Leadership Dialogue with Minister Ong Ye Kung

Tuesday, 5th May 2026

About The Event

The first of a series of Action Learning Projects under the SGLN Fellowship 2026 kicked off strongly with a leadership dialogue featuring Ong Ye Kung.

Tasked with exploring the theme of navigating geopolitics as a global leader, our SGLN Fellows took on a question many leaders today are increasingly grappling with: how do you lead with clarity and conviction in a world that feels increasingly uncertain, fragmented, and fast-changing?

Building on these discussions, we were honoured to welcome Minister Ong for a dialogue on how global developments are reshaping business strategy, leadership decision-making, and the realities of operating internationally as Singaporean leaders. We are grateful to Minister Ong for sharing his perspectives and engaging so openly with the community on these issues.

A big thank you as well to Wilmar International for making the evening possible.

Most importantly, thank you to our SGLN Fellows who brought this vision to life: Imran Rahim, Joyce Peh, Bernard Toh, Haoyi Neo, Eunice Lee, Wei Sheng Ang and James Lee.

Speaker

Mr Ong Ye Kung

Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health

Mr Ong Ye Kung is the Minister for Health and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies. He was first elected as a Member of Parliament for Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in September 2015 and was re-elected in July 2020 and May 2025.

He had held the positions of Minister for Transport, Minister for Education, Second Minister for Defence and board member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He is also the Chairman of the Chinese Development Assistance Council.

Prior to joining politics, he held various positions in Government, including Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, and Deputy Chief Negotiator for the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. He served several years in the Labour Movement, as the Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress, and spent some time in the private sector, as the Director of Group Strategy at Keppel Corporation.

Mr Ong graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK) and the Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland. He is married with two children.