Tony Tan

Tony Tan Keng Yam was born 7 February 1940 and started as a general manager at OCBC Bank before entering politics in the 1979 by-elections, contesting Sembawang as a People's Action Party candidate and winning. He rose through the ranks to Deputy Prime Minister from 1995 to 2005, then resigned from cabinet and took the reins at GIC as deputy chairman and executive director, chaired the National Research Foundation, and led Singapore Press Holdings. In 2010 he stepped down from all posts to run for president as an independent. He won the 2011 four-way race and served until 2017, when he chose not to seek re-election after a constitutional amendment reserved that contest for Malay candidates. He officially retired 1 September 2017 and was succeeded by Halimah Yacob two weeks later.