Meet the current 2012 FOM Council:


Back Row (L to R): Rita Lee, Lynn Biondi, Anne Perng
Second Row (L to R): Evelyne Schmid Osborne, Patrica Bjaaland Welch, Ann Marie Regal
Front Row (L to R): Inge Hartgerink, Abha Kaul, Carmen Frings
Photo courtesy of Susanne Paulli

2011 Council Member Biographies:

Carmen Frings, President
Carmen Frings moved to Singapore in 2004, married with 2 children, now in tertiary education. She is from Germany, where she worked as a banker for Dresdner Bank AG for seventeen years. Since coming to Singapore, Carmen volunteered briefly at the German European School and joined FOM in 2006. She was trained as a docent at the Asian Civilisations Museum in 2007-08, acted as co-head of the ACM training team for 2008-09, were on the 2009 and 2010 councils as Honorary Treasurer and in 2011 as President of FOM. When she is not in any museum in Singapore, Carmen enjoys reading, golfing, diving, traveling and spending time with her husband and her dog, "whichever may come first".

Ingeborg Hartgerink, Vice President
Ingeborg Hartgerink-Grandia (just call her Inge) is Dutch and a 3rd generation expat: her father was actually born in Singapore in 1933. Ingeborg has a MSc in Structural Engineering from the Delft University of Technology (1984). She is currently on her second stay in Singapore, and during the first stay from 1990-1994 she joined the then Friends of the Museums where she became a docent at the then one and only National Museum and was the Docent Training Coordinator for the training there in 1993-1994. She returned to Singapore with her husband in the autumn of 2005 and became a docent at The Peranakan Museum in January 2010, TPM Coordinator in June 2010, and Council Representative (Jan-Aug 2011), as well as Vice President since August 2011. In her spare time Ingeborg studies IT and Computing at the OU or is somewhere out in nature taking pictures of flora and fauna. Ingeborg and Derk Jan have two sons who both study in Scotland.

Anne H. Perng, Honorary Secretary
Anne has lived in Singapore for over nine years. An American citizen of Taiwanese descent, she holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in International Politics from Georgetown University (USA). She had worked in investment banking in the financial capitals of New York, London and Hong Kong, followed by a move to financial public relations. Having joined FOM in 2006, Anne became a docent at the Asian Civilisations Museum in 2007 and a docent in the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in 2011. She was involved in the 2007-08 ACM training team, was the Speaker Coordinator for the Foundation Course (2008-09), and served as Vice President in the 2010 and Honorary Secretary in the 2011 councils. She is a mother of two and a film junkie.

Rita Lee, Honorary Treasurer
Rita is a Singaporean who returned home in 2007 after working for 18 years with Citibank, the last 7 of which were in Taiwan and Hong Kong. She credits her stay in the two countries for polishing her Mandarin and Cantonese, which she speaks in addition to Teochew (her own dialect) and English (of course). She is now a freelance financial consultant, and is pursuing a Master's Degree in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. Rita was the NMS Coordinator from 2009-2010 and is currently the Coordinator at the newly opened Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall. She is also an active volunteer with her church's ministry to the elderly.

Abha Dayal Kaul, Council Representative - Membership & Volunteer Appreciation
Abha served on the 2011 FOM Council as Council Representative for Member Appreciation, before which she was a co-head of the ACM docent training programme. She is an active docent at the ACM and enjoys researching, writing about and sharing various aspects of Asian cultures, especially the great Indian civilisation. In her past life, Abha practised law in India and the U.S.A.; she has lived in Bombay, Delhi, Paris and New York before calling Singapore home for the past 11 years. Her love for the FOM, travel, history, language, yoga, meditation and meeting interesting people from all walks of life keeps her sane and content.

Lynn Biondi, Council Representative - Museums
Lynn is an American citizen who has lived in Singapore since 2008 and travelled extensively throughout Asian in a professional capacity since 1989. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (1978) and an MBA in Finance and Marketing (1983) from the University of Chicago, and worked professionally for thirty years in general business management. Her work included an assignment in the United Kingdom working with businesses in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. Lynn joined FOM when she arrived in Singapore, and has been on the research groups and an active FOM docent for numerous special exhibitions at the National Museum of Singapore in addition to being at docent at the Asian Civilisations Museum; she is a member of the PASSAGE magazine and the Welcoming teams, conducts city tours for Explore Singapore, and launched the Super Saturdays Program in 2010. She sat on the 2010 council as a Council Representative.

Evelyne Schmid Osborne, Council Representative - Member Activities
A Swiss and French citizen, Evelyne grew up in Switzerland and the US and has been living in Singapore for over ten years. She holds a Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering and earned a Doctorate from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology for her research in Biophysical Chemistry. She continued her career as a research scientist in Switzerland and later at the National University of Singapore. After having her third child she fulfilled a long-held desire to learn more about her new region of residence, obtaining a teaching certification in Yoga, following a full-time program in Mandarin at the NUS, and qualifying as an ACM Docent. She later served as Co-head of Docent Training at the ACM and, from August, was on the 2011 council as Council Representative. She loves guiding both adults and children, reading Asian literature and discovering the region with her family.

Ann Marie Regal, Council Representative - Marketing
Ann Marie Regal moved with her family to Singapore in 2007. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Finance from Syracuse University and the Certified Financial Planner designation in America. Prior to moving to Singapore she worked at Goldman Sachs, then in Private Wealth Management at Deutsche Bank and Legg Mason Investment Counsel. Ann Marie works for Chartwell Associates, a boutique financial planning firm in Singapore. Prior to her financial career, she was in the fashion industry traveling extensively throughout Europe where she developed a passion for art and antiques. Ann Marie joined FOM in 2008, is a Docent at NMS, a member of the NMS operating committee and third year Council Representative.

Patricia Bjaaland Welch, Council Representative - Communications
Patricia is a Singapore PR who has resided in the Lion City since 1995. Best known to FOM as an active ACM docent, MML lecturer and leader of Study Tours to China and archaeological sites, she is newly retired from the private sector where she was most recently Asia Regional Head of External Relations for the consulting company McKinsey & Company. Other former positions include Regional Head of Communications (Asia) for American Express and Senior VP of Strategic Marketing and Public Affairs for ABN AMRO Bank Asia Pacific. In the 1980's-90's, she was Director of Marketing Communications for Time Magazine Group (Asia), Asia-Pacific Marketing Director for Fortune Magazine, Director, Business & Professional Publishing Division of Longman Asia, and Director of Marketing for Asia Business News (now CNBC Television). Patricia is currently our www.fom.sg webmaster and coordinator of FOM's Study Tours. Having begun life as an academic with M.A.'s in Asian Studies and Chinese, she has several published books, the most recent Chinese Art (Tuttle, 2008).

back to top of page