Singapore (Commonwealth Union)_ The Hindu Endowments Board (HEB), the statutory body that oversees major Hindu temples in Singapore, has appointed veteran public servant Sarojini Padmanathan as its new Chief Executive Officer. The announcement was made by the HEB. Padmanathan, 63, has almost 40 years of experience in Singapore’s public service, especially in the healthcare sector. She has held senior roles at the Ministry of Health and the Health Sciences Authority, where she played a key role in hospital reform in the 1990s and helped the organization’s resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her experience encompasses workforce development for medical, nursing, and administrative professionals, which qualifies her to run complicated organizations.
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Before her appointment as CEO, Padmanathan served as the board’s finance member. In that role, she assisted with financial monitoring and governance while also actively participating in the board’s daily operations, which included overseeing four temples, a halfway house, and a variety of religious activities. Padmanathan, a passionate trainer, has extensively imparted her experience in human resource management and growth. Since 1990, she has been an associate trainer with the Singapore Civil Service College, training leaders and HR practitioners both locally and abroad in countries such as Namibia, Botswana, Brunei, Qatar, Fiji, Samoa, Myanmar, and Kazakhstan.
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Beyond her professional career, Padmanathan has been deeply involved in community service. She was appointed Justice of the Peace in September 2020 and has served on the Board of Visiting Justices, the Inmates Families Support Fund Committee, and the National Council for Problem Gambling. She is also a licensed marriage solemnizer and has conducted more than 100 ceremonies. In August 2024, she was appointed Finance Member of HEB, and in 2022, she became the first woman to receive the Distinguished Community Award from the Tamils Representative Council in Singapore.
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HEB praised her appointment, saying her “extensive leadership experience, strong governance background, and prior service on the board position her well to lead HEB in fulfilling its mission of managing Hindu endowments and programs for the benefit of the community.” Padmanathan succeeds Jeevaganth Arumugam, who led the board since September 2024. HEB, established in 1968, oversees four important temples in Singapore: Sri Mariamman Temple, Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, Sri Sivan Temple, and Sri Vairavimada Kaliamman Temple. The board is in charge of preserving Hindu heritage while also promoting educational, cultural, and humanitarian programs that assist the local Indian population.
