Our People

Tan Peng Yam is the Chief Defence Scientist of the Singapore Ministry of Defence having served as the Chief Executive of Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) for more than 10 years until 14 May 2021.

Peng Yam is a board member of the Land Transport Authority, the Defence Science and Technology Agency, DSO National Laboratories, Cap Vista Pte Ltd, Singapore Israel Industrial R&D Foundation and a member of the PUB Board Committee for Transformation. He is the chairman of the Temasek Defence Systems Institute Management Board and the SMRT Technical Advisory Panel.

Peng Yam was conferred the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations Honorary Fellowship in November 2013, the Commendation Medal (Military) in 2007, and the Public Administration Medal (Gold), (Silver) and (Bronze) in 2012, 2005 and 1997 respectively.

BG Ng Chad-Son joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in January 1994.

He is concurrently the Deputy Secretary (Technology) and Future Systems and Technology Architect of the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).

As Deputy Secretary (Technology), he is responsible for the development of MINDEF/SAF technological development strategies, as well as the formulation of acquisition, procurement and logistics policies. He also drives the development of cyber defence capabilities for MINDEF/SAF. As the Future Systems and Technology Architect, he is the custodian of MINDEF’s R&D and experimentation portfolio. He leads the MINDEF R&D master planning and investments to develop strong and sustained indigenous capability to provide the SAF with the strategic edge.

Before this appointment, he was the Director of Military Intelligence and Chief C4I, overseeing intelligence, digitalisation, and cyber defence in the SAF. Other notable appointments in MINDEF include: Commander, Command & Control and Communications and Computers Operations Group; Deputy Director, Personnel Policy. Beyond MINDEF, BG Ng Chad-Son was also the Director of Research and Enterprise Division in the Ministry of Trade and Industry from 2010 to 2012, overseeing plans and policies relating to R&D, small and medium enterprise development, consumer and competition policies.

BG Ng Chad-Son received a Masters of Science in Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2010 and a Masters in Military Art and Science in Strategic Studies from US Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth in 2005. BG Ng graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Economics.

BG Ng Chad-Son is married to Lydia Loh and they have 2 sons. He enjoys reading and travelling in his leisure time.

Mr Cheong Chee Hoo is the Chief Executive Officer of DSO National Laboratories since July 2016.

Chee Hoo joined DSO in 1993 after earning his bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS). He also holds a Master of Science, Electrical Engineering from the NUS conferred in 2001.

In his service to DSO and to defence, Chee Hoo developed a wide range of engineering expertise from radar engineering to satellites, from design to systems engineering. He was one of the pioneers in radar systems development. He helped to build up radar capability in DSO and was part of the team which developed the first complete airborne radar system. Chee Hoo then held appointments in the Directorate of Research & Development (DRD), DSTA and subsequently to the Defence Research & Technology Office (DRTech) from August 2008 to February 2012. In these capacities, he took the lead in the strategic development and implementation of the R&D plans and developments in both systems and emerging technologies. Chee Hoo returned to DSO in February 2012 and led the Networks Division. He developed the strategy and implemented the R&D developments in communications, satellite and information security . Chee Hoo was appointed to the position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Systems) in October 2014.

In his career, Chee Hoo was presented with numerous awards, including the Defence Technology Prize for R&D Team and R&D Individual in 2002 and 2006 respectively.

Currently, Chee Hoo also holds positions in the following boards and committees:

• 1 Jul 2016 Director, DSO National Laboratories
• 1 Jul 2016 Director, ATREC Pte Ltd
• 15 Dec 2015 Member, TDSI Management Board
• 1 Apr 2015 Member, Industry Advisory Panel (Mechanical Engineering Programme).
  NTU School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• 25 Mar 2015 Member, Temasek Lab@NTU Management Board
• 8 Feb 2015 Member, Temasek Lab@NUS Management Board
• 1 Feb 2015 Member, Science Centre Board
• 1 Feb 2012 Director, ST Electronics (Satellite Systems Pte Ltd)

As a Deputy Chief Executive (National Engineering), Mr Loke Mun Kwong oversees DSTA’s support to the Public Service, Defence Research & Technology portfolio, sustainment of the Singapore Armed Forces systems and infrastructure.

Over the years, Mun Kwong has led many complex large-scale systems integration programmes, and developed key technology masterplans and systems architectures. He played a pivotal role in the delivery and integration of advanced sensors and electronic surveillance systems to enhance the capabilities of the Singapore Armed Forces.

During his stint with the Ministry of Transport (MOT) as Senior Director (Technology) and Chief Technology Officer, he oversaw the technology development, masterplanning, digitalisation and cybersecurity for MOT.

Mun Kwong was presented with the Defence Technology Prize Individual (Engineering) Award in 2021, and the Public Administration Medal (Silver) and (Bronze) in 2021 and 2015 respectively.

Ms Chua Sock Koong is Senior Advisor at Singapore Telecommunications Limited, Asia’s leading communications technology group, having served as its Group Chief Executive Officer for 13 years until 31 December 2020.

Sock Koong sits on the boards of Bharti Airtel Limited, Bharti Telecom Limited, the Defence Science and Technology Agency and Cap Vista Pte Ltd.

She is Deputy Chairman of the Public Service Commission and a member of the Council of Presidential Advisers and the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council.

Sock Koong was conferred the Medal of Commendation (Gold) at NTUC May Day Awards 2016 and the Public Service Star (BBM) at Singapore’s 2019 National Day Awards.

Sock Koong holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (First Class Honours) from the University of Singapore. She is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and a CFA charterholder.

Mr Christopher Yeo started his career in IT industry after graduating with first class honours degree in computer science and mathematics. Chris was a CTO for rednano.sg, Singapore’s local search and directory engine under the umbrella of Singapore Press Holdings and was part of transformative management focussed on commercialising AI and other software technologies in NUS Enterprise and Exploit Technologies, the technology commercialisation arm of A*STAR. Chris was also a co-founder of media analytics startup aSpecial Media which uses AI to profile consumer interests based on the content that they read.

He is most recently known for his enterprising inception, sentient.io, an AI and Data Platform company, which has built Vivien, a virtual digital assistant that is able to learn and acquire knowledge by reading documents and internet articles. Users can tap on Vivien’s knowledge by interacting with her through chatbots or voice enabled applications. He is also working with A*Star, which has taken an equity stake in Sentient.io, to improve Vivien’s understanding of local and colloquial knowledge and accents. His passion for AI, mathematics, cloud computing, and search technologies keeps him busy designing and coding software up till this day. Chris is also on the Advisory Panel of Credence Partners, a private equity fund and managing partner of Redshift Capital Singapore, a US-bound series A fund.

Jonathan is Managing Director for Value Creation and Digital at Tower Capital Asia, where he joined in 2021.

Jonathan has over 12 years of strategy and operations transformation experience in Southeast Asia with McKinsey, most recently serving as Chief Executive of McKinsey’s Digital Capability Center in Singapore. He has deep experience in leading and driving innovation and transformational change, having served a broad range of clients in the infrastructure, energy, industrial and public sectors. Prior to this, Jonathan had 9 years of public sector experience in various leadership roles across key government agencies, including Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence and Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA).

Jonathan has a Master of Electrical Engineering (First Class Honours) from Imperial College London and a Master of Business Administration from MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also a graduate of the Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College and an active national serviceman in the Singapore Armed Forces.

Eunice is the CEO in Cap Vista. Her focus is in leading and steering Cap Vista in maximizing the technology returns of corporate venture capital programmes and activities that build up and strengthen the capability of startups/SMEs of value to Singapore’s defence. She has served many years managing defence programmes from front-end planning, acquisition and delivery of technological capabilities and as a Deputy Director, she drove business transformation through business process reengineering and built her team to support data-driven decision making in Defence Science & Technology Agency.

Prior to that, Eunice worked in the private sector to manage and control development and fit out projects of >$80 million value for large MNCs in Singapore. Her entrepreneurial instinct had also led her to co-found a proptech startup with industry veterans, and received Startup SG Founder grant from Enterprise Singapore.

Eunice is a recipient of the DSTA Scholarship, and graduated with MEng(Mechanical Engineering) from Imperial College, London.

Joseph is Cap Vista’s Senior Head of Investment. His interest in technology as a key enabler for change is due to his experience in both the private and public sector and his interactions with businesses at various growth stages.

His previous role included evaluating high growth B2B local and foreign start-ups with key focus areas in the domains of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, IoT/Smart Cities and immersive media.

Prior to that, he was with a Big 4 accounting firm and was part of the audit and transaction advisory departments in both the Singapore and London offices. He primarily advised private equity, conglomerates and government clients on M&A issues while helping to optimise the deal value, deal structures and mitigate risks.

Joseph holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from Singapore Management University and is currently a member at both the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Valuers & Appraisers, Singapore.

Lynne is the Senior Head of Strategic Partnership at Cap Vista. In her former capacities in various organisations, she played an active role in building partnerships with local and international collaborators to catalyse R&D and open innovation in enterprises.

With experiences both in the private and public sectors, a major part of Lynne’s profession has been in the Singapore government where she was directly engaged with both companies and partners including government agencies, universities, trade associations and foreign investment offices in promoting the growth of enterprises and helping them expand beyond the shores of Singapore.

Lynne was also amongst the early team in the set up and inauguration of Singapore's participation as a partner of the Enterprise Europe Network, the world's largest global support network that promotes international partnerships in technology, research and business cooperation for SMEs.

Juncheng is the Head of Investment (Robotics) at Cap Vista. During his stint in DSTA, he steered multiple teams in delivering data products and solutions to drive digital transformation across MINDEF and SAF. He was also responsible for leading international collaborations with major industry partners to jointly research and codevelop fleet management solutions.

In the early part of his career, he managed several high value defence acquisition projects, such as the combat systems for the S-70B Seahawk helicopters, for the RSAF.

Juncheng is a recipient of the DSTA Scholarship. He holds a BSE in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a MS in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University.

Elaine is the Head of Strategic Partnership at Cap Vista. Before joining Cap Vista, she was at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) where she worked on strategies and policies to safeguard our energy security, as well as removed regulatory impediments to support the growth of small-and-medium enterprises. She had also facilitated collaborations across stakeholders involving Government agencies, industry players and Trade Associations and Chambers to create a pro-enterprise environment for businesses to thrive.

Elaine has worked on whole-of-government transformative projects such as the GoBusiness portal to support government-companies transactions. As a Secretariat to the Pro-Enterprise Panel (PEP), she supported businesses with innovative ideas to overcome prevailing regulatory roadblocks, redesigned and digitised processes to drive growth and facilitated businesses to seize opportunities, as well as test-bedded novel ideas via the regulatory sandbox mechanism.

Benjamin is the Head of Strategic Partnership at Cap Vista. His interests are in identifying and matching relevant use-cases with innovative dual-use technology to enhance the operational capabilities of the Singapore Armed Forces.

During his previous role as a Programme Manager in DSTA’s Advanced Systems Programme Centre, he worked on several acquisition projects to deliver handheld and platform-mounted electro-optic sensor systems to the Singapore Army and Navy.

Benjamin is a recipient of the DSTA Scholarship. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor and Masters in Engineering in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

Yi Shu is an Investment Associate (Cybersecurity) in Cap Vista, and holds a concurrent appointment as a Cybersecurity Development Engineer in DSTA, where he develops unique endpoint detection systems to enhance MINDEF’s suite of cyber defence solutions.

Previously during his undergraduate days, he started and helmed a hardware start-up for 3 years, successfully crowdfunding his maiden product and securing a PoC project with ComfortDelGro Driving Centre. While pursuing his graduate degree, he developed a propensity for the cybersecurity challenges in today’s complex software networks and made a switch to pursue a career in cybersecurity.

Yi Shu is a recipient of SUTD’s MEng (Research) Fellowship, and holds a B.Eng (Engineering Product Development, Electrical and Electronics) Hons and M.Eng (Research, Artificial Intelligence) from the Singapore University of Technology and Design.