Heidi is a Senior Vice President in the Enterprise Strategy department, where she helps drive GIC’s long-term strategic planning process and coordinates enterprise-wide initiatives and capability-building. As part of GIC’s Sustainability Office, she is responsible for shaping research into sustainability issues, and integrating sustainability into our investment processes – critical capabilities to position GIC for the future.
Outside her role and through the With Love, GIC initiative, she has organised a team to support a series of activities for Children’s Wishing Well, a Singapore-based charity for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Why did you decide to join GIC?
I started my career in the Singapore civil service and have always held GIC in high regard for its track record in growing Singapore’s reserves and contributing to the national budget. Joining GIC, I expected to be in the company of an international crew of colleagues at the top of their game in every function and I wasn’t disappointed!
Few organisations operate so well at the nexus of Main Street and Wall Street, and I was curious to learn what that entailed from the inside. Moreover, GIC’s role in helping to secure Singapore’s financial future is incredibly meaningful to me, and that’s why I joined.
What does your typical workday look like?
Actually what I really like is that there is no typical workday. Every day brings new conversations to inspire, new ideas to explore, and new challenges to overcome. On any given day, I could be involved in climate-focused discussions with portfolio companies, contract negotiations on alternative ESG data sets, client presentations on our sustainability strategies, and internal consultations with colleagues across various asset departments and global locations on a variety of issues.
What do you like most about working here?
The organisation is dynamic and constantly reinventing itself. It’s energising for me to be a part of shaping and improving something that already works, for the future. My favourite part is doing this with a team that is fully committed to the mission.
How would you describe the learning & development culture at GIC?
GIC really invests in its people. I’ve worked in government, management consulting, and financial services for many years and can tell how much a company values its employees by the quality of its recruitment, onboarding, and professional development programmes. GIC not only creates unique training and immersion programmes for its employees, but it also works with best-in-class partners from across the industry to bring in market-leading knowledge and expertise.
What you should know before joining GIC
Be open to new experiences and be bold in shaping your own destiny. GIC is highly dynamic, and that means you’ll need more than just your current capabilities to flourish over the long term. However, the good news is diversity thrives here, and there’s ample support for individuals to acquire the necessary skills.