ESR-REIT's Board of Directors come from a wide range of backgrounds and offer a broad knowledge base. Together, they determine ESR-REIT's strategy and direct its performance.
Independent Non-Executive Chairperson
Member of the Audit, Risk Management and Compliance Committee
Member of Nominating and Remuneration Committee
Date of appointment as Director: 29 March 2019
Ms Stefanie Yuen Thio is the Joint Managing Partner of TSMP Law Corporation and heads its corporate practice. Admitted to the Singapore Bar in 1994, she has over 29 years of legal experience in mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets, corporate transactions and regulatory advice. Her clients range from listed corporates to international companies, including in the logistics industry and REITs. She is regularly named by legal journals as a leading practitioner in her areas of specialisation.
Prior to her appointment, she served on the board of ARA Trust Management (CACHE) Limited, manager of Cache Logistics Trust. Ms. Yuen Thio was appointed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to the Corporate Governance Council 2017 to review the Code of Corporate Governance and is a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors. From 2014 to 2017, she was a member of the Expert Panel, Centre for Cross-Border Commercial Law in Asia. She was also a member of the Singapore Governance and Transparency Index Advisory Panel from June 2016 to May 2018. Ms. Yuen Thio is a director of the Community Foundation of Singapore, an Institution of Public Character that promotes philanthropy in Singapore. She has established SG Her Empowerment Limited in March 2022 where she is the current Chairman and director of the charity.
Ms. Yuen Thio holds a Bachelor of Law from The National University of Singapore. She is also an Advocate and Solicitor of The Supreme Court of Singapore.
Chairperson of the Nominating and Remuneration Committee
Member of the Investment Committee
Date of appointment as Director: 8 January 2019
Mr. Ronald Lim has more than 38 years of experience in the banking and finance industry. Mr. Lim was with United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB) from March 1973 to November 2009 where he last held the appointment of Executive Director and Division Head of Commercial Banking in which the Bank is a leader in the SMEs market. Prior to the above and during his tenure with UOB, Mr. Lim had also held leadership appointments as Head of Human Resource and Head of Branches Division where he was involved in the management and development of human capital, its delivery channels and banking services. From November 2009 to October 2011, Mr Lim was an Adviser to RGE Pte Ltd, a resource-based manufacturing group in the paper and pulp, palm oil and the oil and gas industries.
Mr. Lim holds a Bachelor of Social Science from the University of Singapore (currently known as the National University of Singapore).
Chairperson of the Audit, Risk Management and Compliance Committee
Date of appointment as Director: 3 June 2022
Mr. Nagaraj Sivaram was an assurance partner in Ernst & Young, Singapore and retired from the firm on 30 June 2019 after 35 years with the firm. In his years with the firm, he served in various roles principally in the audit or assurance department. His audit experience over the years included the audit of listed companies and multinationals in the food and beverage, logistics and property industries. His business advisory experience included financial due diligence work for the Transaction Advisory Services group of the firm.
He was the technical partner for many years. As technical partner he advised other partners on complex accounting and auditing issues, conducted training and set policies relating to risk management for the assurance practice of the firm. He was a member of the Accounting Standards Council, the standard setter in Singapore for eight years.
He is currently a Board Member and Audit Committee Chairman of the Land Transport Authority, Singapore Institute of Technology and GK Goh Holdings Ltd.
Mr. Sivaram holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Bombay. He is also a FCA – Chartered Accountant and a Certified Public Account.
Date of appointment as Director: 1 November 2022
Dr. Lo is the General Counsel of National Healthcare Group (NHG) since September 2020. NHG is a large healthcare company wholly-owned by MOH Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore, and comprises numerous hospitals, specialty centres and polyclinics. Dr. Lo is a member of the NHG Domain Specific Review Board which is an independent committee that reviews and approves research studies. Dr. Lo also actively participates in national initiatives and strategies including major reforms of the healthcare sector.
Dr. Lo was the Legal Director (Head of Legal & Contract Management Department) of Synapxe (formerly known as Integrated Health Information Systems) and was also Head of Procurement. Synapxe is the technology agency for Singapore's public healthcare sector and is wholly-owned by MOH Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore. Dr. Lo built the Legal and Procurement Departments, guided Synapxe through the Committee of Inquiry investigation into the SingHealth cyber attack in 2018 and led Synapxe through several major public healthcare projects. Previous to Synapxe, Dr. Lo was a finance sector lawyer.
Dr. Lo holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University College London, London University, a Master of Laws (Corporate & Commercial) from the London School of Economics & Political Science, London University and a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of South Australia. She is admitted to practise law in Singapore, New York, England and Wales.
Independent Non-Executive Director
Chairperson of the Investment Committee
Member of the Audit, Risk Management and Compliance Committee
Date of appointment as Director: 15 May 2023
Mr Loi Pok Yen was the Group CEO of CWT Pte. Limited (“CWT”), an integrated logistics service provider that provides integrated logistics services and supply chain solutions to various industries through CWT group of companies, before he retired from his position on 31 March 2023.
Prior to joining CWT, Pok Yen was responsible for the construction of warehouses and running the logistics business operations at C & P Holdings. From 1995 to 1997, he helped oversee and build Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa (MITT), Myanmar’s largest port.
Pok Yen has been instrumental in transforming the CWT Group into a global enterprise. In 2013, he was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year – Logistics Winner.
Non-Executive Director
Date of appointment as Director: 30 August 2023
Mr. Stuart Gibson is the Executive Director, Group Co-Founder & Co-CEO of ESR Group Limited (“ESR”), the Sponsor of ESR-REIT. Mr. Gibson has been the co-CEO of ESR since January 2016 and he was also the Co-Founder and CEO of the Redwood group from July 2006 until 2016. Mr. Gibson is responsible for overseeing ESR’s overall operations and business development.
Mr. Gibson has over 27 years of real estate development and investment experience in Asia, which includes 15 years in the Japanese industrial real estate sector. Mr. Gibson was formerly the country head of Prologis Japan, and former co-founder and co-CEO of AMB BlackPine, which was subsequently incorporated into Prologis. He was also the Chairman of AMB Property Corporation Japan Advisory Committee.
Non-Executive Director
Date of appointment as Director: 8 November 2023
Mr. Shen Jinchu, Jeffrey is a Non-Executive Director and he joined the Board on 8 November 2023. Mr. Shen is the Group Co-founder, and currently the Executive Director and Co-CEO of ESR Group Limited ("ESR"). Mr. Shen has been the Co-CEO of ESR since June 2011 and was also a Co-founder of e-Shang Cayman Limited. Mr. Shen is responsible for overseeing ESR's overall operations and business development, leading regional growth strategies, and expanding ESR's asset and fund management platforms.
Mr. Shen has over 23 years of industrial real estate experience in China. Prior to co-founding ESR in June 2011, he was Senior Vice President at GLP Investment Management (China) Co. Ltd. (formerly Prologis China) from January 2004 to September 2010, overseeing the Eastern China area. Mr. Shen was the Deputy Director of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung International Property Advisers from June 2001 to December 2003. Previously, he was the Assistant General Manager for marketing at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Xin Development Co., Ltd from July 1995 to November 2000. Mr. Shen was also a Director of ESR Funds Management (S) Limited, Manager of ESR-REIT, which is listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited, from January 2017 to January 2019.
Mr. Shen graduated from the Shanghai Jiaotong University in China and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in technical economics. He holds an MBA from Donghua University in China.
Non-Executive Director
Date of appointment as Non-Executive Director: 15 May 2023
George Agethen is responsible for the investment and asset management strategies outlined in the Ivanhoé Cambridge’s annual business and strategic plans. He works closely with the Asset Management, Growth Markets team and collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to put in place and consolidate strategic partnerships for major projects being developed in the Asia-Pacific region.
Mr. Agethen has extensive experience in the real estate industry, and more specifically in the Asian real estate market. Before joining Ivanhoé Cambridge in 2015, he was Senior Executive Director and Head of Alternative Investments at Ping An Trust, a subsidiary of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Ltd., a public company. In his past position, he was responsible for establishing a multi-asset real estate portfolio which invests globally. He served also as Executive Director for HREI (a joint venture between Harvest Funds Management and Grosvenor Group) and as Head of business development and capital-raising for Harvest Capital Partners, China’s leading real estate fund managers. He was previously Vice President, Private Capital Markets, Real Estate, for Macquarie Capital in Asia. He also spent several years in the real estate sector in Australia.
Mr. Agethen holds bachelor’s degrees in commerce and in law and a master’s degree in commerce, specializing in Finance, from University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Mr. Agethen is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and is a Jury Member for the MIPIM Asia Awards. Over the course of his career, George has lived in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and China. He speaks fluent English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and Executive Director
Date of appointment as Director: 24 March 2017
Mr. Chui has more than 20 years of extensive real estate experience, particularly in the REIT sector, across property investments and divestments, funds management and structuring, capital markets, acquisition financing, mergers and acquisitions and property research.
Prior to joining the Manager, Mr. Chui was responsible for the Southeast Asia real estate business at Standard Chartered Bank. His experience in the REITs and Business Trusts market includes structuring cross border property investments and fund raising for REITs as well as property research. He was formerly with Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Securities Pte Ltd, where he was the lead property research analyst responsible for Singapore listed REITs and property companies. He has also held management roles with CapitaCommercial Trust Management Limited and was part of the pioneer management team at Ascendas Funds Management (S) Limited. He is also an Exco member of REITAS.
Mr. Chui holds a Bachelor of Business from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.