Exploring ESG and sustainability in corporate leadership

Join us for our General Counsel roundtable discussion as we delve into the topic of ESG and Sustainability in Corporate Leadership.

From the emergence of General Counsels taking on key roles as Chief Sustainability Officers, to the Green GC Powerlist: Southeast Asia 2023 recognising lawyers driving sustainability initiatives, the importance of sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) has never been more apparent. In this roundtable discussion, we will examine how legal leaders can weigh in on sustainability strategies.

Joining us will be Veronica Lai, General Counsel from Starhub, who will share how she first became involved in ESG initiatives, how Starhub is effectively measuring their ESG impact and integrating sustainability goals into legal strategies, and some of the challenges spearheading ESG. This will be followed by a discussion moderated by Adrian Yeo, General Counsel and Head of ESG at Growtheum Capital. Adrian is well-placed to share unique perspectives, given his role spearheading ESG and sustainability at Growtheum.

The event will be held at: The SR Group Singapore – 3 Church Street, Samsung Hub, #28-02/03, Singapore 049483

The Agenda

meet our speaker

Veronica Lai

Veronica is responsible for StarHub’s Legal, Corporate Secretariat, Regulatory, and Sustainability functions.

With more than two decades of experience in the info-communications industry, Veronica also previously helmed the Corporate Communications and Investor Relations functions, during her tenure at StarHub. Prior to joining StarHub, she practised law at Rajah and Tann Singapore LLP.

Under her leadership, StarHub is recognised by the Corporate Knights‘ Global 100 as the World’s Most Sustainable Telecom Provider in 2023. Veronica serves as the Honorary Treasurer of the Global Compact Network Singapore’s Management Committee, the Singapore chapter of the UN Global Compact.  She was conferred the Chief Legal Officer 2020 Award by the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association and is listed in Legal500’s GC Powerlist since 2017. In 2023, she was listed on the inaugural list of the Legal500 Green GC Powerlist, which ranks the top General Counsels leading in Sustainability practice.

Veronica is appointed as a specialist mediator by the Singapore International Mediation Centre, and appointed by the Ministry of Finance to the Income Tax Review Board. She also received the Asian Company Secretary 2013 Award for Singapore by Corporate Governance Asia. Veronica holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the National University of Singapore.

meet our moderator

Adrian Yeo

Adrian is the General Counsel at Growtheum Capital Partners. A US and Singapore-qualified lawyer with more than 20 years of legal experience, he has worked on a wide variety of industry-leading and award-winning cross-border M&A and international capital markets transactions spanning multiple jurisdictions and industries.

In his previous role at Traveloka, Adrian advised management and provided legal oversight in respect of topics including Traveloka’s M&A and corporate finance activities and corporate governance. Prior to that, Adrian was Credit Suisse’s head of legal for Southeast Asia & Frontier Markets and led another team that advised Credit Suisse’s local entities, country management, business stakeholders and operations staff on local legal issues and matters. Adrian was the most senior member of Credit Suisse’s legal team in Southeast Asia that covered investment banking transactions across APAC, including North Asia and India.

Adrian has extensive law firm experience in Southeast Asia and the US. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, he was a special counsel at the Singapore office of Milbank LLP, where he advised private equity, sovereign wealth and other funds and companies on cross-border investments, M&A, financings and also to issuers and underwriters on public offerings and private placements of equity and debt securities. He started his corporate law career at the Silicon Valley office of Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he advised US technology and other companies, investors and financial institutions on IPOs, M&A and investments. Adrian graduated from Harvard Law School with a Master of Laws (LLM) degree and National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree (Top in Class).