Tony Tan Keng Yam (simplified Chinese: 陈庆炎; traditional Chinese: 陳慶炎; pinyin: Chén Qìngyán; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Khèng-iām, born 7 February 1940, in Singapore) is the seventh President of Singapore. Until 1 July 2011, he was Executive Director and Deputy Chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH). He previously served as Chairman of Singapore's National Research Foundation and Deputy Chairman of the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council. In the late 1980s, Tan was Lee Kuan Yew's first choice to succeed him as Prime Minister of Singapore, but he declined. He later returned to Cabinet and as Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister from 1995 to 2005, and Minister for Defence from 1995 to 2003.
In August 2011, Tan won the Singapore presidential election by a narrow 0.34% margin, and was sworn in as President on 1 September 2011.
Education and Early Career
Tony Tan was educated at St Patrick's School and St Joseph's Institution. As a Singapore Government State Scholar, he earned First Class Honours Degree in Physics from the University of Singapore, topping his class. As an Asia Foundation scholar, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he completed a Master of Science (Operations Research). He later earned a PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Adelaide, and went on to lecture in Mathematics at the National University of Singapore.
In 1969, Tan left the University to begin a career in banking with Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), where he rose to become General Manager, before leaving the bank to pursue a career in politics in 1979. From 1980 to 1981, Tan was the first Vice Chancellor of the new National University of Singapore (NUS).
In 2005, Tan was presented the NUS Eminent Alumni Award in recognition of his role as a visionary architect of Singapore’s university sector. In 2010, he was presented the inaugural Distinguished Australian Alumnus Award by the Australian Alumni Singapore (AAS) at its 55th anniversary dinner in recognition of his distinguished career, and his significant contribution to society and to the Australian alumni community.
Personal Life
Tan married Mary Chee Bee Kiang in 1964. They have four children; three sons and one daughter. Tan currently resides in Moulmein-Kallang GRC.
From : www.wikipedia.org
