Wei Neng is the Chief Executive Officer of the Chandler Institute of Governance, and Dean of the Chandler Academy of Governance, an international non-profit organisation based in Singapore. The Chandler Institute supports government leaders and public officers through training, research, advisory services and resourcing. In this capacity, he develops the Institute’s strategic priorities and direction, and oversees research, projects and partnerships with governments and partners worldwide.
Wei Neng has worked extensively in the areas of governance and public policy for nearly two decades. He currently holds adjunct appointments with the Centre for Liveable Cities at the Singapore Ministry of National Development, and the Singapore Civil Service College under the Prime Minister’s Office.
Prior to this, he worked in public policy design and implementation in the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Defence, and in training and development work at the Civil Service College. He dealt with major strategic and policy initiatives such as the US-Singapore Strategic Framework Agreement; bilateral defence agreements with various countries; energy policy negotiations at the bilateral and ASEAN levels; and bilateral climate change negotiations. He was lead national negotiator for climate finance and investment issues at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
He has taught and facilitated courses for over 4,000 government leaders and policymakers within and outside Singapore, including programmes for mid-career and senior officials from over 60 countries. He has spoken and taught at the United Nations, the World Bank, the Singapore Management University, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the Singapore Civil Service College, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Wei Neng has authored and published books, research papers and case studies on a range of topics, including economic policy; urban development; land policy; public housing; climate change; institution building and state-market relations. He wrote Land Acquisition and Resettlement: Securing Resources for Development (2014), a book analysing Singapore’s land expropriation framework, and its key role in supporting urban planning and development. He also edited Adaptive Governance for a Changing World (2016), featuring emergent ideas in governance, public sector reform, leadership development, public economics and social policy. Most recently he co-authored Working with Markets: Harnessing Market Forces and the Private Sector for Development (2017).
As a Humanities Scholar and a Public Service Commission Overseas Merit Scholar of the Singapore Government, he graduated with a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University, and an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
