The Art of Transforming Lawyers into Directors on Receptive Boards

Jeffery Tan, Group General Counsel & Chief Sustainability Officer , Jardine Cycle & Carriage Limited

In August, US rental car giant Hertz announced that it is adding two lawyers as board members, a current and a former general counsel of corporations. This is the latest in an increasing trend where lawyers are welcomed by commercial boards. For years, companies have resisted (or frowned upon) the appointment of lawyers to boards; with some corporate leaders believing that because their businesses already have an internal chief legal officer or general counsel, appointing a lawyer from the outside would be superfluous. This was the mindset regardless of whether the lawyer hailed from legal practice or a general counsel in another corporation.

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Singapore Management General September 2024 Vol.17, No. 68, Summer 2024

Jeffery Tan

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Jeffery is the Group General Counsel; Chief Sustainability Officer, Director, Group Corporate Affairs; and Group Company Secretary of Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd. He is responsible for legal, compliance, company secretarial, communications and public affairs at the Group level. Before joining Jardine Cycle & Carriage, he was the Group General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Board Secretary for UTAC Holdings Ltd. Prior to that, he has over 30 years of private practice and in-house legal experience with international law firms and multinational companies such as Allen & Gledhill, DLA Piper, Siemens and Motorola. He also served in a business capacity as President of Motorola Singapore for five years. Jeffery has an LLB (HONS) from the National University of Singapore. He is a senior Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Singapore and a Solicitor of England & Wales. He has completed the Senior Executive Management Program, at Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management and the Driving Strategic Innovation Program at MIT Sloan School of Management. Jeffery serves on the board of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce and is an Advisor to the Sustainability Panel of the Singapore Stock Exchange’s SGListco Association.

Jardine Cycle & Carriage Limited

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Jardine Cycle and Carriage Limited is a leading Singapore listed diversified conglomerate and a member of the Jardine Matheson Group. With a market cap of US$13.9 Billion, it is a component stock of the bell weather FTSE Straits Times Index which employs over 250,000 people across Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. JC&C has a strategic interest in Astra International, the largest independent automotive group in Southeast Asia. Astra International has further interests in financial services, heavy equipment, mining, construction & energy, agribusiness, infrastructure & logistics, information technology and property.

Singapore Management General September 2024 Vol.17, No. 68, Summer 2024
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