SINGAPORE - Former NTUC Link chief executive Tony S. Tan was on Thursday (June 1) named as the new CEO of Movement of the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (Minds).
Mr Tan, 53, started at Minds last Monday (May22). He replaces Mr Keh Eng Song, 62, who retired last month after 10 years of helming the voluntary welfare organisation.
Top of Mr Tan's agenda is to look at how Minds can service its 2,400 beneficiaries throughout their lives, taking a "whole person approach".
He said: "A lot of services provided tend to look at a person in separated ways: Youth, then adulthood. But you have to look at it as a whole continuum."
With his fresh pair of eyes, Mr Tan wants to see how Minds can "smoothen out all the transitions to help persons with intellectual disabilities transition well into adulthood".
Mr Tan said he will share more specific details at a later date, but said one thing Minds will work on is in finding more work opportunities for those with intellectual disabilities.
Apart from placing clients in open employment, Minds has also been testing out new businesses that they hope to run as social enterprises. For example, they are dabbling in farming and hydroponics, and have started their students on growing vegetables.
This is also where Mr Tan felt his past experience would come in handy. He spent more than seven years at NTUC Link, which is a social entreprise that manages a loyalty programme with two million members.
"Social impact is something I feel very passionate about," said Mr Tan.
Mr Tan is married to an art therapist and has two sons, aged 21 and 23.
Prior to NTUC Link, Mr Tan spent two decades at multinational corporations such as Bausch&Lomb where he was senior vice president of Asia for product strategy and commercial operations.
Minds president Jeffrey Tan said: "Being skilled in strategic transformation, commercial operations and delivering sustained financial improvement, I am confident Tony Tan will bring invaluable experience and expertise in leading Minds to new levels of success."
