Who is Catherine Wu, adviser to CDL’s Kwek Leng Beng?

SINGAPORE: Kwek Leng Beng’s long-time adviser Catherine Wu came under the spotlight when his son Sherman Kwek, group chief executive of City Developments Limited (CDL), said on Thursday (Feb 27) that she was the underlying reason behind the family’s public rift.

The pair met in Taiwan in 1992 at a dinner party, according to Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao.

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Here are some details about her.

1. Dr Wu has been Kwek Leng Beng’s adviser for the past three decades

She served as a director at Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C), a wholly owned and principal subsidiary of the CDL group, the hotel arm of Mr Kwek Leng Beng’s business empire.

Her service was terminated in January 2024, but she returned to M&C’s board as an adviser seven months later.

Dr Wu, who is in her 60s, also acted as personal assistant to Kwek – though she was not an employee – and was paid directly by him, according to an employment tribunal document filed in London in 2018.

When she moved to Singapore from Taiwan in 1992, she had the opportunity to be placed under Kwek Leng Beng’s tutelage.

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In a 2024 interview with Zaobao, she said that in her role, she learnt the ropes of hotel management, which included accompanying Kwek to meetings and overseeing hotel decoration and inspection processes.

She is known to be single and has five older brothers. Kwek is married to Cecilia Kok, and they have two sons, Sherman and Mingston Kwek.

2. She is musically trained

At 15, her parents reportedly sent her to San Francisco Conservatory of Music to pursue her music studies. She won a scholarship and went on to further her studies at The Juilliard School in New York. In the Zaobao interview, she spoke about the pressure she faced and the stressful nature of her academic journey.

“Entering The Juilliard School is like studying law at Harvard University. All my classmates are very talented and competition is fierce,” she said in the interview.

After completing her studies in the US, she returned to Taiwan – where she is originally from – to release her own music albums.

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3. She entered the early childhood industry

When she moved to Singapore, she joined the early childhood industry and ran her own kindergarten business. Marrying her passion for music and education, she told Zaobao that she would write and direct a musical each year for the children to perform at their graduation ceremony.

She sold the business after a decade in the industry and dedicated more of her time to various aspects of hotel management.

4. She was involved in a tribunal related to a hotel employee in London

She was reportedly close to hotel employee Tan Chee Hwee, who was the senior vice-president of global procurement at the Gloucester Millennium Hotel in Kensington, according to British tabloid The Daily Mail.

When he lost his job in 2017, he made a string of claims and complaints against Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, saying he felt “harassed and offended” when others referred to him as a “diva”.

While Tan claimed he was not friends with Dr Wu, the tribunal heard they were “close confidants” and had attended a show by comedian Graham Norton together.

5. She was interested in cyber security

In 2024, she was interviewed by radio station Money FM 89.3 about cyber-security threats during her stint as a secretary-general of GeekCon International, an inaugural conference held by security research institute Darknavy.

“I think most importantly, we should recognise the threats and that the vulnerabilities can never be totally eliminated. We know our bodies and when we get sick… Through self checks, you know when something becomes less protected… It is better to take a proactive approach,” she said. – The Straits Times/ANN