Wei Hung Leong

Wei Hung Leong’s first love was medicine. As a teenager, he watched his father battle Parkinson’s disease, an experience that left a deep imprint and sparked a desire to understand how illness works—and how people might be healed. He studied biology at A-levels and was drawn to medicine not just for its science, but for its sense of purpose. Medical school in Singapore, however, proved elusive, and overseas education was financially out of reach. Faced with this fork in the road, Wei Hung made a pragmatic yet thoughtful choice: chemical engineering, with a focus on biochemical engineering. It was the closest bridge he could find between science, application, and impact, and it aligned with his hope of entering Singapore’s growing pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

Fate intervened in his third year at university when Shell came to campus. The interview was the toughest he had ever experienced—so intense that he left in tears—but Shell saw potential. Only three students were offered roles, and Wei Hung was one of them. He doubled down in his final year, selecting biochemical engineering electives and working on research related to mRNA and monoclonal antibodies long before they entered mainstream awareness. He graduated into Shell’s Bukom refinery as a process engineer, stepping into a career that would span nearly three decades.

The early years at Shell were defined by what Wei Hung later described as “hardcore engineering.” He worked on bitumen production, solvents, utilities, and wastewater treatment—roles that demanded precision and discipline. Yet, a defining incident revealed a hard truth. Tasked with designing a seawater filtration system to remove sea creatures and debris, his design turned out two-and-a-half times larger than required. It was technically sound but commercially inefficient. That moment crystallized an important insight: while he was a capable engineer, pure design work was not his greatest strength.

As he contemplated his next move, an environmental engineering role emerged—one that few colleagues wanted. The job involved wastewater discharge, carbon dioxide emissions, and frequent engagement with regulators. Wei Hung volunteered. Drawing on his biochemical training, he found the work intellectually stimulating and strategically rich. More importantly, he discovered that he thrived in multidisciplinary roles—ones that sat at the intersection of engineering, regulation, and economics. The role became a springboard into commercial positions, including refinery economist and broader business leadership roles.

Over the years, Wei Hung’s career within Shell evolved steadily from technical execution to enterprise-level thinking. He combined analytical rigor with commercial judgment, supported by an MBA that helped him formalize what he was already practicing intuitively. His career took on a global dimension when he relocated to London, working on refinery planning and commercial optimization across Europe. The exposure sharpened his understanding of portfolio strategy, cross-cultural leadership, and the realities of operating in volatile global markets.

Returning to Asia, Wei Hung was entrusted with senior commercial and leadership roles across Shell’s trading, supply, and operations businesses. Although never formally trained as a trader, he earned trust through judgment, clarity, and consistency—eventually becoming President of Shell’s Eastern Trading entity. His leadership style was shaped less by authority than by credibility and the ability to connect people, data, and strategy.

In 2021, after close to 30 years with Shell, Wei Hung left the company to start a new journey. From 2022 onward, he entered a new phase focused on contribution beyond a single corporation. He took on advisory and director roles across the energy ecosystem, became an adjunct professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and joined the Philip Yeo Initiative (PYI) as a mentor—working closely with founders, CEOs of start-ups, and emerging leaders to help them navigate complexity, scale responsibly, and avoid mistakes he had learned the hard way.

That same year, Wei Hung joined Singapore LNG Corporation (SLNG) as a non-executive director. In 2024, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, he now leads one of Singapore’s most critical energy infrastructure assets, playing a central role in ensuring energy security while navigating the realities of transition toward a lower-carbon future.

Today, Wei Hung’s career reflects steady evolution rather than sudden reinvention—from aspiring doctor to engineer, from commercial leader to CEO, and now mentor and educator. A consistent thread runs through it all: learning what he is not good at, taking on unpopular but meaningful assignments, and giving back by developing the next generation of leaders. Increasingly, his focus is not just on the organizations he leads, but on the people he helps grow—through PYI, academia, and the wider energy ecosystem.