Advisory Board

AMTA is committed to collaborating with strategic partners to identify the evolving skills required in advanced manufacturing. We are dedicated to developing and providing quality training programmes that enhance workforce capabilities and ensure our workforce is future-ready through upskilling and reskilling. This commitment is crucial for maintaining the competitiveness and continuous growth of Singapore’s manufacturing sector.

Bernard Lim, Chairman of Advanced Manufacturing Training Academy (AMTA)

MR BERNARD LIM

Chairman, AMTA Training Council

With over 25 years of industry expertise, Bernard Lim possesses extensive experience in the electrical & electronic engineering (EEE) field as well as in the testing, inspection & certification (TIC) industry.

Mr. Lim provides strategic planning, corporate & business development, and general oversight of the group's operations. He has raised Tai Sin Electric Limited's profile in the Southeast Asia Region by driving mergers& acquisitions (M&A) and spearheading corporate and business development initiatives.

Under his guidance, the company has grown from a single entity to a business group comprising 19 companies. This growth was achieved through a combination of M&A activities and successful startups. Today, the Group operates in seven countries across Southeast Asia, with 24 offices and a team of over 1,000 staff members.

Mr. Lim holds a Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences) in Economics and Sociology from Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia. Additionally, he earned a Masters of Business Administration from the Strathclyde Graduate Business School at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. He also completed the Scale-up SG Wharton Executive Programme at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Lim has on behalf of the Group received several awards throughout his career. These include the Skillsfuture Employer Award (Non-SME), the People's Association Community Spirit (PACS) Merit Award, and the Company Workforce Transformation Recognition Award from Singapore Polytechnic.

Mr. Lim is a member of the Electrical, Electronics & Allied Industries Industry Group under the SMF. On behalf of the Federation, he serves on the Electrical & Electronic Standards Committee of the Singapore Standards Council. He also serves as a member of the SBF Human Capital Action Committee (HCAC). Additionally, he has been appointed as an Industry Advisory Board Member of the Singapore Institute of Purchasing.

Outside of his professional responsibilities, Mr. Lim served as a General Council Member of the National Arthritis Foundation and a Member of Temasek Primary School's Advisory Committee.

MR BERNARD LIM
Chairman, AMTA Training Council

PROFESSOR LOUIS PHEE

Dean, College of Engineering, NTU

Professor Louis Phee is the Vice President (Innovation & Entrepreneurship), Dean of College of Engineering and the Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Prior to his deanship, he has served 3 years as Chair of the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering.

He graduated from NTU with the B.Eng (Hons) and M.Eng degrees in 1996 and 1999 respectively. He obtained his PhD from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy in 2002 on a European Union scholarship.

His research interests include Medical Robotics and Mechatronics in Medicine. He was a recipient of the prestigious National Research Foundation (NRF) Investigator Award.

Professor Phee is the co-founder of 2 NTU start-ups and is an advisor and mentor to entrepreneurial faculty and students. He was awarded the Young Scientist Award (2006), the Outstanding Young Persons of Singapore Award (2007), the Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2011), the President’s Technology Award (2012), the Nanyang Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award (2013) and the Nanyang Alumni Achievement Award (2017).

PROF LOUIS PHEE
Dean, College of Engineering, NTU

PROFESSOR TAN SZE WEE

Assistant Chief Executive (Enterprise), A*STAR

Professor Tan Sze Wee was appointed on May 2020 as the Assistant Chief Executive of the newly established Enterprise Division, comprising the Industry Development Group and A*ccelerate Technologies Pte Ltd. As Assistant Chief Executive (ENT), Professor Tan leads the Enterprise Division in steering efforts to translate A*STAR’s R&D to market so as to enable research-fuelled economic and social impact. Prior to this appointment, Professor Tan served as Assistant Chief Executive of SERC, and this involved directing the SERC research institutes to work closely in the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Domain. Together with the Universities, public-private partnership models such as the Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine Singapore Ltd (TCOMS) and Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) have been successful in demonstrating its platform to facilitate research capabilities to private industries.

Professor Tan is Adjunct Professor at Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore. Professor Tan was formerly the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Rockeby Biomed Limited. Prior to joining Rockeby, he was the Asia-Pacific Associate Regional Medical Director (Asia Regional Office) for Mead Johnson Nutritionals, a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company from 1997 to 2001. Professor Tan was a former Nominated Member of Parliament of Singapore.

Professor Tan is an advisory member to the Singapore National Eye Centre’s Ophthalmic Technologies Incubator Advisory Board. He is a council member of the Singapore Medical Association (SMA), as well as a board director for SMA Pte Ltd and SMA Charity Pte Ltd.

Professor Tan graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery from the National University of Singapore (NUS), and attained his Masters of Business Administration from Warwick University, UK. He attended the Stanford Executive Programme at the Stanford Graduate School Business. He is an affiliate member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, UK. He is a registered medical practitioner with the Singapore Medical Council and the Hong Kong Medical Council.

PROF TAN SZE WEE
Assistant Chief Executive (Enterprise), A*STAR

DR ZENG XIANTING

Director, AMTA Programme Office

Dr Zeng Xianting is Programme Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Training Academy (AMTA). He is responsible for leading and managing the Programme Office under the directive of AMTA Training Council. He oversees development of business strategic plan for AMTA in consultation with relevant stakeholders, and project execution to achieve AMTA strategic outcomes and objectives and key deliverables (KPIs).

Prior to his role leading AMTA, Xianting established the Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) in Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) as the founding director to transfer knowledge and capability to the industry through case studies and hands-on practical training to meet technology and skills gaps. Under his leadership, SIMTech launched a broad portfolio of industrial training programmes to support the industry using a Learn-Practise-Implement model, which benefited about 1800 local companies with more than 8000 PMETs trained.

Besides his role in leading industrial training development, Xianting has been an active research scientist in the field of nanocomposite coating materials and plasma-enhanced PVD thin film processes. He published extensively, with his research outcomes and scientific achievements recognised internationally.

Xianting obtained his PhD degree in Physics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1995, and his MSc and BSc degrees from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China in 1987 and 1982, respectively.

DR ZENG XIANTING
Programme Director, AMTA Programme Office

MR LOH YEW CHIONG

Senior Director, Computing, Chemical & Life Sciences Cluster, Singapore Polytechnic

Mr Loh Yew Chiong joined Singapore Polytechnic in 1996 as a lecturer in the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, after working as a software engineer for 3 years. He is currently appointed as the Senior Director over the School of Computing and School of Chemical & Life Sciences. Prior to the current appointment, he was appointed as as Senior Director of the Engineering Cluster in 2017, where he had oversight of the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, School of Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering and the Singapore Maritime Academy.

Mr Loh had taught various courses in Network Security, Broadband Communications, Digital Communications, Networks and Protocols, Programming and other professional industry certification courses. He was also involved in various staff and student R&D projects related to Next Generation Networks and Services.

Mr Loh holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Science (Communications and Signal Processing) from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, UK.

MR LOH YEW CHIONG
Senior Director, Computing, Chemical & Life Sciences Cluster, Singapore Polytechnic

MR DAMIAN CHAN

Executive Vice President, Economic Development Board

Mr. Damian Chan was appointed Executive Vice President of the Singapore Economic Development Board on 1 October 2019. He oversees EDB’s Policy and Planning Group and Strategy divisions including AgriFood, Advanced Manufacturing, Environmental Sustainability, Hub Services, and Supply Chain & Connectivity.

Previously, he was Executive Director for the Energy & Chemicals Cluster. Between 2011 till June 2015, as International Director for Americas, he led EDB’s operations across North and South America, working closely with global companies there to help them succeed in Asia via Singapore. Prior to that, he was the Director of Electronics Cluster in EDB. He was also the Centre Director of EDB Dallas Centre from 2002 to 2005, and of EDB Chicago Centre in 2001. He joined EDB in 1996.

He received a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University in 1996. He is married with four children.

MR DAMIAN CHAN
Executive Vice President, Economic Development Board

MR SOH LENG WAN

Assistant Chief Executive Officer (Manufacturing & Engineering), Enterprise Singapore

As the Assistant Chief Executive (Manufacturing & Engineering) of Enterprise Singapore, Leng Wan leads various teams to champion growth of Singapore enterprises in various technology-based industries such as advanced manufacturing, offshore renewables, sustainable packaging, health and biomedical sciences, infocomms, amongst others.

Prior to this, Leng Wan spent seven years in the Ministry of Trade and Industry working on policies and initiatives to ensure the competitiveness of the Singapore economy as well as the vibrancy of Singapore as a global city and tourism destination. His teams worked with the Economic Development Board to anchor significant foreign investments in Singapore’s manufacturing sector, as well as with the Singapore Tourism Board and Sentosa Development Corporation to develop iconic tourism projects in Singapore.

Leng Wan has a Masters of Science (Civil Engineering) from the University of California, Berkeley and two decades of experience in public policy in various agencies in the Singapore Government.

MR SOH LENG WAN
Assistant Chief Executive, Enterprise Singapore

MR FOO PIAO ZHOU

Group Director of the Training Partners Group at SkillsFuture Singapore

Mr Foo Piao Zhou is Group Director of the Training Partners Group at SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG). In this role, he oversees a team that supports development of the Continuing Education & Training (CET) system in Singapore, through managing funding and contractual partnerships with private training partners, institutes of higher learning, and enterprises. He is also currently responsible for the development and implementation of a whole-of-government training grant system used by various government agencies to administer CET grants.

Prior to joining SSG in 2016, Piao Zhou served in the Singapore Workforce Development Agency for over 10 years, and has experience in various aspects of CET including funding policies, industry development, and risk management. His past work included the development and implementation of the training quality and outcomes measurement initiative, the development of SSG’s regulatory framework; and the scale-up of SSG’s programme to drive innovation in the training ecosystem via iN.LEARN.

MR FOO PIAO ZHOU
Group Director of the Training Partners Group at SkillsFuture Singapore

MS JULIA NG

Assistant Chief Executive, Enterprise Development Group, Workforce Singapore

Julia has served in then Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), now reconstituted to Workforce Singapore (WSG) since 2003 and she has made pioneering contributions in the areas of workforce development and Continuing Education & Training (CET) through her various stints in WDA. Her experience and key competencies span across a wide spectrum of areas, including the development and implementation of enterprise capability development schemes, productivity initiatives, worker segment initiatives, policy planning, research, trainer certification, quality assurance, industry engagement, sectoral Skills Framework and Singapore Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) development and implementation for both services and manufacturing sectors.

Julia currently assumes the role of Assistant Chief Executive, Enterprise Development Group in which she provides strategic steer on sectoral manpower development and spearheading enterprise-centric, job redesign and sectoral data insights and initiatives to support business and workforce transformation across 30 industry sectors in collaboration with sector agencies and tripartite partners. Some key national initiatives include Industry Transformation Maps Jobs and Skills Refresh, Jobs Transformation Maps, Industry 4.0 Human Capital Initiative, Adapt & Grow (A&G), Transform & Grow (T&G), Lean Enterprise Development Scheme (LEDS), SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package and Stabilisation & Support Package for Covid-19 impacted sectors.

Julia holds a First Class Honours Degree in Arts with a Diploma in Education from the Nanyang Technological University / National Institute of Education, as well as a Masters in Educational Management (Honours) from the University of Western Australia. She has also completed the Advanced Management Programme at the Harvard Business School in May 2018. She sits on the Boards of Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), Singapore Productivity Centre (SGPC) and the Institute of Banking & Finance (IBF).

MS JULIA NG
Assistant Chief Executive, Enterprise Development Group, Workforce Singapore

MR ANDREW CHONG

Chairman, ITE Board of Governors, Chairman, Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA)

Andrew Chong has over thirty years of experience in the technology market, in the fields of strategy, leadership, management, skills development, marketing and organisational development.

He currently serves on the Future Economy Council (FEC) Manufacturing Subcommittee co-chaired by the Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry. In the field of training and development he chairs the external review panel for the Polytechnic Quality Assurance Framework and is the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). He is a Board Member of the Ministry of Manpower’s Workforce Singapore Agency (WSG).

Andrew stepped down as Regional President and Managing Director of Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific in August 2017 but remains active in the semiconductor industry through his Chairmanship of the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA). He also holds Board and advisory roles in several technology start-up companies. He is on the Board of Mapletree Industrial Trust Management Ltd, the Manager for Singapore Exchange listed Mapletree Industrial Trust. He serves on the Boards of NTUC Health Cooperative and the Employment and Employability Institute Pte Ltd.

Andrew received his Bachelor of Electronics Engineering in 1987 and Master of Business Administration in 1993 from the University of Adelaide in South Australia. He was conferred a Medal of Commendation at the 2017 May Day Awards for promoting good industrial relations and initiating workers’ training and skills upgrading programmes and has co-authored a book on the technological and business trends in the automotive market in Asia.

MR ANDREW CHONG
Chairman, ITE Board of Governors,
Chairman, Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA)