Saw Phaik Hwa


Saw Phaik Hwa is a Malaysian-born Singaporean businesswoman. She was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the SMRT Corporation from December 2002 to 6 January 2012. Prior to that, she had 19 years of experience at DFS Venture Singapore Ltd.

Education

Saw received an honours degree in biochemistry from the University of Singapore.

Career

DFS Ventures

From 1984 to 2002, Saw served as Regional President for DFS Venture Singapore Ltd. She left the company in 2002 as a result of budget cuts.

SMRT Corporation

In 2002, Saw became the President of SMRT.
In December 2011, Saw's resignation as the president of SMRT in the midst of public anger over two train breakdowns that caused commuters to be stranded. These breakdowns were the worst since the transit system was started in 1987.
On 6 January 2012, Saw resigned as a director of SMRT, following which former Army General Desmond Kuek was appointed as the President and Group Chief Executive Officer.

Auric Pacific

On 1 May 2012, Saw was appointed to be the CEO of Auric Pacific, specializing in Delifrance, Sunshine and Topone, including the best-selling Food Junction. She retired from this post effective 30 April 2015.

Criticism

During her tenure as head of SMRT, Saw was accused of under-investing in maintenance of trains and tracks. This led to a culmination of train breakdowns, especially in 2015, causing delays to hundreds of thousands of commuters.