Pearlyn Phau, Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Officer

A veteran in the financial services industry, Pearlyn has held various senior leadership roles within DBS Group, both in Singapore and Hong Kong. Prior to her current appointment, she was the Group Head of Consumer Products, Marketing and Ecosystem Partnerships at DBS group with an exceptional track record of executing key strategies and business transformation initiatives across regional retail and wealth franchises, including being a key driver of emerging digital banking strategies and DBS’ principal bancassurance partnerships.

She has deep knowledge across a wide spectrum of financial products and services and is a strong leader with a digital mindset and a demonstrable track record in transformation strategies and operational execution.

Sumit Behl, Chief Financial Officer

With close to 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, Sumit has a strong understanding of the business and its key success factors which will help to drive profitable growth.

Prior to his role as CFO, he was Chief Risk Officer at Aviva and was responsible for assessing and managing risks in relation to product decisions, regulatory changes and technology enhancements. 

Before joining Aviva Singapore, Sumit worked in Aviva's India operation for 11 years in various roles, including Internal Audit. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Chew Peng Chong, Chief Operating Officer

Peng Chong joined the Aviva family in February 2017. As Chief Operating Officer, she oversees our Individual Life & Health operations functions, including customer service, underwriting, claims, premium management, distribution operations, data governance and business protection. She's also responsible for operations transformation, such as automation and digitisation initiatives, to continually deliver service excellence to our customers and business partners.

Peng Chong brings with her over 20 years of proven track record in the insurance industry. In her previous role with another major insurer, she has successfully delivered digital underwriting and claims capabilities. Prior to that, she has led various underwriting roles for local and regional insurers as well as reinsurers.

Willis Wong, Chief Actuary and Appointed Actuary

With over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, Willis has a strong understanding of the insurance business and experience in both valuation and pricing having held actuarial roles in various insurance companies in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Willis joined the Aviva Asia Regional Office in August 2006, and was the Chief Actuary for Aviva-COFCO in China. In April 2015, he joined Aviva Singapore as Chief Actuary and Appointed Actuary. In his role, he ensures profitable business growth whilst fulfilling long-term obligations to customers.

He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, North America, a Fellow Member of the Singapore Actuarial Society and a Fellow Member of the Actuarial Society of Hong Kong.

Ashley Tan, Chief Risk Officer

Ashley is responsible for managing risks, ensuring regulatory compliance and driving good market conduct practices in Aviva Singapore and its subsidiary companies. He has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance and banking sectors, covering risk management, compliance, financial crime and internal audit. Ashley holds a professional qualification from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the UK, and is a chartered accountant with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.

Ashley has been with the Aviva family since August 2010. During this period, he has held a range of risk and compliance roles and led the implementation of Aviva risk framework in its Asia subsidiaries and joint venture companies. His regional responsibilities extend to Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, India and Sri Lanka. 

Catherine Wong, Chief FA Partnership Officer

Catherine joined Aviva in August 2011 and leads distribution from Financial Advisory and Wholesale channels.

Catherine brings with her a wealth of experience in the insurance industry. Prior to joining Aviva, Catherine was Chief Agency Officer and Chief Distribution Officer at two other insurers. She has also been in a Chief Operating Officer role as well as in Finance roles.

Pavan Virmani, Chief Alternative Distribution Officer

Pavan is responsible for the P&L of our market-leading Group business, overseeing both the sales and operations teams.

He brings with him 20 years of experience in the insurance industry. He has worked across a variety of sales, strategy, and M&A roles, in Southeast Asia and Oceania. He joined Aviva in 2006, and was the interim Chief Distribution Officer at Aviva Hong Kong in 2012.

Pavan has a Bachelor's in Economics from the University of Delhi, and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Daniel Lum, Chief Product Officer

Daniel joined Aviva in March 2012. He is responsible for product development for Individual Life & Health solutions, brand and marketing, the analytics function, as well as distributor training.

He has over 25 years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining Aviva, he oversaw the development of life and health products, investment-linked funds as well as product promotions and campaigns, in another leading insurer.

Daniel graduated from the University of Canterbury with a degree in Actuarial Science.

Debra Soon, Group Head of Marketing and Communications

A veteran with over 30 years of experience in managing organisational change, media, marketing and communications, Debra is currently leading our integrated marketing team to establish and cement our brand in Singapore and the region as well as bringing together our product and business leaders to help us achieve our business targets. 

With her background in broadcast media, moving from editorial and production to the business of news, as Managing Director of Channel NewsAsia, Debra was formerly a familiar face on TV news. Her other leadership roles in Mediacorp were as Chief Customer Officer, where she was responsible for growing audiences and profitability of all of Mediacorp's customer segments across all product lines. She was subsequently appointed Chief Marketing Officer to manage Corporate and Consumer Marketing, Brand and Communications, Events and Partnerships, Digital and Creative Services under one roof. 

Prior to joining us, she was with Tan Chong International, where she headed a diverse regional portfolio of 9 regional functions which included HR, IT, corporate communications and customer experience amongst others. During her time there, she led transformation efforts to digitise and modernise people management and processes and improved mindshare for the Subaru, Nissan and Tan Chong brands in the region.  

Damian Ho, Chief Strategy & Corporate Development Officer

Damian previously led Finance, Investments and Mergers & Acquisitions in Singlife. As Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer, he oversees strategic initiatives execution, sustainability under ESG, investor relations and our M&A practice. 

Damian has over 20 years of investment banking and private equity experience with DBS and HSBC. He has helped clients buy and sell businesses and raise capital through the equity & debt capital markets across Southeast Asia.

Santosh Gon, Chief Information Officer

With his wealth of knowledge and expertise in digital strategies, Santosh provides leadership in implementing a number of strategic initiatives to support the growth in business and deliver a differentiated experience for the customers.

He oversees the ongoing development of an innovative, robust, and secure information technology environment to support the evolving demands of Aviva Singapore's customers and distributors. 

Santosh holds a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) with specialization in IT & Strategy. Prior to joining Aviva Singapore, Santosh has worked across diverse industries such as Manufacturing, Telecom and Technology. He has also been instrumental in setting up Aviva’s wholly owned financial advisory firm in Singapore.