Norica Ng on our Singapore Office

Tell us about yourself.
I was born and raised in Singapore. I went to RMIT University in Singapore and studied business and marketing. I love fashion, and I thought I’d end up in merchandising as a buyer or something similar. It turned out a little differently—my first job was in management consulting and now I work for a global asset manager.

So, what does the Singapore Office Manager do?
Other than trading or running a book, I’ve done almost everything. When I started at Point72 in Singapore in 2014, most teams didn’t have a local presence—there were no representatives for Operations, Human Resources, Facilities, or IT. I was everyone’s hands and legs. We had an outsourced IT vendor, so I would manage them or call the Hong Kong office to troubleshoot over the phone. The Singapore office has grown a lot since then!

What else has changed since 2014?
In 2014, the Singapore office consisted of 12 people, we’re more than 70 now. We’ve moved spaces twice and have grown almost every team. When I started, there was one person in Cubist, and now they have their own office in our building.

In 2016, the Firm really started to focus on cohesion across all the Asia offices. That year we had our first Asia PM and analyst offsite, and I got to travel to Hong Kong to help with the event. It was a great time. We had a charity auction and the then-head of Singapore offered to shave his head as one of the auction items! I think Steve won the bidding, but I got to shave the volunteer’s head.

You weren’t kidding about doing everything.
I’m also the Community Ambassador and help plan office- and region-wide events for teams including HR, Campus Recruiting, and the Point72 Academy.

Traditionally, we’d have a couple of big office events a year. I plan the annual holiday party, which is always special because everyone and their families can mingle. In 2016, we had a grand opening of our office space and there were lion dancers, and then in 2019 we celebrated our 10-year anniversary in Singapore, which was a big deal. I’m glad we were able to do that one before Covid.

How has your role changed with Covid and with less of a physical office to manage?
It’s actually expanded. I quickly learned I could also be a Business Continuity Planning (BCP) coordinator. I’m heavily involved with the Singapore return-to-office planning with our head of Singapore and Point72’s Facilities and BCP teams. The way we relocate and onboard new hires overseas has also changed significantly due to quarantine, borders control, and workplace measures.
I’ve also expanded my role by becoming the admin for Krista Murphy. She’s an extremely nice person to work for and takes on a lot of interesting projects. She’s also really willing to teach and she knows so much about the industry and the world in general. I ask her a lot of questions.

What do you think we do well as a Firm?
Everyone is a team player; everyone works really hard. I usually onboard almost everyone into the Singapore office, so I feel like I know everybody, and we have a great sense of community. At a lot of companies, you might not know who senior management is, or people from other offices, but I think everyone here really makes an effort to have a presence and be accessible.

I also think the Firm invests a lot in its people, giving people tools and resources at any level and the opportunity to take on new challenges and define their careers. I’ve gotten to take on a lot of new responsibilities and grow with the business. We’re constantly expanding, no two days are the same.