Guest of Honour

Mr Desmond Lee
Minister for National Development, Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration, Ministry of National Development

Synopsis

Across the world, the rise of cities is a key observable trend. It is estimated that urban centres are now home to more than half of the world’s population and this upward trajectory is expected to continue. Many cities around the world have chosen to reinvent themselves as smart cities by harnessing technology to meet its citizen’s needs in the face of challenges posed by this drastic change of demography. In this edition of Dentons Rodyk Dialogue, a distinguished panel of speakers explore the many dimensions of the opportunities and challenges posed by the rise of these global smart cities. 

Panelists

Mr Desmond Lee
Minister
Ministry of National Development

Mr Desmond Lee was elected a Member of Parliament (MP) for the West Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in July 2020. Prior to that he served as an MP for Jurong GRC. During his time as a back-bencher, he also served as a member of the Government Parliamentary Committees for Culture, Community and Youth, Home Affairs and Law and Social and Family Development.

Mr Lee is currently the Minister for National Development, and the Minister-in-Charge of Social Services Integration. He co-chairs the Singapore Together Movement, the Emerging Stronger Taskforce and the Future Economy Council Sub-Committee for the Built Environment. He also co-chairs the Singapore-Tianjin Economic and Trade Council, as well as the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Joint Working Committee. In addition, he is the Deputy Leader of the House.

Mr Lee was first appointed as Minister of State for National Development in September 2013. After his re-election as MP for Jurong GRC in September 2015, Mr Lee was appointed as Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development. In 2017, he was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and National Development. Later in the same year, Mr Lee was appointed the Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister in the Ministry of National Development.

Mr Lee began his career in the civil service as a Justices’ Law Clerk of the Supreme Court, providing legal research support. He then served as a Deputy Public Prosecutor and State Counsel in the Criminal Justice Division of the Attorney General’s Chambers. In 2005, Mr Lee was posted to the Ministry of Health to head its legal department.

Before entering politics, Mr Lee also spent two years at the Legal Policy Division of the Ministry of Law. Subsequently, he joined Temasek as in-house counsel until his appointment to office at the Ministry of National Development (MND).

Mr Lee graduated in 2001 from the National University of Singapore with first class honours in law. He also holds a Masters degree in law from the University of Oxford.

Mr Lee is married with three children.

Professor Lily Kong
President
Singapore Management University

Professor Kong is SMU’s fifth President, and the first Singaporean to lead the 19-year old university.  She is also the first Singaporean woman to head a university in Singapore.  She was previously Provost of SMU; Vice Provost and Vice President at the National University of Singapore (in various portfolios), and Executive Vice President (Academic) of Yale-NUS College. 

Professor Kong is internationally known for her research on social and cultural change in Asian cities, focusing on a range of issues ranging from religion, cultural policy and creative economy, urban heritage and conservation, to smart cities.   An award-winning researcher and teacher, Professor Kong has received five international fellowship awards and has also won the Association of American Geographers Robert Stoddard Award for Distinguished Service (Geography of Religion and Belief Systems).

Prof Kong was conferred the Public Service Star in 2020 and Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2006.

Ms Chantal Bernier
National Practice Leader, Privacy and Cybersecurity
Dentons Canada

Chantal Bernier leads Dentons’ Canadian Privacy and Cybersecurity practice group. She is also a member of the Firm’s Government Affairs and Public Policy group. Chantal advises leading-edge national and international companies as they expand into Canada and Europe, enter the e-commerce space, adopt data analytics and roll out data-based market initiatives. Her clients include ad tech companies, financial institutions, biotech companies, data analytics firms and government institutions.

Thanks to Chantal, Dentons is proud to be the only law firm in Canada that has a former privacy regulator on board as a practicing lawyer. During her nearly six years at the helm of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), Chantal led national and international privacy investigations in the public and private sectors, as well privacy audits, privacy impact assessment reviews, technological analysis, and privacy policy development and research.

In her Government Affairs and Public Policy practice, Chantal leverages her many years in high-ranking positions at the Government of Canada to provide her clients with strategic counsel. Her experience as a senior executive also uniquely positions her to understand corporate management challenges in both the public and private sectors to find solutions that serve corporate interests and comply with the law. She serves clients in French, English, Italian and Spanish, and is very active at the international level. 

About the Dentons Rodyk Dialogue

The Dentons Rodyk Dialogue is a partnership between Dentons Rodyk and Singapore Management University (SMU) to create a major forum for thought leaders to share ideas and views affecting Asia’s legal, business, cultural and economic landscape. Ultimately, it is hoped that these conversations would influence attitudes and policies resulting in a better world for all. The Dentons Rodyk Dialogue aims to be the essential event for legal, business and academic leaders to converge in order to discuss pressing issues and world trends. The Dialogue is an event organised under the auspices of SMU School of Law’s Centre for Cross-border Commercial Law in Asia.