14 singapore
Delicate balancing act for multi-tasker
Teo Ser Luck’s appointment as mayor of the North-East CDC adds to the many roles he is already performing
By Lee U-Wen
leeuwen@sph.com.sg
HE was the youngest office-hold-
er to be involved in last month’s
Cabinet reshuffle, and his latest
appointment as a mayor in Singa-
pore was, in Teo Ser Luck’s own
words, a “very unexpected” one.
Already tasked with at least
seven other roles – two of them
as Senior Parliamentary Secre-
tary at different ministries – Mr
Teo, 40, says it will take a delicate
balancing act to make sure he de-
votes enough time to each of
them.
But it is a challenge he relish-
es, he told BT in an interview at
his office at the Ministry of Com-
munity Development, Youth and
Sports.
“During my meeting before
the reshuffle with (Prime Minis-
ter Lee Hsien Loong), he asked
me how would I balance (my
work),” Mr Teo said. “He knows
each of our strengths and weak-
nesses, and where we are best.
He stretches us all, especially the
younger ones like me. He places
us where he thinks we can be
stretched but also allows us to
shine.”
Mr Teo says his job as a may-
or will provide a “bigger plat-
form” for him in his young politi-
cal career, having entered poli-
tics only at the 2006 general elec-
tion.
“I treasure this opportunity,”
he said. “If I have the ability and
capacity, and someone believes
in me, then I won’t want to let an-
yone down.”
Still, it’s a tall order as Mr Teo
Chicago Booth’s relocation delayed New category added to
THE University of Chicago Booth
School of Business’ plans to relo-
cate from Penang Road to Tang-
lin Village have been pushed
back, by at least a year or two.
The school – which opened its
Asia campus at the historic
House of Tan Yeok Nee in Sep-
tember 2000 – was originally
scheduled to move to new
premises at Loewen Road in Tan-
glin Village sometime this year,
having outgrown its 2,000 sq m
premises.
But the move has been de-
layed while lease terms are being
worked out, the dean of Chicago
Booth, Edward Snyder, told BT
during a visit here in February.
“We've been granted another
few months to resolve some of
the lease terms and financing,”
he said.
WEARING MANY HATS
Mr Teo, 40, has no fewer than eight separate political roles. Still, the father of two finds time to take part in Ironman events
goes about his duties in no fewer
than eight separate roles. He is al-
so SPS at the Transport Ministry,
a Member of Parliament for Pasir
Ris-Punggol Group Representa-
tion Constituency (GRC), chair-
man of the People’s Action Party
youth wing and chairman of the
National Youth Council.
Oh, and there’s also the small
matter of being one of the key
people putting together the inau-
gural Youth Olympic Games that
Singapore will host in 2010. Not
to mention helping to make sure
the first-ever Asian Youth Games
– also to be hosted here – runs
smoothly when it takes place in
June this year.
“Once we resolve the out-
standing issues, we would still
need to do quite a lot of work, to
retrofit the historical buildings,
redo all of the insides.”
Chicago Booth, which runs Ex-
‘We've been granted
another few months
to resolve some of the
lease terms and
financing.’
Edward Snyder, dean of
Chicago Booth
ecutive MBA classes here as part
of its three-campus course (the
other two sites being Chicago
and London), certainly hopes “to
end up there”, at Tanglin Village,
Mr Teo will officially be mayor
of the North-East Community De-
velopment Council (CDC) next
month, on May 31, taking over
from the outgoing Zainul Abidin
Rasheed, who is Senior Minister
of State for Foreign Affairs.
The NE CDC comprises three
GRCs – Aljunied, Pasir Ris-Pung-
gol and Tampines – as well as the
Hougang Single Member Constit-
uency.
While it is “too early” to talk
about his plans as mayor for
now, Mr Teo said a priority will
be to continue to rally the sup-
port of other mayors and grass-
roots leaders to make sure that
community engagement re-
so as to “have a real campus”, Mr
Snyder said.
“If we do move there, we’ll
have a real campus – we’ll be
able to do a lot more educational-
ly, not just Booth but the whole
university.”
He indicated “potential inter-
est” from three arms of the uni-
versity – the College, Mathemat-
ics department and Public Policy
School – in using the Singapore
premises for some of their pro-
grammes.
“The University College has
looked at the possibility of using
the Singapore campus as a place
to have students from our Col-
lege visit for perhaps 11 weeks.
“So those are three different
units of the university, plus
Booth. It’ll be a real campus for
us.”
THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, APRIL 11-12, 2009
mains high, especially given that
YOG is fast approaching.
“I have a lot to pick up from
Mayor Zainul,” he said. “Since
the beginning, he has been very
supportive of YOG. He and the
other mayors have been plan-
ning their calendars to suit the
YOG platform and ensure the
awareness is there.”
In between getting “about five
hours of sleep” each night and be-
ing a husband and a father of
two, Mr Teo is more than willing
to sacrifice his personal time if
need be.
But when it comes to taking
part in triathlons, that is one as-
pect of life he will “not give up”.
fourth SPH Ink Awards
CREATIVITY makes the differ-
ence between a run-of-the-mill
advertisement and one that
stands out from the crowd. “Crea-
tivity makes people remember
an advertisement and, more im-
portantly, the message it is con-
veying,” says Leslie Fong, senior
executive vice-president for mar-
keting at Singapore Press Hold-
ings (SPH).
The SPH Ink Awards pay trib-
ute to creative people who made
a lasting impact through their
work.
The awards are open to all
agencies, advertisers and adver-
tising-related organisations. To
be eligible, entries must have ap-
peared in SPH newspapers dur-
FILE PHOTO
In a few weeks he will fly to Chi-
na to take part in an Ironman
event, in a bid to challenge him-
self mentally and physically.
“I want to prove to myself that
I can complete a full Ironman
while in office,” he said. “I’ve laid
off doing so for nearly three
years, and I enjoy the feeling of
taking part.”
Last month, he finished in the
top 10 per cent of the partici-
pants at the Aviva Ironman 70.3
Singapore event.
“It’s things like this that keep
me energised and motivated,” he
said. “You must always have
something to look forward to eve-
ry day.”
ing the qualifying period from
June 2008 to May 2009.
This year, a sixth category – In-
tegrated Campaign – has been
added to the awards, reflecting
the growing need for marketers
to use more than one media ave-
nue to reach their audience. To
be eligible, campaigns must have
appeared in at least two other
SPH marketing platforms besides
newspapers.
The winners of the fourth Ink
Awards will be announced at a ga-
la event in July. The top entry in
each category will win $3,000
cash and a full page of advertis-
ing space in The Straits Times
and Lianhe Zaobao. Details are
available online at www.asiaone.
com/inkawards.