Tan See Leng

Tan See Leng (born 24 December 1964)[1] is a Singaporean politician, business executive, medical practitioner and entrepreneur who has served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry since 27 July 2020. He has also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Marine Parade GRC for Marine Parade since 10 July 2020.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Tan.

The Honourable Tan See Leng MP
陈诗龙
Minister in the Prime Minister's Office
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 July 2020 Serving with Indranee Rajah & Maliki Osman
President	Halimah Yacob
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Preceded by	Ng Chee Meng
Second Minister for Manpower
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 July 2020
President	Halimah Yacob
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister	Josephine Teo
Second Minister for Trade and Industry
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 July 2020
President	Halimah Yacob
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister	Chan Chun Sing
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Marine Parade GRC (Marine Parade)
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 July 2020
Preceded by	Goh Chok Tong
Personal details
Born	Tan See Leng (1964-12-24) December 24, 1964 Singapore
Education	National University of Singapore (MBBS) National University of Singapore (MMED) University of Chicago Booth School of Business (MBA)

Early life

Tan was born in Singapore.[2] An an only child, he grew up with an SBS bus timekeeper father and a homemaker mother who took up as many odd jobs as possible to alleviate the family's financial constrains.[3] He had been fostered out to a Cantonese-speaking nanny to be cared for, staying at Sam Leong Road, next to Desker Road with her on weekdays.[3] Only on weekends did he stay with his parents at a rented flat in Toa Payoh.[3] This arrangement continued until he was five or six years old.[3]

Tan funded his university education by himself, of an annual school fee of $3000,[3] by tutoring junior-college students for various subjects (Mathematics, Biology, Physics and Chemistry).[3] With up to eight students at a time, he earned around $800 to $1,000-plus a month.[3]

Education

Tan attended Monk’s Hill Primary School and Monk's Hill Secondary School.[3] He went on to National Junior College,[3] and joined choir as his Co-curricular activity.[3] He then studied medicine at the National University of Singapore. In 1988, Tan obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the National University of Singapore Faculty of Medicine.[4] In 1998, he obtained a Master of Medicine Family Medicine from the National University of Singapore.[4] In 2003, he was awarded the Fellow of College of Family Physicians by the College of Family Physicians Singapore.[5][4] In 2004, he obtained a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.[4] In 2014, he was awarded the Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore.[5]

Career

Entrepreneur

In 1992, at the age of 27, Tan started Healthway Medical Group with a group of friends, through a bank loan of $90,000 and an initial capital investment of $5,000 from each of the initial stakeholders.[6][7] As co-founder and chairman of the company, he grew the group to become the second largest private primary care group in Singapore.[7] In 2004, he successfully divested the group to British United Provident Association Healthcare.[6]

Businessman

In 2004, he joined Parkway Holdings as Chief Operating Officer of Mount Elizabeth Hospital.[7] Tan was eventually promoted to become the Executive Director of Pantai Holdings (Subsidiary of Parkway) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pantai Hospitals Division and Head of Malaysia Operating Division of Parkway until 2008.[4]

From 2010 to 2019, Tan was the group CEO and Managing Director (MD) of Parkway Holdings and Parkway Pantai Limited.[8][9] From 2014 to 2019, Tan was also the CEO and MD of IHH Healthcare BHD.[9][10] During his tenures, some of his contributions include delisting Parkway Holdings in 2010 and relisting IHH Healthcare in 2012[9] into one of the largest IPOS in the world in 2012, expanding and growing the group from 15 hospitals in 2009 to 84 hospitals as of the end of 2019,[11] leading the M&A of Acibadem Healthcare (Turkey), Fortis Healthcare (India),[11] and multiple hospitals across Asia. Under his leadership, IHH Healthcare Berhad has won multiple awards, including the Best Managed and Best Overall Corporate Governance Poll Awards by Asiamoney in 2016.[12]

In 2019, he retired from the position of group CEO and Managing Director (MD) of Parkway Holdings and Parkway Pantai Limited.[11]

External appointments

Over the years, Tan has held numerous ministerial advisory and medical committee appointments. For instance, since 2009, Dr Tan has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the College of Family Physicians Singapore (CFPS).[13] He also served in various capacities with CFPS Holdings Pte Ltd, including as its Chairman from 2008 to 2010 and Vice President from 2011 to 2013.[13] In November 2013, he was appointed by the Ministry of Health as a member of the MediShield Life Review Committee.[14]

Moreover, Tan has maintained active involvement in academia through board memberships and appointments. From 2011 to 2019, Tan was Adjunct Assistant Professor of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, Office of Education.[15] Tan has also sat on the Advisory Board of Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University.[16]

Apart from the medical field, Tan has also contributed to the business scene. In 2012, Dr Tan was appointed a council member of the Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council.[4][13] The council aims to deepen Singapore's engagement with Guangdong and benefit Singapore businesses through joint exploration of new opportunities in the province.[17]

Volunteer experience

A passionate supporter of improving healthcare provision through innovations and private-public collaboration, Dr Tan has guest lectured at many international symposiums, including the Harvard Business School’s series on healthcare entrepreneurship.[7] He has also previously provided advisory inputs as an expert panel member for the Department of Health, National Health Services (UK).[7]

Since Tan retired in 2019,[11] he has been active in the community. He acts as patron of WeCare Community Enabling Network in Marine Parade[18][19] and attends weekly Meet-the-People sessions at the Marine Parade constituency. He also actively reaches out to the Marine Parade community to connect with and understand them better. For example, Tan has set up and is helming a Caregivers Support Network in Marine Parade.[18][19] This network aims to serve as “a conduit” that can facilitate help for caregivers of the sick and elderly, against the backdrop of an older demographic in Marine Parade.[18]

Accolades

2004: Tan was awarded the Long Service Award from the People’s Association Singapore.

2007: Tan was awarded the prestigious College of Family Physicians Singapore Albert and Mary Lim Award,[20] the highest accolade awarded for contribution and services rendered to the college and to the discipline of Family Medicine. This was in appreciation of his contribution to CFPS, where he successfully organised the 18th Wonca World Conference in Singapore, which netted CFPS a net profit of more than US$1.3 million.[21]

2015: Named Asia Innovator of the Year at the 14th CNBC Asia Business Leaders Awards (ABLA) 2015[22]

2016: Asiamoney Best Executive in Malaysia,[23] Asiamoney best CEO in Investor Relations[23]

2017: Won the ABLA Corporate Social Responsibility Award[24]

2019: Singapore Medical Association Merit Award 2019[25]

References/Notes and references

1. "Playing to win". Business Times (Singapore). Retrieved 23 October 2019.
2. "IHH Annual Report 2017". irplc.com. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
3. "The Peak Interview: The Good Doctor". The Peak Singapore - Your Guide to The Finer Things in Life. 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
4. "Tan See Leng". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
5. "IHH Annual Report 2018". irplc.com. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
6. "PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
7. "Dr Tan See Leng | Honour International Symposium 2018". www.honourinternational.sg. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
8. "MOH | News Highlights". www.moh.gov.sg. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
9. Heng, Janice (2019-05-28). "IHH Healthcare chief executive to retire at year-end". The Business Times. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
10. "Dr Tan See Leng". www.raise.sg. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
11. [IHH Healthcare Berhad]. "DR TAN SEE LENG TO RETIRE AS MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO AT IHH HEALTHCARE, TO BE SUCCEEDED BY DR KELVIN LOH" (PDF).
12. "Asiamoney Names IHH Healthcare Malaysia's Top Company Over Past Decade". CodeBlue. 2019-06-28. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
13. "Parkway Life REIT - Annual Report 2014 - page 23". 2014.
14. "MediShield Life Review Committee to focus on benefits, affordability". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
15. "IHH - Change in Boardroom - DR TAN SEE LENG". KLSE Screener. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
16. "ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER". business.smu.edu.sg. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
17. "Parkway Life REIT - Annual Report FY2012 page 16". 2012.
18. "Former IHH Healthcare managing director Tan See Leng emerges as possible PAP candidate; plans support network in Marine Parade". CNA. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
19. "MParader". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
20. "The Albert & Mary Lim Award » College of Family Physicians Singapore". cfps.org.sg. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
21. "Parkway Life REIT - Investor Relations page 15" (PDF). 2013.
22. Chaturvedi, Neelabh (2015-10-29). "Winners of 14th Asia Business Leaders Awards". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
23. "IHH Healthcare Berhad". www.ihhhealthcare.com. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
24. "Asia Business Leaders Awards". abla.cnbc.com. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
25. "Singapore Medical Association - For Doctors, For Patients". www.sma.org.sg. Retrieved 2020-06-15.

Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by Goh Chok Tong	Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC (Marine Parade) 2020 – present	Incumbent