Tharman Shanmugaratnam

President of the Republic of Singapore

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; the President, as Head of State, holds a non-partisan office in Singapore’s system of governance.

Tharman was Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister for several years, and Education Minister earlier. He last served in government as Senior Minister.  

He has been committed through his years to building economic resilience and a more inclusive social compact. On the latter, he has been especially engaged in sustaining social mobility, improving jobs for lower-income workers, and making life-long learning a reality for all. He has also sought to deepen and advance 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, which was launched in 2014. He also chaired the tripartite councils from 2011 to 2016 which drove national efforts to transform productivity through innovation and skills, and the implementation of industry-specific transformation programmes. More recently, he chaired the National Jobs Council (2020-2022), which oversaw efforts to rebuild jobs for Singaporeans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tharman has spent his entire working life in public service. He was Senior Minister (2019-2023), Deputy Prime Minister (2011-2019), Minister for Finance (2007-2015), Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies (2011-2015) and Minister for Education (2003-2008).

He also served as Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator, from 2011 to 2023. He had begun his professional career as an economist at the MAS, eventually becoming its Managing Director, before he entered politics in 2001.

Tharman also served as Deputy Chairman of the GIC for four years (2019-2023) and as Chairman of its Investment Strategies Committee for 12 years (2011-2023). He was on the GIC Board for over 19 years.

He chaired the Economic Development Board (EDB)’s International Advisory Council (IAC) from 2014, and the International Academic Advisory Panel (IAAP), which advises the Government on strategies for university sector, from 2011. He stepped off both councils when he resigned from all his government appointments in July 2023.

International Roles

Tharman has led several international councils focused especially on global financial reforms, preparedness for future pandemics, education, and global water sustainability.

He currently chairs the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Group of Thirty (G30), a grouping of eminent thought leaders in economic policymaking, academia and the financial industry.

He also co-chairs the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW), whose initial recommendations helped shape the outcomes of the UN Water Conference in March 2023.

Tharman has co-chaired the Advisory Board for the UN Human Development Report (HDR) since 2019. The Advisory Board provides intellectual advice and guidance on the overall vision, direction and message of the UN HDR. He leads the Board for the 2023 HDR with Joseph E. Stiglitz, and co-chaired with Thomas Piketty, Michael Spence, and Michèle Lamont, respectively, for the previous three editions.

He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum (WEF), an advisory board that helps shape the strategic directions of the WEF.

He chaired the Group of 20 (G20) Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance in 2017-2018. He was earlier selected by his international peers to chair the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) for an extended period of four years; the first Asian chair to date. He also led the G20 High Level Independent Panel on pandemic financing, together with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Lawrence Summers, in 2021. He had in addition co-chaired the Global Education Forum, with Gordon Brown and Graça Machel.

Tharman also served on the UN’s High-Level Advisory Board that made recommendations for more effective multilateralism as part of the process leading to the UN’s 2024 Summit of the Future.

In 2019, the Institute of International Finance awarded him its inaugural Distinguished Leadership and Service Award. He was earlier named Finance Minister of the Year in 2013 by Euromoney. 

Other Roles/Contributions

Locally, outside of his roles in government, Tharman chaired the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institution for over two decades. In 2017, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) conferred on him the Medal of Honour, its highest award, citing his varied contributions to the labour movement including “driving national initiatives to better the lives of workers”.

He also chaired the Board of Trustees of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) from 2008 to 2023.

Tharman was first elected Member of Parliament in Nov 2001 in the Jurong Group Representation Constituency (GRC), and was re-elected four times subsequently. He resigned from politics at the same time that he stepped off from all government appointments in July 2023.

Education and Family

Following his schooling in Singapore, he 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.

Tharman is married to Jane Ittogi, a lawyer by background and actively engaged in social development and sustainability initiatives. They have a daughter and three sons.