Lim Chuan Poh is a Singaporean civil servant, diplomat and former

lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

who served as Chief of Defence Force between 2000 and 2003. After leaving the

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A military component of the Ministry of Defence (MINDE ...

(SAF) in 2003, Lim served as Permanent Secretary for Education until 2007 before serving as Chairman of the

Agency for Science, Technology and Research The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore. The agency supports R&D that is aligned to areas of competitive advantage and national needs for Singapore. ...

(A*STAR), a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. After his retirement in 2019, Lim was appointed Chairman of the

Singapore Food Agency The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment that oversees food safety and security in Singapore. History The agency was first announced on 26 July 2018 as a consolidation of all ...

Education

Upon his graduation from Raffles Institution, Lim was awarded the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1980. Lim graduated from

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(later promoted to

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

by seniority) degree in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

. He subsequently attended

Camberley Staff College Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which i ...

in 1988 and graduated with the Best Overseas Student Award. Lim also completed a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1993 and has attended the Advanced Management Program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

in 2003.

Military career

Lim enlisted in the

(SAF) in December 1979. Throughout his military career, Lim has held various appointments; Commanding Officer, 3rd Singapore Infantry Regiment; Commander, 10th Singapore Infantry Brigade; Head, Joint Plans Department; Commander, 9th Division; Chief of Staff (General Staff); Chief of Army. On 1 April 2000, Lim succeeded

Bey Soo Khiang Bey Soo Khiang (born 10 August 1955) is a Singaporean former lieutenant-general who served as Chief of Defence Force between 1995 and 2000. He was the first Chief of Air Force to serve as Chief of Defence Force. Education Bey was awarded th ...

as Chief of Defence Force, and was promoted from Major-General to

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

in June 2001. Lim retired from the SAF on 1 April 2003 and was succeeded by

Ng Yat Chung Ng Yat Chung is a Singaporean former lieutenant-general who served as Chief of Defence Force between 2003 and 2007. Education Ng received his secondary and pre-university education in Victoria School and Hwa Chong Junior College respective ...

as Chief of Defence Force.

Civil Service career

After leaving the

(SAF), Lim served as Permanent Secretary for Education (MOE) between 2003 and 2007. During his tenure as Permanent Secretary for Education, Lim had overseen the transformation of the publicly funded universities into autonomous universities and reviewed the university research framework to help those universities develop into research-intensive ones. He also guided the establishment of the Duke-NUS Medical School. Lim served as Chairman of the

(A*STAR), a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, between 2007 and 2019. He is Chairman of the National Infocomm Security Committee and Chairman of Governing Board of the

Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine The Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine is the medical school of the Nanyang Technological University. The school was established in 2013 as Singapore's third medical school, after the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the Duke–NUS Medical Sch ...

at the

Nanyang Technological University The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various inte ...

(NTU). Lim is also a member of various other organisations; NTU, Biomedical Research Council at A*STAR, National Research Foundation, , and the World Premier International Initiative Programme Assessment and Review Committee in Japan. Lim was appointed Non-Resident Ambassador to the State of Israel on 19 January 2021.

Awards

* Public Administration Medal (Gold) (Military), in 1999. *

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

(Degree of Commander), in 1999 and 2001. * Knight Grand Cross of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant, in 2001. * Bintang Yudha Dharma Utama (The Grand Meritorious Military Order – 1st Class), in 2001. * Meritorious Service Medal (Military), in 2003. * Honorary

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

, by

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

in 2008. * Honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

, by

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

in 2009. * Fellowship of

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, in 2010. * Fellowship under the Invitation Programme for Leaders, by the

Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations. The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organi ...

in 2010. * Honorary Doctor of Laws, by the

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

in 2012.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Chuan Poh Living people Permanent secretaries of Singapore Chiefs of Defence Force (Singapore) Chiefs of the Singapore Army Singaporean people of Chinese descent Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Cornell University alumni 1961 births Ambassadors of Singapore to Israel