Biography
Prior to joining the financial services
industry, Samuel used to be a teacher at Raffles Institution. He joined AIA in
1993 and became a Financial Services Director in 2004.
He started serving FSMA (Financial Services
Manager Association) in 2006 and became its President in 2009. He also served
in IFPAS (Insurance and Financial Practitioners Association of Singapore) as
Vice President from 2011 to 2015. He is currently serving ALMA (Agency Leaders
Managers Association of AIA) as a council member.
He was the Head of Operation for the MediShield
Life Pro Bono project launched in 2014. Together with IFPAS, he was
instrumental in recruiting 700 volunteers from the entire industry to provide
free advice regarding the then newly launched MediShield Life to thousands of
heartlanders across most of the country’s community centers. This pro bono
project was a weekly affair that lasted about 2 years.
Most notably, he helped FSMA bring back AMTC
(Agency Manager Training Council) to the industry in 2008. Together with his
industry colleague, Michael Seow, they have both worked tirelessly to ensure
that this arduous 23-week course is being run properly in accordance to the
high standards set. Both of them also contributed by helping FSMA to
successfully apply for AMTC to be accredited as IBF level 3, Managing Advisors.
To date, there are more than 300 managers who have graduated from AMTC. In
addition, approximately 100 managers have successfully applied for their
IBF level 3; with more on the way.
According to Samuel’s belief system, a leader is
a learner but a learner is not necessarily a leader. Hence, he is always
learning new things, be it through books, seminars, examinations or even
courses outside the industry. He wants his people to always be learning and he
is leading by example. He believes a good leader who wants to learn, will grow
and always be able to nourish his people professionally and intellectually.
Samuel spends much of his time grooming and
mentoring his advisors and managers. He specializes in doing business
succession planning for business owners in his personal practice. At the
same time, he is actively involved in the industry in their activities. He is
still actively conducting AMTC classes. In addition, he is a certified AMTC
Moderator Conference Trainer with LIMRA (Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association)
and he helps them to certify new AMTC moderators.
As of now, he will continue to contribute to the
industry actively and he hopes that practitioners will continue in the pursuit
of lifelong learning so that they can better serve their clients. Passion for
his work is what keeps him going. To him, this career is more than a job, it is
a calling to serve others.
