Kenneth Tan Chih-Sien is Adjunct Associate Professor of the School of Humanities and Behavioural Sciences at Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Kenneth is Assistant Chief Executive (Industry) at the Media Development Authority of Singapore, where he oversees all of MDA’s Industry work across Film, Broadcasting, Animation, Music, Games, Publishing, and Interactive Digital Media.
He previously ran the Singapore companies of Village Roadshow, as Managing Director of Golden Village Multiplex and Golden Village Pictures, building both into market leaders and setting new standards of product and service excellence in cinema exhibition and film distribution. Prior to that, Kenneth held five senior management positions at national broadcaster MediaCorp, as Chief Operating Officer of MediaCorp TV, Chief Executive Officer of MediaCorp Radio, Managing Director of Caldecott Productions International, and Executive Vice-President in charge of Group Communications and Research.
His conference and keynote speaking engagements in America, England, France, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, have earned him a unique reputation for standing ovations based on both cutting-edge substance and consummate showmanship. He is effectively bilingual in English and Mandarin, has published in both languages, and was former Chairman of the national Speak Mandarin Campaign. He founded and owns The Bridgebuilders Group, a specialist consultancy practice that trains senior executives in public speaking.
Kenneth has also been Chairman of the Singapore Film Society since 1984, and currently chairs the Advisory Committee of Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Film & Media Studies. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of Chapman University and New York University’s Tisch Asia School of the Arts, and on the Advisory Panel of SIM University’s Communication programmes.
Professor Tan graduated from the National University of Singapore with First Class Honours in Business Administration.