GIC's former Chief Investment Officer Peter Ng Kok Song might be running in the upcoming presidential election.
Should he run, it is highly unlikely that he'll face any significant worries when it comes to qualifying for the nomination, not just because he's spent the past ten years as the head of the Avanda Investment Management's nearly S$13 billion fund.
He also spent nearly four decades in the heart of Singapore's financial strategy, working at GIC, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Ministry of Finance.
1. Kampung boy made good
In an interview with the Straits Times in 2012, the year before he retired from GIC, Ng recounted his humble origins as the son of a fish seller, and growing up in a thatched roof house in Kangkar, near modern Sengkang, staying there until he got married at the age of 24.
Coming from a large family, Ng is the second of 11 children, he remembered helping his father sort fish in his youth, a man who he credits as having a strong innate sense of arithmetic, able to quickly and accurately calculate weight and cost of his fish without the need for tools.
His family, his father especially, had tasked him with focusing on school and his education, aided by a granduncle who contributed by paying for his school textbooks.
Ng said that it was the guidance of the Catholic church, of which he was baptised into when he was seven, that guided him when he was growing up.
His hard work culminated in a Public Service Commission scholarship which saw him attend the then-University of Singapore to study physics.
He was then employed by the Ministry of Finance, which would start him on a nearly 40-year journey at the heart of Singapore's reserves.
While not trained in economics, Ng recounted that Dr Goh Keng Swee had sought candidates with good mathematical ability.
Ng joined the department of overseas investments, compiling data and information for his boss Elizabeth Sam, herself a notable figure in the story of Singapore's early days, as detailed by the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.
2. Investing forty years
Ng eventually transferred to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, with whom he spent a three year stint in London, heading its investment office there, learning about global finance, and meeting a "whole spectrum of people", forming the relationships that would help him in later years.
In 1986 he joined GIC to become its first non-expatriate Director, heading the Equities and Bond Department, which was the bulk of GIC's assets at the time.
He would eventually become the Managing Director of public markets, playing a critical role in managing investments in public markets and expanding GIC's investment capability.
He became GIC's Group Chief Investment Officer in 2007, until his retirement in 2013.
In 2012, he was conferred the Meritorious Service Medal for his contributions to Singapore.
He has also been conferred honors internationally, with the government of France naming him a knight of the Legion of Honor for his contributions as a member of the Agency France Tresor's strategic committee.
3. Meditate on it
His Catholic upbringing has also led to the other thing that Ng is known for, which is a leading practitioner of Christian meditation, and is a member of the World Community for Christian Meditation.
Ng has edited works on meditation including the book and audio CD The Hunger for Depth and Meaning: Learning to Meditate with John Main.
This aspect of his persona is perhaps best known in the anecdote of him teaching former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew how to meditate.
Ng's own practice of meditation had become more widely known as a result of his own wife Patricia's battle with illness and eventual passing, having recorded a message on how meditation had helped her cope with illness.
Ng has practised meditation now for nearly three decades, and has spoken widely about how it has helped both spiritually and professionally, such as during this interview with the CFA Institute, where he spoke about his reasoning, methodology, and practicality of his practice, and how he used it to find stillness in a noisy world.
Ever since 2015, he has served as founding partner and Chairman of Avanda Investment Management, which in 2016 Temasek Holdings put over S$4 billion into its Avanda Global Multi-Asset Master Fund, according to the Straits Times in 2016.
Avanda's assets have doubled to around S$13.4 billion since its founding, according to the Straits Times, and the fund has invested in prominent regional companies such as Indonesia's GoTo Group and the Philippine's Monde Nissin, with its primary focus on long-term Asian investments.
But Ng's current short-term consideration will now turn to whether he will make a run for the presidency.
He certainly has the experience for it.
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Top image via Credit Suisse/Youtube