International Chamber of Commerce elects new chairman

SINGAPORE -The Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC) has elected Mr Rolf Gerber, chairman of LGT Bank (Singapore), as chairman of the Chamber's Board of Directors.

Mr Gerber was nominated to the Board of Directors in February 2003 and has been a key member for the past 10 years. He assumed the role of First Deputy Chairman in 2011.

With over 30 years' experience in the finance industry, Mr Gerber joined LGT Singapore in 2002 to establish LGT's first banking platform in Asia.

Before joining LGT he was with UBS for 20 years. He was previously CEO of the UBS Group in Singapore.

For his commitment to the Singapore business community and service in various Singapore government led councils, Mr Gerber was conferred the Public Service Medal (PBM) by the President of Singapore in 2010.

Mr Gerber takes over the helm from Mr Shanker Iyer, who served the maximum term of two years as chairman, having been re-elected to the position for a second consecutive term in 2012.

"SICC is the voice of international businesses in Singapore connecting multinational corporations (MNCs), government-linked companies (GLCs) and home-grown companies across different industries," said Mr Iyer. "In order to continue to remain relevant in a changing and more competitive business environment, we have, in the last two years, added several new faces to the Board of Directors. Our Board, representing different age groups, both genders, international and home-grown businesses, will help widen the Chamber's reach and bring fresh perspectives to our programmes."

"We have restructured our operations with new committees to address cross-industry issues, such as Manpower and Productivity, Emerging Markets and Corporate Governance among others, that impact all our members," he added.

Mr Gerber said that the Chamber will continue to provide value to its membership by engaging key policy-makers and influencers.

The SICC has over 700 members. Collectively, the members represent nearly 40 countries and over 40 per cent of the membership is made up of Singapore companies.