Sunny Verghese

WBCSD Chair, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Olam International Ltd.

Sunny George Verghese is the Co-founder and Group CEO of Olam International Limited and is responsible for strategic planning, business development and overall management of the Olam group of companies worldwide. Olam is listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and ranks amongst the top 30 companies in Singapore in terms of market capitalization.

In 26 years, Sunny and his team have built this business to S$19 billion in Sales Revenues for 2015. Today, Olam operates in 70 countries, delivering 47 products (organised into 16 platforms) to more than 16,200 customers in 70 destination markets and employs around 26,300 people worldwide.

Sunny is presently the Chairman of the Board of the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI), Singapore. Sunny was appointed Director on the Board of International Enterprise Singapore in 2002, and served as its Chairman from 2008 to 2013. Sunny also served on the Board of Trustees of the National University of Singapore (NUS) from 2009 to 2013. He was also the first Chairman of CitySpring Infrastructure Management Pte Ltd, a Singapore Main Board listed Infrastructure Investment Trust from 2006 to 2010. Sunny also served on the Main Economic Review Committee (ERC) set up by the Singapore Government to develop a long term economic blueprint for Singapore in Dec 2001.

Sunny was awarded the Best Chief Executive for large cap companies in the Singapore Corporate Awards (SCA) in July 2011. He was also voted Best Executive in Singapore for 2006 and 2010 in the AsiaMoney Awards. Sunny was named ‘Outstanding Chief Executive for 2006’ in the 2007 Singapore Business Awards (SBA) and Singapore’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in November 2008 and a member of the World Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Judging Panel in 2009. Sunny was conferred The Public Service Medal by the Government of Singapore in August 2010.

Sunny holds a post graduate management degree from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) and has also completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the Harvard Business School. Sunny was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni by IIMA in its Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 2011.