Tony Tan named honorary patron at SMU

This article is more than 12 months old

Oct 11, 2017 06:00 am

Former president Tony Tan Keng Yam has been appointed honorary patron and distinguished senior fellow at the Singapore Management University (SMU), an institution he helped envision when he was deputy prime minister.

Dr Tan has so far kept his post-presidency plans under wraps, but The Straits Times has seen an internal e-mail to members of the SMU community last month, in which he had "kindly accepted the appointment".

SMU president Arnoud De Meyer said the offer was made to Dr Tan after he stepped down as president on Aug 31, and he accepted the following month.He said the school is honoured to have Dr Tan in its midst.

"We hope our faculty and staff will be able to benefit from his insights, based on his outstanding career in academia, business and government."

When the Government mooted the idea of a third university in 1997, Dr Tan was convinced it should be an American-style one that focused on management, business and economics.

He helped get the new school off the ground, approaching veteran businessman and current SMU board of trustees chairman Ho Kwon Ping to help set it up. - THE STRAITS TIMES