The Peak Singapore’s Top 10 Interviews with Business Leaders in 2025

As we are on the cusp of closing 2025, it is time to reflect on a year swirled in ongoing wars, trade tensions, climate pressures, and technological disruptions (read: AI)  in a complex and polynodal world. 

Throughout the year, The Peak Singapore team has interviewed numerous prolific Singapore-based business leaders in various industries, including healthcare, fintech, telecommunications, technology, real estate, and media, arts, and culture.

In January, we launched a refreshed look of the print edition The Peak, which turned 40 last year, while our annual Power List celebrated Vanguards — business leaders who are boldly reshaping their industries, questioning outdated norms, and pushing boundaries with vision and conviction. At a time when conformity is often rewarded and change met with resistance, these individuals choose to lead from the front — not for applause, but because the future demands it.

We end the year with the second edition of Strictly Zillennial. This special feature celebrates business leaders who occupy a unique position on the generational spectrum — neither Gen Z nor fully millennials but entirely courageous, audacious, and visionary.

Here’s our list of Top 10 best performing interviews in 2025. Stay tuned for more meaningful and thought-provoking stories in the coming year.

10. Jason Leow led at Shell and GIC — now he’s teaching C-suites how to slow down

Jason Leow is not only the vice chair at Edelman Smithfield, but also the CEO/founder of The Doing Well Centre, an organisation that coaches C-suites, advises boards, and works with organisations on how to be more human. He reflects on his multiple roles and his intention behind deliberately designing his life to be so.

“The corporate world is more volatile than people admit. I’ve seen brilliant people cut loose through no fault of their own. That’s why I’ve always built in parallel — even while leading at Shell and GIC, I planted seeds elsewhere. I didn’t want to be left with only one card to play.

The Doing Well Centre came from that instinct: to create a space for deeper work, more values-driven conversations, and a community that’s not built just around corporate KPIs,” he says.

9. The Malaysian redefining senior living: Diane Chia and the Millennia Village experiment

By reimagining senior living as an empowering lifestyle choice and not a last resort, Diane Chua runs a senior living resort designed for connection, lifelong learning, and well-being. This story is one of nine on The Peak Singapore’s Power List. The annual recognition of the list celebrates and acknowledges individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, influence, and impact within their respective fields and the broader community.

8. To last in an unforgiving industry, Tommy Pang has learned to test quickly, cut ruthlessly, and protect the fragility that built him

Tommy Pang opens up about navigating the cutthroat food and beverage business, and how he balances the cautious teachings of his hawker parents with the desperate rush of his peers.

7. Why the CEO and founder of Acme Technology walked away from Big Tech to fix the banking world’s biggest headache

Moving from corporate to start-ups often comes with many adjustments, and the CEO and founder of Acme Technology, JX Lye speaks about the challenge of building trust in fintech, and how the not so glamorous work behind the scenes is where true innovation happens, creating lasting infrastructure for the future.

6. “The expectation that caregiving falls solely on women remains one of the biggest obstacles to female leadership.”

As vice president of DKSH, Michelle Teo reflects on the complexities of global healthcare, about leadership — how her role in the family has contributed to her abilities, and how leading by example involves addressing structural barriers in the workforce.

“We need to normalise shared caregiving responsibilities, encourage men to take active roles in family life, and build workplace structures that support rather than penalise those with familial commitments. A shift in mindset can unlock opportunities that have long remained out of reach,” she says.

5. Why Hazleen Ahmad believes we’ve got neurodiversity completely wrong — and what she’s doing about it

Hazleen Ahmad is building inclusive ecosystems where diversity can truly blossom and neurodivergent individuals and women can be recognised for the potential they offer to organisations. This story is one of nine on The Peak Singapore’s Power List. The annual recognition of the list celebrates and acknowledges individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, influence, and impact within their respective fields and the broader community.

4. The hosts of Yah Lah But reveal what drives their mission to create content that’s “damn smart, damn funny, yet damn relatable”

Haresh Tilani and Terence Chia chat all about their content: their inspiration, the driving force behind them, the unexpected structure in their work, and what they hope to be remembered for.

3. The Business of Clarity: At OKX Singapore, Gracie Lin leads a quiet but firm revolution

“The noise stopped, the headlines, the flashy stuff. It was easy to think the industry had just died,” reflects Gracie Lin, Singapore CEO of OKX, about the cryptocurrency industry following the collapse of FTX and the imprisonment of Sam Bankman-Fried. She soon realised that was not the case: as noisemakers and headlines moved on, people continued working on cryptocurrency to get closer to the future of financing.

In this long read, Lin reflects on her path to CEO of OKX, why she chose cryptocurrency, and the potential of the industry.

2. The reason Southeast Asian founders struggle to lead, according to Lee Haoming

With his venture group, Lee Haoming is investing in Southeast Asia — cultivating founders and businesses that can lead instead of imitate. This story is one of nine on The Peak Singapore’s Power List. The annual recognition of the list celebrates and acknowledges individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, influence, and impact within their respective fields and the broader community.

Our theme for this year is “Vanguards,” which honours business leaders who boldly reshape their industries, challenge outdated norms, and lead change with vision and conviction.

1. Corporate governance isn’t failing, but the CEO of Singapore Institute of Directors will not wait for cracks to show

Unlike other professions — law, medicine, even hairdressing — there is no mandatory qualification for becoming a director in Singapore. At the helm of Singapore Institute of Directors, Terence Quek aims to correct this by raising the standards of directorship.

He argues for a mindset shift of governance as a continuous process, not an afterthought, as he works on a governance playbook that nudges directors from inertia to accountability.

For more interviews with business leaders, visit here.