Team

Mary Ann Tsao is the Chairman and Founding Director of the Tsao Foundation, a Singapore-based – but regionally oriented – non-profit operational foundation dedicated to aged care and ageing issues. Previously, she was also its CEO and President.

Tsao Foundation aims to address issues of population ageing, promote successful ageing and enhance wellbeing of older people at policy and practice levels by catalyzing constructive change.

Dr. Tsao has served on numerous boards and committees of government and non-profit organizations in Singapore as well as internationally. She currently chairs the advisory board of Duke-NUS’ CARE (Centre for Ageing Research and Education). For her work on ageing, she received the Public Service Medal (PBM) in 2000, Public Service Star (BBM) in 2004, and Public Service Star (Bar) in 2015 from the government of Singapore.

Dr. Tsao has also worked with numerous multilateral agencies, such as World Health Organization Geneva office’s Ageing and Life Course unit, and has been a resource person and technical advisor to other United Nations agencies, such as UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) and the ASEAN Secretariat.

A member of a business family, Dr. Tsao is also involved with FBNA (Family Business Network Asia) as a Board Director as well as various family business and non-profit projects.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Dr. Tsao is a US trained physician with a public health background, specializing in community and primary care planning and social medicine. She has extensive experience working with disadvantaged communities in the US and Singapore.

Chavalit Frederick Tsao is the Chairman of IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group (IMC Group) and President of the Family Business Network (FBN) Asia. The family business started in the Shanghai Bund before 1906. Mr. Tsao joined his family business at twenty years old after he graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master of Science in Engineering (Industrial and Operations Engineering) and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Navel Architecture and Marine Engineering). In 1995 and at the age of thirty-eight, Mr. Tsao took over the helm from his father, Tan Sri Frank Tsao, to become the fourth generation steward of the family business. Under his leadership as Chairman of the IMC Group, he transformed the traditional shipping company into a multi-national conglomerate with four strategically diversified business areas in more than 17 countries.

​Mr. Tsao has served on numerous maritime and non-profit organisations. Notably, he served for seven years as Chairman of Intercargo, an international dry cargo shipping organisation. He also created a number of platforms to promote collaboration between the maritime industry, regulators and related non-profit organisations. At present, he remains an Executive Committee member of Intercargo.

Loh Niap Juan (Niap) is Chairman of OCTAVE Capital, an impact investment firm driving sustainable growth across Asia. He also serves as Group Chief Corporate Officer of Tsao Pao Chee (TPC), where he is responsible for developing and executing corporate, business, investment, and organisational strategies, and steering the Group’s evolution toward the well-being economy.

Since joining TPC in 2019, Niap has accelerated its transformation by adding value to and positively impacting the Group’s businesses and investment portfolios, enhancing governance and performance frameworks, and strengthening organisational culture.

Niap has over 20 years of experience as a finance and investment professional, including more than a decade as a C-suite executive in government-linked companies, privately-owned family businesses, and multinational corporations.

Prior to joining TPC, he was Executive Vice President and Head of Finance at Fullerton Financial Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek, and began his career at Deloitte & Touche in London.

He serves on the boards of numerous TPC portfolio companies, including several publicly listed entities. Niap graduated with First-Class Honours in Accountancy from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and is a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW).

Helge is the Chief Sustainability Officer at DBS. He is responsible for developing DBS’ overarching sustainability framework and driving ESG initiatives across the bank. He also chairs the DBS Sustainability Council, which comprises senior leaders across business and support units.

Prior to joining DBS, Helge was Head of Asia Pacific, Sustainable Finance and Global Capital Markets at ING, where he worked for 10 years. In this role, he successfully grew the bank’s regional business of sustainability-related advisory services and sustainable finance transactions across products. He was also part of ING’s global Sustainable Finance and Capital Markets management teams as well as the bank’s global Sustainable Finance Quality Board. Before that, he spent more than 12 years in various roles at Deutsche Bank AG and UniCredit Group being based in different cities across Europe, the US and Asia Pacific.

He also represents DBS in several global and regional working groups such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Industry Advisory Panel of the ASEAN’s Joint Sustainable Finance Working Group and the MAS-convened Green Finance Industry Taskforce. He is also appointed as alternate director in Climate Impact X Pte Ltd, a Singapore based global carbon market and exchange.

Helge holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Munich University (major in Developing Economics) as well as a postgraduate degree in sustainability from Cambridge University. He is also a CFA charter holder.

Dr Loke Wai Chiong joined the MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT) in 2019, and leads both the Financing Redesign function and the Integrated Health Promotion programme that designs innovative and coordinated initiatives and toolkits for Healthy Precincts, ultimately to scale such solutions nationwide. These efforts entail inter-agency and multi-sectoral collaborations to design built and natural environments making them more health promoting; and to shift social norms through Movements for Health (M4H), Design for Impact (D4I) and other novel community activation initiatives, to make healthy living easier in every neighbourhood. At the height of the pandemic, his team developed and launched solutions for digital mental wellness, empowerment, self-management – such as mindline.sg – which has extended the impact into workplaces, youth, schools and hospitals. Wai Chiong’s other role in MOHT is to design financing strategies and incentives at the system level to support population health under capitation financing.

Prior to joining MOHT, Wai Chiong was Partner and Healthcare Sector leader for Deloitte Southeast Asia. As a management consultant in private sector, he advised governments, investors, life sciences companies, providers and payers globally.

Wai Chiong started his career as a practising Family Physician, before shouldering various hospital management and health policy leadership roles across public and private sectors. Wai Chiong graduated in Medicine from National University of Singapore (NUS), holds a Master in Family Medicine, Fellowships with the Academy of Medicine Singapore and the College of Family Physicians, and a Double MBA from the University of California (Los Angeles) and NUS.

Caroline is the Co-Founder & Director of B Lab Singapore and also the Chair of Jesuit Refugee Service Singapore. Her recognition of the importance of cross-sector collaboration led Caroline to venture into the family business, impact and non-profit space after two decades in MNCs. Starting as a Systems Engineer with IBM, her last ‘corporate’ role was Head of Marketing, Apple Asia Pacific.

Today Caroline volunteers in the intersection of business, purpose, and social justice. Caroline is an advocate of Certified B Corporations; for-profit companies certified by the non-profit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. She is working with a team of founding B Corps to transform capitalism and build a more inclusive and regenerative society. Caroline’s community work includes time spent in Indonesia, Myanmar and Zimbabwe. She is the Chairperson of Jesuit Refugee Service Singapore and Ambassador and Contributor to the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.

As Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, May Liew leads OCTAVE Capital with a deep conviction to accelerate positive environmental and social outcomes through capital deployment.

May brings over 20 years of experience in investment and corporate strategy. Prior to OCTAVE Capital, she led global climate tech investments for a private equity firm, focusing on deep decarbonization technologies and building robust ESG and climate impact frameworks. Before that, she drove sustainability and innovation efforts at a leading energy utility, leading initiatives in the energy transition, aligning business strategy with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and developing new ventures around cutting-edge sustainable technologies.

Earlier in her career, May held investment banking roles in New York and Hong Kong, and served as a financial analyst in investment firms in Boston and Singapore. May is deeply passionate about sustainable development and frequently contributes to thought leadership in the impact investing space.

Bruno is currently Head of Finance for the IMC Industrial Group and has more than 20 years’ experience in investments, strategy and corporate finance in the Natural Resources sector both in Australia and overseas. He has worked for the IMC Group for the past 14 years and previously worked for Vale in Brazil and Rio Tinto in Australia in roles encompassing strategic planning, M&A and business development.

Bruno holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering, MBA and is a CFA Charterholder. Bruno is an alternate director representing the IMC Group on the Board of Horizon Oil Limited (ASX:HZN).

Roy has more than 30 years of experience in finance, banking and investments across multiple sectors and geographies. In the first half of his career, he worked in Citibank, Schroders Investment Management, a Family Office and UBS Securities. He then co-founded and managed the RadLink Group, Singapore’s leading diagnostics and molecular imaging service provider, before divesting it to the Fortis Group. He also founded and currently managing The Institute of Arts & Sciences, a pan-Asia private school and edtech group.

​Roy also holds four professional titles, namely Chartered Financial Analyst, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Chartered Financial Consultant and Chartered Life Underwriter, in addition to a Bachelor of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore.

Clifford is the Global Head of Investment Banking at DBS Bank, where he is responsible for the bank’s fixed income, equity capital markets and Vickers institutional equity brokerage businesses. This includes enhancing the unit’s existing deal execution capabilities and driving synergies across businesses to provide clients a more comprehensive solution-based approach that meets complex corporate finance and investment needs. He leads a team of over 200 capital market specialists in the areas of origination, syndicate, structured products, sale, credit and ESG advisory, with operations in leading financial hubs including Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, London and New York.

Clifford also sits on the investment committee of Muzinich Asia Pacific (APAC) Private Debt 1 – an Asia-focused private credit fund anchor-seeded by DBS – as one of the bank’s initiatives to establish its presence in Asia’s rapidly growing private markets.

An Asian banking veteran with more than three decades of experience, Clifford joined DBS Bank in 2004, where he went on to establish the bank as the only Asia-headquartered bond house operating across Asia in both G3 and select domestic currencies, with proven product competencies spanning straight bonds, perpetual bonds, convertible bonds and structured debt securities. Prior to DBS, he assumed senior positions in global institutions such as West Merchant/WestLB and BankBoston/FleetBoston to head regional syndicate, origination, structured finance and sales functions. Before those, he was the Global Head of Syndicate at Peregrine Fixed Income in 1995. Clifford started his career as a corporate banker with Citibank in 1991.

A believer of making capital markets more efficient and accessible through digitalisation, Clifford has led the launch of digital bond platforms such as the award-winning FIX Marketplace. He is also focused on making sustainable financing real and relevant in Asia, both in his capacity as a board member of DBS Foundation, which champions social entrepreneurship across the region to tackle social and environmental issues, and as an investment committee member of the Asia Impact First Fund.

In recognition of his leadership and contributions to the financial industry – including supporting the development of Singapore’s capital markets and finance professionals through his active involvement in the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore’s (IBF) Capital Markets and Financial Markets Industry Workgroup – Clifford was conferred the title of “IBF Distinguished Fellow” in October 2022.

George was previously Managing Director at Morgan Grenfell (Asia) Limited, Merrill Lynch International Bank Limited, Sun Hung Kai Securities Pte Ltd and Lum Chang Securities Pte Ltd. He was also an Executive Director and Partner of Kay Hian Pte Ltd (now UOB Kay Hian Securities Limited). He has acted as a financial consultant to several private families and public listed companies, including Orchard Parade Holdings Limited and Provision Suppliers Corporation Limited.

​He has also been Executive Chairman of two public listed companies; one in precision engineering plastics and the other in audio and video produce and services which were re-organised and subsequently sold via takeover or reverse takeover. He has served as Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of various companies listed in Singapore and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After serving six years as Independent Commissioner and Chairman of the Audit Committee at PT Indosat TBK (listed on Bapepam Indonesia), he stepped down in June 2013.

​George also served as a Director and Chairman of the Board of Mount Alvernia Hospital for seven years and was its interim CEO from January to July 2013. Currently, he sits on the board of the National Cancer Centre’s Community Cancer Fund and Yoma Strategic Holdings Limited. He is also appointed as a Trustee for NCC Research Fund and member of the Governing Council of the Singapore Institute of Management.

JY brings over two decades of cross-sector experience in investment, strategy, and operational leadership. His career spans purpose-led investing, strategic advisory, and execution across supply chains, with deep expertise in agri-food ventures.

Prior to OCTAVE Capital, JY led the Asia growth equity arm of a European family office, backing entrepreneurs in agri-food, healthcare, and talent development. Earlier in his career, he advised and structured over USD 10 billion in transactions at Rabobank and Mizuho Bank for leading Asian and multinational corporates, government agencies, and financial institutions across the agriculture, food, and retail sectors. He also brings direct operating experience from China, where he oversaw plant operations, sourcing, export logistics, and commercial development for an animal nutrition business now part of the ADM Group.

JY actively contributes to the agri-food and venture ecosystem as an angel investor, mentor, public speaker, and contributor to thought-leadership platforms and think tanks. He holds a Master’s in Food Science and a Certificate in Sustainable Finance from the University of Cambridge.

Pau Lee has more than 15 years of experience in finance, human resources and administrative functions. She also has experience in fund administration for more than 10 years. Prior to joining OCTAVE Capital, she was with Tembusu Partners, responsible for fund administration, finance and human resource functions.

Pau Lee graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from University of London.

Aloysius is an experience compliance professional with close to 11 years of combined experience in auditing and consulting Financial Institutions (“FIs”) regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”).

Prior to joining OCTAVE Capital, he was a manager at a consultancy firm and was responsible for the oversight, policy formulation and providing regulatory compliance advisory services to Fund Management companies and various other FIs.

Aloysius was also previously with Ernst and Young’s Financial Accounting Advisory Services Division as a Senior Associate.

Axel has over 12 years of experience deploying venture investments in transport, logistics, agrifood tech, wellbeing, and sustainability. He has built venture capital teams from the bottom up, designing strategies to enable family offices, corporates, and ecosystem partners to seek transformative innovation.

Prior to joining OCTAVE Capital as Investment Director, Axel was Venture Partner at IMC Ventures and set up the Octave Wellbeing Economy Fund, where he oversaw investments across the maritime, logistics, and wellbeing sectors. Earlier in his career, Axel founded Momentum Venture Capital, a transport-focused corporate VC arm where he built a global portfolio of investments. This maiden fund found success in IPO and early exits, as well as joint ventures, new business formation, and an industry-wide innovation platform.

Axel actively supports the startup ecosystem as a mentor, angel investor, and panellist in venture and innovation forums.

He holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and Tsinghua University.

Prior to joining OCTAVE Capital, Pornteera was with L.E.K. Consulting as a Senior Life Science Specialist where she was part of the consulting team providing strategy consulting to health care clients. Pornteera was also previously with a Singapore-based medical device company where she was responsible for commercialization and QA/RA.

Pornteera holds a PhD from National University of Singapore in Biological Sciences, an MBA from National University of Singapore and a BSc Biotechnology from University College London.

JingJing is an experienced impact and investment professional with over five years of experience in private equity, venture capital, and impact investing. She has a proven track record in sourcing, evaluating, and executing investments across diverse sectors including healthcare, education, food & agriculture, and sustainability in Asia. JingJing manages end-to-end deal execution — from sourcing, due diligence, and financial analysis to transaction structuring and closing — and works closely with portfolio companies on post-investment value creation initiatives, supporting strategic and financial decision-making, operational improvements, and alignment of business growth with long-term sustainability and impact objectives.

Beyond her investment responsibilities, JingJing has led the development of OCTAVE Capital’s first landmark ESG and impact investment framework, integrating impact considerations into investment decision-making and portfolio monitoring processes, enhancing transparency and communicating portfolio performance to stakeholders. Additionally, she has contributed to fund structuring, fundraising, and investor relationship management, supporting capital-raising efforts and ongoing investor engagements.

JingJing holds an MSc in Finance (Distinction) from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BSc (First-Class Honours) in Economics and Management from King’s College London. She is passionate about leveraging capital to scale impactful businesses and create sustainable long-term value.

Prior to joining OCTAVE Capital, Jonathan was part of the ventures team at TPC Group, where he supported venture investments and led the Group’s innovation initiatives. He brings with him a diverse background spanning engineering, energy, and the startup ecosystem.

Jonathan holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Engineering in Materials Engineering from Nanyang Technological University.