Dr. Philip Yeo (IndE 7T0)

Special Advisor for Economic Development Prime Minister's Office Chairman SPRING Singapore

Dr. Philip Yeo, a Singapore alumnus, had a powerful influence on the modern transformation of his small country into one of the Four Tigers of Asia. After graduating as a Colombo Plan Scholar in 1970, he returned home to work in Singapore’s Ministry of Defense while earning a master’s in Systems Engineering from the University of Singapore in 1974. He returned to America on a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, graduating with a Harvard MBA in 1976.

Returning home once again, Dr. Yeo progressed through the Ministry of Defense, establishing the Singapore Technologies Group, the National Computer Board (now the Infocomm Development Authority) and the Sembawang Industries Group. In l986, he was appointed Chair of the Economic Development Board. During his 20 years of leadership he played an instrumental role in planning and implementing Singapore’s highly successful industrial development policies. From 2001 to 2007, he chaired the Agency for Science, Technology and Research responsible for building national research and development in science and technology fields.

Dr. Yeo received the 2008 Engineering Alumni Medal, the highest honor awarded by the University of Toronto's Engineering Alumni Association in recognition of outstanding achievement. In March 2009, he was awarded the BioSpectrum's Asia Pacific Life Time Achievement Award in honor of his success in promoting life sciences industry in Singapore and Asia.