Q&A with Gerald Ng, a Singapore alumnus who has built a formidable career in sports management.
What did you study at Murdoch? What do you do now?
I graduated with a Bachelor of Communications (Public Relations and Journalism) in 2014. I have been working in sports for the last decade. I had a five-year stint as CEO launching the World Lethwei Championships, a world-class combat sports organisation based in Myanmar, before returning to Singapore in 2021 to lead the Singapore Athletic Association as their General Manager.
I have recently moved to the south of France to be closer to my wife's family and will be launching a few sports start-ups in the coming months. It will be my first foray into owning my own company.
What do you think is Murdoch’s point of difference compared with other universities?
I appreciate the emphasis on ethics that Murdoch University puts into its course materials. I think it helps set up the leaders of tomorrow with the necessary soft skills to lead. I was also impressed with the calibre of educators provided.
I am also fortunate that when I was studying in Murdoch University through SMF at that time, they accommodated my hectic work schedule. I initially planned to study full-time but had a job opportunity that was too good to pass up that allowed me to travel around the world. I then changed to a part-time night course which was still effective in educating me on the key modules. I also managed to experience the two different student groups studying in Murdoch in Singapore. The full-time classmates were ideologists and aspirational, while the part-time classmates were more realistic in their views, but no less hardworking and enthusiastic about the work. Murdoch University was accommodating in allowing me to pursue my education and career aspirations concurrently.
What motivates you at work, especially while working on your career progression over the years?
I am blessed in my career to be led by great leaders, who despite their own busy schedules and responsibilities, have managed to impart key knowledge while empowering me to produce work at my optimal levels. Now that I lead my own team, I try to retain these core lessons and hope to groom my colleagues so that they can even be better than me at what we do.
What drew you to working in this role in sports broadcasting? Any intriguing experiences you would like to share?
I have always been fascinated by sports since I was little. I remember coming back from school and sitting in front of the television consuming whatever sports programming was on television. I was exposed to a range of sports and knew I wanted to work in sports from a young age. I am no athlete, but at least I can still be a part of this industry that still excites me to this day.
I have met and interacted with some of the world's biggest sporting stars, and realised that they are not unlike you and I. They are just the very best at the one thing they do, and I think that is something we can all learn from to be the best in what we choose to do.
What have been some of the big changes in your line of work given the COVID-19 threat?
When I was in Myanmar as CEO of World Lethwei Championship, we planned to hold an international competition in Cambodia in April 2020. With COVID looming over the world in February, I worked with the board to preemptively postpone that event, which looking back now, was the best decision we made. We eventually did an overseas event in August 2020 completely remotely. My team worked tirelessly to pull off a broadcast event that was live in over 70 countries while all of us were stuck in the office, or at our own homes.
Moving back to Singapore and working with Singapore Athletic Association, we had to navigate the changing regulations while continuing to motivate our local athletes to train and compete. We were one of the first mass participation events back after the lockdown and managed to pull off multiple events in 2021 while adhering to the guidelines, qualifying, and sending some of our athletes to compete in major competitions internationally.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?
One of my earliest mentors told me this, and it's a mantra that guides my life - 'Success can only be defined by you.' It applies to my career in that I am not looking for external validation and can focus on achieving success based on my own definition of it. That allows me to remove a lot of the external pressures that you may experience in the workplace.
Who inspires you?
Singapore entrepreneurs like Min Liang Tan and Forest Li are role models in business for their success in establishing Singapore on the global stage, and the latter for his recent work in reinvesting in the local sports community. I also look to find inspiration in people I meet, whether that is the working mum of two in my company, or the neighbour that works two jobs.
