ACS OBA NEWS
Richard Seow - a familiar figure with his photographic equipment at many ACS sporting events.A Legacy
of Service

A chat with
the affable
Mr Richard Seow
Mr Richard Seow, the Chairman of the ACS Board of Governors and the ACS Foundation Board of Directors, is an individual you are bound to encounter some time or other at an ACS event. He is a familiar figure with his photographic equipment at many sporting events and can be often seen casually chatting with students and parents about their experiences at ACS. In addition, he’s a person difficult to miss in the media with his various appointments as Chairman of Republic Polytechnic and the Singapore Sports Council.
A 4th generation ACSian who is a proud father of 4, Mr Seow comes from a family steeped in community service and in particular, service to ACS. His great grandfather, Mr Seow Poh Leng, a prominent and successful banker and early ACSian himself, established the Seow Poh Leng Medal in 1936 for the top boy in the ACS Senior Cambridge/GCE “O” Level Examination which continues to be a coveted accolade in ACS today.

Mr Seow’s affable nature and ready smile belie his diverse and numerous achievements. For example, he has the honour of being the first secondary schoolboy in Singapore to run the 100 metres in under 11 seconds and was a Singapore Armed Forces Sword of Honour recipient in 1984 before embarking on an illustrious career in the banking industry just like his great grandfather and grandfather. Mr Seow is probably best known professionally as the former Chairman of Parkway Holdings Ltd where he transitioned from Banking into Healthcare by buying a stake in Parkway Holdings to transform the Singapore-based Hospital Group into a regional Healthcare leader.

Prior to his involvement with Parkway, he worked in investment banking for 16 years. He headed the South East Asian Investment Banking franchise for Citigroup based in Singapore where he also established the firm’s Asian Technology Investment Banking Group.

Before joining Citigroup, from 1994 to 1999, he was with Goldman Sachs where he was Chief Operation Officer for Asian Investment Banking and Head of Investment Banking Services for Singapore and Malaysia. From 1992 to 1994, he was based in Hong Kong working in J. P. Morgan’s Financial Advisory Mergers & Acquisitions Group. From 1988 to 1992, he was with Security Pacific Bank with postings in Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Despite his busy schedule, Mr Seow made time for us when we contacted him. Here is what he shared with us.

Echo: Mr Seow, please share with our readers your experiences in school?
My fondest memories of school days are from my sporting pursuits. I recall the early days participating in athletics in the old school field on Saturday mornings and taking part in various sports and games in the Quadrangle at recess time. Representing the school in athletics and tennis was fun and memorable. I also played water polo and rugby for House and Class. Through sports, I learned the value of teamwork, perseverance and discipline, qualities that I still regard as the pillars of great stewardship and leadership.

Echo: What inspired you to be the outstanding sportsman you were in school?
I had a great coach and mentor in the late Mr Tan Soo Hian. He had a knack of connecting with those under his charge and helping them to discover their talents. Indeed he brought the best out of me. I also owe a lot to the revered late Mr Earnest Lau who was an inspirational principal. He was a firm believer in the ACS brand of education and saw sports as an integral part of our character development. And my parents were always there for me with gentle encouragement, making sure that I could balance both my academic and sporting pursuits. They could not have been more supportive of my interest in sports.
Mr Seow Poh Leng
Richard's great grandfather,
Mr Seow Poh Leng who
established the Seow Poh Leng
Medal for the top boy in the
ACS Senior Cambridge/GCE
'O" Level Examination
The young Richard Seow in action
The young Richard in action
on the track.
Richard and C Kunalan
Always a gentleman, Richard
graciously congratulates Mr C.
Kunalan after a race.

Echo: In your view, have there been significant changes in the ACS of today since your time in school?
The most distinct change in ACS has been the growth of our schools. As a family of schools we have grown to meet the increased demand for the ACS Brand of Education. ACS today could be considered as one of the most inclusive schools in Singapore and if the opportunity arises we should be open to the possibility of establishing more ACS schools if the demand for places increases.

Another change in the educational landscape has been the shift away from staying in one school for the 12 year period pre-tertiary education. For a variety of reasons this has gotten more difficult to achieve. Schools are perhaps now looked at in a more transactional basis – i.e. what can this school do for me and my child, as opposed to schools being the community where we are educated and eventually return to give back. My hope is that students, parents, alumni and staff see themselves as part of the ACS family, one that nurtures them, supports them in times of need and prepares them with life-skills for the challenges ahead.

Richard Seow with his Primary 1 teacher Mrs Retnam
All in the ACS family - Richard with
his Primary 1 teacher, Mrs Retnam
Echo: The changes do imply an erosion of the ACS Spirit. What can be done to check that?
Much has been done by the ACS Old Boys’ Association to help foster the ONE ACS spirit. Last year, the ACS OBA organized a combined Thanksgiving Service to commemorate our 125th Anniversary at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. It was a truly wondrous sight to see 8,000 ACSians filling the seats of the arena, celebrating our history, and singing our School Anthem with gusto.

More recently, the ACS OBA organized the Inaugural ONE ACS Career Forum which saw close to 700 students and parents attend, It was a success not because we had over 700 people there. It was a success because the ACS Family came together for a common cause. Our alumni selflessly took the time to share their professional journeys with students and parents and served as a strong reminder to us that while we spend a mere breath of time in the ACS uniform, our desire to serve our alma mater is for life.

However, it is the responsibility of each ACSian to uphold our traditions that have made us ‘ACS’. We need to infuse in our students the admired virtue of ‘loyalty’ which has for many generations been one of the values that has made the ACS community into what it is today. It is a foundational quality that we hope to find and instil in all our students and ties in very much with the concepts that we look for in society today: rootedness, devotion, duty, faithfulness and commitment. It is imperative for us to hold true to our values and original mission of ACS.
Richard Seow with his Primary 1 teacher Mrs Retnam 
Richard Seow with his 3 sons
Richard with (from left) Alexander, Jeremy and Sebastian,
the 5th generation of ACSians in the Seow clan
Echo: With your involvement in the Dads for Life movement and various educational institutions, you are obviously a family-oriented person. Please share with us your views on family life.
The values that I try to live by have been shaped in a large part to my beliefs, my education and my family. While each of these areas reinforced each other, the constant in my life has been the love and support I have received from my family. Starting off with my parents and now with my wife and children, I have been truly blessed.  

Echo: Mr Seow, what drives you on to serve?
As Deuteronomy 6:10-12 suggests, we have to be mindful and thankful for what we have as we are all recipients of Grace. This undeserved favour can never be fully repaid, so it leaves us to do what we can to try to help make a meaningful difference in the lives of others.

At ACS we are taught that we have a purpose and role in life. A large part of our purpose is as servant leaders - to try to give back in all ways possible as John Wesley put it so aptly:

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.

I know that I continually fall short but I also know that I have to keep on trying and do my best to lead by example.

Richard Seow 

Echo: As one of the driving forces behind the establishment of The ACS Foundation, can you tell our readers how the Foundation will benefit future generations of students in ACS?
The hope is that ACSF will become a key pillar to help reinforce and support the ACS tradition of a well-rounded education and foster the ONE ACS spirit that binds all ACSians together. The ACS Foundation’s vision is different from our previous fund raising efforts in that we want to build an Endowment Fund that will grow its principal over the ages in order to generate a sustainable and growing income stream to fund programmes across all the ACS schools. The ACSF is a complement to the fund-raising efforts of the individual ACS schools which generally focus on school and project specific needs. Richard Seow

But beyond funding, I see the role of the ACSF as the centre of instilling a culture of giving back in our students. This is only made possible with the cooperation of ACS alumni, parents and supporters to engage the past to inspire the present and to create a new generation of ACSians ready and willing to serve God, nation, family and school.

I hope that the ACS Foundation grows to become a living legacy for each generation of ACSians ….. a legacy that is used for noble and meaningful purpose, and one that leverages and empowers all in the ACS Community into making a significant impact in helping others lead better lives.

  Back to Contents