Jannie Chan

Jannie Chan Siew Lee (曾秀丽), also known by her married name, Jannie Tay, is a Singaporean entrepreneur and former president of the Singapore Retailers Association and the ASEAN Business Forum, in both cases the first woman to hold the position.

Biography

Chan earned a B.Sc. in physiology and an M.Sc. in pharmacology from Monash University in 1968 and 1971, and was a lecturer in both subjects at the National University of Singapore.

In 1979, she co-founded The Hour Glass Limited, a luxury watch retailer, with her husband, Henry Tay. , it had 41 stores in several countries; she was formerly executive vice-president and executive vice-chairman.

She founded the holding company Save Our Planet Investments (Hypha Holdings, 2005) and the non-profit Save Our Planet Foundation (2007), which works for reforestation to mitigate climate change. She is the first female president of the Singapore Retailers Association and of the ASEAN Business Forum, the first female executive board member of the Commonwealth Business Council and founder chairman of the Commonwealth Business Women Leaders' Network. and was president of the Singapore chapter of WOW (Women for Other Women).

On 20 June 2019, Chan was declared bankrupt by the Singapore court for owing a moneylender over S$4 million in unpaid debt.

Chan began serving a two-week prison sentence for contempt of court on 9 September 2019, after losing her appeal against a 2017 sentence judgment.

On 15 October 2019, the Singapore High Court rules that Chan's forced sale of $3.85m apartment to be paid to Official Assignee.

Personal life Chan is of Hakka Chinese heritage; her father and grandfather were "sinsehs" (practitioners of traditional medicine).

Awards 1989: Special Volunteer Award, Community Chest of Singapore 1996: Louis Feraud Les Honours award (Business category) 1999: Honorary doctorate, Oxford Brookes University 2003: Darjah Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang, carrying the title Dato' 2009: APEA Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award, Enterprise Asia 2011 Lifetime Achievement for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism. Presented at Singapore Experience Awards.

Key positions held 1990: President, Women for Other Women Association (WOW) 1997–1998: Director, International Women's Forum Leadership Foundation 1997–1999: Board Member, Women's Leadership Initiative Board, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University 2002: President, Women’s Business Connection 2002: Chairperson, Commonwealth Business Women Leaders network 2003: Founding member and Chairman, Retail Academy of Singapore 2004: Chairman, Retail Industry Skills and Training Council 2004: Member, United Nations ESCAP Business Advisory Council 2011: Chairman, Asia-Pacific Retailers Association