World Economic Forum appoints new member to Board of Trustees

 The World Economic Forum announced today that Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Singapore, will join its Board of Trustees. Tharman’s lifelong career in public service, in which he has occupied senior positions in government, provides the World Economic Forum with valuable insight and experience at the highest level of governance.

Tharman was appointed Senior Minister in the Government of Singapore on 1 May 2019. He is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and advises the Prime Minister on economic policies. He is concurrently Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator. In addition to his government responsibilities, he is Deputy Chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), where he is Chair of its Investment Strategies Committee.

On the international stage, Tharman serves as Chair of the Group of Thirty, an independent global council of economic and financial leaders. He chaired the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance, which proposed reforms for a more effective system of global development finance and for financial stability. Between 2011 and 2014, he served as Chair of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the key policy forum of the International Monetary Fund.

Tharman also chairs the Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council, the International Academic Advisory Panel that advises the government on strategies for the university sector, as well as the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute.

His career in public service included serving as Deputy Prime Minister for eight years, from 2011. He also led Singapore’s SkillsFuture programme, which was launched in 2014 to develop a system and culture of lifelong learning and upskilling in the country.

“The World Economic Forum, as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation, is delighted to welcome Senior Minister Tharman to its Board of Trustees, further strengthening our political, economic and societal governance,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

As of 21 May 2019, the members of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum are:

Mukesh AMBANI Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, India

Marc BENIOFF Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Salesforce, USA

Peter BRABECK-LETMATHE* Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees, World Economic Forum Emeritus, Nestlé SA, Switzerland

Mark CARNEY Chairman, Financial Stability Board; Governor of the Bank of England

Chrystia FREELAND Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada

Orit GADIESH** Chairman, Bain & Company, USA

Fabiola GIANOTTI Director-General, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva

Al GORE Vice-President of the United States (1993-2001); Chairman and Co-Founder, Generation Investment Management LLP, USA

Herman GREF Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Sberbank, Russia

Angel GURRÍA Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

André HOFFMANN Non-Executive Vice-Chairman, Roche Holding Ltd., Switzerland

Christine LAGARDE Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC

Ursula von der LEYEN Federal Minister of Defence of Germany

Jack MA Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group, People’s Republic of China

Yo-Yo MA Cellist

Peter MAURER President, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Switzerland

Min ZHU* President, National Institute of Financial Research, People’s Republic of China; Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC (2011-2016)

Luis MORENO** President, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC

H.M. Queen Rania AL ABDULLAH of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

L. Rafael REIF President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

David M. RUBENSTEIN Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chairman, Carlyle Group, USA

Klaus SCHWAB* Chairman of the Board of Trustees, World Economic Forum

Tharman SHANMUGARATNAM Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Singapore

Jim Hagemann SNABE** Chairman, Supervisory Board, Siemens AG, Germany; Chairman, A.P. Møller-Maersk, Denmark

Heizo TAKENAKA** Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy of Japan (2002-2006)

*Member of the Governing Board

**Member of the Audit & Risk Committee