Jessica Cheam

Jessica is the Founder and Managing Director of Eco-Business, Asia Pacific's leading independent media and business intelligence organisation dedicated to sustainable development. She is recognised as a sustainability pioneer with two decades of experience in media, sustainable development and ESG issues globally.

She is a regular columnist for national newspapers, is a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), and serves as its ESG committee member. She is also a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia and the UK’s Institute of Directors. She is also accredited with INSEAD’s Certificate of Corporate Governance and the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing.

Jessica specialises in advising the Boards of a wide range of government and multi-national organisations on ESG strategy and governance, and has a particular interest in issues at the intersection of sustainability, technology, diversity and inclusion.

She serves as an independent, non-executive director for Singapore-listed Wilmar International, Asia’s leading agribusiness group, and ComfortDelGro, one of the world's largest land transport companies. She chairs ComfortDelGro’s Board Sustainability Committee, and is a member of its Audit & Risk; and Digitalisation Committees.

She is the founding director of non-profit EB Impact, which delivers education-focused programmes for Asia’s underserved communities, and also serves as Director at Reneum Institute, Strategic Advisor to Blue Planet Environmental Solutions, advisory board member to NextWave Partners, and a member of the International Women’s Forum Singapore.

She is the published author of the book 'Forging a Greener Tomorrow: Singapore's journey from slum to eco-city' and also directs and produces impact-focused documentaries. She is a World Cities Summit Young Leader, a network of change-makers from diverse sectors who shape the global urban agenda.

Jessica also has a passion for driving sustainability innovation and building start-up ecosystems, including managing The Liveability Challenge, a global search for sustainability solutions in the urban tropics. She studied at the University of Warwick and University of London's Goldsmiths College, and has completed a Cambridge University Judge Business School executive programme on Data and Business Analytics and the International Directors Programme at INSEAD.

She was previously a political correspondent at The Straits Times and a Singapore Press Holdings scholar. She has been recognised in many regional and international journalism and sustainability business awards, including Women of the Future Southeast Asia Awards, Gen.T List 2021, The Peak Power List, and LinkedIn’s Power Profiles, and is frequently invited to speak at and host discussions across the globe including at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos on her areas of expertise.