Mary Ann Tsao is the Vice Chairwoman of Tsao Holdings, the holding company of the Tsao family group of companies started in the early 1900s, whose portfolio includes property, manufacturing, F&B and investments. She is also the Chairwoman and Founding Director of the Tsao Foundation, a Singapore-based but regionally oriented non-profit operational foundation dedicated to aged care and ageing issues that was chartered by her grandmother in 1992.

Dr. Tsao serves on numerous boards and committees of governmental and non-profit organizations as well as academic institutions in Singapore, and is a frequent invited speaker at local and international conferences on ageing, philanthropy and family business. She is also a former Board Director for FBN (Family Business Network) Asia, a non-profit association of family businesses committed to business practices that serve as a model of sustainability.

Dr. Tsao has also served as a technical advisor for numerous multilateral agencies, such as WHO Geneva office’s Ageing and Life Course unit, UNESCAP (UN Economic and Social Commission for the Asia Pacific), ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Secretariat, as well as served on the board of various international agencies on ageing, including London-based HelpAge International.

For her work on ageing, she received from the government of Singapore the Public Service Medal (PBM) in 2000, Public Service Star (BBM) in 2004 and Public Service Star (Bar) – BBM(L) – in 2015.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Dr. Tsao is a US trained pediatrician with a public health background, specializing in community and primary care planning, and social medicine. She has extensive experience working with disadvantaged communities in the US and Singapore.