Ngiam Tong Dow | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ngiam in the 1990s | |||||||||
| Chairman of the Housing and Development Board | |||||||||
| In office 1 October 1998–30 September 2003 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Hsuan Owyang | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Aline Wong | ||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||
| Born | 7 June 1937 Singapore, Straits Settlements, British Malaya | ||||||||
| Died | 20 August 2020 (aged 83) Singapore | ||||||||
| Spouse | Jeanette Gan Choon Neo (m. 1961) | ||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||
| Alma mater | Harvard University (MPA) University of Malaya in Singapore (BA) St. Andrews School Serangoon English School | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 嚴崇濤 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 严崇涛 | ||||||||
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Ngiam Tong Dow DUBC PJG PPA(E) PBS (7 June 1937 – 20 August 2020) was a Singaporean civil servant who became the youngest permanent secretary at the age of 35, and held the position until his retirement from the civil service in 1999. He worked in various government ministries, statutory boards, and agencies, helping to shape public policies and national projects, leading to Singapore's economic growth in the first few decades after independence.[1]
Ngiam served as the acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Communications (1970–1972), and was promoted to be permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance (1972–1979 and 1986–1999), Prime Minister's Office (1979–1994), Ministry of Trade and Industry (1979–1986) and Ministry of National Development (1987–1989).[2] He also served as chairman in several statutory boards and government-linked companies, such as the Economic Development Board (1975–1982), DBS Bank (1990–1998), Central Provident Fund (1998–2001), Housing Development Board (1998–2003), HDB Corp (2003). He was also the chief executive officer of DBS from 1991 to 1998.[2]