About

Dr. Claire Tan

PhD Communication, MLinguistics, BA Psych & English

Adjunct Associate Professor, Communication Practitioner, Consultant & Coach

Dr Claire Tan lives by the mantra of “Life is a verb, not a noun”. It is a metaphor that both captures her linguistic roots as well as the dynamism she approaches work and life. Claire wears many hats but central to what she does are her passion for Communication, Strategic Thinking, and Authentic Leadership.

Claire has more than two decades of experience working in the Communication industry across Singapore government service, academia, private and non-profit sectors. While in government service, Claire was the first civilian Press Secretary at the Ministry of Defence in Singapore, and was responsible for setting up Singapore’s National Marketing Office and Singapore Brand Office in 2017.

Since she left government service in 2020, Claire had worked with eCommerce giant Lazada Group with its inaugural employer branding efforts that spanned across its six markets in Asia; and fintech / start-ups with their branding and public relations initiatives. Amid her work as a Consultant, Claire is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS)’ Department of Communication & New Media teaching a core postgraduate course on Leadership Communication. She is also an Adjunct MBA Lecturer at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at the Singapore Management

University (SMU). She teaches Public Presentations at the SMU Academy, and is a registered trainer with the SMU Executive Development.

Outside work, Claire serves as a Board Director at Make-A-Wish Singapore chairing its Marketing Communication Committee; and contributes to the Resource & Partnership Committee at SPD, a non-profit organisation that serves the needs of people with disabilities. She is also a certified mental wellness coach & facilitator who mentors younger colleagues on formal and informal bases.

Claire has a PhD in Communication from the University of Missouri-Columbia (USA), a Master of Applied Linguistics from the Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia), and a

Bachelor of Arts from the National University of Singapore majoring in English Language and Psychology.