Clares De Cruz serves as Assistant Board Secretary of HCSA Community Services, Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee, and as a member of the Nomination Committee.

Clares is Head of Legal, Asia Pacific at dss+ (formerly DuPont), a global consulting firm focused on operational risk management and operational performance improvement in high hazard industries. An experienced in-house lawyer, she focuses primarily on risk and governance.

Clares qualified as a lawyer in London, began in private practice in Singapore, then returned to practise in London, and thereafter in Milan. She is triple-qualified and practised in London, Singapore and Milan between 2001 to 2019, before returning to Singapore in 2019 to become in-house legal counsel. Clares specialised in litigation and disputes resolution in maritime law and international trade, and thereafter on corporate and commercial work. She has advised clients across industries including shipping, commodities, energy/oil and gas and consumer goods. Clares is recognised for her pragmatic, solution-oriented approach to legal risk and business strategy.

Clares holds a Bachelor of Law from the University of London. She is also a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors.

She serves as a volunteer on the HCSA Board of Directors and the Dayspring Management Committee. Clares is passionate about causes relating to women and girls at risk. She is a member and serves as a cell group leader and in the women’s ministry at Redemption Hill Church.