Professor Lily Kong

President at Singapore Management University

Moderator

Professor Lily Kong has been President of Singapore Management University (SMU) since 2019, the first Singaporean to lead the institution and the first woman to head any university in Singapore.

At SMU, she spearheaded significant strategic initiatives, focusing on Digital Transformation, Sustainable Living, and Growth in Asia. Under her leadership, SMU launched new colleges, research centres and institutes, and overseas centres. Enrolment, research funding, industry partnerships, and philanthropic support have surged during her tenure. SMU also gained recognition as the best employer in the Singapore university sector by The Straits Times. The university is ranked among the top three in the world for archival research in accounting, fourth in the world for software engineering, second in Asia for research in business schools, and has won best accelerator/incubator programme and best co-working space in Southeast Asia.

Professor Kong has received prestigious honours including the Victoria Medal from the Royal Geographical Society, the Robert Stoddard Award from the American Association of Geographers, and Foreign Fellow from the Geographical Society of China. She is consistently ranked in the top 1-2% of her field in studies by Stanford and has been recognised in Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list, Forbes inaugural 50 over 50 (Asia) and Tatler’s Asia’s Most Influential. She has been inducted into the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame. Her national awards include the Public Service Medal (Silver)and Public Service Star.