Bain & Company Partner Seow-Chien Chew named World Economic Forum Young Global Leader

Seow-Chien Chew is recognized for her contribution in helping solve the talent management challenges facing many non-profit organizations across Southeast Asia and Singapore.

According to Bain & Company, the recognition is for her outstanding leadership, professional accomplishments and commitment to social change, particularly her application of business skills and analytical rigor to help solve the talent management challenges facing many non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Southeast Asia today.

Ms. Chew founded and heads the firm's pro-bono consulting initiative, Bain Cares, which works with non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the region. Together with the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) and the Centre for Non Profit Leadership (CNPL), Ms. Chew and her team recently conducted a nationwide study of Singapore NPOs. This survey, which has received wide media coverage, highlighted funding, talent recruitment, development and retention as the biggest issues faced by NPOs. Ms. Chew is working closely with NPOs to tackle these challenges through the Bain-CNPL Executive Training Series, which was established to develop and build capabilities of non-profit leaders. The Series currently reaches more than 100 non-profit leaders annually.

“We are extremely proud of Seow-Chien’s distinguished recognition as a Young Global Leader,” said Paul Meehan, managing director for Bain & Company's Asia-Pacific region. “Her commitment to creating change both with our clients and within our communities serves as an inspiring example for all of our employees.”

Ms. Chew, a partner and leader in the firm’s Asia Pacific Financial Services Practice, advises leading financial services clients in the banking and insurance sectors, primarily in emerging markets. Her areas of expertise include full potential transformation and change management, building and embedding customer advocacy, operations improvement, organization design and mergers and acquisitions. She also heads Bain’s Customer Strategy & Marketing practice in Southeast Asia.

“I am honored to be part of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders,” said Seow-Chien Chew. “This is a tremendous platform to connect with like-minded YGLs who share similar interests and passions for making the world a better place. I look forward to collaborating with my fellow YGLs and will be continuing my work with NPOs to develop new strategies and approaches to help them build organization capabilities that deliver greater social impact and improve operating efficiencies to further support their mission,” she said.

Ms. Chew earned an M.B.A., with distinction, from Harvard Business School. She also graduated from Cambridge University with an M.Phil. in finance and a Bachelor of Arts, with honors, in economics. She is a published author who has written about talent management within the social sector.