. Ku also led technology development for high speed fibre optic network chipset and 10 Gigabit Ethernet chipset at ITRI.

Mr. Ku holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from National Cheng Kung University in Tainan Taiwan, a Master of Science in Communication Engineering from National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu Taiwan and a Master of Business Administration (Asia Pacific Executive MBA) from National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School in Singapore.

David Ng – Member of Board of Advisors
David is currently CEO/MD of SSP (Silicon Solution Partners Pte Ltd), newly incorporated in Singapore. SSP role is in partnership with various eco-infrastructure supports and provide services to enable startups that focus in developing innovative electronics hardware and software solution. Prior to this David was the Managing Director of Singapore Operations with Maxim Integrated and SVP WW Ops with Volterra Semiconductor. He has more than 35+ years of semiconductor related executive experiences in manufacturing, operations and supply chain management with both IDM and fabless setup, from wafer fab to assembly and test. He has worked in major IDM and startups, such as National Semiconductor, Silicon Systems, Texas Instruments, Zilog and Volterra.

David graduated with BSEE in Cogswell College SFO and obtained his MBA in Strathclyde Uinversity (Scotland, UK).

Prof Dim-Lee Kwong – Member of Board of Advisors
Prof. Dim-Lee Kwong is the Executive Director of the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore and a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He was the Executive Director of the Institute of Microelectronics (IME) from 2005-2016, the Earl N. and Margaret Bransfield Endowed Professor at the University of Texas at Austin from 1990-2007 and a Temasek Professor at NUS from 2001-2004.

Prof. Kwong received the IBM Faculty Award for 1984-86, Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Inventor Awards in 1993 and 1994, Halliburton Foundation Research Award in 1994, Engineering Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award in 1995, IEEE George Smith Award in 2007, and the 2011 IEEE Frederik Philips Award with citation: “For leadership in silicon technology and excellence in the management of microelectronics R&D.”

He was conferred the President’s Science and Technology Medal in 2012 for his distinguished, sustained and exceptional contributions to Singapore’s science and engineering landscape, particularly in advancing the semiconductor industry through R&D, forging strategic research partnerships, and enhancing the competitiveness of Singapore’s semiconductor ecosystem for a knowledge-based economy. He holds the role of Special Advisor on the Asia-Pacific Leadership Council of Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) and serves on the Board of Advisors of Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA).

Prof. Kwong is an IEEE fellow, is the author or co-author of more than 1100 refereed archival publications, has delivered more than 90 plenary, keynote and invited talks at international conferences, and has had more than 25 U.S. patents granted. Over 60 students have received their PH.D. degrees under his supervision.

Giuseppe Miano – Member of Board of Advisors

Over 30 years of Semiconductors experiences and exposure to global cultures and operating market places, Giuseppe has been posted and worked in 14 different countries and 4 continents in the last 30 years gaining on-hands experiences.
Key Experiences done within operations, manufacturing both FE and BE and supply chain roles within IDMs and Fabless and Material supplier and Electronic Supplier gaining extensive exposure to the entire supply chain of the end to end food chain of the High-Tech industry.

Giuseppe has grown within the industry covering several management and executive roles within his entire career in large companies like STMicroelectronics, MEMC, Hypercom, Broadcom and Micron. Giuseppe is currently the Vice President of Operations in Qualcomm.

Dr Hai Wang – Member of Board of Advisors
Dr. Wang has more than 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, where his management experience spans from IC design, technology R&D, front end & back end operations, global sourcing, marketing and business development. During his career, he has fulfilled several key management roles, including Executive Vice President of Technology & Operations, Executive Vice President of R&D, and Senior Vice President of External Manufacturing at NXP Semiconductors., Vice President of Manufacturing Technology and Global Sourcing Operations at LSI Corporation, Vice President of Front End Operations, Design Platform and Procurement at Agere Systems and Vice President of Engineering at Flextronics Semiconductor. He is passionate about establishing winning strategies, driving flawless execution, delighting customers & developing breakthrough technologies. He participated in the amazing NXP transformation in the last five years.

Dr. Wang graduated with his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University, U.S.A. and MBA from San Jose State University, U.S.A. He currently lives between Singapore and Netherlands with his family.

Jagadish CV – Member of Board of Advisors
Mr. Jagadish CV was appointed CEO of Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company Pte Ltd. (SSMC) on December 15, 2006.

SSMC, a dedicated manufacturer of advanced semiconductor wafers, is a joint venture of NXP Semiconductors and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Copmany (TSMC). It was originally founded by Philips, TSMC and the Economic Development Board Investment of Singapore (EDBI).

Jagadish uses his vast experience in the business development arena and semiconductor industry.

– Prior to his appointment as CEO, Jagadish was the Vice President, Business Operations of SSMC.

– He is currently a member of the NXP, Netherlands, Operations management team.

– Jagadish also sits as a member on the Singapore National Quality Award Governing Council and Power Quality Advisory Panel (PQAP) of Singapore since 2007

– Member of SEMI, Singapore Regional Advisory Board (RAB) since 2010

– Member of Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA) Board of Advisors since 2011.

Jagadish began his career as an Engineer with Indian Telephone Industries and National Semiconductors, Singapore; before advancing to holding several key managerial positions in the private sector including Philips Singapore. He was a Director with FEI Company of USA before embarking his career with SSMC, Singapore.

Jagadish holds a first class honours bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Communication from the National Institute of Engineering Mysore, India and completed the International Executive Program by INSEAD Management School, France.

Jen Kwong Hwa – Member of Board of Advisors
Jen Kwong Hwa is currently a Angel Investor and Business Advisor to startups and SMEs.

Prior to this, he was Managing Director of Micron Semiconductors in Singapore and an engineer by training. He started his career in Texas Instruments in 1979 and joined Micron in 1998 with Micron’s acquisition of TI’s Memory Business.

Mr Jen has extensive experience in the Semiconductor industry and has been involved in shaping national strategic intiatives through his involvement in SEMI, SSIA and membership in various statutory boards like Energy Market Authority, Jurong Town Council, Economic Strategy Committee. He is currently a board member of Ascendas.

KC Ang – Member of Board of Advisors
KC Ang is senior vice president and general manager for GLOBALFOUNDRIES Singapore operations.

Ang has served in a variety of senior leadership roles for the company, most recently as head of Fab 8, the company’s newest 300mm fab in Malta, New York, and the customer engineering and corporate quality organizations. He joined GLOBALFOUNDRIES in July 2009 as vice president of customer engineering in charge of driving the foundry’s customer service model and overseeing worldwide customer satisfaction.

Ang has more than 20 years of foundry industry experience with a proven track record in manufacturing operations, fab start-up, and technology transfer. Prior to joining GLOBALFOUNDRIES, he held senior leadership positions at Chatered Semiconductor Manufacturing, including senior vice president of sales and marketing with responsibility for global sales, marketing, services, customer support, and regional business operations; and senior vice president of fab operations. In that role, Ang had responsibility for the manufacturing strategy and operational excellence across all of Chartered’s fabs, including the ramp of Chartered’s 300mm facility, Fab 7 – now GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ Fab 7, following the integration of Chartered’s operations into GLOBALFOUNDRIES in January 2010. Ang has held other fab operations roles in Chartered as well as SilTerra.

Ang holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Taiwan University and a Master’s degree in Engineering from University of Texas.

Pee Beng Kong – Member of Board of Advisors
Mr. Pee Beng Kong is presently the Director for Electronics of Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). In his current role, he oversees the promotion and development of the Electronics industry in Singapore.

Prior to his current appointment, he was EDB’s Director for Infocomms & Media from 2013 to 2015. Beng Kong was previously based in Beijing, China as EDB’s Regional Director overseeing EDB’s investment promotion efforts across North & West China as well as Taiwan. Before that, he was also part of EDB’s investment promotion team for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Europe, and was responsible for promoting Singapore as a preferred investment location for companies in these regions.

Beng Kong has also been involved in EDB’s industry development activities for the electronics and precision engineering sectors. As a senior officer, he interacted with global companies to understand their business priorities and attracted key investments to Singapore, helping to grow the electronics and precision engineering sectors in the country. Today, the electronics industry is a key industry supporting Singapore’s economic growth – it was the largest contributor to the country’s GDP from the manufacturing sector at seven percent in 2010.

Beng Kong is a Siemens-EDB scholar, with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. He also graduated with Auszeichnung (summa cum laude) with a Diplom (Master of Science) specialising in Communications and Computer Engineering from the same university.

Beng Kong is married with two children.

Russell Tham – Member of Board of Advisors
Russell Tham is president of Applied Materials South East Asia and head of the Global Field Group (SEA) where he oversees the regional business and leads the company’s infrastructure and strategy in South East Asia. Concurrently, he has Corporate Business Development responsibilities for new growth markets.

Under his leadership, Applied Materials South East Asia has grown from a sales and service organization to a strategic hub with research and development, semiconductor equipment manufacturing and various global corporate functions. In 2015, he further strengthened Applied Materials’ R&D presence in Singapore with an expanded focus to serve new global markets for advanced semiconductor technologies.

Mr. Tham serves as vice chairman on the South East Asia Regional Advisory Board of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) and is a member of the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA) Advisory Board. In 2015, he led the development of the Singapore Semiconductor Vision 2020, a private public taskforce to enhance Singapore’s semiconductors industry through fostering innovation, partnerships and training of local leaders.

Mr. Tham is a member on the Energy Market Authority (EMA) Board, the national agency that promotes the energy sector and regulates Singapore’s electricity and gas infrastructure and industry. He is also part of the 30 member Committee on the Future Economy established in October 2015, to review Singapore’s economic strategies and position the country for the future.

Mr. Tham joined Applied Materials in 1994 and held various management positions before being appointed as vice president and general manager for South East Asia in 2004. In 2010, he played a key role in establishing Applied Materials’ first semiconductor product development center in Asia. In 2012, A head of Global Continuous Improvement he led the deployment of Lean Six Sigma in key operational areas to improve the speed and efficiency of processes globally.

Mr. Tham received a bachelor of engineering degree in mechanical engineering from the National University of Singapore.

Prof Yeo Kiat Seng – Member of Board of Advisors
Kiat Seng YEO received the B.Eng (with Honors in Elect. Eng.) in 1993, and Ph.D. (Elect. Eng.) in 1996 both from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Associate Provost (International Relations and Graduate Studies) at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Advisory Board Member of the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA), Professor Yeo is a widely known authority in low-power RF/mm-wave IC design and a recognized expert in CMOS technology. He has secured over S$30M of research funding from various funding agencies and the industry in the last 3 years. Before joining SUTD, Professor Yeo was Associate Chair (Research) of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Founding Director of VIRTUS, a S$50M IC Design Centre of Excellence jointly set up by NTU and Singapore Economic Development Board. He has published 6 books, 5 book chapters, 500 international top-tier refereed journal and conference papers and holds 35 patents. Dr Yeo serves in the editorial board of IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques and hold/held key positions in many international conferences as Advisor, General Chair, Co-General Chair and Technical Chair. He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) on National Day 2009 by the President of the Republic of Singapore and was also awarded the distinguished Nanyang Alunmi Award in 2009 for his outstanding contributions to the university and society.
Prof Yoon Soon Fatt – Member of Board of Advisors
Professor Yoon Soon Fatt obtained his Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) degree from the University of Wales (Institute of Science and Technology) Cardiff, United Kingdom in 1983. He received his PhD degree (Electrical Engineering and Physical Electronics) from the University of Wales (Institute of Science and Technology) in 1986 under scholarship awarded by the United Kingdom Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC), United Kingdom Overseas Research Studentship and United Kingdom Collaborative Award for Science and Engineering (awarded by Standard Telecommunications Laboratories, Harlow, United Kingdom).

He is an electrical engineer by training and Professor of Solid-state Electronics and Photonics at the Nanyang Technological University. He joined Nanyang Technological University (then Nanyang Technological Institute) in 1989 as Lecturer in the School of EEE. Over the years, he was promoted through the academic ranks and became full professor in 2002. From 1999 to 2005, he held a concurrent appointment as Vice-Dean (Research) in the School of EEE while maintaining his teaching commitments and running one of the largest research groups in NTU on III-V compound semiconductors revolving around the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technique for the advancement of semiconductor science and device technology.

On the international front, Prof Yoon is a highly regarded scientist, innovator and educator. He was appointed as Fellow of the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) program during its inaugural launch in 1998. He is Co-Lead Principal Investigator of the Low Energy Electronics IRG under the SMART center of CREATE. Working in partnership with well-known French research institute, university and industry; IEMN Lille, UPMC Paris and THALES Research & Technology, he led the group to pioneer the world’s first III-V microwave photoconductive switch at long wavelength using a semiconductor process patented by his group. His achievement paves the way for designing novel systems that incorporate the capability for optically induced microwave switching, thus enabling a new paradigm in the emerging field of microwave photonics and terahertz technology.