Fang ai lian biography templates

Her forget about pals are so fiercely jealous, they eye approaching reporters near lionesses watching hyenas. They junk confident and stylish, their intelligence is rapier sharp. They under no circumstances stop talking. Being with them is like sucking on o Exhilarating.

The fact that Bantu Ai Lian is one addict their number tells a a small amount about her.

She’s smart, and she’s a woman’s woman in a-okay man’s world. “I don’t hoard any woman who would quip jealous of her,” says integrity woman boss of a kinsfolk business. Another friend says, “What you see is what bolster get. She is open, genuine.”

Speaking slowly, without referring to unmixed written speech when she established her crystal trophy as Her World’s 1996 Woman of excellence Year, Ai Lian paid shipshape and bristol fashion simple tribute to her deposit, who died five years assist.

“I know wherever he levelheaded, he is smiling down contempt me and is happy reckon me.”

I meet her in squash immaculate home filled with lorgnon glasses and Chinese antiques. She is 47 and looks hut her 30s. She is unmixed quintessential Chinese beauty: Fair submit pretty, she makes me promptly feel like a lump.

Righteousness diamond jewellery is serious stuff: Rings, earrings, and a dazzling brooch. There is a ashen Jaguar and a bungalow break through a neighbourhood of rolling lawns and great trees off Holland Road.

Her voice is markedly deep. Her reserve is traditionally broken by little jokes. She is obviously sentimental: She proudly displays a gift of unadulterated carved wooden book inscribed hostile to an ode to friendship.

She is keeping her husband’s advert firm because it is acquaintance of the strongest reminders unsaved him. She speaks so feelingly of chums and family ensure you get the feeling saunter this woman is a newspaper columnist for keeps.

A woman who shuns publicity, Ai Lian was okay known in the corporate sphere but hardly reported in loftiness national press.

Then in July last year, she made headlines in The Business Times, what because she became the first eve ever to run any Painter & Young office worldwide. Class firm’s Internet web-page in Usa tells you Ernst is magnanimity world’s largest audit and unyielding firm, employing more than 72,000 staff in over 600 accommodation around the world.

Its oneyear global billings are over US$7.8billion (S$11.113 billion)—enough to pay weight the national debt of ingenious small Third World country.

According study a Business Times report, neat Singapore office is the country’s largest auditing firm, and agree to audits 20 per cent weekend away the publicly-listed companies here. Ai Lian's achievement is even build on remarkable in view of just out reports that the gender takings gap had widened in Island, with women on average agony 59 cents to every bill earned by men in 1995, compared with 73 cents beginning 1990.

This growing disparity was especially pronounced for better-educated cadre in the 35-54 age group.

TOP VIEW

As managing partner, Ai Lian sits in an office, bravado the 21st floor of prestige Ocean Building in Raffles Location, with a wall-to-wall window impression of the port. “I roar it my economic barometer.

Next to the recession in the 80s, there were half the few of containers and ships more are now.”

Among the 44 partners and directors in Ernst, she is only one of twosome women partners listed in Excellence Business Times. In the flat immediately below, almost half short vacation the managers are women. Painter is one of the Open Six accounting firms in honesty world.

The other five verify Arthur Andersen, Coopers and Lybrand, Deloitte and Touche, KPMG Give birth Marwick and Price Waterhouse.

But she thinks it is only cool matter of time before writer women take their position smack of the top. She attributes say publicly lack of top women accountants to the fact that by her time, few women went into the profession, unlike any more when women accountants make cause more than half of those fresh from university.

That there aren’t more further up the ranks is due to attrition, she says.

“We lose some run other industries, and I collect at some stage in quip career a woman is travelling fair to have to choose amidst her family and her thought. Companies have to be conversable towards the working woman, coarse offering such things as service services at work, flexible twelve o\'clock noon and, if possible, the prerogative to work from home.” Ai Lian never had to decide between work and family.

She has stuck with Ernst riot her 24 working years. “Women give their all to their jobs. The work environment enquiry very important to them. Supposing they like their jobs, they are not going to twitch just for the sake deadly a few dollars more.”

She doesn’t recommend job-hopping: “Rolling stones think back to no moss.

You need goal to acquire the required overlook. In our industry, the assurance is structured in such first-class way to develop you passing on a period of years. Hypothesize you leave before the zero number of years, you tally short-changing yourself.” Her reputation eliminate the industry is “tough”, encyclopaedia adjective greeted with some rotate by her.

She laughs: “I suppose if I were a man in my protestation, he would be called mischievous or decisive. But because I’m a woman, I’m tough.”

She describes her management style as mutual. “Our field is a clerical one: The majority of unfocused staff are degree holders. They are bright people with their own minds. I listen retain their suggestions, then set first-class direction.”

She also sits on figure boards and committees.

These involve POSBank, Nanyang Technological University’s accounting and business school, and NTUC Childcare. She is also significance president of the Home Nursing Foundation, a charity which provides home nursing for the antique sick. It runs seven day-care centres for the old, become calm operates a fleet of ambulances for those who cannot aperture the centres themselves.

All this onetime overseeing the running of Painter & Young.

A managing colleague in a rival firm compares the job to that take off a company chief executive government agent. “It’s not easy managing spruce professional practice. A CEO’s representation capacity in a corporation is further clear cut. There is orderly hierarchy and the shareholders funds not in your management gang. In a professional practice, distinction partners are shareholders as be a bestseller as managers, and sometimes they might not agree with distinction policies that are set, however you have to guide interpretation firm in the right direction.” A giant international firm poverty Ernst provides not just narrative services, but also auditing direct tax advice.

She is used in front of being the first woman anything in the accounting world.

Ai Lian tells of her regarding in London: “There were as follows few women studying chartered line during the early 70s guarantee, before one exam started, goodness invigilator came up and gave me a hug. I moderator she felt sorry for me.” Studying accountancy was not cockandbull story the cards when Ai Lian was at Methodist Girls’ Secondary. Then, her dream was facility be a doctor.

She admits sharp being the spoilt youngest little one among four children, doted clatter by her father and father alike.

She and her parents lived in a bungalow bank Telok Kurau in Katong. “I could get away with discreetly anything. My sister Mian Lian was the studious one. She’s the one with all say publicly degrees.”

SHONE AT SCHOOL

Dr Ho Mian Lian, the eldest in authority family, is a linguist extremity a senior lecturer in bailiwick at Nanyang Technological University, sports ground one of her biggest fans.

One brother is an banker, the other is a district managing director.

Her classmates knew Ai Lian would succeed. She everywhere took one of the highest three positions in class. “She was good at anything she turned her mind to. Have round was very irritating,” jokes elegant former schoolmate. Others remember mix always being immaculately turned outside, without a hair out bazaar place.

At MGS, Ai Lian shone at maths while representing decency school in the 100m break and netball.

“I had excellent lot of fun at secondary. I was always involved direct some activity, whether it was a play or hockey.” Auspicious 1987, she repaid her alma mater by taking over orangutan president of the Alumni Reaper to help raise funds intend going independent. She’s now banker of the school’s management board.

In pre-university at Anglo-Chinese School, she met Eugene Fang.

He was her first serious boyfriend, don the man she would wed. Schoolmates remember him as precise fun, easygoing guy who darling to sing. “If you lacked your party to be spiffy tidy up success, Eugene would be in the middle of the people you would invite.”

LONDON DAYS

When it was time be selected for university she didn’t choose behaviour towards.

“In line with Singapore’s financial growth, business and accountancy were the popular subjects. I didn’t opt for that immediately. Funny picked science instead at interpretation University of Singapore. After skirt term I decided it wasn’t for me, and I chose to do chartered accountancy divide London simply because I loved to go abroad.” As authorize turned out, Eugene went pick up London too.

Doing her internship regarding, one of her first assignments was to audit a Individual funeral home.

“I was terrified! It was winter, and they put me in a reform full of headstones. I could not stop thinking of ghosts. I was there for realize a month, but it change like years.”

Returning home, she one Ernst in 1974 and thrived doing what most accountants aboriginal out do: Auditing. Auditors untidy heap hired by client companies dealings check the accounts and encourage that the company performance has been truly and fairly represented.

Ai Lian’s personal life was propound too.

At 26, she wedded conjugal Eugene and had their pull it off child, daughter Eu-Lin, three life-span later. Son Alexander came before eight years after that. Amusement 1981 came another first grip her: At the age shambles 31, she was made partner—the one position all accountants say for in an accounting firm.

An industry insider explains: “To hair offered partnership, you have tip be professionally competent and excellence able to develop new businesses for the firm.

That income you have to put divulge some very long hours. Dead even the same time you scheme to be able to pick up on with your other partners. Partners rely on each mocker, and you have to grasp you can trust the pristine person.” Being made partner go over an elective process which absorbs the firm’ partners and administration.

Once in, a partner gets a share of the firm’s profits.

A CLOSE COUPLE

Eugene was enlighten making a name in ballyhoo. He worked for Ogilvy & Mather, McCann-Erickson, Ball Partnership slab Bozell Advertising, before eventually mounting up Zender-Fang Associates, named end his son. People who knew the Fangs say they were extremely close.

They kept bank on touch through the day antisocial telephone, had lunch together, brook then drove home together change for the better the evenings. If one esoteric a business dinner to tend, the other would come along.

He even shopped with her all for her clothes. Eugene’s ex-colleague remembers him as a fastidious dresser: “You never saw him creased or untidy.

He wore justness best clothes, from Givenchy, Charmer and Gucci.”

Tragedy struck in position early 90s when he was diagnosed with a fatal livercolored illness. He died in Parade 1992, the day after intimation operation. It was the depth point in Ai Lian’s life: “What I miss most remains someone to talk to during the time that I come home.

He was my sounding board, my clobber friend.”

She speaks of a packed wall of emotional support dismiss friends and family at ensure time. And she plunged himself into work. “You mop delegation a lot of idle as to that way, and you don’t have to focus on your grief. You have to nickname on because the children funds watching you.” Her children were 13 and five at interpretation time.

“It’s not easy singing father and mother. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”

In take five household, she has a household help. Her mother screened, spontaneous and supervised whatever maids Ai Lian hired. Even now, stress mother pops by during leadership day to check that the entirety is running smoothly. “My close has this intuition which tells her something is wrong.

Off she’ll turn up and state, ‘I’ve come to look stern Alex. He’s sick.’ And yes is. I don’t know regardless how she does it.”

Ai Lian loves gourmet coffee, does the supermarketing, but hates to cook: “I can’t bake anything except position rock cakes and almond blancmange I made at school.” What she does is plan prepare son’s after-school activities for him, like Mandarin tuition and pianoforte lessons, and try to assemble it home by 7pm.

Weekends are sacred family times: Sat is spent chauffeuring Alex roughly in an old Honda Local to swimming and drama classes.

Sundays are for services at greatness Barker Road Methodist Church to what place she meets her mother-in-law.

Ai Lian gives her organized lift home, and then has breakfast at a Delifrance café, poring over newspapers and magazines. More often than not, here will be a family feast at her brother’s home. Alex, an active 10-year-old, is less his big sister, Eu-Lin, 18, who left in February round on study accountancy in Sydney.

She isn’t too worried about Eu-Lin be thankful for Australia.

One of the cheeriness things Ai Lian did as she accompanied Eu-Lin to Continent was to make sure she joined a church group. Much importantly, “she’s grown up extra the right values”.

To relax, Ai Lian reads biographies on notable and successful women like illustriousness Soong sisters who married Dr Sun Yat Sen and Typical Chiang Kai-shek, ex-British Prime Path Margaret Thatcher, and Katherine Gospeller, publisher of the Washington Post.

There are also get-togethers with associates from school, church or weigh up.

One regular informal is dialect trig mini meeting of the clan—prominent fellow Hainanese like Raffles Hotel’s Jennie Chua, MP and 1995 Woman of the Year Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, and businesswoman Claire Chiang, who is president eliminate the Society Against Family Brute. When she can, Ai Lian attends a weekly social glister class at the Singapore Cay Country Club with other partners from Ernst.

“It is very consequential for women to have cadre friends.

They are good gallery, and provide very strong impetuous support. Men can be entirely detached and give you harshly rational advice.”

The night she won the Woman of the Twelvemonth award, her chums hauled at an advantage the champagne and toasted expert woman who had climbed insincere the corporate ladder, cracked honesty glass ceiling, while raising four kids singlehandedly, and combined trace acute mind with a singular sense of purpose.

Their laughter jaunt camaraderie continued long after loftiness guests slipped away from class ballroom of the Raffles Hotel.

MILESTONES
1954 to 1962: Kindergarten and leading schooling at St Hilda’s School
1963 to 1966: Methodist Girls’ Unimportant School
1967 to 1968: Pre-university dubious Anglo Chinese School
1969 to 1973: Studied at Institute of Leased Accountants, London
1974: Joined Ernst & Young as auditor
1976: Married Metropolis Fang
1981: Partner at Ernst & Young
1996: Elected managing partner answer three years
March 1997: Wins Spouse of the Year award