Madeleine Lee

Background

Madeleine Lee Suh Shin (b.1962),¹ is an award-winning investment manager and poet.² She has more than 30 years of experience in managing public and private equities, and has worked for the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Morgan Grenfell Investment Management Asia. She went on to become the managing director and chief investment officer of Commerzbank Asset Management Asia Ltd.³ She subsequently left to start her own financial services firm, bowtieAsia.com, in 1999.⁴ She is also presently the managing director and chief investment officer of Athenaeum Limited, a company she founded the same year.⁵

Early Life
Lee is greatly influenced by her maternal grandmother who, after being widowed at 30, single-handedly ran the family’s tongkang (bumboat) business, and brought up her six children. Her grandmother’s philosophy was that all her children should attain the highest level of education possible, with preference given to her daughters.⁶

Although she has a financial background, Madeleine has a great love for writing.⁷ She has been writing poetry since she was 13.⁸ However, she considered getting published only after more than 20 years of writing, when she joined a National Arts Council writing programme and was encouraged by her mentor, novelist Suchen Christine Lim.⁹

She has two sons, Keith and Kyle,¹⁰ and enjoys taking long walks¹¹ writing, and yoga.¹²

Achievements
Madeleine has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (Hons) and Accounting, a Master of Business Administration in Finance, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.¹³ She was selected as a fellow in the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship in 2002.¹⁴

Madeleine has sat on the boards of public and private companies in Singapore,¹⁵ was the treasurer of the United Nations Development Fund for Women Singapore,¹⁶ president of the Raffles Girls School Alumni,¹⁷ and was active in the Yong Siew Toh Music Conservatory of the National University of Singapore, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the International Women’s Forum.¹⁸

Her first two books of poetry, A Single Headlamp and Fifty Three/Zerothree, were published in 2003 and 2004 respectively.¹⁹ One of her poems “Coffee” was adapted into a short film²⁰ which was broadcast in the programme A Thousand Words on the then Arts Central channel of Mediacorp TV12, Singapore.²¹

Madeleine was featured in the first Wordfeast, a poetry festival held in Singapore in January 2004,²² and has taken part in numerous major literary festivals such as the Indonesia International Poetry Festival 2008 and Melbourne Writers Festival 2010.²³

Her third book of poetry, Y grec, published with playwright Eleanor Wong in 2005, was inspired by a 10-day vacation they took together in Greece in 2004. The volume was adapted into a theatre piece by Cake Theatrical Productions, and performed at the Arts House in December 2007, as part of the 2007 Singapore Writers Festival.²⁴

From 2005 to 2007, she was the deputy chief investment officer of the Investment Office of the National University of Singapore.²⁵

Awards
1996: Fund Manager of the Year, BT-Micropal Funds Awards.²⁶
2001: Montblanc Businesswoman Award.²⁷

Publications
Lee, M. (2004). Fiftythree/zerothree. Singapore: Firstfruits.
(Call no.: RSING S821 LEE) 

Lee, M. (2003). A single headlamp. Singapore: Firstfruits.
(Call no.: RSING S821 LEE)

Lee, M., & Wong, E. (2005). Y grec. Singapore: Firstfruits.
(Call no.: RSING S821 LEE)

Lee, M. (2008). Synaesthesia. Singapore: Firstfruits.
(Call no.: RSING S821 LEE)

Lee, M. (2012). Pantone 125. Singapore: Ethos Books.
(Call no.: RSING S821 LEE)

Lee, M. (2013). One point six one eight. Singapore: Math Paper Press.
(Call no.: RSING S821 LEE)

Lee, M. (2015). Flinging the triplets. Singapore: Firstfruits.
(Call no.: RSING S821 LEE)



Author
Lim Siew Kim



References
1. Poetry.sg. (2015). Madeleine Lee. Retrieved August 17, 2016, from poetry.sg website: http://www.poetry.sg/poets/madeleine-lee/; First Pacific. (2016). Management Team. Retrieved June 23, 2016 from First Pacific website: First Pacific. (2016). Management team: Board of directors. Retrieved August 17, 2016, from First Pacific website: http://www.firstpacific.com/about-first-pacific/management-team/
2. Chow, C. (2004, October 28). The numbers game. The Straits Times, p. 15. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
3. AZ Athenaeum. (2014). Our Team. Retrieved June 23, 2016 from AZ Athenaeum website: http://www.azathenaeum.com/about-us/our-team/
4. Long, S. (2001, June 8). Who is this Mad woman?. The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. AZ Athenaeum. (2014). Company History. Retrieved June 23, 2016 from AZ Athenaeum website: http://www.azathenaeum.com/about-us/company-history/
6. Long, S. (2001, June 8). Who is this Mad woman?. The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
7. Yong, S.C. (2003, September 19). Right-brain investments. Today, p. 78. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
8. Tom, K. (2005, December 25). MagneticPoetry. The Straits Times, p. 25. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
9. Yap, S. (2007, April 8). Where are the women?. The Straits Times, p. 65. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
10. Long, S. (2001, June 8). Who is this Mad woman?. The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
11. My weekend. (2007, April 13). The Straits Times, p. 73. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
12. Tan, S. E. (2002, March 30). Girl vs boys at ORA. The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
13. AZ Athenaeum. (2014). Our Team. Retrieved 2016, June 23 from AZ Athenaeum website: http://www.azathenaeum.com/about-us/our-team/
14. Eisenhower Fellowships. (n.d.) Madeleine S. Lee. Retrieved 2016, June 23 from Eisenhower fellowships website: https://efworld.org/meet-our-fellows/ms-madeleine-s-lee
15. Lee, M. (2005, Spring). Three Poems. How2, 2(3). Retrieved 2016, June 23 from https://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/archive/online_archive/v2_3_2005/current/mod_singapore/lee.htm
16. Long, S. (2001, June 8). Who is this Mad woman?. The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
17. PM Goh wants ex-RGS PAP candidates. (1995, December 23). The Straits Times, p. 26. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
18. Lee, M. (2005, Spring). Three Poems. How2, 2(3). Retrieved 2016, June 23 from https://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/archive/online_archive/v2_3_2005/current/mod_singapore/lee.htm
19. Nanyang Technological University. (2012). Spontaneous Beauties: Madeleine Lee. Retrieved 2016, June 23 from Nanyang Technological University website: http://www.hss.ntu.edu.sg/Programmes/english/spontaneousbeauties/Pages/Madeleine-Lee.aspx
20. Chow, C. (2004, October 28). The numbers game. The Straits Times, p. 15. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
21. Yong, P. (Producer). (2004). A thousand words [Television show]. Singapore: MediaCorp. (Call no.: RSING 809.1 THO)
22. Wordfeast. (n.d.). Madeleine Lee. Retrieved 2016, June 23 from Wordfeast website: http://www.wordfeast.com/writers/writerview.asp?id=13
23. Poetry.sg. (2015). Madeleine Lee. Retrieved 2016, August 17 from poetry.sg website: http://www.poetry.sg/poets/madeleine-lee/
24. Hong, X. (2007, November 30). Poetry in motion. The Straits Times, p. 89. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
25. First Pacific. (2016). Management team: Board of directors. Retrieved 2016, August 17 2016 from First Pacific website: http://www.firstpacific.com/about-first-pacific/management-team/
26. First Pacific. (2016). Management team: Board of directors. Retrieved 2016, August 17 2016 from First Pacific website: http://www.firstpacific.com/about-first-pacific/management-team/
27. Yong, S. C. (2003, September 19). Right-brain investments. Today, p. 78. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.



The information in this article is valid as at 2008 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the library for further reading materials on the topic.