Women's History Month Spotlight: Marina Bay Sands' Penny Lo Outlines Her Career Journey and Key Learnings

Associated Press

04-04-2025

During Women's History Month 2025, Sands is featuring women who help drive the company's success and exemplify its culture of advancement. Penny Lo joined Marina Bay Sands in 2010 as associate general counsel and now serves as vice president and deputy general counsel, data protection officer.
Over the years, she has held different roles on the legal team including interim chief compliance officer and interim general counsel. Her current scope of work covers all non-gaming contracts and projects, business unit legal, HR issues, development contracts related to Marina Bay Sands' expansion and certain gaming regulatory matters. She also serves as data protection officer for the resort and works closely with the cybersecurity and IT teams in this area.
What is your background at Marina Bay Sands?
'I had worked in Shanghai from 2004 to 2009 in an Asia Pacific attorney role and was traveling regionally for my job. When my second child was about to arrive, I felt it would be easier to raise my two children with the support of my extended family in Singapore. My then-boss Faris Alsagoff had joined Marina Bay Sands in 2010 and asked me if I was interested in an opening at the resort. It was a great opportunity to join an exciting new industry in Singapore and with less travel involved so I could be home more for my kids.
'In the early years I worked mostly on gaming-related legal and compliance work. I would not have been able to survive if not for the generosity of much more experienced people in casino management who spent many hours explaining the inner workings of a casino to me.
'After Faris left the company, I took on two portfolios – running the legal department and the surveillance department. It was the toughest part of my career because I was thrust into the deep end. On top of that, I decided to have my third child.
'Eventually, Faris came back to Marina Bay Sands. Running the legal department with him for the last 14 years has been a fulfilling experience, especially when it's a department where people are happy and stay for many years.'
What resources and experiences helped you build a successful career?
'I think 'success at work' is a combination of a multitude of factors, not all of which are under one's control and some of which are really because people helped and gave me opportunities. So much of it is also by chance. For example, who would have thought I would have the opportunity to help build the legal department from scratch in 2010 to what it is today and to do it for a company like Marina Bay Sands? It only happened because I was there at the right time, and Faris and former managing director George Tanasijevich gave me an opportunity.
'From a training standpoint, I would not be where I am today without the eight years I spent working at Drew & Napier training under two amazing partners in the corporate department. They had extremely high standards of work and they taught me so much about how to analyze problems. In those years, legal associates worked 12-hour days, which also taught me the value of hard work.
'Another turning point was when I decided to pursue a master's degree in business administration in France at INSEAD. The year in France really opened up the world to me and made me much more intellectually curious. After INSEAD, I joined a London marketing/brand strategy consultancy and worked for their Shanghai office where I helped write a book on Chinese brands in the early 2000s when China was just opening up. I was not in comfortable territory, but I did these things because I was exploring. I would tell myself, 'There's no magic to it, even the most experienced person has to start from ground zero'.
'When I went to Shanghai to work in a regional legal role for a U.S. multinational corporation, I spent a lot of time doing mergers and acquisitions work – divesting large global business divisions and handling environmental issues in China and India. Again, this was not something I had any experience in, but I learned a lot. I think that when you have diverse experiences like these, you are constantly learning. Later on, these experiences give you insights that can be applied to solving other problems.
'My takeaway is that it's important to not be too linear in one's approach to life and career. As long as you are growing and learning, you will be fine!'
What are your ideas for empowering women in their careers?
'It really is down to dealing with the individual. In the same way that my boss has given me opportunities, we also have to proactively give opportunities to women when we see the potential in them.
'As an older executive, I have the experience to see what a younger person is lacking, and I can see when I am in a position to help that younger person build what she lacks so that she gets even better. For example, I could have someone working for me who is technically very capable but lacking in public speaking skills. So what I might do is work with her on an important presentation; make her deliver it; then I give feedback, and we do it again at the next opportunity. When she eventually nails it, I tell her how great she was.
'You have to do this in many ways – including when you see that you can help them move on to another portfolio and that it would really boost their career even if it means they leave you. But it also takes two to tango; the younger person has to have enough trust in you to take on your advice and feedback. How do you build that trust? That's the most difficult piece. It is built over the thousands of small interactions where you hope that she sees you have her best interests at heart.
'I also like to tell the women who work for me not to shy away from projects and new pieces of work. I try to tell them not to regard it as work but as another chance to learn something new and create something useful. It may even generate new options for them. Ultimately if nothing else, you become more skilled, more experienced. Everything you experience brings with it greater wisdom.'
What advice do you have for women or anyone who wants to advance in their careers?
'I have this little line: 'My life is not my CV'. Because we spend so much time at work and work is so encompassing, it can take over your life. But your life is not your CV, and it shouldn't be. It's important to ensure you know who you are and that it is not just an identity that is associated with who you are at work. This makes everything much more balanced. It also allows you to manage your CV so that it fits the life you want to lead and not the other way around.
'As one of the founders of EmpowHER, I try to encourage the other women at Marina Bay Sands not to be afraid – if you don't step up, no one will notice you, and you will not have an impact. If you do step up, unfortunately you do have to do more work – everything comes with a trade-off. It's up to you – what do you want to do with your time at Marina Bay Sands?'