Council Members and Secretariat Team
These are the members of our community-led council that will steward the funds raise and decide disbursement guidelines. We aim to create a diverse council comprising doctors, civil society folks, employers, etc, ensuring decisions are made by people with deep insight into the lives of migrant workers.
Council Members
Mr Tan En
General Manager, Ray of Hope
Tan En is the General Manager for Ray of Hope and a dedicated activist for marginalized populations. He has served in a number of influential capacities in the non-profit sector, most notably as a Director of Advocacy at ACRES, a Legislative Assistant for a Member of Parliament, and a Program Manager for the Silent Foundation.
Ms Anthea Ong
Former Nominated Member of Parliament
A Nominated Member of Parliament from 2018 to 2020 with the Parliament of Singapore and a well known advocate in mental health, marginalized communities and Mother Earth Anthea Ong is an experienced board member and board chair backed by a proven track record as a C-level executive of 30 years with international companies. She was formerly President of Women's Initiative for Ageing Successfully (WINGS), founding board member of Daughters of Tomorrow and also former board member of UN Women Singapore (previously called Unifem). A much sought-after speaker on human-centered leadership, mental health and women empowerment, she has published numerous commentaries in The Straits Times, CNA, Today and Mothership.
Dr Ng Kok Hoe
President, Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME)
Ng Kok Hoe is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Case Insights Unit at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, where he also leads the Social Inclusion Project, a research programme dedicated to analysing the role of public policies in creating opportunities for participation. His research is concerned with retirement income security, minimum income standards, social housing policy and homelessness. He contributes media commentaries and gives public lectures on these topics regularly. He led the first nationwide street count of homelessness in Singapore in 2019, and is co-editor of the book "They told us to move: Dakota—Cassia" (Ethos Books, 2019), which examines the impact of housing relocation on a social housing community.
Ms Stacey Choe
Co-Founder, Real Impact Advisors
Stacey has over 12 years of experience in the philanthropy sector and across Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia and China. She started Real Impact Advisors (RIA) in 2023 with her Co-Founder Natalie Kennedy as a response to the need for more astute and grounded philanthropy advisory in Asia. Before RIA, she was Chief Operating Officer at the Asia Philanthropy Circle and part of the start-up team at AVPN. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), a 2019 Asia Foundation Development Fellow, and a graduate of Stanford University in Non-Profit Management.
David Bensadon
Managing Director, We Are Caring
With over seven years of experience as a managing director at We Are Caring, David leads a social venture start-up that aims to disrupt the foreign domestic workers (FDW) recruitment industry in Singapore. It is the first online platform and smart employment agency, providing a smart, affordable, and ethical way to find a great helper. We Are Caring is the world's first ethical recruitment agency to secure the IRIS certification, a programme introduced by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a branch of the United Nations.
Dr. Sudesna Roy Chowdhury
Organizer, Migrant Mutual Aid
Sudesna Roy Chowdhury joined the healthcare workforce in April 2020 as a house officer in a SingHealth hospital. As a young doctor, she has varied aspirations - pursue obstetrics & gynaecology, do international aid work in developing countries or be a local health advocate for vulnerable groups in society, be it migrant workers, teenage mothers or LGBTQIA+ patients.
Dr Alicia Altorfer-Ong
Executive Director (Designate), Ray of Hope
Dr Alicia Altorfer-Ong is Executive Director (Designate) of Ray of Hope, a registered charity that builds a giving community through crowdfunding, partnerships and volunteerism. She oversees partnerships and collaboration with corporate partners and community groups. Alicia’s appreciation of the importance of trust is based on her experience in the non-profit sector as board president, committee chair and member, volunteer and founder of a ground-up group.
Dr. Muntasir Mannan Choudhury
Medical Doctor
Dr Muntasir Mannan Choudhury is a Hand Surgeon in the private sector with 17 years of experience in the restructured hospitals. He is one of the Covid frontliners and is the founder and a team leader of the Wandering Dervishes Initiative which provides linguistic-based support and free consultations to migrant workers in their native languages. The initiative has provided health consultations and screening for over 2000 migrant workers till date.
Insurance Company / Public Sector / CMP Employer Rep
TBC
Secretariat Team
Mr Vincent Ng
Founding Member, A Good Space Cooperative Limited
Vincent served as Founding Member and General Manager of A Good Space (AGS), Singapore’s first co-operative of social changemakers. He believes citizens are our greatest assets for addressing complex challenges. During his seven years at AGS, he coordinated projects to increase civic participation, such as a national forum for 300 polytechnic student leaders, and rallied 168 multi-sector representatives to create solutions to make Singapore a more welcoming place for migrant workers. In his free time, he enjoys writing about community solutions around the world at his blog: citizen- changemaker.ghost.io.
Mr Dhanesh Thiru
Research Assistant and Masters’ Student, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health
A public health practitioner with experience in policy development, programme implementation, ecosystem building and community engagement. His areas of interests include migrant health, sexual health, suicide prevention and socio-political and cultural determinants of health. Dhanesh believes in the creation of inclusive and equitable systems for all, by embedding the lived experiences of individuals and collaborating with diverse stakeholders to develop evidence-based policies and practices.