JACK SIM
Founder

Jack Sim, Founder of World Toilet Organization (WTO), has been a successful businessman since age 24. Having achieved financial success in his 40s, Jack felt the need to change his direction in life and give back to humanity – he wanted to live his life according to the motto “Live a useful life”. Jack soon left his business and embarked on a journey that saw him being the voice for those who cannot speak out and fighting for the dignity, rights and health for the vulnerable and poor worldwide.

Jack discovered that toilets were often neglected and grew concerned that the topic was often shrouded in embarrassment and apathy; talking toilets was taboo! Jack felt this led to the neglect of restrooms island wide. In 1998, he established the Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS) whose mission was to raise the standards of public toilets in Singapore and around the world.

Through RAS, Jack’s vision was to put Singapore on the “world map” by taking the initiative to provide clean public toilets. As Jack began his work in Singapore, he realized there were other existing toilet associations operating in other countries.

It soon became clear that there were no channels available to bring these organisations together to share information, resources and facilitate change. There was a lack of synergy. As a result, in 2001, Jack founded the World Toilet Organization (WTO) and four years later, the World Toilet College (WTC) in 2005.

In 2004, Jack was awarded the Singapore Green Plan Award 2012 by Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) for his contribution to Environment. In 2006, Jack was invited to launch The German Toilet Organisation in Berlin. He is also a founding member of American Restroom Association.

In 2007, Jack became one of the key members to convene the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) comprised of over 130 organisations active in the sanitation sector. Jack is also an Ashoka Global Fellow and in 2008 was named Hero of the Environment by Time Magazine. Jack also sits in the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Councils (GAC) for Water Security and also the GAC for Social Entrepreneurship.

In 2009, he joined the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy as a master student in Public Administration as well as a visiting fellow at its Institution of Water Policy.

Jack’s current project at WTO is to establish a “BOP Hub” in Singapore. BOP – the Bottom of the Pyramid refers to 4 billion people that survive on less than US$8 per day; this accounts for 40 per cent of the world’s population. The Hub acts as a trade centre for the poor in developing countries to formulate, cooperate and merge business solutions to transform emerging markets into vibrant marketplaces.

The “BOP Hub” will develop market based solutions in sectors such as water, food, housing, energy, transportation and telecommunication. The Hub’s pilot project is a social franchise model for sanitation; whereby local entrepreneurs get an opportunity to increase their business by offering affordable, well designed sanitation products to BOP customers.Through humour, laughter and his quirky personality, Jack has managed to bring attention to a very serious issue; inadequate, unhygienic sanitation conditions in developing countries.

BOARD MEMBERS

Ash Khalek

Ash Khalek was appointed to the Board in September, 2011. He is Managing Director, Japan and APAC, for IntraLinks (NYSE: IL) a leading global provider of Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) solutions for securely managing content, exchanging critical business information and collaborating within and among organizations.

Before Mr Khalek’s appointment to IntraLinks, he was Group Vice President for sales at Oracle Corporation for 11 years. During his tenure at Oracle, he oversaw rapid sales growth across several key regions, including Greater China, India, Korea, South East Asia and Australia.

Mr Khalek is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia and the Institute of Company Directors, Australia. He is a Graduate, International Company Directors Diploma, Australian Institute of Company Directors (2007).

R Subramaniam Iyer

R Subramaniam Iyer has extensive experience in audit, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and forensic accounting. As founder of SmartKapital, he provides consulting services to incubate businesses in India. He is also a shareholder and non-executive Chairman of a start-up biotechnology company in the agriculture space, called Universal Innovations, with operations in Singapore, Australia and India.

Mr Iyer graduated with a Bachelor in Accountancy (2nd Class Honours) from the National University of Singapore. He is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) and a non-practising member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore (ICPAS). He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Mr Iyer is a Founder Director and Treasurer of a not-for-profit organization called Executives Without Borders. He also serves as Treasurer of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). 

Simon Powell

Simon Powell is head of oil & gas research, Asia and helps coordinate our offerings in E&P, refining, downstream and gas (both natural and unconventional), as well as covering China’s oil & gas names. He joined CLSA in 2006 as head of power and utilities research. He has also been Taiwan country head and was most recently our head of sustainable research.

Simon has more than a decade of experience in Asia’s energy and utilities sectors, first with Total Oil in Europe where he managed a number of downstream businesses, and then as a management consultant focused on energy for Arthur D Little and Arthur Andersen. He has a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Sussex.

Staff – Singapore HQ

• Dr. Benjie Ng, Chief Operating Officer
• Jordan Soh, Senior Manager – Programmes & Development
• Denise Scrase, Research & Development Manager
• Haikel Fahim, Advocacy & Communications Manager
• Ang Seng Yong, MICE & Project Manager
• Maung Min Zaw, Training & Finance Manager

Staff – Cambodia HQ

• Sum Sokun, Country Program Manager
• Kong Bunleang, Deputy Country Program Manager
• Moel Sameth, Sanitation Marketing Specialist
• Srin Asa, Finance & Administrative