Designed to Lead: A Future Leaders Network
An evening of insight, inspiration, and celebration
What does it take to lead with design in today's world? And who are the leaders shaping that answer right now?
Join us for Designed to Lead, an evening that puts the next generation of design-led leaders centre stage. Hear fresh, unfiltered leadership insights from emerging leaders across service design, design thinking, and business design. Then go deeper in conversation with seasoned industry voices who have walked the path before them.
This is not a lecture. This is a live exchange between the leaders of today and the leaders of tomorrow, and you are invited into that room.
The evening culminates in the graduation of our Future Leaders Fellowship cohort, a milestone worth celebrating together.
5:00 PM — Welcome & Opening
5:15 PM — Panel Discussion with Industry Leaders: Invited leaders from across industries join the conversation, on design, leadership, and what it really takes to move organisations forward
Panellists:
Adhiraj Mahajan, Group Product Manager, PRISM+
Raj is the Group Product Manager at PRISM+, Singapore’s largest electronics brand. An iF Award-winning product designer, he has designed over 30 global consumer products, including smart locks, robot vacuums, and smart laundry racks. His work blends aesthetic excellence with functional innovation, delivering smart home solutions used by thousands of people worldwide.
https://prismplus.sg/
Shermeen Tan, Managing Director, OuterEdit
Shermeen is the Managing Director of OuterEdit, a Singapore-based creative agency that makes meaningful matter through brand strategy, visual communications, storytelling and experience design. With a hybrid background spanning business, communications and design, she leads with a balance of strategic sensibility, emotional intelligence and creative conviction, bridging the analytical and the human in equal measure.
https://outeredit.com/
Simon Ong, Deputy Chairman amd Co-founder Kingsmen Creatives
Simon Ong oversees the strategic direction, development, and creative standards, of Kingsmen, a leading communication design and production group with 18 offices across the Asia Pacific region and North America. He serves the creative industry in various advisory roles, including honourary advisor to the Society of Interior Designers Singapore (SIDA) and a member of Singapore Interior Design Accreditation Council.
https://kingsmen-int.com/
Moderator:
Stacy Tan, Brand Director, Yellow Octopus
Stacy leads branding, research, and strategy at Yellow Octopus, a multi-disciplinary creative communications agency. With 11 years of experience, she has directed rebrands and creative campaigns for pioneers such as Jumbo Group, CapitaLand, FairPrice Group, School of the Arts, Halogen, and Parkway Group. Rooted in a background spanning creative writing and teaching, Stacy brings a distinctive lens to her work—one that sits at the intersection of leadership, design practice, and culture.
https://yellowoctopus.com.sg/
5:45 PM — Leadership Insights from the Fellows: Three groups share what they've learned about leading through design — candid, personal, and practical
6:30 PM — Certificate Presentation: Celebrating the graduation of our Future Leaders Fellowship cohort
6:45 PM — Dinner & Networking: Continue the conversations over dinner with fellow design-led leaders
Come if you are:
A mid-level manager ready to think more boldly about your leadership
A leader who has always known that design is more than aesthetics, it is how you solve, decide, and lead
A design advocate or people leader who wants to be part of the community shaping design leadership in Singapore