Santa Fe is proud to celebrate Ruth Lockwood, Head of Strategic Sales South East Asia, who has received the Outstanding Contribution to Global Mobility Award from the Forum for Expatriate Management. This prestigious award recognises an exceptional career spanning over three decades, defined by Ruth’s commitment to clients, colleagues and the wider Global Mobility community.
Ruth’s international career began in the telecommunications sector, supporting the movement of equipment, engineers and technical specialists across Africa and Asia Pacific while helping organisations build local talent. She has since lived and worked in 11 countries across three continents, including several hardship locations. These experiences gave Ruth a personal understanding of the challenges people face when relocating and shaped the care, insight and practical support she continues to bring to every client relationship.
Since joining Santa Fe in October 2004 as Head of Operations in Hong Kong, Ruth has played an important role in the growth of our organisation. She helped establish operations in Taiwan, Dubai and Korea, supported the integration of acquisitions in India and Europe and opened our operation in South Africa, where she spent seven years. After building extensive operational and leadership experience, Ruth moved into commercial and strategic relationship development, returning to Asia and relocating to Singapore in 2022.
Ruth’s contribution is also reflected in the way Santa Fe serves its clients. She takes the time to understand the detail behind each requirement, identify where an experience can improve and turn that insight into practical action. Her best practice is shared across Santa Fe to help us continuously optimise our processes, strengthen service delivery and create better experiences for relocating employees and their families.
That commitment often continues beyond Ruth’s formal role. In Singapore, she organises community walks in her own time for clients, customers and members of the wider community. From the Rail Corridor to lesser-known parts of the city, these walks help people discover their surroundings, meet others and build confidence in a new environment. They show how local knowledge, cultural understanding and human connection can help people feel at home and support the long-term success of an international assignment.
Ruth has also led and supported initiatives that create a wider social impact. After discovering over 200 unused folders in Santa Fe’s Singapore office, she worked with Westbourne College Singapore to turn them into an educational sustainability challenge. Students developed new uses for the folders, transforming them into items including recycling bins, card holders and laptop bags. Ruth has also helped create events addressing men’s health and wellbeing, supported charitable initiatives across the countries she has called home and served on Women in Business committees through the British Chamber of Commerce and the South African Chamber of Commerce.
Throughout her career, Ruth has mentored colleagues, shared her experience at industry events and advocated for greater opportunity for women in business. Her ability to build trust across cultures and remain available to those who need her has created professional relationships and friendships that have lasted for decades. Her contribution can be seen in the operations she has helped establish, the people she has supported and the clients whose experiences she has personally helped improve.
Commenting on the award, Ruth said: “I am genuinely overwhelmed and incredibly honoured to receive the Outstanding Contribution to Global Mobility Award. This industry has given me so much, both professionally and personally, and it is an enormous privilege to receive this recognition from FEM. It means a great deal to me.”
Ruth’s career represents Global Mobility at its best: grounded in trust, shaped by experience and focused on people. Everyone at Santa Fe congratulates Ruth on this exceptional and thoroughly deserved recognition.
Ruth Lockwood
Head of Strategic Sales, South East Asia
Santa Fe Relocation
ruth.lockwood@santaferelo.com