Some 40 years ago, David Conner, AB ’74, was washing dishes to pay for his room and board at the WUSTL chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon.
Conner has come a long way since then. In 2011, he was named Outstanding CEO of the Year at the Singapore Business Awards.
A member of the university’s Board of Trustees, Conner is the CEO of Singapore’s second-largest bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC). He became CEO in 2002, and over the past nine years, OCBC’s market capitalization has more than doubled, to reach US$26.7 billion (S$32.3 billion).
“I never aspired to be a CEO, but somehow the stars aligned to make it happen,” Conner said in a speech to the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce this summer. “Happily so, because not only do I get to live in Singapore, a delightful place, but at OCBC we’ve also invested more than a billion dollars in Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Vietnam during my time.”
Conner decided he wanted to work in an organization focused on development after meeting his wife’s father, a physician, public health specialist and country head of the World Health Organization in Nepal. Conner was serving in the Peace Corps in Nepal at the time.
Conner also credits Washington University for his motivation for success.
“A liberal arts degree from Washington University instilled in me a voracious appetite for lifetime learning,” he says. “That’s what achievement is all about, learning all the time.”
Conner serves as the chairman of the International Advisory Council for Asia. He also interviews students through the Alumni and Parents Admission Program.
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