In nearly two full decades with GE in Asia, regional general counsel Stephen Maloy has seen a few changes. After joining the company in the US in 1976, he accepted, seven years later, what was then considered a major challenge in relocating to Singapore. He became, in his own words, “the first lawyer GE put into Asia”. He remained virtually as GE’s sole legal counsel in the region throughout the 1980s.

Since that time he has overseen a period of remarkable growth in the company’s in-house legal capability. The group now ranks among the largest (and is possibly the largest) of private sector in-house units based in Asia.