On 27 June 2019, President Halimah Yacob conferred the Public Service Medal (Friends of Singapore) awards upon Mr. Wayne Russell Allan, Executive Vice President, ASML, and Mr. Oliver Tonby, Senior Partner and Asian Chairman, McKinsey & Company for their contributions to the economic development of Singapore, at a ceremony held at the Istana.

Mr Allan made significant contributions to the growth of the electronics sector, including the development of wafer fabrication facilities here. Under his leadership, Singapore is today Micron’s Centre of Excellence for NAND flash memory, and its largest NAND flash memory manufacturing site in the world. In addition, a new multibillion-dollar wafer fabrication plant that will be built next to its existing facility in North Coast will add more than 1,000 new staff to its workforce.

Mr Tonby was commended for helping Singapore develop into an innovation hub for McKinsey, including the Digital Capability Centre (DCC) which is viewed as a key addition to the advanced manufacturing ecosystem. The DCC was established in collaboration with the advanced remanufacturing technology centre of A*STAR, and serves as a test base in South-east Asia for piloting digital solutions. Apart from MNCs, the DCC also works with SMEs in sectors such as precision engineering and food manufacturing, to manage digital data collection and redesign jobs to complement technology adoption.

Dr Beh Swan Gin, Chairman, Singapore Economic Development Board, congratulated both recipients, and said that both Mr Allan and Mr Tonby “initiated long-term investments around digitalisation, innovation and capacity expansion in Singapore, building new capabilities and a strong talent pipeline that accelerate the transformation and advancement of both sectors.” He added that they “have made valuable contributions to the growth of Singapore’s electronics and the professional services industries, respectively,” and “with their support and partnership, we continue to see good business and job opportunities”.