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Dr. Genie Sugene Gan (간 수진): Advancing Responsible Innovation, Cybersecurity, and Inclusive Digital Transformation in Singapore
Singapore continues to strengthen its position as a global leader in digital transformation, cybersecurity, and responsible technology innovation. Among the visionary leaders shaping this future is Dr. Genie Sugene Gan (간 수진), whose appointment to Icons of Change Singapore recognizes her outstanding contributions to cybersecurity, digital governance, responsible innovation, and inclusive leadership.
With more than two decades of experience spanning technology, entrepreneurship, law, public policy, and international affairs, Dr. Genie Sugene Gan represents the convergence of multiple disciplines required to navigate the complexities of the digital age. Her work advances Sustainable Development Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, promoting secure, inclusive, and resilient digital ecosystems that enable sustainable economic and social progress.
As Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Kaspersky, Chief Executive Officer of 1ST INTEL, Singapore Digital Leader at IMDA, Chairperson of the Cybersecurity Chapter at SGTech, and Global Governor & Ambassador for the Global Council for Responsible AI, Dr. Genie has emerged as a respected voice in cybersecurity, digital trust, and responsible technology governance.
Her career reflects a rare ability to bridge the worlds of business, government, technology, and global policy. Beginning her professional journey in public accounting and law, she developed a strong foundation in governance, regulatory systems, and strategic decision-making. Her entrepreneurial ventures further demonstrated her ability to transform ideas into scalable solutions, long before innovation ecosystems became central to global economic conversations.
Her experience in public service, including leadership roles within Singapore’s legal and institutional landscape and participation in international forums, strengthened her expertise in diplomacy, policymaking, and stakeholder engagement. These experiences positioned her as a connector between governments, industries, and communities; helping shape conversations around trust, accountability, and the responsible use of technology.
At Kaspersky, where she leads government affairs and public policy initiatives across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Japan, Dr. Genie has played a significant role in advancing global cybersecurity dialogue. Engaging with governments, regulators, and international organisations, she has championed stronger frameworks for data protection, cyber resilience, digital trust, and cyber peace. Her participation in platforms including the United Nations, G20, ASEAN, and African Union reflects her commitment to ensuring technology serves humanity while protecting societies from emerging digital risks.
Singapore continues to strengthen its position as a global leader in digital transformation, cybersecurity, and responsible technology innovation. Among the visionary leaders shaping this future is Dr. Genie Sugene Gan (간 수진), whose appointment to Icons of Change Singapore recognizes her outstanding contributions to cybersecurity, digital governance, responsible innovation, and inclusive leadership.
With more than two decades of experience spanning technology, entrepreneurship, law, public policy, and international affairs, Dr. Genie Sugene Gan represents the convergence of multiple disciplines required to navigate the complexities of the digital age. Her work advances Sustainable Development Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, promoting secure, inclusive, and resilient digital ecosystems that enable sustainable economic and social progress.
As Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Kaspersky, Chief Executive Officer of 1ST INTEL, Singapore Digital Leader at IMDA, Chairperson of the Cybersecurity Chapter at SGTech, and Global Governor & Ambassador for the Global Council for Responsible AI, Dr. Genie has emerged as a respected voice in cybersecurity, digital trust, and responsible technology governance.
Her career reflects a rare ability to bridge the worlds of business, government, technology, and global policy. Beginning her professional journey in public accounting and law, she developed a strong foundation in governance, regulatory systems, and strategic decision-making. Her entrepreneurial ventures further demonstrated her ability to transform ideas into scalable solutions, long before innovation ecosystems became central to global economic conversations.
Her experience in public service, including leadership roles within Singapore’s legal and institutional landscape and participation in international forums, strengthened her expertise in diplomacy, policymaking, and stakeholder engagement. These experiences positioned her as a connector between governments, industries, and communities; helping shape conversations around trust, accountability, and the responsible use of technology.
At Kaspersky, where she leads government affairs and public policy initiatives across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Japan, Dr. Genie has played a significant role in advancing global cybersecurity dialogue. Engaging with governments, regulators, and international organisations, she has championed stronger frameworks for data protection, cyber resilience, digital trust, and cyber peace. Her participation in platforms including the United Nations, G20, ASEAN, and African Union reflects her commitment to ensuring technology serves humanity while protecting societies from emerging digital risks.
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TechTranscript
00:00operating in the cyber security space currently and AI governance but also I come with background
00:06and training in legal and policy work. I'm not a technologist in the tech industry but I am a
00:13business leader that has that wears also that policy lens and the appreciation of the wider
00:19business environment that we're operating in. Well a big part of my work these days are to do with
00:26people whether behind closed doors where you and I don't you know other people don't see it
00:31because I could be lobbying or discussing certain or giving my input on certain policy issues to
00:37the respective countries or being consulted privately on those things and the other
00:43part of it would be a little bit more public facing which maybe more people have come to know of
00:49me
00:51which is you know you know maybe some of the thoughts I've been putting out in my
00:57keynotes my public speaking or even in the media right I've been frequently asked for opinions
01:02so I think a big part of my work is about raising the awareness on topics which I feel people
01:08need
01:08to be aware about and I see myself as that storyteller for me I love telling stories and I think
01:17because
01:18it's really through stories that people get the points better it's no point giving principles
01:23when people don't understand how it can be applied so I love telling stories and sometimes these stories
01:30stick and people will remember the story and then by remember the story they remember the the the meaning
01:36behind it the the best part of my job will be when I see alignment when I seek agreement and
01:44I find it
01:46when I get buy-in from people who are otherwise immovable in their positions and seeing people
01:58coming a step closer towards a common goal that completely motivates me and that that is a huge
02:05source of encouragement for me and that really drives that passion I always tell people that
02:11who join me in my team that I'm preparing you for your next job every time you're given something
02:19to do don't just look at it as a task there is a greater purpose and a rationale behind it
02:25it feeds into meeting a bigger purpose and so I would explain to them why we're meeting this person
02:32what are we exactly trying to do and how it has a higher noble reason they'll always be problems
02:38they'll always be work problems but um what really makes a difference is the people
02:44so I chose my job not because I mean of course I like the work but I chose this job
02:50and I you know
02:51maybe decide to stay in a company because of the people that work with not every day Sunday on days
02:56where we're
02:57discouraged or we have work problems and you know that's a lot of things that we have to deal with
03:01and we're overwhelmed at the end of the day it's who you're doing it together with that really matters
03:07so I think um developing people uh managing people have been a big big part of my work and I
03:16thoroughly
03:18thoroughly enjoy it I would think um the lack of two things two parts to this I think the lack
03:25of
03:25governance frameworks and the lack of harmonization of these governance frameworks the lack of agreements
03:33on the parameters of AI governance it's been so far theoretical but we're not really seeing a lot of
03:39countries sort of taking the lead to come up with comprehensive frameworks of course the EU has set the
03:45tone uh with the EU AI act and of course several countries and around the world maybe a handful of
03:52them in
03:53in Asia have stepped up right um Singapore of course is one of them but I think by and large
04:00it is still
04:00neglected so a lot of times different countries different regions different regimes different
04:08governments actually have their own set of rules and parameters for what to them is digital innovation
04:15during COVID um you would notice that COVID being a common pandemic problem sort of push everyone into
04:22this state of digitalization so even when governments or even when countries were not ready for to to go
04:30digital they had no choice they had to be digital and so they were sort of like the global economy
04:36was
04:36thrown into an entire state of disarray because uh there were no clearly defined rules when people were
04:43digitalizing they were neglecting cyber security for example they were digitalizing faster than they
04:50were implementing cyber security safeguards and which is why during COVID you would notice that ransomware
04:57attacks were that were very high there was a massive spike cyber threats were like on the rise data
05:03leakages were everywhere so people were actually capitalized I mean bad people were actually capitalizing on
05:09that weakness to you know gain full advantage right so I think sometimes the lack of rules the lack of
05:18frameworks the lack of this the lack of agreement on what these parameters are the definition is actually
05:25the fundamental problem yeah and also you would notice that in most of the platforms where people are
05:31conversing about these ideas it's usually the same old people yeah so then I become your echo chamber
05:39and you become mine and but are we really expanding that uh conversation and bringing new people into
05:45the conversation I'm not so sure um in the tech industry it's usually male dominated I was also
05:51relatively young when I stepped into this female leaders are far and few between and I was also operating
05:58very actively in markets which are maybe have certain stereotypes about females or women leaders I'm actually a
06:06an introvert so actually speaking publicly is not really my preferred task but I realized also that
06:14you may have the best ideas and the best of intentions but if it's not clearly communicated the most ingenious
06:19ideas are completely wasted so I have learned to become an advocate I have that visionary personality
06:26so I do have the tendency of being so way ahead that I leave people behind they don't necessarily catch
06:33that vision
06:33sometimes if you're way ahead and there's nobody following it's really you're then also a very
06:38unsuccessful change maker so sometimes I need people in the room to sort of hold me back a little bit
06:43and to valid to validate those changes and then to talk through the process a little bit and to make
06:49sure that the changes are implementable so I think if we were to reach our goals by 2030 we really
06:54need to
06:56expand on the people that the stakeholders around the table and really be more inclusive
07:01and to proactively invite people into combinations and secondly to have that political will individually
07:06and collectively to put theory into action sometimes we don't always do what we love
07:14and sometimes in order to get to do what we love we have to do what we don't love to
07:20get there so
07:21sometimes to get to a place where we want to be whether it's SDG goals or your personal career choices
07:29and all
07:29that and to get to do something you love and enjoy if we have to walk through a pebble path
07:36we have to
07:37and muddy tracks to get to where we want to be we have to do it I think it's important
07:42to live life curiously
07:44because when we keep doing the same old thing the same way and I'm really not going to make a
07:49different result
07:50um so it's important sometimes to sort of like stop if you caught a bit of uh what I was
07:57doing in that
07:58breakout exercise with my team I was basically telling them to look at the same products with fresh
08:04lens it's really about making positive changes by constantly being curious and by constantly challenging
08:12your own assumptions and I also told them you know you may be dealing with these products for the
08:17longest time already but try to broaden your mind yeah so I think it's important for aspiring change
08:23makers to uh challenge your own assumptions sometimes you may not always be right be very humble and
08:29taking views for me I always ask people for feedback and I have quite a thick skin so I don't
08:36mind comments or
08:37criticisms or feedback I generally take them quite well because I think when a person gives you feedback
08:43at least they bother and they care and you should honor that by respecting those views and at least
08:50pondering on them and I always tell people that I am very intentional about creating psychological safety
08:59for people to disagree with me for people to debate ideas for people to make fresh suggestions
09:05of doing things the same old things anyway right and then there's always a platform that psychological
09:14safety to discuss these things but I constantly feel that um people need to be empowered and every single
09:23person's views has to be validated as well so for me um that's one personal thing I do which is
09:31that for
09:32every single person in my teams um I make sure I spend time one-on-one with every single one
09:37of
09:37them and I always always always don't just um tell them what I hope to see in them and their
09:44work in
09:45the one-on-one but I also always always unfailingly will ask them do you have feedback from me of
09:49course
09:50they'll sheepishly say oh no no no I don't have don't have you know they're very shy about it but
09:54they've also come to a
09:55point where they will be very um candid with me because I think they see that you're if you're
09:59sincere um then um they they too I think it's it's it's mirroring people reflect the energy you give
10:07them um I think support is important um always surround I'm not saying you know um create echo
10:13chambers for yourselves and have surround yourself only with people who agree with you um I think
10:19it's important to sometimes um have people that you trust who will have the best intentions for you
10:26who will be that feedback channel for you so support doesn't mean agreement support means support despite
10:37disagreement it's a fine line it's important I am a mid-career switch from my other disciplines to
10:47tech I was very ready I had to practice that humility that I was talking about as well and just
10:52really
10:52learn from anyone more senior more junior younger older different walks of life to learn the ropes quickly
11:00understand the lingo and understand the inner workings so today I could give a very very very very highly
11:08technical keynote speech for 45 minutes despite not having gone to computer science school or study
11:16cybersecurity um at uni so I think work-life balance is overrated maybe I would say that it should be
11:24work
11:24life harmony because if you enjoy your work that piece of work you're doing could be the life itself
11:32and especially when your work meets a greater purpose and it's mission aligned that's where
11:39the life-giving part comes because you're impacting people positively and that drives my motivation and my
11:47passion so then I enjoy my work more it doesn't feel like work as much anymore
11:53taking your question very seriously also I think maybe strictly speaking I would say that I try to play
11:58a lot of tennis I do wake up very early in the morning to work out before I shower and
12:04go to work
12:06I travel a lot for work and when I do I make sure I exercise and do my HRIT not
12:13because I need to but
12:14because I genuinely enjoy it and I feel that exercising really refreshes me and gives me that balance
12:22I was playing tennis for uh four hours every day for 40 days to raise funds and to raise awareness
12:28for
12:28the charity that I was raising funds for with a dollar for dollar matching and I enjoy painting a lot
12:35I do a
12:36lot of oil painting whenever I have time so there are things that I do which sort of make me
12:44happy and to me what
12:45life balance is in being able to do things that I enjoy so it could be talking to you it
12:51could be
12:51telling a story to someone who needed to just hear that message it could be working on an interesting
12:58project that makes a positive change in my environment or in my industry or promoting women in tech for
13:07example or dealing with underserved students for example could be anything I'm still searching along
13:14the way and I'm far from perfect so I'm also learning how to strike that balance on a daily basis
13:20there's
13:21not not any two days which are the same for me so I'm just learning every day and going with
13:26the flow
13:27it's the mindset to me being a change maker is not an identity per se so it's not like
13:36you either are a change maker or you're not because even if you're not you can become one
13:42to me being a change maker is a state of mind so sometimes we put on the hat if we
13:49have to but we
13:50don't always need to be change makers throughout all phases of our lives in all moments because sometimes
13:57you have to be that implementer of changes and sometimes also you can be that challenger of the
14:04purpose of the change
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