Ian Yong Hoe Tan
My name is Ian Yong Hoe Tan (陈永和) and by the grace of God, I get to live multiple lives at once.
I am a lecturer in strategic communication at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) at Nanyang Technological University. I teach marketing, advertising, design, copywriting and journalism.
I run a communications consultancy called ThinkTan. I help companies with their strategic communication and marketing. To keep my writing sharp, I write regularly on LinkedIn and I am currently a LinkedIn Top Voice.
I am a Generative AI coach. I have conducted workshops and seminars with organizations like DBS Bank, SingHealth, Canon, IHH Healthcare, Singapore School of The Arts, and NTUC First Campus. I also conduct The Straits Times Gen AI Masterclass series for adults and another Masterclass For Teenagers.
I’m an artist who wields both traditional and digital tools. I draw with pen, pencils, graphic tablets and these days, I collaborate with Generative AI. You can see my hand-drawn works here and my Gen AI images here.
My Career
My 22-year career has spanned across the media, consumer technology and gaming industries.
I started out as a journalist and photojournalist, and went on to become a global marketer and business leader.
At Lenovo, I led the Asia-Pacific gaming hardware division across 12 markets, building its Legion gaming brand from #5 to #2 market position during my three-year tenure.
At Razer, I headed global marketing, overseeing 120 marketers across all marketing disciplines. I was a part of the C-suite that guided the company to its US$4B IPO in 2017.
At Microsoft, I managed sales and marketing for the Xbox 360 gaming business in Singapore, and I established the local business for Microsoft Surface computing devices.
At the start of my career, I was an award-winning journalist and photojournalist with Singapore Press Holdings. I was the first regional winner of the Society of Publishers In Asia Award in 2014 in the category of “Best Local Journalist”. I also established the technology editorial section in The New Paper.
In 2001, I graduated as valedictorian from the NTU Communications Studies (now the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information) faculty, and won the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal Award and the MediaCorp Gold Medal Award in the same year.
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