Hong Leong Finance (HLF) has appointed three new Independent Non-Executive Directors to its Board: Mrs Chua Siew San, Mr Peter Chay, and Mr Tan Tee How.

The announcement of Mrs Chua Siew San makes her the first woman to join HLF’s Board of Directors as the company strives for gender diversity within the team.

Her appointment comes after taking into consideration Mrs Chua’s qualifications and experience during her public service career, where her area of responsibilities had involved the development of strategies and public policies, as well as management of diplomatic relations. She was most recently Singapore Ambassador to Thailand (2012 to May 2019), and Deputy Secretary in the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006 to 2012).

Mrs Chua was a recipient of the Public Administration Medal – Silver in 1990 and Gold in 1999. She also received the Long Service Medal in 1999.

Mrs Chua graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science (Second Class Upper Honours) degree in Political Science from the University of Singapore in 1974. She obtained a Master of Arts (Political Science) in 1981 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, on a Fulbright scholarship.

In addition to being an independent non-executive director, Mr Peter Chay is also Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and the Hong Leong Finance Share Option Scheme 2001 Committee and as a member of the Board Risk Committee. The HLF Board took into consideration Mr Chay's qualifications and extensive experience in auditing and advisory work across various industries, and specific experience in corporate restructuring, insolvency and corporate finance related work.

Mr Chay has extensive experience in the finance profession. He is currently the Managing Director of Advisory Plus Pte Ltd since February 2018. He has also held various positions at KPMG LLP since 2005 – being the Head of Financial Advisory Services till 2009 and taking on the role of Deputy Managing Partner till September 2017.

He also currently holds directorship at many organisations including the Singapore Business Federation Foundation Limited, Advisory Plus Pte Ltd, Advisory Plus Sdn Bhd and Stirling Coleman Consultancy Sdn Bhd.

Mr Chay is a fellow member of the Singapore and Australia chapters of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in Accounting, Finance and Systems), University of New South Wales, Australia.

Mr Tan Tee How has more than 30 years in key positions within the public sector. Mr Tan served 34 years in the Singapore Administrative Service, and held various key appointments including Principal Private Secretary to then PM Goh Chok Tong (1997 to 2000) and founding CEO National Healthcare Group (2000 to 2004).

He was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Development (2004 to 2011) and of the Ministry of Home Affairs (2011 to 2014). He was also Commissioner of Inland Revenue and concurrently CEO IRAS (2014 to 2018). Mr Tan is currently an Executive Director of property and construction firm, Chip Eng Seng Corporation.

Mr Tan was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 1997 and the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 2008 for his significant contributions to the Public Service.

He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) degree from NUS and a Masters of Public Administration degree from the Harvard University. He attended the Wharton Business School Advanced Management Programme in 2002.