Jose Raymond

Jose Raymond
Jose Raymond, Senior Director, Singapore Sports Hub
Born	(1971-12-22) 22 December 1971
Nationality	Singaporean
Occupation	Senior Director, Singapore Sports Hub Vice-President (Finance), Singapore Swimming Association
Known for	Communications, Non-Profit Leadership, Public Service, Journalism

Jose Raymond is the Senior Director (Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Management) of the Singapore Sports Hub. He was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Environment Council (SEC).^[1]

Singapore Environment Council

Established in 1995, the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) is an independently managed, non-profit and non-government organisation in Singapore. The SEC aims to influence thinking on sustainability issues and coordinate environmental efforts in Singapore. It is also an approved charity and offers tax exemption to donors and are current owners of properties and programmes such as the Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards, Asian Environmental Journalism Awards, School Green Awards, Green Champions, Singapore Green Labelling Scheme, Project: Eco-Office and Project: Eco-Shop.^[2]

Raymond was appointed as the Singapore Environment Council's Executive Director on 1 October 2011, and took over from predecessor Howard Shaw, who left the Council in March 2011. He was designated as the Singapore Environment Council's Chief Executive Officer in June 2014. ^[3]

On 7 January 2015, it was reported that Jose Raymond resigned as Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Environment Council. ^[4]

Achievements

In 2012, Raymond announced the expansion of the Council's Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards to include a regional category, to facilitate the expansion of the Council's work into the region.^[5]

The Council also announced in 2012 its intention to push the Singapore Green Label, an eco-label administered by the Singapore Environment Council, more into the region.^[6]

Under his leadership, the Council's School Green Audit Awards was revamped and renamed the programme the School Green Awards in 2013. The programme was also expanded to include pre-schools and schools for students with special needs in 2013, apart from putting the programme through a creative rebranding exercise.^[7] In November 2013, the Singapore Environment Council announced at the awards presentation ceremony that a record number of 327 schools had participated in the 2013 School Green Awards.^[8] In 2014, the School Green Awards reached out to a new record number of schools in Singapore when 342 schools took part in the annual programme. It also included a submission from a foreign school, a first for the programme. ^[9]

Raymond also conceptualized the creation of the "Green Champions" programme, a joint initiative between the Singapore Environment Council and the Singapore National Olympic Council. A few notable Singapore national athletes on the programme include footballer Aleksandar Duric, sprinters C Kunalan, UK Shyam, Amirudin Jamal, swimmer Mark Chay, paddler Isabelle Li and sailor Joan Huang. The MOU, signed in July 2013, was witnessed by Acting Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin.^[10]

Executive Director of the Singapore Environment Council Jose Raymond and Secretary General of the Singapore National Olympic Council Chris Chan sign an MOU to co-create the Green Champions programme in Singapore.

The Eco-Office programme, a joint-initiative with City Developments Limited, has also widened its reach. In 2013, the Singapore Environment Council announced that all post offices in Singapore operated by Singpost had been certified under the Eco-office programme which is administered by the Singapore Environment Council.^[11]

On 1 July 2013, the Singapore Environment Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SMRT, one of Singapore's public transport operators, to start the Eco-Shop programme. The programme was aimed to reach out to retailers in Singapore. ^[12]

Raymond also represented the Singapore Environment Council in signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan in 2012 to share best practices in spearheading environmental and public health protection in Uzbekistan.^[13]

The Singapore Environment Council and the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan signed an MOU in April 2012 to collaborate in the areas of environmental and health protection.

The Singapore Environment Council also signed a MOU with the Singapore Furniture Industries Council in February 2013 to raise the industry's sustainability standards.^[14]

In September 2013, the Council also released its findings into a survey and research paper into the plastic bag problem in Singapore after a year-long study in September 2013. The research paper was the Council's first in its history.^[15]

On 24 January 2014, the Singapore Environment Council announced that it was leading a three-month-long 'national conversation' to gather views from the public on the country's environmental future. Views gathered from the series of dialogues—the most extensive yet on green issues in Singapore—will then be used as a tool in the revision of the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint.^[16]

On 27 May 2014, the Singapore Environment Council released its findings after the three-month long dialogue, which reached out to 440 participants. Among the recommendations made by the Singapore Environment Council were the need for stronger legislation and the creation of a green reflex among Singaporeans and members of the public. He said: “The challenges we face now, and in the near future, will require a many-hands-on-deck approach, and solutions will have to be co-constructed by using a 3P framework. This is one of the reasons why it is crucial for all sectors to work together to achieve a common objective of a sustainable, clean, green and safe city of the future.” ^[17]

On 21 August 2014, the Singapore Environment Council announced that it had started a training and education arm. The announcement was made at the 17th Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards held at the InterContinental Hotel. In his statements to the media, Raymond said "the (activities)will also provide companies with tools to start sustainability programmes" in their organisations. The new training arm was established to meet the demand from corporate companies for environmental programmes and also to generate revenue for the Singapore Environment Council. ^[18]

On 23 September 2014, the Singapore Environment Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the China Environmental United Certification Center. "Singapore Green Labelling Scheme‐certified products can enjoy a competitive edge when venturing into the China market, particularly with government agencies because of the government green procurement policy, which was implemented to promote sustainable economic development and also to protect the environment," he said. ^{[19] [20]}

On 6 November, the Singapore Environment Council released a 'risque' and 'racy' video under its Envision programme to educate people about air pollution. The video, called "Make Love, Not Haze" went viral. ^{[21] [22] [23]}

Raymond has also been featured in a book by Richard Hartung titled "Changing Lanes: Changing Lives", which is a collection of interviews with a few leaders from the non-profit sector in Singapore.^[24]

In the book, he said that one of the reasons he took up the appointment to lead the Singapore Environment Council was to "mold a team around me, to groom them, to bring about a certain kind of change in the organisation, to bring it further, and to make a change in people's lives."

Raymond is a regular commentary writer for the Today newspaper.^[25]

In one of his commentary pieces published on 10 October 2013, Raymond made a case for Singapore to host the region's first ever 'Green' South-east Asian Games and called on the organising committee to ensure that the biennial event was organised with its environmental impact in mind.^[26]

In yet another commentary piece which was published in the TODAY newspaper on 27 March 2014, Raymond listed three areas - corporate mentorship, education and sustainable leadership - as the three key strategies for non-profit organisations in the future.^[27]

He was appointed District Councillor of the Northeast Community Development Council in 2011, where he is the Vice-Chairman of the Corporate and Marketing Communication committee.^[28]

In July 2014, he was appointed the Chairman of the Northeast Community Development Council's Environment Committee. ^[29]

On 6 June 2014, it was announced that Jose Raymond was challenging for the position of Vice-President (Finance) at the Singapore Swimming Association's election of office bearers which was to be held on 13 June 2014. His running mates included Mr Oon Jin Teik, former Chief Executive of the Singapore Sports Council, and Singapore swim queen Joscelin Yeo, Singapore's most decorated gold medalist at the South-east Asian Games. ^[30]

On 13 June 2014, Jose Raymond was elected as the Vice-President (Finance) of the Singapore Swimming Association after beating his challenger and former national swimmer Gerald Koh by 18-14. His running mates, which included former Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Sports Council Mr Oon Jin Teik and Singapore's most successful female swimmer Joscelin Yeo, had a clean sweep of all positions they stood for. ^[31]

The Executive Committee of the Singapore Swimming Association after the Annual General Meeting on 13 June. Jose Raymond (far left) was elected as Vice-President (Finance) after beating Gerald Koh 18-14.

Jose also chaired the judging panel for the Most Inspiring Sports Story of the Year 2014 for the Singapore Sports Awards. ^[32]

Work prior to the Singapore Environment Council

Jose Raymond's previous appointments include being Press Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan, and Deputy Director of Media Relations and Social Media of the Singapore Sports Council. While at the Singapore Sports Council, he led a team of sports performance managers in the sports development group before he was appointed the head of communications and IT for the first 2009 Asian Youth Games in Singapore.He was credited for strategising, formulating and executing media and broadcast strategy for the inaugural Asian Youth Games Singapore 2009, which included the extensive use of the internet and social media as outreach tools. The use of 'live' streaming on the official games website of all events allowed the Asian Youth Games to be broadcast to the world at no cost to the end-user. In addition to the above, he also co-wrote the theme song for the Asian Youth Games 2009 titled "Asia's Youth, Our Future".^[33][34]

Raymond also served as Press Secretary to current Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Teo Ser Luck, who was the Youth Olympic Village Mayor during the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. He spent 11 years as a journalist with the Straits Times and Mediacorp's Today newspaper.^[3]

Raymond was named the Journalist of the Year in 2006 in Mediacorp's News awards. It was the news organization's inaugural awards.^[33]

Raymond also picked up the S-League Story of the Year award in 2005 for his story "Firing Up Football".^[24]

He was an investigative journalist during his time in TODAY and broke various news and sports stories. He was the first journalist to report the crash between the RSS Courageous and ANL Indonesia whick took place on 3 January 2003^[35]

Jose Raymond, a former senior correspondent of the TODAY newspaper in Singapore, interviews former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at his home in Bangsar following his release from prison in 2004.

Raymond was also responsible for exposing a story on an illegal insurance claim which was made by a man, who had faked his death and claimed insurance from various companies. The expose came more than 15 years after the alleged scam took place.^[36]

Raymond was also the first journalist in Singapore to expose the unethical practices of the former director of the National Neuroscience Institute Simon Shorvon, who was subsequently terminated from his position.^[37]

He was also the first journalist in Singapore to report that an employee from the Singapore Rugby Union had disappeared after siphoning off more than $300,000 of the association's funds in one of the biggest financial scandals to hit Singapore sports scene.^[38]

Raymond was also responsible for exposing the employment practices of former S-League club Sporting Afrique, which were paying their footballers about $100 a month, which was a third of what foreign domestic workers earned in Singapore.^[39]

In March 2006, in an exclusive report, Raymond exposed how the physiotherapist from local football club Singapore Armed Forces FC was using animal medicine to treat his footballers. ^[40]

In 2004, Raymond secured an exclusive interview with former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim after the latter's release from prison. The interview was published on the front page of the Today newspaper in November 2004.^[41]

In 2005, Raymond was a prosecution witness for the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in its match-fixing case against former S-League and Malaysian coach Chow Kwai Lam, who was later found guilty of attempting to fix a match in the S-League by asking a goalkeeper to concede between two or three goals in a league match.^[42]

In another exclusive story for the TODAY newspaper which was published on 12 August 2005, Raymond revealed that one of Singapore's national goalkeepers had been offered $12,000 to fix an international match between Singapore and Malaysia.^[43]

On 16 February 2004, Raymond wrote in an exclusive story that football officials from Singapore and Malaysia had begun discussing the possibility of Singapore's return to the Malaysia league and Cup football competitions. Singapore had left the competition after the 1994 season.^[44] In 2011, the Football Association of Singapore announced the return to the competition.

In May 2004, Raymond exposed how the youth team of one of Singapore's S-League clubs - Jurong FC - was having their footballers train in candlelight.^[45]

In May 2000, while he was a photo-journalist with the Straits Times, he was detained and questioned by the Sri Lankan military while he was on assignment in Colombo. He was subsequently released after questioning.^[46]

References