Lee Yi Shyan

Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Manpower
Republic of Singapore

Mr Lee Yi Shyan was born in 1962. In 1986, he graduated from the National University of Singapore in Chemical Engineering. In 1997, he completed an executive management programme at the Harvard Business School and a management programme at Tsinghua University in 2001.

Mr Lee began his career at the Economic Development Board, where he held senior positions in human resources, services development, China operations and industry development for the chemical sector. He was based in Washington DC and Chicago from 1993 to 1997, as well as Suzhou in China from 1997 to 1998. Mr Lee was appointed Deputy Chief Executive of the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board in 2000.

In 2001, Mr Lee was appointed Chief Executive Officer of International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.Mr Lee was elected into parliament in May 2006 and appointed as Minister of State (MOS) for Trade and Industry on 30 May 2006. On 1 April 2009, Mr Lee was concurrently appointed as Minister of State in the Ministry of Manpower.

As MOS (T&I), Mr Lee actively promotes economic exchanges and international trade and investments with China, Middle East and Russia. He is the Co-Vice Chairman of the Singapore-Jiangsu Cooperation Council, and Co-Chairman of the Singapore- Shandong Business Council. Mr Lee is also the Co-Chairman of the Abu Dhabi- Singapore Joint Forum and the Saudi-Singapore Economic Cities Business Forum and a member of the Qatar-Singapore High Level Joint Committee.

Mr Lee chairs the Action Community for Entrepreneurship – a public-private sector partnership aiming to champion entrepreneurship and enterprise formation. Mr Lee also chairs the Quality Service Advisory Council of public services. He serves as the advisor to United Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries Union, Singapore Food Manufacturer's Association, Association of Process Industry, Char Yong (Dabu) Association (Singapore), Geylang United Football Club and the TDBie Society. Mr Lee is also the President of the Singapore Badminton Association.In February 2009, Mr Lee became the first recipient in Asia to be conferred the 10th Distinguished Alumni Award from the Centre for Creative Leadership.

Mr Lee is married with two children. For recreation, Mr Lee enjoys music and reading. He plays badminton and golf.

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