{{Short description|Singaporean civil servant (born 1953)}} {{about||the Chinese philosopher|Alan K. L. Chan|the American pianist and songwriter|Alan Chang}} {{Infobox person | name = Alan Chan Heng Loon | honorific_suffix = PJG PPA(E) PPA(P) | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1953|2|22}} | birth_place = Singapore | death_date = | death_place = | restingplace = | restingplacecoordinates = | othername = | citizenship = Singapore | education = | alma_mater = INSEAD (MBA)<br />École nationale de l'aviation civile (Dipl. Ing.) | occupation = | agent = | known_for = | spouse = | partner = | children = 2 | parents = | website = }}
'''Alan Chan Heng Loon''' {{Post-nominals|country=||list=PJG PPA(E) PPA(P)}} (born 22 February 1953){{citation needed|date=February 2017}} is a former Singaporean civil servant. He was the former chief executive of the Singapore Press Holdings.
==Early life== Chan was born to a bilingual family fluent in English and Chinese. He studied in Haig Boys School, Raffles Institution and National Junior College. He was awarded the President's Scholarship and French Government Scholarship, and graduated with a Dip Ingenieur from Ecole Nationale de L'Aviation Civile in 1978. He subsequently went to INSEAD and obtained an MBA in 1983.<ref>{{cite web|title=Singapore Press Holdings Annual Report 2015|url=http://sph.com.sg/system/misc/annualreport/2015/SPH_AR2015_BoardOfDirectors.pdf}}</ref>
==Career== After studying in France, Chan worked as a civil servant under various Singaporean government ministries. Chan served as the Ministry of Defence’s Director of Manpower. In 1994 Chan successfully applied to be the Principal Private Secretary of then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew.<ref>{{cite news|title=Remembering Lee Kuan Yew: Journey with a master teacher|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/remembering-lee-kuan-yew-journey-with-a-master-teacher|work=Straits Times|date=25 March 2015|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Lee2012">{{cite book|pages=349–352 |title=My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey |last=Lee |first=Kuan Yew |isbn=9789814342032 |publisher=Straits Times Press |year=2012 }}</ref> Thereafter, Chan was appointed as Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Strict on making his subordinates speak Chinese properly, he imposed a ten-cent fine on whoever who used English terms in their Chinese conversations.<ref name="Lee2012"/> Chan later contributed an essay titled "My Tryst With Chinese" to Lee's 2012 book, ''My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey''. Before retiring from the civil service, he rose to the position of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications and Information and the Ministry of Transport. In total, Chan's career as a government official spanned some 25 years.
Chan became Group President of media firm Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) in July 2002. In January 2003, he became the Singapore-based company's chief executive officer. He was also part of its board of directors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sph.com.sg/aboutsph_bod.shtml |title=Board Of Directors |publisher=Singapore Press Holdings |access-date=August 10, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518151909/http://www.sph.com.sg/aboutsph_bod.shtml |archive-date=May 18, 2013 }}</ref> Chan retired from SPH on 1 September 2017.
He was appointed Chairman of the Land Transport Authority on 1 April 2016.
Listed as one of "100 Inspiring Rafflesians" in 2008,<ref name="Tan2008" /> Chan was selected by INSEAD in 2009 as one of the "50 Alumni who changed the world".<ref name="Lee2012" />
==Personal life== Chan is married with two children, a boy and a girl. Chan has three older siblings.<ref name="Lee2012"/> His brother Heng Wing was Ambassador to Thailand, and one of his sisters, Heng Chee was Ambassador to the United States.<ref name="Tan2008">{{cite book|author=Guan Heng Tan|title=100 Inspiring Rafflesians, 1823—2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQk_6OEgDmQC&pg=PA25|year=2008|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-277-891-8|pages=25–26}}</ref>
== Awards and decorations ==
* 80x80px Meritorious Service Medal, in 2012.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lim |first=Leonard |date=2012-08-09 |title=Top honours for trio who helped shape S’pore |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes20120809-1.2.50.10.3 |access-date=2025-01-12 |work=The Straits Times |pages=9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-08-09 |title=This year’s National Day Award winners: |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes20120809-1.2.50.10.6 |access-date=2025-01-12 |work=The Straits Times |pages=10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-11-12 |title=National Day Award winners honoured |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes20121112-1.2.25.3 |access-date=2025-01-12 |work=The Straits Times |pages=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-11-16 |title=J.Y. Pillay presented with National Day Award |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/tabla20121116-1.2.6.6.2 |access-date=2025-01-12 |work=tabla! |pages=6–7}}</ref> * 80x80px Public Administration Medal (Gold), in 2002.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chuang |first=Peck Ming |date=2002-08-09 |title=Yeo Ning Hong gets top National Day award |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/biztimes20020809-1.2.19.3 |access-date=2025-01-12 |work=The Business Times |pages=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2002-08-09 |title=NATIONAL DAY AWARD WINNERS |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes20020809-1.2.44.17 |access-date=2025-01-12 |work=The Straits Times |pages=18}}</ref> * 80x80px Public Administration Medal (Silver).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-09-06 |title=Appointment to the Public Service Commission (Sep 2010) |url=https://www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/press-statement-prime-ministers-office-new-member-joins-public-service-commission |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=PMO}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Alan}} Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:Members of the Public Service Commission (Singapore) Category:Permanent secretaries of Singapore Category:Singaporean people of Chinese descent Category:Raffles Institution alumni Category:INSEAD alumni Category:Recipients of the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam Category:Recipients of the Pingat Jasa Gemilang Category:École nationale de l'aviation civile alumni Category:Singaporean civil servants