2019 OCAA Winners
Class of 1995
Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems
Senior Vice Provost (Undergraduate Education) and Shaw Professor in Information Systems and Analytics, National University of Singapore
Professor Bernard Tan Cheng Yian graduated from NUS Faculty of Science’s Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS) in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science. He subsequently pursued a PhD in Information Sciences and graduated in 1995.
As Senior Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education at NUS, Bernard works with the Provost in managing educational directions and policies for the university, and looks after the quality of education for over 30,000 undergraduates.
He also holds a concurrent role as Shaw Professor in Information Systems and Analytics at the NUS School of Computing, where he undertakes research in social media, virtual communities, and Internet commerce. His work has been published in major international journals and conference proceedings in the field of information systems, such as Information Systems Research and Management Science, and have been cited almost 15,000 times.
Over the years, Bernard has played an instrumental role in the growth of NUS into a leading institution of higher learning in the world. Prior to his current appointments at NUS, he was Associate Provost of Undergraduate Education from 2009 to 2012, Head of the Department of Information Systems at the NUS School of Computing from 2002 to 2008, and Assistant Dean of the School of Computing from 2000 to 2002.
He has also served on the University Promotion and Tenure Committee, which reviews the promotion and tenure process of NUS faculty, as well as the Expert Panel of the University Research Committee.
At present, he is a part of the University Committee on Educational Policy and the University Teaching Excellence Committee. Bernard is also a Fellow, and former Executive Council Chairman of the NUS Teaching Academy, a professional platform to promote effective teaching and learning in NUS.
Outside of NUS, he has served on the editorial boards of various international research journals, such as MIS Quarterly, Journal of the AIS, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. He is also on the advisory board of the research journal Information Systems Research, and has served on the program committees of numerous international conferences.
Bernard was formally a Asia-Pacific Council Representative of the Association for Information Systems, and later served as its President from 2009 to 2010.
He has also served as Advisory Board Member for Ngee Ann Polytechnic (2009 – 2015), External Assessor for University of Malaya (2007 – 2014), External Examiner for City University of Hong Kong (2004 – 2012), External Examiner for Open University of Hong Kong (2002 – 2005), External Examiner for Temasek Polytechnic (2002 – 2006), and Management Board Member for Institute of Systems Science (2002 – 2009).
Awards
- National Day Awards, Public Administration Medal (Silver), 2012 – Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore
- Outstanding Educator Award, 2004 – NUS
- Teaching Excellence Award, 2003 – NUS
- Young Researcher Award, 2002 – NUS
- NUS School of Computing Teaching Excellence Award, 2000 – NUS
- Runner-up, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) doctoral dissertation competition, 1995 – ICIS
- Participant, ICIS doctoral consortium, 1993 – ICIS
Class of 1994
Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science
Chief Executive Officer, Integrated Health Information Systems Pte Ltd (IHiS), Singapore
Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Health (MOH), Singapore
Mr Bruce Liang graduated from NUS Faculty of Science’s Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS) in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science.
Currently, he oversees the overall advancement of healthcare information technology (IT) in Singapore. Bruce’s work includes managing IT funding, policy development, strategy, planning, implementation, as well as overseeing the operations of country-wide programs and capabilities.
As Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS) Pte Ltd, Bruce helps transform healthcare in Singapore through smart technology, and supports more than 50,000 healthcare users in Singapore’s health ecosystem through the supply of healthcare IT services to all public healthcare institutions.
He is also the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH), which helps raise health awareness and education, as well as ensure that the citizens and nationals of Singapore can access high quality healthcare services.
Bruce has extensive experience in large-scale, complex enterprise planning and developing Business-IT transformation programmes for governments and large businesses across Asia. Prior to joining MOH and IHiS, he spent 19 years at Accenture, holding various leadership roles such as Partner for Growth and Operations of ASEAN Products Practice, as well as the Health and Public Sector Practice in Asia Emerging Markets.
He also plays an active role in transforming the delivery of digital services by the Singapore government, holding Directorship on the board of Assurity Trusted Solutions Pte Ltd, and serving on the board of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore. Bruce also is one of the board members of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, which is the national regulator of business entities, public accountants, and corporate service providers in Singapore. He is also part of the Industry Advisory Committee for NUS School of Computing, where he provides industry insights to help align school strategy with industry trends.
Class of 1993
Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science
Managing Director, Microsoft Singapore
Mr Kevin Wo graduated from NUS Faculty of Science’s Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS) in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science.
He has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, and has held various leadership roles in sales management, technology consulting, and large-scale system integration.
Kevin is presently a managing director at Microsoft Singapore, where he is responsible for developing and driving growth strategies for all of Microsoft’s product, service and support offerings in Singapore. Through creating local opportunities, and understanding the digital transformation needs of customers, as well as more than 1,000 partners and independent software vendors, Kevin and his team help promote growth, and lasting societal impact via the use of Microsoft’s digital technologies and platforms.
Outside of his role at Microsoft, Kevin serves as a board member at the Info-Communications Media Development Authority of Singapore, which seeks to develop and regulate the converging infocomm and media sectors in a holistic way, safeguarding the interests of consumers, and fostering pro-enterprise regulations.
He also serves as a Board of Governor at the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, a Councilor at SGTech, which provides business outreach and opportunities for companies in the technology industry in Singapore, and is a Board Member of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Kevin spent close to seven years with Avanade, a leading provider of innovative digital and cloud services, business solutions, and design-led experiences. He first joined Avanade in 2010 as its vice president and country manager for Singapore, and subsequently took on the role of serving as the company’s senior vice president and managing director for the ASEAN region.
He has also previously held leadership roles at several leading IT and business consulting firms, including Oracle, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the National Computer Board.
Class of 2004
Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering
Project Director, Websparks Pte Ltd
Mr Ng Chee Chiu graduated from the NUS School of Computing in 2004 with a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering.
He is the Founder and Project Director of Websparks, an award-winning creative agency that helps government agencies, education institutes and multinational corporations to deploy multiple award winning websites, content management systems, and web portals.
Chee Chiu has over 15 years of web development experience, and leads a full team of project managers, developers, and designers at Websparks to develop customised, cost effective and user-friendly web products that utilise the latest internet technologies. The services provided by Websparks include web consultancy, conceptualisation, design, maintenance, other turnkey solutions, using content management systems such as Sitefinity, Sitecore, and WordPress.
Chee Chiu is involved in the pitching of the projects to clients, managing cost and resource allocations for the projects, and provides advisory guidance to the team members during the process.
First established in 2003 as Evohub, the company underwent an extensive rebranding exercise in 2008. Evohub was the pioneer recipient of the NUS Funds for University Student Entrepreneurs (FUSE) programme, a scheme that develops entrepreneurial talent among NUS students and gives support to young entrepreneurs.
As the founding partner of Evohub, Chee Chiu secured and managed several projects for various clients, such as NUS, the Singapore Land Authority, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, as well as the Ministry of Education, Singapore.
Through his leadership, the company grew from a team of 3 to a team of 10, with a S$1 Million annual turnover. Now, Websparks has a team of over 70 members.
From 2008 to 2009, Chee Chiu was also the co-founder of Payloop, a company that worked closely with major real estate agencies in Singapore, such as Propnex, to help them improve their cash flow, using the concept of accounts receivable purchasing.
Outside of work, Chee Chiu volunteers for the NUS School of Computing’s Code for Community initiative, where he teaches children programming using games such as using Dash, Microbit, and Lego NXT.
Class of 1991
Master of Science in Computer Science
Professor and Dean, School of Information Systems at Singapore Management University
Prof Pang Hwee Hwa graduated from the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS) in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science, and went on to complete a Master of Science in 1991.
He is currently the Dean of the School of Information Systems (SIS) at Singapore Management University (SMU). He also holds a concurrent role as a Professor at SIS, where he undertakes research in database management systems, data security, information quality, operating systems, and multimedia servers.
His research has been published in various top-tier international journals, such as ACM Transactions of Database Systems, Very Large Database Journal, and IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering. Hwee Hwa has also served in the programme committees of international conferences such as ACM SIGMOD, Very Large Data Bases, and IEEE International on Data Engineering.
Hwee Hwa has played a central role in supporting the development and growth of the postgraduate programmes at SMU. He served as PhD Programme Director at SIS from 2006 to 2014, and took on additional responsibilities as Director, and later Dean for Postgraduate Research at the university level from 2011.
Prior to joining SMU, Hwee Hwa was with the A*Star Institute of Infocomm Research where, as Division Director and Principal Scientist, he was responsible for strategic planning, project management, industry and government agency engagement, leading and managing research staff. Under his leadership, the division was one of the most successful in transferring technology to industry.
He has also previously held leadership roles at the Laboratories for Information Technology, Kent Ridge Digital Labs, and the Institute of Systems Science.
Over the years, Hwee Hwa has served on the editorial boards of various international research journals, such as Journal of Database Management and Electronic Commerce Research and Applications. He has also served on the program committees of numerous international conferences.
He has also served as Advisory Council Member for the Singapore Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund and Board Member for SkillsFuture Singapore Agency (2016 – 2020), Committee Member for the Singapore National Research Foundation’ Global Young Scientist Summit (2014 – 2015), Advisory Board Member at Hwa Chong Institution for the Integrated Program (2012 – 2020) and Diploma Program (2008 – 2012), and was part of the Resource Team for the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (2006 – 2010) and the Infocomm Development Authority (2002 – 2003).
Awards
- National Day Awards, Public Administration Medal (Silver), 2019 – Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore
- Research Excellence Award, School of Information Systems, 2009, 2010 – SMU
- Role Model for the Category of Senior Member of Research Staff, 2002 – Laboratories for Information Technology
- Excellence Award for Patent Filings, 1999 – Kent Ridge Digital Labs
- Overseas Scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990 – NUS
- OCBC Scholarship for undergraduate studies at the National University of Singapore, 1985 – OCBC Bank
