Dr. Petra Meekers

Chief Executive Officer
SIPEF

Petra Meekers is the Chief Executive Officer of SIPEF, a Belgian agro-industrial group active in sustainable palm oil and banana production across Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire. She joined SIPEF in 2021 as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the group’s palm oil operations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and was appointed Managing Director in 2024. 

Petra brings over 25 years of experience in tropical agriculture, having lived and worked in Southeast Asia since 1998. Her career began at Biox, where she focused on renewable energy, and she later held senior roles at Unilever, Musim Mas, and New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL). This journey has provided her with hands-on operational expertise, particularly in Papua New Guinea, where she managed sustainability and operations, developed a deep understanding of rural development challenges. 

Her academic background in biochemistry and environmental management has helped shape her pragmatic, field-oriented leadership style. She is known for aligning technical performance with sustainability goals and building strong, locally rooted teams. 

As CEO, Petra is focused on strengthening SIPEF’s ESG commitments, enhancing traceability, and delivering on the company’s sustainability and growth targets. She plays a key role in stakeholder engagement at both local and international levels, actively contributing to policy discussions around ethical sourcing, climate resilience, and responsible investment in agriculture. 

Petra speaks several languages and works across diverse cultural contexts, combining strategic vision with grounded execution. Her leadership reflects a long-term commitment to the people and landscapes in which SIPEF operates, and she continues to champion inclusive growth and innovation across the group.

Ms. Anne Rosenbarger

Global Engagement Manager, Supply Chains
World Resources Institute (WRI)

Anne Rosenbarger is the Global Engagement Manager for Supply Chains at the World Resources Institute. She has been based with WRI in Indonesia since 2010, concentrating primarily on addressing the links between agricultural supply chains and land use change. Her focus is on engaging and convening stakeholders to identify, align on, and implement evidence-based tools and processes for addressing sustainability challenges.

Anne has also been serving as the co-chair of the RSPO Board of Governors since 2018, and as a member of the Board since 2015. She serves on various other RSPO groups such as the Standards Standing Committee, Biodiversity and High Conservation Value Working Group and Compensation Task Force.

Prior to joining WRI, Anne conducted research on a range of topics related to tropical ecology and community-based forestry management. She received her master’s degree from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.

Associate Prof. Simon Tay

Chairman
Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA)

Simon SC Tay is a public intellectual as well as an advisor to major corporations and policy-makers.

He is Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, the country’s oldest think tank. The SIIA focuses on the politics, economic policies and sustainablity issues that matter to policy makers and corporations in ASEAN and Asia. Consistently ranked by an international survey within the top 50 of the world and amongst the best in ASEAN, the SIIA is also rated the No 1 independent think tank across all of Asia. The SIIA works actively in “track 2” diplomacy with policy makers, not only in Singapore but across ASEAN, including previously advising the Indonesian and Myanmar governments on foreign investment. SIIA members and benefactors include many of leading Singaporean companies and multinationals.

Presently, Prof Tay serves as an Ambassador for Singapore, accredited to Greece on a non-residential basis. He is a board member of the Maritime Port Authority and also chairs the trade and sustainability dialogues for free trade agreements that Singapore has with the European Union and UK. He has previously served Singapore in a number of public appointments. These include Chairman of the National Environment Agency (2002-08); Expert and Eminent Person in the ASEAN Regional Forum (2002–2019); independent Member of Parliament (1997-2001); and to coordinate the country’s equivalent of the Peace Corps (1990-93). He co-chaired a number of national public commissions such as Singapore 21, the Singapore Green Plan and the Singapore Concept Plan 2010. In 2006, Prof Tay received a National Day Award.

Additionally, Tay is a tenured Associate Professor, teaching since 1995 at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law with a focus on international law. He has also taught as visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the Fletcher School and Yale University. In addition to academic works, his book, Asia Alone: the Dangerous Post Crisis Divide from America (Wiley 2010) was well reviewed in the Economist and Financial Times. His comments and interviews often feature in the international and regional media.

Another aspect of Prof Tay’s work is to advise major corporations. Currently, he is Senior Consultant at WongPartnership, a leading Asian law firm of over 300 lawyers and offices in ASEAN, China and the Middle East. Previously, he served on global advisory boards for MUFG Bank of Japan, and Toyota Japan, and was Corporate Advisor to Temasek Holdings (2006-09). For more than a decade, he served as independent board director for companies including the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein and Deutsche Boerse (Asia). He is often asked to brief major corporate boards and financial institutions and has spoken at leading business conferences including the World Economic Forum, APEC and ASEAN CEO Summits.

Additionally, Tay is a prize winning author of fiction and poetry. His 2010 novel City of Small Blessings was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize and in 2019 he received the SE Asia Write award in recognition of contributions to the region’s writing.

He graduated in law from the National University of Singapore (1986), where he was president of the student union for three terms. He also holds a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School (1993-94), which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship and where he won the Laylin prize for the best thesis in international law.

He was born in 1961 and is the only son of the late Tay Seow Huah, a pioneer generation civil servant reporting to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister, and the late Madam Cheong Keong Hin, a teacher. Prof Tay is married and has one son.