About Us

Helen Chai (PhD) graduated with Bachelor of Science (Honours) and Doctor of Philosophy from National University of Singapore (NUS) and as Valedictorian in the Executive Master of Business Administration from California State University. Trained as a biochemical engineer, she started her career in the corporate sector in Asia Pacific role in product management and business development at a leading clinical chemistry and medical diagnostics technology company, prior to moving back to the public sector in the higher education industry. She was a founder member of the core team that started a new School at Nanyang Polytechnic, the School of Chemical and Life Sciences, then took on the lead post of one of the curriculum pillars as Department Head of Bioprocess Technology. Since then, Dr. Chai cuts a familiar figure and is a well-known veteran in Singapore’s tertiary education scene, she featured in the tertiary education video documentary “Is a University Degree a Sure Path to Success?” for the National Library Board (NLB). When Singapore Management University (SMU) started classes at the Bukit Timah campus, she was among the pioneer staff to witness the inaugural batch of undergraduate intake.

Dr. Chai returned to her alma mater National University of Singapore to serve as Assistant Dean and Director, BBA programmes at NUS Business School. In her term as head overseeing the Undergraduate Studies (or BBA) Office since 2005, she was involved in the re-introduction of the Accountancy degree back in NUS, the transfer of Real Estate program to NUS Business School, managed three major curriculum reviews in the undergraduate degree programmes, and started the lifelong learning business programme for adult learners. Under her stewardship, the undergraduate student population has multiplied by four-fold from a strength of 1,000 to 4,000, and annual class intake has grown from 325 to 1,000 freshers. She served on the infrastructure building committee for both SMU Bras Basah city campus and NUS Business School Mochtar Riady Building. Dr. Chai is also a Resident Fellow at the NUS UTown Residence. A self-professed workaholic, she is passionate about her students and her work. For her contribution, Dr. Chai was conferred the 2017 National Day Awards Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Gangsa) Medal.

Yuk Meng oversees the development and outreach for open-enrolment programmes. He has been with NUS since 2006. Prior to NUS, he was a management consultant with KPMG Business Advisory, leading numerous HR and business process improvement projects for public and private sector clients including Government of Brunei, NEC, ST Engineering, and GE Money.

He started his career with Singapore Airlines in 1993 and led teams in manpower planning, systems planning and passenger marketing before joining an internet start-up in 2000. He graduated with an MBA and a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from NUS.

Bridget leads the Client Management teams (English and Mandarin programmes) in developing custom learning and development solutions for a portfolio of clients from Asia and the Globe across a diverse set of industries. Prior to this, her most recent role was at SMU as Associate Director in the International Office leading partnerships development. She has held senior roles at the Australian National University, NUS, and the University of Melbourne.

She began her career working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore for ten years including postings in Beijing and Brussels. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from NUS and holds a Master of Education (Leadership and Management) from RMIT, Melbourne.