Alumnae in the News

Making headlines once again is alumna OLIVIA LUM (BSc '86), who was selected by Her World magazine as its Woman of the Year in recognition of her spirit, passion and entrepreneurship to succeed in difficult conditions.

Olivia has notably transformed her water-treatment company, Hyflux, from a third-party distributor of water-treatment equipment to a manufacturing concern. Last year, Forbes magazine listed Hyflux as one of the world's 200 best small companies. Now the largest water-treatment company in Singapore, Hyflux won a $250-million contract to build the first Singapore desalination plant.

Responding to this recognition, Olivia says, "I've always wanted to be different from others and do something great, but I never dreamt I would get this award. I just wanted to build a successful company."

In the April 2001 issue of The AlumNUS magazine, Olivia shared with us her passion for doing business. "What has kept me going is my love for doing business. I think whatever course I might have done in the University, I would still end up doing business. I enjoy producing a product and selling it to customers. And when they are happy with what I offer them, I get tremendous satisfaction."

Well done, Olivia, the University is proud of your achievements.

Another alumna who has done her alma mater proud is LINDA HAN [BA(Hons) '71], who led her team to win the Gold in the 2002 New South Wales Premier's Public Sector Awards for Best Practice in eGovernment.

The current president of the NUS Alumni Association Inc (NUSAAI), Australian Chapter, Linda works in the Office of Information Technology under the NSW Department of Information Technology and Management.

She has over 20 years of hands-on and management experience in all phases of the systems development cycle, from the development of IM&T policies and strategies through to all aspects of design and implementation of information systems. She is responsible for the overall management and direction of the connect.nsw programme, which is the NSW Government's strategy for positioning New South Wales as a global leader in the information age.