01
Leadership review
Surya Koh
Chief Strategy Officer · Singapore / Southeast Asia · Global perspective
Making the choices that shape the next enterprise.
Open to
- Board appointments
- Advisory roles
- Speaking invitations
Highlights
The year, and the years before it, at a glance.
₹6,200 Cr
Portfolio reshaped
Exits, entries and partnerships
4
New growth businesses
Incubated to independent scale
15
Strategic partnerships
Across three continents
2030
Strategy horizon
Approved by the board, funded and tracked
A letter from the chief strategy officer
Dear reader,
Strategy should make a consequential choice clearer. I examine assumptions, alternatives and capability demands, then help the organisation connect its chosen direction with capital, ownership and a disciplined plan to learn.
I help leadership teams make choices about the future of the enterprise. My work connects portfolio direction, growth opportunities and strategic partnerships with the operating and capital decisions needed to act.
Surya Koh
Chief Strategy Officer
Strategic priorities
Where I focus my leadership.
02
Portfolio direction
03
Strategic partnerships
04
Scenario planning
Performance
What the priorities delivered.
Priority outcome 01
Portfolio strategy
A portfolio review had become a debate about individual business plans. I developed a common view of market attractiveness, enterprise fit and capability requirements so the leadership team could compare strategic options. The discussion shifted toward the choices that mattered across the portfolio rather than defending each existing allocation.
Priority outcome 02
Strategic options
A growth opportunity depended on assumptions the organisation had not tested. We separated the reversible steps from the commitments that would be difficult to unwind, defined learning milestones and considered partnership options. The resulting recommendation connected ambition with an explicit plan to reduce uncertainty.
Priority outcome 03
Strategy execution
Strategic priorities were being added without changing budgets or leadership attention. I worked with business-unit leaders and finance to connect the chosen priorities to resource decisions, named owners and review milestones. The strategy review became a place to address trade-offs and dependencies rather than restate the ambition.
Year in review
A career, chapter by chapter.
- 2020 — Present
Chief Strategy Officer
Aldermoor Group
Leading enterprise strategy, portfolio direction and the evaluation of growth options. Working with the CEO, finance and business-unit leaders to connect strategic choices with resources and execution.
- 2016 — 2020
Vice President, Corporate Strategy
Fairhaven Holdings
Developed strategic assessments, partnership options and business plans across a portfolio. Built experience framing uncertainty and translating analysis into decisions that operating teams can act on.
- 2010 — 2017
Partner
Ashworth & Lyle Strategy Advisers
Advised boards in industrials and financial services on portfolio choices, acquisitions and long-range strategy.
- 2005 — 2010
Corporate Development Manager
Meridian Consolidated
Ran acquisition screening and integration, and learned the difference between a good deal and a good strategy.
Governance
Board and committee service.
Current appointments
Meridian Consolidated
Independent Director
Strategy & Investment (Chair)
2022 — Present
The Futures Policy Institute
Fellow and Advisory Board Member
Scenario Council
2019 — Present
Committee experience
- Strategy & Investment
- Scenario Council
Stakeholder voices
What those I have served alongside say.
Turned our strategy from an annual document into a set of decisions we actually made.
Thinks in decades and acts in quarters. Exactly what a board needs.
Outlook
Perspectives on what comes next.
The portfolio question beyond each business plan
An enterprise can approve individually persuasive business plans without creating a coherent portfolio.
Read the essayScenarios should reveal a decision
A set of future narratives is useful when it changes how a leadership team acts today.
Read the essayResource allocation is where strategy becomes visible
Priorities that do not change budgets, leadership attention or capability investment may remain statements of intent.
Read the essayRecognition
Awards & honours
- Strategy Leader of the YearCapital & Governance Quarterly2024
- Deal of the Year — PartnershipThe Corporate Development Awards2022
Media
In the news
Capital & Governance Quarterly · 2025
“Making the portfolio choices most boards postpone”
The Boardroom Review · 2024
“Scenarios the board can actually use”
The Leadership Ledger podcast · 2023
“Episode 115 — Strategy is a choice, not a deck”
An invitation
Looking ahead with Surya.
Board appointments, advisory mandates and conversations about the decisions ahead.
Open to
- Board appointments
- Advisory roles
- Speaking invitations
office@suryakoh.example