Kishore Mahbubani
Member of the Board of Directors
Nationality:Singapore
Born: 1948
Skills and experience
Kishore Mahbubani began his career in 1971 as a diplomat with the Singapore Foreign Service where he served until 2004 with postings in Cambodia, Malaysia, Washington D.C. and New York. He served two postings as Singapore’s ambassador to the United Nations and as president of the UN Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002. Mr. Mahbubani was permanent secretary of the Singapore Foreign Ministry from 1993 to 1998. He served as founding dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore (NUS) from 2004 until the end of 2017. In July 2019, he became a Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Research Institute (ARI) of NUS. He has spoken and published extensively on geopolitical and economic issues. In 2013, the Financial Times chose one of his books, ‘The Great Convergence: Asia, the West and the Logic of One World,’ as one of the best books of the year on economics. His latest book, ‘Living the Asian Century,’ was released in August 2024. He has been a member of the boards of Zurich Insurance Group Ltd and Zurich Insurance Company Ltd since April 2015.
Committee membership
Remuneration Committee
Other directorships within the Group
Zurich Insurance Company Ltd
External appointments
In February 2021, Mr. Mahbubani was appointed chairman of the NUS Medical International Council and in October 2021, Jabil Inc. appointed Mr. Mahbubani as their adviser. In February 2022, he was appointed an adviser to TvF Capital and in September 2017, he was appointed non-executive chairman of the board of Aggregate Asset Management. Since January 2016, he has been an independent director of the board of Wilmar International Limited, Singapore. In addition, he has served on boards and councils of several institutions in Singapore, Europe and North America, and is currently a member of Yale’s President’s Council on International Activities (PCIA). He was named a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in April 2019.
Educational background
Mr. Mahbubani graduated with a first-class honors degree in philosophy from the University of Singapore and an M.A. in philosophy from Dalhousie University, Canada, where he was also awarded an honorary doctorate.
