We spoke with Ronn on how an education at SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) gave him the exposure, perspective, and confidence to understand the world around and chart a direction of his own – one defined by people, passion, and purpose.
When Ronn speaks of choosing SMU, one memory stands out above the rest: a period during National Service when he began noticing a pattern in how those headed to SMU were spending their university years — developing well beyond the confines of a single track.
"It became quite evident to me that an SMU student is different from a traditional student," he recalls. Those in SMU were juggling student club activities and leadership roles, securing internships at firms whose work genuinely drew them in, and growing outside of their curriculum. That observation gave Ronn confidence to place his undergraduate ambitions in SMU.
Arriving on campus and in the hustle and bustle of settling in, he found steady footing in something familiar: SMU Athletics, whose track team grounded him through his transition to university life.
“It became my first home on campus." Ronn (far right) with SMU Athletics track mates.
4 years on, Ronn is the 2025 Kwek Hong Png-Lee Kong Chian School of Business Valedictorian — a Bachelor of Business Management in Finance (Summa Cum Laude), former President of the SMU Business Society, a Wharton exchange alumnus, and now an Analyst in Global Infrastructure & Sustainable Finance Group at Bank of America, helping finance renewable energy and digital infrastructure projects across Asia Pacific. But his credentials, on their own, undersell the fuller picture. Each experience sharpened his sense of what kind of work —and experiences — was truly worth pursuing.
Business as a Platform
Business first became compelling to Ronn through the idea of social entrepreneurship, as a means of pulling people, ideas and resources together around problems that mattered. Finance came later, a natural extension of his affinity for numbers and big-picture.
SMU's city campus, he found, made that instinct practical. During his internship at the Prime Minister's Office, he could end a workday and be back on campus within minutes for a Business Society meeting — coursework, internships and student leadership blurring into one continuous rhythm.
Learning to Lead Through Others
When Ronn was elected President of the SMU Business Society (Bondue), the weight of the role settled in almost immediately — not from the title, but from knowing that his decisions would shape the journeys of 16 others on his Executive Committee. Over his term, the 19th ExCo ran nine professional and social events and led four sub-committees, notching several firsts. But what mattered most to Ronn wasn't keeping events on schedule — it was building a space where others felt safe enough to contribute, disagree, and grow.
It taught him something no classroom could. At the society's Annual General Meeting, recounting the term's milestones, what stayed with Ronn wasn't how successful any single event was, but the quiet fulfilment of watching his team grow around him. "They weren't perfect. Neither was I. But choosing to look after your relationships offers something lasting," he reflects in his Valedictorian speech. "Quietly being part of someone else's success story is the kind of success that doesn't show up in awards, but stays with you forever."
Ronn (back row, left) with the 19th ExCo of Bondue
Reading the Macro
Ronn internships, spanning the Prime Minister's Office, Bank of America and BSQ Capital Partners, gave him a front-row seat to how institutions, markets and capital actually move — each providing different vantage points. Early in his degree, LKCSB’s curriculum provided a strong foundation in the micro aspects of business, on how firms and functions operate. From there, he set out to build his own understanding of the macro: the structural forces of sustainability and technology reshaping markets and institutions.
That instinct took Ronn to the Prime Minister's Office, where he supported climate-related agendas, including climate technology and gaining exposure to venture capital. The same thread carried through a summer as a Global Markets Analyst at Bank of America, and later into his current, full-time role in infrastructure finance.
SMU's curriculum, he shares, provided him with tools he could apply immediately. A spreadsheet modelling course proved useful in his very first internship; a management communication module sharpened essential job-readiness — writing persuasive emails, building impactful presentations, delivering difficult news — that go a long way in one’s career. A storytelling elective, especially, left a mark, underscoring the importance of well-crafted narratives in translating data and insights into actionable strategies. Ronn’s capstone project on food waste segregation, developed together with an SMU office, pushed him further still, requiring him to build and test working prototypes beyond written solutions and recommendations.
An Unforgettable Semester at Wharton
Through SMU’s International Student Exchange Programme (ISEP), Ronn had the opportunity to spend a semester at The Wharton School – news he recalls with a mixture of excitement and surprise. Wharton had been a place that he had hoped to experience, making the opportunity especially meaningful. The semester also arrived at a fitting moment just after his term leading Bondue had ended, offering him a rare stretch to slow down, observe and immerse fully.
Being surrounded by some of the world’s brightest minds broadened his frame of reference. Removed from the rhythms of a familiar campus, sitting through lectures shaped by a different academic culture, alongside classmates who'd arrived from all corners of the world, the experience has humbled but also made him bolder, a shift that has stayed with him well beyond the semester itself.
Ronn outside the Jon Huntsman Hall at The Wharton School.
Becoming His Own Valedictorian
Curiously, for most of his time at SMU, Ronn wrestled with being valedictorian. Initially, it felt like the ultimate academic achievement. But over time, that idea was replaced by something quieter: a wish to make his parents proud, and to stay true to a goal he'd set for himself years earlier.
When the time came to apply, he hesitated, having already experienced much that he had hoped for, and not wanting his narrative to hinge on a single outcome. One evening while on a run, he concluded that he was already fulfilled. "For the first time, I felt at peace," he shares candidly, "like I had become my own valedictorian, on my own terms."
Risk Before Certainty
Asked what advice he would offer current and incoming LKCSB students, Ronn doesn't start with grades or career plans. He speaks instead of risk, of resisting the pull of proven, well-trodden paths in favour of testing one's own assumptions while there is still room.
"Don't be afraid to take risks," he urges. "Risk the judgement of others, the expectation of loved ones — we only get one life, so do it all.”
It is advice that mirrors his own trajectory. 4 years at LKCSB gave Ronn more than a destination — it gave him the exposure, and the confidence to chart his own direction with intention.
