Elaine Yew
Elaine Yew is a Senior Partner in Egon Zehnder and a founding leader of our Global Leadership Advisory Practice. She serves private and public companies on succession planning for CEO, other C-level positions and Non-Executive positions. She advises clients on CEO development, top team effectiveness, organizational culture and board effectiveness and has particular expertise in working with companies that require leadership change while going through high growth or radical transformation. Elaine is a trained Coach and Fellow of the Institute of Coaching, McLean – an affiliate of the Harvard Medical School, and works with CEOs and their teams to support their development. She is also a certified Mediator and uses some of the principles in helping people work better together.
Elaine joined the firm in 2000 and spent the first nine years in the London office developing the Private Equity Practice in Europe. She moved to Singapore to lead the office there as Managing Partner until 2016. She was also a member of the firm’s Global Executive Committee for eight years.
Before joining the firm, Elaine helped to lead an industry change program while at Global Freight Exchange, the world’s first Internet-based global marketplace for air cargo. Prior to that, she was Executive Director with Goldman Sachs in the European Equities Division, based in London. Earlier, she was a Consultant with Monitor Company, working across Europe with clients in diverse sectors. She started her career with the Singapore Economic Development Board, where she was at the center of early regionalization work, helping Singapore companies develop their presence in Indochina and Myanmar in the early 1990s.
Elaine’s first passion was the Theatre, and she has a BA with Honours in English and Drama from the University of Kent and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Education is a big area of interest for Elaine and where most of her community work is centered. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the National University of Singapore and chairs the Industry Advisory Board of NUS’s Centre for Future-Ready Graduates. She is also a member of the Industry Advisory Board of NUS’s School of Continuing and Lifelong Education (SCALE). Elaine also serves on the Board of Governors of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus group of schools in Singapore.
Elaine’s other focus in her community work is in the area of leadership and workforce development in Singapore. She sits on the Board of Workforce Singapore, and on the Advisory Board of Women’s Forum Singapore. In addition, Elaine is on the independent Nominating Committee of BW Offshore, BW Energy, BW LPG and Hafnia, listed on the Norwegian Stock Exchange; and is a member of the Asia Advisory Board of Allianz. She also sits on the board of The Majurity Trust and chairs the Tangent Initiative. Elaine was appointed a Justice of the Peace in Singapore in 2020.
