Er. Tan Seng Chuan

Chairman and Managing Director, TEMBUSU Asia Consulting Pte Ltd
Civil Engineering, Class of 1983

Quote from recipient: “Great honor to receive the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award. The challenges face by engineers is no longer just an Engineering solution, consideration has to be taken into account of interconnections between social equity, economic growth and environmental challenges to provide an integrated solution for sustainable development and climate change.”

Er Tan Seng Chuan graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) from the National University of Singapore in 1983. He is a Registered Professional Engineer (Civil) and Chartered Engineer (Environment & Water) in Singapore; Chartered Professional Engineer registered in Australia;and an ASEAN Chartered Professional Engineer as well as Registered APEC Engineer.

Among his other portfolio, Er. Tan was the Regional Managing Director of Ramboll Environ (Asia Pacific) and Regional Director of CH2MHill responsible for the Asia Pacific environmental business.

During his term in CH2MHIll as Regional Director, he built a team of environmental expertise in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines consisting of scientists and engineers who are capable of providing one stop solution to the industries. As Regional Managing Director in Ramboll Environ (Asia Pacific), he managed the acquisition integration of Ramboll (A Danish Engineering Company) and Environ (An U.S Environmental Company) in Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong and Myanmar.

Currently, in his role as the Chairman and Managing Director of TEMBUSU Asia Consulting Pte Ltd, he is responsible for business direction, strategic planning and development of business to meet the enterprise’s target and objectives, for which he was recognized by Federation of Engineering Institutions of Asia and the Pacific with the Engineer of the Year Award in 2017.

In the past 35 years, he has led a number of successful projects in the Asia Pacific region. Some of the representative projects were Feasibility Studies at Engineering Study for the Adaption Planning of JTC Industrial Estates, Jurong Island Air Quality Study, Deep tunnel Sewerage System, Changi Water Reclamation Plant, Tembusu Waste Water Treatment Plant at Jurong Island, Changi MRT Depot, US Air Force Centre of Environmental Excellence Program, and other Industrial Program Developments in the region.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the engineering profession nationally and internationally, he was conferred an Honorary Fellowship by the Institution on Engineers, Singapore in 2015, the Institution on Engineers, Australia in 2016, and ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisation in 2009.

Serving the Community

Er. Tan served as the President of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) from 2006 to 2008; and the President of Federation of Engineering Institutions of Asia and the Pacific (FEIAP) from 2007 till 2011. He was elected as Vice President of World Federation of Engineering Organization (WFEO) in 2011 to 2015, and Chairman of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Engineers Coordinating Committee and member of the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) Governing Board from 2015 to 2019; He also chaired the World Engineers Summit in 2013 and 2015, and the Industry Round Table in 2015 on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation as well as building climate change resilience in the community. During his term as President of the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES), Er. Tan revamped the council organization from discipline base structure to multi-disciplines Industry base clusters to keep in pace with the economy growth of Singapore.  When he served as chairman of IES Award Committee, he promoted engineering R&D activities through IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards and ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Awards.

Presently Er. Tan serves as Treasurer and Executive Board Member of the World Federation of Engineering Organisation, Board Member of National University of Singapore Faculty Advisory Board for the Faculty of Engineering and Chairman of National Engineering Career Progression Pathway for Technologist and Technician Steering Committee.

Honoring an Exceptional Alumnus

Er. Tan Seng Chuan is truly an inspiration to all NUS Engineering alumni. The Faculty is proud to have an alumnus of his stature, and is pleased to confer the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award on him.