Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected as Singapore’s President in September 2023.
He served in politics for 22 years before resigning to contest in the Presidential Election. He was Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister for several years, and Education Minister earlier. He also served as Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator, over the 12 years to 2023.
Tharman was committed through his years in government to building a more inclusive society, and economic resilience. He has been especially engaged in initiatives to sustain social mobility, improve jobs for lower-income workers, make life-long learning a reality for all, and deepen Singapore’s model of multiculturalism.
- He introduced major educational reforms while serving as Education Minister, aimed at achieving a broader and more flexible system of meritocracy. He later led the ‘SkillsFuture’ programme, launched in 2014. He also chaired the tripartite councils from 2011 to 2016 which drove national efforts to raise productivity through innovation and skills, including through the implementation of industry-specific transformation programmes.
- Tharman also chaired the National Jobs Council (2020-2022), which oversaw efforts to rebuild jobs for Singaporeans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, he chaired the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institution over two decades, and the International Academic Advisory Panel which advises on strategies for university education from 2011 to 2023.
Internationally, Tharman has led several high-level councils focused on global financial reforms, preparedness for future pandemics, access to education, and global water sustainability.
- He currently chairs the board of the Group of Thirty, an independent global council of economic and financial leaders from the public and private sectors. He has been co-chairing the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, which launched its report on 17 October 2024. He also co-chairs the High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs, established by the World Bank Group in July 2024. He is in addition on the World Economic Forum’s Board of Trustees.
- Tharman earlier led the IMFC (the IMF’s top policy forum), the Advisory Board for the UN’s Human Development Report, and the Global Education Forum for several years. In 2019, the Institute of International Finance awarded him its inaugural Distinguished Leadership and Service Award.
Following his schooling in Singapore, Tharman did a B.Sc. in Economics at the London School of Economics and an M.Phil. in Economics at the University of Cambridge. He later obtained a Master’s in Public Administration at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where he was conferred the Lucius N Littauer Fellow award for outstanding performance and leadership potential.
