(* denotes hearing)
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law
Mr Steven Lee Chee Phat, PBM *
Mr Steven Chua Cheng Lye
Ms Tang Siew Ngoh *
Ms Margarita Hale*
Mr Martin Marini*
Name
Designation
Mr Eric Tseng Hao Chun
President
Mr Gregory Wee Chong Yeow*
Vice President, MVS School Management Committee
Ms Wong Ee Kean*
Vice President, Deaf Education Committee
Ms Valerie Tan Kian Wah*
Vice President, Community Services Committee
Mr Ong Teck Boon Edwin
Vice President, Deaf Access Service Committee
Mr Tan Soo Phay Eric*
Honorary Secretary
Ms Sheena Lee Sze Ying
Honorary Assistant Secretary
Mr Charles Law Hui Ping*
Honorary Treasurer
Mr Tan Pang Toon*
Council Member
Ms Tan Keng Yong Jorena
Council Member
Ms Jasmine Yan Ziyun
Council Member
Dr Annabelle Leong Chooi Kien*
Council Member
Dr Vrizlynn Thing*
Council Member
Ms Claire Nazar*
Council Member
President
Eric Tseng is the current President of the Singapore Association for the Deaf and previously served as the Vice President of its Community Services committee. He was a former board member of the Singapore Disability Sports Association and the Children’s Charities Association. He was also the Chef-de-Mission for Team Singapore in the 2020 ASEAN Para Games. Mr Tseng served on the steering committee for the Enabling Masterplan 3, a five-year roadmap by MSF to build towards a more inclusive and accessible society. He also contributed to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) parallel report organised by the Disabled People’s Association and was on the 2019 Purple Parade planning committee. Professionally, Eric Tseng has worked in the technology industry for over 15 years. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University in Canada, and is a Masters of Public Health candidate at Johns Hopkins University.
Vice President, Chairman – Deaf Access Committee
Edwin Ong was a council member of the SADeaf Executive Council from 2001 to 2007 and Vice Chairman of the former Sports and Recreation for the Deaf from 2000 to 2003. He also volunteered with the Singapore Disability Sports Council from 1993 to 1998. Edwin received the Long Service Award in recognition of 15 years of voluntary service to the community, which was conferred by the Ministry of Social and Family Development in 2012. He is currently working as a model maker at P&T Consultants Pte Ltd.
Vice President, Chairman – MVS School Management Committee
Gregory Wee has been in the SADeaf for the past six terms. He is currently the Vice-President and chairs the School Management Committee of Mountbatten Vocational School.
Gregory has been in the sales line in the safety supply industry for over 20 years. He has a Bachelor in Science from Aston University, UK.
Vice President, Chairman – Community Services Committee
Valerie Tan is a Chartered Accountant with close to 30 years of grounded financial and governance experience in MNCs and non-profit organisations in both Singapore and the US. Her areas of expertise are in corporate financial planning and analysis, business assessment of corporate entities, financial management, corporate governance, risk evaluation management and business analytics. Valerie is passionate about three things in her professional life: Making sense of numbers, advocacy for good governance and acting on empathy. In view of her interests, she has been actively serving in the social service sector. Since 2003, Valerie has been leveraging on her expertise as a Chartered Accountant to drive best organisational practices as well as an advocate for a culture of good governance and transparency in the organisations that she has been serving. Valerie holds a Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Manchester and is a member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.
Vice President, Chairman – Deaf Education
Wong Ee Kean is the CEO of GSUM-Titanland Capital, a corporate finance advisory firm licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore dedicated to helping companies raise funds globally through capital market solutions, including REITs/Business Trusts listings, IPOs, Pre-IPO investments, M&As and secondary fund raisings. She has more than 10 years’ experience in the investment and corporate finance industry in Asia Pacific with a focus on REITs, business trusts, real estate and capital markets. Prior to joining GSUM-Titanland, Ee Kean was a partner with one of the largest law firms in Singapore where she practised law for over 10 years, representing listed companies and institutional clients on a broad range of corporate transactions including many IPOs, follow-on offerings, block trades and private placements. Ee Kean holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Master of Science in Real Estate from the National University of Singapore. She also currently serves on the board of the Children’s Charities Association of Singapore.
Honorary Secretary
Eric Tan joined SADeaf as Honorary Treasurer on 4 September 2021. He holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons) degree from NTU. Eric Tan is currently a Public Accountant and also an Adjunct Associate Professor with Nanyang Business School, NTU, with interests in Audit and Assurance, Enterprise Risk Management and Corporate Governance. Eric is also a frequent speaker with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) on the auditing of new and complex financial reporting standards, and on ethics and anti-money laundering, among other topics. Prior to that, Eric Tan accumulated more than 10 years of working experience in the public accounting industry with a major public accounting firm. He has much expertise in the areas of financial accounting advisory, capital restructuring as well as the audit of multinationals, local public listed and private companies in various industries.
Honorary Assistant Secretary
Sheena is a management consultant with close to 10 years of experience in strategy and operations projects spanning the public sector and financial services. She has significant expertise in business strategy and organisational transformation, and is passionate about tapping this knowledge to contribute to the betterment of SADeaf. Sheena holds a Master of Chemical Engineering degree from Imperial College London, as well as Associateship of the City and Guilds of London Institute.
Honorary Treasurer
Charles Law is a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants. Charles has over 30 years of experience in MNCs covering various financial roles in business operations, performance management, financial controllership, financial planning & analysis, and corporate regulatory compliance. He is currently the Senior Director, Finance in the Asia Pacific regional office of Special Olympics International, a global non-profit organization providing year-round sports activities to people with intellectual disabilities. Charles is a graduate of the Australian National University with degrees in Commerce and Law.
Council Member
Pang Toon started volunteering with Make-A-Wish Foundation Singapore from 2009-2014 and joined the SADeaf Funding Development Committee in April 2023. He is currently volunteering as a mentor with Singapore Leaders Network (a programme supported by Economic Development Board and managed by the Human Capital Leadership Institute), and Nanyang Technological University Mentor Community. He is also engaged as a Commercial Champion in Graduate Research Innovation Program with National University of Singapore.
Before 2023, Pang Toon was a Vice President of West Pharmaceutical Services Inc responsible for its operations in Asia Pacific spanning across China, India, Singapore, Australia and South Korea. West is the leading global manufacturer in the design and production of technologically advanced, high-quality, integrated containment and delivery systems for injectable medicines to the world’s top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In a nearly 20-year career with West, he worked across different functions in General Management, Strategy Development and Deployment, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Environment-Health-Safety, Technology Transfer, Engineering, and Product Registration aspects. Prior to West, he worked in Semiconductor and Electronics industries for 13 years.
Pang Toon holds a Master of Business Administration from Golden Gate University, and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the National University of Singapore.
Council Member
As a member of the Deaf community, Jorena has been involved in SADeaf’s events as a volunteer for more than a decade. She has also contributed her knowledge to the Singapore Sign Language bank for collating commonly used signs and research purposes. She has several years’ working experience in the industry of social enterprises and is currently an assistant manager.
Council Member
Claire Nazar is the Senior Legal Counsel for APAC and EMEA Employment Law at HERE Technologies. Prior to joining HERE Technologies, she was a Director at Kalco Law LLC for 12 years, specialising in corporate and commercial law. She has a total of 23 years of deep experience in corporate/commercial transaction work and commercial litigation in Singapore.
As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), Claire shares the unique struggles and challenges of CODAs. Her experiences as a CODA is the driving force behind her passion in volunteering and social causes. To date, she has received the MSF Outstanding Volunteer Award (2019), the 5-year Long Service Award (2018) and the Friend of MSF Award (2015) from the Ministry of Social and Family Development. At SADeaf, Claire has served in various capacities since 2016, as Exco member, Nomination Committee member and Audit Committee member. She is currently the Chairman of the Audit Committee.
Council Member
Dr Vrizlynn Thing is the Senior Vice President, ST Engineering, where she provides thought leadership and oversees cybersecurity technology innovation. She is also actively involved in national-level initiatives where she contributes to standards development and shaping technology innovation roadmaps, as well as an Honorary Assistant Superintendent of Police (Specialist V) with the Singapore Police Force.
Prior to joining ST Engineering, Dr Thing was the Head of Cybersecurity R&D at the Institute for Infocomm Research, A*STAR, and led in establishing partnerships with the industry and government agencies. She also held Adjunct Associate Professor appointments at the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Management University. Dr Thing was the recipient of the Enterprise Singapore and Singapore Standards Council Commendation Award 2021, and honoured as the Singapore 100 Women in Tech 2021.
She received her Ph.D. in Computing from Imperial College London, U.K., and was a recipient of the Hilfred Chau Postgraduate Award, presented to “students with exceptional achievements in scholarship”, for her cybersecurity and digital forensics work.
Council Member
Dr Leong joined the SADeaf Executive Committee to provide a healthcare perspective as an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist with a passionate interest in all ear-related conditions in children and adults. She had trained and worked in London and Toronto for many years before returning to Singapore, where she runs her ENT clinic at Gleneagles Hospital.
Backed by 20 years of ENT expertise and her experience of voluntary overseas medical mission trips in Southeast Asia, she hopes to help the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community in Singapore integrate with society. She also hopes to help her medical colleagues understand the community better.
Council Member
Jasmine Yan holds a Bachelor of Law from University of Bristol, UK. She has been admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore. Her area of practice includes civil and commercial disputes, criminal litigation, matrimonial matters, probate matters, and general solicitors’ work.
SADeaf has a policy for board selection and recruitment, and training and evaluation of board effectiveness. SADeaf regularly conducts board evaluation. The last board evaluation was carried out in year 2023.
SADeaf has an Executive Council Succession Planning SOP in place. It also has terms of reference for the Executive Council and its committees. The Nomination Committee oversees its co-option and nomination of members for election.
For more information on SADeaf’s strategic planning, please refer to this link: