FORMER Singapore Telecommunications : Z74 -0.36% (Singtel) chief executive Chua Sock Koong has joined Ayala Corporation’s board of directors following an election at the Philippine conglomerate’s annual stockholders meeting on Friday (Apr 29). 

Ayala has also welcomed former Philippines finance secretary Cesar Purisima to its board, the group said in a press statement on the same day. 

Chua and Purisima replace outgoing directors Keiichi Matsunaga and Antonio Jose U Periquet. Chua will be 1 of the 2 female directors sitting on the board, the other being former Sun Life Financial (Philippines) CEO Rizalina Mantaring, Ayala noted.

Chua, who retired as Singtel group CEO in 2020, is currently a senior adviser at the Singapore telco. She is also the deputy chairman of Singapore’s Public Service Commission and a member of the Council of Presidential Advisers and the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council.

She sits on the boards of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Telecom, the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), Cap Vista and Prudential, as well as the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips.

Meanwhile, Purisima served as the country’s finance chief and chair of the economic development cluster of the President’s Cabinet from 2010 to 2016. He is also chairman and country managing partner of the Philippines’ largest professional services firm, SGV & Co, Ayala said.