Tan Chin Hwee (born 1971) is a Singaporean businessman and professor. He is the current Asia-Pacific chief executive officer of Trafigura and the first Asian to hold this position in the company. A Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Public Accountant in Singapore and Australia, he previously worked in DBS Bank, Keppel Corporation, Amaranth Advisors and Apollo Global Management before joining Trafigura.
Education
Tan attended Hwa Chong Junior College. He graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Accountancy from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). During his days in NTU, he was the president of the university's Mensa club and the president of the university's Photovideographic Society
He also obtained a Master of Business Administration in 2003 from Yale University and completed a postgraduate course at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2011. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Singapore and Australia.
Business career
Tan started his career in 1995 at Keppel Corporation's treasury division, where he traded proprietary Asian equities and fixed income. Between 1999 and 2001, he ran the proprietary credit portfolio for DBS Bank before becoming a managing director at Amaranth Advisors. After leaving Amaranth Advisors, he joined Apollo Global Management and founded its Asian operations. In 2015, Tan announced his retirement from the finance industry. Between 2016 and 2023, Tan served as the Asia-Pacific CEO of Trafigura, a Global Fortune 500 company, and the first Asian to hold this position. In 2019, Trafigura was the largest amongst the only three Singapore companies to appear in the Fortune Global 500 list and it ranked top 22 globally. In 2023, Tan was appointed as Chairman of the Energy Supply Resilience Advisory Panel within the Energy Market Authority (EMA). The Energy Supply Resilience Advisory Panel will advise the EMA on strengthening the resilience of Singapore's energy system.
Tan has sat on the boards of various organisations in the public and private sectors. The positions he held include: member of the Resource Panel for Government Parliamentary Committee for Finance and Trade and Industry; member of the Advisory Panel for Youth Corps Singapore; member of the Advisory Panel for the Ministry of Education; member of the Advisory Panel for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth; board member of Lien Aid Limited (Singapore), the endowment fund for KK Women's and Children's Hospital; advisory board member of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance; board member of Singapore Press Holdings; non-executive and independent director of Keppel REIT (until June 2017); member of Nanyang Technological University's board of trustees; member of Hwa Chong Institution executive committee board; member of Grab Inc advisory board; member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Finance Centre Advisory Panel; and member of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore's International Maritime Centre (IMC) 2030 Advisory Committee. Tan was the judge for the Best CEO Award for Singapore Corporate Award and the judge for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
He currently sits on the Hwa Chong Institution EXCO of Board of Governors as well as EXCO of Board of Directors. He wrote an article on 自强不息的华中精神 which was published on 22 March 2019.
Recently in the press statement, Tan said ICC TradeFlow is the first to be powered by the TradeTrust network. "This is a Singaporean take on how to successfully adopt global trade finance technology under the leadership of governmental stakeholders,"
In May 2020, Tan has been appointed to join the Emerging Stronger Taskforce (EST) set up under the Future Economy Council (FEC). The government-led taskforce consisted of key industry representatives to review how Singapore can build new sources of dynamism and stay economically resilient in a post-COVID-19 world. Tan co-led the Emerging Stronger Taskforce's Alliance for Action on Supply Chain Digitalisation and EduTech, and is also a member of the Sustainability working group. Recently, the Alliance for Action on EduTech has come up with four initiatives to position the country as a global talent hub in the field, with the aim to support Singaporeans in their skills acquisition and career pathways in order to be better prepared for current challenges and to embrace new opportunities.
Tan was nominated as a member of the Trade & Connectivity Standards Committee under the Singapore Standards Council (SSC) which facilitates the development, promotion and review of standards in Singapore.