Fortune magazine has ranked Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek’s CEO Ho Ching as the 20th most powerful woman outside the United States in its 2020 “Most Powerful Women International” rankings.
The American multinational business publication noted that Ms Ho “has a bigger platform than most executives because she is married to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong”.
Ms Ho regularly features in the most powerful and most influential women lists published by international publications like Fortune, Forbes, Bloomberg and TIME Magazine.
While her power and influence in Singapore and beyond has continued unabated over the 16 years she has led Temasek, the Prime Minister’s wife slipped this year to the 20th spot on the “Most Powerful Women International” list. She held the 19th spot in 2019.
She was ranked much higher in the list in 2016 (eighth), 2017 (10th) and 2018 (eighth).
In 2004, the year she became Temasek CEO, Fortune ranked Ms Ho the fifth most powerful woman in the world. She was ranked as the 11th most powerful person on Fortune’s Global Power 50 list in 2005 before maintaining the 12th spot in 2006 and 2007. In 2008, she shot up to take the fourth spot in Fortune’s International Power 50 list.
In 2009, a proposed leadership change at Temasek fell through. More than a decade later, Ms Ho remains the CEO of Temasek, with no public signs of leadership renewal.
Ho Ching remains Temasek CEO nearly a decade after failed leadership succession plans