Ronnie Tay (born 2 October 1963) is a Singaporean civil servant and former two-star

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

who served as Chief of Navy between 2003 and 2007. After leaving the navy, Tay served as the chief executive officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) between 2007 and 2013, and the National Environment Agency between 2013 and 2018.

Education

Tay received his secondary and pre-university education in Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Anglo-Chinese Junior College respectively. He was awarded the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1982 and graduated from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1985 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(First Class Honours) in engineering science. He attended the Singapore Command and Staff Course in 1991. He was awarded the Singapore Armed Forces Postgraduate Scholarship in 1996 and went on to obtain a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in management from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

in 1997. He also attended the Advanced Management Programme at

INSEAD INSEAD ( ; French: ''Institut européen d'administration des affaires'') is a non-profit business school with locations in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE) and North America (San Francisco, USA ...

in France in 2007.

Military career

Tay enlisted in the

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A component of the Ministry of Defence (Singapore), Ministry of D ...

(SAF) in December 1981 and served in the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

. Throughout his military career, he held various appointments, including: Executive Officer, RSS ''Sea Wolf'' (1987); Commanding Officer, RSS ''Swift Warlord'' (1988); Staff Officer, Naval Operations Department (1989–1990); Commanding Officer, RSS ''Sea Lion'' (1992); head, Naval Intelligence Department (1994); Commanding Officer, 188 Squadron (1997); Commander, 1st Flotilla (1998); Fleet Commander (1999); head, Naval Operations Department (2000–2001). He was promoted to the rank of one-star

on 1 July 2001 and assumed the post of chief of staff, Naval Staff, on 20 July. Tay succeeded

Lui Tuck Yew Lui Tuck Yew (; born 16 August 1961) is a Singaporean diplomat, former politician and two-star rear-admiral who has been serving as List of ambassadors of Singapore to the United States, Singapore Ambassador to the United States since 2023. Pri ...

as the Chief of Navy on 1 April 2003 and was promoted to two-star rear-admiral on 1 July. He left the SAF on 31 August 2007 and relinquished his appointment to Chew Men Leong.

Post-military career

After leaving the military, Tay served as the chief executive officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore from November 2007 to June 2013. He became the chief executive officer of the National Environment Agency on 1 July 2013 and continues to hold this appointment. until his retirement in October 2018. Tay also sits on the boards or councils of various institutions, including: DSO National Laboratories; Integrated Health Information Systems; Infocomm Investments; IDA International;

Media Development Authority The Media Development Authority (abbreviation: MDA) was a statutory board of the Singapore Government, under the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). History MDA was founded on 1 January 2003 by the merger of Singapore Broadcasti ...

; IT Committee, Singapore Health Services; Science and Engineering Research Council,

Agency for Science, Technology and Research The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore. The agency supports R&D that is aligned to areas of competitive advantage and national needs for Singapor ...

;

National Institute of Education The National Institute of Education (NIE) is an autonomous institute of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Ranked 10th in the world and 2nd in Asia by the QS World University Rankings in the subject of Education and Trainin ...

; Honorary Advisory Council, Singapore Computer Society; School of Information Systems,

Singapore Management University Singapore Management University (SMU) is a publicly funded private university in Singapore. Founded in 2000, SMU is the third oldest autonomous university in the country, modelling its education after the Wharton School. The university is trip ...

Awards

* Public Administration Medal (Military) (Gold), in 2005. * Long Service Medal (Military), in 2007.

Personal life

Tay is married and has two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tay, Ronnie 1963 births Living people Singaporean people of Chinese descent Chiefs of the Republic of Singapore Navy Singaporean civil servants Anglo-Chinese School alumni Anglo-Chinese Junior College alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford MIT Sloan School of Management alumni INSEAD alumni Recipients of the Long Service Medal (Military) (Singapore)