Cedric Foo Chee Keng ( zh, s=符致镜, p=Fú Zhìjìng; born 16 July 1960) is a Singaporean former politician. A member of the governing

People's Action Party The People's Action Party ( abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) a ...

(PAP), he was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) representing the Pioneer division of

West Coast GRC The West Coast Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the western area of Singapore. The five divisions consists: Ayer Rajah-Gek Poh, West Coast, Boon Lay, Nanyang and Telok Blang ...

between 2001 and 2011, and Pioneer SMC between 2011 and 2020.

Early life and education

Born on 16 July 1960 in

British Singapore Singapore in the Straits Settlements refers to a period in the history of Singapore between 1826 and 1942, during which Singapore was part of the Straits Settlements together with Penang and Malacca. Singapore was the capital and the seat of ...

, Foo attended Kim Seng East Primary School and Tanglin Technical School (now

Tanglin Secondary School Tanglin Secondary School is a co-educational government secondary school in Clementi, Singapore. History Tanglin Technical Secondary School (1964 - 1993) Tanglin Secondary School which was located at 369 Commonwealth Avenue in the area called T ...

) before graduating from

Singapore Polytechnic Singapore Polytechnic (SP) is a post-secondary education institution and Statutory boards of the Singapore Government, statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education (Singapore), Ministry of Education in Singapore. Established ...

in 1980. He subsequently went on to complete a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and ...

and

marine engineering Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...

at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1984 and a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast ...

degree in ocean systems management at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

in 1985.

Career

Upon graduation from MIT, Foo began his career at shipping firm

Neptune Orient Lines Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL) was a Singaporean container shipping company. It was founded in 1968 as Singapore's national shipping line, but was later sold as a subsidiary to French shipping company CMA CGM in 2016. On 1 October 2020, NOL ...

Limited (NOL), holding various executive positions, including president, NOL U.S.A. (1993–1995), and executive vice-president (finance) (1995–1999). Foo left NOL to take up the post of senior vice-president (finance and admin) at

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in ...

, which he held from 2000 to 2001, before subsequently assuming the position of senior vice-president (West Asia/Africa) from 2001 to 2002. In 2002, Foo left Singapore Airlines Foo returned to the private sector and NOL in May 2005 as group deputy president, subsequently assuming the additional portfolio of chief financial officer. Foo has also held positions on various government statutory boards. From 2003 to 2006, Foo served as the chairman of

SPRING Singapore The Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (abbreviation: SPRING Singapore) was a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Singapore Government. It worked as an agency for enterprise development, and helped enter ...

, and was the chairman of JTC Corporation from 2008 to 2013. Since July 2017, Foo now serves as the chief financial officer of Singapore Technologies Engineering.

Political career

Foo entered politics in 2001, as an elected Member of Parliament for the West Coast Group Representative Constituency, Pioneer Division. In 2002, he was appointed Singapore's

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

in the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

and, additionally from 2004, in the Ministry of National Development. He was re-elected in 2006 for a second parliamentary term. In the May 2011 general elections, Pioneer Division was re-designated a single-member constituency. Foo was nominated as the PAP candidate for Pioneer SMC, and returned as an elected Member of Parliament for a third term, winning 60.73% of the total votes cast. Foo continued to be the MP for Pioneer SMC, having won the 2015 general elections with 76.34% of the vote. In 2020, Foo did not stand for the

2020 Singaporean general election General elections were held in Singapore on Friday, 10 July 2020 to elect 93 members to the Parliament of Singapore across 31 constituencies. Parliament was dissolved and the general election called by President Halimah Yacob on 23 June, o ...

. He was previously the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee as well as the chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Transport. He had also served as the deputy chairman of the GPC for Finance and Trade & Industry, and also as a member of the GPC for Defence & Foreign Affairs.

Personal life

Foo is married with four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foo, Cedric Living people 1960 births People's Action Party politicians Members of the Parliament of Singapore University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Singapore Polytechnic alumni Singaporean people of Chinese descent Chief financial officers

Early life and education

Career

Political career

Personal life

See also

References